What I Said

Sustain and improve local food production I believe food security is a key issue for us to address as we move forward.

What I Did

I did not support removal of ALR for a subdivision. Worked at the CRD through the update of the Regional Growth Strategy to a new Regional Sustainability Strategy (RSS) to see Food Security be included. In fact, it was the number one issue residents raised and is now captured in the work CRD staff are doing to pull together the “draft” RSS that will then go out for public engagement.

Met with medical health officer to discuss why local hospitals and care homes should provide local food. I was pleased to see this year VIHA is opening up full kitchens and the new contractor is committed to providing local food. A positive step forward.

What I Said

There is a need to create more affordable housing.

What I Did

Saanich continues to require developers to donate funds to Saanich for affordable housing. The problem with this is the fund will never get close to even buying land. What we need is more physical units.  I continue to speak out about this issue. We need units, not money … the need is real. With the kind of density that some are saying we need, Saanich needs to define a percentage of new units to be affordable units. Plus, affordability also means where they are located, near transit, and the operating costs (ie energy) of the unit.

What I Said

Saanich needs to plan around climate changes. I encouraged that we develop a Climate Adaptation Plan.

What I Did

After attending FCM’s conference and viewing a presentation by the Insurance Industry of Canada, I came back and met with our CAO around concerns that the change in weather patterns could have on our infrastructure and environment.

I’m pleased to say Saanich has adopted an Adaptation Plan. This Plan (it was the first in the province) provides us with valuable planning and investment around protecting our infrastructure that could be at risk.

CRD water has already started to reinforce their infrastructure around this issue as well.

 

What didn’t happen in this term?

We did not establish a Regional Transportation Authority to manage our transportation in an integrated “regional” approach. There is hope as we continue to work on a Regional Transportation Corridor Plan and integrating Transit Commission authority to the CRD Board.

We did not get to curbside collection of kitchen scraps. Saanich will be piloting a project this next year. CRD will be moving to ban organics from business waste next year and hopefully we will complete the process to include residences by 2013.