Capital Region Municipal Amalgamation Society
Board of Directors 2016 - 2017
James Anderson
James is a graduate of UBC in Regional Planning, a 40 year resident and retired senior manger of the BC Government. He has experience with land use for parks/recreation, agriculture and coastal resources, and is the author of BC’s Magnificent Parks; the first 100 years. James is a former resident of Edmonton and Calgary where even with massive urban growth were governed as unified city states, and particularly with joint use facilities between schools and community recreation. James is concerned with the unequal contribution of many CRD residents to the costs of arts/culture, recreation and social services/housing and for the failed integration of regional emergency services
Earle Anthony (Secretary)
Earle, Professional Engineer (Civil), spent 32 years in provincial and federal government environment agencies, 17 of those years at a senior management level. Following retirement, he grew vegetables in Central Saanich for 13 years. He now lives in Oak Bay where he does a little writing and a little gardening. He was elected Secretary of the Board in June 2013.
Lesley Ewing
Lesley is a retired provincial public servant with a keen interest in public policy at all levels of government. During her working career she held senior executive director positions with the Province of BC, was responsible for financial management services in several ministries, and provided consulting services. She is devoted to active transportation advocacy (cycling/walking infrastructure) and to an improved system of governance for Greater Victoria. She has lived in the area for 35 years and is a graduate of the University of Victoria.
Marg Gardiner
Marg has lived in the region for 23 years, 10 in Saanich and 13 in Victoria. Her public sector career involved leadership roles in regulatory enforcement and research administration. She has lived in four provincial capital cities in Canada. Marg’s sense of, and respect for community activism stems from her prairie roots. Much of her current community work is through the James Bay Neighbourhood Association, where she serves as President. Marg’s focus has been on quality of life issues, including airshed and noise pollution.
Shellie Gudgeon
Shellie is a former City of Victoria Councillor who is passionate about working together for the enhancement of the region. Shellie was born and raised in Victoria. She and her husband have owned several restaurants over the past twenty five years and currently own Il Terrazzo Ristorante in the City of Victoria. Shellie believes that "Simply put - together we are stronger."
Karen Harper
After completing a BA and MEd, Karen worked first as a teacher for 17 years, then on the British Columbia Teachers' Federation staff for 12 years, and finally as a senior Vice President at the BC Pension Corporation for 11 years where she spent substantial time working with the pension boards and various government ministries. She has lived in Boston, Vancouver, Kamloops, Fort St John, and Victoria since 2000. She is now substantially retired and spends her free time biking, sewing, reading, traveling, practicing French and sailing, and is very involved in local Saanich politics.
Tony Heemskerk (President)
Tony is retired and involved in various community endeavours, such as health care and political campaigns, and other individual activities. He is a former provincial deputy minister with the British Columbia government with 33 years of public sector experience, including corrections, policing, victim services, emergency services, and liquor, gaming, transportation, firearms, and security industry regulation. He has lived in Saanich since 1985 and believes that amalgamation will have many benefits and that the public should be given the opportunity to decide.
James Legh
James is a lawyer, businessman and community volunteer who has worked with various charitable organizations, including the Children’s Museum of Victoria, the Victoria Foundation, the Learning Disabilities Association, and Kaleidoscope Theatre. He owns businesses located in Saanich.
Sandie Menzies (Treasurer)
Sandie is a Greater Victorian who grew up in Gordon Head, graduating from Mt. Douglas High School and the University of Victoria. During the years that her children were growing up, she served on the executives of both Gordon Head Soccer and the Saanich Lacrosse Association. Her family has been involved in the plumbing and heating business in Greater Victoria since 1909, and has experienced the difficulties of working across municipal boundaries. During the last 15 years she operated a bed and breakfast. She believes that the people of Greater Victoria should have an opportunity to tell the local politicians how they feel about amalgamation in the capital region.
Colin Nielsen
Colin is a retired RCMP member and he served as their representative on the CRD Enhanced 9-1-1 project. The unnecessary complexity originally built into the region’s 9-1-1 system to accommodate multiple emergency response agencies convinced him that a regional emergency centre would provide more effective and efficient service. Colin has lived in Greater Victoria since 1967.
