On my morning walk I got to thinking back to my decision to resign from the Central Saanich Council table to run in the 2013 Provincial election for the BC Greens.
The decision to resign was triggered by one of my colleagues who moved out of the country and the reality that the District needed to hold a by-election. This allowed me to be clear with my constituents what my intention was. However, my decision to run was a lot more to do with my experience of the relationship between the provincial and local governments.
It was frustrating to thoughtfully develop priorities and community objectives and then have to chase conditional grants on non-priority areas just so we could fulfill the provincial government’s priority. In addition, we were constantly shouldering more of the weight from federal and provincial downloads.
I remember that experience even all these seven years later. This post is to plant that flag. I have not forgotten those feelings of helplessness as a provincial minister or senior bureaucrat coldly states that they can’t help us with this, or with that, even though it’s their legislation that creates the situation needing to be solved. What they are really telling you is that you are not their priority.
Embracing governance not politics
I was talking with one of my neighbours heading into the 2011 municipal elections and glibly said, “maybe we should just develop a strategic plan that mirrors the provincial government’s objectives.” In other words, the current system we maintain forces us into the politics rather than good governance.
I’ve worked on many provincial issues since my election as an MLA. With the Union of British Columbia Municipalities’ annual convention a week away, I’m checking in. While I am very close to my local government colleagues in Saanich North and the Islands, I look forward to reconnecting with mayors and councillors from around the province. We have fully booked meeting schedules.
The relationship between governments has not changed much. Yet as we face growing challenges with climate change, with the infrastructure deficit burdening most communities and the increasingly poor provincial resource management that is deeply impacting communities traditionally dependant on those resources, the province is going to need to reach the hand out and invite more collaboration, rather than continue the top-down decision-making that inspired me to run provincially all those years ago.
Image by Kevin Norris from Pixabay
From a political distance, I have never run for any level of gov’t, I’ve always thought we’d be better off with more local control (community forests,local food security, etc) and less top down management. Reading your words here makes me wonder how we can make any lasting improvements in the current political structures to survive the very real challenges we’ve only just started to face? There are many days that I get so tired of the constant political posturing and bull$#*t that I question whether we can turn this ship around while attempting to work from within… Might just be better to conserve energy, wait for the inevitable collapse and rebuild our governance from there.
Appreciate your efforts Adam.
“I have not forgotten those feelings of helplessness as a provincial minister or senior bureaucrat coldly states that they can’t help us with this, or with that, even though it’s their legislation that creates the situation needing to be solved. What they are really telling you is that you are not their priority.”
I know that feeling very well. When I went to you with my needs and in a desperate situation, you told me the issues I raised were not in your mandate.
You left me crying on your board room table without saying goodbye. After that, I curled up into a ball and cried for days. I almost killed myself.
Since then, we have hopefully established a better understanding of each other, but all of the issues I raised then and after remain outstanding and unaddressed..
Please remember the little people.
You raised a really good point about the problems of misaligning municipal and provincial government, no doubt you have the same challenges with the provincial and federal alignment, I recall very well went down my ring really started to hurt Municipalities, because I was working for Welfare in Ontario at the time. Changes to provincial employment insurance coverage Meant that more people went on welfare before they could get EI. The funny crew where is the funding for Eli I had different cost share affect meant that more people went on welfare before they could get EI. The funding for ElI I had a different cost sharing model than Welfare and the net result was more money had to come out from the provinces.
It was a Conservative government federally which pulled that stunt. I believe it was Brian Maroney, but I cannot recall for sure.
That is one of the tricks they use for balancing their budget is dumping all the financial problems onto the provinces.
I really hope Canadians aren’t going to be fooled by Andrew Sheer’s. false claims of evotion to fiscal responsibility. The Cons will hurt the provinces and will hurt the people of Canada.