If there's one thing that can be said about Premier Gordon Campbell, he sure can make a room sit up and take notice.
Campbell ended his appearance at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) conference last week by telling local government officials that change is afoot for local electoral process. Just how elections will change is still up in the air, but the province has appointed a task force to look into reforms.
The task force will be co-chaired by the new UBCM president, two other UBCM designates, the Minister of Community and Rural Development and two MLAs.
Many sectors of the province have waited a long time for municipal electoral reform, but the changes Campbell merely hinted at have already created a lot of unease.
"Perhaps it's time to restore voting rights for industrial and business property owners in our communities," he said to the sound of an opener crunching into a giant can of worms.
It's an old debate that appeared settled in 1993, with UBCM support, when it was decided that voter eligibility should be primarily based on citizenship, not paying taxes.
But others argue that effectively disenfranchises many of the organizations that provide the largest portion of property tax revenues.
But would a corporate vote mean some individuals could vote twice once as a resident and once as a business? And what if an individual owns more than one business? How about if the business is co-owned, who gets to vote? Should corporations be allowed to vote for school district representatives? And if it's such a good idea, why doesn't the provincial or federal government grant corporate taxpayers the vote?
Undoubtedly, those Squamish developers who are frustrated with lagging permitting processes, unpopular rezoning decisions and unrealistic amenity requests affordable housing being just one of them would be gleeful at the change.
Currently, their only course of action in influencing council during elections is who they choose to support through donations. But how much more pull can a single vote give them?
On the other hand, engagement in the governing process might appease the corporate angst seen in Squamish, and in other communities like Campbell River where major corporate taxpayers have recently taken a stand by refusing to pay in full the taxes they perceive as inordinately high.
The only way to navigate these potentially rough waters is to appoint to the task force a very broad cross-section of the public and private sectors. But here, already, Campbell has been criticized. Yep, it seems we're in for a storm.
