City of Powell River councillors have unanimously endorsed mayor Ron Woznow’s intention to run for the board of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM).
At a special meeting of city council on May 14, councillor Earl Almeida, who was chairing the meeting, read a resolution, indicating that the FCM annual general meeting would be held May 29 to June 1, including the election of FCM’s board of directors.
The resolution called for the endorsement of Woznow to stand for election to FCM’s board of directors for the period starting from June 2025 until the end of city council’s term in October 2026. The resolution called for council to assume all costs for Woznow to attend FCM’s board of directors meetings.
Woznow said he has been closely following the FCM for the last couple of years. The one thing that adds significant benefit to Powell River, as well as other municipalities in Canada, is the proposal that a large portion of the current money the federal government makes available through a long process of getting applications from municipalities from across the country, is to be replaced. He said, for example, that $10 billion could be allocated to municipalities based on population, and the municipality would assume the responsibility to utilize those funds in the best possible way for the community.
“The reason why I believe I could be a strong board member with regard to this particular project is that I spent two years on secondment to the federal government as the chief of staff for the environment minister,” said Woznow. “It was a time in which there was a lot of environmental initiative. I was charged to get approval from seven different ministries to allocate $119 million for the St. Lawrence cleanup.
“This was a two-year process. I had a lot of meetings with the treasury board, with the assistant deputy ministers of economic development and environment, and dealt with seven different ministries.”
Woznow said he has a good understanding of what it would take to position this type of initiative.
He said subsequently, he co-chaired a federal government ministry association that spent two weeks in Europe and the United Kingdom, with an opportunity to work closely with finance and economic development, to gain an understanding of what it takes to get things done.
“It’s said that in Ottawa, the bureaucracy has the brakes of a Rolls Royce and the engine of a lawnmower,” said Woznow. “You really have to know how to navigate all through that. That’s my rationale for why I would like to run for the FCM board.”
Councillor Cindy Elliott said it would be great to have representation on the FCM board. She said a lot of the board’s activity is far away.
“I support the idea but I’m wondering how we ensure that it is covered in our budget because it isn’t at this point in time,” added Elliott.
Chief financial officer Mallory Denniston said the budget has funds for conferences, so she would need to take a detailed look at what has been spent so far and what is remaining. She said a motion could be made that the budget be amended if more funds are required.
Almeida said he was pretty sure the city had not hit the limit for councillors’ travel, so there is potential that the travel might be fine without a budget amendment.
Woznow said if there was a risk of going over his travel budget, he would be glad to incur any additional costs himself.
Councillor Jim Palm said he applauds the mayor’s initiative. He said to the best of his knowledge, the city has never had an FCM board member.
Councillor George Doubt thanked Woznow for coming and talking to council before putting his name forward. Doubt said he likes the suggestion that the mayor’s major drive, if elected, would be to work toward a fairer allocation of federal government funds, rather than the current lottery system, where all the municipalities in the country apply, and through whatever decision process is in place, some municipalities are winners and others don’t win.
“It’s a positive idea and a positive concept so I support the resolution,” said Doubt. “If travel expenses get beyond the current budget, we can always make a budget amendment.”
Council then voted to support Woznow’s bid for the FCM directorship.
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