Comment: Political parties have no place in our municipal politics

It would appear that the District of North Saanich has a new civic party registered with Elections B.C.

Stuart Mackinnon in the Times Colonist

It would appear that the District of North Saanich has a new civic party registered with Elections BC. Most municipal elections in British Columbia are contested by independents. Members of the community seek office on their own merit. The exception is the large communities in the Lower Mainland that have developed party machinery, resulting in block voting and a loss of independent thinking.

This is not the first time North Saanich has had an electoral machine. A group called Team North Saanich emerged to contest the 2011 local elections, successfully backing a conservative-leaning majority of local councillors. The organization unravelled during the 2014 general local election. Four of their five slate candidates were defeated, leaving only one member elected to council. In the 2022 municipal election, a registered third-party sponsor group, Save North Saanich, managed to elect all but one of their endorsed candidates, resulting in a very dysfunctional council. Partisan politics has not served this community well.

In a 2024 article about Saskatoon, The Centre for Policy Alternatives describes it this way: “Since the municipal Reform movement of the early 20th century, the public, politicians, and academics have overwhelmingly talked about municipal politics as something that is uncontroversial and fundamentally not about partisan division. Instead, we like to imagine municipal policy-making as a technocratic exercise based around competent management of city services. As the saying goes, there’s no liberal or conservative way to fill a pothole.”1

The issue in North Saanich seems to be preservation of our rural landscape, described as development versus no development. But this appears to be a red herring, as virtually everyone I have spoken to wants to preserve our special relationship with agriculture, nature, and our rural character while acknowledging more housing is necessary. Rather, the issue seems to be no-growth versus smart growth. Anger versus rational debate. Not in my backyard versus development in select areas already zoned for development.

We have seen similar arguments in other wealthy enclaves like West Vancouver, Anmore, and the Shaughnessy neighbourhood in Vancouver: angry, wealthy landowners not wanting any changes in their communities. In Vancouver, one resident referred to themselves as the ‘crème de la crème’ when opposing the idea of having rapid transit at the periphery of their neighbourhood.

Change and growth are inevitable. How that change and growth are managed is not. Anger and exclusionary tactics won’t preserve our agricultural base and natural beauty. As we have seen, this approach has simply brought the interference of the provincial government to a dysfunctional municipal council.

Choosing seven independent individuals shouldn’t be an onerous task. We need folks who will listen to the public, to each other, and to the professional staff, and then make rational decisions. We don’t need puppet-masters pulling strings behind the scenes.

In the next election, we may be faced with the choice of rational debate or anger. Inclusion or exclusion. Smart growth or imposed growth. Let’s keep the anger and nimbyism out of our public debate. Let’s keep rational independent candidates on our municipal council. Political parties, slates, and block voting have no place in our municipal politics.

 Stuart Mackinnon is a resident of North Saanich 

original article can be found here:

 

Advocacy works! Pedestrian Safety Concern at West Saanich Road and Munro Road Crosswalk

A few weeks ago I sent a letter to the District of North Saanich about a controlled crosswalk on West Saanich rd. at Munro, that had a control on only one side:

Dear Mayor and Council,

I am writing to express concern about pedestrian safety at the crosswalk at the intersection of West Saanich Road and Munro Road. I am a resident of North Saanich and a parishioner of Holy Trinity Anglican Church, and I regularly walk in this area.

West Saanich has fast-moving traffic and limited visual cues to alert drivers to the presence of pedestrians. The current crosswalk does not have a control button on the water side, and as a result, vehicles frequently fail to slow or stop. This creates a dangerous situation for residents and visitors attempting to cross.

I urge Council to prioritize a safety review of this intersection and to take prompt action to install a pedestrian control button on the water side of West Saanich Road. Proactive intervention now would demonstrate a commitment to public safety and help prevent accidents.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I would appreciate being informed of any next steps or timelines for reviewing this crosswalk.

Sincerely,

Stuart Mackinnon 

It was placed on the agenda of the next Council meeting, and then I received a reply from District staff saying they would look into it. Today, as I drove by, I saw a new control had been installed. Advocacy works!

If you have a concern, don't be afraid to contact your Mayor and Council.

