​The ProArt Alliance of Greater Victoria asked four questions of all CRD candidates. Below you'll find what I whipped up just now. Carolyn and I never miss the reliably amazing Sooke Fine Arts Show and over the years have emerged from our Whiffin Spit hermitage to catch occasional performances of the Sooke Community Choir, the Sooke Harbour Players and the Sooke Philharmonic. Beyond that, however, we are by no means avid (or even average) supporters of the arts in Sooke.

I spent the first 25 years of my adult life as a music industry business magazine journalist and editor, attending untold hundreds of concerts in Toronto and Vancouver (my hearing sadly suffers a bit as a result). Since opting out of the biz in the early 2000s, I've found I have little residual desire to sit in audiences and be entertained. 

Instead, I've found much joy, satisfaction and personal growth through participation in various arguably "creative" real-time mind-body practices, among them insight meditation, yoga and 5Rhythms dance. In recent years, I've faced my fears and jumped into (what was first a huge challenge and is now an utter delight) singing circles led by gifted locals like Alanda Carver, Phil Rossner and Marjorie Baskerville. Yes, I wholeheartedly respect all who pursue the arts as a vocation and passion. Yet, as you'll see in my answer to question #4, I also urge everyone to to tap their wellsprings of personal creativity and express themselves. As I've been told by many teachers over the last 20 years, practice may not make perfect, but it helps. :-)  

1. What benefits do the arts bring to our communities? 
Individual artists and such organizations as the Sooke Arts Council, the Sooke Fine Arts Society, our community choirs, the Harmony Project, the Sooke Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sooke Folk Music Society, Sooke Writers Collective and the EMCS Society (which runs Sooke’s one major performance venue, the EMCS Community Theatre) are at the heart of Sooke’s cultural life. These groups allow residents to participate in the arts either directly or as audience members, and the majority of us here do so one way or another. The arts, of course, spark civic pride and substantial economic benefits ($177.3 million in GDP activity in the CRD according to the 2012 Greater Victoria Economic Activity Study). 

2. What role do you believe municipal governments should have in supporting the arts?
The District of Sooke has traditionally backed the arts through its Community Grants program and via automatic line-item funding in support of (to cite a recently approved addition to the annual budget) the Sooke Fine Arts Show.  This is modest partial funding that gives organizations a head start as they seek matching grants and funding from other sources. The District’s Sooke Program for the Arts (SPA) committee continues to do an impressive job with various initiatives and projects; in the works this year and next will be painted crosswalks, transit shelter photography,  a new community notice board and more public art. 

3. Given that your municipality is committed to investing in the CRD Arts Development Service, do you support your municipality's decision to contribute to the service? Why? 
Approximately $5 per taxpayer per year is a smart investment that gives Sooke the opportunity to augment Community Grants with our fair share of the $2.18 million in annual CRD operating grants for local arts groups. Also available are a range of  project, equity and incubator grants, as well as opportunities to add Sooke festivals and arts events to regional advertising and promotional campaigns. 

4. Is there anything else regarding the arts that you would like to communicate to voters?
There was talk in Sooke Arts & Beautification Committee meetings I attended circa 2013/14 of a local arts education centre and gallery (i.e., a humbler, funkier Sooke version of Qualicum’s Old School House Arts Centre). The idea  unfortunately never took flight, but I’m sure the day will come when new champions revive it and track down a suitable home (the former Mulligans at the edge of John Phillips Memorial Park was the target back then) for such an essential community space. 

Also, as an aside, I’d like to echo others far wiser than me who’ve said the ability to make “art” — to sing, dance, paint and creatively express ourselves in any number of ways — is a human birthright. I was a music industry journalist earlier in my career, and have long relished the genius of others with my eyes, ears and clapping hands. In recent years, however, I have been working to overcome the belief that I have no creative abilities myself.  Teachers gave me “art” and “singing” wounds when I was a child by telling me I wasn’t any good at either.  

To my great pleasure, I have been jumping into “all voices welcome and accepted” song circles where we’re invited to sing for the sheer joy of it. Through patient practice and growing confidence, I’ve discovered that I do, in fact, have a fairly decent voice. I recommend the documentary The Singing Revolution and urge everyone to tap into greater health and happiness through creative expression, bum notes and all.  

