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Executive Summary Real Change for Local Government: Introduced as a Private Member's Bill on
July 12, 1995
The Community Charter The Community Charter aims to free local government from unnecessary and costly provincial interference. This will enable communities to pursue their own goals in their own communities in their own way with their own resources. The Community Charter recognizes the contribution of local government and locally elected representatives to their communities and to the province. BC Liberals believe that local governments should a given more authority, more autonomy and more control over issues affecting their communities. The Community Charter gives more power and more resources to local communities.
Real
Change for Local Government:
The Community Charter represents fundamental changes in how government services are delivered and how decisions are made in British Columbia. The Community Charter recognizes that local government is the most accessible, accountable and affordable level of government in n Canada, It means more resources will be left at home in BC's communities and it means that decision malting will be done by those who are most affected and impacted by those decisions. It means less time wasted by provincial government on decisions that should be made locally. It means less resources spent on administration. It means communities will have more control over their own future.
Building
Government from tire Ground up: When BC entered confederation in 1871, its population on was 36,000 people. Today there are more than 4 million people in the province. Times have changed. However, while the population has grown, the structures and systems of government have not kept up. Since 1984, the percentage of gross provincial product that is eaten up by the provincial government has increased by over 50%. Regulations multiply but government decisions are slower and less effective. Decisions are seldom connected to the communities that are intended to benefit from them. Delays between actions and consequences are increasing everywhere. Resources seem to flow to Victoria but do not seem to flow back to communities of origin in meaningful and timely ways. The way government has grown arid tile lack of satisfactory results can be traced to outmoded thinking about how and where decisions can be made. In spite of efforts at reform and improvement, provincial governments of the last decade have not recognized the fundamental shift that must take place for government to respond to the needs of their constituents. Rather than empower local governments with more authority and provide local government with access to more resources to carry cut their additional responsibilities, the province since 1997 has "downloaded" many responsibilities to local governments, with no resources to meet them. The NDP government in Victoria has downloaded costs onto local governments is totalling $800 million since coming to power. The result is that local taxpayers have been forced to pay for provincial decisions which may or may not make sense in their community.
General Principles of the Community Charter BC Liberals believe that it is time .for a fundamental shift to take place in the way British Columbians are governed. Big change is needed. Victoria must give more responsibilities and resources to local governments because one size fits all solutions simply do not work. BC Liberals believe that the Community Charter provides a solid foundation upon which this shift can take place. The Community Charter represents the following for local government in British Columbia: 1. The Community Charter recognizes that communities in B.C. are a level of government. Each community must have powers under BC's Constitution to provide good government locally and to respond to current and future local issues without having to obtain special permission from the provincial government or a provincial civil servant. 2. The Community Charter reincorporates local government to provide each community with the legal powers of a natural person, subject to a number of necessary limitations on investing and on affecting the rights of other communities. 3. The Community Charter frees local governments from unnecessary and costly interference by the provincial government in local matters. 4. The Community Charter restricts the provincial government from downloading new burdens onto local government without provision for funding or the authority to raise funds to cover them. 5. The Community Charter recognizes that there is only one taxpayer, In specific instances, taxes collected will stay in the communities of origin under the Community Charter. 6. The Community Charter changes the way local governments are represented in provincial government initiatives. Under the Community Charter, local governments have more authority to negotiate land use and other decisions, within broad provincial guidelines. 7. The Community Charter guarantees that local governments won't be forced to provide services because the provincial government has over-spent. It means that pilot programs will not be started by the province and then left to be cleaned up by local governments. 8. Under the Community Charter, local governments will operate within broad provincial guidelines. Goals Will be established and yardsticks developed to measure progress, but local governments will have the freedom to decide how to meet these goals in a way that makes sense in their community. The province will maintain key responsibilities including:
9. The Community Charter releases local governments from many of the cumbersome and restrictive regulations imposed by the provincial government.
