by George Le Masurier | Sep 9, 2018
After a one-term absence, Starr Winchester is carrying on a long family tradition of public service in seeking another term on the Courtenay City Council
Former Courtenay Mayor Starr Winchester hopes to extend her 21 years of leadership by once again seeking a City Council position.
Winchester has already served two stints on council, the first one for 12 years and the second for three years before losing by just a few votes in the 2014 election. In between her City Council terms, she also served six years as mayor.
“I love local government,” Winchester says. “It’s in my blood; it’s all I’ve know since childhood.”
Winchester’s father, Bill Moore served several terms as mayor of Courtenay in the 1970s, and was the MLA for the North Island in the 1950s and 1960s.
Losing her seat in the 2014 election was a disappointment, but it turned out to be fortuitous. In the last four years, she’s beat breast cancer and mourned the loss of two close friends.
“It became a good time for me to reflect on what I really want to do with my life,” she said.
FURTHER READING: See who’s running for local government this year on our Elections 2018 page
This time around, Winchester is focused on traffic and taxation issues.
She feels the council mishandled the recent hiring of 16 new staff and reclassifying one employee, and she didn’t like to see the staff criticized in public over the issue. It’s the council that makes these decisions, she says.
“How did we get to the point where we needed to hire 17 people all at once,” she said.
The former mayor sees tax savings in combining selected services with Comox and the rural areas, such as planning departments, fire departments and public works.
“It can be done,” Winchester said, pointing to her efforts in the past to form the Regional Playing Field function at the regional district and in creating the Comox Valley Art Gallery.
She counts an improved status for provincial funding among the benefits of consolidating services.
Looking back on her terms as mayor, Winchester cites splitting the Comox and Strathcona Regional Districts into two separate jurisdictions as her “proudest moment” and greatest accomplishment.
“Finally, the Comox Valley could do its own planning,” she said.
On traffic issues, Winchester believes a third crossing of the Courtenay River is inevitable. But the cost will have to be shared regionally, especially with Comox.
In the meantime, she thinks a widening of the 17th Street bridge could relieve traffic congestion to tolerable levels.
She also thinks the city has too many traffic studies.
“We just need to get them all out, review them and make some decisions,” she said.
But she fully supports the Courtenay Airpark and the Kus-kus-sum project, indicating that 21st Street isn’t a good third crossing option because it threatened both.
Winchester thinks the city’s regulations on carriage houses and secondary suites should be relaxed, so people don’t have to apply for a variance to create them. She wants to increase density in the city’s core and make housing more available and affordable.
And to increase government transparency, she would like to see internet streaming of all regional board meetings, including the water and sewer commissions.
by George Le Masurier | Sep 6, 2018
Former Alberta Liberal Party leader Kevin Taft will discuss his new book in Courtenay on Sept. 13, telling the story of how the collision between climate change and the oil industry subverted the democratic process in Canada
Former Alberta Liberal Party leaders and author Kevin Taft will talk about his latest book, “Oil’s Deep State,” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 13 at the Lower Native Sons Hall in Courtenay. The event will be moderated by Campbell River filmmaker and journalist Damien Gillis.
Most Canadians believe — or want to believe — in a direct connection between casting their ballot in provincial and federal elections and the democratic process. We like to think that checking a box every four years or so determines our nation’s policies and our future.
But as Kevin Taft’s new book, “Oil’s Deep State’” reveals this isn’t necessarily so.
There are darker and deeper forces at work that, left unchecked, can have a greater influence over our political, civil service and regulatory institutions at all levels of government.
Taft writes from the perspective of an insider. He was the Alberta Liberal Party leader from 2001 to 2012, and formed the official opposition from 2004 to 2008.
His book tells the story of the collision between global warming and Canada’s oil industry and how democracy got squeezed in the middle.
And more specifically, Taft details how the Alberta NDP party, which was elected in 2015 on promises of challenging the oil industry’s dominance in the province, became the oil sands biggest promoter.
The flip-flop by Alberta’s NDP occured, Taft says, because of the “deep state” created by the powerful oil and gas industry.
