Mayors strong, united, share one voice

by Deborah Pfeiffer - Castanet May 19, 2012 / 5:00 am
BC mayors who attended a big meeting in Penticton this week described themselves as united, strong and ready to seek a new partnership with the provincial and federal governments at its conclusion on Friday.  More than 80 mayors from across the province attended the inaugural BC Mayors’ Caucus held at the Penticton Lakeside Resort, which included looking at a new deal to fund municipalities, building the BC economy from the ground up and a plan for moving forward. “This was an incredibly beneficial meeting where it became evident that BC mayors have for the first time come together as peers with a single voice,” said steering committee member Mayor Shari Green of Prince George. “This is a new day in the way we as mayors will move forward for the benefit of all of our residents.” The mayors came up with 11 primary areas that need to be addressed, including creating a Premier’s Round Table with the BC Mayors’ Caucus to discuss public policy changes that affect local government budgets, eliminating the ad hoc granting process in favour of one that is sustainable and expanding the mandate of the Municipal Auditor General to include an examination of the financial impacts of downloading on local governments. A roundtable on aging infrastructure, affirming core service delivery of each order of government, redesigning cost sharing for significant infrastructure projects, identifying a sustainable revenue source for services downloaded to local governments, a better approach to how social services are delivered into a community and a call for a review of ambulance service delivery were also deemed important. Lastly, flexibility around the federal gas tax needs to be established and an expansion of the application of the fair share principles province-wide and to include other industry sectors needs to be looked at. “This is really across the board, whether it is Smithers or Prince Rupert , and doing what we can for our residents,” said Prince Rupert Mayor Jack Mussallem. The caucus, which began Wednesday evening, is likely to become an annual event to maintain the momentum. “It was phenomenal to have 86 mayors that agreed we have to do things differently,” said Penticton Mayor Dan Ashton. “It was very productive and we would do it again.”