A large Prince George contingent will join their local government colleagues in descending on Vancouver this weekend for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities annual general meeting.
Nearly 2,000 municipal leaders from across the country are expected to attend the 2013 event at the Vancouver Convention Centre, including the majority of Prince George city council.
"Everybody dives in to the things that are of interest to them and takes something different from the experience," said Mayor Shari Green. "It's a great opportunity for people to enhance their professional development."
Also joining the mayor and councillors in Vancouver for the event running May 31 to June 3 will be the city's new manager, Beth James.
"Lots of [chief administrative officers] normally attend, so this will be a great opportunity for Ms. James to meet some of her peers and colleagues and learn about what other municipalities around the country are doing," said Green.
Learning best practices is a key component of the event, with a variety of seminars, workshops and networking opportunities.
Two of those seminars will be headed by local politicians.
Coun. Garth Frizzell will chair a Friday workshop bringing together representatives from the resource development and extraction sector with local government to discuss ways to negotiate a more balanced distribution of the social and economic benefits that arise from new mining, forestry or energy projects.
Frizzell sits on the federation's board of directors and is up for re-election as one of the eight B.C. directors. This year, there are eight people running for the five open positions and delegates will cast their ballots on Sunday.
Since 2009, Frizzell said he has had the chance to see a wide spectrum of the federation, sitting as head of the B.C. caucus, chair of the international relations committee and a member of at least seven other sub-groups.
On Monday, Coun. Cameron Stolz will chair a panel discussion looking at the challenges presented by railroads passing through communities. "The piece around that is there's been protocol agreements that have been put into place as best practices that are promoted on both sides, both from the railway point of view and the municipality's point of view," he said.
This will be the fifth FCM convention for Stolz, who sits on three FCM committees - municipal finance and intergovernmental arrangements, municipal infrastructure and transportation and the rural committee.
"Every single time I go there, I'm amazed by how much more I've learned that I didn't know about before," he said. "New and interesting things are coming forward."
Having a strong local presence within the federation's inner circle is beneficial, Green said.
"Being very closely connected to the FCM board is a good opportunity for us to leverage our access that we might not normally have," she said, citing meetings both Frizzell and Stolz take part in during the group's advocacy days in Ottawa with MPs and their senior staff.
Shifting focus
The past couple of years leading up to the 2013 federal budget featured a strong FCM campaign for the renewal and expansion of programs for infrastructure funding. With the commitments now prescribed in the country's financial plan, there can be a shift in focus to how to deal with the funding, as opposed to trying to secure it.
"Infrastructure is the key theme across the country, especially in rural and northern communities. The southern cities and the bigger cities have different kinds of infrastructure challenges. Public transit being a perfect example and trying to deal with high populations and moving people around," said Green. "We don't exactly have that same dilemma."
The mayor said amongst her itinerary is a workshop examining lessons learned from the infrastructure campaign as well as a keynote address from Transport, Infrastructure and Communities Minister Denis Lebel.
The leaders of the federal Liberal, New Democrat and Green parties will also address the FCM delegates this weekend, as well as Rick Hansen.
There are other areas, such as crime and public safety, that will get a spotlight as well, said Frizzell. "Now we're bringing to bear other issues," he said. "It's a good reminder of the other areas of local government FCM focuses on."
