2022

Whereas Gross Domestic Product GDP was never intended to be used as an indicator of a societys health or wellbeing, does not reflect Indigenous values, does not account for the health of natural systems which underpin all life, and does not account for harmful externalities including pollution and climate change impacts; And whereas the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations recommended that the province adopt a Wellbeing Framework in British Columbia in the 2020 report Centering First Nations Concepts of Wellbeing toward a GDP-alternative Index in BC; And whereas 82 of Canadian respo

Whereas BC is facing both a climate emergency and a housing affordability crisis; And whereas the most affordable housing is that which is already standing, the most affordable of which is aging and in need of climate-smart retrofits which retain embodied emissions, provide resilience in extreme weather and reduce GHGs; And whereas training workers in deep energy retrofits and construction of deeply affordable climate-smart housing, including installing solar panels, solar hot water systems and heat pumps, would help alleviate currently long installation and construction wait-times and e

Whereas BC is facing both a climate emergency and a housing affordability crisis and one of the most affordable forms of new built single-family and multi-family housing is pre-fabricated wood-frame housing, typically taking one-half the time to construct and costing one-third to one-half the cost of concrete construction; And whereas BC is in the enviable position of having a supply of second-growth wood that could be utilized for a sustainable value-added industry in the manufacture of Passive House standard, wood-frame pre-fabricated modular housing: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM

Whereas sadly thousands of British Columbians are homeless, sleeping in shelters, tents, and encampments, while many jurisdictions in Canada and down the West Coast have successfully triaged their homelessness crises with temporary, tiny shelter-type villages, as a transition to more permanent housing; And whereas BC Assessment classifies property according to its use, and local governments apply a mill rate to the respective classification to determine taxes, while owners of vacant land are incentivized to reduce their property taxes by changing temporary use and assessment, for example b

Whereas the Provinces CleanBC Roadmap to 2030 and BC Hydros Five-Year Electrification Plan, both released in the fall of 2021, promote rebates to purchase electric heat pumps that incentivize British Columbians to switch from using fossil fuels to hydro-electricity to heat their homes and hot water, thus mitigating climate change by reducing GHGs; And whereas there are no equivalent incentives for home and building owners to increase their own supply of renewable energy or to reduce the demand for hydro-electricity, both of which will become increasing important for climate resiliency as B

Whereas in order to mitigate sulphur air pollution from burning heavy oil, the maritime shipping industry employs exhaust gas cleaning systems scrubbers which result in a solution of concentrated acidic sulphates, metals, and other toxins, which cruise and cargo vessel traffic in Canadian jurisdiction annually discharge tens of millions tonnes of this acidic washwater directly into BCs coastal waters; And whereas ocean acidification is of major concern to coastal communities, particularly those coastal communities encouraging shellfish harvesting, aquaculture, tourism, and commercial and r

Whereas Bill 26 2021: Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act No.

Whereas many small community volunteer fire departments and societies provide vital highway rescue services for vehicle crashes that occur on provincial highways; And whereas reimbursement of costs under the current model leaves fire departments and local governments to absorb a significant part of the cost of providing the services: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM request the Province revise the funding model to ensure that fire departments and societies are reimbursed for all highway rescue incidents to which they attend outside of the municipal boundaries; And be it further resol

Whereas the current funding model for RCMP services results in an immense financial burden for small municipalities when their population grows above 5,000; And whereas a large proportion of RCMP time and budget goes to policing provincial highways that either run through or beside small communities: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM request that the provincial government develop a more transitional funding model for RCMP services for small communities that would see incremental adjustments as a community grows beyond 5,000 and then beyond 10,000 and finally over 15,000 residents; And b

Whereas the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC report in 2021, Code Red for Humanity, confirmed that without radical reductions in carbon emissions this decade, temperature rises above 1.5 degrees Celsius would be inevitable and irreversible and the credible threat of unstoppable, self-accelerating global heating; And whereas climate crisis impacts are already being felt in our communities, including the summer heat dome, a pattern of hotterdrier summers, increased exposure to wildfire smoke, and increased frequency and intensity of heavy rain which impacts food sec