Bylawpedia
Regional districts are a form of local government unique to British Columbia. They are intended to unite the municipalities of a region together into a sort of federation to cooperate in providing regional services and enacting bylaws to regulate matters of regional importance, with each municipality having representatives on the regional district's board of directors. They also are intended to provide services and governance to unincorporated areas outside the boundaries of municipalities in a region (referred to as electoral areas in the legislation) which also are entitled to representation on the regional district's board. In some cases, Indigenous nations (referred to as Treaty First Nations in the legislation) are also members of a regional district and have representatives upon its board (Government of British Columbia, 2023a).
Along with municipalities, regional districts form the two primary modes of local government in British Columbia. In contrast to municipalities, regional districts have more limited powers to enact bylaws. Some issues which municipalities have authority to make bylaws for are excluded from regional district authority, such as the ability to regulate traffic and parking on public roads (Union of British Columbia Municipalities, n.d.). For other issues, a regional district is only allowed to exercise its bylaw making authority after a relevant service is established, with approval from the member jurisdictions where the service is to be implemented (Government of British Columbia, 2023b).
As previously mentioned, the governing body of a regional district is named the board of directors. Its members, the directors, are selected through a combination of election and appointment. Each of the municipalities and Treaty First Nations which are members of the regional district are apportioned a certain number of directors they may appoint, based on their respective populations. The councils of these municipalities and Treaty First Nations then decide who from amongst themselves should be appointed to these positions. In regards to the electoral areas which lay outside the borders of municipalities, each one directly elects one director to the board (Government of British Columbia, 2024a).
Once per year, the board of directors will vote on who should hold office as the chair and vice-chair of the board. The office holders must be elected from amongst the directors. The chair is the head and chief executive officer of the regional district and has some powers and duties that are additional to a regular director. These include, amongst other things, the power to establish and appoint members to standing committees, the role of leading the board by recommending bylaws and policies and, subject to certain restrictions, the authority to oversee the work of regional district officers and employees (Government of British Columbia, 2024c).
In contrast to municipalities, where its councilors on its municipal council are entitled to one vote on all matters, voting on a regional district's board functions differently. Since regional districts function as federations, and some members of a regional district may participate in a service or be subject to a bylaw while others do not or are not, voting procedures have been designed to reflect this. Votes on issues have been grouped into three categories: unweighted corporate votes, weighted corporate votes and weighted stakeholder votes (Government of British Columbia, 2024b).
A vote on an issue is categorized as an unweighted corporate vote if it is deemed to impact all members of the regional district, such as a regulatory bylaw or a bylaw to establish a new service. When conducting these unweighted corporate votes all directors are entitled to one vote (Government of British Columbia, 2024b).
Weighted corporate votes are those that deal with financial matters, such as financial plans, buying or selling property and borrowing money. For these votes, each director receives a number of votes proportional to the population of the jurisdiction the director represents. So, a municipality with a large population will receive more votes than a smaller municipality or an electoral area (Government of British Columbia, 2024b).
Finally, weighted stakeholder votes is the name given to votes dealing with how services are administered or operated. In these votes, only directors representing members who receive that service are permitted to vote[1]. For those directors able to vote, they will be assigned a number of votes proportional to their jurisdiction's population, as with a weighted corporate vote (Government of British Columbia, 2024b).
END NOTES:
[1] There is an exception for weighted stakeholder votes when only one director would qualify to vote because they represent the only jurisdiction participating in a service. In that situation, the law stipulates that all directors present may vote and they each receive one vote (Government of British Columbia, 2024b).
REFERENCES:
Government of British Columbia. (2023a, November 2). Regional districts in B.C. Province of British Columbia. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/local-governments/facts-framework/systems/regional-districts
Government of British Columbia. (2023b, December 7). Regional district regulatory powers. Province of British Columbia. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/local-governments/governance-powers/powers-services/regional-district-powers-services/regulatory-powers
Government of British Columbia. (2024a, February 28). Regional district board organization. Province of British Columbia. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/local-governments/governance-powers/councils-boards/board-organization
Government of British Columbia. (2024b, February 28). Regional district voting. Province of British Columbia. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/local-governments/governance-powers/councils-boards/board-organization/voting
Government of British Columbia. (2024c, February 28). Regional District Board Directors. Province of British Columbia. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/local-governments/governance-powers/councils-boards/board-organization/board-directors
Union of British Columbia Municipalities. (n.d.). Regulate and Enforce Vehicle Parking on Provincial Roads. Union of British Columbia Municipalities. Retrieved February 19, 2024 from https://www.ubcm.ca/convention-resolutions/resolutions/resolutions-database/regulate-and-enforce-vehicle-parking