WHEREAS Section 118 of the Community Charter introduced several new concepts related to, and effective prior to, the 2005 municipal elections; AND WHEREAS these changes require municipalities whose population exceeds 50,000 to either increase the elected councillors from six to eight for the 2005 election, or to hold a referendum to determine if the elected councillors for the 2005 election should remain at six or be increased to eight, at least six months prior to the 2005 election; AND WHEREAS the holding of a referendum has a significant financial impact on a municipality, which is not necessary given the other possible alternatives: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the UBCM request that the provincial government legislate the following alternatives to the requirements of Section 118 of the Community Charter: 1.The provision of a counter petition opportunity; 2.The holding of the referendum at the same time as the 2005 election for application to the 2008 election.
MINISTRY OF COMMUNITY, ABORIGINAL AND WOMENS SERVICES The ministry supports option 1 put forward by the City of Port Coquitlam for municipalities that are affected by Section 118 of the Community Charter this year. The ministry does not support the option for municipalities affected by Section 118 of the Community Charter this year to hold a referendum on the issue of council size at the same time as the 2005 election. Government will be proceeding with an Order in Council to allow those municipalities that have exceeded a population of 50,000 to hold an alternative approval process to determine whether the electors are in favour of maintaining their current council size at less than eight councillors if the municipality has not previously held a referendum on the issue.