Category Archives: Urban Life and Local Government

What Are We Voting For?

October 7, 2011 By in Metro Vancouver, Urban Life and Local Government Tags: , Leave a comment

On November 19, 2011, British Columbia voters get a chance to cast their ballots for local government councils and school boards.  Past experience suggests that in most local areas, something between 25 and 30 per cent of voters will take the opportunity.

In my home town of Maple Ridge, perhaps 25 people will step forward to contest six municipal council seats.  Four or five members of the outgoing council will likely be re-elected; one has retired.  In other words, the hopes for the newcomers are slim, and the best odds lie with members of past councils who are recycling themselves back into political life.  Continue reading →

Amalgamating Metro’s municipalities

September 6, 2011 By in Metro Vancouver, Urban Life and Local Government Tags: , , Leave a comment

Early in my career as a news reporter I covered local council meetings in Greater Ottawa — travelling to such high spots as the City of Nepean, the City of Gloucester, and the City of Kanata.  The new Ontario Conservative government of the 1990s moved with haste to abolish these jurisdictions and dozens of others, creating unified megacities in Ottawa, Toronto and elsewhere.

The justification in Ontario was that larger government units are less costly and better at making decisions.  This same argument is occasionally heard in Fraseropolis (there is an ongoing back-and-forth on SkyscraperPage). But British Columbia has never elected a megacitifying provincial regime, and the regional district of Metro Vancouver still takes in a bewildering variety of cities, towns and villages.  Continue reading →