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City of Victoria | 2018-2022 | Mayor and council general discussion


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#6441 Tom Braybrook

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Posted 17 September 2020 - 09:39 PM

So.. what’s with all the red bold text, dare I ask.

Red is the colour of my true love's Stalin's hair



#6442 On the Level

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Posted 17 September 2020 - 10:40 PM

The NPD will never take Lisa or Ben onboard.  Those two are insulated from other jurisdictions like the Westshore so they can be as ideological as they would like.  There is no repercussion for this Council.

 

Provincial or Federal is a different matter.  Having NDP, Green or Liberal candidates pulling down Christmas lights, ripping up statues, protesting the Snow Birds?  Their actions would get them kicked out of any party and I think they know it.


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#6443 VIResident

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Posted 23 September 2020 - 03:49 PM

Just in:

 

Capital Region Municipal Amalgamation Society
 

Amalgamation Yes

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: (September 23, 2020)

Amalgamation Yes calls for an immediate response to intractable and insular municipal relationships and the need to streamline emergency response

 

Once again senior and elected officials have demonstrated intransigence to address the need for integrated regional approach for emergency services.

Four urban core municipalities have failed to agree on the conditions for renewal of mutual aid agreements that provide joint response to fires and emergencies.

Commentary from two mayors suggest it is others who are to blame. Esquimalt Mayor Desjardins failed to mention Esquimalt receives over $1O million of Government of Canada Payment In Lieu of Taxes funds for CFB Esquimalt (for which it provides no services) and is quite able to fund shared services. And in the spirit of local inter-municipal unco-operation, Esquimalt contracted fire dispatch with Surrey.

At same time Victoria reneged on its announced commitment in 2018 to join with Saanich fire dispatch and instead signed up with Langford.

Victoria has determined the renewal agreement for mutual exchange of services should now include provision for cost recovery.

Only Victoria and Saanich fire/rescue servics are funded with professional firefighters and specialized equipment necessary for large or multiple emergencies. Most of the other fire departments in the Capital Region District (CRD) have limited resources, and use volunteer firefighters for core services and generally provide only first response to incidents needing additional support. Requiring payment for extra services is a necessary evolution of these co-operative arrangements.

The issue relates to the excessively complex emergency service arrangements across the region. There are 5 police departments and 19 fire departments, each with their own chief and edifice buildings. At the front end, to provide emergency dispatch there is one regional 9-1-1 and police emergency dispatch, but four separate fire dispatch centres. This includes 5 local municipal councils that contract with Surrey for that service. Then there is Capital Region Emergency Service Telecommunications (CREST) network, and a separate ambulance service.

Adding to the cost burden, there have been several major and expensive public works projects to build new fire halls, each bigger and better than the neighbouring municipality. Often the location of these new buildings bears no relationship to actual regional growth patterns.

Each of these agencies, facilities and parking lots of expensive fire trucks are staffed with officials who jealously guard their turf, with Councils who support this triumph of localism over regionalism. Former Esquimalt Mayor Darwin Robinson lamented the inability of Esquimalt and View Royal to share the purchase of a ladder truck because agreement could not be reached on which municipality would take physical custody of the truck.

It is time to recognize that emergencies do NOT respect or recognize municipal boundaries.

First, we call for action by the Provincial Fire Commissioner to provide leadership to order the parties to find common ground and extend this framework to regional context.

Second, the CRD Board must rescind their previous decision to defer review of the addition of fire dispatch services to the new regional 9-1-1 and police dispatch centre. And that over time all fire departments in the region be added to the roster.

And finally, the Province and the CRD Board must recognize that emergencies are not local events, but require a multi-agency response by fire, rescue, police, ambulance, traffic, and that current arrangements to fund and deliver emergency services requires significant reform.

It is no longer appropriate to organize emergency response in such a segmented manner. And central to that is recognition of the need for regional policing.

The current public municipal dispute is further evidence of the need to acknowledge the advantages of possible merger of Saanich and Victoria to represent the interests of at least half the residents of Greater Victoria. These residents pay the bill anyway.  It confirms the need for the Province to co-fund and initiate the  Victoria – Saanich Citizens Assembly process approved by voters in 2018. That independent review of the current state of municipal governance would include a review of emergency services and their budgets.

Amalgamation Yes advocates for a comprehensive governance study in Greater Victoria to fulfill the mandate provided by the electorate in 2014, and promised by the NDP government in 2017.

 

Media contact:

James (Jim) Anderson, Chair



#6444 Mike K.

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Posted 23 September 2020 - 04:34 PM

Relations are imploding over the social and criminal problem stemming from a rogue council’s policies.

Saanich’s mayor called for the amalgamation issue to be out on the shelf, as Oak Bay’s mayor was caught unaware Victoria was closing off a major thoroughfare to and from his muni, while Desjardins in Esquimalt has distanced herself from Victoria issues following the Elsner affair.

