Mrs. James - Good Vision but no specifics
UBCM Day 4 started with The City of Port Coquitlam receiving a Best Practices Civic Engagement Award at the Union of BC Municipalities’ annual Community Excellence Awards ceremony.
The awards showcased BC municipalities and regional districts that lead the pack, take risks to innovate, establish new partnerships, question established ways of doing business, and pioneer new customer service practices. I am proud of our work to reach everyone in our community in new ways through technology, thus making it easier for our residents to participate in the decision-making process at their leisure.
Carol James addressed the membership. The room was very full; in fact there were more people for Mrs. James’ address than I had seen in the past. Mrs. James called on the BC government to call the legislature back this fall so that they could move the HST referendum date forward and have the vote ASAP. Mrs. James then outlined 4 main focus points of her platform: 1. Strong Economy, 2. Investments in Human Capital, 3. Commitment to Sustainability, and 4. Strong Democracy.
My overall impression of the speech was good, there was some good high level vision, however; the speech lacked details. As local elected officials we have been asking for solutions, in fact we have suggestions and ideas that will make our communities and province stronger.
Yesterday, we voted on the resolution regarding 3 or 4 year terms. The UBCM members voted to maintain a 3 year term. This was a good debate, each side had some good points.
Overall, it was another excellent day at UBCM.
