Sixteen (and well-behaved pup, Envy) joined this ASK Salt Spring gathering to welcome some of our newly-elected local government officials. Joining us were Local Community Commissioners (LCC)-Elect Pam Tarr, Jenny McClean, and returning Ben Corno; Islands Trustee-Elect Gary Holman; and CRD Electoral Director-Elect Brian Webster. 

After Jenny offered our Acknowledgement, sharing her love of the land and reminding us of the giants upon whose shoulders we stand, we each got an opportunity to introduce ourselves and briefly share what we hope to hear from our newly-elected leaders. While responses were varied, themes emerged. Participants wanted to know how our guests would act quickly and decisively to address the crises facing us, especially concerning our climate and housing needs, while also limiting the ever-increasing demands placed upon our taxpayers. 

When they were asked what “excited and delighted” them, our guests responded with: 

• Pam is delighted by the beautiful fall we have been having, stunning in itself while also whispering of that coming joy of a holiday season rich with family, friends, food, and festivities. She is also deeply excited about her new role as one of our four Local Commissioners, savouring moments of great hope for significant change. 
• Jenny is excited to be always learning. Driven by her continuing curiosity about Salt Salt Spring, its history, its people, and its environment, she is committed to help create a community based on the everyone’s needs that is the best it can be. 
• Gary, unabashedly reminding us that he is not an “excited and delighted” sort of guy, expressed what looked a lot like delight in the mandate he and Islands Trust-Elect Robin Jenkinson had been given, heartened by the high priority placed by the electorate for our environment and connection to our unique archipelago of islands. 
• Ben, about to take charge of a regional disc golf event attracting 77 committed and skilled players from all around the region, shared his excitement about this event. He also shared his delight about being a key player exploring the mystery of what awaits the LCC in its next four years. 
• Brian shared his delight with the sunny day after sunny days we have been given this year. While still concerned about our lack of rain, he shared his joy of seeing the bright sun low on the horizon. While the plains provinces may be used to this sight, he cannot recall such a lovely sight as his apple orchard in the low fall sun. (We were told that this unique weather pattern has not been replicated since 1909.) After two days in Victoria this week, Brian also shared his excitement and trepidation about his role as Electoral Director. Familiar with local Salt Spring CRD issues and responsibilities, he is just learning about the complexity of his regional responsibilities, acknowledging Gary who had unflaggingly carried this immense burden for so many years.

The first question to our new local leaders was to tell them that they must reduce the ever-increasing traffic in Ganges. Brian responded by reminding us that, despite a local commitment to reducing vehicular traffic by expanding transit and creating a more walkable/cycle-able village, recent provincial freezes have stymied progress. While the LCC is committed to expand our transit service, the province has been unwilling to approve this expansion due to a funding freeze. Likewise, many of our pathways have been funded by BC Active Transportation Infrastructure grants, a funding stream that was also paused in October 2025. 

While it was agreed that other sources of funding could be found for pathways, with BC Transit as our bus provider – as well as paying roughly half of our transit costs – some felt that this current provincial freeze on transit expansion may be a hurdle too high to solve locally. Others mused about better using currently underutilized vehicles owned privately, by nonprofits, and government to create an off season Handy Dart-like service (https://www.bctransit.com/victoria/riderinfo/handydart/). A complex possibility, clearly requiring much more conversation.  

Our guests were asked about their priorities for the next four years. 

• Gary began by outlining his two top priorities: 1) Creating more affordable housing, as defined by our Official Community Plan (OCP), remaining affordable by decoupling it from market forces; and 2) Protecting our scarce and vulnerable drinking water by better watershed protection as well as allocating North Salt Spring Waterworks District (NSSWD) available hookups to affordable housing projects. 
• Pam’s top priority is collaboration. She is committed to move quickly, rather than incrementally, to address our worker housing crisis. She understands that this determined progress cannot be accomplished without strong public, private, and nonprofit partnerships. Excited to use the LCC’s newly-completed Integrated Housing Strategy as a beginning, she will prioritize creating the partnerships needed to implement it. 
• Ben will prioritize a better understanding and more strategic planning for the services under the LCC authority as well as those supported by Contribution Agreements, like the Library, ArtSpring, and the Arts Council. In his first term, he observed he and his LCC Team responding to multiple community requests for funding. He noted that, in many cases, the partnership with the groups that the LCC needed to better understand and anticipate these requests was missing. He also noted that these requests were seldom made within the context of a longterm plan. He would also like a deeper understanding of School District 64 needs and priorities given the many key shared community facilities.
• Jenny will focus on enhancing core services, both for pedestrians and bus riders. She noted that there are issues with uneven sidewalks in Ganges that need to be improved as well as expansion of our bus system. She would also like to help create stronger partnerships with other organizations, noting the School District 64’s high cost of transporting students by water taxi, wondering about the possibilities of collaboration on this transportation issue as well.  
• Brian spoke of a recent moving presentation about the shocking number of insecurely-housed children on Salt Spring. (This will be our ASK Salt Spring conversation Friday, November 6, 11-1, SIMS Classroom.) While he recognizes that many CRD services, most notably PARC recreation programs and facilities, have a significant positive impact upon Salt Spring families, he was struck that we have not focused specifically on families and their needs. He plans to propose the beginning of this important discussion with an LCC Roundtable to better understand gaps in family support as well as seek solutions. He will also prioritize completion of the long-awaited HarbourWalk during his term. 

