Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Water Wars
The People Have Spoken
By Ian Lowden, M.Sc., B.A.
ian.lowden@shaw.ca 247-7661
Another election, and once again the people have spoken loud and clear in favour of the Island Trust and showing their content with the job our Trustees have been doing. Congratulations to our incumbent trustees Giselle Rudischer and Sheila Malcolmson and congratulations to Bernie Spirling our new RDN rep, who is, as just about everyone knows, a supporter of the Island Trust. Congratulations also to June Harrison now entering her 19th year as School Board Trustee. With such a sweeping show of support despite all the trust bashing it should be clear to even the cognitive and attitude impaired that the referendum was not a fluke. Islanders, support the Island Trust despite all efforts to paint the Trust as outmoded, out of date and in need of replacement. Likewise, despite the years of bashing Gisele, and lately of Sheila as well, the people of the Gabriola have shown themselves to be immune to the Trust Bashers. (It must be terribly frustrating for those who have spent years trying to destroy the Island Trust to find that all their efforts were in vain and all those years of trying to manipulate the citizens of Gabriola were wasted years. It must have been especially shattering to those who saw themselves as the moulders and makers of public opinion to find that few if any were even listening and the power they thought they had was but an illusion.)
What does this mean for the Island? For one thing it may mean the beginning of the end of the mean-spirited personal attacks and the confrontational type of politics that have marred the last several years of Island politics. The voters have shown once again that they have faith in our political system and that they have faith in our local political leaders.
The real majority has spoken and they seem to be saying enough already, stop wasting our time, stop with the personal attacks, stop with the confrontational approach which some of our more vocal minorities have committed to, stop with the spin doctoring, stop with the deliberate disinformation. The voters have sent the message loud and clear that it is we the people who run the Island – not the business sector, not the newspapers, not the special interest groups, not the professional manipulators, not the developers and not those with an axe to grind.
Hopefully the election results have also sent a message to those who try to win by trickery, or by false claims to be the majority, or who believe that if you tell a lie long enough and are insistent enough eventually you will be believed. Perhaps, even those who believe Islanders are dumb and gullible will realize that they just might want to revamp their thinking as to the intellectual capacity of Islanders, for it is the average Islander who wades thru the disinformation, the deceit, the untruths, the manipulations of special interest groups and yet somehow manage to make their own decisions as to what is best for Gabriola and themselves.
Given the results of this election following close on the message on the Referendumb vote, I would expect to see a lessening of rhetoric, a decrease in the level of hostility in our public meetings, and an increase in balanced, accurate reporting of our political process, and perhaps even the burying of some hatchets and the end of some vendettas. It is time that a spirit of cooperation, mutual respect and understanding merged with the realization that we are all in this together, and what each of us does influences how we as a community perceive ourselves. It is time for a change in the way politics is done on Gabriola and I am confident that this change will come. The change will come because the electorate demands it.
What the results of the vote clearly state is that we are a democracy and as hard as it is for some to understand, in a democracy it is the elected leaders that govern, and that is as it should be. Once again this election has shown that it ultimately is the will of the people that make the decisions, and that also is as it should be.
By Ian Lowden, M.Sc., B.A.
ian.lowden@shaw.ca 247-7661
Another election, and once again the people have spoken loud and clear in favour of the Island Trust and showing their content with the job our Trustees have been doing. Congratulations to our incumbent trustees Giselle Rudischer and Sheila Malcolmson and congratulations to Bernie Spirling our new RDN rep, who is, as just about everyone knows, a supporter of the Island Trust. Congratulations also to June Harrison now entering her 19th year as School Board Trustee. With such a sweeping show of support despite all the trust bashing it should be clear to even the cognitive and attitude impaired that the referendum was not a fluke. Islanders, support the Island Trust despite all efforts to paint the Trust as outmoded, out of date and in need of replacement. Likewise, despite the years of bashing Gisele, and lately of Sheila as well, the people of the Gabriola have shown themselves to be immune to the Trust Bashers. (It must be terribly frustrating for those who have spent years trying to destroy the Island Trust to find that all their efforts were in vain and all those years of trying to manipulate the citizens of Gabriola were wasted years. It must have been especially shattering to those who saw themselves as the moulders and makers of public opinion to find that few if any were even listening and the power they thought they had was but an illusion.)
What does this mean for the Island? For one thing it may mean the beginning of the end of the mean-spirited personal attacks and the confrontational type of politics that have marred the last several years of Island politics. The voters have shown once again that they have faith in our political system and that they have faith in our local political leaders.
The real majority has spoken and they seem to be saying enough already, stop wasting our time, stop with the personal attacks, stop with the confrontational approach which some of our more vocal minorities have committed to, stop with the spin doctoring, stop with the deliberate disinformation. The voters have sent the message loud and clear that it is we the people who run the Island – not the business sector, not the newspapers, not the special interest groups, not the professional manipulators, not the developers and not those with an axe to grind.
Hopefully the election results have also sent a message to those who try to win by trickery, or by false claims to be the majority, or who believe that if you tell a lie long enough and are insistent enough eventually you will be believed. Perhaps, even those who believe Islanders are dumb and gullible will realize that they just might want to revamp their thinking as to the intellectual capacity of Islanders, for it is the average Islander who wades thru the disinformation, the deceit, the untruths, the manipulations of special interest groups and yet somehow manage to make their own decisions as to what is best for Gabriola and themselves.
Given the results of this election following close on the message on the Referendumb vote, I would expect to see a lessening of rhetoric, a decrease in the level of hostility in our public meetings, and an increase in balanced, accurate reporting of our political process, and perhaps even the burying of some hatchets and the end of some vendettas. It is time that a spirit of cooperation, mutual respect and understanding merged with the realization that we are all in this together, and what each of us does influences how we as a community perceive ourselves. It is time for a change in the way politics is done on Gabriola and I am confident that this change will come. The change will come because the electorate demands it.
What the results of the vote clearly state is that we are a democracy and as hard as it is for some to understand, in a democracy it is the elected leaders that govern, and that is as it should be. Once again this election has shown that it ultimately is the will of the people that make the decisions, and that also is as it should be.
