Performance Reporting

Core Business Area: Local Government

Goal: Open, accountable and effective local governments

Local governments are critical partners in achieving the ministry's vision and mission. Across British Columbia, 155 municipalities, 27 regional districts and 255 improvement districts make up the local government system.

BC communities range in population from the Village of Zeballos, population 243, to the City of Vancouver with some 536,000 residents. They also vary greatly in physical size: the Peace River Regional District is the largest in the province at 11,933,655 hectares, while the Village of Silverton is the smallest incorporated community with an area of 63 hectares. Annual budgets also differ widely throughout BC, ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars for the District of Wells to hundreds of millions for the City of Vancouver. It is a significant challenge for the ministry to balance the wide-ranging needs of all local governments within this complex and diverse environment.

Local governments in British Columbia govern under provincial authority established in the Community Charter and the Local Government Act. The City of Vancouver operates under its own legislation, the Vancouver Charter.

Under the Community Charter local governments have broad powers, increased flexibility and greater autonomy with which to address their community's individual needs. British Columbia now has the most empowering local government legislative framework of any province in Canada. These additional powers are balanced with higher standards of ethical conduct and new obligations for locally elected officials to report to citizens.

The ministry is also responsible for providing a legislative, policy and program framework for efficient service delivery and cooperation among British Columbia's 69 public library boards and 230 library facilities.

Objectives and Strategies

Objective 1: Local governments are able to effectively exercise broader authority in the context of enhanced accountability to citizens.

Key Strategies Undertaken:

• In Phase 1, the Community Charter was developed and implemented.
• In Phase 2, the scope of further local government legislative reform was defined and options for subsequent phases of legislation were explored.

In 2002/03, the ministry began a strategic shift to change the focus of the local government legislative framework from detailed prescription and provincial approval to a broader, more enabling approach. This shift culminated with the enactment of the Community Charter on January 1, 2004.

During 2003/04, resources were focused on developing the Community Charter, preparing an extensive web-based toolkit of advisory materials and providing training and advice to elected officials, local government practitioners and other local government stakeholders.

Objective 2: Communities are able to provide safe drinking water and appropriate sewage treatment.

Key Strategies Undertaken:

• The ministry delivered the Canada/BC Infrastructure Program.
• The infrastructure planning grant program was delivered.

Explanation of Variance:

2003/04 targets were conservative. Funded projects served a greater proportion of the provincial population than was initially forecast.

In 2003/04, the ministry continued to deliver the Canada/BC Infrastructure program. The six-year tripartite agreement, which was signed in 2000, committed to providing $268 million in provincial funding assistance to communities to improve drinking water and sewage treatment. These projects are referred to as "green" infrastructure projects. The program's objectives are to improve the quality of life for British Columbians through investments that: support long-term economic growth; improve community infrastructure; build 21st century infrastructure through the use of best technologies, new approaches and best practices; and enhance the quality of the environment.

Under the program, the ministry committed to funding 91 "green" infrastructure projects, investing $68 million of provincial monies into communities throughout the province. This investment was augmented with one million in additional funding for 108 infrastructure planning grants to increase local government infrastructure planning capacity.

Objective 3: Efficient and effective local government systems.

Key Strategies Undertaken:

• Communities engaged in restructuring activities were assisted.
• Unconditional grants were allocated to communities under the Small Community Protection, Regional District Basic and Traffic Fine Revenue-Sharing programs.
• The ministry coordinated provincial government actions and facilitated cooperation among governments in high growth regions.

The ministry worked to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the local government system in 2003/04 by assisting 11 local governments to extend their boundaries; providing $96,600 in restructure planning grants; and paying $862,847 towards the implementation of the incorporation of the District of Lantzville and the restructure of Comox to include the Kye Bay community, helping to ensure that residents have access to the form of local government they believe is most appropriate.

Additional funding of $26.5 million was provided to 174 local governments throughout the province in the form of Small Community Protection Grants and Regional District Basic Grants for general administration costs. Community policing and crime prevention activities were also advanced in many communities with grants totaling $10 million from the ministry's Traffic Fine Revenue-Sharing program.

The ministry also provided community transition assistance funding of $890,000 to the Village of Tahsis to ensure its ongoing fiscal viability; $87,500 was awarded to the Municipality of Sayward for the seismic upgrading of public facilities; and the ministry provided matching funding of $1.6 million to 127 local governments for local West Nile Virus prevention initiatives.

In 2003/04, the Capital Regional District adopted a Regional Growth Strategy to better co-ordinate decision-making and target infrastructure investment in the region. The Squamish-Lillooet and Okanagan-Similkameen Regional Districts initiated formal regional planning exercises, which may lead to Regional Growth Strategies being adopted by 2006.

Objective 4: Public libraries are able to provide accessible service on an equitable basis to all British Columbians.

Key Strategies Undertaken:

• The process to develop a strategic plan for public libraries in British Columbia was begun.

The Ministry allocated $9 million in library operating grants to 69 public library boards responsible for operating 230 public library facilities throughout British Columbia. These library boards are supported by the Province as they work together through networked services to maximize the investment, by all levels of government, in library programs. An electronic network reduces traditional barriers of distance and size by making public access to library resources available across the province. The ministry provides administrative and organizational support to ensure libraries are able to maximize cooperative opportunities.

To more effectively focus the Government's efforts in the development and support of the public library system, the ministry has embarked on a consultative process to develop a strategic plan for public libraries. This process, which will focus on partnerships to strengthen libraries, will conclude with the approval and adoption of a provincial strategic plan for public libraries in 2004/05. As part of the consultation process with communities and stakeholders, a paper entitled "Developing a Draft Strategic Plan for Public Libraries: Situation Assessment" was published in May 2003.

Significant progress has been made on development of a strategic plan for public libraries based on stakeholder feedback and comments. Consultation meetings with boards, agencies and interested parties across the province to solicit further input are continuing.