Voice on the Coast Question #2 What are the barriers to more nightlife on the coast and how will you overcome them?

I have found this question to be the hardest of the three to answer. I have never experienced barriers to social life and entertainment on the Sunshine Coast. From 1978-1993, I was very active in the arts scene here both as manager of the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre and as a member of the Sunshine Coast Arts Council executive. The prevalent philosophy at that time was, “If you want something to happen, make it happen!” And we did. Whether it was fine films, jazz, dance, performance art, literary events or folk dance and ethnic food, we seized the opportunities available through the non-profit venues on the Coast and cultivated a large volunteer and audience base. Our shows usually sold out and people clamoured for more. All of my and my friends’ entertainment needs were met through the arts.

I guess I have to turn the question around and ask you, the younger generation what is missing for you and what barriers have you experienced? Then we can begin the conversation about how to break down those barriers and look at what role local government can play.

There is also a chicken and egg dilemma here. Young people say it is too boring here and they head off for brighter lights. So we don’t have enough young people to populate the venues and events that appeal to young people…and on it goes. But I do believe that there are things we need to tackle as local governments to create a platform that makes it more likely that younger people will either come here from away or return here after they have had some higher education or seen some more of the world. We need to make sure we have a diverse housing stock which includes housing young families and working people can afford, interesting and well paying jobs, good transportation networks so people can get around without cars, and lively neighbourhoods where people can walk to services, meet their neighbours, and recreate.

One idea that I think would do a lot for this community would be to develop a fulltime residential university. This would not have to encompass the full range of university programs but could be one that offers specialty programs that take advantage of the exceptional environment and resources we have here. In addition to our spectacular natural environment we are blessed with some outstanding professional people with skills in the fine arts, technology, and environmental sciences. With a residential component, we would attract a new coterie of young people who would want to participate in off campus activities as well.

I look forward to continuing this dialogue with you.

Voice on the Coast Question #3: Environmental issues are important to the younger generations. What are your observations to how climate change is affecting the Coast?

Climate change is the overriding crisis of our time. It is the measurable result of a culture which is no longer in harmony with natural processes. And it is connected to every other crisis we face from species at risk to the rising cost of energy. I have personally observed more extreme weather patterns, more frequent coastal storm surges, fewer wild fish, more problems with bears in the settled areas, increased rates of skin cancer. We know that sea level rise is inevitable and will certainly be keenly felt in our coastal environment. We know that ecosystems will change, that our water resources will be threatened, that our air quality will suffer.

It is clear that business as usual is not an option. While the climate change issue is obviously beyond one local government’s ability to solve, everyone must participate and local governments can and must play a lead role in guiding a way forward. At the SCRD, two Energy and Emissions Reduction Plans have been prepared, one which addresses the internal operations of the SCRD and the other which provides direction at the community level. The Community Energy and Emissions Plan was developed collaboratively between the SCRD and all its member governments and included an extensive public engagement process. Several key areas are targeted in these plans: transportation, buildings, land use patterns, food production, water, and solid waste.

It is just as crucial for us in our semi-rural environment to address climate change issues as it is in urban centres. But the types of actions we have available and their degree of impact will be different. The rural nature of our electoral areas makes transit more difficult and expensive, creates challenges for energy efficient infrastructure, and makes the shift to denser, more walkable communities much slower. But there are some opportunities that are not available in more urbanized areas. We have the opportunity to capitalize on our unique natural environment by ensuring that new developments infill the denser community nodes instead of taking up new undeveloped areas. We can ensure that our forests remain as carbon sinks. We can enhance local food production. We can ensure that our response to sea level rise does not create increased damage to our shoreline ecosystems. We can work together as a region to make the Sunshine Coast a “zero waste community.”

Carbon offsets will be an additional tool that we will need to use if we are to actually achieve the GHG reduction targets we have committed to. But aren’t buying carbon offsets a contemporary form of buying indulgences, a sin and repent scenario? What if we created our own carbon offset program so that the “indulgences” we purchase are used to implement local green projects like planting trees, improving transit, creating new bike lanes, and installation of solar panels? Developing our own local energy systems like geothermal plants, our landfill gas to energy project, or even a small scale run of river project should also be researched and explored.

