Positive, Low-risk Alternatives to Municipal Incorporation We don’t need to incorporate: Improvements to our existing governance can be made without the increased road and policing costs and other risks of incorporation. Shockingly, the provincial government official overseeing the 2013-2016 Salt Spring Island governance and incorporation studies directed the committees and their consultants not to consider improvements that could be made under our existing form of governance. The committees were told that incorporation was the only alternative they could consider, even though existing provincial legislation allows numerous, less drastic changes. A Local Community Commission and other options: In 2010, a BC government official advised local elected representatives to consider converting improvement districts (water and fire) to CRD local service areas and creating additional CRD commissions to manage CRD service delivery: “Establishing a local community commission (LCC)…

One of the reasons I will vote Yes is that there are problems that cannot be fixed under our current system. It doesn’t matter how optimistic one is. There are structural impediments built in today that no amount of hard work or co-operation or good will can fix. Let me describe just one. We have a fire department operated by what is called an improvement district, an archaic entity that has some of the smatterings of local government but that was really intended for tiny operations like three farmers sharing a well and a pumphouse, not performing important public safety tasks in a community of 10,000 strong. The fire district’s purpose – and this comes from legislation and what are called letters patent – is to prevent and if necessary suppress damage from uncontrolled fires. To fight fires, you need specialized equipment, well trained staff, and water. The fire district can buy equipment and train staff, but relies on others for water. On Salt Spring, the water comes fr…

Mickey McLeod, CEO, co-founder and owner (with Robbyn Scott) of Salt Spring Coffee has lived on Salt Spring Island since Aug 1981 and has been a self-employed businessman employing a couple hundred people on Salt Spring Island during this time. "The current governance system has proven not to support visionary business leaders who want to do good for the community, provide gainful employment and help change the dial on how business can be conducted in today's world. Salt Spring Island could be a world class example how to do this, but the system is broken. In order to accomplish this, there is currently no plan and no vision. Leaving these kinds of decisions up to two people ( the two trustees on the Islands Trust at any given time) can have devastating costly affects, so I am voting YESS on Sept 9th.

This article attempts to correct some of the misleading and even false information presented by the Yes campaign and Urban Systems regarding the Local Community Commission (LCC) and other governance options. Urban Systems was the provincially-approved consultant hired to conduct the Salt Spring governance and incorporation studies. This article is long because there is so much misinformation to undo and so many information gaps to fill. In an August 2nd Facebook post, “Yes” advocate John Macpherson claimed that a Local Community Commission for Salt Spring is “not a legislatively available option”.  This is simply false. It is a distorted echo of a claim by Urban Systems that “… provincial legislation provides for either maintaining the status quo as an unincorporated electoral area or incorporating as a municipality.” In fact, the Local Government Act Part 6 provides the legislative basis for establishing an LCC within our existing unincorporated governance model. Urban S…

Celia Duthie & Nick Hunt ran Duthie Books in Vancouver for 20 plus years and have lived on Salt Spring since 2004. They opened Salt Spring Woodworks which later became the Duthie gallery. They are active members of the arts community on the island. "We both support the incorporation of the island and will be voting yes in the referendum. We feel that the island is ready for independence from Victoria and mature enough for self-government. We feel the island needs broader representation and more progressive pro-active planning for the future."

I do not involve myself in politics much any longer. I am an Islander now. I run a studio on Salt Spring and business that would qualify as a small cottage industry. From a lifetime ago, I have a PhD in Political Science with a specialization in Development Studies. When I moved here I became the interim director of the Salt Spring Forum. I am voting No to incorporation. From decades of debating political viewpoints in a research context, I feel compelled in light of the massive amount of disinformation to make my option known. In the study of politics a critical question to ask is: Who benefits? In this case, who will benefit, specifically, from incorporation? There are many academic studies of how change in governance can result in a worse situation for the general population, the poor, the landless, the already disenfranchised and disempowered. Development is not always a good thing, if you need an example, just look at the World Bank and the millions of people its develo…

Robin Williams -- on the demolition of the Fulford Inn by the CRD Building Inspection Department based in Victoria. Salt Spring resident Robin Williams is a well known community volunteer. He has chaired a CRD Commission, and is involved with The Islands Trust Fund, which is the land conservation side of Islands Trust. Here Robin speaks about one of the most sad moments in recent Salt Spring history.

