Greater Victoria, May 27, 2017 – The B.C. business community is uniting to make effective and efficient policing a priority for the province’s economy and the health of its communities.
The updated resolution, Safe Communities and Strong Economies – Supporting Policing in B.C., was endorsed by the BC Chamber and its member chambers and boards of trade on May 27 during its annual general meeting and conference, which ran from May 25 to 27 at the Victoria Conference Centre.
The resolution recommends the Province of B.C. create common governance and funding models to ensure consistent standards of policing for all municipalities, including those policed by the RCMP.
“This resolution properly recognizes the challenges associated with our patchwork policing model in B.C., particularly here in Greater Victoria,” said Del Manak, Acting Chief Constable with the Victoria Police Department.
“The current model unfairly places an increased burden on our officers policing the region’s only downtown core, and leaves the taxpayers in the City of Victoria and Township of Esquimalt in the position of having to bear full responsibility for policing costs that should be shared regionally.”
Safe Communities and Strong Economies – Supporting Policing in B.C. is just one of the nine policy resolutions that the Greater Victoria Chamber presented to the provincial business community at the BC Chamber Conference in Victoria.
The BC Chamber of Commerce’s grassroots policy-building forum brings together approximately 200 Chamber delegates from across B.C. Over the three-day conference in Victoria, delegates will debate over 60 policy resolutions.
