All candidates have been sent the same questions to respond to.
1. What triggered you to make this step and run for municipal office?
It’s the right time for me. I’ve wrapped up most of my business obligations but I‘m too young and have too much energy to simply retire.
It’s also time because partisan politics are raising havoc with how I believe a Council should work.
It’s time for independent voices to come together to articulate the views of all Islanders.
2. What common ground do you share with the other candidates running in this election?
That’s the interesting thing about our situation. At a practical level most of us agree on most things. At the all-candidates meetings you will likely see a very high level of agreement. Our problem is with actually moving projects forward. I’m excited about the people running this time. I see strong intelligent voices that can come together to form a more balanced Council.
3. What are your top three priorities for Bowen?
We need to have a Municipal government that is predictable and transparent with no surprises. I even want us to be boring: no 1300 name petitions to council, no national news coverage, no angry crowds demanding to be heard by council.
Council must work deliberately towards whatever goals are established during our initial strategy sessions. My assumption is that the projects our new council selects will reflect the priorities already established over the last decade.
It’s time for us to have a council that understands that we can only move forward with as much as our staff can handle. There is no point in constantly referring new priorities to staff when the workload cannot accommodate it.
Another priority must be full and open public process when reviewing new development proposals, particularly ones that would alter our Official Community Plan. And we must move immediately to re-establish proper protection of our beaches and foreshores.
4. Tell me about the community work you have done that your are most proud of?
Over the years I’ve served on a number of boards, committees and task forces but in truth I think my greatest contribution to the community has been the hundreds of columns I’ve written over the last decade in The Bulletin. My language is sometimes colourful and people often disagree with the opinions I express but they read it. Within those columns is a ton of information, gleaned from considerable research. Most of the time I’m able to articulate both sides of the debate at hand but occasionally the facts simply don’t allow for that. In those cases the column sounds more like a call to arms and people either love me or hate me when they have finished reading it. But still, it informs and promotes debate. Of course sometimes I’ve gotten it wrong but I’ve learned to admit my mistakes and move on. I enjoy writing them and generally speaking have found them very well received.
5. How will you work to make council open to the concerns and ideas of all Bowen Islanders?
There are two types of councils, open or closed. Our current council has been closed. Far too much has happened without public knowledge or input. If elected I commit to ensuring that council business will be conducted in the open. We will give islanders the information they need to participate in and influence decision making. One idea I like is to alternate meetings between day and evening. That way all of the housekeeping stuff like approving minutes and reports could be done at the day meetings while items of greater public interest and delegations to council could be scheduled for the evening meetings. I think people need to know that they will be welcome at Council meetings.
6. What do you love most about living on Bowen Island?
Everything except rainy Novembers; actually that’s not true; I really enjoy hiking to the many waterfalls on Bowen’s creeks. And the winter rains make them all the more spectacular.
I love our restaurants. You can tell a lot about a community by the quality of their restaurants and ours have reached the status of being a tourist attraction.
I love seeing children playing in the woods. They remind us why our lifestyle has to be protected.
And I love the future we can collectively build; it’s time.
