Mayors from across British Columbia had two days of successful meetings in Prince George, where they examined the challenges of B.C.’s communities and the sharing of best practices, April 29-30.
The mayors dealt with a number of pressing issues common to the province’s communities and endorsed the following statements:
• The BC Mayors’ Caucus (BCMC) supports the Union of British Columbia (UBCM) efforts to secure a long-term, predictable funding source to local government for infrastructure projects.
• The BCMC requests that the province extend the Small Communities Grant Program.
• The BCMC requests a review of legislation that imposes wage settlements by binding arbitration on local government.
• The BCMC requests that the province establish a ministry dedicated to local government.
• The BCMC requests that the premier attend the Mayors’ Round Table on local government.
District of 100 Mile House Mayor Mitch Campsall attended the meeting.
Noting the BCMC is in its infancy stage, Campsall explains it is getting organized and trying to get itself up and running.
“It’s doing well. We made a decision to approach UBCM to see if we can work with them because of staffing and other issues in an effort to keep costs down.
“UBCM has a big voice, but we add to that voice because all of the mayors are united.”
Campsall adds the BCMC still has to have elections to see who is going to run it and when that’s done, they will approach UBCM.
“It’s been proven in other jurisdictions around the world that when mayors get together, they have a strong voice and government’s tend to pay attention.”
He says the point of the Mayors’ Caucus is to work with government and not to be combative with government.
The next BC Mayors’ Caucus will take place in Vancouver in September 2013 during the UBCM week (Sept.16-20).
For more information, visit: www.BCMayorsCaucus.ca.
