148 replies to this topic

[CarlonCouncil]

My question to you is who paid for all this? The landowner? The municipality? Do you know the details of this project?

@Sparky - I am sorry but I do not know the details of the project you have mentioned. However, I did touch base with the head of engineering at CS to pose your question to him, and here is the response I received today:

The soil at this location was deposited by the landowner under the regulation of the Agricultural Land Commission. At present the soil deposit bylaw exempts land within the Agricultural Land Reserve from regulation at the municipal level. This situation has been addressed in the amended bylaw which has received three readings.

Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

[quote name='Schnook']
The primary topic of the evening was MUNICIPAL FINANCE, discussed at length after the first coffee break. Many attendees tabled similar questions, so the moderator boiled it down to whether you favor Pay-As-You-Go financial management versus Debt as a means for achieving municipal goals in the context of recent disappointments. Some candidates merely equivocated. Susan Mason won the Glib Award for her soliloquy about how "Nobody pays cash for a house," but reminded voters that she was against the Panorama swimming pool expansion. Stroud was similarly against the $500K tennis court.

I disagree with the thesis that candidates don't have to be CS taxpayers. If you're going to be a steward of local money, you should contribute to the pot.

You know I lean to the right, and you know my expectations for the economy, so I'm obliged to vote for the candidates who struck me as most conservative.
quote]

@Schnook - Thanks for coming out to attend, will you be at the re-match on Thu night at the Fairgrounds? Should be interesting to see what the slant of questions looks like from that crowd in comparison.

So tell me about your thoughts on the "pay as you go" philosophy from a conservative point of view? I thought the whole philosophy took a beating Friday night as its biggest supporters had a hard time justifying it because they could not demonstrate how that strategy has been successful under past councils. I think we as residents are still feeling the effects of this philosophy as all of the costs have skyrocketed for our much needed infrastructure for things such as East Saanich Rd, Senanus and the Firehall.

Based on what we have seen under past councils prior to 2008, "pay as you go" might have been better termed the "no-go" model as that was the end result for the residents in terms of projects completed or infrastructure updated.

I still stand behind my response to the question that I believe incurring debt is reasonable if it suits the needs of the community.

Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

Can anybody please provide some feedback as to how I add pics as I cannot seem to find any sort of attachment option...thanks.

Carl

[Holden West]

Read this handy guide:

http://vibrantvictor...read.php?t=3634

I use Photobucket mostly.

[CarlonCouncil]

I will be at Spelts Coffee Shop in Saanichton tomorrow night to meet with residents and discuss the issues being faced by CS. I will be there from 7-9pm, coffee will be out, come on by for a chat as I look forward to meeting you all tommorrow night.

@Holden West - Thanks for the photo advice!

Carl

[Schnook]

I refer to "Pay As You Go" as the epitome of fiscal responsibility, recognizing the horrible situation faced by irresponsible municipalities across the United States, and anticipating similar pressure on our side of the border due to various fundamentals: inadequate savings, consumption dropoff, drop in population, homes losing value, consequent drop in municipal revenue, risk to municipal solvency. Debt crisis makes this time to tighten the pursestrings: make it a priority to postpone projects and get back in the black. To my recollection, only one candidate addressed this directly: Liam Cooper. I suspect a lot of people simply aren't aware of how bad things are about to get. Foreshadowing:

California and Bust (Vanity Fair, Nov 2011)

Governor Chris Christie on NBC's Meet the Press (YouTube, 26-Jun)

Anecdotally, I suspect the real reason the provincial government is taking so long to repeal the HST is because they are making a very sweet haul and hope to announce a "surplus" immediately prior to the upcoming election. Any subsequent government will be set up as bagholder without the added cash grab.

Your comment about Senanus is interesting, as I was under the apparently mistaken impression that the matter was closed. The contrary outcome and subsequent expansion does not seem to have gotten much coverage. I note the involvement of councillor Ron Kubek, who is also a real estate developer. Interesting.

[CarlonCouncil]

@Schnook - Thanks for the additional information to read up on, I am always looking for additional materials to help me with my research.

As for my comment regarding Senanus, E. Saanich Rd and the Firehall, was not to speak to the current state of the project but more so to acknowledge the risk we run of facing increased costs on projects such as this the longer we wait.

I think it is great that the waterline has gone in and that we now have service in that quadrant of the district.

