Meetings, Protest, Petitions, and New Edition of the Westward Independent

Never a slow day in the valley!

The CVRD is proposing a gross tax increase of almost 20%. Some of this rationale came from increasing the Park land acquisition fund, which was defended by Mayor Douglas as he quoted a 2008 survey that stated folks wanted park lands and reserves, and who wouldn’t say yes to that in 2008 when the economy was good? But did the respondents know that their taxes would increase by almost 3% in the current budget many years later? Mayor Douglas also quoted Canada’s 30x30 plan - a UN plan to reserve 30% of land and 30% of water by 2030 from human usage. [ article in this month WW Ind. https://wwind.ca/parks-or-pockets/] and what is 30x30 in last month’s edition :

There is a statistic that shows the richer the country the more sustainable they are, with lots of parks and the like, yet the poorer ones live in more of a survival mode, and nature conservation is not a top priority. So as the municipalities, and Regional Districts, continue to impoverish their citizens with taxes, fees, restrictions to land use, and climate goals, what will citizens end up placing as their priority?

The petition below is time-sensitive and needs to be signed by the next CVRD meeting on the 28th of February, please share far and wide:

https://www.change.org/p/urge-the-cvrd-to-abandon-their-proposed-19-33-property-tax-increase/sign

Additionally, a protest is scheduled for Feb 28th at 12:30 in front of the CVRD meeting as a pushback against the proposed tax increase. Hope to see you there!

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Westward Independent Edition 9: covering the massive CVRD tax increase proposed, global farmer uprising, UNDRIP and the BC Land Amendment proposal, BC Bills 44, 31, 36, Council Watch and more : https://wwind.ca/edition-009-february/

Westward Independent has added a new ‘Pulse’ page to the website for more frequent articles that we put out in between papers can be viewed here: https://wwind.ca/pulse/

And if you are a Twitter/X user, you can see these posts and more @contactwwind

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COAP, Concerned Citizens, and Land Keepers were out in full force at the CVRD meeting where Directors voted on whether to honor Nature Trust's request to send their proposal letter to the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) regarding the flooding of almost 200 acres of productive farmland in Cowichan Bay. In 2020, the rules were changed, requiring individuals to go through local government first for changes to their ALR land, unlike the previous process that allowed direct applications to the ALC.

The Cowichan Bay flooding has been an ongoing controversy in the Valley, and it has yet to be resolved. A newly formed group called Land Keepers took action last year by establishing a society to combat the flooding. They retained lawyers and hydrologists to oppose this land grab by a large non-governmental organization (NGO). Numerous articles in the WW. Ind. have detailed the controversy, shedding light on the situation.

You can see the speakers at the meeting here:

We know this is a global war on our food supply and farmers, and we have detailed it in this article : https://wwind.ca/environmental-concerns-clash-with-agricultural-realities/

This is a one-hour documentary on the war against farmers, is well worth the watch:

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Citizens rose up against public drug use and crime in our area on Feb 16th. COAP was there to film the speakers: https://www.youtube.com/live/Y820EuLM6Qg?feature=shared

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15 minute cities our local councilours are celebrating and implmenting: https://expose-news.com/2024/02/18/americas-first-15-minute-city-has-been-created-in-tempe-arizona-do-residents-know-whats-in-store-for-them/

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New - Suggested Substacks section:

All Species Are thriving But Man

Sincerely,

Team COAP.