Saanich voter apathy galls area resident

Another civic election has come and gone, and Saanich managed to top the 20 per cent mark for turnout this time, yet is still at the bottom of the list in terms of voter turnout among the region’s 13 municipalities.

Some would suggest that is because we residents are satisfied with the way things are, and I am not so sure this is wrong.

On the Thursday before election day, I attended the last all-candidates meeting at Spectrum secondary.

Almost to a person, a common theme in the candidates’ pledges was to address emission controls and other environmental concerns in our municipality.

Among the several ways candidates would address this concern were to advocate for mixed communities, or villages within the greater village that is Saanich, where the residents do not have to take their vehicles just to get to work, or to shop or play.

Businesses, parks, recreation areas, single-family dwellings, condos and rental units would be intermixed and connected with bike paths, walking paths and sidewalks, so the automobiles could stay parked for the most part.

I learned the next day that a certain home-based Saanich business in Sunnymead, which opens to the public but once a year, has been told it can no longer operate out of the residence as it has done for a few years now. All because a complaint was received from a resident of the neighbourhood. I wonder if said resident even bothered to vote, or knew what the issues were.

So, coupled with the miserable turnout that is consistent in the municipality of Saanich, are the members of council being hypocritical by saying things that “play well,” but to a public that, though it wants to hear “politically correct” topics, will not tolerate changes to their mutual comfort level?

If it is either, or both, it is nothing less than pathetic.

Rick Weatherill

Saanich

Candidate proliferation baffles Victoria voter

As a first-time voter in the Victoria election I didn’t know how the process worked and I was unsure of who was running, so I thought well, if I am going to vote I had better do some research.

I set myself the task of looking up who was running and how the whole thing worked. As I am working a good portion of the time, I was unable to make it to an all-candidates meetings, so I turned to the Internet to see what issues were being addressed and by whom.

I am a relatively good researcher, but it took me half an hour to find a website that told me who was actually running, then I started to look into them.

I found a shockingly large amount didn’t have websites (that I could find ) and after two hours of reading I wasn’t even half way through the list and was utterly confused.

I found much of what was written about the issues was long winded. Even after spending several days researching you might still not truly understand what each individual stood for.

I was very baffled by the large amount of candidates, and with all this I didn’t even come across anything about the election for school trustees. Many people I talked to said it was too confusing and that they weren’t going to bother voting. Frankly, I don’t blame them. I am a very politically active person and even I was confused and overwhelmed.

Perhaps in future there could be one website with a short overview of each candidate’s platform, thus making it easier for people to see what the candidates stand for.

Pia Lironi

Victoria

Run-of-river projects receive oversight

Stephen Hunt’s letter about run-of-river hydro (letters, Nov. 14) repeats some common, but unfounded allegations.

These projects do indeed have lots of environmental oversight. They typically go through years of environmental studies. The process is so strict that most proposals don’t make it. For that reason there’s hardly a “glut” of projects, as Mr. Hunt claims. In addition, applications are also reviewed for any cumulative effects.

Mr. Hunt refers to John Calvert’s book Liquid Gold, which is the bible of the highly politicized, anti-run-of-river movement. But Calvert’s book was demolished in an academic review published on Oct. 1 by Dr. Mark Jaccard, who wrote: “Calvert’s book is best read as a political propaganda tract rather than as an independent, unbiased analysis. The author is uninterested in presenting a balanced weighing of the evidence. Indeed, facts are wrong and evidence is distorted in a manner that consistently supports a sinister conspiracy theory.”

Jaccard, by the way, is an internationally respected energy economist and Nobel Prize winner who has served both the current and previous provincial governments.

Mr. Hunt calls for careful consideration of this issue. I couldn’t agree more. But our group has found careful consideration leads to a much different conclusion than do loose allegations.

Gene Vickers

B.C. Citizens for

Green Energy

Port Moody

Italian homeless help model brilliant

The Globe and Mail recently ran a brilliant article Nov. 12 entitled “Crushing Addiction.” It outlines the highly successful therapeutic work community in San Patrignano, Italy, which has seen an amazing 20,000 people graduate from its program.

San Patrignano is a model for what Richard Leblanc, founder of the Creating Homefulness Society, is trying to create in Victoria’s Capital Regional District. This potential for triumph over our current homeless situation is astounding and thrilling.

Victoria is ready to embrace such a proven, innovative concept now. By improving the lives of our fellow citizens and helping them reintegrate and contribute back to society, we will assist in alleviating the burden on our social and emergency services, automatically aid local downtown businesses and create something amazing for a community to be proud of.

But more than all of these enrichments, we will be a part of something greater than ourselves. We can begin to turn the tides on a culture whose obsession with material wealth has things out of balance. Let us have the courage to view human relationships as wealth and offer our neighbors a hand up.

Lisa Grant

North Saanich

People distorting judge’s ruling

Re: Judge overstepped authority: city council (Victoria News, Oct. 29)

Congratulations to Sonya Chandler for being the only member of Victoria city council to vote against appealing the B.C. Supreme Court decision overturning the city’s anti-camping bylaw.

I am extremely disappointed with the rest of the council, not only for wasting money on an appeal, but also for distorting the intent of the decision by Madam Justice Carol Ross.

If people take the time to actually read the judgment, they will see that Madam Justice Ross is not calling for the creation of massive tent cities for the homeless. She, like all the rest of us, would like to see these people provided with proper accommodation.

In her ruling, she simply recognizes the existing reality and says homeless citizens with no other place to sleep should be able to use a bit of public space to do so, on a temporary basis, until sufficient accommodation is available for them.

Instead of padding lawyers’ incomes with its court appeal, city council should be devoting whatever financial resources it has available to giving direct assistance to the homeless.

I also wish Dean Fortin and the other councillors would stop whining about the additional burden that would be placed on the police budget if homeless people were allowed to sleep in the parks.

I can’t recall these councillors uttering any similar cries of distress earlier this year when almost $150,000 of public funds were handed out to former Victoria police chief Paul Battershill.

Gordon Pollard

Victoria

Remembrance piece strikes chord

I compliment Rev. Michael Caveney on such a moving article (Other Views, Vic News, Nov. 12).

He touched not only on past and present veterans, but also the ones who have seen firsthand what war does to individuals, family, and loved ones.

Thank you for speaking for them in acknowledging their hidden silent tears.   

Marilyn Bullock

Victoria