Members of West Kelowna Council are attending the Union of BC Municipalities convention in Whistler this week to meet with BC cabinet ministers and their staff.
On Tuesday, September 11th, the delegation met with Rob Fleming, Minister of Education to seek support for the expedited development of a second Westside secondary school. “Minister Fleming heard our plea for capital funding for a new senior secondary school. He said the numbers were certainly there,” says Mayor Findlater. “He also said that School District 23 has a very good reputation for these kinds of planning projects which I am pleased to note.”
They also met with Adrian Dix, Minister of Health to seek a commitment for an Urgent Care Facility be located on the greater Westside. “Minister Dix made it clear that there will be a primary care centre established somewhere in the Central Okanagan,” says Mayor Findlater. “He said we are doing the right thing by continuing to advocate for the centre in our community, and he said he would like to hear from community groups as well. He also indicated that he would like to see doctors get involved and submit proposals.”
Mayor Findlater, with Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran, met with Green Party Leader, Andrew Weaver to discuss West Kelowna’s and Kelowna’s opposition to the government’s proposed Speculation Tax. “Mr. Weaver is very much on the same page as us. He knows this tax will hurt our community and he said he is going to vote accordingly when the matter is before him,” says Findlater.
Mayor Findlater, with Gail Given, Regional District of Central Okanagan (RDCO) Chair met with Minister of Environment staff to discuss the ongoing difficulty with disposal of the biosolids. Currently, the RDCO trucks its biosolids out of province. “Just days before our meeting, draft new regulations were introduced which the RDCO will provide input on,” says Findlater. “We anticipate that the new regulations will provide a framework we can work within to avoid trucking our biosolids out of the province, which is extremely expensive.”