Minority, disruptive crowd did not represent North Cowichan residents
In response to Sept. 29 edition, letter to editor by Bruce Matthews, Duncan.
Mr. Matthews, I take exception to your letter where you write, “Duncan and North Cowichan councils have flouted the will of majority and proceeded with their own private agenda”. My response to that could be written in so many ways that prove your misguided statement false. Yet this has opened an opportunity to educate you on municipal affairs and what is going on in our region.
If anyone has taken the time to actually pay attention to what happens at a council meeting in North Cowichan, for example. There are not just the councillors and mayor in the council chamber but staff as well. Each meeting is recorded and posted on the website for all to see. Transparency has never been better in this community, with the mayor’s report after every general meeting. I can email any one of the councillors or staff and they respond to my enquiry.
The OCP hearing was also recorded, showing the disruptive crowd of, in my opinion, anti-government conspiracy theorists that were obviously there to shut down an official public hearing, that was the culmination of a three-year process, and you, Mr. Matthews, write that it was a “template document”. If you had engaged in the process you would know there were citizens and stakeholders participating like never before and just because an unruly, very minority crowd of ill mannered disrespectful freedom fighters were the loudest in the room, you write that council, “rammed it in anyway”.
I happened upon an election rally in front of Home Hardware on Sept. 17, where the United Independents [Adrienne Richards, Joseph Enslow, Christopher Shaw] slate of candidates for North Cowichan had gathered. Also there, were mayoral candidate John Koury and council candidate Joyce Behnsen. There were signs being held up at the highway that garnered honking of horns and yelling of “freedom”. Some of these people I recognized had been at the OCP hearing.
This group of candidates on that day, were presenting the same template or cut and paste theory that you, Mr. Matthews, have written about in your letter, referring to the OCP. In my opinion if there are people with an agenda, it was this group of right wing extremists.
Bryan Senft
North Cowichan