LCC all-candidates video and voting specifics

Salt Spring residents have nine days left to make up their mind about who to vote for in the island’s first Local Community Commission (LCC) election.

Fifteen candidates are running to fill four seats on the commission are: Gayle Baker, Jesse Brown, Kylie Coates, Benjamin Corno, David Courtney, Lloyd Cudmore, Nejmah Guermoudi, Jamie Harris, Jennifer Kerrigan, Jennifer Lannan, Eric March, Donald Marcotte, Jennifer McClean, Earl Rook and Brian Webster.  

Lloyd Cudmore, Jamie Harris, Jennifer Kerrigan and Donald Marcotte are running as a slate. While Gayle Baker, Earl Rook and Brian Webster are not running as a slate, the citizens’ group Positively Forward has publicly endorsed those three candidates. Originating as the Positively No campaign in the 2017 incorporation referendum, Positively Forward has promoted the LCC concept as a way to improve governance on Salt Spring.

LCC candidates have been invited to participate in the next two ASK Salt Spring sessions at SIMS from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday, May 19 and May 26.

The video in this post is from the May 16 all-candidates debate co-organized by the Gulf Islands Driftwood and the Salt Spring Island Chamber of Commerce. Chamber director Peter Allan provided the opening remarks. The moderator was Robin Williams. Kate Cooper was the timekeeper. Greg Pauker of Sculptor Systems took care of the sound for the event. Cindy and Eric Jacobsen of Frogtalk Media did the videography.

LCC Authority

At present the LCC has specific and limited powers under the Capital Regional District (CRD), bringing together administration of a number of services previously overseen by four existing commissions and the CRD director. Those are parks and recreation, transit and transportation, economic development, liquid waste disposal, street lighting, determination of compensation for livestock injury by dogs, the Fernwood dock and approval of grant-in-aid applications — as well as reviewing and recommending budgets for other Salt Spring services that receive CRD funding, such as ArtSpring, the public library, and search and rescue. 

Voting Dates, Times & Places

Qualified residents and non-resident property electors may cast their vote on general voting day, Saturday, May 27, or at the second advance poll on Wednesday, May 24 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Voting places are Community Gospel Chapel and the Salt Spring Public Library on May 24 and May 27. Fulford Hall’s seniors annex is also a voting place on Saturday, May 27.

Voter Qualifications

People must be:

• 18 years or older;

• a Canadian Citizen;

• a resident of British Columbia for six months immediately before the day of registration or prior to voting day;

• a resident of Salt Spring Island; or a non-resident property elector (see crd.bc.ca/ssi-vote for details);

• not disqualified under the Local Government Act or another enactment from voting.

A person does not have to own property in order to vote.

The Provincial Voters List is being used for resident electors, so if you are registered to vote in a B.C. election you should be on the list. To register on voting day, bring two pieces of identification proving identity and residency. One piece must have a signature. See the crd.bc.ca/ssi-vote website for a list of acceptable identification.