WHEREAS resource extraction taxation from northern British Columbia constitutes a large portion of total provincial revenues; AND WHEREAS communities located near resource projects such as Mount Milligan Mine have been and will continue to be economically impacted by the development and operations of such projects; AND WHEREAS the Province has entered into agreements for mining revenue sharing with First Nations and Fair Share agreements for oil and gas revenue with certain local governments in the northeast: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that UBCM seek to engage the Province in discussions about the recommendations within the 2013 Strong Fiscal Futures Policy Paper that seeks to: - improve the resiliency of the existing local government finance system by maintaining and building its strongest features; - improve value to taxpayers by tightening the management of shared provincial-local mandates and ensuring that regulatory requirements imposed on local governments achieve value for money; - advance a local government agenda to both grow the economy and to have local governments share in the benefits of that growth through an Infrastructure Development and Community Building Bank; - work to expand local government revenue tools to make the distribution of local government costs both fairer and more responsive to economic growth; and - building the local government partnership i.e. developing best practices
Ministry of Community, Sport Cultural Development The Province of British Columbia continues to share an interest with UBCM on many key aspects of Strong Fiscal Futures, such as growing the economy and making a strong local government system stronger. Over the last year much has been accomplished that supports Strong Fiscal Futures, including: signing a renewed Gas Tax Agreement with the federal government; continuation of the Small Community Grants program; official launch of the Small Communities Fund under the New Build Canada Plan; and legislative amendments that place greater responsibility for transportation in Metro Vancouver in the hands of the Mayors Council. Strong Fiscal Futures calls for a fairer distribution of the benefits from economic growth. The Province is with communities that may host Liquefied Natural Gas facilities to ensure that the opportunities are realized and communities have the resources to meet the challenges associated with growth. The Premier has committed to creating the framework for a Rural Dividend for communities in BC. The Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development is working with Parliamentary Secretary Barnett and the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations on the creation and implementation of the Rural Dividend. There are clear linkages between the directions identified in Strong Fiscal Futures and the Provinces Taxpayer Accountability Principles. To move forwards on issues that our organizations have identified over the last year, the Province is working with UBCM to secure several meeting dates for 2015. By creating more structure and opportunities for regular dialogue, the Province and UBCM will better address our shared duty to ensure the delivery of effective, responsive services to citizens.