Re: “New-candidates-only town halls spur tension,” Nov. 4.
It doesn’t surprise me that new candidates for Saanich council want their own forum, as the all-candidates’ meeting I attended was orchestrated by the incumbents so that the biggest issue of all, sewage, was barely given a mention. It’s hardly surprising they want to suppress the issue, considering the fiasco so far and the millions of dollars wasted.
Of the set questions from the moderator, the first one was on sewage. The question was whether the wastewater project was good for the environment. Only a one word answer, yes or no, was permitted. For all the other questions that evening, each candidate stood and had one minute to talk.
When it came to input from the audience, one man stepped up to the microphone way before anyone else. His question was about sewage. At last, I thought, we’re going to have a discussion on the issue. But no. The moderator asked him if he’d like his question answered by all the candidates. He waffled a bit and then amazingly picked out just one specific candidate, an incumbent, to talk for a minute about sewage.
There was much discussion about how to deal with difficult neighbours and the traffic problem on Claremont Hill, but by far the most important issue to everybody in the room was barely given a mention.
Definitely time for change.
Christine Benn
Victoria
