— I do support the OCP adopted in 2022. While acknowledging that the issue involving the new development north of Herd Road was a complex and controversial challenge, I would have, with some degree of unease, denied the amendment, and stuck to the OCP.

— I am not sure how these applications are tied to the OCP, if at all. I would need more information to answer this question with any degree of confidence in my stance. From a personal perspective, I have seen that many of the recent developments in the valley are far from capacity, mainly due to the crushing rents, I would guess. Approval for more development should be contingent on lack of capacity. With a huge new development slated for Paddle Road, I would be very reluctant to commit to anything more than the 4,200 units described in the model.

— This is a valley issue, and we should work with the City of Duncan to address the problem. Four hundred homeless, some with mental health issues, some with addiction problems, and some just down on their luck, is a huge challenge and there is no easy answer. My own perspective is that you cannot fix the problem the way we are grappling with it now. I am not an expert by any means, but it seems to me that housing is the bedrock to improving the situation. Meaning we cannot fix mental health issues, drug addiction and crime (poverty is the Mother of crime) while we leave these folks adrift on the streets. I believe that social housing, with supports built in, is the first step to recovery. Once people have the security of a place to stay, we can begin to address the other issues. To have emergency responders revive someone twice in one day (which I have personally witnessed) and then return him to the streets is neither compassionate nor helpful; it merely prolongs the inevitable. Social housing requires the support of the provincial and federal governments. It should be part of a national policy to address this nation-wide dilemma.

— I believe in the science attesting that climate change has been greatly accelerated by human activity. While warming and cooling cycles have always been part of the earth’s history, the rate of current change is catastrophic, and is due to what we have done to the atmosphere. When I was a student at Royal Roads in 2002-04 all of their campus vehicles were electric. The Municipality could strive for that level of commitment. I think the OCP did an admirable job of addressing climate change and thoughtful energy use in the OCP. As individuals, there is always more that each of us can do. The responsibility for a secure future lies with all of us.

— The public voted in favour of conservation management, partly due to the statement that the revenue created by sustainable logging could be more than offset by selling carbon credits. I believe it may have been a group from UBC who put forth the idea. I think that fact swayed the opinion of many people. Unfortunately, such selling of credits has not transpired, according to my research. The Municipal Forest Reserve has generated no income since 2019, which is a shame, because that income was used to support the maintenance of the recreational trails for hikers and bikers, the planting of over one million seedlings, and to pay for half the salary of the Municipal Forester at the time, in charge of the Reserve. Apparently, First Nations are considering the carbon credits avenue as the Memorandum is being discussed, but details are still not available.

(Note from sixmountains.ca: the UBC Partnership Group, including 3GreenTree, delivered a report to council in November 2022 that looked favourably on carbon credits. Council hired consultants KPMG to confirm those results. KPMG concluded in June 2023 that the 3GreenTree “analysis and supporting data provides a reasonable and conservative approach to demonstrate the initial potential of a forest carbon project.” Council has yet to conduct a more detailed examination of carbon credits in the forest reserve.)

— The Memorandum of Understanding, as I have been able to interpret, gives First Nations a share of any revenues created by the Municipal Forest Reserve. At present, a share of nothing is nothing. Perhaps revenue from carbon credits will materialize, perhaps FN will want to resume logging in a sustainable way. It would benefit all citizens of North Cowichan, and FN, if talks were to accelerate. We could all use the revenue.

(Background: https://www.sixmountains.ca/article/1ddbc651-184e-44bb-a82c-c465182e48d7 )

— The public should absolutely be kept up to date on talks. One update in four years is not acceptable. Regardless of the structure of co-management that is created, the citizens of North Cowichan should have a say in the future of the reserve. Keep in mind also that treaty negotiations are ongoing. How will those outcomes affect North Cowichan and the forest reserve?

Read more on Bellis: https://www.sixmountains.ca/article/1c6c2356-54ff-4d9f-9e24-2ee5f87db392