The Capital Regional District (CRD) is the regional government for the 13 municipalities and three electoral areas that are located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. The urban centre of the CRD is the City of Victoria, and the regional district also includes many of the Gulf Islands, a number of rural municipalities and a vast tract of wilderness that lies along the south-western coast of Vancouver Island.
CRD Governance
■The CRD provides regional governance and services for the entire Capital Region, including regional parks, regional planning, solid waste management (including recycling) and emergency 9-1-1 services.
■The CRD creates partnerships between any combination of municipalities and electoral areas for services or projects that are specific to only part of the region.
■The CRD is the local government in areas which are not within a municipality. These areas are known as “electoral areas”.
The CRD is generally recognized by the services it provides to the Capital Region. These services can be either regional (supplied to the whole region), inter-municipal (supplied to two or more members within the region) or local (provided to electoral areas within the region).
The CRD derives authority from Letters Patent and from provincial legislation, primarily the Local Government Act. It is run by a 23-member Board of Directors, who also sit as members of the Regional Hospital Board.
The Board is made up of Municipal Directors (who are appointed at pleasure by the council), and Directors from the Electoral Areas (who are elected for a three year term). The Board provides a political forum for representation of regional residents and communities and a vehicle for advancing the interests of the region as a whole. Board meetings are held once a month and are open to the public.
Representation on the CRD Board balances the need to reflect varying population bases across the region with different community interests. Each local government gets one vote for every 5000 population. Each local government gets one director for every 25,000 population. If a member municipality has more than one director, then the number of votes are divided as evenly as possible.
The Capital Regional District was formed in 1966 as a federation of seven municipalities and five electoral areas. Shortly thereafter the Salt Spring Island and Southern Gulf Island Electoral Areas were added. The CRD was one of the first regional districts created as a result of changes to the Municipal Act by the provincial government in 1965.
In a “regional district” a number of local governments join together as partners so that they can benefit from economies of scale and eliminate duplication of effort on a region-wide perspective. Over the past four decades the CRD has functioned as an important governing body for regional issues, as well as providing an effective form of local government for the residents of electoral areas.