Re: Voters return mayor, 5 incumbents (News, Oct. 20)
Municipal elections gone wrong
Though it seems that the voters have returned Sooke mayor and councillors to power, it was hardly a reason for a “victory party. Only 26 per cent of the voters went to the polls, which actually means that the mayor got 18 per cent and the councillors - from 8 to 13 per cent of the residents’ votes.
Seventy-four per cent of the residents didn’t vote, thus, the new council does not represent them. This is the lowest voter turnout in B.C., with the average turnout being 37 per cent.
So I think that the council shouldn’t “feel great” or that they’re “on track”. It feels more like they’re on track to destroying our environment and quality of life by planting a dense forest of buildings in place of thousands of cut-down trees.
The climate crisis doesn’t happen on its own – we are creating it. Not realizing that we’re part of the environment, the worse we are, the worse it is.
Nobody in Sooke wants us to be like Langford, turning into a concrete jungle. But Langford residents woke up, united in a coalition Langford Now, and replaced their council. Whereas Sooke residents still have to wake up and take action if they care about the place they live in. What are we waiting for?
Nina Leshinskaya
Sooke
editor@sookenewsmirror.com
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