Liz Anderson, a former Notary Public and Marriage Commissioner moved to Salt Spring in 1989. An active volunteer in the community, she has served on the Board of Community Services, been involved with the Tennis Association; Sailing Club; GIFTS (Gulf Islands Family Together Society which works transitioning young adults with disabilities into adult programs); as well as GISNA (Gulf Islands Special Needs Association which worked with the School District in providing services to students with special needs). She has served the Hospice Society for the last 10 years. "Our daughter Suzy, who has an intellectual disability, was our inspiration for forming the Therapeutic Riding Association in 2001. I continue to be heavily involved in the program as I am acutely aware of the incredible benefits to not only the riders, but also their families, the volunteers and the community. I am voting Yes because I want an elected council made up of Salt Springers; a council that is accessib…

When I moved to Salt Spring in 1979 with my wife and young daughter, I’d never heard of the Islands Trust. Truth to tell, I’d never heard of Salt Spring. We stumbled on it by chance, fell in love at first sight, and have been here ever since. That’s 38 years, over half my life, and I can’t imagine living anywhere else. The longer I’ve been here, the more I’ve come to appreciate that Salt Spring didn’t get to be this uniquely vibrant community by accident. Its taken an equally unique form of governance. Mostly, we don’t think a whole lot about how we govern ourselves. Because the Trust has been so good at its job, it tends to be taken for granted. While its “preserve and protect” mandate is fairly well known, we don’t hear much about what the Trust has protected our island from. In the 1960s, in a real estate market not unlike today’s, developers did what they do when you let them and carved out 1,200 city-sized lots in the middle of North Pender Island. Tiny Mudge Isl…

A common theme regarding the upcoming referendum is "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."  I could agree with this notion if, in reality, our current system wasn't broken.  I realize that much of the discourse has focused on costs (roads, administration, etc.) or the impact (real or imagined) to the Islands Trust.  But how we are governed, how decisions are made, all translates to one issue that has tended to be overlooked: democracy.  And that is something irrevocably missing.... something "broke"... under our current system. There is expectation that “transparency” applies (or at least should apply) to those systems which govern our community.  We expect that monies are allocated and decisions are made on our behalf within plain view.  I suggest that this is not merely illusory, but is utterly undermined by our present structure. There are two significant factors at play: 1) logistics and 2) the Law. As to logistics, how many of us have managed to attend a quarterly meetin…

Arthur Black - former CBC radio host, frequent columnist in many journals that you read, successful and indefatigable writer of popular books (that you should read), and generally witty man about town... elaborates on why "NO" is the new Black. https://youtu.be/tjJcj3E-Rc0

As I understand it, most of the people voting no are doing so because they are worried about  development and the cost of incorporation. I’m voting yes for those very reasons. Let me explain. The Trust was formed in 1974 which was prior to the Energy Crisis, the centralized Wal-Mart business model (eg. Costco, Amazon), and outsourcing in general. Back then the survival of our species was not at all in question. We now live in a time where there are melting polar ice caps, record CO2 levels, acidification of the oceans, rapid rate of extinction of species, radiation issues from Fukushima, Chernobyl, and depleted uranium war heads, environmental refugees, etc. What matters now is so different to what mattered in 1974. We need to act according to today’s issues. Back in 1970, Denis Hayes coordinated the first Earth Day and later expanded it to over 180 nations. He is a hero of mine. What is he doing now? He is a developer, and one of the best. Here’s what he says: “The er…

It’s not easy to find a place to live on Salt Spring. Like everywhere in Southern BC, housing on Salt Spring, whether for rent or for purchase, is expensive and in short supply, especially for average wage earners. There’s some talk that this situation would improve under incorporation, but the evidence suggests otherwise. More high-end development—a likely result of incorporation—will make the Salt Spring housing situation worse, not better. Purpose-built affordable housing is one solution. Salt Spring affordable housing consultant Janis Gauthier says that incorporation would not affect funding for affordable housing because Salt Spring housing providers already receive grants from federal, provincial and regional agencies. An example is the $4.5 million recently announced by the province to add units at Croftonbrook. Salt Spring already has several successful affordable housing projects: Pioneer Village, Croftonbrook, Meadowbrook, Dean Road, Murakami Gardens, Grand…