There are solutions and I believe local governments have a very important leadership role to play.

The Importance of Small Business in Roberts Creek

Small business is the backbone of the Sunshine Coast economy.

Roberts Creek has a very small commercial centre. Home based businesses run by creative people are at the heart of our economy. There are well over 100 home based businesses in Roberts Creek including artists, artisans and musicians, health and wellness services like massage therapy, business support services like accounting and legal, internet services with clients all over the world, agricultural products, and excellent prepared products like jams and jellies and even wild fish, just to list a few.

I support our home based businesses and will work to ensure that they continue to thrive in all parts of our community.

The Official Community Plan is the tool kit for local government to support business in the community in a way that is compatible with other uses such as residential. Because it is a community driven process and becomes a bylaw of the Regional District, the OCP provides a guide to the Director indicating what the community wishes to see go on in each neighbourhood. The first draft of the new Roberts Creek Official Community Plan is now in the public feedback stage. The Plan does not propose any reduction of small business activity in Roberts Creek. However, there are some proposals to expand small business zoning.

  Here are some highlights:

• Home based business is permitted everywhere in the Creek, including along the Highway, and there is no plan to change that.
• Roberts Creek has a very small commercial core where businesses can operate independent of a residence. The draft Plan suggests a slight expansion of the commercial area so that owners could rezone their property to commercial if they are located on Roberts Creek Rd as far as Timberland, on the upper side of Beach Ave as far as Timberland, and the upper side of Lower Rd as far as Largo.
• Home based businesses operate along with residential use of a property. The draft Plan suggests a transition zone (going up Roberts Creek Rd as far as Cedar Grove Rd) where home occupation could be expanded so people could hire more employees and have a larger retail space than elsewhere.
• Bed and Breakfasts are permitted everywhere in Roberts Creek. The definition of bed and breakfast means the operator must be resident on the property. The draft Plan proposes permitting one additional bedroom (3 rather than 2) in a zone going up Roberts Creek Rd as far as the Roberts Creek Hall.

Your feedback on these changes is important! The full plan is available on the SCRD website www.scrd.ca. Please provide comments and suggestions to info@scrd.ca attn David Rafael. A public information meeting will be scheduled soon.

Engaging the younger generation as a local elected person on the Sunshine Coast

I moved to the Sunshine Coast in the 70s when I was in my mid-20s. I was inspired by the community of young people that were finding a home here...back to the landers, US draft resisters, refugees from the big city life. Land was relatively cheap, there were jobs that I was qualified for, you could build your own house with fewer constraints and if you saw a gap in community life, there were likely other friends who would get behind creating whatever was necessary...start a band or a theatre group, get a grant and build an arts centre, start a newspaper, teach each other the skills we needed to survive on the land. Life was simple but pretty rich.

It is different now. Property is beyond the reach of many young people, there are few places to rent, building requirements have made building a home more complicated and costly and many people have to work long hours to make ends meet so there is less time for "making it happen."

For local elected people to know what we can do to recreate an environment of possibility for young people on the Coast we need to reach out. We need to go where young people are whether physically or virtually. I am excited by the formation of Voice on the Coast because it provides an avenue for communication and a nucleus that young people can coalesce around. I am excited to learn more about the vehicle of social media...a challenge for people in my age group but as I learn more about it and use it more I am seeing the incredible power it has! So one of the most important things we need to do to engage young people is use internet tools more effectively and remain current with the changes and adaptations to those tools as they happen.

We also need to go physically to where young people gather if we want to find out what young people are thinking. Having an open mind and an open ear so we are really listening to what young people need and want is way better than a parental attitude of deciding for youth what is good for them. If we want to talk to young people we need to provide child care and child friendly events, we need to be in the schools and on the playing fields, in the cafes, in the recreation centres.