Damien Gillis, a Campbell River documentary filmmaker, who will introduce Taft during his book tour stop in Courtenay on Sept. 13, says that a “deep state” occurs when political parties, government agencies, arm’s length regulators and university researchers lose their independence.
Gillis, who also co-founded the Common Sense Canadian with former Social Credit party cabinet minister Rafe Mair, says that Taft’s book charts Alberta politics from premiers Peter Lougheed through Ralph Klein, and exposes how the oil industry has co-opted Alberta’s public institutions into believing its economy is dependent on oil field royalties.
According to Taft, here’s what happened: The world became aware in the 1980s of the impact of fossil fuels on global warming and other climate changes. The oil industry feared its collapse and began a fierce lobbying campaign to save themselves.
Their efforts convinced the Stephen Harper government to pull out of the Kyoto Accord on climate change, and federal scientists were silenced, not unlike how US President Trump is now reshaping that country’s Environmental Protection Agency.
Federal Liberals and the Alberta NDP joined the oil sands bandwagon. The Alberta energy regulator was an ex oil executive and millions of tax dollars flowed to universities to rebut fossil fuels impact on climate change and create the notion that the province’s economy depended on a healthy oil industry.
In the end, the Canadian oil industry gained virtual oversight of the political mindset in Alberta and in the federal government.
And yet, Taft says, Alberta gets more revenue from gaming and liquor than oil sands revenue.
“Alberta’s oil industry is not indispensable to its or Canada’s economy,” Gillis says. “Just as BC is not dependent on forestry stumpage fees or fishing tonnage fees.”
But the public does have tools to combat a deep state when it forms, according to Gillis.
“Even when when big oil had everything lined up — a Harper majority, BC Liberals, Alberta conservatives — the public has power through the constitution, the courts, grassroots movements and First Nations support,” Gillis said.
Following Taft’s presentation in Courtenay, Gillis will moderate a question and answer period with the author.
by George Le Masurier | Sep 3, 2018
Courtenay City Council candidate Brennan Day believes that with good planning, the Comox Valley can grow without without losing its charm or small town feel. He would improve infrastructure, housing affordability and promote greater City Council transparency and better communication
Brennan Day believes the silent majority is under-represented on the Courtenay City Council, but that’s not the only reason he’s running for office this year.
He wants to make housing more affordable, properly plan for population growth, ensure the city spends its money wisely, improve infrastructure and create more transparency in local government.
As a 25-year resident who was raised in the Comox Valley, Day understands the desire to maintain the small town characteristics that people love. He just doesn’t see that as mutually exclusive with what he regards as inevitable growth.
“We can’t pretend the Valley won’t continue to grow,” he said. “If we do, and bury our heads in the sand, we’ll get sprawl. But if we plan for growth, we can improve infrastructure so that the community still feels small.”
Day and his wife, a former Denman Island resident, and their one-year-old child moved back to the Valley in 2016, after spending the previous 10 years living and working in Kazakhstan. He worked as a manager for Arctic Group International, which specializes in services for Kazakhstan’s oil and gas industry.
Day currently works for Hyland Precast in Cumberland.
FURTHER READING: Who is running for municipal office this year, go to our Elections 2018 page.
The Valley’s infrastructure lags behind neighboring communities like Campbell River, according to Day, because we’re not recognized as an urban center and split into smaller municipal populations.
“This should concern everyone, because we’re missing out on federal and provincial funding as a result,” he said. “We don’t get a proportional return on our taxes.”
Day isn’t promoting amalgamation, but he sees considerable savings in consolidating services such as fire departments and parks.
“I believe City Council has to be responsible with tax dollars,” he said. “We’re currently overspending for the services we get. Consolidating services could be a transitional step to lowering the tax burden.”
Describing himself as a moderate fiscal conservative, which he believes mirrors the majority of Courtenay residents, Day disagreed with the City Council’s recent decision to hire more employees, because the process was flawed.
“Their methodology was okay, acceptable,” he said. “But there was no attempt to look at spending accounts first.”
