Mayors Huddle in Penticton a First
Wednesday, May 9, 2012 @ 4:00 AM
Prince George, B.C.- Mayors from 86 communities throughout B.C.. will gather in Penticton May 16th to 18th for the first meeting of its kind in B.C.
The Mayors are huddling to share common concerns brought on by the downloading of services from senior levels of government and to examine the common opportunities for development. (see previous story)
Although Opinion250 did request an interview with Prince George Mayor Shari Green, who will be attending this event, she refused to be interviewed by Opinion 250.
Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts was eager to speak about the gathering.
“I think part of it is just to redefine the relationship between the Province and Federal Government” says Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts “We need to streamline things, we need to have partnership in communication and public policy, we need to be at the table, because if there is a change in public policy at the federal level or the provincial level, we see it played out on the streets and we have to deal with it, not only within the community but budgetary wise as well.”
One of the most recent examples of how changes in policy from senior levels of government can impact communities, came to the forefront following the latest RCMP contract. Municipalities had long argued that they needed to be consulted about changes because many communities (including Prince George) are responsible for 90% of the policing bill in their community. Salary increases or new standards for equipment can result in millions of dollars being added to that bill.
Mayor Watts says municipalities must balance their budgets, and with the new office of the Municipal Auditor “We would like to see an expansion of the mandate to include looking at the impact that downloading and other public policy pieces have been put on local government.”
Prince Rupert Mayor, Jack Mussallem says it will be interesting to hear what other community leaders have to say “But one of the themes we all have in common is we’ve been asked to accept more responsibility in regards to services, or facilities, or functions and this has come in part from the provincial government and in part from the federal government.” He says Prince Rupert has concerns with some of the various initiatives that are proceeding “Some are infrastructure based, some are community programming based and as a result, we’re there ( at the Penticton meeting)to contribute to listen and to hear generally what the concerns are.”
Mayor Mussellam says he expects the Mayor’s Caucus to provide “some unity throughout the province”.
Local government in B.C. has a voice with the Union of B.C. Municipalities, and there is the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, but Mayor Dianne Watts says this BC Mayors Caucus should not be viewed as a sign communities are displeased or think those organizations are ineffective “Not at all, if you look at another organization, the Big Cities Mayors Caucus, that works in conjunction with the FCM. So there is absolutely a seat at the table for the UBCM and its working jointly together. The Atlantic Mayors conference has just wrapped up, the U.S. Mayors conference is underway in the States, so this is not an unusual thing to occur. I think its really important to work with our partners at UBCM and the FCM, most definitely.”
She says she thinks the tipping point for B.C. Mayors is that “there are public policy reviews going on that impact us greatly that we are not at the table with any type of conversation.”
Watts says the second piece of this BC Caucus session is to look at potential for economic development “The strength of the Province’s economic development lies in the communities, and we want to see what opportunities may be available to move us forward.”
Comments
I don’t think Shirley Bond will show up for a photo op, a first ! Sorry not usually so negative but given the burden shift, the tax revenue should flow to the cities. If government at one level is not going to provide the services, cut the Managers / Politicians and pass the money on down who is doing the job.
Tax revenue already flows to the cities.
Just drive down through the lower mainland and it makes you all warm and fuzzy seeing the massive construction projects that have been going on non stop for years. All on the backs of the rest of BC taxpayers.
The rest of the BC taxpayers are actually a small number Dragonmaster. So most of the incomes earned in the province are down there.
Given that Vancouver, Kelowna, and Victoria has some of the highest real estate values in the country, it only makes sense that the Fed/Prov should be developing the rest of the Province.
So let’s be real, it’s not like the people in the lower mainland are bums and we make all the money and they take it from us.
One hard thing for “the rest of BC taxpayers” to overcome is there is a lot of money that residents earn here and it leaves our communities. All those shopping trips to Alberta or Vancouver and all those vacations to warmer climates.
It’s too bad that money doesn’t get re-invested in our communities to make the wheels go round!!!
Although Opinion250 did request an interview with Prince George Mayor Shari Green, who will be attending this event, she refused to be interviewed by Opinion 250.
