Eighteen came to this ASK Salt Spring gathering to welcome MLA Rob Botterell and his associate Theresa Coles. After he offered our Land Acknowledgement, Rob shared that he was “excited and delighted” to have completed the annual spring work on his boat. She is now ready to take him on his summer of sailing, hopefully bringing him from his Pender home to his next ASK Salt Spring time with us July 4.

With the Legislative session over, he also spoke briefly about a busy summer with a dizzying number of important committees, including his work on Democratic Reform, the review of Clean BC, the forest review, and an analysis of Community Health Centers, to name a few. He also plans to spend his summer with his 50,000 constituents, getting a smile out of us by telling us that the very best of them were, of course, us Salt Springers :).

He also spoke a bit about his plans to soon spend a day on Salt Spring with Housing Minister, Ravi Kahlon in what is expected to be a series of meetings to strategize solutions to our housing crisis. The date of this visit is expected to be announced soon.

We then spent some time learning about three new bills and Rob’s concerns about them:

- Bill 7 is a bill designed to better prepare BC to reduce inter-provincial trade barriers and defend against expected US tariffs. Although this bill, like Bills 14 and 15, gives sweeping powers to Cabinet, the Greens were able to add amendments to Bill 7 that have greatly reduced concerns about these powers. These amendments include: a) the requirement that information about implementation of this bill will be published regularly in a format available to all, b) there will be legislative oversight by an all party committee, and c) the sunset of this bill, originally two years, was reduced to one year.
- Bill 14 is intended to streamline renewable energy projects.
- Bill 15 intends to make it easier to complete significant provincial projects that are underway, especially schools and hospitals. While a laudable intent, this bill allows the Cabinet to designate a qualified individual to review impediments to the completion of such projects. When recommended by this expert and approved by the Cabinet, these issues could be circumvented. Among issues that might be bypassed could include required environmental, archeological, and First Nations permitting requirements.

While amendments were added to ameliorate the sweeping powers of Bill 7, the NDP were unwilling to add similar controls to Bills 14 and 15. Still awaiting the regulations that provide implementation details of these three bills, Rob joins many other groups, including First Nations, Union of British Columbian Municipalities (UBCM), Chambers across the province, and, of course, the Greens who are united in concern about the power it gives to Cabinet, forcing us to trust them with neither the transparency, evaluation, nor one year sunset clause tempering Bill 7.

Rob is deeply disappointed that the NDP refused to add these important limits to these bills, leaving the sweeping powers of Cabinet largely unchecked. His assessment was that the first month of the legislative session was good - collaborative and cooperative - but that it soon devolved to the same old intractable issues with little compromise. Rob wondered why the NDP doesn’t appear to understand that important bills of this magnitude require broad-based support and that not gaining this support will have negative repercussions. He wished that the NDP had been willing to take a few months this summer to achieve widespread support rather than forcing the passage of these bills.

A participant asked Rob about the recent removal of the $50 million Salt Spring long term care project from the CRD Regional Hospital Plan at the request of Island Health. A need documented for over two decades, this participant spoke with passion of those who remain in Lady Minto Hospital for years with nowhere else to go. She also spoke of the many who were being forced to leave Salt Spring when they could no longer care for themselves due to our lack of long term care facilities.

What can we do, she asked, to get this project back into Island Health/CRD Regional Hospital plans? CRD Director Gary Holman is working hard to get this important project reinstated in the Capital Plan, eliciting Rob’s help as well as meeting with CRD and Island Health decision-makers. His hope is to get all parties, Island Health, CRD Regional Hospital, and Greenwoods, into a room together to better understand the decision as well as strategize how to reverse the deletion of a project so critical to Salt Spring seniors.

Rob is supportive but also reminded us that this year he will be focusing on an important campaign promise to increase our primary care. Too many simply do not have doctors, and Rob is committed to addressing this serious problem. One of the ways he sees of accomplishing this is through community health centers. He is pleased that an agreement with the NDP has ben reached to launch a study intended to create a blueprint for successful community health centres.

An important component of this analysis of community health centres is feedback from key stakeholders. While the selection of these stakeholders has not yet been made, Rob has offered a list of 15 names of experts, including some Salt Springers, for consideration. The Terms of Reference for this study are expected to be to be released this week. Hopes are that a preliminary report of what works and what does not work will be released by the end of June with the completion of the full report by the end of the year. The timing is important to Rob who sees this analysis as a critical basis for information to inform 2026 budget decisions.

While community health centres can take a variety of forms, one type of community health centre is the Primary Care Network, a PCN. The great news for Salt Spring is that Island Health has approved the funding of 11 full-time equivalent healthcare workers for our Primary Care Network. With much yet to be decided, among them the location of this PCN, a society comprised of local doctors, Island Health, and other healthcare professionals has recently been established and is working hard to address these details. As broad based community support is essential for the success of this PCN and local interest is high, it was suggested that this hardworking group might want to consider sharing more about their important work with our community.