I hope you are able to come out Thu, and if so, please come and say hello as I would like to meet you. Thanks for your comments throughout the thread!!

Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

Looking forward to the 2nd Central Saanich All Candidates Forum Thursday night at the Saanich Fairgrounds 7-915. See you there!!

Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

Advance Voting Day #1 is only days away!! For the official CS details in terms of who is running and where/how to vote:

http://www.centralsa...n by Voting.pdf

To learn more about the candidates in CS or any other district/municipality/city, check out the Civic BC site:

http://www.elections...nfo.bc.ca/2011/

Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

As I did with the last forum, I would like to share the questions asked along with my approximate responses to the best of my recollection:

1. What do you consider to be the most important issue in CS and what will you bring to Council to resolve this?
One of the things I have observed through my research with residents and the business community appears to be a lack of cohesion between the needs of the residents and the business community as opposed to what the municipality was willing to provide. I would like to see more partnerships between the residents, the business community and the district to ensure that the needs of all stakeholders are being met. A specific example I provided was the need for a task force to look at Revitalizing the Keating Business Park and this group would be a partnership between the business owners, residents and the district and that this would require a Champion from Council to help lead the project. By engaging the stakeholders/end users in the final product there is an ability to ensure the end product is actually in alignment with their needs.
2. Would you be willing to fund studies looking at the sharing of such services as police and fire between the municipalities of CS, Saanich and North Saanich?
I have no intent of CS becoming a suburb of Saanich as I feel it is important that we retainn our own identity and that with the current police and fire services we have, there is no need to seek these services from other sources. In terms of the discussion around communal Fire Training Centres where CS firefighters might use the facilities in North Saanich, Saanich or Nanaimo as opposed to building a facility in CS, I was opposed because I feel that our volunteer fire department already spend a great deal of their time outside of their own home and work lives training to assist and protect us residents that the least we could do is provide them with adequate training facilities close to home to minmize the time they spend away from their families.
3. How do you feel about more business opportunities in Saanichton and more growth? How would you do it?
We have an Official Community Plan for the district, well I feel we also need an Economic Development Plan that will lay out strategic objectives for each of the core business areas of Keating, Saanichton and Brentwood and that this plan would be compiled in consultation with residents, business owners, the Chamber of Commerce and First Nations to ensure we were working toward similar objectives as a unified group meeting everybody's needs.
4. In April, Council voted not to require owner to be present on rental properties, do you support this decision?
I asked the audience how many of them had at some point in their lives been a renter, most of the people in the audience put their hands up. I see rental suites as an opportunity to grow attainable housing within CS and I don't think it's fair to blame all renters for the behaviours of a handful of "bad tennants" as there are some renters who take better care of their properties than owners do.

As mentioned above, this is my best recollection of my responses to the questions we were given and these may not be word for word my responses, but they do summarize my current feelings on these issues.

As usual, I encourage your comments or questions.

Carl

2.

[CarlonCouncil]

Tonight will be your final opportunity to catch all of the CS candidates going head to head in our third and final forum!! It is on the Tsawout Reserve at 7725 Tetayut Rd at 7pm.

Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

In order for a revitalization of Keating to occur, I believe two things need to happen:

• There needs to be a Champion on the CS Council that is passionate about seeing business in Keating, Brentwood and Saanichton succeed.
• CS needs an Economic Development Plan developed in consultation with the key stakeholder groups: business owners, residents, the Chamber of Commerce to lay out a strategic plan of how exactly the municipality can become better at working with the business community as opposed to against them.

If elected to Council, I want to bring my passion for the community, teambuilding skills and strong work ethic to the table to ensure we achieve a revitalization of Keating while ensuring that the commercial needs of both Brentwood and Saanichton are met as well.

I am not trying to say I am an expert in this area, but what I do believe in is the engagement of a target group, such as the Keating business community, in the solution as they know their business better than anybody else. I also believe in partnerships with groups such as the Chamber because they can bring significant knowledge and business resources to the table. In a meeting with the Chamber's ED, Doug Taylor, he called business the "backbone of the community", and that is a philosophy I support 100%.

[CarlonCouncil]

This evening was the third and final All Candidates Forum for CS propospective Councilors. The Mayoralty candidates get one more debate opportunity at the Mayoralty Luncheon being hosted by the Saanich Peninsula Chamber on Thursday afternoon at the Mary Winspear Centre.

