City of Williams Lake at UBCM

From the City of Williams Lake:

Williams Lake City Council and the Chief Administrative Officer attended the annual UBCM Convention in Whistler from September 27th to October 1st. This significant event has representatives from many municipalities, Regional Districts and some First Nations governments come together to address policy issues facing local governments, meet with Provincial Cabinet Ministers, Agencies and Corporate partners and to attend numerous information and development sessions.


“This year, we chose to limit our Cabinet Minister meetings to the Solicitor General and Minister of Tourism, Sport and Arts due to the fact that MLA Donna Barnett had a number of Ministers come to Williams Lake this summer and we had opportunities to meet with them one-on-one to discuss issues important to our community,” stated Mayor Kerry Cook. “This allowed us to attend many of the valuable educational sessions we would otherwise have missed.”


In addition to the Ministerial meetings, the City met with the RCMP “E” Division, Premier Gordon Campbell, CN Rail and Terasen Gas. Issues brought forward at these meetings included the need for an Urban First Nations Policing unit within the Williams Lake Detachment, funding for the Cariboo Chilcotin Beetle Action Coalition (CCBAC) and its sister BACs’ to the north and south, the need to provide more pedestrian access across the rail line to the River Valley and the City’s desire to explore a District Heating project with other agencies.


The most important success of the Convention was an announcement from the Premier that the Province will provide $1 million per year to each of the BACs for the next three years. Mayor Cook advises, “The three BACs came together with a unified, compelling request of the Province for ongoing funding to support the efforts of the BACs. Obviously the Premier recognized the value of the BACs and their contribution to local economic development and community sustainability.”


The City applauds the accomplishments of the City of Quesnel and Cariboo Regional District with re-election of Mayor Mary Sjostrom as Second Vice-President and Chair Al Richmond as Electoral Representative on the UBCM Board. The City was also proud to be recognized with the Cariboo Regional District and member municipalities for our cooperative BC Street exhibit during the 2010 Olympic Games.