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“In the early 1980s, the Province took the draconian step of legislating the elimination of planning as a function of all regional districts and cancelling all Official Regional Plans. In a defining moment of our history, Metro municipalities pushed back, saying they wanted to continue to have the benefits of the Livable Region Strategic Plan, the knowledge and data the region could provide to help in their work, and the policy dialogue that is at the heart of regional planning. The Livable Region Strategic Plan was approved by the Province in 1996,” stated Ken Cameron.

When he was Premier, Mike Harcourt was the political champion for a TOP-DOWN AND BOTTOM-UP network approach to collaboration in BC. A defining moment for local governments during his time as Premier was the launch of the transformational Georgia Basin Initiative in 1994. At the Partnership for Water Sustainability Forum in January 2026, Mike Harcourt said: “I would like to put a call to action on the record to do with land use planning and ecological and economic sustainability. We need to integrate all the disparate changes now taking place.”

“The Partnership for Water Sustainability is hosting a forum in January 2026 that will provide a safe space for current frontline staff to tap into insights from alumni who are retired from leadership positions. The forum theme is that we can support each other to make everyone’s work easier by creating a knowledge network. When we are part of a network, everyone goes further! Solutions to the issues of our time lie in WHAT stories we tell and HOW we tell those stories. Stories that help us understand historical context and policy frameworks also point the way forward,” stated Remi Dube.