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| Mayor Lee Brain provided for some extensive notes on his conversations at UBCM this year |
Of the Council membership, it would seem that only the Mayor and Councillor Cunningham attended the convention from the elected official side of the travel arrangement, with a number of senior staff members also part of the Prince Rupert delegation.
Mr. Cunningham opened the discussion praising the work of city staff for their briefing notes, observing on the 28 meetings that the city's attendees took in over the first three days of UBCM, he also had kind words for the work of Jennifer Rice in assisting the city delegation during the course of the convention.
"First of all I'd like to thank the staff, Mr. Buchan, Corinne Bomben, Rosa Miller and Richard Pucci for their excellent briefing notes and everything, as we met the ministers we brought up many problems and details of how to solve the problems and the help we need and those briefing notes were fantastic ... a lot of the ministers sat up and paid attention to us, and it's not like we were walking in there hat in hand looking for things. We were suggesting solutions to the problems ... which they don't get very often ... we were just giving them the message that we need help" -- Councillor Barry Cunningham
Mr. Cunningham also outlined some background towards his sessions on health with both Northern Health and Minister Dix as well as some of the work of staff at the event.
"Our staff had great meetings with staff to staff and things like that. I think we accomplished a lot more than we set out to when we went there, I honestly think that it was a really good UBCM for Prince Rupert." -- Councillor Barry Cunningham
Mayor Brain also had positive themes to share from the delegation at UBCM and how the city made headway on a number of their items.
His first topic of note was the issue of the Port Property Tax Act, Mr. Brain observing that not every minister had been briefed on the topic with the facts on the issue. The Mayor noting how the City delivered facts to the Ministers, which he described as an eye opening experience for the provincial officials.
"One of the top items was the Port Property Tax Act, it was clear that not every minister was briefed with the facts on that issue, so we provided them with the facts. And I think it was eye opening for them to see the impact of that Act, because I think that there is a narrative that's going around that you know there is no impact, that this Act is necessary for investment in Prince Rupert, when clearly there is no evidence to support that claim what so ever. So I think we're going to see some traction with the provincial government really taking a look at that" -- Mayor Lee Brain
As part of his commentary on the Port Property Tax issue, Mr. Brain noted of a recent report commissioned by the province that he was not aware of until a recent FOI, noting as to how the document had outlined some of the analysis on the issue, noting how these are conversations that need to be ongoing.
The mayor also recounted some of his past work on the issue through his Hays 2.0 presentation, State of the City presentation and previous work with other municipalities.
"We want to have a collaborative relationship with our industry, we want to be able to move forward as a community but when you have a handcuff so tightly wound across your wrist as a community and you're not able to collect the kind of income you need and its impacting local taxpayers to such a degree where their offsetting and subsidizing port industries. You know this was a narrative that I think that all the ministers needed to hear" -- Mayor Lee Brain
His takeaway from the UBCM is that the City was heard loud and clear on the Port Tax Cap issue and that very good progress was made.
"I think the province now understands that a solution must be presented and that sitting on this topic is not an option. So I think we made very good progress on that particular file" -- Mayor Lee Brain
Mr. Brain also spoke on themes of Affordable housing, some of the city's strategic planning and how the city is trying to create economies of scale to achieve the shared goals with the ministries.
He noted of the need to clear land to build and why the province needs to support the city in its work to build 3,000 new housing units over the next decade and to support Port Growth.
He highlighted to the need for a mobilization to provide that support for Port Growth and how the city presented all the challenges related to its infrastructure deficit and outlined some of their solutions.
"That was one of our key messages as well, that we're here to support Port Growth you know without the port, we wouldn't have the growth, we wouldn't have the jobs, we need that. But we're not going anywhere right now without appropriate resourcing and housing, recruitment and retention strategies and so all this stuff was presented to the province in a way that they understood and I think we were successful" -- Mayor Lee Brain
The Mayor also observed that they also want to build on their relationship with the Federal government, with City staff having started to coordinate with the PMO's office and provincial/federal ministries to mobilize the city to address the issues.
He noted of the range of large scale infrastructure projects that the city has to take on in the future and the challenges that the community faces towards those issues.
"If we don't do these things, well there's no housing going to be built, the infrastructure is going to crumble and we're going to go bankrupt because we're not allowed to collect money off the taxes. And it's a situation that the community needs to become aware of.
That there's no getting out of it unless everyone comes to the table immediately and that we create an even playing field here where we're about to participate more wholesemley and alongside with the industries' -- Mayor Lee Brain
As for the lack of financial resources through taxation on marine export industries in the community, the Mayor recounted how he reinforced that message to those he met at UBCM.
"There's 60 billion dollars worth of annual trade happening through this corridor now and combined we get three point 2 million dollars a year from all the marine export industries and that's ridiculous and I said that in my presentation, it's highway robbery and it needs to end.
And I was very clear with the Ministers and made sure that it was very heard loud and clear that they have to do something here and that they have to come up with a solution" -- Mayor Lee Brain
His final thoughts explored how the UBCM connection offers a chance to share and commiserate with other communities and find solutions towards the challenges that they face.
The city has provided some additional notes on their travels on the city website and social media page.
You can review the full recap of the week at UBCM from the City's Video Archive starting at the 57 minute mark.
More notes on UBCM can be reviewed from our archive of the convention event here.
Further notes on the Tuesday Council session can be explored through our Council Timeline Feature.
A look at past Council Discussion themes can be reviewed from our archive page here.
If some ministers did not appear to have been briefed on the mayor's position that may have something to do with his preference for social media rather than formal communications.
ReplyDeleteDescribing port taxation as "highway robbery" was not a good move, considering the tens of millions that the Province has put into the port under both Liberal and NDP governments. He won't be given a final victory lap.