Daniel Fontaine, B.A., ICD.D

It was an interesting and at times heated discussion at council on March 27th as we gathered to review the final recommendation from staff to move forward with a proposed 6.4% tax hike in New Westminster.

Over the past four months since I got elected, I have attended countless onboarding sessions and workshops on a variety of topics. Ostensibly, this was all to help me (and other newly elected officials) get up to speed regarding the various programs and services and capital investments we invest in at the city.

As you can imagine, there is a lot of information to absorb in a relatively short period of time as we all prepare to put up our hands in support of the 2023 operating budget. While I don’t profess to understanding every facet of the city, the briefing sessions have definitely helped to paint a better picture for me as to what we are – and are not – spending our limited tax dollars on at the city.

What is clear to me is that we don’t invest enough in our sidewalk installation and repair programs. We don’t place enough emphasis on keeping our kids active and ensuring they have as many opportunities to play, run around and simply burn off some excess energy!  Did I mention we need  significantly more investments in bus shelters?

Meanwhile, what we have prioritized is spending tens of millions of tax dollars  in projects like BridgeNet, the Sapperton District Energy system, mushroom walls, and Great Streets.

While those projects no doubt have some merit – they clearly need to be rethought as we face a record 6.4% property tax increase. Something most taxpayers simply can’t afford – especially considering that staff indicate we could face up to 20% property tax increases in the next 4 years! This is on top of all the tax hikes imposed over the last decade which have all been well above the posted rate of inflation.

Finalizing Budget 2023

As a new councillor, I naively thought the budget process remained open to feedback from the public and elected officials right through to the final vote. I thought since we hadn’t finalized our budget, there was still plenty of time to make amendments to the budget and try to keep costs down.

But to my surprise, on March 27th when Councillor Paul Minhas and I introduced a series of amendments to the budget to get the debate started, we were roundly criticized.

Some of our colleagues referred to the motion as “slap dash” and “misleading” [the latter comment was eventually withdrawn with an apology issued after I raised a point of order].  In previous meetings similar motions I introduced were referred to by my colleagues as ‘knee-jerk’ and ‘willy nilly’.

Incredibly, my budget motion was even referred to as ‘crazy’. Which to be clear, is never a word that should be uttered in a city hall chamber with politicians that profess to care about people living with a mental illness. Using similar words like “nuts”, or “looney” or “insane” to describe the actions of your colleagues is simply unacceptable.

So with my budget motion on the table, a debate briefly ensued. Then the vote came in with all five Community First politicians opposed and Councillor Minhas and I voting in favour. You can read more about the budget exchange here in the Record newspaper.

Is it just me, or do you agree that the budget is not finalized…until it’s finalized? That means my motion was not only in order, it is something voters expect me to do. They elected me to present alternative ideas and to challenge conventional wisdom and thinking.

Voters want Councillor Minhas and I to bring forward new ideas, course correct when required and to reflect our community’s goals and objectives in our budget.

No doubt there will be those who say I should have introduced my budget amendments months ago. You know, when I was in the process of learning where all the budget expenditures actually went.

Perhaps…but I also think there is a strong argument to be made the best time to make significant cost reduction proposals is once all the budget information is finally presented to you – and a staff recommendation comes forward for debate. But Coun. Minhas and I are clearly in the minority on that one.

 

 

 

 

IMAGE: Councillor Paul Minhas and I visit with VP Dave Cunningham at the E-Comm Center in Vancouver.

It’s hard to believe last week both Councillor Paul Minhas and I celebrated 100 days in office. To say the time has flown by is a big understatement.

Paul and I are really having lots of fun and enjoying our time on Council. We’re also pleased to see that progress is being made on a number of important files – even if success is still being measured in inches, not feet.

Over the last three months we’ve introduced over a dozen motions (ideas, concepts and directives to staff) which have been debated and discussed on the chamber floor. In fact, we put forward so many ideas/concepts, that a report came before Council this month recommending we be limited to one per meeting on a go forward basis.

Needless to say, Paul and I fought this and at the end of the day Council agreed with us that this type of action requires a lot more discussion and debate.

Based on what we heard in Council during the debate, had the staff report not been tabled, it likely would have been approved by a vote of 5-2. If so,  the rules by which Council is governed would have been established by the Community First majority – not by the entire Council.

There have been a lot of other accomplishments (motions passed) in the first few months including:

• A motion to catalogue and report how much federal and provincial downloading is costing local taxpayers
• A request to meet with NDP MLAs Aman Singh and Jennifer Whiteside to discuss when the long-awaited free school bus from Queensborough to NWSS will get rolling
• A motion requiring staff to publish reports on the City’s website a minimum of 5 business days before the public meeting

A series of other motions pertaining to the installation of a new turf field at Ryall Park and improvements to Queensborough’s transportation network were also referred to committee for further investigation. Council is also still mulling over our recommendations to create a new Finance and Audit Committee as well as several other task forces and advisory committees.

