I didn't show up to vote. I'm one of the 83% of the electorate that did the same. It's all so corrupted and out of control that no one even wants to know about anything "those people" are doing. Best to be like an ostrich. Bury your head in the sand and pretend that it's not really happening.
Meanwhile, in case you don't know, The affordable housing project has closed most of the trails to Tonquin Beach, some apparently for the next year, despite practically the entire neighbourhood showing up at the public hearing in the community hall, telling THC and Catalyst that we don't want you and your project in our neighbourhood. Now, THC and Catalyst have decided that they have the right to close access to our public parks and beaches. Who told 'em they could do this?
There were massive lineups at some polling stations on election day Saturday but so far the unofficial numbers show that voter turnout was actually down in most Vancouver Island municipalities.
Provincially the turnout dropped from 42 per cent in the last election in 2018 to 37 per cent this time around. On the South Island, even the cities with hotly contested races like Victoria and Saanich saw voter turnout drop while in Langford it did go up, but was still among one of the lowest turnouts on the island.
Further north, Nanaimo saw participation drop to just 24 per cent, Tofino plummeted from 65 per cent in 2018 to just 17 per cent and Campbell River was one of few places that saw an increase, rising from 25 per cent to 33 per cent.
Apathy? When the elected counsellors have absolutely no power to do anything besides raise their hand and vote yes what is the point of even having an election for counsellors? The important decisions around the district seem to be pre-ordained by self appointed experts on the district staff or else consultants.
I vote and always will, its a right you dont want to lose. Some in power feel our voice is weak and uninformeded. We need to continually hold elected officials to account for poor decicions based on flawed logic and outcomes...Gord Johns is an example of what can happen when you feel your vote does not matter. The least intellegent Man in Ottawa and thats saying something. Our rep federally is a fool.
2:20 exactly why you vote. I spoke against vacation rentals before they were allowed in Tofino. Now look at the housing mess we are in here in Tofino and the rest of the country. Then we have a nice mailout from him totally missing THE cure for the housing problem created in large part by those evil Vacation Rentals. Ban them. Vote for Gord and nothing will change. Voting is the only say you have and to not vote is to further allow the destruction of the country. Was Gord a member of the council who allowed the VR's?
The brainstorm about holding elected officials accountable for flawed logic & poor decisions is great but how does this work? I can count any number of decisions reached by either staff or council that were horrible results for the community, or the taxpayer, or both. The affordable housing fiasco is a good one recently. putting off the liquid waste management project for 15 years until now tripled the cost had it gone forward in 2008 or so?. The jury is still out on the pay parking picnic but it doesn't look good for us. How about the inability of staff and administration to enforce our own bylaws because they might step on someone in the administrations toes? These are just a few of the situation's that were decided by staff and councill that I would really like to hold them accountable for..... This blog is the closest thing to accountability that I can think of but haha........ Nobody in the DOT reads it. Maybe Josie Osborne's ministry would look into it for us?
This vacation rental disaster was voted in, ignoring valid criticism at the time. They were warned. Most of the council that voted it in, doesn't live here anymore. Perfect Why should they give a twig. At the all candidates meeting, Al sort of fessed up and suggested maybe they went too far. He was part of that bylaw. As soon as it came in, in the first year, about 100 folks lost their rental.
As for the poor turn out.....town has changed bigly.
You are right Gord's mailout on housing is complete crap. He is promisiing 500,000 housing units without any real suggestion as to how to get there. He is promising your rents to be halved after Jagmeet waves his wand. This is all delusional His only answer is government money.....your money... subsidizing a bunch of nonprofits who will rake it in. More scams like the BS we have seen here in Tofino.(soon they will come back to council for more$$$ "they didn't know there was soo much rock" supply chain cost overruns etc......anyone want to bet? They won't make a move till the contracts are resigned, their cut is guaranteed and the whole thing papered over it's all just accounting wizardry, with smarm and speeches about affordability, all applauded by the supine Canadian press.
Voter turnout looks to be about half of what it was in 2018.
I didn't show up to vote. I'm one of the 83% of the electorate that did the same. It's all so corrupted and out of control that no one even wants to know about anything "those people" are doing.
ReplyDeleteBest to be like an ostrich. Bury your head in the sand and pretend that it's not really happening.
