ROTHENBURGER – Why I believe in the PAC in spite of ‘alternative approval’

MANY REASONS have been given in the past to oppose plans for a new performing arts centre in Kamloops but this year there’s a new one — the process. People don’t like the “alternative approval process” by which it will be decided. They think it’s undemocratic, that it makes it too easy to say yes and too hard to say no.

I’ve always disagreed with using an AAP to get borrowing approval from electors for this project but I’m a strong believer, and have been for many years, in the need for a new performing arts centre, or PAC (Officially, Centre for the Arts). So, it creates some internal tension.

The alternative approval process (also called a counter petition) simply isn’t right for this important project. It’s the one chosen by City council in hopes it will avoid a referendum defeat, and its proponents keep saying it’s been used in a lot of other projects.

And it has, but while AAP is a good option for essential infrastructure projects, the Kamloops Centre for the Arts/ PAC is a wanna have. A good wanna have but not a must like clean water and a working sewage system. I’ll give you a comparative example to illustrate.

Back at the turn of the century the City was ordered by the medical health officer to fix our water quality issue. There was no choice in the matter. So the council of the day, on which I served, came up with a plan for a water treatment plant using state-of-the-art membrane filtration technology that would clean up the water supply.

Problem was we needed to borrow to pay for it, even after senior government grants. We asked the provincial government to waive the usual requirements for assent but were refused, so we went the AAP route. At that time the threshold was five per cent, that is, only five per cent of the electorate would have to petition against it to defeat the project (it was changed to 10 per cent shortly afterwards).

Fortunately, the AAP succeeded in favour of the new water plant. But imagine if it had gone to a traditional referendum and failed. What a fine pickle that would have been.

Let’s pause here to explain the AAP process. Instead of a referendum where voters go to the polls as they do in an election and vote yes or no, the AAP assumes electors vote yes unless they fill out a form and return it saying no.

Council approved the deadlines for the AAP today (July 30, 2024). The process starts immediately and closes Sept. 13. Elector response forms will be available at City Hall during business hours between 8 a.m and 4 p.m. Monday to Friday except stats. Digital copies will be available online, or can be requested by email.

Here’s the important number: with 87,131 eligible electors, defeating the project would require 8,713 of them to return the ‘No’ forms before the deadline. Not impossible with an organized campaign, but challenging.

Keep in mind there are two separate AAPs in play — one for the arts centre, the other for the proposed ice complex up near Kenna Cartwright Park and some seed money for looking into other projects.

While the forms are now available, the countdown doesn’t start until Aug. 6. Staff gave council three choices for a deadline — Sept. 6, Sept. 13 and Sept 30. Council picked the middle ground. The Sept. 13 deadline means there’s a 37-day window to return the forms. Most of that window, of course, will be during the busy summer when people seldom turn their minds to such things, especially a pair of somewhat complicated forms including a bunch of caveats, fine print and background information.

“I am OPPOSED to the City of Kamloops proceeding with adopting Kamloops Centre for the Arts Loan Authorization Bylaw No. 57-1, 2024, authorizing borrowing $140,000,000 to be repaid over a period not exceeding thirty (30) years, to finance the Kamloops Centre for the Arts, described on Page 2 of this form, unless a referendum vote is held.”

• Statement of opposition on AAP form.

One of the reasons that’s being promoted for using an AAP is that it’s cheaper than spending $200,000 on a referendum. So were previous councils wrong to put the PAC to a referendum in 2015 and to plan another one in 2020 before COVID killed it?

The current PAC proposal would cost an estimated $154 million, of which up to $140 million would come from local taxpayers. This is the kind of project people should clearly say yes or no to. They should have the opportunity to make a decision at the ballot box, not through a process that could succeed through apathy.
As the council I was part of was planning to ask taxpayers in 2003 if they were willing to invest in facilities to make Kamloops worthy of its Tournament Capital brand, we had the same two options: AAP (counter petition) or referendum.

We decided to bypass the counter petition and go straight to referendum because we wanted there to be no doubt about what people wanted. An AAP always leaves doubt.

That same kind of thinking should be applied to the PAC in 2024.

Last night, at the Celebration of the Arts event, I said Kamloops has to ask itself a fundamental question: will Kamloops be a better city with the PAC? In my view, the answer is an absolute yes.

I also said the plan isn’t perfect and that neither is the process. But no plan is ever going to be perfect. Ask 10 people what’s wrong with this one, and you just might get 10 different answers.

I’ve been a believer in the need for a new performing arts centre for many years, both during my time as a daily newspaper editor and as mayor. In 2003 we put it into the City’s cultural strategic plan as the Number One priority. Sadly, the arts community was afraid of it then but 21 years later it’s still the Number One cultural priority, and now the arts community is ready.

We’re Canada’s Tournament Capital. It’s time Kamloops becomes an arts and culture capital as well. The PAC is an amenity that can be enjoyed by all, including athletes, recreationists and regular folks. It’s taken too long.

Opposing the PAC because you disagree with the AAP would be like cutting off your nose to spite your face. We’ve got to focus on the project itself and decide based on its merits, not on the process. It comes down to saying yes by not saying no.

So it’s unfortunate that the wrong assent process has been chosen but let’s not let it get in the way. Believe in the PAC. Support it. Build it.

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.