A prominent Vancouver City Councillor says his main concern about BC's new watchdog for municipal governments was who's paying her salary. Now that's been settled, so Raymond Louie says he's confident Basia Ruta won't find anything wrong with how this city is run, "City of Vancouver, I know, is well run and we just were confirmed by our credit … [Read more...]
BC names Auditor General for civic governments
November 7, 2012 by
BC's first Auditor General for municipal governments has been named. Basia Ruta is a chartered accountant with extensive experience at the federal level. Premier Christy Clark says her priority will be making sure taxpayers are getting the best value for their money. Ruta will examine municipal services and recommend non-binding changes. Her first … [Read more...]
Civic politicians will be updated on new RCMP contract management committee
September 26, 2012 by
Civic politicians will get an update Thursday on the work of the new provincial contract management committee dealing with local government concerns over the new RCMP deal. Politicians at the Union of BC Municipalities convention will hear from RCMP Deputy Commissioner Craig Callens and Langley city Mayor Peter … [Read more...]
Civic politicians vote to decriminalize marijuana
September 26, 2012 by
It is very much a symbolic gesture. But B.C.'s municipal politicians gathered at the UBCM in Victoria have voted to decriminalize marijuana. Former federal cabinet minister Tom Siddon, now a civic representive in the Okanagan, had spoken against the idea: "we have fried enough brains already." But others spoke in favour of … [Read more...]
Civic Party Rebuilding
August 6, 2012 by
The new president of the Non-Partisan Association says he hopes to avoid the "mis-steps" of the past. Peter Armstrong says he wants to see organization renewal and modernization of the party and move on from by-gone eras. He says "I think we had issues over the years with conflicts related to people who wanted to run for mayor and that caused a … [Read more...]
NPA Councilor Disqualified from Next Civic Election
May 1, 2012 by
An NPA city council candidate is among those disqualified from running in the next civic election. Vancouver Non-Partisan Association council candidate Francis Wong is included on a list of people who can't seek civic office in Vancouver in 2014, because they did not file campaign financial disclosure statements during the 30-day late filing … [Read more...]
Vision Vancouver spent a bundle in the last civic election.
March 16, 2012 by
As several candidates have already done ahead of Monday's deadline, Vision Vancouver has filed its campaign disclosure statements from the fall civic election. Mayor Gregor Robertson's party raised $ 2.3 million in 2011, and spent $ 2.2 million in the civic campaign. Donations come from about 2500 individuals and 250 organizations, … [Read more...]
One Mayor is clearing the air when it comes to civic confusion over RCMP deal deadline.
March 9, 2012 by
The municipal observer to the RCMP contract talks is clearing up some of the confusion at the civic level as an end of March deadline to sign off on the deal approaches Fassbender says the end of March deadline is only between the feds and the province. He says after that the contract is then sent out to municipalities. When asked … [Read more...]
Confusion at the civic level as a deadline approaches to sign off on BC’s new RCMP contract.
March 8, 2012 by
As we near the end of March deadline to sign off on a new RCMP contract for BC, Mayors have yet to even see the document. Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore said "No we haven't. We had a briefing in the beginning of January but we haven't actually seen the contract yet." He is echoed by John Ruttan, Mayor of Nanaimo when asked if he had … [Read more...]
Polls open for B.C. civic elections
November 19, 2011 by
VANCOUVER - Mother Nature could play the biggest role in determining whether voters turn out today to vote in B.C.'s civic elections today.Chilly temperatures forecast throughout the province could sway some voters from trekking to the ballot box at a time when turnout is already expected to be low.Experts say only about half the number of people … [Read more...]
