Janice MacAlister hopes to bring a little democracy back to the selection of a director for the Cowichan Valley Regional District's Area E, along with some accountability to the CVRD board.
"I think that it's time for a change at the CVRD," MacAlister said. "I feel like too many of the directors have been there too long and I don't think it's ever a good idea in politics for people to serve, I believe, two consecutive terms."
Directors for many areas in the CVRD have been acclaimed for the last several elections, including the director for Area E, something she doesn't see as a positive.
"It's really bad for democracy when people don't actually have to compete and run in an election and get elected. I think that also makes people more accountable to the public," she said.
MacAlister, a former school trustee and chair of the SD79 Board, said she feels that the CVRD is very unaccountable to the general public at this point in time.
Financially, she said, the CVRD is "spinning out of control".
"We just pay taxes thoughtlessly," she said. "When you sit down and you look at the numbers and the budgets and how those dollars are being spent, I think the average person would give more thought to actually voting, if they took the time to find out and hold their local politicians accountable."
There are plenty of issues she feels the CVRD has not handled particularly well including the crematorium lawsuit.
Another was the Rock of the Woods concert that was held at the end of the road where she lives. MacAlister said the concert organizers did a good job with the event, but she was unimpressed with the CVRD's handling of situation, saying she was disturbed that at several meetings it seemed as if directors didn't even adequately know what was going on.