A few random items as the 2022 election comes to a close

A few random items as the 2022 election comes to a close

A few random items as the 2022 election comes to a close

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BRONCO’S FINAL RIDE

During all the bluster and chaos of local government elections, you might have missed the announcement that Bill “Bronco” Moncrief died on Sept. 15 at Glacier View Lodge.

Recent newcomers to the Comox Valley are not likely to know Bronco, but he played a key role in shaping the community for almost a half-century.  His passing should be noted.

Moncrief got his nickname because he was a fiery individual who could ignite at a moment’s notice. And it was a rough ride if you had struck the match.

He was first elected in 1967 as a Village of Cumberland Alderman and then served as mayor for more than 30 years, starting in 1969.

 

WHAT IS MANNO DOING IN GREECE?

Poor Manno Theos. The incumbent seeking re-election to Courtenay City Council has been maligned on social media and on this website over whether he has a serious commitment to his elected position.

For most of the last four years, Theos has lived in Nanaimo and has been absent from the full array of council member obligations. And he’s been completely absent during this election campaign, spending his time in Greece.

After photos appeared online that show him in vacation mode, which drew criticisms on social media and on Decafnation, Theos floated the idea that he was there to handle his father’s estate.

He made it sound like his father had died recently and that he was there on a somber mission that he had been prevented from carrying out because of the pandemic. He painted himself as a victim of unfair criticism.

But thanks to community sources, we have learned that Theos’ dad died four and a half years ago, two years before the pandemic. Theos has flown to Greece since his father died and before the Covid lockdown began.

So, not a recent death, plenty of time to handle affairs, a pre-Covid trip to Greece, and photos of him “vacationing.”

Meanwhile, Theos has missed the entire campaign. Maybe he didn’t want to answer questions about his residency and commitment to council work. The trip seems poorly timed for a politician seeking re-election, or maybe not.

But hanging out in Greece hasn’t stopped Theos from attacking Mayor Bob Wells and other council members on his social media pages.

And, perhaps most egregiously, Theos recently posted a negative attack on Councillor Melanie McCollum. McCollum just lost her mother to a bicycle-truck accident and is actually grieving. But no condolences from Theos who claims he’s still grieving four years later.

We hope personal integrity still matters to Courtenay voters and that they give Theos a good reason to stay in Nanaimo.

 

LIES AND MORE DAMN LIES

When you run for public office, you have to expect intense scrutiny of everything about you. And it helps to have a Teflon coat so that the lies and unfounded attacks never stick.

Electoral Area A Director Daniel Arbour recently issued a public statement after negative phone calls were made claiming that he was funded or controlled by the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation.

“This is crazy. My campaign expenses will be about $1,700 and it looks like a handful of residents across Area A are covering the bulk of it,” Arbour said. “I was saddened to hear from one of our elders on Hornby who had received a call and was shocked and confused by the claims and accusations made against me … Shame on the person or group who is fabricating this nonsense. If I was richer and had time on my hand, I would hire a lawyer … and sue them for defamation.”

 

SHADOWY RIGHT-WING GROUPS POPPING UP EVERYWHERE

Climate denial has been a stealth candidate in several BC municipal elections, according to a review by The Energy Mix and published in The Watershed Sentinel.

“When voters go to the polls, some will be able to cast their ballot for candidates running as members of a “slate” backed by elector organizations like Surrey First, founded in 2008 by a group of citizens concerned about rampant development in their community. But a number of other such civic political parties are very new on the scene, including Maple Ridge First, ParentsVoice BC, Viva Victoria, and Kelowna’s Spirit Alliance, all of which were founded in September, a review by The Energy Mix has found.”

Read the full article here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHERE AND WHEN TO VOTE

General Voting Day is Saturday, Oct. 15 for all local government positions.

Comox Valley Regional District

General Voting Day and advance voting take place at the CVRD building in Courtenay from 8 am to 8 pm.

Go to this link for General Voting Day locations in the three Electoral Areas.

Courtenay

General Voting Day, Saturday, October 15, 2022, 8 am to 8 pm at the Queneesh Elementary School, and at the Florence Filberg Centre.

Comox

General Voting Day runs from 8 am to 8 pm on Oct. 15 at the Comox Community Centre.

Cumberland

All voting in the Village of Cumberland takes place from 8 am to 8 pm at the Cumberland Cultural Centre.

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Here’s the latest Comox Valley local government election results

Mayor Bob Wells and all Courtenay incumbent councillors have been re-elected. Evan Jolicoeur has also been elected. Manno Theos has lost his seat.

Jonathan Kerr, Jenn Meilleur, Steve Blacklock, Chris Haslett, Ken Grant and Maureen Swift have been elected in Comox.

Vickey Brown has been elected mayor in Cumberland, defeating long-time mayor and councillor Leslie Baird.

