Council at UBCM - Positive Meetings

It has been a busy and productive UBCM Conference for the District of Lake Country, so far.

After listening to Council and the Lake Country community’s concerns about the change in service, BC Transit officials met with Council and MLA Norm Letnick to again present their case and request that changes be made to bring the transit services back to an acceptable level for Lake Country users. The meeting was very positive and BC Transit officials acknowledged the problems and decided to work on solving the issues. A review of the new routes and schedules will be done in the next few days and options will be considered.

Council also met with Minister Ida Chong, Minister of Healthy Living, to express concerns over the request from the Health Officer to apply water filtration to all water systems in Lake Country. Lake Country would have to spend in the neighbourhood of $60 million in order to comply with the Health Officer’s request. A second concern stems from the fact that other Health Officers in the Province are not as strict when it comes to water filtration requirements. “A glass of water in Lake Country is the same as a glass of water in any other part of the Province” said Councillor Noreen Guenther to the Minister. The Honourable Ida Chong, acknowledged that inconsistency is not acceptable and that safe water is a primary objective and assured the Lake Country delegation that the Ministry will work with Interior Health and other Health Authorities to bring consistency and reasonableness across the board.

The Minister of Forests and Range, the Honourable Pat Bell, met with Council and announced that the issue of lease lots sale versus the public interest of water protection was heard and that a decision was made not to pursue the sale of reservoir lots to cottage owners in fee simple. The Minister told the delegation that both MLA Norm Letnick and MLA John Slater were strong advocates of local governments and water purveyors and very instrumental to a solution in favour of the public interest. “This is great news” said Mayor Baker, “we are very thankful to the Minister, and our hard working MLA’s for their understanding and support. This is a step forward to ensure water conservation and provision is well looked after for the benefits of our citizens and our agriculture activities.” Lake Country also discussed the issue of Pine Beetle impact in areas like Spion Kopje and Allison Lake and the Minister assured that he will work with his staff to address Lake Country’s concerns.

MLA Norm Letnick participated to all the meetings and Council felt very positive about their work at this year’s convention. Council is meeting with Minister George Abbott and Minister Berry Penner tomorrow to discuss other pressing issues for the community.