Some ways that elected people can help include addressing the issue of affordable housing more effectively and creatively, changing the way we encourage our economy so that there are enough well paying , interesting jobs to attract and sustain the younger demographic, fostering arts and culture development, continuing to improve our recreational programs and facilities both indoor and outdoor, encouraging the development of post secondary educational opportunities.

To be successful, this needs to be a partnership. Thank you to Voice on the Coast for creating that opportunity!

Sunshine Coast Conservation Association 2011 Election Questions

Green Issues Forum 2011 Questions for Candidates

Donna Shugar Nov 3, 2011

Question 1.   The Joint Watershed Management Agreement (JWMP) was recently renewed, a Source Area Response Plan (SARP) is under development, and new documentation shows that the public supports drinking water source area protection more strongly than ever (We Envision One Coast and Vital Signs 2011). Steps are being taken to achieve water conservation (sprinkling regulations, water metering in Gibsons, etc.). During the last 3 years, the Sunshine Coast Community Forest (SCPI) has continued to press its case for logging in the Chapman and Gray Creek watersheds, the region's principle source areas of drinking water.
What is your understanding of and position on the Joint Watershed Management Agreement?  As a regional director, how would you respond to the Sunshine Coast Community Forest? Other watersheds also contribute to the public's drinking water supply, how do you propose to achieve or enhance protection of these smaller watersheds?
       The Joint Watershed Management Agreement (JWMA) is a very important document and I am proud to have been a signatory when it was renewed in 2010. The JWMA is an agreement between the Sechelt Indian Band and the SCRD to share the stewardship of the Chapman and Gray Creek watersheds. The partnership between the SCRD and the SIB makes this a very powerful statement to other orders of government and the public about our intention to bring the protection of this vital water supply under local control. It is one of the tools we are using to lobby the Province to grant local control over the watershed. It is doubly important because the SCRD is the purveyor of water to the majority of Sunshine Coast residents and because the SIB considers this watershed to have immense significance. At the Union of BC Municipalities convention in September, I and other Board members, including the SIB Director Jordan Louie, presented the JWMA to the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations reiterating our request that it be recognized by the Province.

       Important as it is, simple control over the management of the watershed is not enough. The Source Assessment Response Plan (SARP) is being developed by the SCRD in response to an order by the Drinking Water Officer. The SARP looks at all the risks to our drinking water (not just industrial activity) and recommends what should be done to mitigate those risks. This kind of analysis and planning is essential for whoever has control over or conducts activity of any kind (including recreation) in the watershed. Where there are doubts about our ability to mitigate impacts of human activity, the precautionary principle should prevail. I have been the SCRD Board’s liaison on the SARP Technical Working Group. In that capacity I have insisted on the issue of local control of the watershed and recognition of the JWMA being included in the document. I have also pushed for strong language about creating special standards particular to this watershed. I have supported the inclusion of a recommendation to create a Watershed Protection Officer for this area.

       It is really important to keep lines of communication open with other orders of government and with the other stakeholders in the watershed. The Sechelt Community Forest has chart in the watershed, AJB owns land in the watershed and BC Timber Sales may have interests. Facilitating meaningful dialogue and negotiation is to me the most effective way to get those stakeholders to move to more sustainable ecosystem based analysis and action.

       There have been suggestions that the Community Forest be given other chart in exchange for their tenure in the Chapman/Gray. I have serious concerns about that approach. Would the most reasonable exchange be for chart on Mt Elphinstone where the timber values are high and the CF is already active? I would hate to see that happen. The watersheds of Mt Elphinstone are as important to people in Roberts Creek as the Chapman/Gray! Over 300 households in upper Roberts Creek do not have access to regional water from the Chapman/Gray system and depend on their own wells. A healthy forest on the Mt Elphinstone uplands is essential to ensure that these residents continue to enjoy clean drinking water from their private systems. The same principles of ecosystem based analysis and planning should be applied to Mt Elphinstone and other watersheds. I sat on the Elphinstone LRUP for six years trying to get an ecosystem based plan for the mountain. Such a plan would designate where and what kind of activity could take place with the primary objective being the ecological health of the forest. Such a plan would provide the constraints on activity beyond general “best practices” to include much more specific prescriptions. I would support that project being revisited so that we get a strategic approach to activity in the Mt Elphinstone watersheds instead of the random ad hoc approach we have today.

