Most members of the Parksville and Qualicum Beach councils will head to the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities convention in Nanaimo starting April 11.
Parksville council members will be in attendance, including Mayor Doug O'Brien, Coun. Mary Beil, Coun. Amit Gaur, Coun. Joel Grenz, Coun. Sylvia Martin and Coun. Sean Wood, according to Deb Tardiff, manager of communications for the city.
All five members of Qualicum Beach council will attend the convention, according to the Town of Qualicum Beach.
The AVICC represents municipalities, regional districts, and local governments across Vancouver Island and coastal B.C.
Each spring, it holds a convention where members vote on resolutions, some of which advance to the Union of BC Municipalities convention in the fall, which is important in securing provincial funding.
Martin will speak to a resolution that asks for the provincial government to provide improved resources and facilities for youth mental health and addictions services.
Her resolution notes that young people in B.C. aged 18 years old to 28 years old are experiencing increasing mental health and addiction issues in combination with a lack of mental health and addictions resources and services
The resolution also asks that the province report out on results of its expenditures on mental health and addictions supports for youth with an analysis of the effectiveness of implemented programs.
Also coming from Parksville, and the Regional District of Nanaimo, is a resolution by Wood that calls for a sustainable, recurring growing communities fund of $1 billion.
Wood's motion notes that the primary revenue source for local governments, property taxes, is regressive and places a disproportionate burden on lower-income households, while the costs of infrastructure projects continue to rise at a rate that outpaces consumer inflation, making it increasingly difficult for local governments to meet community needs.
The fund would be established by progressive taxation and distributed to local governments using the same formula as previous fund in 2022.
The third Parksville resolution urges the province to conduct meaningful technical level consultation with local governments about the feasibility before amending legislation that affects the capacity and authority of local governments. The motion recognizes many local governments in B.C. are small organizations and asks for reasonable timelines for local governments to adapt.
A Qualicum Beach resolution will ask the provincial and federal governments to share information about the distribution of fentanyl precursors in a timely manner. The resolution adds that not all information about fentanyl precursors is currently being shared with law enforcement.
Also coming from Qualicum Beach is a request for the AVICC and UBCM to lobby Transport Canada to amend legislation, including the Grade Crossings Regulation to permit the reconfiguration of railway crossing traffic controls to have railway maintenance traffic come to a stop on the rail at roadway intersections of inactive railway crossings and to remove stop signs for vehicular traffic at these locations.
The 2025 AVICC convention will be held from April 11 to April 13 at the Vancouver Island Convention Centre.
