Brainstorming and Idea Stealing

Between September 22 and 26 elected officials from across B.C. gathered in Victoria to share good ideas and learn from the mistakes we’ve made in our communities across the province.

Victoria Harbour at night. photo: Heidi French

I attended a bunch of panel discussions, met with cabinet ministers, participated in provincial resolution voting and played some Pickleball.

Past Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) president Trish Mandewo provided a good UBCM annual summary during the gathering. You can check that out here:

https://youtu.be/-h6WpvZkEm4?si=DFI5OL1oxfBic4-l 

The first panel discussion I attended after arriving on Monday was titled Downtown Disorder: Rethinking Care For Those In Need. The panel consisted of Dr. Daniel Vigo, Julian Daly of Our Place Society in Victoria, Alex McMillan of the B.C. Chamber of Commerce and Adam Dalrymple from the B.C. Crown Counsel Association. Later in the session they were joined by Mayor Leonard Krog of Nanaimo, Councillor Lisa Dominato from Vancouver, Mayor Darcy Dober of Dawson Creek and Mayor Janice Morrison from Nelson.

This discussion confirmed that many communities across the province are struggling with issues related to encampments of homeless residents. It’s noteworthy that both Dr. Vigo and Julian Daly both indicated more needs to be done for those who come out of treatment. Too often the after-care they need just isn’t there. Folks leave rehabilitation just to be returned to the environment they left. They simply fall back into the same addictive habits they had before treatment. Julian Daly said taking a health first approach now needs to take priority over the housing first approach that has previously guided us.

The third session I attended featured former Vancouver Canucks goaltender Corey Hirsch. He shared his struggles with mental health issues and the inspiring ways he manages his anxieties. Elected officials from Fernie, Coquitlam, the Cariboo and Smithers talked about their experiences with the pressures of the work done by elected officials. This session made me thankful for the nine elected people I’ve worked with in my seven years on council. There are some real horror stories out there. Some elected officials have no regard and no respect for those around them and on top of that some voters also have no regard or respect for elected officials. This has been a brutal formula for some councils and communities around the province (Kamloops being the poster child).

Tears came to my eyes more than once in this session as people shared their experiences of struggling to keep it together in stressful situations.

The fourth session I attended was titled Manufacturing Homes, Jobs and Prosperous Communities. The panel of experts included Kevin Weiler of TAG Panels, which is based here in Squamish.

David Wilks, the mayor of Sparwood, moderated the session and consultant Alex Boston directed the conversation. The rest of the panel featured Metro Vancouver planner Michael Epp, Kelowna planner Ryan Smith, Beth Veenkamp of the Williams Lake economic development department and Kevin Harding with the province of BC.

This session reinforced my belief that we have much room to find more efficiencies and cost savings through offsite housing component construction.

My lunch on Tuesday was an eye opener as I sat with six members of Campbell River council. That community elected a coalition of six candidates (five council candidates and a mayoral candidate). One councillor in Campbell River essentially sits as the ‘official opposition’ while the other six council members basically run the show.

Five people ran for mayor in Campbell River and 14 were seeking the councillor seats. The coalition of seven were elected with strong voter support.

After lunch that day I attended the annual general meeting of the Municipal Insurance Association of BC (MIABC). For the last few years I’ve been one of the council appointees to the MIABC. While insurance isn’t all that exciting it is essential so I take the appointment seriously.

This session really paid off because my name was drawn for a door prize. Due to me attending the AGM Squamish was awarded a $1,000 Risk Management Grant. The financial department of the District of Squamish will figure out how to make use of this grant to ultimately save Squamish taxpayers a few dollars.

The next significant event I attended was a panel featuring jobs minister Ravi Kahlon, energy minister Adrian Dix, agriculture and food minister Lana Popham and finance minister Brenda Bailey. Minister Dix spent a significant amount of time talking about how much the export of liquefied natural gas is going to contribute to provincial coffers over the next few years while we navigate around President Trump. This was my second session with Dix as he was one of the panelists at a resource breakfast I attended.

Let me now drop some more names as part of attending the annual UBCM gathering is bending as many MLA ears as possible. Jeremy Valeriote allowed me a 20-minute meeting and during my lunch on Wednesday I had a great conversation with MLA Kelly Greene of Richmond. Ward Stamer of Kamloops-North Thompson engaged in a spirited discussion about highway speeds, photo radar, highway engineering, speed limits and Highway 5 between Kamloops and Avola. My scheduled meetings also included sessions with housing and municipal affairs minister Christine Boyle and the parliamentary secretary overseeing mental health, Amna Shah.

On top of those conversations I heard speeches from MLAs Brittny Anderson, Dallas Brody of One BC, Conservative Party of BC leader John Rustad and Premier David Eby. I caught the last few minutes of a speech from new Green Party of BC leader Emily Lowan after getting out of a minister meeting that overlapped with her address to the delegates. MP Gregr Robertson shared some thoughts on federal housing and I took in that speech.

The other resource breakfast I attended was focused on forestry and the speakers were cabinet ministers Randene Neill and Ravi Parmar. Neill and I have met before and we have shared experience in the broadcast industry. We chatted briefly before the session started.

Through the week I had productive conversations with a number of elected officials from around the province and close to home. Councillor Neville Abbott of Lions Bay spent a few minutes with me discussing issues impacting our two communities. He also introduced me to Lions Bay Chief Administrative Office Ross Blackwell. Councillor Michael Broughton of Lions Bay was also in attendance and we chatted for a few minutes.

I spent time with my council colleagues in Whistler, Pemberton and Lillooet while also meeting new friends from Clearwater, Invermere, Oliver, Port Moody and Hope while reconnecting with elected officials from Saanich, the Chilliwack valley, Richmond, Vancouver, Langley and other communities.

The final thought I’ll share is how productive the evening social events can be. At a reception hosted by Woodfibre LNG I had an excellent conversation with Luke Schauerte, the Woodfibre LNG Chief Executive Officer, and he introduced me to Roger Dall’Antonia. CUPE BC hosted a reception and I met two new CUPE organizers who gave me some insight into what relations between organized workers and their municipal employers look like in other communities.

The five days at UBCM 2025 were productive for me and I’m looking forward to putting what I learned over the week into practice in the final 13 months of this municipal term.

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