Sechelt’s municipal scene over the past two decades is not unlike a teeter-totter in Hackett Park; it rides up and down monopolized by vocal minority groups. The Goldilocks councils have either been too hot or too cold for the actual ballot-casting voters to tolerate. Desperately lacking is the voice of reason and it is imperative in 2018 that this moderating influence come from the approximate 43 per cent (3,239) of eligible voters who failed to cast their ballots in prior elections.
The importance of municipal elections has somehow become undervalued by voters, and understandably some have become disassociated or disenchanted enough not to bother voting. A municipal ballot cast far outweighs the importance of those cast in federal or provincial elections. What is happening on your municipal council can be influenced by your voice during that meeting’s question period.
This serious lack of regard by a significant portion of Sechelt voters is eventually going to be its downfall as taxes will continue to rise unabated. When you have nothing growing the economy of your community that contributes to offsetting residential property taxes, then this reliance will escalate to an untenable level.
As a senior on a pension, I cannot stress enough the importance of paying attention to the reality of ever increasing property taxes. Of course, seniors always have the option of deferring their property taxes and leaving the reduced property value to their beneficiaries: That does not constitute an excuse for not voting. Our right to vote is the result of the sacrifices made by men and women, and not exercising our ballot diminishes our democracy.
On the solution side of improving our local economy, that old expression “Money doesn’t grow on trees” doesn’t need to apply for the District of Sechelt. We still have a Community Forest that requires harvesting to keep it healthy for future generations. Don’t be misled by those who want to curtail logging of our well managed renewal forest resource.
Developments that could create employment keep presenting themselves with their attending thriving support economies, and they do not need to be stalled in protracted bureaucratic bungling and hoop jumping. Trellis, SSC Properties and other large projects are either leaving or being threatened by unnecessary delays.
We have an untapped Trail Bay harbour front, not to mention Davis Bay, that could, as in other coastal communities like Gibsons, Powell River and Campbell River, be bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars in marine-associated revenue for the District of Sechelt. Why is it that we have missed the boat on developing these natural amenities? The present and past councils have viewed the potential of Trail Bay with ambivalence for too many years.
We should be investigating smaller communities in the province like Maple Ridge, Campbell River and Squamish, to name just three, that have financially profited by gaming casinos. This has become a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow as a source of revenue for those communities.
In short, we have many unexplored means of boosting our economy, of financing our ever-rising infrastructure costs and of stabilizing our escalating property taxes.
We must stop the pendulum swings created by active vocal minorities in our community. Demand answers of candidates who make individual promises about what they cannot possibly achieve without the cooperation of their fellow council members. With a dynamic, progressive leader at the helm, together with a group of councillors who are basically on the same page, we could get Sechelt out of the doldrums in which it currently drifts around in rudderless disregard.
Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018 could be the most important day for Sechelt’s future, and now is the time to start planning for it.
(Doug Hockley served as a Sechelt councillor from 2011-14.)
