Last week, Preston Manning, the former leader of the Reform Party, said that not enough attention is paid to local government. As the level of government closest to the people, he said, it reveals a lot about the state of democracy in Canada.
Manning might have been looking over the Rockies. B.C. has a system of regional government, unique in Canada, that usurps some of the functions of municipalities.
It鈥檚 supposed to provide flexible, voluntary, consensual, bottom-up governance based on co-operation for mutual benefit, but doesn鈥檛 always work that way.
It assumes that local elected representatives know what鈥檚 best for their electors and will cast aside rivalries to undertake activities for mutual benefit. Dan Campbell, the Social Credit minister of municipal affairs in the 鈥�60s, championed it as an alternative to imposed municipal amalgamation.
It occurred to me then that setting up another level of government might be a way of insulating provincial governments from local and regional conflicts, a way of allowing them to issue orders for others to carry out, to avoid responsibilities and put bureaucratic control over local democracy.
I can think of two examples where this seems to have transpired. One is the Greater Victoria sewage-treatment fiasco. The other is the threat to Shawnigan Lake鈥檚 watershed by a proposed contaminated-soil dump.
Environment Minister Mary Polak won鈥檛 get involved in the dispute between the Capital Regional District majority, which wants to put a sewage treatment 鈥渇acility鈥� at McLoughlin Point, and the Township of Esquimalt, which lacks the voting weight to protect itself.
It would be wrong to intervene in 鈥渁 matter that should be solved at the local level,鈥� Polak says. Even though the 鈥渕atter鈥� has been caused by arbitrary deadlines set by the provincial government.
Despite the efforts of Vic Derman, a Saanich councillor on the Core Area Waste Committee, the project is going ahead without any independent cost/benefit or environmental analysis.
The majority of CRD directors are determined to stick to a scheme that doesn鈥檛 assure environmental benefit and won鈥檛 wait for more efficient and cheaper technologies on the horizon.
They accept, without question, the provincial government鈥檚 stand that we all face an environmental and public health emergency, which we don鈥檛. They listen to a clown named Mr. Floatie, but not to a councillor elected by the people of Saanich.
They insist on piggybacking sewage treatment on a system of pipes and pumps never designed for treatment. As Derman says, this fiasco 鈥渉as likely served to lessen public confidence in the capability and viability of regional government.鈥�
Let鈥檚 move up to Shawnigan Lake where, unlike the CRD, the Cowichan Valley district hasn鈥檛 the authority or muscle to protect the water that supplies the cottagers there, because this function hasn鈥檛 been 鈥渕andated鈥� by the province. It鈥檚 up to a provincial government bureaucrat to decide whether the risks of a contaminated soil dump on the creek are 鈥渕inimized鈥� enough to be acceptable.
This faceless official鈥檚 job is to assess it as an engineering issue, though the fuss raised by locals has brought cautious intervention from provincial health officials.
Bruce Fraser, the CVRD director for Shawnigan Lake, says the ability of one government official to impose a highly unpopular decision on a community is a 鈥渇ailure of governance.鈥� It certainly seems to violate the declared purpose of regional districts.
Some regional directors, from what used to be called unorganized areas, are elected directly. Some are appointed by municipal councils. But Nils Jensen wasn鈥檛 elected mayor of Oak Bay to worry about tsunami preparedness in Sooke. Derman wasn鈥檛 elected in Saanich to help solve Oak Bay鈥檚 deer problem.
The voluntary, co-operative, flexible approach is fine in principle. But it is allowed to go only so far. Bureaucrats designed the system, and bureaucrats have to show regional directors the ropes.
Local politicians, though, respect the wishes and concerns of people who elect them. That鈥檚 the vital, democratic aspect.
It鈥檚 down the drain in Victoria and up the creek at Shawnigan.