A scientist and environmentalist, Tara Martin offers her perspective on the reasons to say NO to incorporation. https://youtu.be/KCFo-AJHU3w

Urban Systems estimates that Salt Spring’s annual policing costs would jump by $871,000 under incorporation i.e. from the $407,000 per year we are paying now to $1,278,000 per year after the transition period. They then assume that expenditures would remain at that level in constant (inflation-adjusted) dollars. How realistic is their assumption? A 2009 Union of BC Municipalities report found that “policing cost increases have been double the rate of increase in property taxes [and that] the increasing police expenses put pressure on other needed services as there is limited overall tax tolerance.” Here is a link to the 2009 UBCM report. Has this trend continued since 2009? Urban Systems does not say anything about trends in municipal policing costs. Historical costs for RCMP municipal detachments in BC were not readily available, but the table below shows historical policing costs in the nearby Town of Sidney (2016 population 11,672). Sidney’s policing costs have incr…

There is too much misleading information making the rounds about all the grant money Salt Spring would supposedly receive if we incorporate. Perhaps some persons are even led to believe that we get no grants at all now. The truth is that Salt Spring already receives numerous grants - possibly more than our share - from many different sources. To name only a few examples, we have received significant grants for land conservation, to construct our library, ArtSpring, the swimming pool, community pathways, the Ganges sewer system and Murakami Gardens. Our success in this respect would make us the envy of any small community. From 2001-2017, Salt Spring was the recipient of some $60 million in grants. We have done very well. The Lieutenant Governor of BC, the Honourable Judy Guichon, visited Salt Spring in 2013. She made a point of lauding how much we had accomplished given our size. She knows BC communities well and she was rightly impressed. The federal government als…

Former MLA and a past CRD director, Gary Holman talking about his reasons for saying NO. He covers a lot of ground, including the hot topic of grants for Salt Spring. https://youtu.be/-4KWGIXJzfo

Alex Gay is Voting Yes. "Born and raised on Salt Spring Island, I am voting to bring Our leadership home because I believe that by coming together we as an Island community can work together to create a system that works for EVERYONE, not just the few."

I have lived on Salt Spring Island for exactly 50 years. Arriving here was a big lesson in politics for me. Where I hadπ lived before, mainly in Calgary, politics was something that was “out there;” it was something that we read about or watched on the news and sometimes it was interesting, or scary, as in the Cuban crisis. I was not directly implicated and certainly had no sense of the ability of an “ordinary” individual to bring about change. Moving to Salt Spring was an education for my late husband Tom and me. Here was a community of 2,300 people set to explode as developers saw great opportunities to make a lot of money. Salt Spring’s management was sketchy. Shortly before we arrived in 1967 a developer had planned a subdivision in the relatively small area around Howard Road next to us on St. Mary Lake with a plan for 75 city-sized lots each to have its own septic system. The Ministry of Health was the only regulatory group until 1966, the formation of the CRD, and …

A voice of experience. Susan Russell, a business woman, teacher and community volunteer served as a Salt Spring PARC commissioner for 6 years. Having worked within the current system, she became an advocate for a municipal governance. "As a PARC commissioner I helped with the community process of initiating and approving the Rainbow Road Pool, including the successful referendum, ensuring funding, and ensuring community support. I worked with good people as fellow commissioners, but the biggest stumbling block to our initiatives and successes was the lack of an incorporated municipality. I attended meetings, and followed the proceedings of the Island Trust. I came to appreciate the role of the Island Trust in their "preserve and protect” mandate for our community and our values."

So which side are you on - Positively NO or Negatively YES? The Incorporation question by it’s nature divides our community rather than uniting it in creating an inclusive model for self-government. Some folks win, and others inevitably lose. Why would we do this to ourselves? (More below). Once upon a time the Duncan area was every bit as lovely as Salt Spring Island, but for decades Duncan has had a different form of government than we have here. Salt Spring Island is protected by the Islands Trust, and the difference is priceless. Perhaps the easiest way to appreciate SSI is to leave it for a while. Go anywhere else that has a comparable population and notice what happens when your environment becomes a commodity. We’re not unique in that Salt Spring Island faces some challenges (are you self-employed or unemployed)? There are good jobs to be had, but also many low-wage part time jobs that coincide with a seasonal shortage of decent, affordable housing. T…