Every September, local elected officials and staff from across British Columbia gather for the UBCM Convention, the province's largest gathering of local government. It's a week of learning, advocacy, and relationship building, and it's one of the most valuable weeks of the year for a community like Oliver. Here's a look back at how the week went.

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Monday: Learning What Works Elsewhere

I had the honour of chairing a study session on Accelerating Affordability through Modern Methods of Construction. It was a genuinely valuable look at how other communities are tackling housing costs, and I'll be following up with one of the panelists to talk about what this could look like for Oliver.

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Tuesday: Health, Safety, and DRIPA

Tuesday was a full day. I joined the Rural Mayors health group, chaired by our own CAO, Joe McCollough, and had the chance to reconnect with Minister Kahlon, BC's new Minister of Health. I shared with him what led to the closure of our walk in clinic here in Oliver, and I'll be following up with more information so we can keep that conversation moving.

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Team Oliver also met with the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General about Victim Services funding. After multiple asks just to get the data we need to make our case, this meeting felt like a real commitment, and we'll be following up again soon.

In the afternoon, I chaired a plenary session on Understanding DRIPA: Opportunities, Challenges and Implications for BC Communities, an incredible afternoon with distinguished speakers and some important facts delivered.

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Wednesday: Opening Ceremony, a New Role, and a Powerful Keynote

Wednesday opened with the Convention Opening Session, and I had the honour of singing the national anthem. During the morning's business, I was acclaimed as UBCM's Second Vice President. I'm grateful for the trust that comes with that, and I'll share more soon about why it matters for Oliver.

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Right after, Anna Maria Tremonti gave a keynote that stayed with me, including her account of the reporting on the École Polytechnique massacre, and how only the female reporters at the time understood it was an attack on women. A powerful reminder of how far we've come since then.

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In the afternoon, I attended the Strong Communities cabinet town hall with the Ministers of Health, Transportation and Transit, and Housing and Municipal Affairs, and had the chance to raise the elimination of the Northern and Rural Homeowner Grant directly at the mic. That conversation continues in the resolutions debate.

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Thursday: Hard Conversations, Shared Ground, and Celebrating Our Own

Thursday morning I sat in on a session on Municipal Approaches to Addressing Indigenous Specific Racism, an important and necessary conversation for local governments to be having. I also heard an address from Conservative Party of BC leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay, and spent much of the morning in the resolutions session, where BC's local governments debate and set their shared advocacy priorities for the year ahead.

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In the afternoon, a workshop on How Modern Treaties Support the Common Good offered a lot to think about in how reconciliation and local government work together. The evening brought one of my favourite moments of the week: at the UBCM Annual Banquet, two of my council colleagues, Councillor Terry Schafer and Water Councillor Rick Machial, were recognized with long service awards. It's a genuine privilege to serve alongside people who show up for this community year after year, and seeing them honoured in front of their peers from across the province was a proud moment.

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Friday: Advocating for Oliver's Agriculture Sector

Friday morning was spent in the resolutions session before I stepped away for one of the most useful meetings of the week: a sit down with Minister of Agriculture and Food Lana Popham about funding to study our irrigation canal, so Oliver can build a stronger, evidence based case for the upgrades it needs. She let us know that the intake window for Stream 2: Community Projects under BC's Agriculture Water Infrastructure Program is set to open October 1, 2026. This is a program administered through the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC, and it's exactly the kind of funding tool that can help Oliver move this project forward.

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Our CAO also raised, on Oliver's behalf, some of the challenges he's experienced with communication from the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, and the need for more consistent messaging between provincial ministries and local governments. It's the kind of detail that doesn't make headlines but matters a great deal to how well these files actually move.

To the agricultural producers in and around Oliver: team Oliver has your back on this one, and I'll have more to share as this funding opportunity develops.

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The convention closed with an address from the Premier.

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Two Things I'm Bringing Home

Beyond the sessions and the meetings, two things stood out to me this week.

The first is how much of this work is about relationships, and how those relationships aren't always transactional. Sometimes you run into a minister in a hallway and there's no ask at all, just a hug, a "how are the kids," a real conversation about how life is treating you. That's not wasted time. It's exactly what builds the kind of trust that makes a minister want to say yes when there is an ask.

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The second is how much there is to learn from what other communities across BC are already doing well. Every session, every hallway conversation, every workshop is a chance to bring home an idea that's already been tested somewhere else. I came home from this convention with a lot of those lessons, and I'm looking forward to figuring out which ones fit Oliver.

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There's a lot of follow up ahead, and I'll keep you posted as those conversations continue.