At the October 1st General Meeting of GFPID there was some discussion with regard to election policy. The 2026 Budget included an increased allocation for elections, with the intention that the Board respond to community requests for advance polls. During the meeting the Returning Officer from the last election correctly pointed out that Policy # 24-09 in the GFPID Handbook of Governing Policies, “Policy and Procedures for Elections Conducted by the Gabriola Fire Protection Improvement District” explicitly prohibits both mail in balloting and advance polls (p 58).
However, in January 2023 the Minister of Municipal Affairs issued a Ministerial Order under the Local Government Act to amend the Letters Patent of improvement districts, which would certainly supercede organizational policy.
The order states (bolding added):
NOW THEREFORE I HEREBY ORDER, pursuant to section 679 of the Act and the Improvement District Letters Patent Amendment Regulation, B.C. Reg 30/2010, that:
1) This Order replaces Order 336/2020 which is repealed.
2) The Letters Patent of the improvement districts identified in Schedule 1 be amended to authorize the Trustees to, by resolution, fix a date at least once every calendar year, to hold an election for improvement district trustees under s.684 of the Act (an “election”), and that this date may be different than the date of the improvement district’s annual general meeting.
3) The Letters Patent of the improvement districts identified in Schedule 1 be amended to authorize the Trustees, by resolution, to set one or more dates for additional voting opportunities and to allow voting by all eligible electors under the Act to be done by mail ballot, for the purposes of voting in an election.
4) The Letters Patent of the improvement districts identified in Schedule 1 be amended to require that notice of an election must be given in accordance with the notice requirements for an annual general meeting as established under s.690 (3) of the Act and any applicable provisions of a bylaw passed under s.686 (1) (c).
5) The Letters Patent of the improvement districts identified in Schedule 1 be amended to remove any additional restrictions on when an annual general meeting must be held.
6) The Letters Patent of the improvement districts identified in Schedule 1 be amended to remove any additional restrictions on when an election must be held.
Gabriola is listed in Schedule 1, which details which improvement districts this applies to.
Both the Letters Patent and Governing Policies are currently under review, we look forward to seeing them updated to reflect these legislative changes.