When the autumn leaves begin to change colour, I know that a Prince George winter is on its way. And with the falling snow comes the inevitable letters to the editor complaining about city snow removal services.
These gripes are as regular as the summer time letters about the potholes.
Year in and year out we see a barrage of complaints about city services and rising taxes and other perceived failures of local government. Yet we rarely have an opportunity to discuss the real challenges for municipal governments and their role in twenty-first century politics.
Academics tell us that "municipal government was initially created in Canada primarily as an instrument for service delivery, rather than as a level of democratic government." When we look at where municipal governments are named in the constitution we find that they are under the jurisdiction of the provinces.
In other words, the provinces have power over the roles and responsibilities of municipal governments. These local governments were mandated to ensure that local services, connected to roads, sewers, potholes and also to leisure services like pools and libraries were dealt with within communities
This seems like a reasonable idea if the provincial government takes up the economic and social development of the province as a whole. British Columbia went through a long period where the provincial governments were investing in communities and infrastructure and designing policy aimed at what we call "province building."
In this context, the provincial government had a kind of social contract with all the communities throughout the province and it aimed to create opportunities for communities to thrive by encouraging industry to be part of the community.
For example, for a long time, B.C. had a policy called appurtenancy that meant that logs had to be milled a certain distance from where they were cut. This allowed for towns to rise up throughout the province and, in this context, municipal governments were part of the local service structure. But things have changed.
Provincial governments are no longer in the province building business in the same way as they once were. They now rely on private corporations or arms-length organizations to build the province. They are more interested in creating opportunities for free trade and rely on entrepreneurial opportunities for communities to join the global economy. And, in this change of the relationship between the provincial governments and communities throughout Canada comes the rise of the municipal governments as a new level of democratic government.
Municipal governments are now the makers of the community. They have responsibilities far beyond service provision even though service provision is still central to their mandate. They are part of the structure of the global economy and yet their entry into it is not guaranteed. If we look at northern British Columbia we can see the potential of the Asia-Pacific Gateway but we can also see the challenges for smaller communities to leverage their way into world markets.
Municipal governments, whether they like it or not, are responsible for things like: economic development, international trade connections, sustainability planning, and housing strategies. These tasks require real human and fiscal capacity but local governments have limited revenue raising power. In this new context, local governments are really an important level of democratic government shaping the long-term goals of communities and regions. Yet, they remain largely misunderstood by the public who continue to see municipal governments as simply service providers.
Despite the fact that municipal government is ever more important in our lives, voter turnout for municipal elections remains embarrassingly low.
The last municipal election in Prince George saw a voter turnout of just over 29 per cent and, although this is very low, it is not atypical to see rates below 40 per cent. Over the last few months we have seen a controversy arise about the role of a "mayors' caucus" and whether such a meeting is necessary.
I note that Derek Corrigan, Mayor of the City of Burnaby, wrote in June in this newspaper that "at the Mayors' Caucus we concentrated on our common interests and our desire to be respected as an order of government."
It is no wonder that municipal leaders are frustrated by the push back they get from their constituents about the role of local government.
The truth is that these governments are subject to very outdated perceptions of their role in twenty-first century politics.
