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Mayor urges a tax revolt against his own council
Not happy with tax hike KRISTEN DOUGLAS CAMPBELL RIVER MIRROR
The mayor is calling on residents to stage a tax revolt in response to a 13.6 per cent residential tax hike. “The public needs to arise and yell and scream. Have a tax revolt and not accept it,” said Mayor Walter Jakeway on Wednesday afternoon, one day after council adopted the new tax rate. “Taxpayers are being screwed – it’s true. They (council) didn’t need to raise the taxes that much.” Jakeway ran his election campaign on a zero per cent tax increase for a community that has struggled economically since the shutdown of the Catalyst mill,
the city’s largest employer. He said if it was up to him alone, there’s “no doubt” he could have created a budget with no tax increase. Jakeway said he would have “cut the number of people” at city hall. He said there are a number of city staff positions sitting empty but are being funded in the budget, which has him scratching his head. Jakeway also disagrees with the amount of projects listed in the capital plan. Jakeway said the $136 average increase will do nothing to help Campbell River’s image. “When business owners – potential new residents – find out there’s been a 13.6 per cent Continued on A3
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Vancouver Island Health Authority president and CEO Howard Waldner (left) and Chief David Bob, co-chair of the Aboriginal Health Council, sign the VIHA Aboriginal Health PLan at a ceremony on Tuesday.
Health Authority signs off on aboriginal health plan extension After suffering a stroke a year ago, Chief David Bob has seen the health care system from all sides now. “So, I got to see both ends,” Bob said Tuesday at a ceremony to sign a new Aboriginal Health Plan for the Vancouver Island
Health Authority. Bob is the co-chair of the Aboriginal Health Council and was involved in the development of the plan advocating for the needs of aboriginal people in the Island’s health care system. Continued on A12
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