       I have been encouraging the SCRD to negotiate a communications protocol between the SCRD and BCTS. This would put us more in the loop regarding their activities and provide some clear lines of communication regarding their forestry plans. I have been invited by the SCCF to advise them about the Terms of Reference for the Coastal Watershed Assessment Procedure for the Wilson Creek Watershed. This important watershed has had a huge amount of disruption, but has never had a proper analysis. I am encouraging the Community Forest to go beyond a simple analysis of hydrology issues and to examine all the impacts of historic and future activity in this watershed from an ecosystem based perspective.

Question 2.   The SCRD has initiated a coast wide discussion about sustainability entitled: We Envision One Coast .
Has this discussion changed your understanding of what the word sustainable means and how we go about achieving it? How do you intend to contribute to this important discussion? How will you show leadership responding to urgent climate change issues at the regional level?

       Rather than changing my understanding of the meaning of the word “sustainable,” the “We Envision” document has reinforced my faith in the interconnection of all things, my conviction that we must balance the needs of the environment, the economy, and human social and cultural requirements and my belief that limitless growth on a finite planet is not an option. The principle of sustainability means that our actions today will not compromise our descendents’ future. We will create a future that is as good for our children’s children as it has been for us.

       It is important that these principles become embedded in the actions and decisions that are made by local government on an ongoing basis. The development of strategic plans as well as responses to crises and day to day demands must use the principles of sustainability as their foundation.

     It is just as crucial for us in our semi-rural environment to address climate change issues as it is in urban centres. But the types of actions we have available and their degree of impact will be different. The rural nature of our electoral areas makes transit more difficult and expensive, creates challenges for energy efficient infrastructure, and makes the shift to denser, more walkable communities much slower. But there are some opportunities that are not available in more urbanized areas. We have the opportunity to capitalize on our unique natural environment by ensuring that new developments infill the denser community nodes instead of taking up new undeveloped areas. We can ensure that our forests remain as carbon sinks. We can enhance local food production. We can ensure that our response to sea level rise does not create increased damage to our shoreline ecosystems. We can work together as a region on making the Sunshine Coast a “zero waste community.”

       It is important that all the local governments on the Coast band together in a shared commitment to adhere to the principles and actions of the “We Envision” document. I am committed to fostering a culture of collaborative leadership and consensus building amongst local governments, local businesses, community groups and the public. The Climate Change issue is the most urgent crisis we all face. It is only by working together that we will find solutions we can all embrace.     


Question 3.   Waste management, reduction, recycling, and diversion of resources into recycling streams, etc., are all important issues with regard to climate change mitigation and regional sustainability. Substantial progress has been made over the last 3 years but we haven't achieved all that is needed or possible. The debate has often been heated and sometimes divisive.
What are your views about how to continue making progress with our regional goal of Zero Waste?

       In October a very important step was taken with the adoption of the new Zero Waste Management Plan by the Regional District. The debate has centred less around the goals of the plan and more around the timing, order and potential cost of its various components, specifically depot based vs curbside collection systems. The message I have received from the citizens in Roberts Creek, anecdotally as well as through surveys and other public consultation tools, has been that the majority of people in Roberts Creek want to see a curbside program in our community. It is felt that curbside pick up of recyclables would provide the convenience that many working people, seniors and those with young families need to increase their participation in recycling. However, working together with the other areas on the Coast, it has become clear that other areas prefer to see an enhanced depot system come first. With new packaging Extended Producer Responsibility Programs on the horizon it may in fact be better to wait until those are developed at a provincial level before implementing a curbside program which mainly addresses packaging materials (glass, plastic, cardboard, paper.) So I have come to accept that a system of enhanced depots in 3 areas on the Coast (Gibsons, Sechelt and Pender) will be the first program that is tackled. By enhanced depots we mean a program that both collects, sorts and delivers recyclables to market and also manages the repurposing and redistribution of reusables that can remain in the community as resources rather than waste products.