In fact, I could see Esquimalt, Oak Bay and Saanich joining each other before any of them join Victoria in any capacity.
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#6445 Rob Randall

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Posted 23 September 2020 - 09:07 PM

while Desjardins in Esquimalt has distanced herself from Victoria issues following the Elsner affair.

 

In case you're not aware, currently Desjardins is the lead co-chair and Helps is the deputy co-chair.



#6446 Mike K.

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Posted 24 September 2020 - 05:21 AM

And what was the last thing she publicly said about VicPD’s crime problem in the City of Victoria?
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#6447 Daveyboy

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Posted 24 September 2020 - 06:33 AM

And what was the last thing she publicly said about VicPD’s crime problem in the City of Victoria?

I don't know but I would like to know!



#6448 Mike K.

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Posted 24 September 2020 - 07:32 AM

I wouldn’t be surprised if Victoria Police is let go moving foreword and West Shore RCMP is brought in as they already respond to the Songhees nation in Esquimalt, and View Royal. Having the Esquimalt station would be helpful to them, I’m sure.

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#6449 Tom Braybrook

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Posted 24 September 2020 - 09:03 AM

I don't know but I would like to know!

she said this in August...

 

“This is really one of those things that challenges our department – the fact that you have two very different communities with two very different sets of needs and two very different sets of directions,” she said. “We don’t have the bars, we don’t have the tourism, we’re not the core community … we don’t have the homelessness problem. We don’t have the things that heighten the challenges for downtown Victoria and certainly not to the same extent.”


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#6450 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 24 September 2020 - 10:01 AM

I wouldn’t be surprised if Victoria Police is let go moving foreword and West Shore RCMP is brought in as they already respond to the Songhees nation in Esquimalt, and View Royal. Having the Esquimalt station would be helpful to them, I’m sure.

 

they explored that once and the province said NO.



#6451 spanky123

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Posted 25 September 2020 - 01:57 PM

What no Friday presser from Helps? I wonder why?! There is a pattern here.


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#6452 spanky123

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Posted 25 September 2020 - 03:34 PM

COTW meeting agenda has been released for next week.

 

ALISON JAMES DID SOMETHING for the $200K or so she has been paid since starting as the Mayor's COS. Looks like she worked with a consulting firm to come up with recommendations for a child care action plan, you know, just like the Feds and Province JUST DID.  https://pub-victoria...ocumentId=58879

 

There is also an agenda item for the report on the bi-election but no report attached. I am assuming that the report will be attached an hour or so before the meeting to give the public and councilors time to fully review the materials before being asked to comment/vote on them. Guessing Alto and CTJ's motion to prevent the Mayor from doing that didn't go anywhere.


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#6453 David Bratzer

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Posted 25 September 2020 - 04:31 PM

And what was the last thing she publicly said about VicPD’s crime problem in the City of Victoria?

 

Barb  Desjardins Twitter - Crime.jpg


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#6454 spanky123

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Posted 25 September 2020 - 06:22 PM

^ And how much does she make a year for her role on the police board?



#6455 LJ

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Posted 25 September 2020 - 07:16 PM

Sounds like the tour operators are going to have to have someone ride shotgun.


Life's a journey......so roll down the window and enjoy the breeze.

#6456 Awaiting Juno

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Posted 28 September 2020 - 12:38 PM

In other news, Ben Isitt has returned to twitter...using the handle @Isitt_



#6457 Tom Braybrook

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Posted 28 September 2020 - 03:00 PM

In other news, Ben Isitt has returned to twitter...using the handle @Isitt_

...and of course his first two tweets are about making permanent a program that is outside the city's mandate while the second promotes a book on one of b.c.'s pioneer socialists...


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#6458 Sparky

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Posted 28 September 2020 - 03:15 PM

^ co-authored by Isitt.

#6459 rmpeers

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Posted 28 September 2020 - 09:51 PM

In other news, Ben Isitt has returned to twitter...using the handle @Isitt_


The fake Ben account is funnier. This new real one is a drag.
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#6460 Mike K.

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Posted 30 September 2020 - 07:57 AM

Helps has joined the Board of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.

“The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation is an independent and non-partisan charity established in 2001 as a living memorial to the former prime minister.”

If we recall, the foundation provided funding for Helps’ PhD research. She never completed the degree.

From Grumpy Taxpayers: Mayor Helps received a Trudeau Foundation scholarship in 2006, but dropped out of the program prior to completion of a doctorate. The independent and non-partisan charity, consists of a board of business leaders, activists, public servants, and academics that serve a two-year term. It's responsible for $145 million in assets, according to the annual report and financials, the size of a medium-sized corporation.

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