Mayor Brain, Councillor Cunningham and City Manager Long to represent Prince Rupert this week at NCLGA gathering

The latest of municipal convention gatherings is taking place this week in Williams Lake as the member communities of the North Central Local Government Association meet in the Stampede City to compare notes, vote on  and explore ways to access more funding from senior levels of government to address the growing issues found in the urban areas of the region.

Participating on behalf of the City of Prince Rupert will be Mayor Lee Brain, Councillor Barry Cunningham and City Manager Robert Long, with Mr. Brain providing a short preview of the city delegations work as part of last Monday's City Council session.

"We'll be having a variety of meetings there and collaborating with many communities across the North Central area ... we're working on working more closely with communities around several issues that affect all our municipalities. We'll be there next week and I hope to provide an update at the next council meeting after that" -- Prince Rupert Mayor Lee Brain

The NCLGA Convention takes place from May 7th to 10th and among their work in Williams Lake, convention delegates will be addressing thirty three resolutions that have been presented by a number of member communities.

Among the Northwest communities that have submitted items for consideration are  Fraser Lake, Bulkley-Nechako Regional District, Houston, Kitimat-Stikine Regional District.

According to the Resolutions page for this years convention, there were no resolutions received from Prince Rupert, Port Edward or the North Coast Regional District for this years conference.

The full list of those resolutions to be reviewed can be found here.

The week of convention activities in Williams Lake actually starts today with the Northern Health Healthy Communities Forum, offering an opportunity to network, build and share knowledge and take note of the recent success in improving the health of Northern British Columbians.

The NCLGA portion of the week starts tomorrow with a number of tours of the region offered for delegates as well as the set up of the Trade Show that accompanies this years event.

Wednesday makes for the first day of convention work for those in attendance with a number of forums and panels making for the to do list for delegates, among some of the options available.

Emerging Trends and Opportunities for North Central BC
The Business of Tourism in Northern British Columbia
Rail Transportation Panel
Resolution Writiing workshop
Northern Health response to Opioid crisis
Building Universal Health Care for BC together
Species at Risk: Community Impacts and Solutions

Of note from the Rail Transportation Panel will be the participation of Ken Veldman of the Port of Prince Rupert, with the VP of Public Affairs and Sustainability for the port set to share developments of interest from the port and the opportunities offered by the North Pacific gateway to the communities of the NCLGA.

The Keynote Address for Day One will come fro UNBC President Dr. Daniel Weeks who will speak to the theme of UNBC: Destination 2040.

Day Two of Thursday is also a fairly busy one, with the bulk of the Reports, Nominations and Resolution work to take place in both the morning and afternoon sessions.

Delegates will also hear a number of reports from participating agencies which include:

Northern Development Initiatives Trust
Municipal Insurance Association 
Municipal Financial Authority
Pathways for Local Government - First Nations collaboration in Economic Development
Preparing for Electric Vehicle Infrastructure in Northern and Rural Communities

Thursday also features the Convention banquet, Awards Ceremony and evening of entertainment/

The Final Day on Friday provides for a number of information sharing sessions which will feature the following:

Exploring a Code of Conduct Framework
Funding Opportunities for Local Governments
Responding to Community Risk: Wildfire and Flood

The conference comes to an end with the Closing Ceremonies, including the Keynote address from Provincial Cabinet Minister Doug Donaldson.

You can review the full agenda for the week here.

Friday afternoon also provides an opportunity for delegates to learn more about the BC Municipal Climate Leadership Council, which will host a two hour discussion on working towards a Clean Future for British Columbia.

For more items of note on the work of Prince Rupert City Council see our Council Discussion page here.


Cross posted from the North Coast Review.