Fairness and Accountability

Central Saanich has once again affirmed that a Councillor can ask for a statement or a set of questions to be recorded as an official part of the minutes.

Gary Nason, Chief Administrative Officer of Central Saanich, made it clear that there is nothing in any act that prevents a Councillor from adding information 'for the record' and that it has been Central Saanich tradition to allow this practice.

Of late, it has been used to clarify important information which could otherwise be misconstrued, misrepresented or mistaken. It's unfortunate that the minutes are not reflective of the debates at Council and it is long overdue for their to be a council "Hansard" with fully recorded votes and statements so that the public can have a record of the decision making process.

I'm glad to see that Central Saanich will continue to allow an open record at least when a councillor specifically asks for one.

Councillor Thompson's pretence that allowing others to record their positions is 'time-consuming' or 'politicking' hides the fact that Councillor Thompson wishes to muzzle the active voice at Council. His position in this instance is no different than his continued attempts to silence the citizens who wish to participate in our democracy.

Our Council needs to be more open, accountable and inviting to all.

Bob Thompson's Bad Memory

Councillor Thompson says he can't remember telling people to get their OCP changes in in the form of motions even though he stated very clearly in the Fireman's Training Hall a few weeks back that 'the more specific the motion the more likely it was to be dealt with." Bob's bad memory is starting to impede the citizens' business as he adds layer after layer of confusion to the process of receiving public input for Council and the OCP. Make sure you take a look at the earlier motions Councillor Thompson promoted last fall to shut down public input.

Game's over Bob - we're on to you! More to follow shortly...

DRAFT OCP is Online - May 7th Open House

The draft of the new Official Community Plan is online at http://www.centralsaanich.ca/ and click on OCP Update under District Projects down the right hand side. This document is quite long and you will not be able to get the gist of it at the Open House if you haven't taken time to read it before hand.

If you have changes you think should be made send a very specific motion to "Mayor and Council" at municipalhall@csaanich.ca

For example here is one I sent:

Re: Policy 4 page 24 of the draft OCP

Moved that the following line be added at the end of Policy 4: Affordable housing shall include low income subsidised housing administered by the District of Central Saanich or by BC Housing, Capital Region Housing or any of the other non-profit housing societies in the region.

The sooner you send in your ideas the better. Remember community is a verb!

Don't Privatize BC Rivers - Keep BC Hydro Public

This is the most important and urgent video I have seen. Please pass it on to your friends and neighbours, have house parties, whatever it takes. Our public power is at stake and we must stop the corporate goldrush to privatize our rivers.

http://ashlu.info/video/bcrivers.html