Meanwhile, in case you don't know, The affordable housing project has closed most of the trails to Tonquin Beach, some apparently for the next year, despite practically the entire neighbourhood showing up at the public hearing in the community hall, telling THC and Catalyst that we don't want you and your project in our neighbourhood.
Now, THC and Catalyst have decided that they have the right to close access to our public parks and beaches.
Who told 'em they could do this?
There were massive lineups at some polling stations on election day Saturday but so far the unofficial numbers show that voter turnout was actually down in most Vancouver Island municipalities.
ReplyDeleteProvincially the turnout dropped from 42 per cent in the last election in 2018 to 37 per cent this time around. On the South Island, even the cities with hotly contested races like Victoria and Saanich saw voter turnout drop while in Langford it did go up, but was still among one of the lowest turnouts on the island.
Further north, Nanaimo saw participation drop to just 24 per cent, Tofino plummeted from 65 per cent in 2018 to just 17 per cent and Campbell River was one of few places that saw an increase, rising from 25 per cent to 33 per cent.
Only two votes separated the last two candidates, so it seems your vote actually does matter. It's a shame to see such apathy.
ReplyDelete“I’m more of a casual democracy fan. I don’t really want to get that deep into it.”
ReplyDeleteApathy? When the elected counsellors have absolutely no power to do anything besides raise their hand and vote yes what is the point of even having an election for counsellors? The important decisions around the district seem to be pre-ordained by self appointed experts on the district staff or else consultants.
ReplyDelete@11:31am I concur
ReplyDeleteGood to see that all but one, raised their hand to give themselves a pay raise at the last meeting.
ReplyDeleteI vote and always will, its a right you dont want to lose. Some in power feel our voice is weak and uninformeded. We need to continually hold elected officials to account for poor decicions based on flawed logic and outcomes...Gord Johns is an example of what can happen when you feel your vote does not matter. The least intellegent Man in Ottawa and thats saying something. Our rep federally is a fool.
ReplyDelete2:20 exactly why you vote. I spoke against vacation rentals before they were allowed in Tofino. Now look at the housing mess we are in here in Tofino and the rest of the country. Then we have a nice mailout from him totally missing THE cure for the housing problem created in large part by those evil Vacation Rentals. Ban them. Vote for Gord and nothing will change.
ReplyDeleteVoting is the only say you have and to not vote is to further allow the destruction of the country.
Was Gord a member of the council who allowed the VR's?
The brainstorm about holding elected officials accountable for flawed logic & poor decisions is great but how does this work?
ReplyDeleteI can count any number of decisions reached by either staff or council that were horrible results for the community, or the taxpayer, or both.
The affordable housing fiasco is a good one recently.
putting off the liquid waste management project for 15 years until now tripled the cost had it gone forward in 2008 or so?.
The jury is still out on the pay parking picnic but it doesn't look good for us.
How about the inability of staff and administration to enforce our own bylaws because they might step on someone in the administrations toes?
These are just a few of the situation's that were decided by staff and councill that I would really like to hold them accountable for.....
This blog is the closest thing to accountability that I can think of but haha........ Nobody in the DOT reads it.
Maybe Josie Osborne's ministry would look into it for us?
This vacation rental disaster was voted in, ignoring valid criticism at the time. They were warned. Most of the council that voted it in, doesn't live here anymore. Perfect Why should they give a twig. At the all candidates meeting, Al sort of fessed up and suggested maybe they went too far. He was part of that bylaw. As soon as it came in, in the first year, about 100 folks lost their rental.
ReplyDeleteAs for the poor turn out.....town has changed bigly.
You are right Gord's mailout on housing is complete crap. He is promisiing 500,000 housing units without any real suggestion as to how to get there. He is promising your rents to be halved after Jagmeet waves his wand. This is all delusional
ReplyDeleteHis only answer is government money.....your money... subsidizing a bunch of nonprofits who will rake it in. More scams like the BS we have seen here in Tofino.(soon they will come back to council for more$$$ "they didn't know there was soo much rock" supply chain cost overruns etc......anyone want to bet? They won't make a move till the contracts are resigned, their cut is guaranteed and the whole thing papered over it's all just accounting wizardry, with smarm and speeches about affordability, all applauded by the supine Canadian press.
Whole thing stinks