Dear Editor:
Moving to Bowen Island in the late 1980s, Anne and I have had the privilege to enjoy the strong community spirit that always prevailed through the years, despite the usual conflicts of private interests attempting to establish a vision of economical success at the expense of the well-being of all residents. Much was accomplished by many dedicated residents over the years, that’s beneficial to all today. The community centre is one of the accomplishments to be realized soon. Opinion may vary to extremes; that is the reality of a healthy democracy. Periodically, we elect a number of official representatives to manage the evolution of the community way of life and protect equally the well-being of all residents, with the help of the administration of the municipality.
This necessitates an unbiased attitude from all elected officials that must be required also from all members of their administrative staff. Is it not what we are entitled to expect?
The well-being and interests of all members of the community must prevail against the interests of individual vision of pretense when conflicts arise. We are supposed to be regulated by bylaws established to manage those situations with an overall Official Community Plan revised regularly by resident committees and public hearings. Are we not supposed, as electors, to be well-informed of any changes in those regulations or bylaws and given the possibility to agree or to object to such changes, in a true democratic manner?
All this is presented here with proper objectivity, in a positive way to be expected of everyone in our community. It is, therefore, very disappointing to read the comments of a letter to the editor, objecting to the various controversies past and present on the island, describing the residents involved as being not positive and responsible of interfering with the potential benefits that the objected proposals would provide to the community. Nothing objective is presented regarding the point of view of the opposing members. Sorry, but this is not beneficial to the democratic process of fair exchange. This is in no other term, simple demagoguery and it has no place on Bowen Island.
Thank you,
André Chollat