'Tis the Season

 The days are getting darker and the weather a tad cooler and wetter, but this doesn't stop folks from celebrating the season. North Saanich and Sidney are blessed with many coloured lights and festivities. 

At Holy Trinity Anglican Church I got to play St. Nick at the annual St. Nicholas day event. Cookies and crafts and a story of the real St. Nicholas.

The next event was the annual Sparkles parade in Sidney where I rode along with our MP Elizabeth May on the Town of Sidney float.

Soon we will be driving around to look at all the colourful displays throughout the neighbourhoods. Some other events to watch for:

 

• Wain Park & Noble Garden Open House: Dec 9, 2025, for feedback on park plans.
• Peninsula Firefighters Christmas Food Drive: Dec 13, 2025, for donations to the Saanich Peninsula Lions Food Bank.

North Saanich is truly the land where its good to be.

Coffee, Doughnuts and Perks

 North Saanich’s Sanjiv Shrivastava has proven to be a most intelligent district councillor. With a master’s degree in nuclear physics and a doctorate in condensed-matter physics, he is certainly one of the most highly academically trained.

He is also one of the most accessible. I have had coffee with Sanjiv several times, gaining insight into his views on local issues as well as global problems that affect us all. At a recent coffee chat, he discussed a conference he had recently attended in Sweden on Doughnut Economics.

Doughnut Economics is an alternative economic model proposed by British economist Kate Raworth. It aims to create a sustainable economy that meets everyone’s needs without exceeding the planet’s ecological limits.

Imagine the two rings or edges of a doughnut. The inner ring (the “social foundation”) represents the minimum standards for human well-being. Falling below this means people lack essential necessities such as food, housing, healthcare, education, income, and equality. The outer ring (the “ecological ceiling”) represents the environmental limits of the Earth. Going beyond this means we contribute to climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and other forms of planetary damage. Between these two rings — the safe and just space for humanity — is where we should aim to live and design our economies.

Traditional economics focuses on growth (GDP). Doughnut economics instead focuses on balance: ensuring no one falls short of life’s essentials (social justice) and ensuring humanity doesn’t overshoot the planet’s environmental boundaries (ecological sustainability). Cities like Amsterdam, Brussels, and Portland have adopted “doughnut” frameworks to guide policy, measuring success by well-being and sustainability rather than growth alone.

Cllr Shrivastava is a believer in Doughnut Economics and wants to bring these ideas to North Saanich. An admirable goal. I will be interested in how he moves forward with this initiative.

What is also admirable is that although Cllr Shrivastava will bring the knowledge and tools he gained in Sweden to North Saanich, he attended the conference entirely at his own expense.

And now the Airport's lawyer is writing to North Saanich Council

 As reported in today's Times Colonist and CHEK TV, the airport’s lawyer sent a letter to council seeking to clarify Mayor Peter Jones’s comment about setting fire to something at the airport. This is all related to the North Saanich Council's inclusion of the Airport in its Official Community Plan (OCP). The airport sits on federal land, not district land, and so should not have been included in the OCP. The mayor, Peter Jones, made an offhand remark, which he called a joke, that offended the Airport Authority. 

When the OCP was passed at the District Council meeting, several Councillors were concerned with the inclusion of the airport. The Airport Authority subsequently asked that the OCP be amended to remove the Airport.

Once again, this mayor has put our community in the spotlight and not in a good way. The mayor should represent the values and interests of our community. They should be an upstanding representative and should shine a light on us that shows the nature of our community--a nature of cooperation, professionalism, and neighbourliness. We deserve better.

The full Times Colonist article can be found here: Heated talk: Transport Canada irked with North Saanich in airport land tussle

And the CHEK TV article here: North Saanich mayor’s comments trigger Victoria Airport Authority’s lawyers

Is the North Saanich District Council Dysfunctional?

 I remember early in its term, North Saanich Council was lumped in with Harrison Hot Springs and Kamloops as dysfunctional councils. I have been 'playing' with AI of late, and when I asked this question, Chat GPT replied with this (note the first-person reply!):

There’s credible evidence that many people believe the North Saanich council is exhibiting signs of dysfunction — though whether it is “dysfunctional” overall depends on how one defines that term. I’ll lay out some of the issues raised, what people are saying, and then give a rough assessment.

