The craziness that is the newly created 311 service illustrates that Winnipeg is not working out very well. It's time to CANCEL 311, and go back to the previous system we had where the receptionists at the various city departments, like the Clerk's Office at City Hall, can take people's calls, such as registering to speak at a Council meeting.
There was a time until December 1971 that the central city of Winnipeg was a completely separate from the City of St. Vital, the City of East Kildonan, the Rural Municipality of Fort Garry, the Rural Municipality of Charleswood, etc...
The past 37 years have proved that Unicity government has been a total, unmitigated FAILURE, and that the way back is to amalgamate and restore as many of these former municipalities as possible
In the past 37 years the identity of the suburban areas have melded with the city — one suburb is almost identical to another.
However, I feel that we had it right when Winnipeg created the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg, which was loosely modeled on the Metropolitan Corporation of Toronto.
Smaller is ALWAYS better. Smaller entities are always more EFFICIENT than monolithic, especially in government.
Until 1998 when Toronto amalgamated several nearby suburbs, the Metro Toronto area was known as one of the best organized governments in the western world. Under Metro government, and separate municipalities, the area was able to grow steadily since its creation in 1954. It was able to extend the TTC subway over 35 years, and through its construction, keep Metro development relatively compact.
The way back is to deamalgamate, and to return the emergency services back to the autonomous municipalities.
On April 6, 2009 the Frontier Centre for Public Policy will be hosting a discussion featuring Nick Ternette on the Failure of Unicity government here.
See also:
http://www.mts.net/~jjaworsk/Metro/
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