Given my involvement with Zero Waste Sooke, I should be running a zero-waste campaign, right? Well, as much as I wholeheartedly subscribe to a "less is much more" worldview, the fact is that reality bites and I've been advised that I need to stay competitive with my share of campaign signs and brochures.

I'm recycling my blue-and-green signs from 2014. And I've printed 250 copies of this year's brochure, nicely designed as ever by Zach Ogilvie and featuring a photo taken by Rick Robinson at Ed Macgregor Park below its wooden sign (upon which perches a carved eagle; interestingly enough, I met the carver himself in my role as co-organizer of Transition Sooke's Ecohome Tour this weekend ~ he now lives out near Kemp Lake Rd. and is keen to build a net-zero residence).

Anyway, In case I don't appear on your doorstep to offer you one or if you're the sort who'd rather not walk away with another scrap for the blue box, here are two public sides of Candidate Jeff. 

Hello, I'm back for round two in my bid for a seat on Sooke council. My new website has been up since early last month And I'm posting routinely on my campaign Facebook account. Rather than clog it with too much content, I'm returning to this underutilized but handy blog to share some of the blurbs I've been churning out in recent days for various newspapers and special interest groups in the region. 

I'll get started here with my replies to the Victoria Times Colonist survey of Capital Regional District candidates. You'll find the full report here (though, as I type in the dark on this wet early October morning, there is no link to the long-form replies from District of Sooke candidates). The T/C's Sooke overview page is here. 

For what it's worth, here are my unedited, within the legal (100 words max per answer) limit, answers to questions sent my way by the paper's Jack Knox and Jeff Bell.  

Why are you running? What's your motivation?

Since the start of Mayor Milne’s administration in 2011, I’ve attended dozens of council meetings as part of a self-directed apprenticeship in municipal governance that sprang from my work with Transition Sooke. I ran for council in 2014 and missed a seat by 24 votes. Since then, I’ve become increasingly engaged through committee positions and delegation presentations. Now semi-retired, I figure a term or ideally two in public office would be a meaningful way to be of productive hometown service prior to my sunset years.

What are your top three issues? 

1. Completion of new planning documents that refine Sooke’s long-standing masterplan: i) Modestly dense harbour village centre; ii) Light industrial activity east of Sooke River Rd.; iii) A commercial node in Saseenos; and iv) Preservation of wilderness and rural character elsewhere.

2. The recruitment of a gifted new Chief Administrative Officer to empower District staff and woo the right mix of targetted developers, independent gap businesses and new residents to town.

3. Sooke’s people are our most valuable resource. We must do better job of tapping local expertise with a dramatically expanded range of select, standing and advisory committees.

Tell us about your previous elected and/or community experience. 
 
Community volunteer positions: President of the Sooke Transition Town Society (2013-18); president of the Edward Milne Community School Society (2015-18); founding board member with the Sooke Farmland Trust Society (2014-17); chair of the District of Sooke’s Climate Change Action Committee (2015-16); member of the District of Sooke’s Community Centre Advisory Committee (2015-16); co-founder of Zero Waste Sooke, Save Our Coast Sooke and the Sooke Region Multi-Belief Initiative; co-organizer of the Sooke Ecohome Tours (2016-18), the Sooke Region Earth Day Celebrations (2018) and the Sooke Slow Food Cycle (2011/12). 

Rank your spending priorities (1 is most important, 4 is least important)

Transportation  …. 1 
Policing …. 2 
Homelessness … 4 
Parks and recreation … 3 

Tell us more ... I’ve chosen this ranking based on municipal responsibilities. 

 1. I define ‘transportation’ to include the local road network, sidewalks and trails. Sooke must also continue advocating with BC Transit and the BC Ministry of Transportation by consistently sharing ideas and potential solutions. An alternative emergency route, perhaps via the Butler Main logging road to south Shawnigan Lake, might be considered as a rough gated bypass during Hwy #14 and Malahat closures.  

