COMMUNITY CHARTER

The following is a list of references on the Draft Community Charter. Any additions would be most welcome!

Web sites/articles on Community Charter

• Community Charter - Third Reading of Bill 14
• Concordances - LGA to CC and visa-versa
• Backgrounder on Draft Community Charter
• New Legislative Framework for local government
• Community Charter
• Additional Documents by Ministry of Community, Aboriginal and Women's Services
• BC Liberal Caucus Community Charter Exec. Summary by Ted Nebbeling - Jan 2000
• Discussion Paper
• Gordon Campbell's 1995 proposal to the BC Legislature
• Bill 12 - the Community Charter Council Act
• Vancourier.com article of Aug 8/2001 -review by many prominent citizens
• CLE - May 30/2002 comments by Continuing Legal Education Society of BC
• CUPE - May 29/2002 comments
• Local Government Management Association - states it's views for "Principles of the Community Charter"
• A letter from DNV Councillor Ernie Crist
• Colin Stark on Charter process
• Andre Carrel (former CAO for Rossland BC) opinion on the Community Charter.
• Vancouver's Board of Trade Proposal to put more burden on residential taxes and made more comments on Charter
• Letter from Canadian Federation of Independent Business (BC & Yukon)
• Nov 12/2002 White Paper Submission by Business Council of BC
• Okanagan Institute for Strategic Development
• Comments by Lidstone, Young, Anderson - 16-July-2002
• Comments by LGMA/GFOABC/BOABC - 14-Aug-2002
• 1999 BC Symposium on New Local Government Legislation
• Local Government Institute Working Papers (Uvic), especially the paper by by Robert L. Bish, Professor Emeritus, University of Victoria
• UBCM study on assent - specifically the appropriateness of the 5% Counter petition requirement.
• October 2001 - The BC Community Charter - What Is Going On, and What Does It Mean for You? - by Peter Kenward
• July 2002 - The BC Community Charter - What Is Going On, and What Does It Mean for You? Part II - by Peter Kenward
• June 2003 - The BC Community Charter - What Is Going On, and What Does It Mean for You? Part III - by Peter Kenward
• More by McCarthy
• Nov 12/2002 Business Council of BC White Paper on Community Charter

Media Articles

• Penticton Western - March 30/2002 - particularly note:
  
  • Removal of accountability by counter-petitions.
  • Establishing annual "performance" reviews but without any teeth.
  • Removing "Campaign Contributions" as a potential conflict of interest.
  • Allowing councils to "overide bylaws"
  • Allowing more borrowing/debt without public consultation.

Letters

• FONVCA letter to Minister of Community Charter Ted Nebbeling
• Mayor Don Bell response to above letter from FONVCA to Ted Nebbeling

Definition of key terms used in Community Charter

• Approval of the electors:
  "Electors approvals may generally be provided by electors assent (a vote) OR by alternative elector approval process (opportunity for electors to seek a vote). The Threshold number of electors who must respond seeking a vote under alternative elector approval process is 10%"
  So what does this mean? It means that if council does not select to use a referendum to get approval of the electors it could use the so called `negative billing approach'. If no more than about 5000 signatures (a huge number to obtain in the alloted 30 days) are obtained requesting a referendum then the council initiative (such as undedicating a park) passes. The Local Government Act currently requires only 5% of the electors (~2500 for the District) to trigger a referendum vote. Thus, by simply redefining "approval of the electors" the Community Charter has substantially weakened council accountability.