The head of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce is pushing the provincial government to help strengthen the capital region, saying the city and surrounding communities could work better.

Edmonton Chamber of Commerce President and CEO James Cumming brought the idea up during a ‘Housing Futures’ conference Wednesday.

Cumming said Edmonton and neighbours need to work together to strengthen the region, and he didn’t rule out the idea of making Edmonton and the surrounding cities and communities a ‘super city’.

“From our point of view, the region operating as all these separate entities within our population base of 1.2 million hasn’t been effective,” Cumming said. “It’s resulted in planning issues and infrastructure issues.

“We’d like to see a model which is much more collaborative and actually positions the Edmonton region well in the future.”

However, the news came as a surprise to the Chair of the Capital Region’s board, St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse.

“To talk amalgamation is off the table totally,” Crouse responded, saying the concept goes against the province’s mandate for communities to work together.

“An individual can speak, but they’re not going to speak on behalf of the region, nor are they going to speak on behalf of the board,” Crouse said.

Crouse pointed to Toronto as an example, the city and surrounding cities amalgamated in 1998 – he said that example has proven bigger is not necessarily better.

“The Toronto model has proven that costs rise as bigger governments emerge, so what happens if you can stay small and autonomous, it may come across that you are not working together on some issue and you may not be,” Crouse said. “But smaller governments can deal with their local constituents’ needs.”

Cumming said the Chamber of Commerce had come up with policy – he said the chamber is planning to suggest the province take a look at the concept, saying it has potential.

Crouse, on the other hand, said the idea should go before the regional board.

“His opinion, if he’s studied it a lot, and if he understands what he’s dealing with, perhaps he should present it to the Capital Region Board.”

With files from Ashley Molnar