2. We now cover 75 percent of the costs of local policing, and this will rise to 90 percent when we reach official city status (15,000 people, possibly as early as the 2021 census). We need more consistent speed enforcement and must address the two-hour daily gap in local policing. 

 3. The CRD’s SEAPARC recreation centre has made great strides with its ongoing expansion (with an activity room and all-season sports/lacrosse box to come). The District must reopen traditional waterfront access points and better utilize our prime green spaces at John Phillips Memorial Park and Ed Macgregor Park.

 4. Homelessness is not a spending issue at the municipal level yet the District can work creatively with responsible BC ministries. Idea: Let's be proactive in finding land for a social-services hub that would include a shelter and new homes for the Sooke Food Bank and the Sooke Crisis & Referral Centre. 

This is a chance to share your positions on some of key issues facing communities and how you hope to address them. There is a limit of 500 characters on each of these answers, which is roughly 80 to 100 words.

Amalgamation ~ I’m interested to see how the Victoria/Saanich vote unfolds. In 2014, Sooke council expressed zero interest in full-scale south island amalgamation. There is a growing appetite here, however, to explore West Shore options and good-neighbour policies with the City of Langford and the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area. Within Sooke itself, we must respectfully approach the T’Sou-ke Nation and discuss how it might take the lead in a partnership that would expand its thriving solar, Net Zero housing and aquaculture initiatives to the rest of town. 

Transportation ~ Highway 14 can be regarded as either a “chokehold” or a “limit to growth.” The latter definition aligns with the wishes of community plans dating back at least 40 years. These have called for a modestly dense seaside town centre, light industrial activity east of the Sooke River and a commercial node in Sasseenos.  Elsewhere we're to retain our rural and wilderness character. Continued improvements (wider shoulders, slow-vehicle pullovers, realignment, improved paint lines and street lighting, and gated emergency detour routes) will make the winding road home safer and more efficient. 

Affordability ~ Sooke has traditionally been the least expensive market on the south Island and so it remains. Yet costs are soaring here as elsewhere; some 28 percent of residents are paying more than 50 percent of their gross income on housing. We must tap into the revolution in fresh, relatively inexpensive alternatives to single-family homes. Mixed-use commercial/residential condo and townhouse development in the core will help with housing supply. Tiny homes as secondary suites on residential properties would boost the rental stock. Low-impact micro-housing projects and farm villages might be possible on fallow ALR land. 

Homelessness ~ This is a provincial matter, however the District is playing a key role this year in facilitating meetings of local stakeholders through the Sooke Region Community Health Network. We have a relatively small population of homeless youth and adults, and this makes us a ideal community in which to test creative new solutions to a growing national crisis. Dorm-style, long-stay shelters matched with on-site health workers and employment opportunities would stabilize many lives. Seed funding through Ottawa’s National Housing Strategy and the shelter portion of BC Employment & Assistance programs could underwrite costs. 

Taxes ~ Sooke was incorporated in 1999 with the promise of low property taxation. Successive administrations have mostly held firm to this principal. Over the last seven years, the tax increases have been zero (2012), 1.59% (2013), 0.2 % (2014), zero (2015), 0.85% (2016), 5.58% (2017) and 2.79% (2018). District staff have noted that our reserve funds are lower than they should be and that a tax increase of 4.5 percent would have been ideal this year. Business tax rates, meanwhile, are a challenge along with commercial property lease fees and the lack of retail and light industrial space in Sooke.     


What's your vision for your community in 25 years?

My vision, both personally and through the lens of Transition Sooke, is rooted squarely in Sooke’s Official Community Plan. By 2043, we’ll have a built-out, modestly sized and age-friendly harbourside village centre with an attractive mix of commercial/residential low-rises, shops, restaurants, pocket parks and harbour viewpoints. The Troupe/Grant Rd. bypass is complete for EV traffic. There is expanded express BC Transit service to job sites in town and, 20 minutes away, in Langford; telecommuting work has grown and there is less need for government employees to travel to Victoria's Inner Harbour. Sewers have expanded east to Kaltasin, guaranteeing a clean ocean and sparking light-industrial enterprise at the point where the T’Sou-ke Nation meets Sooke. Hwy #14 is straightened from Connie to Harbourview roads, thus allowing Sasseenos to become a prime tourist destination. Residents are fully prepared for the Great Quake (touch wood that it hasn't happened before then).  

