Bowen Island’s elected officials are in Vancouver this week meeting with municipal leaders from across the province as well as provincial ministers talking about big issues and how best to move forward on them. Councillor Maureen Nicholson says with a change in provincial government, this year’s Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) conference has a sense of curiosity and positive energy.
“For example, on Monday we met with officials from the Ministry of Children and Family Development. They were very curious about what Bowen Island is like, and asked specifically about recent funding applications put forward by the Bowen Children’s Centre,” says Nicholson. “Overall, things just seem a little less formal, less cryptic than they have in the past.”
The issue of funding also came up in relation to the creation of a community centre on Bowen.
Councillor Gary Ander presented the latest community centre plan to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
“We received very positive feedback on this presentation, and these are the same people we worked with to get funding for a water treatment plant on Bowen,” says Nicholson. “We were told there is still no bi-lateral agreement between the province and federal government on this kind of funding, but it is likely to be coming soon and they will work with us on that.”
Nicholson said members of Bowen’s municipal council also met with environment minister George Heyman, and discussed emissions from ferry travel.
“We told him that 89% of Bowen Island’s emissions come from the ferry discussed the possibility of an electric ferry. That was something we also brought up to Transportation Minister Claire Trevena,” says Nicholson. “A few years ago, the mention of an electric ferry would get a look like, you’re kidding me... but now, electrification of transportation is on everyone’s mind. BC Ferries does have plans to build diesel-electric ferries, but no straight-out electric ferries yet.”
The issue of logging also came up in conversations with the Ministry of Forests Lands and Natural Resources as well as the “Small Talk Forum,” for small communities.
“A councillor from Clayoquot stood up and told us to ‘full-on protest,’” says Nicholson. “We said we did, and all had a good laugh.”
