Citizens battle to be heard at local town halls

Sep 25, 2009

Interesting, isn't it? On the one hand, there are all these politicians wringing their hands about voter turnout declining at all levels. And, on the other, when issues that go to the heart of communities come up, politicians only listen to what citizens have to say after they are forced to mobilize to be heard.

By Daphne Bramham
Vancouver Sun
September 17, 2009

Local government is closest to the people. So why are civic politicians so determined to lock out their citizens?

In far too many communities, it's difficult to access information about who funds the campaigns of mayors and councillors. Worse, if citizens get that information, it's almost always left to them to be investigator, prosecutor and bill-payer for any legal action against candidates, financial agents and campaign organizers who fail to comply with the Local Government Act.

But at least as disturbing is the trend to silencing public debate on crucial issues.

Two stunning examples come from the East Kootenays, where until last year's economic meltdown, Alberta money drove an unprecedented real estate boom and continues to tempt local politicians.

This week, Cranbrook council only backed off a massive annexation that would almost double the current urban footprint after nearly 20 per cent of eligible voters demanded a referendum -- an extraordinary proportion since only 30 per cent voted in the last election.

Council had already agreed to freeze the taxes for 20 years or until the site was divided into parcels of 50 acres or less. Annexing the two parcels of land (owned by two numbered companies, one with strong Alberta ties) will also immediately increase the value.

In the middle of summer, council tried to sneak through the annexation under the alternate approval process outlined in the Local Government Act. It's a reverse-onus thing that other cities such as Powell River have tried to use to ram through unpopular developments.

Under the alternate process, unless 10 per cent of the eligible voters go to city hall or to the city's website, get an elector response form and indicate that they are opposed to council making a decision without a referendum, council is free to do what it wants.

Amazingly, a group called Citizens for a Livable Cranbrook managed to get nearly double the 1,475 signatures needed.

The referendum is set for Nov. 14 and will cost $37,000. It's a cost that may have been avoided if Mayor Scott Manjak and councillors a) had made the annexation a central part of their election campaigns last November; and, b) held public consultations after they were elected.

No one knows why council is so keen to ram this through. There's no way to check online who financed the various campaigns and when I asked for copies of all candidates' election financing reports, I was told it would cost approximately $150 for copying and/or faxing.

Council has so far refused to release a $500,000 consultant's report on growth management completed earlier this year and referendum supporters have been told it's unlikely to be released before the vote. Surely, that would help citizens make an informed decision before voting in the referendum.

Just up the road, there's another example of duck-and-cover involving the aptly named Jumbo Glacier Mountain Resort Development proposed nearly 25 years ago.

The $450-million proposal to build a 6,500-bed, 22-lift, ski resort on Crown land in a wilderness area 55 kilometres west of Invermere is wildly unpopular among locals.

Several polls suggest anywhere from a slim majority to 80 per cent of regional residents oppose the development that proponents have touted as a rival to Zermatt, Switzerland.

For a month last year, activists including first nations leaders blocked the logging road that leads to the site -- a road that taxpayers will almost certainly have to pay to upgrade should the development go ahead.

And among the celebrities enlisted to the fight are singer Bruce Cockburn and homegrown hockey star Scott Niedermayer.

But public debate was effectively ended in August when the East Kootenay regional district board fobbed all decision-making power off on the B.C. government with a request that it designate the site as a resort municipality.

Conveniently (and perhaps with Jumbo in mind), the Liberals enacted legislation in 2007 that empowers the government to establish resort municipalities and appoint people to run them. There will be no elections in resort municipalities set up under this legislation. Local council members will be appointed by the province.

Premier Gordon Campbell and Community and Rural Development Minister Bill Bennett, whose riding is just down the road, insist that citizens' in-put will be sought. But there's no necessity for it.

Residents are livid. They already live with the effects of massive and rapid development in Invermere, Radium, Revelstoke and Golden.

Local newspapers are full of letters blasting the regional district directors and the province for ignoring citizens and their opinions. And some citizens are trying to gather 5,000 names on a petition to have the regional district's request overturned.

Interesting, isn't it? On the one hand, there are all these politicians wringing their hands about voter turnout declining at all levels. And, on the other, when issues that go to the heart of communities come up, politicians only listen to what citizens have to say after they are forced to mobilize to be heard.

The problem is not that people don't care.

It's that they've lost faith in a so-called democratic system that allows and even encourages politicians to shut citizens out.

dbramham@vancouversun.com
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Reprinted in the Kimberley Daily Bulletin, September 25, 2009