The Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) was formed more than 100 years ago to provide a common voice for local government. To bad it appears some within the organization are not practicing what they preach.
UBCM has recently signed a joint letter of agreement with the province of B.C. that will see the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) move ahead next April.
But if you ask local government about the deal, they haven't got a clue.
TILMA has been dogged by controversy since it was first brought forward last year. TILMA is designed to make Alberta and B.C. a joint economic partnership.
TILMA requires a municipality or the province to change laws or to match those in the other province. But according to the Council of Canadians, after the agreement comes into force, "new government initiatives will be challengeable by lawsuits if a company or private individual feels they restrict their trade or investment. Since all local government regulations in some way restrict investment, everything will be up for grabs."
TILMA detractors argue that it restricts local governments' ability to act in the best interest of communities and want the B.C. and Alberta governments to negotiate an exception for local governments, as they are allowed to do under the deal.
Local leaders have been raising all of these concerns and more since the start and you may have thought UBCM would have informed municipal governments of this joint letter of agreement. But when contacted for comment, Gibsons Mayor Barry Janyk had to go to the UBCM website to get the details. He had no idea such an agreement had been signed.
We think the UBCM has really dropped the ball on this one. Local leaders need to keep the issue up on their radar screens. It appears UBCM has not given local governments the chance to comment. The annual convention in September in Penticton is an opportunity for all municipalities to meet and discuss matters of concern and make policy decisions. You can bet that TILMA will be front and centre in the discussion, and UBCM officials who seemingly made this deal with the province behind closed doors will surely be held accountable for their decision-making.
After all, if the provincial government and those on the right are correct, the hubbub about TILMA is much ado about nothing. But if the detractors are even half right, it's too important to ignore.
