Council to Ponder Resolutions on Poverty, Pot and Potatoes
Prince George, B.C.- Council for the City of Prince George will be asked to endorse three resolutions for submission to the Union of B.C. Municipalities.
One calls on the Province to develop a poverty reduction strategy. The resolution notes the poverty rate in BC is among the highest in Canada “yet BC is the last province in Canada to have a commitment to a poverty reduction plan” and that poverty has an impact on local residents who carry the burden through a number of things, such as higher crime, increased health care costs and a higher demand for social services.
The resolution calls for a “comprehensive and accountable provincial poverty reduction strategy” that sets concrete targets and timelines.
The second resolution deals with a call for a piece of any marijuana tax which may be imposed by the Federal Government. The resolution calls for the UBCM to “urge the Government of BC to request the Federal Government include local government as part of the marijuana taxation equation through the establishment of a Federal Marijuana Tax that would provide revenue that would be shared with municipalities across the province.”
The third resolution calls for the Province to provide support throughout BC for those who would like to be farmers.
Also on the agenda, Council will hear and debate the notice of motion from Councillor Brian Skakun. He would like to see if a bylaw could be drafted that would be aimed at recovering costs for repeated response by RCMP and bylaw officers to attend properties for nuisance calls.
Council will be asked by the World Baseball Challenge to donate about $20 thousand dollars for bleacher rentals for the August event and will hear an update from the Heritage Commission on Heritage properties in the City.
Comments
Mo kidding BC needs a Poverty Reductuion Plan, currently we are the only province in Canada that does not have one… no thanks to the Christy Clark government!!!
“No” kidding… yeesh, this site needs an edit function for our comments.
$50 million plus in salaries and benefits (and constantly growing!) to the city workforce. At this rate, Joe Taxpayer will be all to familiar with poverty.
I agree axman. When you consider the salaries and benefits that we pay to civil servants, managers, and those is Government entities it becomes pretty obvious where our tax dollars go.
But you guys would be the first to complain about pot holes and snow removal if the working staff was cut!
I’m curious. Just what would be in a “Poverty Reduction Plan” that would be different from any of the things anyone poor would be told what to do to reduce their poverty now?
Here is an off the wall suggestion:
The City heads a Co-op for pot production, all the unemployed or under paid people can grow dope under municipal license to sell to the Co-op. The Co-op supplies the medical marijuana needs for Northern Health. The “farmers” get a fair price for their crop, the Co-op gets a commission to roll back into civic revenue.
Better idea than having 1 or 2 industrial tycoons monopolizing the pot production, paying crap wages and keeping the profits to themselves?
Huh the city wants tax money from pot? Why didn’t the legal medical marijuana distribution business get approval in PG?
Gangsters used to make their money on drugs, alcohol, gambling, and prostitution. The various Governments are now in the drugs, alcohol, and gambling, business. What’s next.??
Seems these are illegal activities until the Government gets into the game, and then it becomes legal. So the law may change, but does the activity change. In other words is it still morally wrong even though it is now legal???
That’s a good point, Palopu. Governments now seem to be consistently cash strapped, and it must have dawned on them that their ability to continually raise more through taxes is limited by the effects paying those greater amounts have on the affordability of all the other things governments DON’T provide for us.
So, instead of really looking closely at this whole issue, they enter the former ‘vice’ businesses. Or try to run agencies like WorkSafe or the BC Safety Authority, et al, as ‘profit centres’ first and foremost, and service providers somewhere down the line.
This is really false economy. There really is no actual ‘profit’ in purveying alcohol, or marijuana, or getting a rake off from casinos and other gambling. The actual negative societal costs will invariably outweigh what’s gleaned off the top in extra revenues.
The world revolves around big business…including governments.. It’s all about gouging Joe average for profit.
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