2019

Whereas the Financial Information Act requires the reporting of information including schedules of remuneration paid to employees in excess of a threshold of 75,000 through a report entitled Statement of Financial Information; And whereas it is agreed that the intent of the Statement of Financial Information to provide transparency and public accountability for spending is achieved through this legislation; And whereas the threshold was set in 2002 and has not been revisited despite increases in average weekly salaries in BC of 57, CPI increases totalling 29 and local governments contract

Whereas professional regulatory bodies, such as CPABC, BC Law Society, APEGBC, and others, have conflict of interest and ethics rules for their members, under which appearance of conflict of interest is disallowed; And whereas the public expects elected representatives to act to a professional standard of conduct; And whereas the scope of decisions and responsibilities of an elected representative can be broad and encompass a variety of issues: Therefore be it resolved that the Statement of Disclosure for municipal nominees and elected representatives be updated to additionally include a

Whereas businesses are beginning to switch to compostable single-use items for to-go meals and beverages, yet this material is not designed to biodegrade if littered, and is not guaranteed to biodegrade in industrial compost facilities because standards and certifications are not aligned with existing infrastructure that is designed to compost food scraps and yard waste; And whereas local governments are facing increasing pressure to collect and manage this material, yet it is beyond local governments ability to control compostable packaging design or finance the specialized collection and

Whereas the British Columbia extended producer responsibility program for packaging and printed paper currently provides recycling collection for single-use items generated by the residential sector, but does not yet focus on reduction or reuse, or cover single-use items that are compostable or disposed of at businesses or in the public realm; And whereas inter-municipal differences in policy for reduction of single-use items make it challenging for businesses to comply with multiple regulations, and the business community has expressed a strong desire for harmonization and consistent regu

Whereas the BC Lobbyists Registration Act LRA requires individuals and organizations who lobby public office holders and meet specific criteria to register their lobbying activities in an online public registry; And whereas the goal of the BC Lobbyists Registration Act is to promote transparency in lobbying and government decision-making: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM request that a lobbying regulation system for municipal government, similar to the provincial mechanism under the BC Lobbyists Registration Act, be established.

Whereas local governments have incurred significant costs in response to the real and projected threats of climate change including flooding, sea-level rise and weather variations; And whereas fossil fuel corporations profit without sharing the costs of the pollution caused by their operations and their products: Therefore be it resolved that the Province enact legislation to hold the fossil fuel industry responsible for its role in causing climate change by making it accountable for costs incurred by governments to adapt to climate change.

Whereas professional regulatory bodies, such as CPABC, BC Law Society, APEGBC, and others, have conflict of interest and ethics rules for their members and enforce them through a complaints process; And whereas the public expects elected representatives to be held to a professional standard of conduct; And whereas the only remedy for a citizen complaint of a municipal elected persons conflict of interest is through a judgement of the Supreme Court of British Columbia: Therefore be it resolved that the Province of British Columbia consider a mechanism including to resolve and remedy confl

Whereas the provincial Ministry of Finance has not proposed legislation around the establishment of a publicly searchable registry around beneficial ownership of corporations; And whereas the federal Minister of Finance has not proposed legislation for a public registry of beneficial ownership of land or corporations: Therefore be it resolved that the UBCM call on the provincial Minister of Finance to propose both a new provincial publicly searchable registry of corporate beneficial ownership and advocate to the federal Minister of Finance to create a new national public registry around b

Whereas the forest industry in British Columbia has been on a steady decline in recent decades, with dozens mill closures, thousands of lost jobs and once-thriving rural communities experiencing severe economic decline due in large part to corporate mismanagement, misguided government policies, and lack of public oversight; And whereas many communities across British Columbia and globally have demonstrated that when local people are empowered to manage public forests and other common resources through community forest licenses, regional trusts and other community-based governance models,

Whereas libraries are a social justice equalizer that provide universal access to information and learning materials irrespective of income levels; And whereas libraries are now so much more than books, building community and a sense of inclusion; And whereas restoring funding to libraries supports the BC Governments agenda to eliminate poverty, improve access to education, and address social injustice in BC; And whereas funding rates have been frozen since 2009 and inflationary costs have increasingly been put on municipal property tax payers, which is a regressive approach to fundin