Mayor Shari Green is nowhere near the calibre of Mayor Dianne Watts, certainly not in ideology or in leadership style. Too bad she will not agree to be interviewed by Opinion 250. Opinion 250 is a very successful media site and one where many go to get the most up-to-date news in PG and Northern BC.
The downloading of costs from the senior levels of Government to Municipalities has been going on for some time. The Municipalities, (especially Pr George) play a part in this downloading.
A good example of this would be the dike on River Road. The City applied for a grant to build a dike on River Road, and as a result they were required to pay 1/3 of the cost. Ie; $3.5 million which they would have to borrow, and $2.75 Million from our land reserve fund. Now considering that the responsibility for flooding lies with the Provincial Government why would we get ourselves into this situation?? Once in, we then become responsible for maintenance costs of the dike. So this is a good example of downloading costs, however it was caused by the City making application for the grant.
Insofar as the cost of policing goes. What has the City done in the last 10 years to get the Federal/Provincial Governments to reduce the amount of money we pay from policing from 90% to say 80%. This would be a good way to reduce our costs, and Cities should be after the Governments to do this.
What about the huge area some Cities (especially Pr George) have to look after for Roads, Sewer, Garbage,Snow Removal etc; We were effectively conned into taking over a huge area that should in all probability belong to the Regional District, and be looked after by the Provincial Government.
Our zeal to amalgamate in the 60’s, and the forcast of the City reaching a population of 200,000 by the year 2000 never happened, (and never will) however we are stuck with the huge cost of servicing this area, while at the same time our population is remaining static, or decreasing and our tax base is not increasing. This is a recipe for us going bankrupt, and if the City, Mayor, and Council cannot see the writing on the wall, then they have a serious problem.
Making **willy nilly** statements that Prince George will grow in the future, should be substantiated with facts, if there are no facts to support the conjecture, then we need to plan on the basis of reality.
The reality is, is that we are much to big a land mass, for the population to support. I doubt if the Province would want to take back those areas that were almalgamated in the 60’s, however they have a responsibility to help us serve these areas in a meaningful way.
Now is the time for all are elected representatives to show that they have our interests at heart, and that they are willing to do something meaningful for this area. We may never again get a situation where we have representation in both levels of Government ie; Two MP’s at the Federal level. Two MLA’s (Cabinet Ministers) at the Provincial level,. and a newly elected Council that sorely needs to show that they have the ability to solve these huge problems.
Time for our Politicians to get away from the glad handing, photo ops, good news announcements, wasteful spending, and do something that will help all citizens in this area for years to come.
The Wealth of this Province is generated North of Hope, if we turn Power and Gas off up here, the South will get cold and dark, if the Saw Mills stop working where will the Taxes come from? To much is made of Real Estate down South.
Well Pal you said it all.
I can still hear the former Mayor Rogers say, ” I have a Dream for PG” And it just does not seem to go away. These people that are elected get all stary eyed . They need to look after the infrastructure of our community ans stop trying to drive the economy
They go to senior levels of government for airy fairy ideas to be funded and forget about what there real job is. And policing costs are a good example that they should be talkingm about. Recently they are getting involved in social services that are another provincial responsobility.
What we really need is a citizens group to monitor their supidity.
Cheers
Palopu wrote: “Now considering that the responsibility for flooding lies with the Provincial Government why would we get ourselves into this situation??”
Maybe because it actually does not entirely lie with the provincial government from the point of view of cost?
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wsd/public_safety/flood/brochur2.html
from that provincial site comes the following information:
Who is Responsible for the Operation and Maintenance of Existing Dikes?
⢠Local Authorities
Currently, there are approximately 120 local authorities, diking districts, MUNICIPALITIES, crown corporations and senior government departments who own and operate public diking systems in British Columbia.
Under common law and in accordance with pertinent legislation and/or agreements, responsibility for operation and maintenance (including inspection and emergency response) is vested with these organizations.
⢠Provincial Dikes
There are over 20 flood protection systems which do not have a responsible local authority. Inspection of these dikes is presently the responsibility of the Deputy Inspector of Dikes.
“To much is made of Real Estate down South.”
Guess what Outwest. Where do you think countries that do not have gas, oil, forests, copper, etc. etc. to provide them with wealth get their wealth from?