A sad note was struck when it was announced that the Salt Spring Community Health Society Board recently recommended to its members that this registered charity disband. An amazing charity, with volunteers pitching in during COVID to create and supply protective wear for healthcare workers as well as their long-running Mental Health First Aid courses, their vision and hard work will be greatly missed.

A participant representing the Salt Spring Community Energy Society , responsible for a wide variety of charging and solar projects throughout Salt Spring, asked Rob for his help getting their feedback to the Clean BC review committee. Declaring nothing off the table, Rob promised to support their efforts during this critical Clean BC review process.

A participant asked Rob for information about another committee on which he serves, the Special Committee on Democratic and Electoral Reform. A variety of issues will be explored by this committee, including voting age. (With a smile, Rob stated that he believes that it should be 30 for males and 16 for females.) A key conversation, however, will be Proportional Representation.

This Democratic and Electoral Reform committee is meeting regularly and its sessions are live streamed. Schedules and formats are being finalized for public presentations in July. Rob is hopeful that these presentations will bring a wide range of differing perspectives rather than being repetitive. Designed as an opportunity to assemble knowledge, Rob hopes that everyone on the committee will read Andrew Coynes’s newly-released book, Crisis in Canadian Democracy as they begin their journey exploring our democracy.

A participant asked Rob to help him get some simple road improvements like signage, extending our 30 km speed limit to other Ganges roads rather than simply Fulford-Ganges/Lower Ganges, and a flashing light at the new firehall to warn when trucks are on the move. Rob promised to work with our community to get such needed improvements. It was also suggested that, rather than barraging Ministry of Transportation and Transit (MoTT) with requests, it might be more effective to align the Local Community Commission and Rob’s office on these requests, speaking with a single and more powerful voice. (Both MoTT’s Owen Page and Emcon’s Andrew Gaetz will be our ASK Salt Spring guests Friday, August 8, 11-1, SIMS classroom.)

As our time together was drawing to a close, concerns about the likely loss of as many as 30 local jobs were expressed. The concern is with BC Ferries’ decision to overnight berth both Vesuvius/Crofton ferries (expected to be deployed in 2027) in Crofton. Rob suggested a coordinated effort with as many partners as possible to try to get BC Ferries to reconsider this decision. He also suggested this request be specific, and, whenever possible, offer a compromise option. Expect a conversation about this at the Local Community Commission at one of its June meetings.

In closing, Rob spoke of his commitment to use the day Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon will be spending on Salt Spring to clearly illustrate the extent of our housing concerns as well as proposing solutions. Also, he will be watching carefully as BC proceeds with its commitment to build 7,500 affordable housing units this year. He will be collecting concrete information to determine the effectiveness of this funding to address our housing gap. He will be looking at the fairness of these funding decisions, watching carefully to make sure that funding decisions are not made only on the basis of costs per unit. He will be watching to make sure that our rural and remote communities can compete successfully with urban areas for this funding. We learned that applications for the Community Housing Fund are now being accepted.

Our time together for this month over, we bid an appreciative farewell to Rob and Theresa, grateful for the daunting amount of work Rob takes on with aplomb, bringing his tenacity, clarity, unwillingness to take “No" for an answer, and that quiet sense of humour. (Thank-you, Rob and Theresa!)

Just in case you are interested. . . .This report has been written by Gayle Baker, founder of ASK Salt Spring, currently also a Salt Spring Local Community Commissioner. It has been reviewed and edited by the Rob Botterell and his team.

Please join us this Friday, June 13, 11-1, in the SIMS (former Middle School) classroom to welcome the Restorative Justice team,

Summer is upon us - a season of family visits, shared meals, and time together. A joyful time, it is also often a time of that quiet tension when family conversations drift into disagreement, especially around politics, values, or deeply held beliefs.

This month’s Restorative Justice circle will help us build the skills needed when talking across divides - especially with the people we love most. It will focus on how we respond to division. What actually works when things get hard? What tools help us stay grounded and connected, even when the conversation gets heated?

Please join us this Friday to welcome the Restorative Justice team!
Check our new website at asksaltspring.com!

Want to help? We welcome volunteers to join the team.
Please join us making ASK Salt Spring ever better!

Is there a special guest we should invite? Suggestions welcome: ask@asksaltspring.com

Big News:
ASK Salt Spring has ongoing funding! We receive a check for $1,000 each year to pay our annual rent of $800 with a little bit left over for other expenses - like cookies :).

Of course, you could also donate as well by simply transferring funds to ask@asksaltspring.com.
The answer to the security question is “Salt.”