October 3, 2018
 
National Energy Board 
Reconsideration of the Trans Mountain Pipeline Project
re: West Coast Oil Tanker Impacts
 
Jeff Bateman
7083 Briarwood Place, Sooke, BC, V9Z 0T2 
(250) 642-2056
jbateman@shaw.ca
 
 
Please find attached comments from a Sooke, BC resident who lives approximately 200 meters from the Strait of Juan de Fuca. I am the former president (2013-2018) of the Sooke Transition Town Society, an entirely volunteer-run non-profit dedicated to local people, strengths and solutions. In 2014, our organization called for the creation of a District of Sooke plebiscite question related to increased oil tanker traffic in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. That question was included on the Nov. 15, 2014 municipal ballot; a two-thirds majority (2,618 voters) asked the District to continue its lobbying efforts to halt increases in the volume of JDF oil tanker traffic.  
 
Local residents and organizations (including Transition Sooke, the Sooke chapter of Dogwood BC and the non-partisan Save Our Coast - Sooke group) have continued to express their love of our marine environment and fears about oil tanker impacts. Initatives have included solstice candlelight vigils, an Orca art-making project involving adults and children, film nights and a steady flow of witnesses and commentators at Kinder Morgan presentations in Sooke. 
 
Elected officials in the Sooke region have repeatedly expressed concerns about the downstream (read: off-shore) impacts of the TMX pipeline expansion. These have been formalized in submissions to local, regional and provincial authorities, the National Energy Board included. Sooke's resolution calling for a halt to additional oil tanker traffic in coastal BC waters was passed unanimously at the Union of BC Municipalities convention in Sept., 2015.  
 
The following point-form notes summarize actions taken to date. Some material above has been drawn from Transition Sooke's 2014 plebscite advocacy package (Authorized by Let BC Vote 2014, registered sponsor under LECFA.)
 

• 78% of West Coast marine vessel traffic passes through the Juan de Fuca Strait (920 ships a month, 100 of them tankers).Tanker traffic through the Strait will increase sevenfold (to as many as 400 tankers per year) if Kinder Morgan’s pipeline expansion is approved.

• The District of Sooke held a plebiscite in November, 2014. The ballot question read: "“Should Sooke join other municipalities in renewing and restating its opposition to the expansion of oil tanker traffic through coastal BC waters?" 2,618 Sooke residents voted 'yes' and 1,137 voted 'no.' 

• Metchosin, Esquimalt, View Royal, Saanich, Victoria, Oak Bay, North Saanichand the Islands Trust(representing 12 southern and northern Gulf Islands) have passed resolutions opposing increased tanker traffic. 

• Union of B.C. Municipalities, Sept. 28, 2012 – Passed a resolution to “oppose projects that would lead to the expansion of oil tanker traffic through BC’s coastal waters” and “urge the Premier of British Columbia, the Leader of the Official Opposition and members of the Legislative Assembly to use whatever legislative and administrative means that are available to stop the expansion of oil tanker traffic.” 

• Transport Canada says the southern tip of Vancouver Island is most at riskfor a major oil spill if the Kinder Morgan pipeline is approved (Times Colonist, 30/01/2014).

• The current response time if a spill occurs in Juan de Fuca Strait is 18-72 hours+ travel time depending on size of the spill.  An emergency response station at Beecher Bay will improve this, of course, and yet recovery efforts in bad weather (routine between October and March) will be difficult in the notorious "Graveyard of the Pacific." 

• Even in calm waters, the unpredictable behaviour of bitumen makes it a huge challenge to recover. Speaking in Sooke in the winter of 2015, a representative for the Western Canada Marine Response Corporation acknowledged that its projections suggest that just 20 percent of a spill can be recovered before oil (bitumen especially) disperses into the marine environment. 

• Alaska is still cleaning up its oil spill after 25 years; a Kinder Morgan super-tanker would carry three times the amount of oil carried by the Exxon Valdez. Clean-up costs (as quoted by Fortune Magazine) were $3.5 billion ($6.3b in inflation-adjusted dollars today). 

