Mark Vonesch hopes to bring a new kind of politics to Cortes Island if he is elected Regional Director on October 15, 2022. 

“One of the biggest things I want to do with this campaign is bring people together who think differently than each other,” he explained. “What I can do is initiate conversations and get people talking about them.”

He then went on to outline the same issues that our current Director has been wrestling with: housing, climate change, ecosystem protection, economic development, land use planning, parks and recreation, and truth and reconciliation.

Cortes Island is one of the more left wing areas of the Strathcona Regional District (SRD). There is a small minority who oppose this. 

The division was illustrated in the 2021 Federal Election, when 60% of the respondents to a Cortes Markerter ‘Fun Poll’ said they would vote Conservative. This reflects the opinions of a few readers. In reality, the Conservatives received a little more than 7% (40 votes). Despite a very weak campaign, 138 Cortesians voted Green (26%) and a whopping 273 (51% of the voting electorate) chose the NDP. Close to 77% of the population voted NDP or Green.    

A similar proportion of Cortesians (75%) voted in favour of funding the island’s two community halls through property taxes when, after a decade of sometimes bitter debates, a referendum was finally held in 2019.

The numbers will change in specific counts because of our human complexities, but a basic trend remains.

“The top two issues that I hear most common from people are housing and protecting the environment (ecosystem protection and addressing climate change),”` said Vonesh.    

While there are things the SRD can do at the local level (personal incentives, waste management), Vonesch believes the most effective thing the board can do is lobby the provincial and federal governments.

“Obviously there are things we can do and it takes bravery for us to do things differently, as individuals. But the biggest impact we’re going to have is looking at the big picture of climate change,”   

“Where are the big polluters? And what can we do to transition our economy and transition the way we live as humans on this planet into a way that is just really facing the facts and dealing with the reality of the situation we’ve created?”

“… We have to push and advocate provincial governments to stop giving subsidies to oil and gas developments and to eventually phase them out. The reality is we are facing a climate crisis that is growing and growing

Vonesch is encouraged by the prograss being made in the Cortes Community Forest and the broad consensus Cortesians have about protecting the forests. 

“The other side of this conversation is that forestry is part of our economy. We live in wooden houses. We need wood. It’s about striking the right balance of having forestry jobs and doing forestry in a sustainable way.”

Most of the SRD’s population lives in Campbell River, whose prosperity currently rests on three economic pillars. Two of these, fish farms and forestry, are threatened by environmental policies. Th city of Campbell River is concerned about the prospect of massive job losses in their community.  

Vonesch pointed out that these are economically uncertain times. We have to find better ways of managing our forests and utilizing the wood that comes out of them.

“I’m really encouraged by the local mills on Cortes and the willingness for Cortesians to purchase local wood and to make the smart choice of using the wood that we have here,” he said.

Moving forward, Vonesch hopes to find “that fine balance of building not consensus, but widespread support for moving forward.”  

How we address the housing crisis, Climate change, use fossil fuels, cut down our forests and where we spend our tax dollars are frequently ideological issues.    

Regional Director Noba Anderson was not able to draw Cortes Island’s right wing minority into the larger conversation.

Mark Vonesch hopes to heal the divisions and promote more of an island -wide discussion as we move forward, if he is elected on Regional Director on October 15, 2022.

Top image credit: Mark Vonesch and his son – submitted photo

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