Skip to main content

“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

STEVE FORSETH -- Electoral Areas need provincial/federal infrastructure grant programs that don’t force Electoral Areas to compete against bigger communities

This past Saturday – Saanich North and the Islands MLA Adam Olsen wrote in this blog about getting on with a fiscal framework for BC’s Local Governments -- which has been discussed for many years with Provincial Governments of different political stripes (Socreds, NDP, BC Liberals) however I want to look at this from an Electoral Area point of view…

There are 155 Electoral Areas in BC today (these Electoral Areas were created in 1965 along with the corresponding Regional District – 27 in BC today) each with 1 representative from each of these Electoral Areas.  And in of these Electoral Areas, there are quite a few unincorporated communities whose local government is the nearby Regional District. 

Electoral Areas can have total population ranging from 400 in the Hixon area (Regional District of Fraser-Fort George, Electoral Area ‘E’) to as much as 8,000 in the South Shuswap (Columbia Shuswap Regional District, Electoral Area ‘C’).  Each unincorporated community is unique in their own way and have distinct needs and it is up to the Electoral Area Director to advocate for those unincorporated communities in his/her Electoral Area at the local Regional District board table

For many years – Regional Districts’ have pleaded with both provincial/federal governments that their infrastructure grant programs are not designed to meet the very unique water/sewer and other community infrastructure needs in Electoral Areas and their unincorporated community needs. 

For example -- $10 million water system program, the Provincial/Federal governments might cover as much as $5 million of the costs (if the local Regional District is awarded a grant covering this cost) with the remainder being borne by local taxpayers (typically in the $2-4 million).  

These Electoral Areas typically can have many seniors’ have residing within them and have fixed incomes and any reasonable-minded Area Director is not going to commit a huge cost onto their small unincorporated community tax base for a basic service, even when it is very worthy…

What Electoral Areas really need is provincial/federal infrastructure grant programs that don’t force Electoral Areas to compete against bigger communities like towns/cities, with bigger populations, who have same infrastructure challenges but “bigger vote bases” to choose from. 

We also need the provincial/federal governments to share the “scorecards” to see why a particular infrastructure grant application failed so the Regional District can improve their next grant application

If we can have infrastructure grant programs designed for the different types of local governments in BC (Electoral Areas & Municipal Councils’) – I believe the goal outlined by MLA Olsen around having a robust fiscal toolbox for local governments, both Regional Districts’ and Municipal Councils’ to do their important work they do for their respective residents’, can be met.

 

Steve Forseth is a 2nd term Cariboo Regional District Electoral Area ‘D’ Director representing Commodore Heights – McLeese Lake on the Cariboo Regional District Board of Directors’.

He was recently was elected to the position of 2nd Vice President of the North Central Local Government Association for a 1-year term

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nurses Take Job Action After Years of NDP Neglect

Image Credit:  BC Nurses Union BC nurses have reached a breaking point after years of unsafe conditions, rising violence in the workplace and a government that wouldn’t listen. Now they are on the picket line fighting to be heard. Last week, nurses began job action with a 72-hour strike notice, refusing non-essential overtime and stepping back from non-nursing duties. As of Tuesday, they have escalated to picket lines for the first time in decades. This moment was avoidable. It is the result of years of unanswered concerns from the frontline workers who keep our hospitals running. Nurses have been raising the same concerns for years: unsafe staffing levels, rising violence on the job, and a workload no single person should have to carry. None of it is new, and none of it should have taken a strike vote to get the government's attention. "Nurses are exercising their legal right to job action, but it shouldn’t have had to come to this," said Kiel Giddens, MLA for...
Post a Comment
Read more

British Columbians Still Don’t Know Who’s Paying for NDP’s BC Hydro Deal

The NDP is making billion-dollar promises with BC Hydro, but British Columbians still don’t know who will pay the bill. Last week’s memorandum of understanding isn’t what the federal government and the NDP are making it out to be. It’s an admission that the NDP failed to make the long-term investments needed to keep B.C. powered. Now British Columbians have serious questions about the cost and whether BC Hydro ratepayers will end up paying the price. David L. Williams, MLA for Salmon Arm-Shuswap and Shadow Minister for BC Hydro and Electrical Energy Development , said British Columbians deserve clear answers about the full implications of the Canada–British Columbia Cooperative Prosperity Agreement. “British Columbians deserve the full truth,” said Mr. Williams. “This multi-billion-dollar announcement does not answer who pays for cost overruns, who pays for new generation, who carries the risk if industrial customers do not materialize, or whether ratepayers will be forced ...
Post a Comment
Read more

NDP Government Blames Everyone but Themselves

The federal government has announced new measures to support British Columbia's forestry sector, including $65 million in funding for projects across the province. While any support is welcome, it falls far short of the level of assistance other provinces have secured for key industries. Conservative Forests Critic Ward Stamer says the NDP government needs to take responsibility for its mismanagement of B.C.’s forest industry instead of trying to pass on the blame. Despite promising to create more jobs in the forest sector, the NDP government has overseen the loss of thousands of forestry jobs and 21 mill closures which have devastated communities. “If Premier Eby spent more time addressing the regulatory issues impacting the forestry sector than he did complaining about the federal government, we would not be in the position we are now,” said Stamer. “And instead of trying to place the blame for mill closures on Donald Trump, Minister of Forests Ravi Parmar should t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Labels

Show more