Task Force On Municipal Elections Meets

Saturday, December 05, 2009 03:58 AM

Victoria, B.C.- A task force dedicated to reviewing and making recommendations for B.C.'s local government electoral process has held its first meeting. Co-chairs Bill Bennett, Minister of Community and Rural Development, and Harry Nyce,president of the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM), announced the composition of the Local Government Elections Task Force and the scope of its work.

"The aim of the task force is to improve the fairness, accountability and transparency of the elections process at the local government level," said Bennett. "We're looking forward to working with UBCM to ensure legislative changes work for local governments and all British Columbians."

"The elections task force will provide a forum to review and improve the legislation directing local government elections," said Nyce. "In recent years, B.C. local governments have proposed a number of resolutions to amend the legislation, and we appreciate the Premier's invitation to further explore specific issues related to elections."

On Oct. 2, Premier Gordon Campbell announced that a special joint task force co-chaired by Bennett and Nyce would be making recommendations for changes to local government elections legislation. Two other UBCM designates and two government MLAs were confirmed at meetings on Nov. 27:

* Surrey Councillor Barbara Steele, first vice-president, UBCM.
* Quesnel Mayor Mary Sjostrom, third vice-president, UBCM.
* Donna Barnett, Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA.
* Douglas Horne, Coquitlam-Burke Mountain MLA.

The task force, which met Dec. 3, will review specific issues related to various local government elections topics, including campaign financing, enforcement, the role of B.C.'s chief electoral officer, the election cycle, the corporate vote, candidate eligibility and other items to be mutually agreed upon.

The task force recognizes the importance of seeking feedback from a diverse range of stakeholders and will invite input from local governments, representative groups and the public on topics under review.

The recommendations of the task force are to be presented to the Province no later than May 30, 2010, in time for approved legislative changes to be implemented for the 2011 local government elections.

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Posted on Saturday, December 05, 2009 03:58 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: charles on December 5 2009 8:16 AM

I would like to see a recall process for municipal politicians put into place. The following link describes the recall legislation we currently have for provincial mla's in B.C. I think the same legislation should be put in place for municipal politicians.

http://www.elections.bc.ca/index.php/referenda-recall-initiative/

There are profound changes coming for all of us as a result of the bursting of the largest credit bubble in the history of the world.

The average taxpayer needs to ensure their tax dollars are spent on their needs, rather than on the needs of all of the special interest groups which are currently "feeding" off us.

Posted by: Eagleone on December 5 2009 9:11 AM

'corporate vote' says it all about what this is about. Read foreign interest vote like Pat Bells potential pulp mill candidates in China.....

I feel that only residents of the city or municipality should have a vote... no vote based on property ownership. For this reason municipalities should not be funded by property taxes, but rather by consumption taxes like the PST collected locally in the municipalities.

Of course with HST we wouldn't have the provincial sovereignty to try that option... our tax laws would be set in Ottawa by Eastern Canadian politicians and our municipalities will be elected by sovereign wealth funds that own our industry.

Also these initiatives are usually the question setter for the 'answer' and the 'answer' will most likely involve greater election 'efficiencies' with electronic voting machines that have no proper paper tracking record to protect against data fraud.

Time Will Tell