It was depressing to read (PNR, June 28) the attack on Mayor Alice Finall by Gary Lunn. As MP, Mr. Lunn was always courteous and helpful, with a friendly word when he met you.
That he of all people should fall into the poisonous swamp of vituperation and anger which is municipal affairs in North Saanich is sad indeed.
We are accustomed to the intemperate words of Mr. Schick (“rezoning purgatory”) and Councillor Daly (“friggin’ delay,” PNR, June 28) which debase public life in North Saanich, but we expected better from Mr. Lunn.
Mayor Finall, a gracious and highly-principled lady, has not shown “a lack of respect for the people of North Saanich.” Rather, elected by a solid majority in 2008 and acclaimed in 2011, she has tried to respect the wishes of the citizens of North Saanich who approved their Official Community Plan.
The coterie of developers supported by the council majority (which owes its majority to just 12 votes in 2011) may consider North Saanich a “rezoning purgatory,” but the electors were not asked to vote for a “rezoning paradise,” nor did they.
Indeed, Councillor Elsie McMurphy, one of the minority, got hundreds more votes than Mr. Daly; Mr. Schick got none and Mr. Lunn lost his MP seat to the Green wave.
We need kindness and tolerance, not endless profit-driven snarling anger which characterizes public life here. If not, North Saanich will become, as A.E.Housman wrote, “the land of lost content.”
Let’s remember the words of Tommy Douglas: “courage my friends, it’s not too late to build a better world.”
David Olsen
North Saanich
