It is the end of one term and the start of another. I am pleased to announce that Cam Marven has agreed to be our Area B Alternate. I am quite confident that Cam can take my place at any given time.
It has been a very difficult year, starting with the flooding.
There are a lot of areas of concern yet to be fixed and I will be pressuring the Provincial Government to be more proactive.
We as a community need to be vigilant of our waterways in order to keep them clear of debris etc. Please feel free to contact me if you are aware of any concerns.
We were unfortunate to have to go through another smoky summer yet fortunate for most of us, that it wasn’t worse. Thanks to our Forestry Firefighters and our Local Fire Department for keeping us safe.
Related: New dog control contractor in Cawston
Another problem this year is in regards to our Dog Bylaw. We have always had an animal bylaw long before I became a representative which included dogs. This year the Dog Bylaw was upgraded to include vicious and problem dogs and to have the same bylaw throughout most of the region. At the same time a new security company was given a three-year contract to enforce our bylaws. I was of the understanding that it was complaint driven and there is a need to control vicious and problem dogs in our area. I have received a few complaints regarding the security company and how they are exercising their authority. I hope things will settle down in this area now, or maybe the community will have to look at different options when the contract is up.
We now have a new Rec Commission Manager and quite a few new commission directors willing to take on the task of keeping our aging facility up and running. Hopefully the more the community uses the facility, the better it will become.
In the coming year there are plans for paving and new building signage.
The next big issue starting this year is the proposed National Park.
I will continue to try and protect our agriculture and food producing lands from being taken over by our Federal Government. I don’t believe this is a place for a National Park, surrounded by settlement areas and agriculture.
The purchasing of agriculture land and the lack of control of predators could be devastating to our agriculture industry.
My concern is, is this fragile ecosystem better off being exposed to millions of people or could it be protected by other means without harming the local agriculture industry? I would think there is a way to protect both.
I believe in food sovereignty and food security for our future generations.
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