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Want to Learn More About Salt Spring’s Roads? Owen Page, MoTi Area Manager, Offers Answers as Well as Listening
April 19, 2024: Fifteen joined us for all or part of our time together at this ASK Salt Spring gathering that welcomed our Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MoTI) Area Manager Owen Page. After our Territorial Acknowledgement, we asked Owen what excites and delights him. Personally, he was looking forward to watching a great basketball playoff while enjoying a beer that evening. Professionally, he loves spending time in the communities for which he is responsible, always listening, learning, and seeking the best use of the resources he has been allocated. Later ,when asked if the number of Salt Spring emails were a bit overwhelming, he…
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Local Commissioners Learn About Liveaboards’ Needs
April 12, 2024: Ten welcomed two of your Local Community Commissioners, Ben Corno and Gayle Baker, to this ASK Salt Spring gathering. While the numbers were small, the conversation was rich, masterfully facilitated by Ron Cooke. We began with a Territorial Acknowledgement from Ben, introducing himself in the Indigenous way of also recognizing his parents. When asked what excites and delights us, Gayle responded that she was delighted to be happily home after an amazing trip that began in Brazil and ended in Rome. She spoke briefly about her satisfaction with small projects that are moving along toward completion, like the new bus shelter next to the Visitors’…
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Road Maintenance Trials and Triumphs: Welcoming Emcon’s Operations Manager, Andrew
March 1, 2024: Fifteen joined this ASK Salt Spring gathering to welcome Andrew Gaetz, Operations Manager for Emcon, our road maintenance contractor. After our Territorial Acknowledgement, we asked Andrew what excited and delighted him. He immediately responded that he was very pleased that the recent vacuum sweeping of Ganges had gone so well, with only a few parked cars impeding the much-needed sweeping of our village streets. Also swept was an area of grave concern for cyclists: The barriers along the curves of Lower Ganges Road north of Booth Canal Road. Emcon is contracted to sweep all major Salt Spring streets by May 15 and…
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Welcoming Sergeant Clive Seabrook and Learning About RCMP Successes and Challenges on Salt Spring
February 23, 2024: Eighteen joined us for all or part of our time together at this ASK Salt Spring gathering welcoming RCMP Sergeant Clive Seabrook. After our Territorial Acknowledgement, Clive told us what excites and delights him: Living and working on Salt Spring! Already into his fourth year with us, he continues to love working in our community, feeling the same excitement he felt upon his arrival. He credited the support he gets from Salt Springers as an important part of his continued delight working here. As you may know, Salt Spring is classified as a community requiring officers to be relocated every four years.…
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$$$$. . . Funders Discuss Funding Opportunities for Local Initiatives. . . $$$
February 16, 2024: Thirty-two joined this ASK Salt Spring gathering to welcome Nora Layard, Chair of Transition Salt Spring Enterprise Coop – TSSEC (tssenterprisecoop@gmail.com); Shannon Cowan, Executive Director of the Salt Spring Island Foundation (shannon@ssifoundation,ca); Robert Steinbach, Country Grocer’s Community Relations and Business Development (robert@saltspringcountrygrocer.com); and Julie Kemble, Chair of the Arts Council (chair@ssartscouncil.com). They joined us to discuss their role funding local initiatives as well as partnering in multi-organisation collaborations to support more complex local initiatives. After our Territorial Acknowledgement, each of our guests were asked what excited and delighted them. Julie began, sharing her enthusiasm for our topic of funding local projects, especially support for…
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Your Local Community Commissioners Learn About Community Works Funds, and Roosters
February 9, 2024: Thirty joined this ASK Salt Spring gathering to welcome our Local Community Commissioners (LCC) Ben Corno (bcorno@crd.bc.ca), Brian Webster (bwebster@crd.bc.ca), Earl Rook (erook@crd.bc.ca, Gayle Baker (gbaker@crd.bc.ca) and Gary Holman, also our Electoral Director, (directorssi@crd.bc.ca). After our Territorial Acknowledgment, facilitator Grant Fredrickson began by asking each of our guests what excited and delighted them about being Salt Spring’s first Local Commissioners. Ben began by expressing his pleasure that the months of discussion about the 2024 budget had concluded, allowing the Local Commissioners to turn their full attention to creative solutions to Salt Spring issues. Earl agreed with Ben’s sentiment, adding that he was looking forward to…
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Welcoming MLA Adam Olsen to Discuss That Classic Battle Between Centralised and Local Decisions
February 2, 2024: Twenty came to welcome MLA Adam Olsen and Jerram Gawley, his Constituency Advocate, to this ASK Salt Spring gathering. Adam added to our Territorial Acknowledgement by reminding us that his people had a tradition of overlapping spaces, a homeland to different groups sharing linguistic and cultural roots but still very different. He reminded us that these overlapping boundaries accommodating multiple groups were extremely difficult for crown governments far more comfortable with maps identifying discrete ownership. When asked what excited and delighted him, Adam immediately responded that being on Salt Spring did just that. He is glad that he spends a lot of…
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A Meander Down Memory Lane with Tom Toynbee
January 26, 2024: Nineteen joined us to welcome longtime Salt Spring leader, Tom Toynbee. He took us on a meander down Memory Lane, and did we ever learn a lot about Ganges’ fascinating history! For many of us, it was a welcome break from concern about today’s issues to immerse ourselves in a time past and enjoy Tom’s amazing memory and passion for all things Ganges. Tom was born at Lady Minto Hospital (at the location of today’s Community Services) on May 8, 1934. Yes, he has a big birthday approaching :). We all shared a laugh when we learned that his…
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BC Ferries’ Nicholas Offers Some Opportunities to Local NonProfits
January 19, 2024: Unfortunately, snow forced a cancellation of this gathering. Anticipated as a rich conversation about funding options for local initiatives, Funding a healthy and resilient Salt Spring, our team of experts, Shannon Cowan, Salt Spring Island Foundation; Nora Layard, Transition Salt Spring Economic Co-Op (TSSEC); Robert Steinbach, Country Grocer Community Outreach; and Julie Kemble, Chair of the Arts Council, have promised to join us Friday, February 16, 11-1, in the SIMS classroom next to the Boardroom. But, even though we had no ASK Salt Spring gathering this week, we do have some news: On October 20, BC Ferries President and Chief Executive Officer,…
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Welcoming our “Delighted to be Alive!” MP Elizabeth May
January 12, 2024: Due to freezing temperatures and icy roads, only 11 came to welcome our MP Elizabeth May and Ned Taylor, Constituency Coordinator. While the numbers were disappointing but understandable, those who braved the weather all contributed to an amazing and rich conversation with Elizabeth. After our Territorial Acknowledgment, we asked Elizabeth what excited and delighted her. Her answer was immediate and heartfelt: I am delighted to be alive! We then learned more about her recent stroke. While the most common strokes are ischemic, caused by a blocked artery in the brain, Elizabeth’s was a hemorrhagic stroke, caused by the bursting of a blood vessel in her brain…