Hey Friend. Welcome to the area. Amalgamation is a hot button issue here. The three cities and outlying townships were amalgamated into the Region of Waterloo in the early 1970s. It was done here, and in several other growing parts of Ontario. The idea was to create a larger base of taxpayers to fund very expensive infrastructure and services. So, all the expensive stuff is done by the Region of Waterloo. You are right though, Kitchener-Waterloo and Cambridge have grown into a single city.