PG Sending Large Delegation to UBCM
Tuesday, September 4, 2012 @ 4:46 AM
Prince George, B.C. – It will be a basic road trip for Prince George city council when the Union of BC Municipalities convention is held in the provincial capital later this month.
Eight of the nine members of council will be attending the convention, running from September 24th to 28th at the Victoria Conference Centre. Cameron Stolz is the lone council member who will not be making the trip.
City Hall has been informed that one of three Prince George resolutions submitted for debate at the convention has been approved. The chair of the committee involved, councilor Brian Skakun, says the resolution on Road Rehabilitation and Associated Funding Options was endorsed outright. Skakun says he’s pleased because "it will help us lobby the Province for a share of the provincial gas tax." A Prince George resolution on Federal Gas Tax funding eligibility will not make it to the floor in Victoria.
Issues to be presented at UBCM include the BC Policing Plan, the new 20-year RCMP contract, First Nations participation in regional districts, community destination development and Empowering Citizens Through Data. As well, delegates will be addressed by Opposition leader Adrian Dix, Green Party leader Jane Sterk and, right before the close of the convention, by Premier Christy Clark.
The cost of sending the eight members of City council to Victoria is not clear. Bills will be incurred for transportation, accomodation, food and registrations. Based on the registration claim submitted by councilor Lynn hall at last week’s council meeting, a claim of $739.20, registrations for the entire Prince George delegation would come in at $5920.00. That does not include any of the other expenses.
Meantime, the steering committee of the BC Mayors’ Caucus, formed in the spring to draw attention to municipal funding and resource concerns, will meet separately from UBCM delegates on the 24th to discuss pressing issues facing BC communities. The ten-member committee, which includes Prince George Mayor Shari Green, will be discussing federal plans for a new long term infrastructure program and escalating local government expenses.
Comments
Why are they all going? Isn’t one or two members sufficient? Can’t these people inform one another about the proceedings? This seems like a ridiculous waste of money to me.
” This seems like a ridiculous waste of money to me.”
These people don’t really care about wasting your money. Local politics is just a stepping stone for most of them; they’re just using this as an excuse to widen their network.
“just a stepping stone” ….Skakun for PM? LMFAO
Would love to hear the justifications for all of them going, with the exception of last years top spender.
Head hunting for new city manager?
“”just a stepping stone” ….Skakun for PM? LMFAO”
I dunno; according to some of the pundits around here he’s just a step away from sainthood.
I am convinced that the Prince George delegation will ask the representatives from the other communities why they are NOT spending vast sums of money annually on tap water fluoridation with hydrofluorosilicic acid fluoride. Only three small communities (Ft. St. John, Terrace and Prince George) in B.C. are still needlessly fluororidating their city tap water.
Prince George could easily save one hundred thousand dollars a year by doing what 98% of B.C. is doing already – no more chemical fluoride!
Have a great convention guys – enjoy the fluoride FREE water while you are there!
More wasted money to add to Prince George’s ballooning debt. How soon they forget their promises of efficiency after they are elected.
Hey, PG …. it said in the paper that KPMG recommended that Toronto would save money if they stopped fluoridating the water.
So, if they cut and paste a lot of their report for here, you may be in luck. The question is, will Council act on it.
Toronto fluoridates their water? Might explain a few things… :)
Toronto spends about 7 million bucks a year (needlessly) on tap water fluoridation.
Apparently Toronto Council discussed the KPMG recommendation to consider halting it. The dental profession descended en masse on city council chambers and persuaded (I could use a stronger word) the council to keep fluoridating.
This is always the same scenario. It usually works, except in Calgary and Waterloo recently where inspite of the protestations by the dental know-it-alls council voted to stop it!
It takes an open minded and cautious council to actually EXAMINE the issue independently and to resist the pressure.
