Langley Township and City mayors and councillors were in Victoria for the Union of B.C. Municipalities Conference last week.
The attendees spent their time in a mixture of events, including meeting with cabinet ministers and voting on a wide variety of resolutions.
Resolutions ranged from dealing with dangerous dogs to regulating large trucks to rural policing to accessible taxi services.
Langley City’s Mayor Ted Schaffer said that during the week, he and members of his council met with Fort Langley-Aldergrove MLA Rich Coleman, with MLA Peter Fassbender, and had brief discussions with other MLAs.
The council members also split up and met with various other municipalities.
“We work toward our strengths,” said Schaffer.
Councillors have met with counterparts from New Westminster, Chilliwack, Squamish, and North Vancouver, among others, to compare notes.
They’re reaching out to other communities to find out what they’re doing.
New Westminster is building its own fibre optic network. The City can look at whether such projects are worth doing locally.
This year, Langley Township did not bring any resolutions, though it has supported several, said Coun. Bob Long.
Langley City put forward two, one on oversized trucks, and another on residential tax rates.
The provincial government uses speaking opportunities at the annual conference to make announcements.
This year Premier Christie Clark pledged $10 million to boost research and response to the growing fentanyl overdose death crisis, which remains a public health emergency in B.C.
The money will be split between an existing task force, and used to launch a new B.C. Centre on Substance Use that would focus on addiction research, education, and guidance for medical professionals.
Clark said medical professionals are the ones who requested this approach to fighting the fentanyl crisis.
B.C. also offered up $148.5 million toward projects to improve municipal sewage, stormwater, and clean drinking water.
The federal government will top that up to $370 million, lowering the financial burden on local governments to 17 per cent on such projects, said Clark.
– With files from the Vancouver Sun