Municipalities have only their local taxes to pay for services, and those funds can’t address the huge expenses of the devastation caused by natural disasters
season recorded in British Columbia ebbs, municipal politicians from across the province will gather this week to try to send a warning to the provincial government that responding to such climate emergencies is beyond their capacity.
“Everybody wants to talk about fire, floods and drought – earth, wind and fire,” said Clearwater Mayor Merlin Blackwell, after a fire season that included out-of-control fires in Chase and the Shuswap, a couple of hours away, along with several in the Okanagan that resulted in almost 200 homes destroyed there.
Besides a big focus on those issues, the convention has significant time dedicated to housing, mental health and addictions, and homelessness. Those differences have been heightened since the province moved to decriminalize small amounts of drugs in May, 2022, a move that some local government politicians believe has led to an increase of public drug use and disorder beyond what the pandemic sparked.
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