With a windfall surplus, he said City Council “seemed desperate to spend it rather than cut taxes.” Had council looked harder at expense accounts, Day says he might have approved the hirings.
The candidate points to the aging Fifth Street bridge as an example of the city’s failure to plan for infrastructure improvement.
“That bridge is about 30 years past its life cycle, and we’re going to have to replace it,” he said. “What are we going to do when it no longer passes safety inspections?”
Day believes a third crossing of the Courtenay River will eventually be needed, but says the city should work with the province to make improvements to the 17th Street bridge first.
While City Council has to consider all available options, he thinks a new bridge at 21st St. that would close the Courtenay Airpark should be the lowest priority.
And the city could avoid miscommunications with citizens like the Courtenay Airpark Association if the council was more transparent. He calls the council’s communication efforts “terrible.”
Day would advocate for more robust minutes that show how each council member voted in all decisions, not just those motions that fail.
“If elected, I would publicize a position piece on every vote I cast,” he said. “People should know why council members voted the way they did.”
And he would restrict in-camera sessions because they “don’t give the public confidence.”
Day would also support efforts to make housing more affordable in the city, including allowing carriage houses and suites without going through an amendment process, and other easy steps to densify the urban core.
“These things can get us to the goal quicker,” he said. “And they have a smaller impact than putting up high rise buildings.”
Day would also promote creating more industrial development land, which he says is in short supply.
“Industrial land is scattered around and about half of it is covered by mini-storage operations,” he said. “If it doesn’t exist, where are the new jobs going to go?”
by George Le Masurier | Aug 27, 2018
Wendy Morin, a substance abuse counsellor with the John Howard Society and a co-founder of the Comox Valley Girls Group, is running for Courtenay City Council. She would focus on housing, social issues and the environment
A founding resident of Courtenay’s Tin Town live-work neighborhood hopes to bring her social consciousness and long-time connection with Comox Valley youth to the City Council.
Wendy Morin, a lifelong resident of the Valley, will launch her campaign at 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 9 outside of the Tin Town Cafe.
The youth and family substance use counsellor at the John Howard Society believes voters will find her 20-year experience in advocacy, collaboration, creative problem-solving and relationship-building an asset to the council.
Morin, who thought about running in 2010 and again in 2014, thinks the current City Council has made good progress in her primary areas of interest: social issues, the environment and affordable housing.
“But we’re losing some of them now,” she said.
Bob Wells, David Frisch and Erik Eriksson are running for mayor and at least two will lose their council seats. Rebecca Lennox, the lone woman on council, is retiring, a fact that Morin laments.
“When we have more women on council, we’re better represented,” she said.
Morin is the co-creator of the Comox Valley Girls Group, which has provided training for young women, from age 12 through 21, about how to deal with societal pressures and learn skills for healthy living.
The program operates under the umbrella of the Comox Valley Transition Society. During its 20 years, Morin estimates that more than 400 young women have been helped to navigate their way through the challenge of adolescence.
She hopes to engage more young people in municipal affairs through council outreach initiatives, as well as those who are marginalized through social inequality and feel disempowered.
“I want to help create a city that’s livable for everybody,” she said. “A city where nobody is left out of decision-making.”
But she also has views on a variety of specific issues.
Housing
Morin worries that the Valley has become unaffordable for young families. She supports diverse housing options that include promoting secondary suites, carriage houses, tiny homes and urban infill with incentives for developers.
She supports transitional and supportive housing.
She would like to use her council platform to promote neighborhood hubs “whether that’s a community school or center, cafes or coffee shops, parks or farmers markets.”
Morin opposes the 3L Developments proposal to build a new 740-house community near Stotan Falls because it’s a contravention of a core tenet of the Regional Growth Strategy to have sustainable long-term growth and infrastructure.
“And it (3L’s Riverwood proposal) would just abandon a plan (the RGS) that’s not that old,” she said. “Water, sewer and road infrastructure is just going to come back to the city eventually, and cost us more.”
Environment
Morin is the first and, so far, only candidate that supports the elimination of plastic bags. She would recommend more opportunities for community food gardens, green building and protections for forests, riparian areas and estuaries.
