PRIORITIES

 

Road safety and active transportation

We all want to feel safe walking, running, riding, rolling or any other way we move around in our community. I’m sure most of us can think of places where we feel exposed and vulnerable to vehicle traffic. A lot of good work was done to develop our local Active Transportation Plan. Collaborating with other levels of government, community organizations, and interested individuals to overcome some of the implementation challenges and get this work done faster in one of my top priorities.

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Health and community services

Local governments aren't responsible for most health and social services, but understanding our community's needs and taking appropriate steps to attract and support the services necessary to meet them is critical for the health of our residents. For example: 

• Childcare - The 2020 Central Saanich Child Care Inventory & Action Plan identifies a number of things the district can do to address the significant child care shortage in our community, including clarifying and revising certain bylaws and policies. 

• Recruitment & retention of health care professionals - This is a tricky, complex issue but there are things we can do at the local level to make our community an attractive place to practice. Northern and rural municipalities have been coming up with creative ways to attract and retain healthcare professionals for decades. Let's learn from them and try new things!

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Housing

My heart hurts when I hear about an adult child, retired parent, family, or friend that left our community because they couldn't find appropriate housing. When someone tells me that they really wanted to move here but couldn’t because it wasn't affordable, I feel like we are missing out. To all the businesses struggling to fill vacancies in part because there is nowhere for their workers to live, I hear you. All different kinds of people should be able to live here. We need options that cross the full spectrum.

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Parks and trails

In Central Saanich, we are fortunate to have a number of different parks and trails. I live across the street from Gore Park and I don't think it's possible to overstate what a special space it is. I support growing our parks to protect our environment and creating more spaces for people to recreate and spend time in nature.

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Local businesses and farmers

Climate change, inflation, a labour shortage, the long-term effects of the pandemic pose significant challenges to local businesses and farmers.  Doing what we can at the local level to support, attract, and retain them is important.

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