Victoria and the Capital Regional District: Who Provides What

Three bodies, one address

There are three organisations behind most of the answers, and they are related rather than interchangeable.

• The City of Victoria — your municipality, if you live inside its boundary. It handles local streets, local bylaws, local parks, zoning and development, and municipal permits and licensing.
• The Capital Regional District, or CRD — the regional district. It is made up of member municipalities plus electoral areas, and it delivers services across the capital region rather than within one municipality.
• The Capital Regional Hospital District, or CRHD — part of the CRD, funding healthcare infrastructure in the region through a separate board function.

What the City of Victoria does

The City is responsible for what a municipality normally owns: local roads, sidewalks and public works; local bylaws and enforcement; local parks; zoning and development applications; municipal permits and licensing; waste collection; and property taxes.

The City of Victoria operates the water distribution system for itself and the Township of Esquimalt, and it operates the local sewer system that carries wastewater away from homes and businesses. The water itself, and the treatment of the wastewater, belong to the CRD — and that split is what confuses people most often.

The City does not operate a 311 line. Municipal services are reached through the contact routes the City publishes, plus an online non-emergency service request form, and there is a 24-hour public works line for flooding and urgent after-hours issues such as a plugged storm drain or a fallen tree.

What the Capital Regional District does

The CRD’s service list is long, which is exactly why residents misdirect things. Its published services include:

• Water — the regional water supply that produces and wholesales drinking water, plus water distribution, rates and billing in the Juan de Fuca area, drinking water quality, cross-connection control, water restrictions and dam safety.
• Wastewater — regional wastewater treatment, including the core area system and separate systems for the Saanich Peninsula, Ganges Harbour, Magic Lake, Maliview Estates and Port Renfrew, plus liquid waste management programmes and wastewater overflows.
• Garbage and recycling — the Hartland Landfill, curbside recycling in the areas the CRD serves, the What Goes Where tool, the public drop-off depot, household hazardous waste, asbestos and controlled waste disposal, and renovation and demolition waste.
• Parks and recreation — regional parks and trails.
• Health — the hospital district, community health and wellbeing, and the Clean Air Bylaw.
• Housing — the Capital Region Housing Corporation and regional housing initiatives.
• Getting around — regional trails, docks and moorage, and Salt Spring Island transit.
• Other regional services — fire protection for electoral areas, regional planning, animal control and licensing, building inspection in electoral areas, arts and culture funding, and libraries and museums.

What the Capital Regional Hospital District does

The Capital Regional Hospital District works with Island Health and local groups to develop and improve healthcare buildings and services in the region, and provides funding for infrastructure such as hospitals, senior care homes and medical equipment. It was created in 1967 by the Hospital District Act to cover the local share of funding for healthcare infrastructure in the capital region.

The CRHD Board is the governing body fiscally responsible for the region’s health facilities and hospital equipment, while Island Health is responsible for delivering health care. The CRD and the CRHD share the same Board of Directors and Officers, and the CRD oversees and reviews spending across larger projects, smaller projects and healthcare equipment.

How to work out who to contact

The fastest method is to ask what the thing actually is, rather than where it is.

• A local street, sidewalk, local park, local bylaw, parking rule, building permit or property tax — your municipality, which for addresses inside the City of Victoria is the City of Victoria.
• Water supply, water quality, water restrictions, sewage treatment, a regional park or trail, the landfill, household hazardous waste, or a dock — the CRD.
• A bus route, a bus fare or a transit schedule — BC Transit, which operates the Victoria Regional Transit System.
• A ferry to the mainland or the Gulf Islands — BC Ferries, a provincial crown corporation.
• A hospital building, seniors care home or medical equipment — the Capital Regional Hospital District’s funding role, with Island Health delivering care.
• Health care, schools, driver licensing or provincial benefits — the province.

Confirm the boundary before you act

Saanich, Oak Bay, Esquimalt, Langford, View Royal and the other municipalities in the capital region are separate governments with their own councils and bylaws. A mailing address that says Victoria does not by itself mean the property is inside the City of Victoria, because postal addressing and municipal boundaries are different things.

This matters most for bylaws, parking, permits and property tax, where the responsible government is the municipality the property is actually in. The property tax notice names that municipality, and that is definitive.