CRD hosts APC Training Sessions

This past Tuesday, last night and tonight - the Cariboo Regional District (CRD) is hosting Advisory Planning Commission (APC) training sessions for its' 12 Electoral Area APC members'

This past Tuesday - the training session were for the Area G, H and L APC's
Last night (Wednesday) - the training session were for the Area D, E, F, J and K APC's
Tonight's session is for the Area A, B, C and I APC's

At these training sessions' - APC Members' get an overview of how the Agriculture Land Commission (ALC) /Agriculture Land Reserve (ALR) works & how they interact with the work of the CRD's 12  APC's.  One noteworthy item - the Chair of the ALC, Richard Bullock, was present and expressed his deep-seeded passion for the Agriculture Industry for BC.  In fact, Mr. Bullock wrote a 126 page report on November 26th, 2010 entitled "Moving Forward: A Strategic Vision of the Agriculture Land Commission for Future Generations which you can read here plus APC Members' get an understanding of how APC's operate (passing of Resolutions, conflict of interest, etc)

One of the things Mr. Bullock talked about was the idea that the ALC must be more proactive in defending the ideals set out in the Agriculture Land Commission Act and less so about the different applications that the ALC deals with on a day to day basis.  It was great to observe his passion on agriculture as it is something we, as a region, don't really discuss often and maybe we should discuss the impact of agriculture in the Cariboo-Chilcotin region every day and not when it is in 'crisis mode'

On the disappointment side -- I believe that there are flaws in the APC Bylaw that I asked questions around and felt that I didn't get nearly the answer I was looking for so I'll be working with the Area 'D' APC to make recommendations to the CRD Area 'D' Director on how the CRD's APC Bylaw can be strengthen to serve both the interests of the Cariboo Regional District & for all members' of the Electoral Area 'D' Advisory Planning Commission

Such flaws include:

1) Use of email to poll Area 'D' APC Members in restrictive circumstances where an applicant declines to attend an APC Meeting and where the calling of an APC Meeting is impractical

2) Inclusion of general 'Conflict of Interest' language for APC Members'.  Note - that the Regional District of Central Kootenay and the Central Okanagan Regional District are two jurisdictions that include 'conflict of interest' language in their APC Bylaws