There’s a few things happening in provincial politics, in case you hadn’t noticed.
Closer than the election around the corner, the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) convention is scheduled for Sept. 16 to 20.
The five-day convention will see local government representatives from across the province converge on Vancouver to talk everything municipal, press the flesh with provincial officials and vote on a brick of resolutions acting as a wish-list for local government. UBCM serves as the peak body for local government in British Columbia, lobbying higher levels of government on policy and funding.
For the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW), all seven elected officials will make the journey to Vancouver along with chief administrative officer Ginny Cullen.
As explained by an RMOW communications official, “attendance at the UBCM convention is critical as it gives us an opportunity to advocate for our community’s needs in person and solidify relationships with the people who can make these things happen.”
To that end, the RMOW has set aside a $31,500 budget for its eight-person delegation to UBCM in 2024.
Ethics comes up (again)
In an interview with Pique, Mayor Jack Crompton said the RMOW is interested in a number of the resolutions to be voted on next week, picking out a particular resolution pertinent to enforcing local government codes of conduct.
“One that is of particular interest to council and myself, is the request for a provincial ethics commissioner,” he said, referring to a resolution put forward by the City of Port Moody.
That resolution by Port Moody was for UBCM to ask for the province to establish an independent oversight authority to provide guidance to municipalities on issues around codes of conduct for elected officials.
“There has been a tremendous amount of discussion about this over a long period of time, and our hope is that we take one additional small step towards that as a result of UBCM this year,” said Crompton.
“[The RMOW is] advocating for a provincial ethics commissioner with a province-wide municipal code of conduct and provincial adjudication. We have our own code of conduct that we worked very hard on developing, and that code is a tremendous transition policy, but I believe strongly we need something that is in provincial hands. Council managing council as far as ethics is concerned isn’t an ideal scenario. The realization of a provincial commissioner would be tremendously useful.”
The issue should sound familiar—Whistler’s council signed off on a new code of conduct earlier this year at the encouragement of the provincial government. The development and discussion on the code came to multiple meetings and soaked up hours of council meeting time, and no doubt many more hours of RMOW staff time.
The code the RMOW adopted was not unanimously supported, with a handful of issues of contention that were mostly worked through. The code was adopted and is in effect.
A thread that wove its way through the entire process the RMOW went through was that elected officials did not believe they should be generating a code of conduct that governed themselves.
The UBCM resolution is fortuitous then, and together with a paper currently being circulated by UBCM exploring making codes of conduct mandatory (and not recommended), and developing a province-wide system of administration and enforcement, Crompton said he was pleased with the issue coming back up for discussion.
Asked about timing of the idea of making further changes to codes of conduct so soon after municipalities had completed recent updates, Crompton said he believed changes so far were merely “a step in the right direction.
“It seems to me lots has been learned about ensuring that proper ethics are adhered to, and the province can take it one step further,” he said.
While the RMOW has not tested its new code of conduct—which laid out resolution processes, introduced a third-party investigator into the code to follow up on complaints, and laid out proportional remedies for confirmed breaches of the code—Crompton said that is a good thing, and the RMOW is looking to the experiences of other municipalities in its motivation to push for more provincial involvement.
“We’ve learned a tremendous amount about these codes, watching what has happened around the province … My hope is that we get to a provincial code sooner rather than later," he said. "I’ve felt that way since the beginning of this process and my hope is that UBCM is one step toward it.”
Codes of conduct have taken up a lot of municipal time across the province, both in development and application, and motivation for change. According to the paper circulated by UBCM, municipalities do not have the resources to tackle issues to do with breaches in ethics and behaviour, which it says are occurring with increasing frequency.
“There is a concern with the trend towards problematic elected official conduct and its impact on the ability of councils and boards to function,” reads the paper.
“Local governments that become mired in internal conflict may experience a loss of legitimacy in their own communities, and may see a related decline at elections in voter turnout, and in the number and diversity of candidates for election.”
Municipalities will vote on the resolution on an ethics commissioner at the convention. Should it be supported, the resolution will go to the province for consideration.
The UBCM wishlist
UBCM is not just a meet-and-greet and an opportunity to vote on resolutions, however; municipalities also have the chance to request meetings with government ministers on specific issues relevant to them in 15-minute blocks.
For the RMOW, back in June councillors had discussed their wishlist for the convention, with requests for meetings with the minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness to discuss evacuation planning; the minister of finance and the minister of tourism, arts, culture and sport (separately) to discuss funding for tourism-supporting infrastructure; the housing minister; the minister for Indigenous relations and reconciliation; the minister of transportation and infrastructure to discuss regional transit; and the minister of water, lands and resource stewardship to discuss flood mitigation efforts in Fitzsimmons Creek.
The RMOW’s delegation will have a lot on its hands come the convention, with meetings secured with 10 ministers: Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation; Housing; Environment and Climate Change Strategy; Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure; Municipal Affairs; Water, Land and Resource Stewardship; Attorney General; Childcare, Minister of State; Finance; Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport.
Crompton said the meetings are invaluable, and the convention overall a huge opportunity.
“I don’t think you can overstate the value of those conversations that we have with the provincial government,” he said.
“We’re crystal clear on our main priorities, which are obviously housing, tourism and climate. On housing, we want to see more investments like we just saw on Cheakamus Crossing—$12 million is a lot of money, but we will need more to deliver the kind of housing we need for Whistlerites.
“On smart tourism we want to see partnerships on ensuring Whistler workers and business owners are beneficiaries of this industry. The case we make to government is: We make lots of money for this province and we want more of it back in the hands of Whistlerites."
The election question
Of course, there’s an election happening only a month after UBCM, where ministers of a government that may or may not be re-elected will be listening to input from municipalities, together with MLAs and candidates that may find themselves in government. At the convention, attendees will have the opportunity to listen to addresses from all major parties.
In Whistler’s riding of West Vancouver-Sea to Sky, there are currently three candidates doing the rounds to replace outgoing MLA Jordan Sturdy. One of those candidates is RMOW councillor, Jen Ford, while another candidate—Jeremy Valeriote—is married to the RMOW’s CAO, so Whistler is pretty involved. Ford, for her part, has only just stepped down from all roles with the UBCM executive after years of association. She has recused herself for the purpose of the election.
That said, Crompton didn’t linger on the election as a boon for local governments.
Asked whether the RMOW usually saw opportunity in an election year to make municipal issues heard even more at higher levels of government, he was grounded in his response, saying the municipality is focused on regional transit, housing and tourism in discussions with all candidates.
“We will definitely be paying close attention to candidate election promises,” he said.
“More importantly, over the next four years we'll be working with whoever is elected to ensure those commitments benefit Whistler and Whistlerites.”
