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Whistler champions the Olympics at FCM

But Federal government downloading continues to be main issue at Toronto conference

Rekindling the Olympic afterglow was top of mind for the four of Whistler's lawmakers who journeyed to Toronto recently for the annual Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) conference.

Mayor Ken Melamed, who was accompanied by councillors Chris Quinlan, Tom Thomson and Ted Milner, said the group promoted the Olympics as well as Whistler's successful FCM event last year.

"We wanted to make sure that the presence of Whistler was still front and centre in people's minds," said Melamed. "I was glad to see a relatively strong contingent here in terms of the four of us, partly because we attended to make sure our presence was known and to help delegates remember how great a time it was in Whistler."

During the May 28 to May 31 conference, Whistler's lawmakers manned a trade booth to drive those goals home. The trade booth was set up with help from Tourism Whistler, who agreed it was important to remind people of the Olympics and last year's FCM event, said Melamed.

The mayor said the booth was "all smiles" and received an enthusiastic response from the other delegates.

"I talked to tons of people who said they had extended their trip at FCM (last year) and plan to come back and bring their families," said Melamed. "I felt a bit sorry for the Mayor of Toronto. Whistler was a very hard act to follow, but Toronto did a great job. They were very gracious hosts, but let's face it, the delegates across Canada really responded well to being in the medium that Whistler provided."

During the FCM trip Mayor Melamed was also invited to Quebec City to speak to their mayor about the Olympic bid. According to Melamed, Quebec City is wondering whether they should put forward another Olympic bid. The city's bid to host the Winter Games in 2002 and 2010 was unsuccessful, the latter bid losing out to Whistler in a Canadian Olympic Committee vote.

Beyond promoting the Olympics and Whistler's successful FCM the mayor said the Whistler lawmakers fostered relationships with other municipal leaders throughout Canada.

Whistler is regarded as a leader in local government for community engagement and sustainable community planning, said Melamed, and it is important to develop that reputation.

The specific cost the lawmakers spent travelling to the FCM will be released at the end of the year. The municipality's total council training budget is $26,000 this year.

Meanwhile, Melamed said there are no concrete plans to bring another FCM conference back to Whistler.

Last year, Whistler's FCM conference saw 1,700 delegates from municipalities across Canada attending the resort, with an economic spin off of approximately $6 million.

But conference locations are currently scheduled until 2017, and the conference is growing so quickly that Melamed is not sure how much it would cost to host the event almost ten years from now.

"Last year's FCM was the biggest conference ever held in Whistler and it really pushed the limits in terms of what we were able to do," said the Mayor.

He mentioned, for example, how former councillor Bob Lorriman came up with the idea of having the gala dinner at lodges on Whistler and Blackcomb mountains because there was no venue in Whistler large enough to host all the delegates.

However, the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) will hold their conference in Whistler this year.

That will be something Whistler's government can more easily put its mind around to become a regular conference host, he said.

 

Melamed criticizes Federal Government's downloading

Amid the FCM's workshops and meetings, one particular issue continued to bubble to the surface through the Toronto event: the federal government's downloading of financial responsibilities onto municipal governments.

Whistler's Mayor Ken Melamed didn't hold back this week as he spoke strongly about the strained financial relationship between Canadian municipalities and the national government.

"One of the biggest issues continues to be downloading of responsibility without funding from the Federal government," said Melamed. "That is something we talk about a lot in Whistler. We feel it. Every local government across Canada feels it."

This year's FCM conference was accompanied with trepidation over the next round of federal budget cuts, and what the impact will be on municipalities, explained Melamed.

For example, the Federal government is currently developing new policy that would change wastewater treatment standards. Local government officials wonder if the federal government will do what it has done in the past and bring in the new regulations without providing funding to support it.

Melamed was quick to add that Whistler is not specifically concerned with wastewater treatment since the resort municipality has one of the highest standards in the world. But the issue speaks more largely to the continued trend of downloading fiscal responsibility.

"We wonder what other programs we are going to be left to fund as the federal government tries to balance its books on the back of local government," he said.

Every year since 2000 there has been a municipal-federal infrastructure gap of upwards of $100 billion, he said. Meanwhile, only eight per cent of all taxes collected in Canada go to municipal government, whereas 50 per cent goes to the Federal Government and 42 per cent goes to provincial governments.