A petition making the rounds in cottage country is revealing staggering opposition to a possible merger with Flin Flon.
North of 54 Cottage Owners Association recently launched the petition to provide a clear indication as to where area cottagers stand on a potential annexation attempt by the city.
“Nobody that I’m aware of is in favour of annexation – not one person,” said Dale Powell, a director with the association, which represents all Manitoba cottagers in the Flin Flon region.
Though the petition has not closed, Powell said that based on his experience collecting signatures and speaking with other canvassers, opposition
to annexation is in the high 90s percentage-wise.
The petition states that all signatories are “strongly opposed to any annexation proceedings or any other similar proceedings with any local government in accordance with the laws of Manitoba.”
Powell anticipates that the document will be forwarded to the Manitoba legislature in time for its fall sitting.
He said a separate petition drive about a year ago also showed an “overwhelming majority” of cottagers against annexation.
That petition was sent to the provincial ministers whose portfolios relate to cottage land and annexation issues, Powell said.
No sense
On a personal level, Powell, a Bakers Narrows resident, said the idea of cottage country becoming part of Flin Flon makes no sense.
“Everybody’s got their own systems out here as far as sewer and water, and we know that the city isn’t going to provide sewer and water,” he said. “The city, in essence, isn’t going to provide anything. They’re not going to put in sidewalks – we would expect they would. Our roads aren’t going to paved. There isn’t going to be snow removal or anything else, so there’s no services that the city can offer to us that we aren’t already paying for through [the government].”
But proponents of annexation have argued that cottagers are essentially Flin Flonners who bear a responsibility to help fund municipal operations.
Powell, who is from Flin Flon, said the argument that cottagers are really Flin Flonners has been overdone.
He said people are proud to say they grew up in Flin Flon, but those who reside at the lake are now being put on the defensive over it.
“I don’t want to say that I’m a Flin Flonner because it’s going to be used against me,” Powell said. “And I think it’s a silly thing to be using this [argument that says], ‘Well, you’re a Flin Flonner so you should be paying money into the city or paying taxes or whatever.’”
Powell said cottage country includes people who grew up in Flin Flon, but now live in Calgary or Edmonton, who return to their cottage for the summer.
“And they’re Flin Flonners?” Powell asked. “I think they’re Calgarians or they’re Edmontonians.”
Made request
City council wrote to the Manitoba government earlier this year asking that cottage subdivisions near Flin Flon be merged with the city in the same way that small southern municipalities have had to unite with neighbouring communities.
But the province says the legislation under which municipalities were amalgamated – The Municipal Amalgamations Act – does not relate to Flin Flon’s request.
That opens the door for council to formally apply for annexation of cottage country, a step Mayor George Fontaine promised if the amalgamation request was declined.
Powell had asked the city for the full text of the letter in which council sought amalgamation, but the majority of council denied him.
“The City is not in a representative capacity with respect to the cottage owners associations,” read the minutes of council’s June 17 committee of the whole meeting, “however, the cottage owners are free to address those government representatives responsible for their area, if desired.”