John Vickers (Vice President)
John is known locally as "Mr. Festival" and is the Executive Director for the Victoria International Buskers, Chalk Art and Kite Festival Societies. He is a past recipient of the CFAX Arts Leader of the Year award and a runnerup for CFAX's Community Leader of the Year. For almost 20 years, John has also been the artist behind "Pumpkin Art", an annual community Halloween fundraiser featuring displays of intricately carved pumpkins. He is active on a host of community boards and has been involved locally with the issue of amalgamation since 2009.
John Weaver
John was born and raised in Great Britain, graduating with an honours degree in mathematics from the University of Bristol. He moved to Canada, where he obtained a PH.D in physics at the University of Saskatchewan. John has lived in Victoria since 1961, and joined the University of Victoria faculty in 1966. Since retirement, he has been active in the Rockland Neighbourhood Association. As their representative, and in conjunction with other neighbourhood associations, he petitioned the Province and local government to amalgamate the numerous police forces in the region. He ardently supports municipal amalgamation.
NOMINATING COMMITTEE:
John Olson
John Olson is a retired Queens University professor interested in transportation issues. He served on the Kingston, Ontario transit advisory committee, and was a member of Transport Action Ontario and co-hosted its AGM in Kingston. As a resident of Colwood for six years, John is a frequent user of the #50 bus that braves the rush hour congestion. He's an advocate for light rail using the E&N corridor and for reform of governance to enable regional control of transit management and development.
Jason Ross
Jason Ross is a software developer and local government enthusiast with a passion for open data and modern governance procedures that use technology to improve openness and transparency. He has spent many years following local government in Victoria and elsewhere, including a period of time video recording council and committee meetings in an effort to encourage video to be employed at the local level. His present efforts are focused on merging municipal financial reporting, bylaws, and spatial information regionally in order to build web-based tools to help residents and businesses better understand the municipalities in which they live.
Peter Spurr
Peter has 25 years of experience as a researcher and analyst for the federal housing agency in Ottawa, and 10 years experience as a private research contractor specializing in urban planning topics. He has lived in Saanich since 1996 and is an active cyclist, walker and BC Transit user. He has been involved with the Mount Tolmie Community Association and is the President of the Victoria Chapter of the Carleton University Alumni Association. He believes citizens should have accurate information about amalgamation issues.
Board of Directors 2016 - 2017
James Anderson
James is a graduate of UBC in Regional Planning, a 40 year resident and retired senior manger of the BC Government. He has experience with land use for parks/recreation, agriculture and coastal resources, and is the author of BC’s Magnificent Parks; the first 100 years. James is a former resident of Edmonton and Calgary where even with massive urban growth were governed as unified city states, and particularly with joint use facilities between schools and community recreation. James is concerned with the unequal contribution of many CRD residents to the costs of arts/culture, recreation and social services/housing and for the failed integration of regional emergency services
Earle Anthony (Secretary)
Earle, Professional Engineer (Civil), spent 32 years in provincial and federal government environment agencies, 17 of those years at a senior management level. Following retirement, he grew vegetables in Central Saanich for 13 years. He now lives in Oak Bay where he does a little writing and a little gardening. He was elected Secretary of the Board in June 2013.
Lesley Ewing
Lesley is a retired provincial public servant with a keen interest in public policy at all levels of government. During her working career she held senior executive director positions with the Province of BC, was responsible for financial management services in several ministries, and provided consulting services. She is devoted to active transportation advocacy (cycling/walking infrastructure) and to an improved system of governance for Greater Victoria. She has lived in the area for 35 years and is a graduate of the University of Victoria.
Marg Gardiner
Marg has lived in the region for 23 years, 10 in Saanich and 13 in Victoria. Her public sector career involved leadership roles in regulatory enforcement and research administration. She has lived in four provincial capital cities in Canada. Marg’s sense of, and respect for community activism stems from her prairie roots. Much of her current community work is through the James Bay Neighbourhood Association, where she serves as President. Marg’s focus has been on quality of life issues, including airshed and noise pollution.
Shellie Gudgeon
Shellie is a former City of Victoria Councillor who is passionate about working together for the enhancement of the region. Shellie was born and raised in Victoria. She and her husband have owned several restaurants over the past twenty five years and currently own Il Terrazzo Ristorante in the City of Victoria. Shellie believes that "Simply put - together we are stronger."
