Bill Savage works as a caretaker to a number of properties bordering Shawnigan Lake, and that lake and its future is his top priority as he campaigns to win the seat for Shawnigan Lake at the Cowichan Valley Regional District.
"I'm passionate about Shawnigan Lake, I work on the lake, I'm on the water probably 300 days out of the year, it's my second home," Savage, a longtime member of the Shawnigan Parks Commission said.
Not surprisingly, the key issues for him are "number one the lake and secondary the community, because without the lake we don't have much of a community."
He is a strong proponent of incorporation for Shawnigan Lake.
"It's got to be done, the sooner the better," Savage said. "For far too long we've sort of been ignored down here by the CVRD in a number of ways."
The CVRD has failed the area "time and time and time again," he said.
There is a lack of services in the area, he said, and decisions are being made by people who don't live in Shawnigan.
"Things have to change, and community incorporation is the only way to have those changes occur," Savage said.
Other important issues in the area include development and the importation of contaminated soil into the watershed, he said. He has a lot of admiration for the work of outgoing director Bruce Fraser and said he wouldn't be running if Fraser was on the slate. As he has decided to leave the seat, Savage said he'd like to follow in Fraser's wake.
"I think I have a lot to offer," he said. Savage declined to have a photo of himself run in the newspaper, saying that people in his community know him.