It is easy to wonder, why if we have the Municipality of North Cowichan, is there a second level of local government in the form of the Cowichan Valley Regional District?

The first thing to note is that municipalities and regional districts are different entities under the legal framework for local government in BC. According to the BC government website for local government:

“B.C.'s local government system is unique in Canada, accommodating diverse local governance structures within a federated model that provides local services and governance to communities throughout B.C.. One hundred and sixty-one municipalities and 27 regional districts serve urban and rural communities in virtually all areas of B.C.”

Municipalities have specific powers and services:

Municipalities can exercise a broad range of powers under provincial legislation that reflect their status as corporate bodies, governments and providers of public services.

“Municipalities have basic powers, much like an individual or private body. As public service providers, municipalities can provide any service they consider necessary or desirable, and recover the costs of those services.

Municipalities also have authority to regulate people and property, and to impose property taxes. Most of these powers are enabling, that is the municipal council can choose whether or not to exercise the power. If they do exercise the power, the legislation may set requirement's, limits and other rules that the municipality must follow.”

This is different from Regional Districts which:

“Regional districts have three basic roles. They provide a political and administrative framework to:

• Provide region-wide services such as regional parks, and emergency telephone services such as 911

• Provide inter-municipal or sub-regional services, such as recreation facilities where residents of a municipality and residents in areas outside the municipality benefit from the service

• Act as the general local government for electoral areas and provide local services such as waterworks and fire protection to unincorporated communities within the electoral areas

One of the critical elements of the local government financial system is regional-joint-and-several-liability, whereby the debenture debt of one municipality or regional service is essentially guaranteed by the entire regional district. This is achieved through a regional district security issuing bylaws, whereby all municipal and regional debenture debt is done under the authority of each of the province’s 27 regional district.”

Cowichan Valley Regional District

According to the 2024 Annual Report for North Cowichan, the municipality collected and remitted more than $14 million in taxes for the Cowichan Valley Regional District.

Recently there has been some drama at the North Cowichan Council table with changes in representation of the municipality at the CVRD table. The Mayor is typically a standard representative however Mayor Douglas gave up his seat so that Councillor Justice could continue to participate at the regional level in addition to his efforts at North Cowichan.

As for what services the CVRD provides within the boundaries of North Cowichan, I know that our tax dollars fund Emergency Management Cowichan as well as other general environmental initiatives. The CVRD also plays a central economic role for the region, however, the majority on North Cowichan Council has decided that we should withdraw from these efforts.

I need to research the CVRD / North Cowichan divide to better understand what it means for our budget. I will share that I found this 2024 brochure when I was googling the difference in services provided by the CVRD and North Cowichan.