Enhancing Important Services

Even after years of involvement with local government as a volunteer commissioner, I wasn’t aware of all the services the Capital Regional District delivers on Salt Spring. There are many and they’re organized and delivered in different ways. These include region-wide, sub-regional (delivered to some CRD jurisdictions, but not all) and local (just Salt Spring) services, as well as area-specific services targeted at residents of particular areas of the island.

Salt Spring’s CRD Director is responsible for all of these services, some as a member of the Local Community Commission (LCC).

I want to focus here on a few of our island-wide local services within the purview of the LCC that face particular challenges and/or opportunities.  

Increase transit service capacity on the highest-demand routes

For a community our size, Salt Spring has a very good transit system. The LCC’s budget, plus the fares collected, cover about half the cost of this service, with the BC Government, through BC Transit covering the other half. This year, local taxpayers are contributing about half a million dollars to transit.

While we have a good transit system, the frequency of service is quite limited. And during the busy summer season, the most popular route – from Fulford Harbour to Ganges – is often over-crowded, with buses often leaving would-be passengers at the roadside due to being full.

To address this, the LCC has worked toward increasing bus service, specifically on the busiest Fulford Harbour-Ganges route. For now, it’s a waiting game, as the Province is not currently considering transit expansion anywhere in B.C. And when the Province ends its freeze on service expansion, it will be expensive. The cost of our transit system to local taxpayers has already increased by 118 per cent over the past four years. Service improvements will cost even more on top of that.

This is an example of an issue that is both a challenge and an opportunity. Transit has big environmental benefits, can influence positive long-term change to settlement patterns and is hugely valuable to less wealthy community members. Yet it’s expensive.

I support transit service improvements because of the many benefits I have mentioned. But we will need to manage our finances carefully to fit the cost within a tight budget.

Take a more strategic approach to economic sustainability

Economic sustainability is another area with both opportunities and challenges. Currently, our Economic Sustainability Service funds worthwhile activities relating to housing, our visitor economy and food security. But it does not do a lot to plan for the future or encourage a strategic approach to our local economy.

For example, when World Cup soccer came to two big city’s that are relatively nearby, we did not discuss as a community how best to accommodate and take advantage of the economic opportunity this provided. Likewise, we did not take a strategic approach to managing the disruptions the Ganges Hill paving project brought to our small businesses.

If our Economic Sustainability Service took a more strategic approach, might we have been better positioned to take advantage of the World Cup opportunity? Would we have been able to reduce the negative impact of the road project, which snarled traffic for more than a year? This is a conversation I hope we can have as we look to the future economic sustainability of Salt Spring.

Support more music and other community events in our parks and public spaces

I was one of many Salt Springers who was deeply disappointed when the annual Summer Outdoor Concert Series was cancelled in 2026. My disappointment was not just because it meant less excellent music in Ganges. It was also because the summer concerts enlivened Ganges and Centennial Park, bringing hundreds of people to the park – residents and visitors alike – every week during the summer.

A healthy community has lots of activities like summer concerts in the park and we need more of this on Salt Spring. During the warm and dry months, we should have music and plays, films and other gatherings at least two or three days a week in Centennial Park, in addition to the Saturday Market in the Park. Positive, welcoming activities like these build community and strengthen our local economy.

The loss of the concert series in 2026 should be a wakeup call to our community. Local government can and should play a role in encouraging this kind of vibrant activity in Ganges. It should do this by bringing people together to build organizational partnerships, providing venues and – where necessary – assisting with funding.

Work with the arts community to make sure our support for the arts is meeting our community’s needs today and in the future

Currently, the LCC manages Salt Spring’s Arts Service, which helps fund the operations of ArtSpring and the Arts Council, which operates Mahon Hall. The service plays an important and positive role in our community, but I have heard from members of the arts community who believe we can be doing more.

Some groups are concerned about affordable access to ArtSpring and Mahon Hall. Others wonder why our support for the arts is focused on just two organizations and facilities. Meanwhile, Mahon Hall – which is owned by Gulf Islands School District, who lease it to the Arts Council – is aging and in need of renewal. While much younger than Mahon Hall, ArtSpring is also aging.

The LCC identified support for the arts as an issue in its 2024 strategic plan, but has not yet acted to engage with the arts community. I think it’s time to do that so we can create a plan for the arts that meets our community’s needs today and in the future.

These are just four examples of areas where our local government can play a role in setting a positive course for a healthy and resilient community. If I am elected CRD Director in October, I will work to address them and many more.