Economy
Attracting innovative businesses and clean industries tops Morin’s list of economic development objectives.
She supports adopting a social procurement policy similar to Cumberland’s to “offset taxation and improve the social wellbeing of the community.”
Transportation
Morin supports alternative modes of transportation to slow down growing traffic congestion and make it easier for those who cannot drive vehicles.
She opposes a bridge at 21st Street that “made no sense.”
Morin says the Courtenay Airpark “seems to be valuable,” because it supports economic development, tourism and health care. She knows of nurses who travel to remote places.
“I respect the Official Community Plan process,” she said. “I would support continuing to implement it, no abandon it.”
The city’s OCP states council’s support for the airpark, its commitment to protect it and encourage it to expand.
Social planning
Morin would advocate for a social planning position at the city. The position would coordinate the activities of an existing volunteer committee to improve the social health of the city, and offset hidden costs to taxpayers.
“If we improve food security, housing and access to health services, we benefit from economic spin-off and cost savings,” she said.
by George Le Masurier | Aug 7, 2018
The Courtenay Airpark Association believes the city is trying to close down this unique facility on the Vancouver Island coast. In a presentation to City Council today, Airpark volunteers will detail its economic, social and lifestyle benefits for the community
Editor’s note: this story was updated at 9 a.m. to include a Medivac helicopter landing at the Airpark last night due to unfavorable conditions at the hospital heli-pad.
Fearing that someone at Courtenay City Hall wants to turn the Airpark into a condo development, pilots and aviation business owners will pitch the facility’s economic benefits at 4 p.m. today (Aug. 7) to the City Council.
Closing the Courtenay Airpark would shutter several aviation businesses and put roughly 50 people out of work, not to mention the estimated indirect loss of more than $20 million in spin-off economic activity, social benefits and the displacing of 72 private aircraft to other Island communities.
So who is trying to close the Airpark?
Mo Perry, president of the Courtenay Airpark Association, isn’t sure. But he says the signals started well before city staff released a proposed update to its transportation plan that shows a new bridge going directly through the Airpark.
The city, which owns the Airpark land, has been converting leases for aviation businesses, hangars and the volunteer association that runs the aerodrome from a five-year term to month-to-month.
“No business can operate on month-to-month leases successfully,” Perry says. “The uncertainty stifles investment and growth.”
Al Pheaton’s International Aeroproducts Inc. employs 15 tradesmen and up to 30 during the busy winter months fabricating floats for seaplanes and during major restorations of Beaver and Otter aircraft. It’s known worldwide in the aviation community as one of the best in the business.
Pheaton’s business is so successful that he needs to expand his floorspace either into a second, separate building or by adding on to the existing one. But he can’t get approval from the City of Courtenay.
“And anyway, what bank is going to loan money to a business for expansion on a month-to-month lease,” Perry said.
FURTHER READING: Battle brewing over transportation plan; City bridge proposal would harm Airpark, Kus-kus-sum
The Courtenay Airpark is unique in British Columbia because it is accessible for both wheel and float planes. Pilots can bring their floatplanes in for repair and leave via wheeled planes.
But the city has been stalling a long, overdue restoration of the float plane ramp, despite provincial and federal support and approval for the project.
So when the proposed transportation plan update came out with a road and bridge through the Airpark’s runway, Perry said the city’s plan became obvious.
But Airpark volunteers don’t know who at city hall is trying to drive them out.
Current Mayor Larry Jangula and the three mayoralty candidates — David Frisch, Erik Eriksson and Bob Wells — have all previously told Decafnation that Airpark volunteers and business owners shouldn’t worry about the proposed third crossing at 21st Street.
“It’s just a concept,” Jangula said.
Decafnation emails Jangula and the three mayoralty candidates yesterday (Aug. 6) and asked if they were in favor of closing the Courtenay Airpark and using the land for some other purpose:
Eriksson said, “I like the Airpark.”
Frisch said, “That question has too many unknowns to give a yes or no answer. I do value the airpark amenity, but I must stay open to all possibilities for this city owned asset.”
