Cranbrook city staff will spearhead efforts to bring provincial agencies together to find ‘Made in Cranbrook’ solutions to the ongoing social issues faced by the community.
Mayor Wayne Price first brought the motion forward on Jan. 9, with the idea modelled on a similar initiative in Prince George.
“The majority of the issues associated with these social problems are the responsibility of the provincial government, but it got to a point where it’s impacting the community and businesses in town” said Price. “The City can’t really look the other way anymore and keep pointing the finger. I feel we have a responsibility for the city to step up.”
City officials said arranging meetings with provincial ministries will take time, while the city looks for solutions internally as well.
“One of the primary goals should be to find areas where our City, and the Provincial Government intersect,” said Price. “This ensures that discussions can move beyond advocacy and real action can begin to be taken from each party to make progress towards a plan with actionable items to resolve these issues.”
Price said this step will formalize the process and start organizing.
“We need to identify all the local groups, what the rules are and then we need to go back and look legislatively, who is responsible at what level of government,” said Price. “It’s to have a good, hard look and engage as a community to see what we can do about this.”
Cranbrook officials said they will keep residents up to date about the process and any developments that come along.