ABSTRACT
The history of regional/metropolitan governance in British Columbia (BC) is both long and short. BC's Regional District system has worked admirably for the past fifty years; it may well continue to provide a highly successful and flexible model of decision making for another half century in most regional districts in BC. Even in the capital region of Victoria, if Bish is correct, this may remain true for the province of Nova Scotia but not for the Halifax Region which is equivalent in size to Victoria's capital region. Metro Vancouver and related regional authorities such as Translink increasingly lack the mandate to make regional decisions without an appropriate political accountability base. Democratic reforms to Greater Vancouver could include other electoral notions as well. These might include broader electoral system changes including, if direct elections were introduced, some form of proportional representation; it might also include electoral expense/spending limit reforms; and it would involve a clearer disentangling of who does what.
