The Northwest is going to be well represented over the next five days at the annual provincial political convention known as UBCM, with a number of themes up for discussion and opportunities to meet with BC Government cabinet ministers and ministry officials part of the fast paced schedule of events.
Today's events offer up a look at Climate Action, Forest policies, issues related to Gang Violence in communities and the need for better consultation on Tent Cities and Homelessness.
Tuesday starts early with sessions from 7:30 AM on, covering a range of topics from Community Water Fluoridation, Integrity in politics and reducing liability exposure for local governments to name a few.
There will also be a number of Forums for small, mid and large size communities, along with a number of Provincial Policy sessions for delegates to take in.
Wednesday continues on with the drop in clinics and then shifts focus to a number of addresses to the delegations from a range of speakers, the UBCM membership also begins its review of resolutions and procedures through the day.
Wednesday has also been pencilled in as the day for the Premier's address to the convention set for 2:15 PM, a change from the past when the leader of the provincial government closes the event.
The schedule returns to more familiar themes for Thursday, with more clinics, resolution discussion and workshops set up for delegates to attend.
Friday is the final day of the convention and along with any final work required on the resolutions from the 2016 convention, the two key addresses of the event will take place with a Federal address scheduled for 9 AM, while the Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development will provide the last of the speeches for the 2016 convention.
You can examine the full program for the event here.
A more condensed version of the week's events is also available for review here.
There is also an Exhibitor showcase in place for this years convention, set to Open on Tuesday and running through until Thursday at the Victoria Conference Centre, with a chance for delegates to network with each other, or discover new items and services that might be of use back home.
As we outlined on the blog last week, the Northwest participants have a few resolutions up for review by the UBCM, which has a fairly extensive list of resolutions to consider during those sessions later this week.
Masset Councillor Jason Thompson has been one of the first from the Northwest to share some thoughts with the folks back home about the UBCM gathering, keeping residents on Haida Gwaii up to date on events so far.
To this point the Prince Rupert contingent at UBCM haven't had time for their social media feeds and for the most part, the journey south has been kept as kind of a low profile affair for City Council members.
Prior to departure for the south, the City of Prince Rupert did not outline how many members of City Council, or staff would be attending this year's event, or what issues that they hoped to raise while in Victoria.
In past years the city has been well represented with strong numbers from Prince Rupert for the annual gathering of elected officials. With members of council having divided up their responsibilities and appointments with Provincial officials to discuss issues of concern to the North Coast.
One of the most anticipated events of the convention will be the address on Wednesday by the Premier, where we imagine Prince Rupert officials will be hoping for another shout out from Premier Clark to match last years salute to the North Coast.
Though we imagine that the odds makers at SportsAction might have an over/under set on some thoughts by the Premier to be directed towards Terrace/Kitimat this time around.
It being an election year in 2017 and the Skeena riding in play for election time, politics might just dictate a few moments to highlight the work that the Haisla Nation and Kitimat-Stikine Regional District have done over the years.
And well, who knows she might even slip in a few comments about the newest candidate for the Legislature in that region.
You can keep up to date on the day to day developments through our UBCM Archive page, which features items related to both Northwest participation at the convention and other items of interest that come out of the five days in Victoria.
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