The increasing population of the Sunshine Coast is going to change the shape of local government.
According to the 2016 census, the population of Sechelt is 10,216, which means it will get an extra seat on the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) board.
Under the community charter, the SCRD has a voting unit of 2,000. That means rural areas or municipalities get one vote for every 2,000 people on issues where the votes are weighted, such as budgets. On that basis Sechelt will go from a voting strength of five to six (the numbers are generally rounded up by the province).
The formula for determining the number of directors is the voting strength divided by five. But there’s also a rule that no regional district director can control more than five votes, so even though Sechelt’s voting strength only increased by one, it will get a new director.
Angie Legault, the SCRD’s senior manager of legislative services, said there won’t be any changes until the census numbers are certified by the minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development, which she expects will happen near the end of the year.
In a statement to Coast Reporter, the ministry said it is “currently reviewing the new census information and will report on the impacts to local governments in the coming months. At this point, we cannot confirm the specific impacts on matters like municipal representation on regional districts.”
