Education Minister Rob Fleming, pictured with Mayor Sue McKortoff and students at Osoyoos Secondary School in 2016, is among the provincial ministers Town of Osoyoos Council hopes to meet at UBCM. Fleming made several trips to Osoyoos in 2016 as education critic when OSS was threatened with closure. Now the town wants to ensure that rural schools will continue to be adequately funded. (Richard McGuire file photo)

Municipal governments typically use the annual convention of the Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM) to lobby provincial government cabinet ministers on matters of local concern.

So the Town of Osoyoos already has a shopping list of provincial ministers they want to meet at this year’s convention, which takes place in Whistler from Sept. 10 – 14.

Last week town administration and council shared that list with MLA Linda Larson when she attended council’s committee of the whole meeting.

Although Larson, a B.C. Liberal, currently sits in opposition, she has tried to sit in on the meetings with ministers in the past.

It’s unlikely that Osoyoos council members will be able to meet with all ministers on their list, and they likely won’t know until the end of August who can meet them.

Barry Romanko, the town’s chief executive officer, told Larson about the Osoyoos wish list.

1. Mike Farnworth, minister of public safety and solicitor general:

Romanko expressed appreciation for the forestry crews who helped to sandbag during the spring floods, but he noted that there was no help with the cleanup afterwards.

The town would like to see a program to assist with cleanup after floods, as well as a program to assist communities with purchasing flood-prevention equipment, such as sandbagger machines, tiger dams and gabions.

The town also wants to see a provincial program to help municipalities adapt through staging to higher policing costs after populations hit 5,000 people, when towns need to pay a bigger share.

2. Claire Trevena, minister of transportation and infrastructure:

The town wants continued provincial support for storm water management programs. It also wants to explore ideas for development along Main Street.

“We are going to be doing downtown renewal and we want to be thinking out of the box in terms of using all the space,” Romanko told Larson. “We wanted to ensure that some highway policies would not be in our road for that.”

The town also wants to update the minister on the town’s success at enforcing restrictions on third-party signage on highways through town.

3. Lisa Beare, minister of tourism, arts and culture:

The town wants to update the minister on its success with the Resort Municipality Initiative, which provides funding for tourism-related projects to 14 resort municipalities, including Osoyoos.

The town is looking for more certainty with the program so that longer-term projects can be undertaken over several years.

4. Rob Fleming, minister of education:

The town wants to ensure that there is continued funding for rural education. This became an issue in 2016 when Osoyoos Secondary School was threatened with closure. The former B.C. Liberal government bowed to pressure and initiated a Rural Education Enhancement Fund, which allowed OSS to remain open. The new NDP government has continued the fund for now, but plans to make changes to education funding formulas.

5. Municipal Affairs and Housing:

Osoyoos wants to meet with staff of that ministry to discuss funding for housing programs and get a better understanding of programs that are available.

Mayor Sue McKortoff said that in previous years the town has sought to meet with the health minister, but they’ve not requested to meet Adrian Dix, minister of health, this time.

“I kind of feel that we’re on a good track right now,” said McKortoff. “Interior Health has been listening, not always doing exactly as everybody wants, however I think we have a good relationship with them.”

She noted that the town is now conducting a health study with a provincial grant, South Okanagan General Hospital is getting an upgrade and there’s a new doctor coming to Osoyoos.

“So it’s not all doom and gloom like it was a year or so ago,” McKortoff said.

RICHARD McGUIRE

Osoyoos Times