The Nuts Arid Bolts Of The Community Charter Local autonomy 1. The Community Charter recognizes that communities in British Columbia are a level of government and that each community must have the powers under BC's Constitution to provide good government locally and to respond to current and future local issues without having to obtain special permission from the provincial government or a provincial civil servant (Preamble, ss.34-36). 2. The Community Charter allows local government to do anything a natural person can do so long as it is not either a federal or provincial power or inconsistent with an act of a senior government (ss.34 and 35). 3. The Community Charter provides each community with the powers of a natural person, subject to a number of necessary limitations on investing and on affecting the rights of property owners or other communities (s.34, Part 2 and Part 4). 4. The Community Charter enumerates the powers and areas of jurisdiction of communities in three sections (ss.34-36). This streamlining is significantly different from the approach under the Municipal Ac which spells out in detail and limits several hundred specific powers in more pan 1,100 statutory provisions. 5. The Community Charter empowers communities with respect to such issues as ownership and control of highway:, (except provincial arterials) (Division 6 of Part 2). The Community Charter provides for community ownership of roads, lanes, sidewalks and boulevards in municipalities, thus eliminating delays, provincial control and the extraordinary costs of dealing with dedicated highways under the Municipal Act (s.50). The Community Charter provides for similar ownership of these public areas for regional districts (s. 49(2)(b)), where appropriate. 6. The Community Charter creates opportunities for communities to privatize service provision and to enter private-public partnerships (s.34). 7. The Community Charter also allows communities to take responsibility for urban transit, housing and policing, but only to the extent the affected communities wish to take on the responsibility and are satisfied with the level of provincial support (ss.34, 35 and 367). 3. The Community Charter repeals the Municipal Act and Vancouver Charter, which provide local government with limited powers and severely curtail local government initiative (consequential amendments). The significant elements of the Vancouver Charter are incorporated - and expanded upon in some instances - within the Community Charter.
Streamlining government 1 . The Community Charter eliminates hundreds of statutory provisions, regulations and other red tape (consequential amendments). 2. The Community Charter requires the Province and its agencies to submit their long term plans to scrutiny by local government and vice versa. The Province will be required to work with communities to rationalize long term planning in all areas of the Province to prevent conflicts, provide for full disclosure, require effective consultation, eliminate servicing and density problems in the "fringe areas" of existing municipalities, reduce provincial and community regulatory obstacles, and expedite approval processes (consequential amendments). 3. Under the Community Charter, referrals to the Ministry of Highways are deemed to be approved if the Minister (fails to respond in 30 days. This will eliminate unnecessary delays that have affected developments throughout British Columbia (consequential amendments). 4. The Community Charter provides incentives for Amalgamating police, fire, water, sewer, recreation, maintenance, solid waste disposal, planning, drainage, economic development, transit, highways, housing and other services best provided by a consortium of communities (consequential amendments). 5. The Community Charter eliminates the Ministry of the Environment from the flood plain land use regulation process, leaving the matter up to local governments (consequential amendments).
Protection of private property 1, The Community Charter enables persons holding interests in private property to know their rights and sets statutory limits on these community powers (Part 2). 2. The Community Charter lays out community powers in regard to expropriation and highways. 3. Consequential amendments to the Community Carter will lay out community powers in regard to land use control an heritage designation.
Public participation 1. The Community Charter amplifies and clarifies public participation opportunities. Public meetings, hearings, referenda petitions, elections, notices and inquiries are all grouped in one part of the Community Charter (Part 1). 2. The Community Charter gives communities the authority to decide when to hold general elections (at least every three years). It allows overlapping terms to provide for continuity after elections. After the initial election bylaw provides for these matters, any changes must be approved by referendum.
Regional Districts 1. The Community Charter provides the same powers to regional districts as it does for municipalities (except for highways where they do not wish to participate (s.49 (2)). 2. The Community Charter provides regional districts with a simple, cost effective system for obtaining citizen consent to providing new services, in a portion of the regional district, instead of the costly and complex existing service establishment system. Instead of local, extended and additional services provided by assent, consent, counter-petition, petition, etc., the Community Charter makes available the simple specified service area system for provision of services to a portion of the rural areas (Division 5 of Part 4), including within a municipality with the consent of that municipality (.56). 3. The Community Charter, with the support of taxpayers in affected areas, allows regional districts to take on any community tasks, instead of the limited items in the Municipal Act (Part 2). 4. The Community Charter provides for more modern and sophisticated approaches to financing and service provision, the same as will be applicable to municipalities (Part 4).
Provincial costs 1. The Community Charter reduces numerous regulations and delays in the decision-making process. 2. The Community Charter preserves and enhances the sanctity of municipal financing, which has resulted in B.C. municipalities enjoying the highest bond ratings in Canada. 3. Under the Community Charter, the Minister of Finance will resume responsibility for certifying community securities, but only to the extent necessary to preserve the Municipal Finance Authority's superior credit rating (x.114).
Accountable taxation and fiscal responsibility 1. The Community Charter eliminates municipal tax exemptions for all crown corporations (e.g., BC Hydro, BC Rail, BC Ferries) (consequential amendments). 2, The Community Charter maintains the requirement for balanced budgets and restricts borrowing to limited and defined purposes (Division 2 of Part 4), 3. The Community Charter provides a power to retain 75% of moving violation fines, including speeding tickets, in communities to community policing, youth or public safety programs (Section 102 and consequential amendments). 4. The Community Charter provides incentives for communities to amalgamate and for rural areas to obtain municipal services without incorporating (consequential amendments). 5. The Community Charter permits privatization an public-private partnerships where cost savings and better service are possible.
Elimination of business tax As an inducement to small businesses in B.C., the Community Charter provides local governments with the option of eliminating the business tax.
