The BC Local Elections Task Force delivered its recommendations on improving local government elections yesterday. In their recommendations they highlighted the need for expense limits on local election campaign participants and the need for sponsorship information on all election advertising. Despite pressure from business groups the task force also recommended that corporations not be given a vote in local elections.
The Centre for Civic Governance submitted its recommendations to the elections task force in April. Strengthening Local Democracy.
Each year the Columbia Institute does polling on the local issues that British Columbians consider most pressing. This year we also asked British Columbians about their support for Living Wage policies and action on Climate Change. Click below to read the results.
The Trustees of British Columbia's School District 5 (Southeast Kootenay) recently passed the following motion, and wrote an explainatory letter to the Honourable George Abbott, BC Minister of Education.
The motion, and letter, communicate challenges they face within the current structure of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Act, and suggests improvements that would help their district take real action to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
It is a useful tool for other districts facing similar challenges and considering similar action.
Metro Vancouver’s regional transportation authority, TransLink, will lower flags to fly half-mast on Saturday in tribute to Jack Layton's role in supporting public transit in Canada.
The Clark government's plan to create a municipal auditor-general's office is being rushed and municipalities have serious concerns about its worth, the president of the Union of B.C. Municipalities said Thursday. BC municipal leaders are concerned that a 'solution' is being put forward by the province when an actual problem hasn't been identified.
The UBCM will be holding a special session at its annual convention next month in Vancouver to try to convince the province to hold off until more questions can be answered.
In January 2010, Montreal city council passed a bylaw introducing citizen-initiated public consultations on any subject in the municipal realm. The right of initiative allows members of the public for the first time to pick a topic that makes it onto the political agenda.
The legislation has so far gone unused, but a coalition of community groups is currently collecting signatures to oblige the city to hold a public consultation on the state of urban agriculture in Montreal.
In 1999 Rocky Anderson was elected mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah, the capital city of America’s most conservative state. Within 8 years he had instituted some of the western world’s most progressive policies on environmental sustainability, social inclusion and youth justice. In the process, he earned a World Leadership Award, exceeded Salt Lake City's Kyoto targets by 150% (7 years ahead of Kyoto target dates), and co-chaired the Sundance Mayors Summit on Climate Protection with Robert Redford, to spread the word on how cities can lead the way to a better planet.
As councillors and
school board trustees strive to create environmentally and socially sustainable
communities, the robustness of local democracies is being threated from several
angles. This handbook contains
information on some of the most urgent challenges being faced in 2007.
Local communities are going all out as they “go for green” from: • the Capital Regional District’s energy plan, to • Squamish’s global warming pledge, to • Ucluelet’s official community plan that took the United Nations’ top prize, to • making school buildings and curricula sustainable,