Wells and Jangula did not reply.
Other organizations, like Project Watershed, are also alarmed by the 21st Street bridge proposal. A roadway and bridge there would slice Hollyhock Marsh in half and affect the group’s future restoration of the old Field’s Sawmill site, known now as Kus-kus-sum. The group has said it would oppose any crossing south of 17th Street.
Comox Valley Nature President Jim Boulter has said his organization is also opposed to the 21st Street bridge proposal.
Hollyhock Marsh is provincially owned and protected land, so it’s somewhat unlikely the city would be allowed to build a bridge through it.
But Perry and other Airpark volunteers, like Dave Mellin, worry that abandoning the bridge proposal won’t diminish the city’s attacks on the Airpark despite its 2016 Official Community Plan that requires council to “protect the integrity of the airpark and marina facilities at 20th Street; work with non-profit societies to improve and expand facilities as required.”
“The Airpark is the only park owned by the city that actually generates revenue,” Perry said. “All of their other parks cost the city money.”
WHAT’S AT STAKE
The Airpark was originally built by local pilots in the early 1960s. Eric Franklin was the first pilot to land there — on a gravel runway — in September of 1964.
Since its origin 55 years ago, all the improvements to the facility — except for provincial grants for paving the runway and installing an underground fuel system — have been funded from Airpark revenue or through volunteers.
Airpark businesses that include aircraft maintenance, flight schools and timber cruising have created up to 50 direct jobs and roughly 90 indirect jobs, producing about $50,000 in revenue annually for the city.
More than 700 student pilots and in excess of 200 air force cadets have completed their training at the Airpark. There are two Ministry of Transport approved flight schools on site.
The RCMP use the Airpark regularly, and it will continue to be used for patient transfers on Medivac flights because certain weather conditions will impede landing at the new hospital. A Medivac helicopter landed at the Airpark at 6 p.m. last night (aug. 6) because conditions at the hospital helipad were unfavorable.
“Can’t imagine landing on that hospital heli-pad on a typical Comox Valley blistery winter day with a loaded chopper,” Perry said.
In the event of an emergency, such as an earthquake, the Airpark is the only facility on the west side of the river for evacuation or medical transportation if bridges and roads are disabled.
CFB Comox 4 Construction Engineering Squadron does annual testing of the Airpark runway to ensure that it’s safe for certain military air operations if needed, such as Buffalo and helicopters.
WHO USES THE AIRPARK
Andreas Ruttkiewicz, a former military jet pilot, runs the Air Speed High Ultralight flight school. He started his business in 2007 in Victoria and moved it to Comox in 2011. He trains about 12 to 15 pilots a year.
Sealand Flight, a pilot training and aircraft rental company based in Campbell River, plans to open a Courtenay operation this month. It trains pilots for recreational, private and commercial certification.
International Aeroproducts Inc. is currently doing a complete restoration of a classic Beaver float plane and building sets of floats for several others, including a customer from Panama.
A Texada grocery store flies a Cessna 172 into the Courtenay Airpark three times every week to purchase products for resale to island residents. It’s less expensive and quicker than resupplying via ferry and ground transportation.
Land surveyor Dave Bazett houses two aircraft at the Airpark, one is an iconic de Havilland Beaver float plane that he uses in his work up and down the coast.
Mike Hamilton houses a helicopter at the Airpark used in his logging business, an operation he wants to expand.
On a tour Aug. 4 of the Airpark, Decafnation met several fliers.
Courtenay resident Karina Bakker (also A Mt. Washington ski patrol) just purchased a Cessna 172 on floats in Manitoba and flew it back to the Airpark. She was recently employed by Coril Air doing charter flights out of Campbell River.
“On the coast, there’s no freedom like flying with floats,” she said.
George and Cheryl T. (who asked to keep their last name private) flew in from Abbotsford on a Eurocopter EC120 helicopter with their two daughters to meet up with friends for a cruise on their catamaran sailboat.
Cheryl, who used to live in the Comox Valley, is also a pilot and has flown in and out of the Airpark often.
