Municipalities share strategies at Calgary convention

By Vernon Daily Courier staff http://www.dailycourier.ca/

Municipal leaders from across the country converged on Calgary for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) conference to exchange ideas and pressure political leaders. Representing Vernon were Coun. Juliette Cunningham and Chief Administrative Officer Leon Gous, who were among the more than 2,100 delegates who attended the meeting. Many of the problems that Vernon is struggling with are occurring all across Canada, said Gous. “It was good to see what other regions were dealing with and what solutions they were looking at. By looking at some of the best practices that have been studied, we don’t have to redesign the wheel in each location,” said Gous. Gous said that the meeting was a mix of informative seminars, keynote addresses by political leaders and a series of ‘study tours’ organized by the city of Calgary. The tours showcased a number of Calgary’s strong points and looked at their water treatment and transportation systems.

Gous said that a presentation on the success of a program aiming to reduce homelessness in Oregon was particularly interesting. “By combining resources from the three levels of government, homelessness has dropped by 70 per cent in Portland. It was a very strong statement. How can this be dealt with by one level of government?” said Gous. The topics of sustainability, homelessness and municipal funding were the main issues of the conference, and were addressed by the prime minister and other party leaders. A resolution was passed by the FCM requesting the federal government to allot one per cent of the six per cent GST to municipalities. Stephen Harper didn’t address the issue in his speech but Liberal leader Stephane Dion promised that if elected he would make the transfer of gas tax revenue to municipalities permanent. The conference was an obvious opportunity for party leaders to address municipalities, one which some feel was wasted. Many media outlets reported that delegates were disappointed that Harper didn’t make any promises regarding a integrated transit plan. “Attendance wise more people were interested in Dion and Layton,” said Gous. While the conference was informative Gous said that he was not sure if Vernon would attend if the conference was further away next year.