If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to become more civic-minded, your timing couldn’t be better.
B.C.’s next civic election is coming up Nov. 15. That’s the day you can have a say in who runs your community by voting for local government and school trustees.
Sure, that may still seem a long way off, but you are going to need all 10 months to be prepared.
By paying attention now, you’ll be able to make informed votes with a firm grip on matters affecting you most when the time comes — not knee-jerk choices about familiar and unfamiliar faces; or worse, not voting and letting others rule your life.
Make no mistake: politics runs our lives at all levels, from property taxes and classroom sizes, to traffic lights and flooding.
And procrastination is the thief of democracy. Don’t wait for a knock at your door. Pay attention. Go to the meetings. Read the news. Ask questions.
There’s lots to pay attention to these days, with the issue of school reconfiguration, funding and priorities being at the top of the list here in our community.
Form opinions on issues like the new Cowichan District Hospital, Echo Heights Forest, arts funding, school district organization, priorities and funding, local government spending, economic revitalization, climate change, crime, and many more sure to emerge.
They say knowledge is power, it’s time to start building that knowledge. There is no time like the new year to start preparing for November’s civic election.
You pay to play through various valley taxes. Don’t let the usual suspects have all the fun.
—Cowichan News Leader Pictorial, with files from Lindsay Chung