Karen Harper
After completing a BA and MEd, Karen worked first as a teacher for 17 years, then on the British Columbia Teachers' Federation staff for 12 years, and finally as a senior Vice President at the BC Pension Corporation for 11 years where she spent substantial time working with the pension boards and various government ministries. She has lived in Boston, Vancouver, Kamloops, Fort St John, and Victoria since 2000. She is now substantially retired and spends her free time biking, sewing, reading, traveling, practicing French and sailing, and is very involved in local Saanich politics.
Tony Heemskerk (President)
Tony is retired and involved in various community endeavours, such as health care and political campaigns, and other individual activities. He is a former provincial deputy minister with the British Columbia government with 33 years of public sector experience, including corrections, policing, victim services, emergency services, and liquor, gaming, transportation, firearms, and security industry regulation. He has lived in Saanich since 1985 and believes that amalgamation will have many benefits and that the public should be given the opportunity to decide.
James Legh
James is a lawyer, businessman and community volunteer who has worked with various charitable organizations, including the Children’s Museum of Victoria, the Victoria Foundation, the Learning Disabilities Association, and Kaleidoscope Theatre. He owns businesses located in Saanich.
Sandie Menzies (Treasurer)
Sandie is a Greater Victorian who grew up in Gordon Head, graduating from Mt. Douglas High School and the University of Victoria. During the years that her children were growing up, she served on the executives of both Gordon Head Soccer and the Saanich Lacrosse Association. Her family has been involved in the plumbing and heating business in Greater Victoria since 1909, and has experienced the difficulties of working across municipal boundaries. During the last 15 years she operated a bed and breakfast. She believes that the people of Greater Victoria should have an opportunity to tell the local politicians how they feel about amalgamation in the capital region.
Colin Nielsen
Colin is a retired RCMP member and he served as their representative on the CRD Enhanced 9-1-1 project. The unnecessary complexity originally built into the region’s 9-1-1 system to accommodate multiple emergency response agencies convinced him that a regional emergency centre would provide more effective and efficient service. Colin has lived in Greater Victoria since 1967.
John Vickers (Vice President)
John is known locally as "Mr. Festival" and is the Executive Director for the Victoria International Buskers, Chalk Art and Kite Festival Societies. He is a past recipient of the CFAX Arts Leader of the Year award and a runnerup for CFAX's Community Leader of the Year. For almost 20 years, John has also been the artist behind "Pumpkin Art", an annual community Halloween fundraiser featuring displays of intricately carved pumpkins. He is active on a host of community boards and has been involved locally with the issue of amalgamation since 2009.
John Weaver
John was born and raised in Great Britain, graduating with an honours degree in mathematics from the University of Bristol. He moved to Canada, where he obtained a PH.D in physics at the University of Saskatchewan. John has lived in Victoria since 1961, and joined the University of Victoria faculty in 1966. Since retirement, he has been active in the Rockland Neighbourhood Association. As their representative, and in conjunction with other neighbourhood associations, he petitioned the Province and local government to amalgamate the numerous police forces in the region. He ardently supports municipal amalgamation.
NOMINATING COMMITTEE:
John Olson
John Olson is a retired Queens University professor interested in transportation issues. He served on the Kingston, Ontario transit advisory committee, and was a member of Transport Action Ontario and co-hosted its AGM in Kingston. As a resident of Colwood for six years, John is a frequent user of the #50 bus that braves the rush hour congestion. He's an advocate for light rail using the E&N corridor and for reform of governance to enable regional control of transit management and development.
Jason Ross
Jason Ross is a software developer and local government enthusiast with a passion for open data and modern governance procedures that use technology to improve openness and transparency. He has spent many years following local government in Victoria and elsewhere, including a period of time video recording council and committee meetings in an effort to encourage video to be employed at the local level. His present efforts are focused on merging municipal financial reporting, bylaws, and spatial information regionally in order to build web-based tools to help residents and businesses better understand the municipalities in which they live.
Peter Spurr
Peter has 25 years of experience as a researcher and analyst for the federal housing agency in Ottawa, and 10 years experience as a private research contractor specializing in urban planning topics. He has lived in Saanich since 1996 and is an active cyclist, walker and BC Transit user. He has been involved with the Mount Tolmie Community Association and is the President of the Victoria Chapter of the Carleton University Alumni Association. He believes citizens should have accurate information about amalgamation issues.