• According to Transport Canada, shipowners are liable for clean-up costs up to the maximum of $1.36 billion available to them through shipowners' liability, International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds and Canada's Ship-Source Oil Pollution Fund. Taxpayers will be on the hook for additional costs.  

• There’s no such thing as a fool-proof oil tanker.  A report by BC’s Living Oceans Society found that double-hull tankers can be at increased risk for certain types of accidents, including ones caused by human error.

• Increased tanker traffic would disrupt commercial fishing and decrease marine tourism; an oil spill would devastate Sooke’s local economy, property values, tourism, fishing, and marine life.

• B.C.’s seafood and ocean recreation sectors employ more than 45,000 people in contrast to the 560 long-term jobs promised by Enbridge.

• The oil and gas industry make up only 6% of Canada’s GDP and 1% of BC’s workforce is employed in oil, mining and gas (CRED Report 2014)

• BC employs 123,000 people in “green jobs” ($15 billion in GDP - 2011)

• The sectors showing most growth in BC according to KPMG are: Construction, high tech, finance/real estate, retail trade, professional/scientific/technical services.

 
 
 
Quotes from Sooke-area elected representatives, business people and citizens  

• “There have been a number of near misses recorded in recent years, so I believe it is inevitable that a major collision will occur in the future.” – Sooke Mayor Wendal Milne

• “Increased crude oil tanker traffic will only increase the odds of an environmental catastrophe.”  - JDF Regional Director Mike Hicks

• “Are we really willing to put our biggest asset, the ocean, at risk?  And for what reason?  This community will see no benefits, but may have to deal with the negative impact.” – Sooke councillorMaja Tait

• “Our rich algae beds require extreme protection to preserve a huge number of marine species and our oceans…Most people do not know that seaweeds and other algae produce more than 50% of the oxygen on the planet. Literally, we must protect them for the air that we breathe!” – Christine Hopkins, business owner 

• “The lure of fast money is irresistible. We’ve fought back against these kinds of proposals before, and I’m sure we’ll have to do so again and again.” – David Anderson, former federal Minister of the Environment

• "The tourism sector generates $2.2 billion and more than 60,000 jobs annually for the Vancouver Island economy, according to Tourism Vancouver Island.  An oil spill could seriously jeopardize these benefits for years to come.”  - Mark Zeigler, Rotary Club of Sooke

 
 
 
 
sincerely, 
Jeff Bateman
(on behalf of himself) 
 
 

Thanks to Mary Brooke at the Sooke Voice News for giving all candidates an opportunity to write at length (no word limit)  about the following questions. She's given me the rope, hopefully I've not hung myself :-) These answers will be published in this Friday's edition of Mary's weekly paper, which is such an essential independent media voice in town and a necessary counterweight to the Black Press-owned Sooke News Mirror. (I'll share my maximum 75-word answers to the three questions the SNM has submitted to me in a future blog post). 

Why are you running for Council? 

At 58, I’ve reached a point in my life when I would like to be of more direct service to the community. Running for office is a challenge that takes me outside my comfort zone, offers no end of learning opportunities, and is a great chance for me to walk the talk within the guidelines of the Local Government Act.

My wife Carolyn and I have been Sooke homeowners since 2003. Over the last five years, I’ve become involved in community volunteerism – primarily with Transition Town Sooke and also the EMCS Society and the Sooke Farmland Trust Society. These organizations are integral parts of the larger community web, and I’d like to bring the insights and fresh thinking I’ve encountered in these circles forward to the Council table.

Like many in town, I’m excited about local initiatives like the T’Sou-ke Nation’s solar, aquaculture and greenhouse projects, Sunriver Community Garden, Harbourside Cohousing, the Hope Centre and the Sooke Incubator start-up business concept. How can the District work with these and other local assets to more fully put Sooke on the map as a community brimming with promise and potential? 