Streamlined justice 1. The Community Charter allows communities to establish bylaw courts to effectively prosecute persons accused of contravening bylaws (Part 5). This will address the concern that local government bylaw prosecutions are not currently being handled expeditiously by the Crown, with an impact on the reputation of the communities' efforts to fulfill their obligations to citizens. Bylaw courts will also result in increased fine revenues for communities, thereby reducing the load on taxpayers. . 2. The Community Charter prohibits local, governments and the Province from suing each other (often the same taxpayers pay for two municipalities suing each other, or for a municipality suing the Province or regional district) - (Part 5).
Recognizing
Responsibilities arid Providing Resources:
The Community Charter represents more than simple tinkering with the system. The Community Charter shrinks the role of the Provincial government and puts more responsibilities and resources in the hands of B.C. communities. It means less time wasted in making local decisions, less resources spent, and better government. The Community Charter places decision-making closer to the people, and means that government in B.C. will be more accessible, more affordable and more accountable.
Appendix
A The Charter will fundamentally change the nature f the provincial.-local government relationship h7ithin B.C. Therefore, there are a number of consequential amendments that will have to be made in conjunction with passage of the Charter in order to make this change possible. The following amendments are proposed:
Building Safety Act This Act replaces the Municipal Act Building Regulations provisions, the B.C. Building Regulations, the applicable National Building Code, the Electrical Safety Act, the Elevating Devices Act, and portions of the Workplace Act. This new Act will provide streamlined and simplified codification of all of these statutes within one Act, provide a standardized set of regulations applicable throughout the Province that can be administered by communities, and establish a single appeal mechanism for aggrieved parties. As, well, this Act will provide for easier to understand regulations and liability protection for the communities having jurisdiction over enforcement. The enactment of the Building Safety Act will enable the Province to downsize with respect to the administration of the repealed statutes without requiring Communities to then hire a total of the sane number of persons under the new Act.
Crown Corporations Act This Act will be enacted to require all provincial crown corporations to pay community property taxes, charges and fees.
Election Act This Act will be amended to provide for a uniform election apparatus applicable to municipal, regional district, improvement district school board and other local elections, consistent with Part 2 of the existing municipal Act.
Electrical Safety Act This Act will be repealed.
Elevating Devices Act This Act will be repealed.
Financial Administration Act The financial administration portions of the Municipal Act and other local entities will be simplified and rolled into the provisions of the Financial Administration Act.
Fire Department Act This Act will be repealed and replaced with provisions in the Fire Services Act that will provide incentives for and encourage amalgamations and the creation of regional fire departments with economies of scale in regard to facilities, staffing, apparatus, technologies, dispatch and other natters.
Fire Services Act This Act will be substantially revised to provide for modernized, easy to understand uniform system that will apply in all communities. The system will be administered by local communities, with all local fire chiefs acting as local fire commissioners. This will result in a downsizing of Provincial staff without the need for communities to hire additional local staff. The Act will also provide incentives for and encourage amalgamations and the creation of regional fire departments with economies of scale in regard to facilities, staffing, apparatus, technologies, dispatch an a other matters.
Gas Safety Act This Act will be repealed.
Highway Act This Act will be amended to give communities ownership and control of all local highways that are not designated as provincial arterial highways.
Improvement District Act This Act continues improvement districts and provides for their operation or dissolution.
Judicial Review Procedure Act This Act will be revised to delete applicability to community bylaws and resolutions, so that community decisions can only be set aside under the Community Charter within the first two months of passing. This will provide more certainty and predictability for local governments. Under the existing Act, bylaws can be set aside for up to 12 years after enactment.
Motor Vehicle Act This Act will be amended so that 75 percent of fines from highway violations, including speeding tickets, will be made available to local governments for community policing, youth, and public safety programs.
Municipal Act This Act will be repealed.
Planning Act This Act will require regional districts and municipalities to work together to prepare long term, general land use plans so that future population growth will be consistent with the provision of services and the desires of affected neighbours and communities. The regional planning legislation will require provincial ministries, crown corporations and agencies to submit their long term, plans to scrutiny by local government and vice versa. The province and communities will be required to work together to rationalize long term planning its all areas of the province to prevent conflicts, provide for full disclosure, require effective consultation, eliminate servicing an density problems in the "fringe areas" of existing municipalities, reduce provincial and community regulatory, obstacles, expedite approval processes and provide for "one stop shopping" for private property owners.
Police Act This Act will be amended to provide incentives for and encourage the amalgamations of police forces with economies of scale relating to ,facilities, apparatus, technologies, dispatch and other matters.
Power Engineers and Boiler Pressure Vessels Act This Act will be repealed
Vancouver Charter This Act will be repealed.
Water Act This Act will be amended to provide communities with meaningful input into water management in areas that affect them.
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