| In 1995 and again in 2003, British Columbia's provincial legislature considered legislation called the "Community Charter". In the 1995 version, the legislation proposed "home rule", thereby strengthening the autonomy of British Columbia's local governments. However, the 1995 "Community Charter" failed to pass the legislature. In 2003 a different "Community Charter" was proposed that represented incremental policy change and minor autonomy increases when compared to the 1995 bill. This bill was passed and became the Community Charter. This thesis uses case study methodology to answer the question: What factors influenced the policy process between 1995 and 2003 such that local autonomy proposed in 1995 was eroded by 2003? Using the policy communities and networks approach, augmented with other public policy approaches, this thesis concludes that four major factors influenced the policy process to reduce the level of local autonomy in the final "Community Charter" in 2003. The factors were: the influence of the provincial ministry responsible for local governments, the influence of focused business organizations, macro-political changes and partisan political maneuvering. The greatest influence was from the ministry and business organizations. |
