Sooke Mayoralty Candidates Forum 2018

Three contenders for Sooke mayor address ‘transition’ community

by Mary P Brooke

October 3, 2018 ~ SOOKE. This evening in Sooke, Mayor Maja Tait (incumbent) shared the stage with Kevin Pearson (two-term Sooke councillor) and Mick Rhodes. All three had answers prepared for a range of questions given to them ahead of time by Transition Sooke, and they adapted along the way.

The audience at the Edward Milne Community School Theatre had a few questions too.

About 80 people showed up to hear and interact with these mayoralty candidates live, with a full-event video also done for sharing later with a broader audience. The audience was largely the Transition Sooke community as well as long-time residents who regularly follow municipal and community issues.

Tait claimed a lot of successes in her 4-year term including development of the town core, completion of the roundabout, trails, sidewalks, and accessibility improvements. She made frequent mention of various community events and that celebrating what Sooke has is important to do. When asked about food security she highlighted Sooke Fall Fair, Sunriver community and allotment gardens, and the John Muir learning garden. Tait is presently 1st Vice President of the Union of BC Municipalities and has represented Sooke at the CRD board table.

Pearson stood out for his practical but proactive views on generating economic growth (bringing commercial enterprise to town and creating jobs) and development (including densification within the sewer specified area) while also protecting the environment (including salmon stocks) and the wildlife corridor. Having served on the CRD’s Juan de Fuca Water board, he sees the regional view on water supply and said a council under his leadership would “consider food security in all our decision-making”. He manages 700 staff in his current corporate job and knows how to delegate. He will retire soon to be a full-time mayor if elected.

Rhodes opened his remarks with a declaration that “things are moving too fast, we’ve got to slow it down”. He wants to see a harbourfront ‘central park’ community area, and slower traffic on the roads. He said that council is about land use and zoning bylaws that could work to support the development of tiny homes with smaller mortgages — a rotating use of housing stock could serve different age groups. Rhodes was a journalist for 17 years and drove for Sooke Taxi.

Questions from the audience covered a range of topics and interests including enhancing the Sooke Country Market with a permanent space; being asked to identify their leadership strengths for team work on Council; access to water and greenspace; better agriculture and market together with food security; what has motivated the candidates to run for the top job, a tough job; how the winning candidate will relate to the two who don’t win after October 20; DFO restrictions on fishing; a specific land use issue that many felt went against the OCP but got through Council anyhow; how effective or satisfactory is the emergency preparedness model at the municipal level; sticking to the OCP (even though times have changed); protecting the wildlife corridor around Sooke’s built-up area; any further improvements to Highway 14; and the relationship between the municipality and the chamber of commerce.

The well-organized format kept things at a good clip, with two hours and 15 minutes almost flying by in comfortable auditorium seats.

Next week the Sooke Region Chamber of Commerce will be hosting a forum for all candidates (mayor and council) at the Prestige Oceanfront Resort on the evening of Thursday, October 11.