At the recent summit with Powell River - Sunshine Coast - Sea to Sky Country Liberal MP Blair Wilson, municipal leaders raised the need for access to steady federal funding.
"We do need a source of ongoing funding that we can count on that we don't have to go and beg for when in fact it is money coming from our community in the first place," Gibsons Coun. Gerry Tretick said.
Wilson encouraged the leaders and their staff to apply for federal grants that have disproportionately been ending up in Eastern Canada.
"The money is there, we just have to be diligent and apply for it as much as Ontario and Quebec does," Wilson said. "There's money that goes unspent."
Representatives from Powell River, the Sunshine Coast, West Vancouver, the District of North Van-couver, Lions Bay, Bowen Island, Squamish, Whistler and the Squamish, Sechelt and Sliammon First Nations travelled to Sechelt last Friday for the first-of-its-kind summit in the riding.
"I think it was a landmark day for the riding and for municipal politics," Wilson said afterwards. "It allowed the opportunity to deal with new sources of federal funding that are available to municipalities that just haven't been tapped in to. It's all about two-way communication, and I see my role as a facilitator between municipal governments and the federal government to help them access the funding that's needed."
Ultimately the day was about the "sharing of ideas and sharing of experiences," Wilson said.
"We give you the ammunition you need to speak on our behalf in Ottawa," Sechelt Indian Band Chief Stan Dixon told Wilson during his opening speech.
"It's an opportunity for us to come together, share and learn and see where we can build and work better together," Sechelt Mayor Cam Reid said. "I'm here today to network and hear what you're doing for us and find out what we can do together to help you be effective as our representative in Ottawa."
During the roundtable discussion, Wilson outlined "seven big wells of funding that are available on the federal level" through the Canadian Heritage program. He passed on information on the grants' objectives, applicant eligibility, deadlines and contacts. He also pointed to the Infrastructure Canada Program and Canada Council for the Arts as potential funding sources.
In addition, the group had preliminary discussions on the need for municipalities to have their own alternative mechanism for taxation beyond property taxes, Wilson said. Sharing the GST and more of the gasoline tax were possible options raised.
"The discussions we have to have following that is if the municipalities are going to get one per cent of the GST, how do we allocate that?" Wilson said.
Discussions also touched on the need for and shortage of skilled workers. Wilson, who is on the standing committee for immigration, said the solution lies in increasing immigration to shorten the waiting lists and bring in more skilled workers.
Wilson and his staff plan to put together a discussion paper from the summit and create a priority list and action plans to bring forward to the next meeting of its kind.
Apart from the group discussion, the summit also had presentations from Tourism B.C. on tourism marketing as well as from the Vancouver Whitecaps' director of soccer operations Bob Lenarduzzi on amateur sport, funding and development. Lenarduzzi mentioned the need for more facilities so youth who want to play sports have a field to play on. Wilson is the Liberal Critic for Sport and Vancouver Olympics and is also the chair of the Liberals' BC Caucus.
