During last November's election and many other times we've heard the members of Vision North Van (Mayor and Councillors Keating and Buchanan) reassure our residents that the current growth rate is well under 1% per year. In the Mayor's all candidates' meeting I revealed the actual number from BC Stats of 3.6%, close to the highest in BC. It was dismissed by saying "that is only an estimate" even through ususally that estimate is lower than stats when they come out.
2007 2008 2009 2010
City 47,282 47,780 48,944 50,725 3.6%
District 85,974 86,110 86,389 88,370 1.8%
On Wednesday, Stats Canada is issuing the first results of the 2010 Federal Census which will issue the final numbers. Why is this important? Well, the Local Govt Act of BC, orders that any municipality that has at least 50,000 residents must have a Council of nine members, an increase of two Councillors.
The only way to keep the Council at its present number is to conduct a referendum to approve it which must be fully ratified more than 6 months prior to the next election. In the District they had this referendum at the same time they had to hold a byelection to replace Mayor Bell who had been just elected an MP. But during last fall's election, the Vision North Van was telling the voters that the rate of growth was much lower than it actually was and telling the truth would have destroyed one of their main myths.
It was extremely irresponsible not to hold this referendum last time and the City may have two more Councillors to pay for after the next election because of it. Maybe that's the plan for Vision North Van to finally take a majority on Council and unleash a level of growth that will make now seem low.
Where is the reference to these census numbers?
ReplyDeleteNovember 29, 2004, NVC Council unanimously passed the following motion:
ReplyDeletePursuant to the report of the Deputy Director of Finance dated November 23, 2004 entitled "City of North Vancouver Population Figurefor 2005":
THAT the City of North Vancouver use a 2005 population figure of 48,858 for the purpose of grant budget allocations where population is used in the funding formula.
Feb.24, 2005 the CNV Homepage read:
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the City of North Vancouver!
The City of North Vancouver is a vibrant community where more than 49,000 citizens have chosen to make their home.
A month later, that figure was reduced to 48,000.
Good point! Lets see if the City uses the BC Stats number of over 50,000 when asking for funding from senior govts and thus should be adding the two Councillors...
ReplyDeleteI will write to Ida Chong, the Minister and ask her.