Voting down -20.6% in Courtenay, -22.3% in Comox and -50.9% in Cumberland.

Full results with Electoral Areas A, B and C, school board and Islands Trust results in the morning.

Daniel Arbour in Area A and Edwin Grieve in Area C won by wide margins. Richard Hardy defeated Arzeena Hamir by 23 votes.

Shannon Aldinger topped the polls in races for SD71 school trustees.

Click the headline on this page for complete results and voter turnout.

Our recommendations in the 2022 Comox Valley local government elections

Decafnation announces its list of preferred candidates in this year’s local government elections and for the first time we identify candidates that we think show promise and provide our reasons for not endorsing the other candidates. Our endorsements fall on the first day of voting at advance polls

The Week: How sorry are you for people pleading “trapped” in Arizona or Mexico?

The Week: How sorry are you for people pleading “trapped” in Arizona or Mexico?

George Le Masurier photo

The Week: How sorry are you for people pleading “trapped” in Arizona or Mexico?

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Thanks to all those who completed the survey and participated in Decafnation’s first-ever Local Government Performance Review.

The survey will close Saturday night and we’ll start analyzing the results. We plan to publish our story about the survey next week with appropriate charts and graphs.

The idea behind the survey was to check in on the community’s level of satisfaction roughly midway through our elected officials’ terms in office. Having an indication of whether people are satisfied or not might give some the confidence to keep doing what they’re doing and cause others to rethink their strategies.

LAST CHANCE to participate in the survey. Do it now

Based on the 2018 election, it’s possible that by this time next year candidates will start declaring their intention to seek re-election or to unseat incumbents.

 

It’s interesting to see former Credit Union manager Rick Kellow reigniting his political activism in the Comox Valley. Back in 1992 when Kellow ran for Comox Town Council he said his policy was “to boldly step where no one has gone before.” It was almost a quote from Star Wars.

Kellow’s bold step was to say that councillors (called aldermen, then) should stop bickering and face hard facts, including the high cost of a park on Comox Hill and the futility of trying to keep the town “a village by the sea.”

 

How sorry are you for the folks who, despite almost everyone in the entire universe telling them not to travel out of the country, went to Mexico or Palm Desert anyway? If you’re like me, the answer is, “I’m not.”

The Times-Colonist, the conservative Victoria newspaper, has been giving a voice to people who feel entitled to ignore the recommendations of Canada’s top Medical Health Officer and the Prime Minister. And now they’re running stories about people “trapped” in sunny places like Arizona.

Yesterday, the T-C gave top-of-the-page billing to a Parksville couple who want an exemption from paying $2,000 to quarantine in a hotel while awaiting results of a COVID test. Ray and Joanne Moschuk said they should be exempt because Arizona “is our home.”

Their home? Ray might want to be careful about that because if he’s claiming residence in Arizona, he’ll lose his BC Medical Services Plan.

Moschuk also questioned Canada’s legal right to penalize its own citizens. I’m guessing that’s a long shot, but just in case he’s right I’m digging up the amount I paid for those speeding tickets 25 years ago.

So many people have made sacrifices — serious sacrifices — during this pandemic in order to obey the recommendations of Dr Bonnie Henry and Dr Tam. They didn’t travel. They haven’t hugged grandchildren. They didn’t have a family Christmas dinner.

They make the Moschuk’s look like a pair of spoiled brats.

Just for some warmer weather, they travelled to a country with the third-worst infection rate in the world, where more than 120,000 new cases occur every day, and now they complain about taking a test on their return?

Recently the T-C also published a long, rambling op-ed by the Fraser Institute’s Gwyn Morgan that urged people to defy the Prime Minister and travel internationally. Along the way, he disparaged jobless CERB recipients and accused them of cheating the system.

Then, in a separate column, the newspaper’s editor and publisher, Dave Obee, defended his decision to run the irresponsible column.

Apparently, the Times-Colonist has muddled the concept of we’re all in this together and pulling in the same direction to defeat a common enemy.

 

We all hope that someday someone will find a clever way for the whole world to willingly reduce its collective carbon emissions and save the human race from extinguishing itself.

But based on the level of thinking in Alberta, don’t make any bets.

The province’s United Conservative government is determined to increase coal mining in the Rocky Mountains. That in itself is mind-boggling. Worldwide coal production declined 14 percent in recent years and the US has cut coal-fired electricity generation by 40 percent.

And it gets worse.

Alberta’s elected leaders say they have enacted “strict regulatory standards,” but in reality have scrapped monitoring two rivers and a creek that have already shown high levels of selenium, a toxic byproduct of coal mining operations.

And the town of High River has asked the United Conservative government to stop coal exploration in their area.

Is there no other economic hope for Albertans than to be the eager suppliers to the world’s last remaining climate-destroying power plants? They’re going to be the pusher that delivers the last spike into the atmospheric vein?

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