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Issues & Complaints

Here are several recurring criticisms and conflicts involving North Saanich council:

1. Pickleball court controversy
• The council closed the Wain Park courts due to noise complaints, then later rejected motions to reopen them with sound mitigation, despite community pushback. Saanich News+3Times Colonist+3Chek News+3
• Some residents accuse the council of favouring a few complainants over the broader public interest. NS News+1
• There have been legal threats from community groups arguing the decision process lacked sufficient public input. Saanich News+1
2. Transparency, process, and public engagement concerns
• A planning consultant (Modus) resigned, citing a misalignment between what the public had expressed in engagement exercises, and the direction that council / advisor committees appeared to want. Times Colonist
• Critics (letters, etc.) have alleged that the council is operating with less openness, using private conversations, or restricting which voices are heard. Peninsula News Review+2Saanich News+2
3. Housing target issues
• North Saanich is at risk of missing provincially mandated housing targets; in one case, the first year target was 60 units, and only 6 net-new units were delivered. Vic News+1
• The province has expressed concern over “insufficient detail” in the district’s plans, and the council rejected some attempts to discuss or debate the minister’s letter on the subject. Times Colonist+1
4. Staff turnover, governance concerns
• The Chief Administrative Officer resigned, and there was a large severance/offer to leave ($300,000) amid what was called “ongoing turmoil” related to the official community plan (OCP). Times Colonist+2Times Colonist+2
• Other senior staff associated with the planning process also left. Times Colonist
5. Concerns over respect, civility, and decision-making
• There have been claims of “autocratic” decision-making, emails/public meeting conduct that some feel marginalize councillors or members of the public. Saanich News+1
• A former councillor resigned after an incident in which he called the mayor “Mr. Hitler,” which he said followed frustrations about how meetings and decisions were being handled. CFJC Today Kamloops

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What This Suggests

Based on what’s reported, some patterns emerge:

• Polarization & conflict over key issues (housing, community planning, recreation amenities).
• Process complaints are common: people saying they aren’t being heard, that committee or consultation work is undermined or redirected, that decisions have been made without apparent openness.
• High stakes: legal, financial, reputational — e.g. lawsuits threatened, large sums spent or offered, consultant contracts broken.
• Tension between premium public expectations and “rural character” / resistance to change. Many residents seem to prefer little densification; others want more housing. The council seems to be in a difficult spot balancing these.

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So, is it “Dysfunctional”?

If by “dysfunctional” one means:

• difficulty in making binding or broadly accepted decisions;
• breakdowns in communication;
• lack of trust from parts of the public;
• inability to meet external obligations (e.g. housing targets);
• frequent conflict or procedural irregularities —

then yes, there are real signs that parts of the council are functioning poorly, especially around public engagement, process, and balancing competing priorities.

However, it’s not obvious the council is wholly nonfunctional. It is still making decisions, still engaging in planning (though contentiously), still has governance structures in place, etc.

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Assessment

North Saanich council appears to be in a state of strained governance. It is facing growing pains: conflicts over development vs rural identity, procedural transparency, and public trust are undermining its ability to act smoothly. Some of its failings are in fulfilling provincially mandated targets (housing), and in handling contentious community issues without alienation.

It’s not an outlier — many municipalities in B.C. are dealing with very similar tensions (see reports on increasing municipality-level dysfunction across the province).

 

Post office is a service, not a business

The ongoing labour strife has got me thinking about what we want from government and what government should provide through our taxes. Should the government offload costly services into so-called business ventures to ease its deficits? Can we afford the same services we've always had? 

Rural communities can be impacted heavily when services are lost. Seniors and those on fixed incomes, too, are often hurt when services are cut. While thinking about this, I sent a letter to the Victoria Times Colonist newspaper. It was published on the 2nd of October:

Contrary to what the media and government may say, the post office did not “lose” $841 million last year.

The post office is a service.

The cost to taxpayers for this service can be debated as to whether it is worth it or not, but the services are there for the public good. Commodifying them is simply a way for governments to fudge their figures. Just like B.C. Ferries, services like the post office, should not be seen as a money maker or loser.

We don’t say the Armed Forces lose money.

We don’t say the RCMP, water works, or highways lose money.

Services have a cost. Whether we are prepared to pay for them is the question, not whether they are profitable.

Times Colonist