If you want to have your voice heard by town council concerning how your tax dollars are spent and how much you pay, the next council meeting is one you should attend.
There are quite a few things on the agenda for the three committees that will be meeting starting at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, July 10.
Perhaps the most pertinent issue to many in Lake Cowichan, will be that of the sewer parcel tax. How much to charge residents on their tax bill to fund infrastructure projects going forward will be on the agenda of the Public Works Committee meeting starting at 5:15 p.m.
I can imagine that determining what is a fair parcel tax will not be an easy task for mayor and council, yet neither can the task of figuring out other means with which to fund infrastructure projects.
However, besides this issue, there are many more on the agenda that concern the residents of Lake Cowichan. From an editor’s point of view, attending this meeting and having a chance to hear what residents think, what concerns them, and any ideas they may have means that more voices can be added to the choir when reporting to the rest of the public.
There are many in this community that have strong opinions about the direction of the town and who have ideas for how the common goal of prosperity and harmony within the community can be achieved. These individuals, for the most part, do make an effort to keep themselves informed and to participate in the democratic process when it comes to making their voices heard by council when issues that affect them are discussed.
But what about the rest of us? What about those who have good ideas or strong opinions, but keep themselves in the background, complaining instead to a family member or a neighbour?
I know for myself that my belief in the “democratic system” is not a strong one, and that I lost faith in the process a long time ago. I typically vote for whichever party, if elected, I feel can help to make a difference when it comes to issues that concern me. But what’s the point? My vote does not seem to do much in the grand scheme of things (ssshh, don’t tell my children, I want them to grow up feeling that their vote has power and that voting is a right they must exercise) as a conservative government was elected federally and none of the issues I most care about have been addressed by this government.
And what are those issues? Well, I have to admit, albeit reluctantly for fear of being scorned, the environment is on the top of that list. To me, environmental issues trump financial issues such as employment rates or international trade. To some extent they go hand in hand, but as far as I’m concerned if we as humanity do not do something about the state of the environment globally then we will have nothing to leave our children and within a few generations employment and international trade will be the least of our worries.
So for most of my life, I have kept my voice and my opinion to myself, or have only shared with those that share at least some of my opinions, or if they don’t I at least respect them and can have a healthy debate.
But what if more of us stood up and made ourselves heard, even if it causes discomfort to those who make the decisions that affect us all? What if we got up off our couches and attended more meetings, and got involved more in general? I can’t help but wonder how the status quo would change.
As I have noted before, the volunteerism in Lake Cowichan has blown me away, and this community spirit shows just how much each individual here cares about the town as a whole. I just hope that it transfers also to the sometimes gritty details of town politics. And I truly do not believe that Mayor Forrest or any of the council members would be doing what they do if they did not also care tremendously about the future of Lake Cowichan.
So get to the meeting and make your voice heard!
—editor@lakecowichangazette.com
