The City of Kamloops will be tabling four resolutions at this years Union of BC Municipalities Convention in September.
The first calls for the province to change its threshold for when cold weather shelters can open, while the second resurrects last years motion around bullying and harassment by local elected officials asking for changes in legislation to bring elected officials under the purview of the Worker’s Compensation Act.
The third resolution still asks for the province to resolve the toxic drug crisis.
Speaking on NL Newsday, Councillor Dale Bass was asked why the city would propose virtually identical resolutions as they did last year.
“You know it’s kinda like having a kid who nags and nags and nags and nags for the candy and eventually you give it to them to shut them up,” Bass said. I’m kinda hoping its that way as well.”
Calls to change the temperature threshold were put forward by Bass, and adopted by the Southern Interior Local Government Association in May.
It is seeking to raise the temperature threshold for when cold weather shelters can be opened, as Kamloops only gets government funding to open a shelter when the temperature drops below -10 C, while in the Lower Mainland the threshold is 0 C.
“We’re spending billions on a soccer game. We could be spending a few million to maybe mitigate this problem so that people who are unhoused or unwell don’t end up in the ER with hypothermia with frostbite, they don’t end up on a slab because they froze to death,” Bass said, noting the difference in thresholds is a double standard that appears aimed at keeping the province’s costs down.
The fourth resolution calls on the province-wide creation of a Forestry Sector Council – to in-part – help plan for a stable, sustainable fibre supply for pulp and paper mills.
It comes after council heard concerns from Kruger, the company that owns the pulp and paper mill in Kamloops, which said they have been having trouble finding a sustainable and economical source of fibre.
“Councillor Bill Sarai took this one on and SILGA passed it and I know he’ll speak to it when we go to UBCM as well but it’s just to remind the provincial government that in 2024 we don’t have the sawmill industry that we had in 1975,” Bass said.
That resolution also calls on the province to create a “Forest Adjustment Bureau” to redesign and integrate worker and community supports, as well as the development of a strategy to create more value-added jobs in fibre harvesting.
The province has already created similar programs but stakeholders have continued to express concerns about their effectiveness.
The UBCM convention is scheduled to take place between Sept. 16 and 20 in Vancouver.