Wealth comes from people. You have people who are inventive and industrious they will first of all decide what constitutes “wealth” for them and then they will strive to achieve tht wealth.
If the people who inhabit the part of the province that constitutes the old hewers of wood and water mindset and only that mindset, and they are stupid enough to cut another part of the province off, there is a province just next to us which is interested in selling what the lower mainland wants.
For those who do not understand the wealth generated by the most populous parts of this province and this country, you are not helping to increase the wealth creating capacity. You are simply sitting by resting on your nature given nest egg and spending it without replenishing it.
Others in the world are adding value to it and selling it back to you through profit making ventures you are not capable of participating in other than at the primary level.
A simple example
1. primary resource value = $100 (that’s us)
2. resource + primary manufacture = $200 (some of that is us)
3. resource + primary manufacture + secondary manufacture = $400 (hardly any is us)
4. resource + primary manufacture + secondary manufacture + distribution and sale to final customer = $800 …. (very small portion of that is us)
A bit simplified, no doubt, but it shows how a resource is the start of the value added chain, but the subsequent products, after complex and ever improving industrial processes, add more value to the original feedstock than the resource feedstock will ever be able to contribute to the community which is in the feedstock extraction business. In fact, most of those communities, (oil and gas being the exception) can be some of the poorest communities in the world.
“Mayor Mussellam says he expects the Mayorâs Caucus to provide âsome unity throughout the provinceâ.”
How about some Equality throughout the province? 98% of the province’s population is artificial fluoride addition free, regardless of what the concentration of naturally occurring fluoride is.
Equality would require that the 2% of the population which are still being fed hydrofluorosilicic acid fluoride with their tap water (Terrace, Fort St. John and Prince George) have this unequal treatment discontinued.
This tiny minority is not asking for anything special except that what the majority is already enjoying.
Surely 100 thousand people out of 4.4 million shouldn’t be ignored?
Refusing to be interviewed by Opinion 250 is a stupid and potentialy damaging decission by Ms. Green.
I have to ask – what do you have to hide Ms. Green? Or are you afraid of the questions that might be asked that would require you to tell the truth? Or are you afraid you might be asked to justify the hireing of your expensive assistant? Or maybe you might be asked to justify your raise in pay in light of the so called lack of money to fix our roads, etc, etc.
If I’m wrong on this next statement I would welcome being corrected – I believe it was Ben Meisner on his old show a number of years ago that said that in recent years people get into politics for one reason only, THE MONEY! The money, the benifits, the expence accounts etc.
We see this in all levels of government, where politicians do not listen to the people that elect them, they spend money they shouldn’t spend on things they shouldn’t spend it on, and basicaly become dictators.
Ms. Green and some of her council members sure bare this out.
IMO, this is just another junket on taxpayers expense for some Mayors who want to boast their own image.
If I read this story correctly, it seems important issues are already raised each year during the UBCM by all locally elected officials.
I am sure the few thousand bucks in travel expenses by the Mayor to get there and back could be used for better things like filling another pothole or two.
At least Penticton is closer (and cheaper to get to) than Ottawa where I heard she flew out and back earlier this year just to attend a cocktail party and pick up some award the City won. She seems to like to travel on our expense.
It is tough to tighten the belt when you are feeding off the public trough so much.
She is NOT a mayor but a Dictator who will bleed the City dry and prop up her friends with allowing Hotels and condos to be built and then will dissapear when citizens want answers!
We are talking about this Place , not Europe or Asia, some have a highly trained Workforce, do we ?
Gus. If you read my post you would see that I stated.
**The responsibility for flooding** Your references are to the responsibility for dikes. As yet we do not have a dike, and therefore we do not have the responsibility.
The Provincial Government is responsible for flooding, and for the costs associated with it. As an example the cost of the 2007/2008 flood was paid for by the Province. I am not aware of any money paid out by the City. They just arranged to have the work done.
Once we build the dike then we would become responsible for the maintenance, etc; which is probably what the Province would like to see. We do not need to become a diking authority, with the attendent responsibility, especially if the chance of a flood like that of 2007/2008 happens once or twice every 90 years.
I thought that this is what they did at the UBCM (Union of BC Municipalities)? Oh well, no money for local needs, and a long weekend in Penticton. Can’t wait to see the pictures.
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