Prince George, B.C. – Delegates to the Union of BC Municipalities gather in Whistler today for the start of the annual UBCM convention.

There are 139 resolutions to be dealt with, including one from the Regional District of Fraser Fort George which calls for  rural areas to be  given the same  recycling  service  offered to urban areas under the MMBC mandate.

That resolution  is  one of 6 in the “A” category which means  it has a priority status and will be put before the  membership because  it is either  a new priority issue or  has a broad  application for all UBCM members.

The City of Prince George has two resolutions that  are in the “B” category, which means they are resolutions which will not automatically be entered for debate but may be brought to the Convention floor with the approval of the delegates after all resolutions in Section A have been dealt with.

One of the Prince George resolutions calls for action on the sexual exploitation of children and youth. It calls for the Province to  identify the issue as a priority and to “reinstate long term, dedicated funding for communities throughout the province to develop and maintain services for sexually exploited children and youth.”

The other Prince George resolution calls for a national strategy to address the issue of affordable  rental housing in the country.  This particular resolution is also endorsed by the communities of Richmond, Burnaby and Port Moody.

The City of Prince George did endorse a resolution calling on the Province to  make some changes to ensure the Westray Amendments to the Criminal Code  were being  applied and adhered to in the  case of  worker death on the job.  The resolution appears in the  UBCM package as one put forth by Port Alberni.  It is  number B127 in the resolutions book,  and it may  not make it to the floor for discussion as it  is  so far down on the list of  resolutions.  You may recall the  resolution calls for the provincial government, specifically the Attorney General and the Minister of Labour, to ensure that:

• Crown attorneys are educated, trained and directed to apply the Westray amendments;
• dedicated prosecutors are given the responsibility for health and safety fatalities;
• police are educated, trained and directed to apply the Westray amendments; and
• there is greater coordination among regulators, police and Crown attorneys so that health and safety regulators are trained to reach out to police when there is a possibility that Westray amendment charges are warranted.

The week long convention will include sessions on a variety of topics,  meetings with Provincial Ministers, and wrap with  the  address from the Premier on Friday.