A ‘confusion’ of politicians on South Island
When you vote in the local election in a few weeks, ask yourself, ‘Is it for a ‘scandal,’ an ‘odium’ or a ‘windbag’ of politicians?’ Not surprisingly, there doesn’t seem to be any agreement on a collective noun for a group of politicians. A less derisive and our choice is a ‘confusion of politicians.’
While Metro Vancouver is aiming for a little less confusion, unfortunately there’s still plenty remaining in Victoria.
Pending provincial approval, the Metro Vancouver board will reform regional governance following a comprehensive, independent review by Deloitte Canada. It voted to reduce the unwieldy board size to 34 from 45 members in 2027 to help “improve decision-making speed, efficiency, and strategic focus.”
It’s creating a major projects oversight board, streamlining financial accountability, adopting a single sewerage area model, and so on. It implemented 24 of 47 recommendations from the initial 2025 governance review to cut redundancies, eliminate double meeting fees, and increase transparency.
Metro Vancouver serves more than three million residents living in 21 municipalities, one electoral district and one treaty First Nation.
Board membership to a maximum of three directors per member jurisdiction will be capped, which also requires formal provincial approval to take effect. While some board votes are unweighted, others like financial decisions and major projects are currently based on one for every 20,000 population or portion thereof.
Here in our Wonderland, the Capital Regional District hasn’t seriously reformed its regional governance and its 24-director board in decades.
Both the Governing Greater Victoria: The Role of Elected Officials and Shared Services (2016) by the Fraser Institute and the Capital Integrated Services and Governance Initiative (2017) for the province, failed to result in significant changes at the CRD.
These governance related reports still sit on a dusty shelf somewhere.
The CRD includes 460,000 souls living in 13 municipalities, three electoral areas, and the traditional territories of multiple First Nations.
The number of directors at the CRD is not fixed by a hard numerical cap; rather, it is determined by population formulas. While some votes are unweighted, others are based on one for every 5,000 population or portion thereof.
When compared to Metro Vancouver, clearly there’s a disproportionate number of regional politicians on the South Island. Let’s also ask how the board can claim any regional electoral legitimacy in the first place?
Local governance is delivered by a large ‘confusion’ of politicians, a description that will fit even better after local elections in October.”