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Previous ward boundary reviews have referenced Ottawa as Canada’s only “truly regional city.” They might get an argument from other municipalities on that one. But the point is, we did learn to make an imposed amalgamation work without completely destroying the unique qualities of a dozen former municipalities that once governed themselves.

Photo by Tony Caldwell / Postmedia

Yes, we differ greatly from Toronto in other ways too, and it should the objective of the next Ottawa city council to ensure the future structure of municipal governance here reflects this fact through sensible reforms.

Or, again, we could leave it to others to do it for us.

And, in a nutshell, here’s what that might look like: If Ford adopted the same approach to Ottawa’s city government that he is now applying to Toronto (reducing the number of councillors from 47 to 25), future Ottawa city council meetings could be held in a mini bus.

Imagine an Ottawa that, pre-amalgamation, employed nearly 100 city councillors who answered constituents’ complaints, attended community association meetings, knocked on doors and who got to know their constituents often by their first names, reduced to a governance model of perhaps fewer than 10 elected representatives.

That has to worry just about everyone around the council table, but especially the current crop of rural councillors, who already fear their declining influence in a city where growth is largely in the ‘burbs. They would likely see their influence all but disappear in a city with less than a dozen councillors.