Vantreight Public Hearing Delivers a Clear Message


At last night's public hearing into the Vantreight Development Proposal, Central Saanich Council heard loud and clear that citizens expect them to stick to their election pledges and uphold the Official Community Plan. There was no mistaking the desire to support and save our local farms and that many creative hands will help get the job done, but developing our rural land to do it is not an option.

Speaker after speaker repeated the theme that all the Councillors had pledged to uphold the Official Community Plan when directly asked at two all candidates' meetings during the last municipal election. There is no wiggle room here. Our plan was reviewed just recently by the citizens in workshops, town halls and through surveys. It has defined urban containment areas and states unequivocally that our rural land may not be considered as merely a holding tank pending future development.
The erosion of citizens' decisions by councillors who promised to uphold those decisions is not acceptable.

Vantreight Development Update

Please have a look a the newly updated information on the Vantreight Development proposal at the link below and take action.

http://saveourruralland.blogspot.com/

It is very important that we make ourselves heard on this issue.

Those Who Show Up Win

It's always amazing to see who shows up for the really hard votes.

Tonight saw the Vantreight proposal come to Central Saanich Council. The whole world of Central Saanich was watching to see whether our Councillors would stick to the votes they cast last week at the Committee meeting. (Remember that was a UNANIMOUS vote of all of Council except the Mayor who recused himself for a perceived conflict of interest).

Tonight the long awaited motion came to the table and two Councillors were not there for the vote.

Councillors Mason and Thompson were no shows tonight. So the honours for doing the right thing for the community go to Councillors Bryson, Garrison, Graham and King. Good work folks and thanks for showing up for Central Saanich!

Accountable Voting

In the recent vote on the Vantreight Proposal a great deal of confusion was caused by the fact that our elected officials don't have to publicly state how they are voting. Many people thought Councillor Mason voted against the motion, thus supporting the Vantreight Proposal when in fact she voted with the rest of the Council making the result unanimous.

The trouble lies in the voting procedure. If you are voting for a motion you do not have to raise your hand or signify your intentions in any way. By doing nothing you are assumed to have voted for the motion.

To vote against the motion you need to raise your hand, but your hand can easily be missed.

To abstain you need to make a statement to that effect.

In any case the vote itself is not recorded only the result (passed/failed/referred etc). Unless a Councillor specifically asks for their vote to be recorded no notation is made.

As a result our Councillors can easily hide contentious votes and we the citizens are deprived of a very basic democratic right.

Our MPs and MLAs votes are available to all, but our Councillors are not held accountable. It's time for a change. Democracy only works if the process is transparent. Councillors should have to raise their hands for each stage of a vote (yea, nay or abstain) and raise them high enough for everyone to see.

Vantreight Proposal Vote

Monday, January 21, 2008


Municipal Council Meeting - Vantreight Proposal


The final vote on this incarnation of the Vantreight Proposal takes place tonight. Councillors were UNANIMOUS at last week's committee meeting and there is no way their votes should change tonight. They voted that the Official Community Plan and Regional Growth Strategy should stand.

Nothing in the ensuing week should change this principled position.