       Dealing with organics and green waste is another important component of zero waste management. During my first term I brought in the Roberts Creek Smoke Control Bylaw which curtails the burning of yard waste. It is important to manage the large volume of green waste that is needing to be recycled in the most efficient and cost effective way possible while ensuring that invasive plant materials such as roots and seeds are not allowed to regenerate.

A food scraps composting program is another high priority. The question of course is always whether to provide public education or some form of responsible municipal collection program or both. I feel that both are important, particularly because of growing issues with wildlife. Backyard composting is a viable option for most organics and should be encouraged through public education programs. But for things which cannot be composted that way, some sort of organics program should be implemented.

     Public education programs, land fill bans for certain materials, working with the industrial, commercial and institutional sectors are also important components of any waste reduction plan. It is important to set out the actions in priority order so that they can be introduced in a fiscally manageable way and in a sequence which has the maximum impact on participation rates.


Question 4.  The Province's Species At Risk Task Force has published its findings and recommendations on the urgent issue of biodiversity loss on local government and privately owned lands. The SCRD has shown leadership on old growth retention and protection of species at risk in the past.
What can you, as a local elected representative, do to further biodiversity protection for species at risk on local government and privately owned land in our region?

There is a lot we can do both on our own lands and on private lands to protect biodiversity.

On our own lands we can create greenways and protected areas within our parks. For example, the SCRD is working on a third party protective covenant for Cliff Gilker Park in Roberts Creek to enshrine the wild areas of the park and protect them from development. We should be strategic in our parks acquisition so that important ecosystems and sensitive areas are protected through park dedication.

The SCRD has a no pesticide policy within its parks. This should be continued. Control of invasive plant species is a new area of interest. The SCRD has recently become a member of the Coastal Invasive Plant Committee and will be actively seeking the best ways to prevent and control the spread of invasives in SCRD parks without resorting to chemical applications.

The SCRD can work with community groups to protect and enhance or restore certain sensitive habitats within its parks. For example, turtle nesting sites in some SCRD parks in Pender Harbour are given special protective treatment during nesting season.

The protection of biodiversity on private land requires a different set of actions. Regional Districts do not have the power to ban the cosmetic use of pesticides. However, the Provincial government is looking at Province wide legislation to ban or curtail this use on private land. I have been an advocate in favour of such legislation and have taken opportunities such as at UBCM to make these views known to Provincial authorities. I have advocated for the SCRD to respond in favour as well.

Invasive plants are just as much of a concern on private land. I support the SCRD taking an active role in educating the public and garden business owners about the dangers of invasive plants and how best to control or eradicate them.

Regional Districts also have a suite of land use planning tools that can be used to assist with biodiversity protection. Sensitive ecosystem mapping and habitat mapping are important first steps. I assisted a local group with grant funds for eel grass mapping in Roberts Creek so that now we know where those important sites are located.

Official Community Plans should include provision for open space conservation development where development is clustered on a property to create more green space protection. OCPs can also include Development Permit Areas to protect sensitive ecosystems and habitats. The Draft of the new Roberts Creek OCP contains provision for density bonusing in exchange for biodiversity protection. Roberts Creek also has a Shoreline Bylaw which designates the entire shoreline of Roberts Creek as a development permit area with special regulations designed to protect the sensitive shoreline ecosystem.

Wise land use patterns can ensure habitat connectivity, protection of wetlands and of shorelines.

Sustainability checklists can be offered to property owners to help guide development to prevent unnecessary damage to species at risk habitats. Best management practices in sensitive areas can also be an important educational tool.

The Islands Trust offers a Natural Areas Tax Exemption Program that reduces property taxes for landowners who have a signed conservation covenant to protect natural areas on their property. At my suggestion, the SCRD recently proposed a resolution at UBCM to ask the Province to extend this provision to other areas outside of the Islands Trust.

Public education is another role that local governments can play by working with and supporting local stewardship groups such as Stream Keepers. 

