News Towns Spend Thousands to Lobby BC's Government

By Andrew MacLeod, Today, TheTyee.ca "

Since 2007, five different lobbyists have registered to represent the interests of the Resort Municipality of Whistler to the provincial government in Victoria, including several files related to the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.That puts Whistler at the forefront of a trend that has seen lobbyists register on behalf of 22 cities, villages and districts across British Columbia in recent years -- taking an approach normally associated with businesses or industry groups, not junior levels of government.

That puts Whistler at the forefront of a trend that has seen lobbyists register on behalf of 22 cities, villages and districts across British Columbia in recent years -- taking an approach normally associated with businesses or industry groups, not junior levels of government. "A number of them have done it," said Robert Hobson, the president of the Union of B.C. Municipalities. "I think it's largely an effort to steer various kinds of grants to local communities. "Municipalities do need to work with senior levels of government and be sophisticated about it, he said. In Kelowna, for example, where he is a councillor, the city employs someone to keep track of what grants and funding opportunities are available. But working political channels in Victoria or Ottawa is another matter, he said, and could lead to inequities between different communities. "Not everybody has the resources to have people to pursue that, unfortunately."Nor do taxpayers want their money used that way, he said. "I think we should work through established channels."

The six people registered to represent the greatest number of local governments as lobbyists are John Moonen, William Bulholzer, Sukhbir Manhas, Kimanda Jarzebiak, Donald Lidstone and Quattrocchi. None of them returned calls from the Tyee. (More)