Since the dental profession already is in the business of applying fluoride topically to the surface of teeth and since virtually almost all toothpastes already come with fluoride it is a complete and total mystery WHY it insists that city residents DRINK the stuff directly into their bodies, affecting ALL the organs in the body, with nothing at all getting to the surface of teeth!
Remember, you are told by the dental profession not to swallow the tothpaste or the fluoride gel when it is applied to the teeth! If it is so good – why not just swallow it?
Is there some other motive? I don’t know if there is one, whether it is reluctance to admit that decades long support was misguided or whatever!
What is behind the official doctrine to deny 2% of B.C.’s population the right to unmedicated water?
Stop pouring this industrial effluent into the tap water! Save the hundred grand per year, guys! Sleep peacefully with the knowledge that for once you have done the right thing for the people!
This misguided and potentially harmful fluoridation caper seems like a ridiculous waste of money to me, compared to the cost of attending a convention in Victoria.
Whats wrong with teleconferencing ? no need to travel anywhere for meetings now.
How silly of us to think that mayor and council would think of us and our tax dollars..they would rather waste them on useless trips and undeserved raises.
This is my favorite..
Issues to be presented is the 20 year RCMP contract.. How is this an issue ? Didnt the cities read it before they signed it ? THe only issue I see is we are stuck with the contract for 20 years… Okay.. everyone go home now. Conference over.
“Whats wrong with teleconferencing ?”
For those who have attended a conference by physically being there and by the best quality multi-screen teleconferencing facility you would immediately know the difference.
The main purpose of such a get together is about networking. One cannot network very well at a teleconference of such a large event.
In fact, if properly done, a teleconference and a conference really need to be two totally different formats, otherwise it is no different than watching a political convention on TV.
Now, if a person is not one to like to meet people and talk with them even though they are total strangers, well then please don’t waste our money relocating your body to another city because or will come back with very little new information that you could not have read about in the conference proceding records. (assuming they produce such records)
This must be killing Stolz. Someone must have told him by now that Victoria is on the ocean. Fresh lobster….mmmmm
We spent over $200 Million on various and sundry projects over the last 10/15 years,and basically put ourselves in debt for over another $100 Million. So did a lot of other Cities.
Now we go hat in hand to the Federal Government to see if they can bail out with the gas tax or some other scheme. Problem is we are the ones that pay the gas tax, so what are they going to do? Increase the tax.
The people at City Hall are out of touch with reality. They seem to have been struck with the same problem that the Province has. Ie; The inability to govern properly, and to be fiscally responsible.
I suggest people start to think about raising holy hell, if they try and continue to raise our taxes. The gravy train has pulled into the station. All freeloaders should now get off the train.
There is not a thing wrong with teleconferencing if a person wants to network there are means to do that as well. As for the city councilors paying themselves a raise I think it is totally uncalled for. The teachers who are responsable for an overflowing class room however do need a raised as they have a profession that must be improved every so often and they are in a field of work that involves a number of individuals.
Further to my post above the young students are in the learning mode of their lives and need well paid teachers to keep them well schooled.
Gus:””Whats wrong with teleconferencing ?”
Nothing. Apparently Victoria’s tourism numbers are lagging behind projected expectations!
Gus, I have attended numerous conferences, and also have done lots of teleconferencing. Both achieve results.. the big difference is no free rides as in drinks, dinners, shows, travel etc for teleconferencing.
As for networking..yes you can do it via teleconferencing if you want.. or a personal phone call, email etc, which happens after “networking” at a conference anyways. As for you thinking they are two different animals..you are misguided.. both are there for exchanges of ideas, concerns, brainstorming..etc..
Sounds like you are one of the people who have never attended a conference. To bad.. then you would have a better understanding of what you are talking about ;)
Hey PrinceGeorge.. why dont you just get yourself a reverse osmosis unit then all your concerns about flouride will be done with. I have seen numerous posts from you about this so here is the solution for you. Reverse Osmosis is a very simple system to run and removes more undesirables than just flouride.
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