Politics in Cambridge divisive, sour
Some residents feel ignored and bullied by Kitchener and Waterloo
CAMBRIDGE — Mayor Kathryn McGarry hoped to bring more harmony into Cambridge politics after her 2018 election.
“I am disappointed that I haven’t seen as much change for the better as I wanted to see,” she said.
McGarry cites three factors to explain longtime political discord in Cambridge.
The forced 1973 merger of Galt, Preston and Hespeler by the province created an “us versus them” mentality that persists among former components of the merged city.
Former mayor Doug Craig aggravated ‘us versus them’ divisions by posturing against regional government over two decades.
Residents use social media to spread misinformation and further promote division.
“With an angry mob in a closed Facebook group that does not have accurate information or believe accurate information, that sets a dynamic that continues to blame a city council or a mayor for things that aren’t their responsibility,” McGarry said.
“I think the citizens of Cambridge really need to look to their own way of communicating, and to also get out of the closed Facebook groups that tend to be an echo chamber.”
Craig concurs that the 1973 amalgamation led to lingering discord, and that residents aggravate divisions by their use of social media.
“There’s a bitterness still among the former communities that still surfaces. And there’s a lot of online websites and arguments which are much more negative than you find in Kitchener-Waterloo,” said Craig, who was unseated by McGarry in 2018.
He disagrees that his posture against regional government aggravated divisions. “Realistically, Cambridge right now has not done well in the region in terms of service levels. And it’s easy to blame somebody out of office,” Craig said.
Cambridge residents provided sour commentary about city politics in 2019 when the Ontario government asked them what they might change about local government.
People complained about high costs for rail transit that Cambridge does not receive, paralysis over a proposed recreation complex, controversy over a proposed site to supervise drug consumption, unequal political representation at the regional table, and lingering trauma over the forced 1973 amalgamation.
After surveying residents on municipal reform, the government changed nothing. It withheld names in releasing 1,052 survey responses from residents of this region.
“We have nothing in Cambridge, we lost our courthouse, we have no passport offices and need to go to Kitchener for everything we used to do in our own town,” one resident complained to the province. “Cambridge is a forgotten city within this region with little or no voice.”
Survey respondents repeatedly likened Cambridge to a mistreated cousin.
“I have resided in Cambridge all of my life and it seems that Cambridge is always the poor cousin in this regional set up,” wrote a municipal employee who lives in Cambridge.
Another resident declared: “Tell people from Kitchener and Waterloo you live in Cambridge and they smirk and snigger because they know they’ve got it much better than the residents of Cambridge do and that it’s always going to be that way. Cambridge is the cousin you keep hidden in the closet and don’t talk about.”
Another resident complained that Waterloo gets more benefits and flies under the radar while hard decisions fall onto Cambridge.
—“We have a decades old tricity position in Waterloo Region that treats Cambridge as the third cousin.”
Residents feel bullied by Kitchener and Waterloo and critics see regional government as a way for Cambridge to be regularly outmuscled.
“Whatever Kitchener and Waterloo decide gets forced on Cambridge even if the Cambridge representatives disagree,” one resident wrote.
Another resident told the province: “Many regional decisions place Cambridge priorities last or close to last. Kitchener and Waterloo representatives team up and Cambridge loses.”
Another resident wrote: “Our city is ignored enough as it is by both the provincial and the regional government like taking our courthouses away from us. It’s utterly insane that you have to travel 11 miles to pay a ticket in a city of 130,000 people where we are not treated as the second-largest city in the region but a hick town. Cambridge residents demand respect.”
A business owner who lives in Cambridge wrote: “Regional dollars seem to be invested with an eye toward those communities north of the 401 — namely Kitchener and Waterloo ... This city never got over the first amalgamation of Preston, Hespeler and Galt so the city and the services provided always seem so fragmented.”
Sour politics in Cambridge spook some people who live outside the city.
“Merging Cambridge with anyone will be a disaster,” a Kitchener resident and business owner warned the province. “They still have not gotten over the ... amalgamation of Preston, Galt and Hespeler.”
Another Kitchener resident wrote: “Kitchener and Waterloo are very strong. Cambridge seems paralyzed by divisions.”
A Kitchener resident wrote that “Kitchener and Waterloo do all right. Cambridge seems way out of tune.”
A Waterloo resident warned that “Cambridge tends to drag their feet and pout about being the other child in the family ... but I believe with their new leadership they’ll be more amenable to being part of the family.”
A Waterloo resident who owns a business pleaded with the province to merge all municipalities except Cambridge.
“They have never wanted to be associated with the municipalities north of the 401,” the resident wrote. “Many people in the other municipalities are tired of their complaining and desire for special status. Perhaps Cambridge would be happier amalgamated with Hamilton.”
One Kitchener resident was baffled by the protracted Cambridge debate over a proposed recreation complex. “Cambridge seems to be a bit of a disaster,” the resident wrote. “They seem to be unable to work with others.”
Politicians outside Cambridge see its discord as a cautionary tale against amalgamation.
“To see something forced upon the community would really be unhealthy,” Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic said, citing the 1973 merger that created Cambridge.
Waterloo Mayor Dave Jaworsky worked in Cambridge for a decade.
“Galt, Preston, Hespeler, each had a very, very strong history as peers. Their identities have stood the test of time, since amalgamation,” he said.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that things are somewhat different down there, politically,” Kitchener regional Coun. Tom Galloway said.
He figures politicians in Cambridge deploy division as a political tool more often than others in the region.
“We’ve seen that south of the border too,” he said, referring to U.S. politics.
McGarry recalls that just a few weeks after she was elected mayor, two city councillors complained about the time she was spending in regional meetings.
She told them she is a regional councillor, that 60 per cent of services provided to Cambridge residents are regional, and that she needs to be at the regional table to press concerns that Cambridge does not get its fair share.
“I had to fight my own council in order to show why I needed to be as involved in the region for our services as possible,” she said.