The Cariboo Regional District had 15 of its 17 resolutions it put forward at the annual Union of B.C. Municipalities meeting last week accepted.
CRD chair Al Richmond says now those resolutions will be put forward to the various provincial government ministries for consideration.
As to whether any action will be taken on them, Richmond acknowledges, that’s the government’s prerogative.
The resolutions include: greater levels of senior government funding for flood mitigation projects.
“It’s to do with the work and dyking that needs to be put in place to protect properties,” says Richmond, adding the current flood mitigation program is underfunded.
The regional district requested a 911 call levy in order take the burden off the local taxpayer for emergency service calls. It further requested an increase in infrastructure spending.
“Upgrading and dealing with water and sewer improvements there is just not enough funding around to do that,” Richmond says.
“It’s difficult given the current economic times but we want to make sure it’s on their radar.”
A resolution regarding the regulation and sale of plant seeds to minimize the spread of invasive species through greater control and education at the retail level was also presented.
The loss of productive agriculture land was also addressed with the CRD suggesting the province put in place an agriculture land index that would value agricultural land based on its production capacity.
As well, policies aimed at providing farmers with compensation to help them deal with natural disasters such as forest fires, address barriers to small scale-food production and distribution that would include encouraging the consumption of food that’s grown closer to home, removing barriers to that and encouraging larger retailers to purchase local food products for resale were submitted.
Other resolutions included: an expansion of high-speed Internet and cellular phone service in rural regions of the province; giving regional districts greater authority in weed control; supporting the web-based program for the small-scale forest industry designed to help producers publicize information about their product; lobbying for continued access to public telephones in communities; lobbying for a change in the carbon offset program that would see municipalities, rather than purchasing carbon credits, investing in their own infrastructure to lower their greenhouse gas emissions; the creation of an import tax on plants and seeds coming into the province to protect against invasive species; and requesting fair compensation from B.C. Hydro to generate revenue for regional districts and to bring them in line with the benefits already experienced by municipalities who receive one per cent of the gross sale of revenue generated within the jurisdiction.