Village of Pemberton (VOP) Mayor Mike Richman, along with municipal councillors and staff, held court with several provincial ministers during the annual Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) convention last week.
But he wondered if the NDP’s snap election call would negate any headway the VOP may have made on issues such as childcare, funding for dyking and flood mitigation.
“That would be the most important part of the week for us, bringing those issues up, which now in retrospect, when an election has been called, we don’t know how productive they were,” he said.
As previously covered, Richman has been frustrated with the process of attempting to sure more childcare spots for Pemberton, as the community has 12.5 spaces for every 100 children, compared to the provincial average of 18.4. The province’s reply has been that the cost per space in Pemberton is too high, but Richman said he’s continuing to explain the circumstances to Minister of State for Child Care Katrina Chen.
“We basically just tried to state our case of how the financial threshold is not feasible for us because the cost of development in our community is just too high,” he said. “She said, ‘Reapply,’ but the financial threshold is still the same. We’ve been back and forth with their staff to say, ‘This is the cost of development in our area.’
“We have the land, so it’s not like we need to acquire the land. It’s just that this is what it costs to build in the Sea to Sky corridor.”
Richman noted that several other communities are able to use existing spaces to get their costs down in a way that Pemberton can’t.
Even if Pemberton secures those childcare spots, finding staff is the next step, and that could provide another challenge.
“We brought to the minister that the wage is still and going to be an issue if it doesn’t change,” he said. “The level of pay that these workers make for taking care of our children is so low that it’s ridiculous.”
On another topic, Richman gave Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Selina Robinson a head’s up that the VOP had recently entered an agreement with Sea to Sky Community Services to pursue affordable housing in town and that it would apply for BC Housing funds. The project, he noted, is in its infancy and there aren’t many details available at this point.
“We’ve looked at a handful of properties and we’re going to start that process,” he said. “There was no specific ask at this point. I was just laying out the need for it.”
Other meetings came up with BC Parks and Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development to discuss tourism impacts and managing Pemberton’s particular assets. As well, Richman advocated for dyking infrastructure, especially with the effects of the Mount Meager landslide still being felt, while the VOP teamed up with the Resort Municipality of Whistler, District of Squamish, Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, Lil’wat Nation and Squamish Nation to push a regional transit strategy. n
