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True Green Critique by Brenda McLuhan

As Murray told us in the last edition of the Bulletin, there is a new “green” group on Bowen calling themselves True Green. They are proposing “solutions” for Bowen based on the idea that by increasing our density and population, we can become more sustainable, support more amenities and reduce our carbon footprint (the idea [...]

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58 Lots – Not a Reality

Why CRC Can’t Hold 58 Lots
Cape Roger Curtis is currently zoned to allow for 10 acre lots but it must be subdivided, with the approval of the Approving Officer, who has the discretion to approve or reject the application on grounds set out in the Land Title Act, including (among other things) that it is [...]

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“You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone…”

The most important issue in our upcoming municipal election may not be what we stand to gain from the many candidates’ promises, but rather what we have to lose.
Bowen Island is an exceptional place to live.  Almost everyone agrees that we have a close, caring community set in a spectacular natural environment, still rural in [...]

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So You Want to be a Councllor? A Primer for Those Who Might…..by Neil Boyd

A recent poll revealed that Canadians have quite differing levels of trust when it comes to different professions. While nurses and teachers enjoy the trust of more than 75 per cent of the public, politicians are highly trusted by a meagre 14 per cent.
It is in this climate of mistrust and suspicion that you must [...]

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Three Years After: Reflections from a Retiring Politician

There is a mission statement for Bowen Island municipality; it adorns the top of all agendas prepared for council meetings, and makes five pledges: to improve the economic, environmental and social well-being for present and future generations; to encourage and foster community involvement; to enhance the small, friendly, caring character of the community; to maintain [...]

BC Ferries runaround

We are getting the runaround from BC Ferries. Have been for years. Take our passenger waiting facility in Snug Cove, for instance. Built in the early 80’s, and a poor cousin to any half decent bus stop on Fraser Street, it seats 4-5, maybe 12 people standing. That at a time when over 200 passengers [...]

LOOK BACK, THEN LOOK FORWARD

Some years back an older wiser man offered this comment when I complained about the slow pace of political affairs: “Things don’t just go from A to B; they go round and round. You just hope that with each turn of the wheel, things move forward a bit.”
Sadly, he has been quite correct. The Snug [...]

SNUG COVE: KEY ISSUES

Here we are in the final months of our three-year term, on the brink of passing the Snug Cove Plan, some 20 years after the community first began debate about its merits. For the past three years I have had the privilege of direct political involvement in this plan, and I want to use this [...]

ISLANDS TRUST UPDATE

Bowen’s Trustees went to the quarterly Council meeting on Mayne Island last week. On return, having told someone where I had been been, he snorted with derision, querying whether the Trust had ANY relevance to us anymore. Actually it does, hence this review of meeting highlights.
Bowen remains entrenched within the Trust federation, and is party [...]