If you want to keep up regarding the monthly activities of Council, I highly recommend you sign up for our free New West Progressives (NWP) e-newsletter. Just click here and it takes less than 30 seconds to ensure you stay on top of the activities happening at City Hall and the School Board.

Overall these are truly busy days for me as MICHIFCO, my new consulting company, has taken off like a rocket! In just a few short months I’ve been retained by a number of amazing clients in both British Columbia and Alberta. Remember, if you’re looking for a seasoned facilitator, executive coach or someone to assist with your strategic planning or program review, give me a shout!

My work with MICHIFCO has been incredibly stimulating, but I’m definitely getting to learn about the challenges and paperwork involved with running a small business in this province. I’m not kidding when I say you almost need an army of consultants just to keep your consulting firm above water and on top of all the government agencies you need to deal with each month.

Looking Forward

In the coming months I’ll be working with Councillor Minhas to put forward some significant amendments and recommendations for our 2023 operating and capital budgets. We’re hopeful that at least two other councillors will see our proposed changes as reasonable and they raise their hands in support (that will give us the 4 votes we need). But we’ll see if that is how it all unfolds soon enough.

I’m also planning on attending a few national and regional conferences this year. I will be at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) conference in Toronto late May for a few days. I don’t plan on being at FCM every year, but given this is the first one post election, I thought it was a good one to attend.

I’m also scheduled to attend the Lower Mainland Local Government Association (LMLGA), the Council of Councils and the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) convention in Vancouver this fall. Each of these offer an opportunity for municipal officials to hear speakers, attend interesting workshops and share ideas/concepts with each other in the hallway!

While I haven’t been writing as much as I’d like to these days, I still hope to have a short post like this at least once per month. In the meantime, if you have any ideas, concerns, suggestions, kudos or would just like to vent to your local city councillor, you can always fire me an email at dfontaine@newwestcity.ca. Talk soon!

 

 

In the words of Charles Dickens, “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. Like so many people I’ve spoken to, those words kind of sum up 2022. It was a year filled with memorable moments…and a few others I’m glad are in the rear mirror.

The highlight for me had to be the opportunity to run for city council and get elected on October 15th whilst in the presence of my mom who came out from Winnipeg to join me.  She wasn’t in town in 2018 when I first ran and came in 7th, so clearly she is my lucky charm!

I was honoured to be running with mayoral candidate Ken Armstrong and such a strong field of candidates for both council and school board. Each one of them poured their heart and soul into the campaign and I owe them a debt of gratitude for helping to get me and Coun. Paul Minhas elected.

2022 was also when we undertook a significant renewal of the NWP Board of Directors. Karima Budhwani took over from Brian Goss and became our new President.

In Karima we couldn’t have found a better person to be heading up our elector organization. She brings a sense of calm, poise and professionalism to this position which will serve all of our membership well over the coming years.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Brian Goss, well, he is one-of-a-kind. He was tapped on the shoulder and asked to take on this task when I decided to step down…and he did a phenomenal job. Brian is incredibly organized, thoughtful and he will be missed as our former commander in chief!  But I know he won’t be going too far now that he is sitting on the board as past-president.

As for the low points of 2022, there were certainly a few of those too. But thankfully they were overshadowed by the love, support and kindness shown by so many people who truly cared about me. To all of you who were there during those times – and you know who you are – thank you for your loyalty, generosity and encouragement.  It definitely made a low point…a lot less low.

Reflections: Early Days on Council 

It’s hard to believe I was only sworn into office on November 7th. My time since the inaugural event has been fast-paced and passed by like the blink of an eye.

I’ve attended two full regular public council meetings and a plethora of behind-the-scenes briefing sessions with senior staff at the City of New Westminster. It quickly became evident that few people anticipated fellow NWP council member Paul Minhas and I would come out of the gate as quickly as we did.

10+ motions have already been submitted for debate and discussion. Notwithstanding the fact we’re a minority on council, our efforts have already had an impact on some policies and procedures.

Paul and I introduced a motion to freeze utility rates, halt a costly rebranding exercise, increase supports for mental health and re-establish a key committee to expedite whistle cessation in Queensbourough and Sapperton.

While not all of our motions got passed, we did generate some interesting debate and were able to provide a voice for citizens who have for far too long felt disconnected with our elected officials at city hall.

I am proud of the fact we got approved a procedural change which means staff reports must now be made public with a minimum of five business days notice. This will help provide our citizens with more time to get engaged and be provided with more advance notice of major policy changes or initiatives.

As for the Snow Summit that Surrey Councillor Linda Annis and I have been calling for the past few weeks, there’s still no major progress. However, we’re not giving up that easy! A motion will be coming before New West council on January 9th which will hopefully be supported by my colleagues and help to keep this important issue on the radar.

Coun. Paul Minhas and I are really enjoying our early days and he’s an amazing colleague to work with. He knows so many people in our community and is in this for all the right reasons!  He’s not only a colleague and office-mate, Paul is now a good friend too!

I’ll be back in front of my keyboard soon with a few more updates as the weeks pass by in 2023.  Be sure to check back here soon.