Residents of Pictou County have voted against amalgamating three towns and the county into one municipality with two thirds of voters turning down the merger.

Saturday's plebiscite was the first time in the province residents were able to weigh in through a plebiscite on a local amalgamation.

In total, 16,707 ballots were cast, with one third of all eligible voters coming out early at advanced polls or in electronic voting. Of that number, 11,069 or 66 per cent voted no.

Brian White, chair of the Amalgamation No Thank You group, said he was pleased with the outcome, but also surprised by the overwhelming no vote.

Contentious debate

"We expected there to be a no vote in the county and in Stellarton, but certainly not the size of the no vote that is was," he said.

"Pictou, we were not sure, we thought it would be relatively close and New Glasgow, the results pretty much reflected what we expected."

The plebiscite caps a contentious debate on whether to amalgamate the towns of Pictou, Stellarton, New Glasgow and the County of Pictou.

Their councils signed a memorandum of understanding to merge four of Pictou County's six municipalities. The towns of Trenton and Westville refused to take part in the process.

'Made in Pictou County solution'

White said it's time for both sides to move on.

"I think what we need to do is keep the energy that's gone into this, get together and try and find a made in Pictou County solution," he said.

When the voting results are broken down by towns, New Glasgow residents were the only ones to vote for amalgamation, with 66 per cent voting yes.

Jack Kyte, executive director with the Pictou County Chamber of Commerce said the results were disappointing.

"Particularly from an economic development point of view where we were excited about all working together as one unit to promote investment attraction," he said.

Jack Kyte is executive director of the Pictou County Chamber of Commerce. (www.pictouchamber.com)

Time to reflect

Kyte said the best thing the yes side can do now is take a hard look at why the vote turned out the way it did.

"Those of us on the pro-amalgamation side were so excited about the possibilities it would give to us, yet to have it turned down in this fashion, I think we have to step back and say 'what went wrong?'"

He pointed to a couple of theories why the yes side lost. He said there is usually little interest in municipal politics, so when a big issue like amalgamation comes up, it can be overwhelming.

'Reasonably well off'

"Saying no for the status quo is the safest way," he said.

With Michelin, Northern Pulp and the Sobeys head office all in Pictou County, people are "reasonably well off" and "not down and out," Kyte said. He said that was also a contributing factor to the no vote.

White doesn't close door completely on the concept of amalgamation.

"A lot of it would depend on what the citizens want to accomplish, and then finding the best way to do it and it could very well involve some form of amalgamation," he said.

"There are a number of different alternatives that could be looked at."