Drugs, infrastructure, Uber, up for discussion at B.C.’s municipal convention

VICTORIA – Delegates to the annual Union of B.C. Municipalities convention take a closer look at several significant challenges affecting local governments across the province, as the convention gathers momentum in Victoria.

Clinics, forums and plenary sessions are on the agenda Tuesday, in advance of official opening ceremonies and the speech from Premier Christy Clark, set for Wednesday.

The roughly 2,000 politicians and civic staffers will have a chance to discuss the drug overdose emergency that has already claimed 488 lives in B.C. since January.

One provincial policy session will also consider what is billed as local government’s $200-billion infrastructure challenge.

Others will examine everything from the national housing strategy to the way local governments can influence and regulate the Uber ride share program.

On Monday, B.C.’s Minister Responsible for Housing, Rich Coleman, said a proliferation of tent cities in communities across the province is due to a lack of safe, affordable housing, complicated by the fentanyl drug crisis.