“This is a classic airport of the type we need to protect,” she said.
by Guest Writer | Aug 6, 2018
What are these guys so afraid of?
Opponents of electoral reform are afraid of losing their power
By Pat Carl
At Courtenay’s recent Downtown Market Days, I was out in the crowd talking with various people about proportional representation and handing them a half-page information sheet.
Some people stopped to talk. They wanted more information.
Others walked right by and said they had already made up their minds. That’s fine.
Still others saw me coming and changed their destination enough to avoid me. That’s fine, too.
Several people told me they don’t vote, never have, never will. Not fine, though a symptom, I think, of what’s wrong with our electoral system.
But, almost to a person, everyone I spoke with was respectful, tolerant, and polite in that way that defines us as Canadians.
Notice that I said “almost.”
One older fellow came up to me and said, “It’s all a set-up. A few crazies holding the rest of us hostage.”
His comment felt like a drive-by since he walked away without giving me the chance to respond. But he came back almost immediately, his face red, his arms wind-milling, his voice growing louder as he became more apoplectic. “What we have works and is fine and this whole thing is just a waste of time and money.”
Although not a big man, the level of his frustration and anger surprised me enough that I back-pedaled away from him.
Thankfully, he stomped off then, muttering to himself.
As I watched him go, I thought about the full-page anti-PR ads, the meanspirited commentaries, and the manipulative language and examples designed by the individuals, organizations, and, yes, the BC Liberal Party in their attempts to activate some of the public’s worst fears and biases.
We have individuals like Jim Shepard, the wealthy tycoon and former CEO of forestry giant, Canfor, who recently spent big bucks running full-page anti-PR ads in BC publications, both large and small. In the ads he asserts that the referendum lacks legitimacy because it’s too complex and confusing for people to understand. A person who reads the referendum sees just how ridiculous this claim is.
British Columbians are quite capable of understanding these questions. Perhaps Shepard is implying we’re slow on the up-take.
We have organizations like the No BC Proportional Representation Society headed by Bill Tieleman, Suzanne Anton, and Bob Plecas. Both Plecas and Anton are apt to entone their mantra repeatedly that the current system is simple, stable and effective, so, they assert, there’s no reason to change to a proportional one. Tieleman’s mantra is that proportional representation will lead to the rise of his favourite bogeyman, fringe parties.
These Gang of Three are master manipulators of a human cognitive glitch called the illusionary truth effect. Repeat lies or half truths often enough and the public will believe them. Think about how this works south of Canada’s border and you’ll get the idea.
We have a party, the Liberal Party, so thoroughly opposed to proportional representation that Andrew Wilkinson, now the Liberal Party’s leader, made clear reference to defeating it in his leadership acceptance speech back in February. If anything, the Liberals are bracing for all-out war, as one columnist called it, in its desperate bid to defeat electoral reform.
All this, despite the Attorney General having built a fail-safe provision into the electoral referendum. On page 7 of the AG’s report, How We Vote, it states:
If the result of the 2018 referendum is the adoption of a proportional representation voting system, a second referendum [shall] be held, after two provincial general elections in which the proportional representation voting system is used, [to determine] whether to keep that voting system or revert to the First Past the Post voting system.
That’s right, a do-over.
With that in their back pockets, I ask, “What are these guys so afraid of?”
The answer, in a nutshell – they’re afraid of losing power.
They’re afraid that lobbying efforts, so long the method most used by the wealthy and corporations to get their way, will be less effective and cost a great deal more in both time and money when they must lobby coalition governments.
They’re afraid that a government that actually reflects the majority of voters will make it more difficult for special interests to have unfettered access to the public purse.
They’re afraid that they will have to actually convince at least one other party of the wisdom of their policy direction.
They’re afraid that voters will vote for who actually represents them and their values.
They’re afraid that the will of the many will win out over the greed of a few.
Pat Carol is a member of Fair Vote Comox Valley and a Citizen Journalist for The Civic Journalism Project. She may be contacted at patcarl0808@gmail.com
