Merger ManiaOutside the United States, forced municipal mergers were a popular policy in many European countries and Canadian provinces during the 1960s and 1970s. The city of Laval, just north of Montreal, and the "unicity" of Winnipeg owe their origins to this period both amalgamations failed to meet their original objectives. Despite the emergence of "public choice" theory which justifies municipal fragmentation on market principles some politicians and public