The Conservative Party of B.C. says, if elected, it would narrow Metro Vancouver Regional District responsibilities primarily to bulk drinking water and sewage treatment while transferring other policy areas to other governments.
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The Conservative Party of British Columbia says it would overhaul the Metro Vancouver Regional District by stripping the regional government of responsibilities for regional housing, economic development, air quality and climate policy, while narrowing its focus to bulk utility services providing safe and reliable drinking water supplies and sewage treatment to municipal governments across Metro Vancouver.
The party said drinking water and sewage treatment make up most of the regional district’s annual operating and capital budgets. It argued the other four service areas should be handled by provincial and municipal governments, and said those responsibilities duplicate work already carried out at other levels of government and by businesses.
As part of its platform for the provincial general election on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, the Conservatives also called for a smaller board of directors to oversee the regional district’s direction and decisions. The party said the board currently includes select mayors and city councillors from 21 Metro Vancouver municipal governments, along with Electoral Area A, which includes the University of British Columbia and the University Endowment Lands, and the Tsawwassen First Nation.
The Conservatives said a smaller board would align with a July 2026 request from the regional district for provincial legislation to allow a 25 per cent reduction in the number of directors. Conservative MLA candidates said the changes would improve accountability and focus the regional district as a utility.
“That is not a utility. That is an unaccountable bureaucratic mess with a blank cheque. We’ll take the chequebook back, focus Metro on water and sewage, and make sure taxpayers get value for every dollar,” said Carson Binda, the Conservative MLA candidate for Vancouver-Quilchena. Lynne Block, the Conservative MLA candidate for North Vancouver-Seymour, said, “A smaller, professional board will run this utility like the essential service it is.” Trevor Withers, the Conservative MLA candidate for North Vancouver-Lonsdale, said, “People here want clean water and working sewers. They don’t want a regional bureaucracy that can’t build a plant on budget and never answers for it.”
The Conservatives also promised to conduct a full audit of the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant project in North Vancouver. The party’s platform says construction began in 2017 with a budget of about $700 million and a 2020 completion target, but the project has faced litigation, a pause in major construction activities, and a change of contractors. The Conservatives said the project is now set to cost about $3.9 billion and is expected to be completed in 2030.
The Conservatives said regional households have faced upward pressure on user fees as the project costs increased. It also said the regional district restarted an independent review process this past summer, with the review expected to culminate in a final report in early 2027. Caroline Elliott, the Conservative MLA candidate for West Vancouver-Capilano, said, “North Shore families deserve accountability for the wastewater treatment debacle, but all they’ve gotten from their NDP MLAs is indifference. As Conservatives, we’ll conduct a full audit of what went so disastrously wrong under the NDP’s watch to ensure a blunder of this scale never happens again.”
The regional district has also said it has implemented recommendations from a separate governance review conducted by consulting firm Deloitte in May 2025, following work initiated by the board of directors, with the provincial government partnering in the review. The governance work included steps described as strengthening internal auditing and changing rules for board compensation.
The Conservatives pointed to growing debt and the regional district’s operating budget as reasons to reduce responsibilities, and they accused the organization of overspending on private consultants and contractors to the extent that third-party labour costs now exceed the salaries and benefits of in-house staff.
In early September 2026, the regional district parted ways with Jerry Dobrovolny, who served as Chief Administrative Officer and Commissioner since 2019, after weeks of media speculation and amid criticism tied to his role in oversight of the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant, his compensation, and allegations of overstepping his authority internally. The Conservatives’ platform also notes that Dobrovolny previously worked with the City of Vancouver for more than three decades, including four years as Chief Engineer and General Manager of the city’s Engineering Department.
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