By Sebastian Kanally, Times Chronicle

Oliver is requesting the province provide financial investments to diversify tourism needs in the area. 

The request is part of the town’s contribution to the Southern Interior Local Government Association (SILGA) resolutions for the 2024 Annual General Meeting and Convention. 

The town chose this topic for a resolution because tourism is one of the largest employers and small business generators in the province and because “the impacts of climate change have created hardship in numerous tourism destinations throughout the province”. 

The resolution further specified that smaller rural destinations cannot recover as quickly from these hardships as larger centres. 

Oliver council discussed how specific the town ought to be in these resolutions. The recommendation originally requested that the province “invest in diversifying tourism”, but Councillor Aimee Grice thought it was too broad. 

“I like the spirit of it . . . I am not clear on what the ask is necessarily. What does diversifying tourism look like?” Grice asked, wondering whether this was a financial ask or not. 

Councillor Terry Schafer responded “Sometimes you just have to dive in with a resolution like this that you can defend at the conference. And I understand the province might want to come back to us, like they have done in the past, to get some ideas on how we want diversification to look like. You just have to start somewhere.” 

Councillor Petra Veintimilla commented, “I understand exactly what you (Grice) are saying, here we are asking the provincial government to invest in something but we are not directing them what to invest in.”

Grice clarified “I just want to make sure if we bring a resolution forward it’s something we can defend on the floor in a debate.”

Council agreed on an amended resolution that the province “provide financial investments to municipalities to identify how to diversify tourism impacted communities”

The other competing option that the town decided not to create a resolution for was on the topic of ensuring there are tools for municipalities regarding provincial legislation on drug use in public places. An example of this would be the potential for training for municipal staff among other things. 

The SILGA convention will take place in Kamloops from April 30 to May 3.