As for this evening, it was a smaller group, but still in my estimation 50+ people in attendance on the Tsawout grounds. A huge thank-you to Gwen and Harvie for their hospitality this evening.

Here is my account of the questions along with my answers from whjat I can recall:

1. If not elected to Council, what are your plans?
As there is still plenty to do in terms of expanding recreation on the peninsula, I would like to continue with my position as Chair of the Peninsula Rec Commission. I would also continue my work on the CS Advisory Planning Commission to continue providing a citizen perspective on proposals before they are presented to Council. As there will likely still be kids looking for soccer coaching I would continue with my coaching. Finally, I would still stay involved with the Victoria Highland Games Assoc. as their Athletic Director and I will continue wearing my kilt and tossing cabers until I can no longer lift a caber!!
2. If the Tsawout chose to continue becoming more financially self-sufficient, would you support their goal to become more financially independent? If so, how would you support the issue with highway access?
If elected, I would like to develop an Economic Development Plan that would work in partnership with the business communities of Keating, Brentwood and Saanichton, the residents and First Nations to identify common goals and objectives to ensure we are moving forward in partnership. I believe this partnership could seek out potential funding towards a Hwy 17 access solution that might make things easier with the Ministry of Transportation if we come bringing $ to the table.
3. For those elected to Council, how would you educate yourself on the Tsawout, Tsartlip and their communities and relationships to CS?
I am in the process of setting up meetings with the Chiefs of both FN communities prior to the election to learn more about what is currently working well in partnership with CS and what is not working. I believe that Tri-Council meetings should be happening more frequently between the Tsawout, Tsartlip and CS Council more regularly than the traditional tri-council meetings of CS, Sidney and NS, because I believe the meetings with our FN community members are more critical to the success of CS.
4. With Butler owning so much of Keating and not appearing to be interested in renting, how can we beuild economic development in Keating with roadblocks such as this?
I believe there is an ability to attract businesses to Keating and making ourselves a location of choice for the business community by removing the barriers and giving businesses a reason to invest in CS. We are better positioned than Langford for business development because we are right beside the highway with quick access to both the ferries and airport for shipping purposes and also we don't have to deal with the traffic as they do in Langford. In talking with Doug from the Saanich Peninsula Chamber he described business as the "Backbone of the community" and I believe we have the opportunity to strengthen that back bone by working "with" the businesses, not "against" them!!

Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

Can you believe that the Advance Voting for CS begins in less than 8 hours!! How can I go to sleep now when I am waaaay to amped up about this!!!! So excited to hit the polls later today to cast my ballot!! Maybe I'll see you there, although if you do, I will be in voter mode as there is no campaigning allowed at the Voting Station at City Hall!

Don't forget to get yourself out to vote and as I mentioned at the Fairground's ACF, don't forget to talk just 5 of your friends into voting as well!!!

Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

New site with candidate details on all CS candidates along with video footage from the ACF #2 sponsored by the Saanic Peninsula Chamber of Commerce and the Peninsula News Review:

http://www.centralsaanich2011.ca/

Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

Here is the current list of Shaw candidate profiles being aired:

http://www.shaw.ca/u... Free Times.pdf

Central Saanich Sat Nov 12 9:30pm
Tu Nov 15 1:43 pm

Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

My YouTube Channel is up with a number of videos on the campaign:

http://www.youtube.com/carlforcouncil

Thanks for your interest in my campaign!

Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

New site with candidate details on all CS candidates along with video footage from the ACF #2 sponsored by the Saanic Peninsula Chamber of Commerce and the Peninsula News Review:

http://www.centralsaanich2011.ca/

Carl

The site above has been updated to include footage from all candidates to all questions. Please let me know if you have any comments/questions for me regarding my responses provided.

Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

Here is the current list of Shaw candidate profiles being aired:

http://www.shaw.ca/u... Free Times.pdf

Central Saanich Sat Nov 12 9:30pm
Tu Nov 15 1:43 pm

If you missed the first viewing, please see the encore presentation tomorrow at 1:43pm.

To give some context for our performances, we were each given 2 takes at these 2 min speeches. Kudos to everybody for how you did under the pressure.

My video footage listed below in my signature for my YouTube channel will give you a chance to meet me in more comfortable surroundings...Central Saanich! I guess there is something to be said about "homefield advantage"!!

Carl

[Sparky]

You do know where the high road is Carl.