YOU ARE HERE : Home / City Issues / Current Issues / Affordable Housing and Homelessness / In The News / Govt Wrangling on the Agenda - Now News Feb 20,2007 
Govt Wrangling on the Agenda - Now News Feb 20,2007

View from the Ledge

Government wrangling on the agenda?

By Keith Baldrey - chief political reporter for Global B.C.

This year's throne speech garnered a lot of headlines about the B.C. Liberal government's ambitious plans to combat global warming, but lost in all the noise over that big green plan were some signals that locally elected bodies are about to lose some of their autonomy.

Check out Page 26 of the speech, under the heading "Housing is the cornerstone of strong social policy." That part of the speech deals with the need for a better plan dealing with homelessness and urban planning. The language in throne speeches is often coded, and it pays to follow up by asking ministers or political aides what exactly the intent is behind certain sections.

Take this statement: "Changes will be developed to existing funding and transfer payments to ensure integrated regional transportation and housing planning." Translation: Municipalities will suffer financial penalties if they get in the way of doing what's best for their broader regional interests when it comes to transportation and housing. The obvious implication here is that TransLink, the Lower Mainland's transportation authority, will likely be blown up and replaced with a different model. And the throne speech seems to suggest that parochial municipal concerns can't stand in the way of a regional transportation plan.

As for housing planning, the Liberal government has been signalling for some time now that it was going to find a way to ensure municipalities don't erect unrealistic barriers in the way of proposed social housing projects. Now, if municipalities continue to insist on silly rules attached to such projects (such as two parking stalls per residence, or the need for a car wash on the premises, as has happened before) we can presume there will be some sort of financial penalty (or incentive) facing them. That would result from the "changes _ to transfer payments" referred to in the speech.

The throne speech also said local governments will be "encouraged" to exempt "small-unit, supportive housing projects from development cost charges and levies." And it talked of the need to reduce "the environmental footprint of sprawling communities."

Again, these are both indications of the provincial government becoming more heavily involved in local government decision-making. And it's not just municipal councils that may soon be tangling with Victoria about issues they thought they had control over. School boards will also find themselves no longer the sole determiners of what happens to all those closed schools out there.

Because of drastically declining enrolment as the baby boom generation moves beyond child-raising years, dozens of schools will be empty across the province. So what happens to them? To no one's surprise, some school boards have seen those empty buildings (and the large parcels of land that come with them) as opportunities for raising funds.

The argument goes: Why not sell the school and land and use the hefty profits to pay for other things required in the school system? Well, on Page 37 of the speech is this statement: "A new process will be put in place to ensure that schools or school lands are used for their highest and best use for maximum public benefit."

The key word here is "public." Those closed schools will have to offer some sort of public services - not be turned into condo developments. In many small towns, and urban neighbourhoods as well, the local school is a major presence in the community, a focal point of joint activity and community spirit.

The provincial government is clearly indicating it wants that kind of presence to be felt even when the school is closed. In other words, community centres, or day cares or libraries or any other kind of facility that serves the public - not a condo developer.

Another clue in the speech about the provincial government taking more control over those school buildings comes on Page 33, where it disclosed that school boards will soon have a new name: boards of education. The dropping of the word "school" seems deliberate, and another indication that the new boards of education will be expected to focus primarily on delivering education services and be less consumed about disposing school properties.

So by all means, focus on the need to do something dramatic about climate change and global warming. But don't be surprised if an old-fashioned issue - fighting between a provincial government and various local governments - dominates the political arena in the months ahead.

published on 02/23/2007

Print View   Site Map   Login