The next question was addressed to Gary and focused on the revision of our Official Community Plan OCP. (By the way, with all this talk about our OCP, how many of you have recently read it? You many want to do so as it is sure to continue to be an important topic: https://islandstrust.bc.ca/document/salt-spring-island-ocp-bylaw-no-434-volumes-1-2/.) Gary has repeatedly stated that, with some exceptions especially its minimal detail about First Nations collaboration and climate adaptation, our OCP is strong and as relevant today as when it was written. While he will actively participate in OCP revisions, he has warned us repeatedly not to “throw out the baby with the bathwater,” confident that the foundations of the OCP are solid. 

One fundamental principle in the OCP (commonly referred to as B: 2121) is that up zoning a property must require affordable housing, or another community amenity supporting the OCP like parkland or funding. Gary believes adamantly (and sees his election as support for his position) that any rewrite of the OCP that does not contain this key provision will permanently harm Salt Spring. Gary also requested that those advocating for major changes in the OCP need to be clearer about those changes and the reasons for them.

A participant that believes that the OCP should be rewritten argued that most communities have a colorful, easy to read, and illustrated – and, therefore, accessible – OCP stating their community values in about 20 pages; ours is hard to read and understand, complicated, and over 100 pages. He argued that our current OCP mingles community values with specific rules to implement these values that would be better placed in supporting bylaws. He also believes that the findings of many recent studies need to be analyzed to ascertain whether these recent recommendations should also be included in our fundamental community values. 

Two very different perspectives. . .be assured, this conversation between Gary and those who believe a major change in our OCP is needed is just beginning. . . .  

Our guests were asked why, given fast-increasing tax requisition, volunteers were not used more effectively by the CRD. Brian reminded us of the promise of the good work on Salt Spring that Habitat for Humanity has begun. (Detailed in their two recent visits to ASK Salt Spring: (https://asksaltspring.com/2026/02/20/could-salt-spring-become-a-habitat-for-humanity-community/and https://asksaltspring.com/2026/08/28/habitat-for-humanity-is-coming-to-salt-spring-with-its-critical-repairs-pilot/). Gary pointed out that our two most promising affordable housing projects, Kings Lane and IWAV’s Norton Road, are being accomplished largely by volunteers. (Not mentioned at this gathering but also significant is the wonderful partnership recently strengthened between LCC/CRD and Island Pathways, especially the determined and hardworking Partners Creating Pathways volunteers who continue to create pathways all around Ganges.) 

A participant asked whether we should be discussing how many should live on Salt Spring, often called carrying capacity, the maximum population an area with specific resources can sustain. She asked whether this was an important piece of the conversation that has been ignored. 

We were cautioned not to confuse the subdivision potential allowed by our current zoning (which, if all allowable housing were built, could be very large) with Salt Spring’s carrying capacity. In addition to population, this carrying capacity is also a function of the average footprint – land, water, power and other resources – used by an individual. It was suggested that reducing our average footprint (and, thus, our collective impact) through rain catchment, smaller house sizes, and other steps is a conversation may be more useful than arguing over numbers suggested or implied by current zoning. 

Pam suggested that we try to determine how many residents Salt Spring needs to have for a balanced community comprised of all demographics – and the workers needed to support them. She also reminded us that the footprint of our homes matters: A multi-million dollar mansion that was built by clearcutting acres and accommodates only two individuals has a far larger impact than a modest small home on a half acre accommodating a family. She suggested we fully explore creating a Housing Agency which could, among other things, keep a centralized list of all who are already here and need homes, collaborating to find housing for those most critical to our community.

As our time together was over, Ben asked us to respond to some community members who have stated that CRD duplicates services with many staff doing the same job. He suggests the case is quite different: In truth, Salt Spring CRD staff are fully-utilized with many more projects than staff to do them, too often resulting in one individual doing multiple jobs. A “Shout Out” was given to our local CRD staff who, along with the LCC and Electoral Director, are accomplishing an amazing amount. And, with the energy of this newly-elected team, is likely to be asked to accomplish even more :)! 

While many of us at this ASK Salt Spring gathering were quite pleased that we had not been the ones elected to face such daunting tasks, we were clearly supportive of the difficult job these brave folks are embracing, encouraged by their vision, impressed by the experience they bring to make things happen, and encouraged by their willingness to do the hard work required – day after day – (Thank-you Ben, Jenny, Gary, Pam, and Brian!) 

Just in case you are interested. . . .This report has been written by Gayle Baker, founder of ASK Salt Spring. It has been reviewed by our guests..