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2,000 mayors, councillors to roll into Whistler

FCM conference an opportunity to engage other communities before Olympics

The first week of June next year will be far from quiet in Whistler Village.

From June 5 to June 9, 2009, over 2,000 municipal mayors and councillors from across Canada will descend upon Whistler for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) conference.

“It’s the biggest gathering of Canadian political leaders,” said Councillor Bob Lorriman, who is the local representative working with the FCM for next year’s conference.

“It is a pretty exciting thing, but it is pretty daunting.”

The conference will take place approximately eight months before the 2010 Winter Olympics and marks an important opportunity for Whistler to showcase the Games to political leaders across the country.

“It is an opportunity to engage other communities, so when the Games happen, they’ll have a knowledge of Whistler,” said Lorriman, who is pushing to make the Olympics the theme of the conference.

Lorriman added often political bigwigs like Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Premier Gordon Campbell come out to FCM conferences, heightening national media attention on both the host city and the event.

The idea to host the FCM conference in Whistler first came about in 2002, when former-councillor Nick Davies and current Mayor Ken Melamed returned from an FCM conference in Banff.

“We came back with the idea of hosting this,” said Melamed from his office in municipal hall.

“Back then, we knew it was something we could achieve, and we had the knowledge for some time that we needed to reach out to the rest of Canada and tell our story and show our pride at being part of Canada.”

To finance the conference, the Resort Municipality of Whistler has budgeted $500,000, with most of that money coming from the hotel tax. This year’s conference in Quebec City cost $700,000.

Lorriman said more revenue will also be generated via the hotel tax, since all delegates will require hotel accommodation during their stay in Whistler.

“It is not enough to cover the conference, but for this time of year, it will generate a lot more revenue than usual,” he said, adding the large number of delegates also equals more revenue for restaurants and retail stores than typically expected during June.

The largest problem with hosting the FCM in Whistler will be space, said Lorriman. This year’s Quebec conference had a total of 2,200 delegates, but the Telus Conference Centre only holds 1,500 people. To deal with this, Lorriman said a tent will likely be erected in the adjacent parking lot.

One of Lorriman’s ideas for the conference is to collaborate with Whistler-Blackcomb, and bring up all 2,000 delegates up Whistler Mountain to the Roundhouse.

Lorriman, who has already talked to Stewart Rempel, senior vice president of marking and sales for Whistler-Blackcomb, envisions food stations located at different corners of the Roundhouse, with local musicians like Ali Milner and the Hairfarmers performing live.

Lorriman also wants to make sure delegates have an opportunity to walk through the village during their stay, so they really get a feel for Whistler.

“These are just ideas,” stressed the councillor, while adding that during this year’s conference in Quebec City, he only had one-hour of free time to check out the city.

To further prepare for the conference, four councillors and Melamed travelled to Quebec City this year. Councillors Nancy Wilhelm-Morden and Ralph Forsyth were the only two councillors to not attend.

Melamed, who has attended 12 FCM conferences, said the fact that the conference is coming to Whistler next year is “one aspect that made this conference a little different for me.”

During this year’s conference, Melamed gave a brief speech welcoming delegates to Whistler and screened a promotional Olympic film.

The FCM has been gathering since 1901, and currently more than 1,600 municipalities are members. The group meets once a year to discuss local government issues.

 

Fiscal imbalance a theme at this year’s FCM

One of the biggest issues discussed at this year’s Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference in Quebec City was the fiscal imbalance between municipal and provincial and federal governments.

Many municipalities across the country have struggled over the past year to balance their budgets and finance their infrastructure.

“That is good news in the sense that the budget struggles we’ve gone through are not Whistler-centric,” said Lorriman, referring to the fact that council approved a 5.5 per cent tax increase this year to mitigate a $3.8 million budget shortfall.

Lorriman said that last November’s meeting at the Garibaldi Lift Co., where 50 community members came out to talk about the budget, really took a toll on him, but hearing that other municipalities are facing many of the same problems helped put things in perspective.

“There was a guy at the GLC who stood up and went off about how we were like kids in a candy story and that someone from Victoria should come over and take over because we were incompetent. What bothered me was not that once person thought this, but a bunch of people applauded him,” said Lorriman.

“All the councillors care about this community, and it was very interesting to find out that other municipalities are struggling with the same thing.”

According to the FCM’s policy development book for 2008, municipal governments’ heavy reliance on property taxes is at the root of their growing financial difficulties.

In response, the FCM is rallying to get the federal government, in partnership with the provinces and territories, to work with the municipal sector to alleviate these financial troubles.

Other issues discussed at the meeting including housing shortages, how to better fight crime, and implementing strong environmental policy.

When asked if the FCM actually has any power in instigating real change in Canadian policy, Lorriman said: “The federal government should be paying attention to issues discussed at the FCM, since local leaders can influence voters in their community based on whether or not the federal government has responded to their concerns.”

Mayor Ken Melamed added that the gas tax and green municipal funds are two classic examples where work done by the FCM came to fruition.

“It is one of the most effective lobbying organizations at the federal government level,” said Melamed.

Despite this, Melamed did say that he noticed a difference in this year’s conference compared to years past.

“There is a sense that the staff of the FCM, and the staff with the federal government, are not as energized, they are almost demoralized, by the new government,” said Melamed.

“The minority government has not been able to purse a number of initiatives on the municipal and local government level. You used to go to the FCM conference and get energized, but I didn’t come back feeling that way this year.

“People seemed nervous and unsettled.”

He added that there is a sense that the FCM is moving in the wrong direction with the federal government, but this is not a result of lack of trying by local governments.

“FCM executives are absolutely dedicated to working with the federal government,” he said.