Canada Community Building Fund

negotiations ongoing

The Canada Community-Building Fund has delivered over $4.6 billion in federal funding for local infrastructure in British Columbia since its inception. With the current administrative agreement set to expire on March 31, UBCM, the Province and the Government of Canada are continuing discussions on the long-term renewal of this program.

UBCM Act updated to include all members

The Act that incorporates UBCM will be updated to better reflect the diversity of our membership and address out-of-date provisions. The Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act (2024) will replace the word “municipalities” in the preamble to the UBCM Act with “local governments”. UBCM’s name will not be changing.

Provincial Responses to 2023 Resolutions

The Province has provided its first set of responses to resolutions endorsed at the 2023 UBCM Convention. These responses will be shared directly with each local government sponsor and will be posted to the resolutions page on the UBCM website. An addendum with additional responses will follow.

Mineral Tenure Act modernization webinar

The Province has initiated work to modernize the Mineral Tenure Act (MTA). UBCM members have endorsed several resolutions seeking amendments to the MTA to address the potential and real conflicts between surface and sub-surface rights holders.

Province seeks decriminalization feedback

The Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions is evaluating the implementation of the decriminalization policy. Elected officials and senior local government staff who can speak on behalf of their local government are invited to provide feedback by March 15 about the implementation of the decriminalization policy from a local government perspective.

RCMP Contract Committee seeks input

The Local Government RCMP Contract Management Committee (LGCMC) will be meeting on April 2, 2024. Local governments wishing to suggest discussion items related to the agreement under which the RCMP provides local police services in B.C. are asked to submit input to Bhar Sihota, UBCM Senior Policy Analyst, by March 15, 2024.

Funding and resources update: March 2024

Each month we provide an update on UBCM funding programs and information on other programs, events, and resources that may be of interest to local governments and First Nations.