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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 182

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 21, 2023 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 182 - Apr/21/23
Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP)
  • Apr/21/23 10:13:35 a.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-47 
Mr. Speaker, my colleague knows, as a former municipal councillor himself, just as I am a former municipal councillor for Tofino, that municipalities shoulder a large majority of services and costs. However, they only collect 8% of the overall tax revenue. The government just made a retroactive agreement with the RCMP to ensure that they get paid more. We know that our frontline law enforcement deserves to be paid more, and they deserve better training, especially de-escalation training. We also need to ensure they get supports when they are injured, especially with PTSD. However, the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities just met in the member's former hometown of Nanaimo. They were unanimous that the federal government needs to support local governments after the downloading of this retroactive funding. Unlike federal and provincial governments, which can run deficits, municipal governments have to run a balanced budget. Will the federal government get back to the table with FCM and local governments to make sure they are not eating the costs of a deal they negotiated without consulting local governments?
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Context: House Hansard - 182 - Apr/21/23
Mr. Terry Beech
  • Apr/21/23 10:14:48 a.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-47 
Mr. Speaker, as the member opposite knows, I have been to his riding, and I am originally from Vancouver Island. When I was elected to city council, it was on Vancouver Island. I have had a couple of opportunities to interact with the Union of British Columbia Municipalities. I was recently at a housing summit, just a number of weeks ago. In fact, this week, on Monday, I was at an announcement with the president of the UBCM, which announced $103 million of new federal infrastructure money, which is going to over 45 different communities throughout the province. The message is that the federal government is here to support municipal governments. In fact, looking at our investments since 2015, we have made historic and unprecedented investments that have directly benefited our municipalities. Obviously the policing arrangements that the member opposite is referring to are negotiated by the federal government, and the cost is burdened by municipalities. I have had an opportunity to meet with police officers, both in my riding of Burnaby, as well as the District of North Vancouver. We always take their concerns very seriously.
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