 | Friday, December 11, 2020
Reading this online? Sign up to get this delivered to your inbox every Friday. | | The most important local byelection of 2020 is on Saturday | | |  | | | What should a city government focus on?
In so many local political debates in the last few years — be it housing, climate change, transportation or crime — that’s the larger question at play.
There are those who believe a city should mostly focus on the specific powers set out for them under provincial and federal law: keep the streets clean, the parks green and the water running.
And there are those who believe cities need to be advocates for their citizens, that the division of powers is outdated, and that saying “it’s not our job” is inexcusable when it comes to issues of shelter and climate change.
It’s against that backdrop that voters in Victoria will choose a new councillor on Saturday. More than a year after Laurel Collins resigned to become an NDP MP, Victoria will get its ninth person around the council table back.
Who that ninth person is matters, because right now there are four councillors who strongly believe in that broader view of city politics, and there are four that sometimes take a more traditional view, often creating muddled policy and raucous social media debates .
(This a rudimentary breakdown — a few of the more “conservative” council members, including Mayor Lisa Helps, would be generally considered NDP or Green supporters and often vote with the more progressive block. But we don’t have 2,000 words to delve into the smaller policy differences and sub-coalitions at Victoria city hall.)
The main candidate for the more conservative view is former TV broadcaster Stephen Andrew, whose campaign homepage says “I want to move away from wasting city resources on issues outside our jurisdiction and work on things that benefit us all.”
The main candidate for the more expansive view is Stephanie Hardman, whose campaign homepage says, “She believes in the power and responsibility of local government to improve people’s lives.
So much of politics is people making sweeping claims on what voters think: that “the people” want the city “cleaned up” or “made liveable for everyone” or “focused on what taxpayers need.”
But it’s really only at the ballot box that we get any sort of accurate measure of what people truly want — at least from those who show up to vote.
Saturday, voters in Victoria get to provide the biggest verdict any major city in B.C. has given since the 2018 municipal elections.
It won’t tell us everything about what people think local government should focus on. But it could tell us a great deal. | | |  | | | 1. Surrey | Remember last week when we talked about how Doug McCallum had gotten into an accident in his city-purchased vehicle? Turns out there was a second unreported accident the city will pay for. Meanwhile, council approved its 2021 budget, which will see the average local tax bill increase by 10.7 per cent due to a tripling of the parcel tax.
Read more in the Vancouver Courier | | | | |  | | | 3. New Westminster | The only other municipality in Metro Vancouver seeking to freeze the police budget at this point is New West, where a request to the police board to resubmit its funding request for 2021 passed council by a narrow 4-3 measure. Given the smaller size of New West compared to Vancouver, the difference in what "reform" looks like could be interesting to watch.
Read more in the New Westminster Record | | | | | |  | | | 4. Saanich | The largest municipality in Vancouver Island is in the middle of early amalgamation discussions with Victoria based on a 2018 referendum. But the anti-amalgamation mayor says the only thing that Saanich needs is to become a "city" rather than a "district." Which wouldn't change anything at all, but sure is a fun distraction!
Read more in the Saanich News | | | |  | | | 5. Fort St. James | Finally, local jurisdictions in B.C. will being learning more about how many active cases of COVID-19 are in their community (or local health region) on a weekly basis, following months of criticism about the lack of transparency. Sadly for Fort St. James, it comes right after the largest local outbreak B.C. has seen in a small community to date.
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forwarded to you. | | | | That's it for us today — and for 2020! With councils winding down for the year, we'll be taking a break from the newsletter until the beginning of January. Check out the latest headlines at cbc.ca/bc and follow our municipal affairs reporter Justin McElroy on Twitter. And if you have any questions, you might want answered in a future mailbag, drop Justin a line at metromatters@cbc.ca. | | | |
