My mom and dad live in Sydney-By-the-Sea on Vancouver Island. It is part of Greater Victoria. Someone asked me the other day which was larger in terms of population, Saskatoon or Victoria. I asked to have the question clarified. Were we talking about the cities alone or the CMA’s (Census Metropolitan Areas). If the latter, then Victoria wins out at just under 368,000 while the Saskatoon CMA has around 325,000. Saskatoon does have a number of municipalities within the CMA, three cities, nine towns, seven villages, one First Nations reserve and six rural municipalities all of which are a reasonable drive away from each other. Greater Victoria has 13 municipalities, some of which butt right up against the neighbouring one. They each have separate bureaucracies that costs taxpayers millions in duplication of services. The 13 Mayors do get together from time to time under a banner called the Capital Regional District but the group can only make recommendations as against effecting any real changes for the better. I’ve been visiting my relatives in Victoria since the 1970’s and I’ve never seen any movement toward any kind of amalgamation, and why would there be considering some civic officials, elected and non-elected, would be out of a job? Oh, and if we are only talking about the cities alone Saskatoon is much bigger than Victoria at about 275,000 versus 87,000. And thanks to my cousin Ron in Brentwood Bay, Victoria, for giving me the idea for today’s talk from his commentaries he posts on stationbreak.ca.

That’s Coffeetalk. I’m Vic Dubois