Esquimalt residents favour review
Times Colonist Letters
April 24, 2015
Re: “ ‘Fiefdoms’ hurt capital: Harcourt,” April 23.
What is it about the word yes that the Esquimalt mayor and council do not understand?
Responding to public pressure for a governance review, the mayor and council approved two questions for the November municipal ballot.
Eighty-seven per cent answered yes to the question dealing with unifying services with other municipalities; 67 per cent voted in favour of the reduction of municipalities in the region.
During the election campaign, Mayor Barb Desjardins and councillors Susan Low, Tim Morrison, Beth Burton-Krahn and Meagan Brame pledged, in writing, to implement the wishes of residents.
At the April 20 committee-of-the-whole meeting, the topic was finally tabled, after being deferred for almost six months.
Desjardins said that she didn’t know enough about the referendum results, and mused: “What did our residents tell us?” Coun. Lynda Hundleby said it was “difficult” with a yes or no question.
The mayor and council are proposing to host a town hall “to give voice to fear.” They have set no timetable. And it’s taken six months, again after pressure and prodding, to get us to this?
Yes means yes. The people of this community are informed and engaged. They understood the two questions and they provided a resounding mandate. They also elected people to public office to carry out this mandate. The notion that the voters were not sophisticated enough to understand what they were voting for is insulting.
It’s time to communicate to the province that Esquimalt be part of a governance review along with other municipalities, consistent with the wishes of the electorate.
Susan Jones and Mike Rothe
Esquimalt
© Copyright Times Colonist
- See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/letters/esquimalt-residents-favour-review-1.1847573#sthash.USt5840O.dpuf
Times Colonist Letters
April 24, 2015
Re: “ ‘Fiefdoms’ hurt capital: Harcourt,” April 23.
What is it about the word yes that the Esquimalt mayor and council do not understand?
Responding to public pressure for a governance review, the mayor and council approved two questions for the November municipal ballot.
Eighty-seven per cent answered yes to the question dealing with unifying services with other municipalities; 67 per cent voted in favour of the reduction of municipalities in the region.
During the election campaign, Mayor Barb Desjardins and councillors Susan Low, Tim Morrison, Beth Burton-Krahn and Meagan Brame pledged, in writing, to implement the wishes of residents.
At the April 20 committee-of-the-whole meeting, the topic was finally tabled, after being deferred for almost six months.
Desjardins said that she didn’t know enough about the referendum results, and mused: “What did our residents tell us?” Coun. Lynda Hundleby said it was “difficult” with a yes or no question.
The mayor and council are proposing to host a town hall “to give voice to fear.” They have set no timetable. And it’s taken six months, again after pressure and prodding, to get us to this?
Yes means yes. The people of this community are informed and engaged. They understood the two questions and they provided a resounding mandate. They also elected people to public office to carry out this mandate. The notion that the voters were not sophisticated enough to understand what they were voting for is insulting.
It’s time to communicate to the province that Esquimalt be part of a governance review along with other municipalities, consistent with the wishes of the electorate.
Susan Jones and Mike Rothe
Esquimalt
© Copyright Times Colonist
- See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/letters/esquimalt-residents-favour-review-1.1847573#sthash.USt5840O.dpuf