Dear Editor:
Regarding the proposal to remove land from the ALR: Residents of Summerland who have actually signed a petition against the removal are 1,500 in number.
According to B.C. Elections statistics online, we have 8,276 eligible voters in Summerland. However, only 2,994 chose to vote in the last municipal election (which means our council was elected by 36 per cent participation).
B.C. Elections statistics do not indicate how many votes Mayor Janice Perrino received, because she was elected by default (yes, I know the correct term is acclamation).
Presumably councillors are happy with the democratic process which allowed them to be elected with the following numbers: 1,861, 1,675, 1,586, 1,522, 1,365 and 1,298.
Although I cannot prove that all 1,500 petitioners voted, 1,500 participants is greater than half of the electorate who voted to bring in the present council, and is a democratic majority based on those statistics.
I heard Mayor Perrino claim on a CBC morning show that only 300 people were against the removal, and rather than acknowledging the extremely intelligent presentations made by approximately 90 citizens, chose to quote a wishful thinker’s single sentence for her sound bite agenda, that someone said they would rather Summerland wouldn’t grow.
Apart from the deliberate public misinformation, Mayor Perrino and council, with the exception of Coun. Peter Waterman, have chosen to act like recalcitrant children standing with their fingers in their ears, and loudly singing the song they wish to hear.
Heather S. Ross
Summerland