Habitat and biodiversity protection is yet another area where local Sunshine Coast Governments can collaborate on regional planning, ecosystem mapping, harmonization of bylaws and incentives, assistance to stewardship groups, and public education.

Sunshine Coast Conservation Association Green Issues Forum, November 3,2011

 These were my introductory remarks at the Green Issues Election Forum

Good evening everyone. Thank you for being here and being so engaged in our democratic process!

First I would like to acknowledge and thank the Squamish Nation for sharing their traditional territory and enabling this gathering.

I would also like to thank the SC Conservation Association for all the great work you do to promote biodiversity protection and community awareness and for hosting this important event tonight.

I think that most of you in this room tonight will agree that we are in a global environmental crisis. There is only one planet earth and we are faced with the unenviable responsibility of doing something to stop the train wreck or at least to mitigate the collateral damage.

I have been studying and advocating about environmental issues for a very long time. I have worked against pesticide use by the Ministry of Forests on Mt Elphinstone. I have worked for ecological forest practices and protection of our foreshore ecology. I have opposed LNG tanks and propone tanks, farmed salmon and farmed geoducks. I have worked to protect agricultural land and drinking water. In all of these actions my commitment and my conviction have been the same: We live on a planet with finite resources and we cannot continue to consume more than can be replenished. Everything is interconnected and there is no trump card in this game. We must ensure a balance between all the economic, social, cultural and environmental variables that make up our lives together.

            I believe that all of our separate actions to address environmental problems have a cumulative positive impact. We all have a critically important role to play. Perhaps your environmental action is through your individual transportation choices, how you heat your home, or acquire your food. Perhaps you are an educator. Some of us write letters and knock on the doors of various levels of government. Some of us march in the streets, lie down in front of bulldozers, or blockade logging roads. And some of us accept the challenge of elected public office. I have done most of those things.

            Activists on the front lines and activists at the negotiating table are both important but our skills sets are different.  What I have learned in my years as an environmental activist is the power of building partnerships. Making enemies does not make progress. When the fists come down on the table or rise in the air, ears and minds close. Working through conflict to achieve consensus makes for the healthiest outcomes with the greatest chance of long term success. I have learned that I can achieve results at the negotiating table without compromising my principles.

I have also gained a very clear understanding of what we at the Regional District have the power to achieve through direct local action and what we can only influence through lobbying other governments and agencies to make the changes that need to occur outside of our jurisdiction. I also have an understanding of the impact of ongoing First Nations negotiations on what can occur on Crown land.

I have worked hard for the last 6 years on the SCRD Board to encourage an atmosphere of consensus and collaboration.  These are just a few of the many things that I have helped to achieve:

·        Collaboration with our municipal partners on the Regional Sustainability Plan, We Envision.

·        Adoption of the Zero Waste Management Plan

·        Community and Corporate Energy and Emissions Plans and action to reduce energy consumption and GHG emissions throughout the community.

·        Energy audits on all SCRD recreation facilities to find out what will make them more energy efficient.

·        Installation of solar panels on the SCRD office building.

·        A Climate Smart training program for local businesses to help them improve their energy footprint.

·        Embedding provisions for GHG reductions and energy savings into all Official Community Plans.

·        Developing a communications protocol with BC Timber Sales to encourage a more ecological approach to forestry on Mt Elphinstone.

·        A smoke control bylaw in Roberts Creek

·        Mechanisms to reduce damaging construction on the foreshore in Roberts Creek.

·        Construction of bike lanes,

·        Creation of an Agriculture Advisory Committee to foster and encourage local food production.

·        Lobbying BC Transit to improve and enhance transit services.

·        Keeping protection of the Chapman/Gray watersheds as a high priority

I am committed to continuing to build on these actions and taking the next steps to ensure a sustainable future.

Imagine that you are the parent or grandparent of that 7 billionth baby that was born this week on Halloween. What would you do to ensure that that child’s experience on this planet is as good as ours has been? That premise has been and will continue to be what guides my work. I believe that my approach gets results.