North Central Municipal Conference Starts Today

Wednesday, May 07, 2008 03:59 AM

Prince George, B.C. – The North Central Municipal Association’s annual conference gets underway in Prince George today. This real work gets underway tomorrow when delegates will debate and accept or reject a number of resolutions.

Of the 36 resolutions on the agenda, 7 call on the Provincial Government to either reduce the carbon tax for resource based, rural and northern communities, or offer the taxpayers in those areas a tax incentive that will “level the playing field.”

The resolutions say that unlike their lower mainland and more urban counterparts, there are few transportation alternatives in rural and northern B.C. and suggestions that people take a bus, carpool or ride a bike to work don’t make sense outside the context of the lower mainland.

Also up for discussion are resolutions about the fiscal imbalance, noting provincial and federal governments are seeing surpluses, but municipalities are falling further behind because they are being called upon to provide more and more services that should be provided by more senior levels of government.

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Posted on Wednesday, May 07, 2008 03:59 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on May 7 2008 7:49 AM

Ya, can't afford to build a playhouse for the opera when the municipal money has to be spent on roads, water and sewer!

Posted by: metalman on May 7 2008 11:27 AM

The courses on offer at this years' conference?
Dithering 101, with an option to upgrade to 'build your administration top heavy'
and the always popular' 'Announcements'
and 'when to call in the experts'
This year, they are overbooked for 'cover your behind, and how to apportion blame' but will likely have a second presentation.
metalman.

Posted by: diplomat on May 7 2008 1:58 PM

Actually, I like the agenda and wish they would have included a few more items. By what means, for instance, can a school avoid paying the carbon tax on its heating fuels out of the school budget if the government doesn't supply the funding for solar panels, wind turbines and/or geothermal conversion?

Also, how do other municipalities repair pot holes properly (or not repair properly like in P.G.'s case) using what methods?

I sure would like to be a fly on the wall and listen in on the topics being discussed and what the opinions of others are! I already know what the methods of those are who presently running P.G.

Posted by: Harbinger on May 8 2008 9:07 AM

Remember the old commercial where this Eskimo guy was standing eating a bag of potato chips? Along side him was his friend. The Eskimo with the chips said to him, "If I give you a chip, I will have to give everybody a chip". And so it goes. No one is going to escape this carbon tax. But then again, the government in Victoria can slip a few more bucks into one pocket of the school board and just reach into another pocket and take it out again. Big shell game. Maybe the schools cn convert to coal fieed heating. Each kid has to bring a piece of coal to school everyday. That would be more fair. If yer a kid and yer sick and have to take a day or two off from school, they don't need your coal to keep you warm cause your not there. Brilliant, eh? Logical too!