Who decides what in the District: mayor, council, Metro Vancouver, TransLink and the Province

The Mayor of the District of North Vancouver chairs council, sets its agenda and holds one of seven votes. Every bylaw, every budget and every zoning decision needs four votes. A mayor who cannot persuade three councillors cannot pass anything.

Metro Vancouver owns and runs the regional water and sewer systems, including the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant, and sets the regional growth strategy. Its boards are made up of mayors and councillors appointed by each member council. The District's director is currently a councillor, with the mayor as the alternate — the seat belongs to whoever council appoints, not automatically to the mayor.

TransLink runs the buses, SeaBus and HandyDART. Its investment plans and service levels are approved by the Mayors' Council on Regional Transportation, where every one of the region's 21 municipalities has a seat. That is the one regional table a District mayor sits at by right.

The Province of British Columbia owns Highway 1 and both bridges, sets the housing rules every municipality must follow, runs health care and schools, and ordered the District to complete at least 2,838 net new homes between October 2023 and September 2028.

That leaves the District with its own roads and signals, land use within the provincial rules, permits, parks, fire and rescue, its share of policing and emergency management, and the property tax bill — of which roughly 45% is collected for other agencies the District does not control.

Every proposal on this site says which of these tables it needs. A candidate who promises to fix the bridges, cut TransLink fares or cancel the plant is promising something the office does not hold.