In recent years, I’ve also grown fascinated with municipal politics and have attended a fair share of Council meetings during Mayor Milne’s term. I’ve witnessed how civic business is hard, grinding, detail-oriented work that requires advance homework, careful listening, intelligent questions and final votes that fully respect the value of taxpayer contributions. I believe I’m up to the task while also capable of playing a positive team role as one among six councillors led by an inspirational Mayor, guided by professional staff and open to community expertise. 

 
What is your previous governance experience, and how will it serve you if elected to Council for 2014-2018?

As a freelance journalist and copywriter for more than three decades, I have excellent listening skills, a quick mind and an ability to communicate. I have no governance experience apart from my role as president of Transition Sooke. The title carries some leadership responsibilities yet the position is a requirement of the Society Act and our group of nine largely operates as a “core team” working in a collegial manner. I’m interested in consensus techniques and Non-Violent Communications – two widely used tools for effective, productive, respectful group relationships of a kind that might well be useful in council chambers. 

 
What are the three main issues affecting Sooke’s success as a community and what would you want to see improved in those areas?

 i) We need to more fully recognize that the municipality is, in fact, a mostly successful work-in-progress, that past councils have made significent strides, and that we’re truly blessed to live in this remarkable part of the world. In recognizing the evolving nature of our teenaged municipality, we need to dust off, revisit and honour the vast amount of public input and expertise that has gone into the creation of the District’s library of plans and reports. There’s no need to roll ahead with a different wheel. Sooke’s best hopes and visions have been identified, and they’re ready to be enacted incrementally over time as needs require and funding becomes available. A fresh look at the 2010 Official Community Plan is in order, but patience, focus and continuity are key as we build on achievements to date.

ii) A major issue, of course, is our nondescript (to be kind) town centre, which has developed in haphazard fashion and is particularly unwelcoming for pedestrians. The town’s natural orientation towards our postcard harbour is camouflaged. We lack a village plaza, oceanfront green space or viewpoint, drinking fountain, public washrooms, clock tower or summer tourism kiosk. No wonder we fail to catch visitors as they zip through town en route to French Beach and beyond. These issues and more were identified in Sooke’s 2006 town centre design guidelines report. The good news: Traffic functionality issues are being addressed in the current Corporate Strategic Plan and the first incursions into what will be the town centre south of Sooke Road are primed to begin. 

 iii) Our somewhat toxic political culture is also an issue. There is, in my opinion, far too much negativity, backbiting, and “we should have done it differently” subjective recollection about what’s happened over the years. Yes, mistakes have been made. Yes, we need a Council that is fiscally responsible and takes care of municipal business in full collaboration with empowered District staff. Yet we also need at the same time an administration that retains a spirit of creativity, imagination and possibility. Let’s learn from the past, live in the present and look to the future in positive, optimistic and proactive fashion.

 
What can be done to improve Sooke’s local economy? How can small business be better supported in this town? 

In terms of existing local business, we need to promote what we have, not what we lack, as a starting point, and the Chamber of Commerce is positioned to do this effectively. We need to improve bandwidth and cell phone reception (but definitely not via a telecommunications tower in the core). We must encourage mixed-use, multi-level commercial development downtown (not, for instance, one-storey bank buildings in prime locations on the south side of Sooke Road). The Mayor’s Advisory Panel on Economic Development is a smart new innovation by Mayor Milne (replacing the existing EDC), however I wonder whether the District can do a better immediate job of actively wooing the kinds of builders, businesses, event producers and, for that matter, residents who’d want to invest in the vision of Sooke’s future detailed in our OCP. 

 
What concerns have you heard about most from voters during your campaign so far?

The voters I’ve spoken with want exactly what’s taken for granted in many communities: sidewalks, streetlights, crosswalks, bike lanes, trail systems, and an effective road network. Pedestrians, cyclists and those in personal mobility scooters want safe passage along a West Coast Road that isn’t choked with boat trailers. Seniors want a gathering place. Soccer players want better drainage at Fred Milne Park and have valid questions about the health dangers of all-season astroturf. Young people want more hometown jobs. And, above all, everyone craves a lively, attractive, harbour-facing downtown of which they can be proud, not apologetic. For their part, the business owners I’ve spoken with want to see parking issues addressed, bemoan the lack of commercial space, and fear that high commercial rental rates will force more business closures.