WHEREAS enactment of the Community Charter in January 2004 provided fundamental purposes and powers to municipalities, as well as defining principles for municipal-provincial relations; AND WHEREAS this framework remains undefined for regional districts: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that UBCM petition the Province of BC to carry on with instituting a Community Charter for regional districts, with any restructuring of regional districts put on hold until after the Community Charter is fully implemented unless due process and consultation with local government and citizens has been undertaken.
MINISTRY OF COMMUNITY SERVICES The Ministry of Community Services Ministry appreciates the local government interest in a Community Charter for regional districts. However, it is important to note that the regional district legislative provisions were extensively revised with the adoption of the Local Government Act in 2000. Subsequently, the Community Charter was adopted, and through consequential amendments in Bill 76 of 2003, the regional district legislation was connected to the new legislative framework, including some of the innovations in the Community Charter. The Ministry and the Union of British Columbia Municipalities UBCM have agreed, given the extensive changes to the Community Charter and the Local Government Act relating to regional districts over the past 7 years, that our efforts should be focused on making what we have work more effectively rather than introducing yet more new legislation. This in turn led to the well regarded Regional District Tool Kit. The Ministry is always interested in ensuring that the local government legislative framework works effectively, while recognizing that legislative change has to be focused on resolving issues which matter to citizens. To be effective, legislative change needs to be based on a clear analysis of the issues or problems that it is meant to address and consensus on how to move forward. One step in that process was the regional district workshop held at the 2006 Union of British Columbia Municipalities UBCM Convention. This provided an opportunity for discussion and responses to questions related to: thinking regionally; building inter-jurisdictional relations; connecting regional districts to their members; and providing assistance and advice. The information has proven to be available in assisting the Ministry and the UBCM in choosing courses of action. One of the areas were there was a high degree of agreement on actions was the need to develop custom solutions for the unique challenges facing individual regional districts. This focus on custom solutions for diverse regions led to the Provinces commitment to three projects to test custom solutions. These were: the splitting of the Comox Strathcona Regional District into two regional districts; the integration of the Town of Fort Nelson and the Northern Rockies Regional District into a single tier regional municipality; and an examination of ways to respond to region wide challenges and opportunities like water supply and economic development in the Okanagan Valley. The Province of British Columbia Province appreciates that there is some UBCM concern with one of these projects, the restructure of the Comox Strathcona Regional District. This action was in response to a concern by government that the structure of the regional district was standing in the way of the region fulfilling its potential. The governments view is that the structure of regional districts is an area which is clearly the responsibility of the Province and not the local government itself. Given the importance of this region and its potential, government had to act. The objective of the restructure is to increase the capacity of the region to take effective action on critical issues which matter to citizens of the region: water supply and growth management. The split of the regional district will be accompanied by provincial directions on: creating a regional water supply service for the Comox Valley; preparing a Regional Growth Strategy; resolving critical water and sewer services issues in rural areas experiencing public health or environmental problems; and harmonizing development cost charges to achieve certainty and fairness across the region. This restructure is critical given the high growth in the region and has a high degree of support in the region.