Should Metro Vancouver's board be elected? City councillors call for review of governance

The North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant is seen during construction in Fall 2020. (Metro Vancouver)

Four city councillors in the Lower Mainland are calling for a review of Metro Vancouver's governance structure, claiming a lack of transparency on the board.

Surrey's Linda Annis, New Westminster's Daniel Fontaine, Richmond's Kash Heed and Maple Ridge's Ahmed Yousef released a joint statement Wednesday, asking Premier David Eby to review how the regional district is run. Currently, municipal leaders are appointed to the board, but the councillors called on Eby to consider having voters elect local representatives instead.

"Whether it's the financial fiasco around wastewater treatment plants in North Vancouver or on Iona Island, or their unchecked international travel policy that has cost taxpayers thousands of dollars, Metro Vancouver's board is unaccountable, and taxpayers have had enough of being ignored, except when it comes time to pay the bills," Annis said in a statement.

The four councillors claimed the current governance model, which has 41 appointed board members from 23 local governments, is permitting "massive cost overruns" on major infrastructure projects, like the one in North Vancouver. Earlier this year, officials revealed the wastewater treatment plant is now projected to cost $3.86 billion. Initially, it was scheduled to be completed by December 2020 at a cost of $500 million. 

"The current Metro (Vancouver) governance model made it too easy for those projects to become financial problems because no one is held accountable, and taxpayers are left sitting on the sideline, except when it comes to paying for the cost overruns," a statement from Fontaine said. "Taxpayers are now stuck paying for the North Vancouver overruns, and not a single person has resigned or been fired."

Heed said electing board members will help Metro Vancouver residents feel more connected to the organization.

"We need to take Metro (Vancouver) out of the shadows and make it more transparent," he said.

Yousef argued Metro Vancouver's mandate and responsibilities should be narrowed, claiming it has quietly taken on more authority across the region since it was established 50 years ago.

"Any organization that's more than 50 years old needs a check-up to make sure it's ready for the next 50 years," his statement said. "So, a full review by the province makes good sense, and would ensure we have a right-sized organization that is more transparent and accountable to our taxpayers."

For a period of time in the 1970s, directors were elected to Metro Vancouver's board. Council candidates were given the option to run for the board as well, but needed to be elected as mayor or councillor to be given a district seat. The system was reverted to appointments in 1978.

During a news conference Wednesday, Eby said he has not heard directly from the four city councillors, but said the province has asked the regional district for an explanation on the North Vancouver project's cost overruns.

"We work with Metro Vancouver on a number of different areas. It's important for us all to have confidence in how Metro operates, and I am certain that they will provide that information to us and the federal government, and I'll follow up on the concerns that were raised by the Vancouver councillors," Eby said. "It's important as a regional government that they maintain the confidence of the cities that they work with."