Water main mess
Cause of main break traced to defective cap Page A3
NEWS: Saanich gets serious on food security /A10 ARTS: Diwali festival promises a spectacle /A12 COMMUNITY: Online tool maps cycling threats /A18
SAANICHNEWS Wednesday, October 8, 2014
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Made-in-Saanich ballot question to target apathy Daniel Palmer News staff
Daniel Palmer/News staff
Bald for a cause Thrifty Foods general manager Jim Dores is all smiles as Angela Andersen from Crescendo for Hair shaves his head at Broadmead Village last Friday. Dores’ effort helped Thrifty Foods employees raise $40,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society Cops for Cancer Tour de Rock team, who rolled through the village on the homestretch of their two-week tour across Vancouver Island. The effort raised at least $1.1 million for pediatric cancer research and Camp Goodtimes, a summer camp for children with cancer and their families. See Page A7 for more on the fundraising campaign.
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Saanich Mayor Frank Leonard isn’t bowing to pressure to ask residents about amalgamation, but he hopes another ballot question will satisfy some who feel the municipality is coming up short on public engagement. On Monday, Leonard asked council to approve a ballot question that asks residents if they endorse “a community based review” of Saanich’s governance structure “and our partnerships within the Region.” The motion would trigger a series of public town hall meetings and create a citizen-led committee to address governance reform in the municipality, Leonard said. “Our way of doing government is out of date, and our council meetings are run the same way as when I showed up 27 yeas ago,” he said. “And there’s an appetite in the community for a chance to have a say in how Saanich is run.” Amalgamation proponents have been pushing Saanich to approve a non-binding ballot question that asks residents if they support studying various models of integration for the region’s 13 municipalities. The study would be funded by the province, and municipal councils would then choose how they want to proceed with those options. So far, Victoria, Esquimalt, Sidney, Central Saanich, Langford and Oak Bay have agreed to ask residents about amalgamation at the ballot box. Mayoral candidate Richard Atwell said the ballot question will cost taxpayers money while simply asking residents if they wish to be engaged. “With an election looming, Leonard suddenly had an epiphany regarding his last 18 years of governance and has only now decided that residents need an opportunity to weigh-in,” Atwell said. Leonard acknowledged he’s “a little bit late” in putting forward the idea – “It’s something we probably should have done three or six years ago” – and admitted council doesn’t need a referendum ballot to review its policies and explore regional partnerships.
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PlEASE SEE: Ballot question opens door, Page A4
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