Image Credit: CSRD

By Victor Kaisar

Road Rescue

CSRD moving ahead with road rescue service in North and South Shuswap but not Falkland

Jul 18, 2025 | 11:37 AM

SALMON ARM, B.C. — The Columbia Shuswap Regional District (CSRD) is moving ahead with plans to implement a new road rescue service in the North and South Shuswap, but not in the Falkland area.

At its July 17 meeting, the CSRD board approved bylaws to establish the new service, which will be provided by existing fire departments. It comes two weeks after the CSRD released results of three separate Alternative Approval Processes (AAP) which sought to gauge whether taxpayers would support funding the initiative.

Under provincial rules, if more than 10 per cent of eligible electors oppose a proposal, the local government has to either go to a referendum to seek voter approval or abandon its plans. If less than 10 per cent are opposed, the proposal can move ahead.

“By this measure, elector assent was obtained in the North and South Shuswap service areas,” the CSRD said, referencing the 26 and 13 electors who were opposed in the two areas respectively.

“In Falkland, however, there was more than enough opposition to the road rescue service bylaw that it could not proceed without a referendum.”

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There were 216 Falkland-area residents who opposed the new road rescue service — more than double the 99 needed to trigger a referendum.

“The Board did not make a motion to take the Falkland Road Rescue Establishment proposal to referendum, effectively ending the initiative for that area,” the CSRD added.

In a statement, the CSRD quotes Area D Director Dean Trumbley, who represents the Falkland-area, as saying he no longer supported the road rescue proposal because it was too expensive.

“It was not that the community didn’t want this. It was that no one was expecting that big a financial hit… I quickly realized Falkland was not ready for this right now,” Trumbley said, in a statement.

According to the CSRD, residents in the Falkland area would have been faced with a one-time tax increase of between $200 and $235 and annual fees of around $66. Conversely, in the North and South Shuswap, the one-time tax increase would have been between $20 and $55, while annual fees would have been between $8 and $12.

“The cost to taxpayers will be greatest during the first year of the service due to the need to buy the specialized equipment to conduct road rescue,” the CSRD said in a previous statement. “In subsequent years, the taxation will be reduced because once the equipment is purchased, the cost of the program will be largely operational.”

Taxpayers in the North and South Shuswap service areas will begin paying for the road rescue service as part of their 2026 property taxes.

The CSRD said the purchase of road rescue equipment — like the Jaws of Life — as well as the training of firefighters is also set to take place once funding is established.