Saanich Mayor

Frank Leonard looks to be safe in Saanich as the mayor, the conventional thinking is that there little chance of anyone being able to unseat him. I think that this is a shame and a problem from democracy in Saanich.

As long as there is no serious race for mayor of Saanich, the voter turn out for the rest of the council race will be reduced. The media will little or no attention to the races for council and most people will stay away.

Many people would argue that Frank is a good mayor and that they are happy with him. But when no one votes for him, how do you measure his real support? I have my issues with Frank Leonard as mayor and most of it comes down to the lack of regional leadership from the Saanich council. Saanich needs to grow up and understand that it has an important role to play as the home for most of the people in the core of the city. Most of our car commuters are coming from Saanich.

Saanich is no longer just a bedroom community in the region. It is now becoming the northern extension of the core commercial/business core of the city and will be more so once the Uptown Town and Country is complete. It is also home to one of the biggest commuter destinations in the region - UVic.

Saanich needs to start looking at parking meters on the streets. It needs to look at adding a lot of small inexpensive but high density housing near to UVic. It has to take a lead in supporting the issues downtown in the city. Saanich has to also open the door on discussions about our stupid local boundaries for local government. Either we need amalgamation or we need to redraw the boundaries to reflect communities and neighbourhoods. Without someone running against Frank Leonard for mayor of Saanich, there will be no functional debate about the future of Saanich.

I hear the odd rumour of people considering running, but nothing I can put on "paper" - I hope the rumours are true.