Whereas the Province has enacted a significant volume of legislative and regulatory amendments affecting the authority of local governments, and these changes span across multiple, diverse topics and require specialized knowledge to implement locally; And whereas many British Columbia local governments are small organizations with a lean staff and fixed capacity, and local governments have not received permanent core funding to increase capacity for ongoing demands of new legislation, and multiple changes province-wide limits the availability of qualified consultants to create temporary capacity: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM urge the Province to: - conduct meaningful technical level consultation with local governments about the feasibility and practicality of implementation, prior to amending legislation that affects the capacity and authority of local governments; - to consider reasonable timelines for local governments to adapt to legislative changes; - to consider the timing of multiple significant changes to core legislation across multiple topics; - to coordinate the release of regulations and policy with statute amendments to assist local government staff in meeting timelines; and - provide sustained core funding to local governments to accompany permanent changes that create additional workload for local government staff.
Intergovernmental Relations Secretariat The Province remains committed to consulting with local governments as consultation and collaboration are key to developing and implementing agreements, legislation, policies, and programs for the benefit of residents. The Province maintains open and regular communications with UBCM through regular meetings with the UBCM Executives and through consultation with UBCM on behalf of members, allowing for ongoing engagement, coordination, and input on priority matters for local governments and member First Nations. In collaboration with UBCM, the Province is taking steps to raise local government awareness within the BC public service with the aim to continuously improve the consultation process, including timelines, to better integrate a local government lens into policy, program and legislative development and implementation. A local government finance review is ongoing through the Standing Table on Local Government Finance Resilience which is composed of UBCM and the Ministries of Finance and Housing and Municipal Affairs.