Former B.C. premier says Metro Vancouver should be merged to 6 to 8 municipalities – BC [Video]

As the Metro Vancouver Regional District faces ongoing scrutiny in the wake of a scathing report on its governance structure, one of the elder statesmen of British Columbia politics is throwing out a radical solution.

“I think we should go down to six to eight municipalities from 22-plus that we have now,” said Mike Harcourt.

Harcourt served as B.C. premier from 1991 to 1996, and as mayor of Vancouver from 1980 to 1986,  experience he believes gives him insight into the regional government’s current woes.

He said with the Lower Mainland’s population closing in on 3 million, it’s time to rethink the way the region is managed.

“(We should have) a regional police force, and I think we should look at the fact that some mayors are earning more than the prime minister and the premier are,” he said.

“So there’s a lot of issues like that, and it’s time to have a fresh …