Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC

banner

WHEN PROVINCIAL BOLTS OUT OF THE BLUE IMPACT LOCAL AUTONOMY: “Housing should be about building homes that people can afford in communities that work,” stated Ken Cameron, regional planning thought leader in British Columbia

 

Note to Reader:

Published by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, Waterbucket eNews celebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. Storylines accommodate a range of reader attention spans. Read the headline and move on, or take the time to delve deeper – it is your choice! 

Downloadable versions are available at Living Water Smart in British Columbia: The Series. Stories are structured in three parts: One-Minute Takeaway, Editor’s Perspective, and the Story Behind the Story.

The edition published on February 10, 2026 featured Ken Cameron, a regional planning thought leader in British Columbia. The Partnership purpose in sharing his story is to put a legacy resource on the record about 75 years of planning in the Metro Vancouver region. This edition complements that published in October 2024 and titled Understand why the Livable Region Strategic Plan matters. It also featured reflections by Ken Cameron.

 

ONE MINUTE TAKEAWAY for the extremely busy reader

Ken Cameron provides an invaluable historical perspective on the context and evolution of regional planning in British Columbia. In this edition, he draws a parallel between draconian actions by the Province in two eras: elimination of regional planning in the 1980s; imposition of housing legislation in the 2020s.

Draconian actions produce unintended outcomes

“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,” states Ken Cameron.

 

 

EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE / CONTEXT FOR BUSY READER

“Ken Cameron is a treasure trove of lived experience. During his local government career he guided two landmark plans across the finish line. The first was Metro’s Livable Region Strategic Plan. Exactly thirty years ago in February 1996, the plan was blessed by the Province. Second across the finish line was the region’s first Liquid Waste Management Plan in 2001,” stated Kim Stephens, Partnership Executive Director and Waterbucket News Editor.

For the Imagining Canada in 2100 project, Ken Cameron looked back 75 years in order to look ahead 75 years

“Ken Cameron is giving back. He is putting the story behind the story of regional planning on the record. He is passing on knowledge through op-eds, conference presentations, and university lectures.”

 

“Out of the Ashes” is how Ken Cameron frames Metro Vancouver’s Livable Region Strategic Plan

“I interviewed Ken Cameron the week after his lecture at UBC about 75 Years of Planning in the Vancouver Region. Coincidentally, a week later Metro mayors called a news conference to urge the provincial government to repeal its ill-conceived housing legislation.”

“The issues today are no different than they were in the  past. They are just more complex and more urgent. Ken Cameron hopes that decision makers would choose to build on past learnings. The housing legislation is draconian. What will come  out of the ashes this time?”

Metro Vancouver Planning Principles

“In the three decades since the creation of the Livable Region Strategic Plan, the focus and content of regional planning have evolved in response to change,” wrote Ken Cameron in Metro Vancouver Planning Principles.

 

 

STORY BEHIND THE STORY:
When provincial bolts out of the blue impact local autonomy – quotable quotes from a conversation with Ken Cameron, regional planning thought leader

Ken Cameron was the first Manager of Policy and Planning with the Greater Vancouver Regional District. He had a leadership role in the original process for developing a vision and then delivering the Livable Region Strategic Plan. Later in his career, Ken Cameron was CEO of the provincial Homeowner Protection Office, which is now part of BC Housing.

 

“The regional system in BC depends on passion and commitment and voluntary willingness to cooperate,”
states Ken Cameron in providing big picture context

 

Living Water Smart in British Columbia Series

To download a copy of the foregoing resource as a PDF document for your records and/or sharing, click on Living Water Smart in British Columbia: When provincial bolts out of the blue impact local autonomy.

 

DOWNLOAD A COPY:  https://waterbucket.ca/wcp/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/02/PWSBC_Living-Water-Smart_Ken-Cameron_provincial-bolts-from-blue_2026.pdf

 

About the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC

Technical knowledge alone is not enough to resolve water challenges facing BC. Making things happen in the real world requires an appreciation and understanding of human behaviour, combined with a knowledge of how decisions are made. It takes a career to figure this out.

The Partnership has a primary goal, to build bridges of understanding and pass the baton from the past to the present and future. To achieve the goal, the Partnership is growing a network in the local government setting. This network embraces collaborative leadership and inter-generational collaboration.

TO LEARN MORE, VISIT: https://waterbucket.ca/about-us/

DOWNLOAD A COPY: https://waterbucket.ca/atp/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/07/PWSBC_Mid-Year-Report-for-2025_as-posted.pdf