Municipal ‘fiefdoms’ hurt Victoria, Vancouver: Harcourt
Victoria Times Colonist
April 23, 2015
Former premier Mike Harcourt says Greater Victoria and Vancouver are too caught up in the politics of various municipal “fiefdoms” to work together effectively to create sustainable, prosperous economies.
“Victoria and Vancouver are just too important to the province to not work properly,” Harcourt said in a speech at the Victoria Conference Centre. The event was organized by the Greatest Greater Victoria Conversation, a group that’s working to get people talking about amalgamating some or all of Greater Victoria’s 13 municipalities.
Successful cities such as Calgary, Toronto or Chicago market themselves to the world as great places to live, invest and do business, Harcourt said. Cities fail when they don’t excite themselves and the world about their potential.
Greater Victoria, as a region, should be competing with places like Portland or Saskatoon, he said. Instead, municipalities like Esquimalt and Langford are too busy competing with each other.
The Greatest Greater Victoria Conversation started, almost spontaneously, after eight of Victoria’s municipalities posed questions about amalgamation during last November’s local elections. About 75 per cent of voters cast ballots in favour of discussing the idea.
Since then, Coralee Oaks, provincial minister of community, sport and cultural development, has agreed to assist communities that wish to study amalgamation. Premier Christy Clark, meanwhile, has said the province won’t force amalgamation on anybody.
Harcourt has a long history with local and provincial politics. He was a Vancouver councillor from 1973 to 1980, Vancouver mayor from 1980 to 1986, and an NDP MLA and later B.C. premier from 1991 to 1996. He has also been part of a federal initiative examining Canadian cities.
On Tuesday night, he advised an audience of about 200 to start campaigning now for a plebiscite or local vote on amalgamation. Such a vote should happen before the next municipal election, Harcourt said.
Experience, he said, has taught him that democratic change usually happens in three ways: people are told what they must do; they are told to figure out what they want; or they are handed an issue and instructed on the choices. They are also handed a timeline and told that if they can’t reach a consensus, some other elected official will make the decision for them.
Harcourt said the first two options are almost always disastrous. The third is risky.
But he called the third way “guided democracy,” and said it’s the only way to make things happen successfully.
Harcourt congratulated the audience on getting referendum-style questions about amalgamation on so many municipal ballots last election. But he also warned that people need to start pushing and shouldn’t wait for any politician to act.
Local politicians will be reluctant to amalgamate and, perhaps, work themselves out of a job. Provincial politicians will be reluctant to tackle an issue likely to be controversial.
“Trust me, if you wait for politicians to act, you are going to wait a long, long, long time,” he said.
© Copyright Times Colonist
- See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/municipal-fiefdoms-hurt-victoria-vancouver-harcourt-1.1846653#sthash.YZlz4Gix.dpuf
Victoria Times Colonist
April 23, 2015
Former premier Mike Harcourt says Greater Victoria and Vancouver are too caught up in the politics of various municipal “fiefdoms” to work together effectively to create sustainable, prosperous economies.
“Victoria and Vancouver are just too important to the province to not work properly,” Harcourt said in a speech at the Victoria Conference Centre. The event was organized by the Greatest Greater Victoria Conversation, a group that’s working to get people talking about amalgamating some or all of Greater Victoria’s 13 municipalities.
Successful cities such as Calgary, Toronto or Chicago market themselves to the world as great places to live, invest and do business, Harcourt said. Cities fail when they don’t excite themselves and the world about their potential.
Greater Victoria, as a region, should be competing with places like Portland or Saskatoon, he said. Instead, municipalities like Esquimalt and Langford are too busy competing with each other.
The Greatest Greater Victoria Conversation started, almost spontaneously, after eight of Victoria’s municipalities posed questions about amalgamation during last November’s local elections. About 75 per cent of voters cast ballots in favour of discussing the idea.
Since then, Coralee Oaks, provincial minister of community, sport and cultural development, has agreed to assist communities that wish to study amalgamation. Premier Christy Clark, meanwhile, has said the province won’t force amalgamation on anybody.
Harcourt has a long history with local and provincial politics. He was a Vancouver councillor from 1973 to 1980, Vancouver mayor from 1980 to 1986, and an NDP MLA and later B.C. premier from 1991 to 1996. He has also been part of a federal initiative examining Canadian cities.
On Tuesday night, he advised an audience of about 200 to start campaigning now for a plebiscite or local vote on amalgamation. Such a vote should happen before the next municipal election, Harcourt said.
Experience, he said, has taught him that democratic change usually happens in three ways: people are told what they must do; they are told to figure out what they want; or they are handed an issue and instructed on the choices. They are also handed a timeline and told that if they can’t reach a consensus, some other elected official will make the decision for them.
Harcourt said the first two options are almost always disastrous. The third is risky.
But he called the third way “guided democracy,” and said it’s the only way to make things happen successfully.
Harcourt congratulated the audience on getting referendum-style questions about amalgamation on so many municipal ballots last election. But he also warned that people need to start pushing and shouldn’t wait for any politician to act.
Local politicians will be reluctant to amalgamate and, perhaps, work themselves out of a job. Provincial politicians will be reluctant to tackle an issue likely to be controversial.
“Trust me, if you wait for politicians to act, you are going to wait a long, long, long time,” he said.
© Copyright Times Colonist
- See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/municipal-fiefdoms-hurt-victoria-vancouver-harcourt-1.1846653#sthash.YZlz4Gix.dpuf
