Victoria’s mayor will try to get a foot in the door of the national group for big-city mayors by making a bid to represent the entire region, rather than just the city.
Capital Regional District directors agreed to have chairwoman Barb Desjardins ask that Victoria’s mayor be allowed to represent the entire census metropolitan area of Victoria, which includes all 13 municipalities, at the Big City Mayors’ Caucus.
The group, part of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, includes representatives from 22 of Canada’s biggest cities.
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps said in an interview that it’s important that Victoria be represented in the group, long considered the policy voice of big cities in dealing with the federal government and tackling major issues.
“Victoria and the region faces all of the same issues of other urban areas in the country: housing shortage, homelessness, opioid crisis, mental health, policing costs, infrastructure needs,” she said. “All of the things that all of the big city mayors are facing are also things being faced by Victoria.”
Municipal membership in the Big City Mayors’ Caucus is based on population. The threshold is set by members of the group.
Victoria’s population of 85,792 is not high enough for it to join. The capital region, with a collective population of 383,360, has been shut out because the area is not one big city but 13 smaller municipalities.
Desjardins wrote to the caucus last year asking that the CRD be included, but has received no answer, Helps said. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities has rejected similar requests from other regional districts, she said.
Having the Victoria mayor represent the entire region might not be ideal, but it’s likely the best chance to get representation “at the table where important policies are developed and where direct advocacy with the federal government is possible,” Helps and View Royal Mayor David Screech said in their motion to the CRD board.
“This would ensure that whoever is mayor of Victoria would be there at the table — not representing the region, per se, but there so our census metropolitan area has a voice at the Big City Mayors’ Caucus table,” Helps said.
While CRD directors agreed, a few had some concerns.
Langford Coun. Denise Blackwell said she would prefer to have the CRD chairperson as the area’s representative.
Failing that, the CRD chairperson should be the area’s alternate, she said.
“The mayor of Victoria certainly doesn’t represent all of us,” Blackwell said.
Saanich Mayor Richard Atwell said he would like to see representation in the caucus.
“But I’m struggling with the approach a little bit, because from their point of view, it may open up Pandora’s box when you look at Burnaby or Coquitlam or Richmond with populations of over 200,000,” he said. “How are they going to be represented? The mayor of Vancouver doesn’t represent the metro [Vancouver] region.”
Saanich Coun. Colin Plant suggested that there could be an annual endorsement of the representative.
“What if the future mayor of Victoria is not an ambassador that’s representing the entire region in a way that we are comfortable [with]?” Plant said.
Oak Bay Mayor Nils Jensen said a process will have to be developed to ensure the Victoria mayor is representing regional needs.
Screech said members of the big city mayors' group know that Victoria’s mayor is not speaking for the entire region.
“We should be at that table. If this can get us at that table, that’s a start and then maybe we can look at changes beyond that,” Screech said.
Metchosin Mayor John Ranns said it was in the region’s interest to support the initiative. “I think it’s in our interest to all agree that we’re happy with having a representative that represents us all without having to be amalgamated.”
