Tuesday, Dec 12th North Cowichan Meeting 4pm
NEW TIME! - Budget and more.
Apologies for the late notice, our plates have been full and this meeting is so packed, that it has been hard to break it down into simple bite-size pieces. If you want to read any of it that is packed with multi-page attachments see here: https://pub-northcowichan.escribemeetings.com/Meeting.aspx?Id=69b5e710-0410-4356-81c8-3f58a3459953&Agenda=Agenda&lang=English&Item=12&Tab=attachments
The Budget portion continues to be long, not overly specific, and complex in wording. There are infrastructure projects that seem way off base in pricing, we see large increases to taxes based on more staff being asked for, overpriced infrastructure upgrades such as a 500k roof for the Maple Bay Rowing Club, adding a corridor clean-up crew ( thanks Province), gross increase in garbage collection ( possibly due to new electric truck and automation?) and more. Without a forensic audit, it is hard to tell what is needed, and what is way off base pricing-wise, but you do not need to be an accountant to ask to not have your taxes raised, that is their job to explain the need to you!
New staff to hire requested:
Supplemental asks - Corridor clean up is requesting a couple of part-time people (4 hours a day) to clean up the corridor for 95k, while giving ‘restorative justice’ $19,220 (could Restorative Justice create a program to have some of their “justice” be directing offenders to help clean up corridor?). Restorative Justice has been shown to be more effective than throwing folks in jail for minor offenses. Their ask is Projected budget expenses for 2024 =
$50,944.73 [ budget breakdown https://pub-northcowichan.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=14310]
• Funding from Community Accountability Program = $4,000
• Requesting funding from Municipality of North Cowichan RCMP budget = $26,320
• Request $8,217 from City of Duncan RCMP budget
• Grants not for operational costs
As we sit without logging our once fiscally, self-sustainable forest, which was logged responsibly with income that offset costs by over half year after year. We now see those reserves drained as we wait on a decision on whether we keep losing money until one day it may possibly pay for itself in carbon credits?? … logging for a few more years while we waited on this decision would have been much more fiscally responsible to taxpayers.
Garbage is through the roof … possibly from partial funds not allocated through the Climate Action and Energy fund for the new and amazing electric garbage truck? Or the automation? More housing units?
Once again, thank you province for your safe injection site, and wet housing, as it seems to not be helping folks in any way, and costing taxpayers a vast amount, not only monetarily.
Do you need to break down this all to speak!?? No, you can express your personal feelings about how you are doing financially, and ask the council to put the budget back to staff with restrictions or changes to meet a target of reducing taxes! It is their job to understand the budget and the breakdowns, it is your job to hold them responsible for their spending.
Counc. Justice is asking staff to look into a canopy cover bylaw (otherwise known as Urban Forests by the UN which he cites). While the thought of more canopy cover seems great, we do not see that playing out in their growth centres currently, and reads more like a tree-cutting bylaw. Most homeowners prefer more trees and typically will not clear-cut their lot unless they need to build. Other municipalities with tree-cutting bylaws are costing builders $300 per tree to cut, costing some developers upwards of 3 million just to create the lot. We have heard from multiple builders here who can see this coming and have pre-emptively clear-cut their lots to get ahead of a possible upcoming bylaw, which is sad. North Cowichan allows swaths of areas like the University Village area to be clear cut of all their old Oaks when they want to build a University and a high school or allow a large tax-payer like Cowichan Commons to come in and create a large parking lot with box stores, no tree cover to help mitigate their so-called ‘heat island”. At this point, we must be leery of bylaws brought in under the guise of climate mitigation, unfortunately, especially when they come with names derived from the UN such as ‘Urban Forests’.
Counc. Justice’s letter : https://pub-northcowichan.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=14305
Counc. Justice is also putting forward a letter [https://pub-northcowichan.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=14304] to update the Parks and Trails Master Plan. Embedded in this letter is a reference to upholding The Tripartite Agreement [https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/news/2023/11/tripartite-framework-agreement-on-nature-conservation-between-canada-british-columbia-and-the-first-nations-leadership-council.html]
Only a FEW of the Key Goals of the Framework Agreement:
Work to achieve the goals of the Framework Agreement will be consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and any related agreements, understandings, or other constructive arrangements:
Recognize First Nations leadership in ecosystem stewardship. The agreement establishes federal, provincial, and First Nations governments as equal partners to achieve common conservation goals and priorities.
Advance Canada and BC’s commitment to protect at least 30 per cent of B.C.’s land by 2030. ( 30x30) The conservation and protection of ecosystems, watersheds and habitats will be realized through conservation initiatives advanced on a case-by-case basis. This could include any combination of federal, provincial, municipal, or Indigenous-led protected areas, and other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) that meet national accounting standards and are reported in the Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database (CPCAD). ( Everything will be accounted for on databases, from the chicken you own, to all the nature in your area. This is a global strategy that is already being implemented by the CVRD who are actively going around taking inventory of what people are using their properties for, by the B.C. government by demanding you register your livestock and water wells. Everything will be reported on a data base for full surveillance and control.)
The ecological health of landscapes and watersheds in B.C. is measurably improved through actions (e.g., designations that support conservation, restoration, enhancement, etc.) [ie handing over many areas to ‘Trusts’ similar to the Cowichan Bay ‘restoration’ ]
Financial contributions by Canada and B.C. under this Agreement are strategically coordinated and could be directed to leverage additional provincial and third-party investments into conservation financing.
Objectives in Four Key Areas
The Tripartite Framework Agreement on Nature Conservation includes objectives for protection in four key areas:
Habitat and Ecosystem Conservation and Protection
Permanently protect and conserve up to 13,000 square kilometers of high-priority old-growth forests, supported by a $50-million investment from Canada that B.C. has agreed to match.
Support First Nations’ participation in government-to-government and area-based planning, specifically where participation may lead to the establishment of new areas for protection and conservation.
Funding First Nations-led conservation and stewardship goals, including Indigenous protected area declarations.
Habitat Enhancement and Restoration
Canada, B.C. and First Nations will work together on habitat enhancement and restoration initiatives (including grasslands, wetlands, forests, riparian areas, and estuaries). Canada and B.C. will also collaborate with local communities, stakeholders, and other government agencies. Early objectives include:
Fund new restoration activities that benefit species at risk and enrich ecosystems including tree planting through the 2 Billion Trees Program [ That not one tree has been planted under so far] and natural climate solutions (ex: wetlands restoration) through the Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund.
Cooperate to restore or enhance at least 140,000 hectares of wildlife habitat in B.C. by 2024/25, beyond regulatory requirements.
Develop a long-term restoration framework to create an ongoing restoration program in collaboration with First Nations, industry land managers, and others.
…. And so much more. Sadly, in the past we could look to these bullet points as amazing ideas, however as we know, they will use these policies, and UNDRIP as a massive land grab, as well as a way to push people off their lands under agreements such as 30x30 - https://wwind.ca/unpacking-30x30/
Sincerely,
The COAP Team