Running to be Salt Spring’s Next CRD Director

While we’ve made some progress, local government on Salt Spring Island still doesn’t serve our community as well as it should. I think we can fix that, so I’ll be running for Electoral Area Director in October.

If I’m elected, I’ll work with others to make our local government better coordinated. I’ll also work to make it easier for all community members to participate, while reducing the number of decision-making bodies.

I’ve been a Salt Spring resident, organic farmer and small business owner since 2011. I’ve lived on B.C.’s south coast almost my entire life. My experience here includes seven years on our PARC commission plus service on the boards of three local non-profits. I was elected to Salt Spring’s first Local Community Commission in 2023. All this experience has increased my knowledge both of our community and of how local government actually works.

As a farmer, I know the importance of hard work and teamwork. As an LCC commissioner, I do my homework and show up prepared, willing to ask hard questions, challenge the status quo and push for positive change.

My values are simple. I believe in community and that we share responsibility for its wellbeing. I think we should be open and straightforward, even when it’s inconvenient. I believe maximizing value for tax dollars is local government’s top priority. I know that climate change is real and that we must work toward reconciliation with indigenous peoples.

If elected, I’ll focus on housing, completing major public projects like the Harbourwalk, fixing the LCC budget, bringing all local CRD services under the LCC and starting a discussion with our two large improvement districts on how we can work together better.

We need a ‘made on Salt-Spring’ housing office to push for more housing that’s both affordable and sensitive to our natural environment. Such an office could improve coordination and provide one-stop access to information while working with non-profits and helping coordinate local government decision-making on services like water, sewer and fire protection, land use regulation, transit, active transportation and more. I’ll work hard to get agencies within the CRD as well as others such as the Islands Trust and our Fire Protection and North Salt Spring Waterworks Districts fully committed to working with this housing office.

We also need a coordinated approach to major local projects like the Harbourwalk, community amenities like drinking water infrastructure, Rainbow Pool, Portlock Park, Centennial Park boardwalk, Mahon Hall, the SIMS recreation and activity centre and more.  This coordination should include coordinated decisions on priorities and funding.

We need to fix the LCC budget to better take care of our existing public amenities. For example, the LCC needs to build financial reserves to repair and upgrade Rainbow Pool, SIMS and the failing Centennial Park and Grace Point boardwalks. If we don’t do this, we’ll face an even bigger bill in the future, or we’ll lose these amenities entirely.

We also need to break down Salt Spring’s local government siloes. Creating the LCC was a first step, but we must do more, starting with making the remaining CRD local services more accountable by bringing them under the LCC. We also need to move away from a single person making decisions on Community Works (gas tax) funds, well over $600,000 per year.

To reduce fragmentation, increase democratic participation of all community members – including renters – and improve access to federal and provincial funding, let’s talk with Salt Spring’s two large improvement districts on how we can work together for the benefit of our community.

We can’t do all of this in a day, but I know we can make progress over the next four years. I have the experience, knowledge, energy and values to achieve this. That’s why I will be running as Electoral Area Director.