October 27, 2006
Check against delivery
Well, it is great to be here in the traditional territories of the Songhees and the Esquimalt First Nations, to have a chance to talk with all of you again.
When I come, I can’t help but thank all of you and thank the UBCM.
You know, this is by far the most comprehensive provincial meeting of public elected officials and public servants that we have in the province. Isn’t it interesting that it’s local governments that bring us all together to examine a full, complete provincial agenda? It’s where we come every year when we have a UBCM meeting, we listen to one another, we learn from one another, and we learn how we can act together to improve the quality of life for the people that we all serve.
The fundamental principle that the UBCM brings to the table is: only one taxpayer. We all serve the same citizens. We reinforce our mutual goals, our mutual objectives, our common concerns, and we find a way forward. It’s so important to focus on those common purposes that we share.
Every year we seem to be able to come together and have an idea of what we should all do together. Now, I should say I find it’s particularly easy to find support when there’s provincial funding involved in that.
But it is important to note that your community opportunities task force, which has worked very hard for the last two years, has actually reinforced the single, most important idea that we should have: we accomplish things when we work together.
We’ve worked together to combat crystal meth, and improve community health, and prevent and prepare for West Nile virus and pandemics. We’ve worked together on emergency preparedness, wildfire prevention and interface management, community tourism, traffic safety, and 211 planning.
And we’re going to continue to work in that spirit of partnership because it’s the true way to build progress. It’s the way that we can ensure that we provide a better quality of life for all the people that we serve in British Columbia.
When we work together, we achieve positive results for your communities, for our province, and for our country. You know, when we work together, we do get positive results.
Now, if only we can get the City of Victoria to expedite your zoning applications for Municipal House, we’d have one more thing to cheer about. Now, I realize that it’s only been a year since we offered to donate the land, and things do take some time at City Hall. But wouldn’t it be great if we could open Municipal House and celebrate it for the 2008 150th anniversary of the province of British Columbia, right here in Victoria?
The theme of your convention this week has been: vibrant and integrated communities. Just to be sure I knew what we were talking about, I went to the dictionary to look up what vibrant means. It means pulsating with life and vigor and activity. It means being responsive and sensitive and bright.
It is a great theme: vibrant, integrated communities. It’s a great vision worth striving for. It reminds us to think beyond our own small borders and work together on common needs and common purpose and common challenges. And, once again, the community opportunities task force has stressed that point.
We need to think differently. Our world has changed dramatically: economically, socially, and demographically. The status quo simply has no status anymore. And it’s a challenge because it’s not that the world is going to be changing; we have changed.
Vibrant communities are excited by their future. They’re not mired in the past. When Herb Pond and Jack Talstra imagine a three million–TEU container port in Prince Rupert and Terrace, they’re painting a new picture of the entire northwest of B.C. for Canada. We’re going to work with them on that.
When Okanagan mayors come together on the Okanagan partnership, they’re painting an exciting, new landscape economically, environmentally, educationally, and socially for their whole region. They’re painting that landscape for British Columbia. And we’re going to work with them on that.
When Joe Snopek leads the way to integrated regional policing, he’s thinking beyond his borders. When Christ'l Roshard imagines a new future for Lillooet, she’s imagining a new future for British Columbia. We’re going to work with them on that.
When Colin Kinsley reaches out to the Lheidli-T’enneh and Stewart Allgard reaches out to the Sliammon, they’re building a new relationship and a better community. They are leading the way for British Columbia. They’re building a better province. We’re going to work on that too.
These are examples of leadership. They’re examples that are reflected across the province in all of your communities. On behalf of all my colleagues I want to say thank you. Thank you for your leadership. Thank you for your vision. Thank you for making British Columbia a better place for all of us to live.
Now, leadership is required. It’s leadership that builds vibrant, integrated communities, creative and prosperous communities that are environmentally sustainable and socially responsive. Vibrant communities are safe, healthy places where people can choose to walk or bike to work, where they can breathe clean air and have access to clean water and proper sewage treatment. They are places that encourage the imagination and that are naturally driven by the dreams of their citizens.
This convention theme is not just a title; it’s a call to action for all of us. It’s a call to all of us to work together to accomplish the goal.
Your communities are a recognized strength today for British Columbia. They’re an important cornerstone for our future.
So we have to ask this question: what more can we all do to design healthier cities and towns that provide healthy choices to citizens, and help us sustain services for the next generation of British Columbians? We all know we have to start from the ground up.
Let’s talk about land. We know this: the more urban land that we use, the more we compound urban challenges and urban costs. The greater the urban imprint on our land, the more distance we create between ourselves.
How many in this room set out with your plans to create urban sprawl? Did any hands go up? No one. No one sets out to create that, because sprawl increases travel costs, transportation costs, and all sorts of attendant side effects: poor air quality; poor health; higher policing costs; higher servicing costs for water, for sewage, for municipal infrastructure. Now, this isn’t an earth-shattering revelation. We’ve known this for a long, long time.
The good news is that we also know what creates healthier, less costly, more sustainable communities: higher densities. New densities also will help us create healthier communities. It will use less land. It will create a sense of place and create the opportunity for more affordable housing.
Let’s create communities where residents can choose to walk or bike more and get out of their cars. That means creating compact, pedestrian-friendly communities that are a mix of land uses and that meet the diversity of needs of seniors and young families and all of us in British Columbia. The results of properly planned, mixed-use, higher-density communities are: measurably better physical fitness, a reduced likelihood of obesity and traffic crash risk, and fewer air pollutants per capita than residents of more automobile-oriented communities.
Just think of this example. In the city of Vancouver in the early 1990s they changed their downtown core and took 25 million square feet of commercial space, and they converted it to residential space. At the time, we were told people will never make that choice. You should know this: in the last ten years the fastest growing means of commuting in downtown Vancouver is walking. We’ve seen a 62 per cent increase in the people there who walk to where they need to go as a commuter means. That provides everyone with a healthier lifestyle because when you walk to work, you get your 30 minutes a day of physical exercise
