Where I stand

Chilliwack is growing fast, and the province has told us to keep going. We should. We need the homes — and building them is a big part of how housing becomes affordable again.

The job isn’t to slow that down. It’s to plan the infrastructure properly so growth doesn’t arrive faster than the water, sewer and roads that serve it, and so the cost of getting it wrong doesn’t land on people who’ve been here for decades. That takes looking further ahead than one budget cycle.

It also means being honest about where growth is happening. A large share of new housing in this area is built on First Nations land, and the city services much of that growth regardless — but the province won’t count it toward the targets we’re measured against. Council has raised this two years running. Chief Derek Epp of Ch’íyáqtel has made the same point.

I’m out on Chilliwack’s trails most weeks. What I’ve noticed is that almost none of them are one jurisdiction’s work. The Q Trail runs to the city boundary and keeps going. The valley routes cross Crown land, regional parks and private property. Somebody’s volunteer crew built the section you’re running on, and somebody else maintains the next one.

That network is one of the best things about living here. It’s good for people’s physical and mental health, there’s something in it for every level of ability, and it brings visitors and business into town.

It also isn’t something the city can or should build alone. Elsewhere in BC, municipalities partner with trail societies under formal agreements covering mapping, insurance and maintenance — the city provides the base, community groups extend it, and everyone knows who’s responsible for what. That’s more trail per dollar and more ownership by the people using it.

I’d want Chilliwack working that way, and working with our neighbours across the boundary so the network is planned as one thing rather than several.

Chilliwack spends millions each year managing homelessness — security, bylaw, fire, cleanup. Housing and health care belong to the province. Council has said so, and they’re right.

But quietly picking up the tab doesn’t get us anywhere. When a city funds something long enough, it stops being a provincial problem on anyone’s books.

What works is a close working relationship and a specific ask. Chilliwack needs a local, staffed detox bed — right now anyone needing supervised withdrawal goes to Surrey, and beds elsewhere sit empty for lack of staff, so the ask has to be for staffing, not just a building.

And recovery needs a front end. Prevention is the cheaper part of this and the part we fund least.