When the provincial government appointed the Auditor General for Local Governments in 2011, I was a Councillor in the District of Central Saanich. The auditor was supposed to add value for local governments, but as we have learned this week, it appears the cost of the office has far outweighed its benefits.

Greetings

After many years sitting in the audience at UBCM as a Councillor from the District of Central Saanich, I am both honoured and humbled to be standing on this stage presenting to you today as the Leader of the BC Green Party.

As I only have five minutes of your time and want to be respectful of this opportunity and your time for lunch, I just want to say that I echo the greetings and the sentiments of my colleague John Horgan in thanking the executive, staff and members of the UBCM.

The Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) introduced the details of their latest major policy report yesterday, Boatswains to the Bollards: A Socioeconomic Impact Analysis of BC Ferries, prepared by Peter Larose of Larose Research and Strategy.

This impact analysis investigates chronic government mismanagement of the B.C. Ferries corporation, arguing that fare hikes and service reductions over a 10-year period have cost the provincial economy over $2 billion and eroded a world-class ferry system, threatening its long-term viability.

Adam, Bob, Wyatt and Stefan are at a presentation by researcher Peter Larose on his recently released study on the impact of BC Ferries fare increases on ridership. The study was commissioned by the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM).

Larose's report can be accessed here (PDF, pages 11 - 97)

Minister Todd Stone responded to the report here (PDF)

Larose is responding to many of Minister Stone's criticisms at his presentation. We will summarize his responses in a later post.

 Jordan Bober (Admin and Volunteer Coordinator); Wyatt Tessari (Director of Regional Development); Bob Lorriman (party Chair); Lara Beckett (Director, Regional District of Fraser-Fort George); Andy Shadrack (Director, Regional District of Central Kootenay)

While not specifically anything to do with the UBCM convention, this occupied a lot of our attention tonight. New Brunswick headed to the polls today to elect a new government, and our colleague David Coon, the leader of the Green Party of New Brunswick was elected in his riding of Fredericton South! David is the second Green MLA elected in Canada (the other being Andrew Weaver) and the first Green politician elected east of BC.

This is a photo of Adam making the very first call from one leader of an elected provincial Green Party to congratulate the leader of another elected provincial Green Party. Congratulations David!

This morning we attended the LNG in BC: Opportunities and Challenges session at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities convention in Whistler, BC. The session should have been called LNG in BC: If we can we pull this thing off!”

The presenters highlighted the opportunity presented by the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) industry in British Columbia, but it lacked the balance needed to provide a fair analysis of what is really going on in the B.C. gas fields.

2 hours and 40 minutes later, Chief Councillor Ross is the second-to-last presenter and the first person to even mention the word "emissions" in this presentation on LNG in BC. 

Good morning!

We've registered and are now in our morning sessions. Adam and Director of Communications Stefan Jonsson are at a panel discussion on LNG in BC, and Director of Development Wyatt Tessari and Admin and Volunteer Coordinator Jordan Bober are at the Earthquake preparedness session.

Adam and staff will provide analysis on the LNG presentations later in the day.

Honourable Rich Coleman, Minister of Natural Gas Development and Minister Responsible for Housing