In mid April we took note of what plans the City of Prince Rupert had put in place for engagement during the course of the provincial election campaign, with Mayor Lee Brain observing that the City would be looking to hear from the North Coast's candidates on specific issues related to Prince Rupert.
Towards that theme, the City took their initiative forward and prepared a number of questions for the three provincial candidates to consider, covering a range of topics of some concern for the City in the lead up to tomorrow's General Election Day.
Rather than have the candidates appear at City Council and take questions from Council members, the the city's elected officials chose to make it a written exam of sorts for Ms. Rice, Mr. Arendt and Mr. Pond.
For their pre-election final, Council members created a list of six questions on themes that they determined were the most important areas of interest at this time.
The questions were provided to the three candidates one week in advance, allowing them some time to craft a reply that best reflects their observations on the themes.
Over the weekend, the City released their list of questions and the answers from those candidates that participated in their civics exam, posting the results to the Mayor's Social media platform on Facebook.
The questions included:
1) Given the significant tax burden on our homeowners and small businesses caused by the provincial Port Property Tax Cap and the declining annual tax revenues from port operators, if elected, how will you and your party ensure the City of Prince Rupert experiences fair financial benefits from port-related development?
2) What will your Party do to support the City of Prince Rupert to prepare for major economic growth?
3) If elected, how would your party support the municipal Re:Build Rupert infrastructure program?
4) Do you and your party support the City of Prince Rupert's position that the Ridley Island Tax Sharing Agreement through the provincial government needs to be renegotiated to be fair for Prince Rupert taxpayers?
5) Will you and your party consult local communities on the location of major projects before leasing land or making location decisions?
6) Will your Party, if elected as government, support regional fair sharing of major project revenues through the Northwest Resource Benefits Alliance?
So far, only Ms. Rice and Mr. Pond have submitted their answers to the six areas of note from Mayor Brain and his Council, you can review their contributions to the civic engagement process here.
For more items related to the North Coast campaign see our North Coast votes archive page here.
Will NCR be endorsing a candidate?
ReplyDeleteNo we won't be providing any endorsement of any particular candidate, we turn the political overview to the voters as of today.
ReplyDeleteOur engagement for tomorrows exercise in democracy is to reinforce the concept that voters should vote for the candidate that they best believe will represent the riding in Victoria.
We have however, provided a recap of the campaign themes on the local scene over the last five weeks, along with some links for those still seeking some background before they head for the polling booth.
NCR
Questions 4 and 5. It's pretty naive for the City to think that any provincial government is going to take sides in any re-negotiations of tax sharing agreements between municipalities.
ReplyDeleteThe agreement is through the Province, not through the municipalities. It requires a provincial negotiator and for the Province to sign off on it.
DeleteA tax sharing agreement is between the municipalities. The Province must approve letters patent to amend the terms of incorporation before the agreement can come into effect. A sign off does not make the Province a party to the negotiations. The City needs to talk to Port Edward about this.
ReplyDelete