Parksville Qualicum Beach News and V.I. Free Daily editor Philip Wolf talks with Vanessa Craig, chairperson of the board for the Regional District of Nanaimo. Here is an abridged and edited version of the conversation:
PW: How have things gone for you so far as board chair; what has been the biggest difference between that role and vice-chair, which you served as for three years, and as a director?
VC: The biggest change is because me becoming chair is also coinciding with the election. We have quite a few new directors that have joined the board, and at this point we’re still getting to know each other as a board; going through a lot of orientation and we’re heading into the budget. I’ve only been chair for a month, and so we’re still laying the groundwork for our work together over the next year.
PW: Are you enjoying it so far?
VC: So far, so good. Yes. We’ve got an excellent board.
I am really excited to work with this group of people.
PW: You’re the first woman to chair the board since the establishment of the regional district 55 years ago. What does that mean to you?
VC: It’s a privilege to be sure. There’s been a lot of very qualified female leaders on the board over the years. I find it interesting in 2022 that we’re having this conversation because it seems a bit overdue. But I think it’s good to see different people in leadership roles. Just for the up-and-coming generations to see what’s possible and we still have work to do in the diversity front, but I think it’s a step forward.
PW: How would you describe the RDN as a political entity, and is it difficult having to govern such a wide geographical area?
VC: This an interesting beast as all of the regional districts are. It’s an amalgamation of the municipalities in the electoral area. We do focus on services, I would say, and issues that are more regionally focused. The municipal councils deal with their specific issues, but for the electoral areas, I’m coming to you from Gabriola Island, which is in traditional territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation. We also have issues, but our one place to do our governance is at the RDN board. So it’s a combination of allowing the electoral areas to oversee and have some governance going on for their areas and then also bringing that regional perspective such as transit or the hospital or waste services. So the things that benefit from being a grouping of areas benefit at the regional district board.
PW: How would you assess 2022 from a board perspective, and what are some of the biggest priorities for you and the board in 2023?
VC: For 2022, I think we had a good year. We were finishing off a lot of the initiatives we’d started earlier on in the term. It’s one of those things where you start something in the first year and you might start seeing it coming to fruition in the fourth year. I think it was very productive. We finished a lot of things. 2023, we haven’t, as a new board, done our strategic planning yet. That’ll happen in the spring, but we do have a lot of initiatives that we’re carrying over and getting prepared to work on. We had the regional parks and trails strategy that we completed at the end of last term, and we’ll be implementing it, starting in this term. We’ve got our budgeting process that’s going through, obviously … We’ve got some initiatives that are underway, and then once we have our strategic plan with the new board, I’m sure new initiatives will be picked up as well.
PW: How important is it for you to work closely with the region’s various First Nations?
VC: It’s extremely important, and it’s one of the issues I think we’ve been making progress on. We have a strong relationship with the Qualicum First Nation, and it’s exciting to renew our protocol agreement for that. I look forward to trying to build the relationship with the Snaw-Naw-As and the Snuneymuxw First Nation.
PW: How much feedback have you had from residents so far, and what might be some of their biggest concern?
VC: I haven’t heard a lot of feedback so far just because I’m just new into the job. Certainly in my area on Gabriola, I’m sure you heard about the communications blackouts, so emergency response and communications and long-term planning is an issue in my area. But I expect that there’ll be a lot of discussion about the Ravensong Pool as we get more community engagement and involvement heading towards a referendum, both about the participants of the pool service, as well as how it’s funded, and then a referendum potentially on funding for a pool expansion.
PW: What’s the biggest difference between the RDN and nearby town or city councils?
VC: The hat you need to wear at the regional district board is more of the regional hat. So the municipal councils are hard at work on issues like roads and development. At the regional board, we focus on bigger-scale issues, a significant one is the regional growth strategy where all of the municipalities and the electoral areas have come together with a vision for how the area might be developed. So it’s a bit of a different thing for the municipal directors to come to the regional board and try and have that bigger picture. But as I mentioned before, for the electoral areas, this is our one place to govern. We also have our electoral area services committee, which focuses on land use planning and other initiatives, bylaw development for electoral areas specifically. We have two different tracks happening at the same time.
PW: How important is the collaboration with the municipal governments?
VC: It’s extremely important, and I’m fortunate since I’ve been on the board – this is my second term – we’ve had really, I feel, good relationships with the mayor and councils of the municipalities and are trying to develop, I think, a greater sense of working together as a region and more information sharing. I think that’s one of the things that we might have been a little bit siloed in the past, but I’m hoping we can make some improvements.
PW: Do you have a special wish from the RDN heading into 2023?
VC: I certainly hope for the sake of all of us that the weather’s calmer in 2023 and we don’t get the climate extremes such as the drought and atmospheric river, as well as anything else that’s gone on. It’s difficult to do a one size fits all, but I really hope that the holiday season brings everyone a chance for rest and renewal, and also a chance to enjoy the beautiful area we’re so fortunate to live in.
The Parksville Qualicum Beach News podcast PQBeat can be found at www.pqbnews.com/tag/podcast, at http://omny.fm or on iTunes.
PODCAST: A look ahead to 2023 with Vanessa Craig, board chair for the RDN