Metro Vancouver Regional District defends its roles targeted by B.C. Conservatives | Daily Hive

Metro Vancouver Regional District defends its roles and services targeted by B.C. Conservatives

Headquarters office of Metro Vancouver Regional District. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Metro Vancouver Regional District is rejecting the Conservative Party of British Columbia’s case for removing several of its responsibilities, arguing that the party’s election-time criticism overlooks recent spending reductions, in-progress changes to internal governance and structure, and an independent review of the beleaguered North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant project already underway.

“In recent weeks, many people running for election have chosen to target Metro Vancouver based on outdated or untrue information. To continue to claim that Metro Vancouver is out of control is simply using the organization as a political punching bag to get attention,” said Mike Hurley, the chair of the board of directors for Metro Vancouver Regional District and the mayor of Burnaby, in a statement to Daily Hive Urbanized upon inquiry.

“The services provided by Metro Vancouver are an essential part of what makes this region healthy.”

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The response follows the Conservative party’s platform announcement on Oct. 5, promising to move housing, economic development, air quality, and climate policy responsibilities to Metro Vancouver’s municipal governments and the provincial government. Ahead of the provincial general election on Oct. 24, the party argues these activities overlap with the work of other governments, and wants the regional government focused on only building and operating Metro Vancouver’s bulk safe drinking water supply and sewage treatment utilities.

The regional government disputes the claim that its services replicate work already being done elsewhere. According to the regional government, the overwhelming majority of its operating budget goes toward drinking water and sewage treatment utilities; less than eight per cent of its operating budget goes toward non-utility services, including regional planning, air quality, regional parks, housing, and Invest Vancouver.

Hurley, who is seeking re-election in Burnaby’s civic election on Oct. 17, also said operating cost increases have been held within inflation for years, using the Consumer Price Index as the benchmark. He argued that decisions made by the board of directors since 2023 would reduce costs for ratepayers by billions of dollars over the coming decade.

The regional government highlighted a recent reduction in the project cost of overhauling the Iona Island Wastewater Plant — falling from $9.9 billion to $6 billion. That revised estimate reflects a smaller, phased project, including upgrades to the existing plant and the postponement of some work.

So far, according to the regional government, it has completed 24 of 47 governance reform recommendations outlined in a May 2025 report by consulting firm Deloitte. However, transitioning to a smaller board size — still comprised of select mayors and city councillors from across Metro Vancouver’s 21 municipal governments, as well as other jurisdictional members — still requires the provincial government to change legislation.

Defending its broader role, the organization argues that its platform for regional cooperation helps municipal governments coordinate housing, infrastructure, address air pollution, and protect natural areas more effectively than working individually.

Invest Vancouver — the region’s relatively new agency for attracting investment and economic development, effectively filling in the void left by the subsequent dissolution of the City of Vancouver’s long-running Vancouver Economic Commission (VEC) shortly after Invest Vancouver’s creation — helps the Metro Vancouver region compete with Toronto and Montreal for investment and jobs. A process is already underway to turn Invest Vancouver into an agency independent of the regional district, instead of its current operations as an in-house department of the regional government.

Invest Vancouver

The regional government also describes the Metro Vancouver Housing Corporation as operating at no cost to taxpayers, as its ongoing operations are financed almost entirely through rental housing tenant rents, while its projects to build new housing developments receives separate capital funding from the regional government and other entities, including other levels of government.

On the North Shore Wastewater Project, which has seen its construction budget escalate from $700 million to $3.9 billion and its construction timeline extended by a decade, the regional government has commissioned an independent review, and is already examining its escalating costs and oversight, with findings expected by January 2027.

The organization has argued that commissioning another review would create an unnecessary cost for taxpayers.

However, earlier this year, City of North Vancouver mayor Linda Buchanan and District of North Vancouver mayor Mike Little have called for the provincial government to commission an independent inquiry into this North Shore sewage treatment plant project, along with a broader review of how the regional government manages its multibillion-dollar capital projects. Their municipal jurisdictions are among those most affected by the project’s cost increases and the resulting pressure on household bills.

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