Tag Archives: Electoral Areas Services Committee

Cortes Island Grant-in-Aid Debate Moved In Camera

Originally published May 24; some additional information added May 30

By Roy L Hales

The Electoral Area Service Committee (EASC) continues to thwart Cortes Island’s Grants in Aid from going forward. At their May 8th committee meeting, three of the four EASC Directors (Abram, Leigh & Whalley) did not acknowledge the Cortes applications, in an obviously concerted attempt to prevent the applications from reaching the Stathcona Regional District Board. At the May 22nd Board Meeting, the remaining EASC Director (Noba Anderson from Cortes Island) made a motion for the SRD board to receive the applications. Quadra Island Director Jim Abram responded with a motion to defer the matter. This was secounded by Oyster Bay – Buttle Lake Director Brenda Leigh. They were defeated. This prompted Directors Abram and Leigh to recuse themselves “due to legal ramifications.” After the board approved receipt of the applications,  the Cortes Island Grant-in-Aid debate moved in camera.

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Electoral Areas Service Committee Did Not Acknowledge Cortes Island’s Grant-In-Aid Applications

By Roy L Hales

An item is missing from the May 8 minutes of the Strathcona Regional District Board’s Electoral Service Committee. There is no reference to Cortes Island’s Grant-In-Aid Applications, though they were on the agenda. This was the result of a conscious decision made by three of the four Regional Directors (Jim Abram, Brenda Leigh & Gerald Whalley). The Electoral Service Committee did not acknowledge Cortes Island’s Grant in Aid Applications.

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Noba’s Lawyer Filed His Response

By Roy L Hales

From the beginning, the legal petition filed against Strathcona Regional Director Noba Anderson appeared to be slipshod. Numerous factual errors were reported. The amounts of the alleged bribes are trivial, mostly ranging between $20 and $100. The suggestion that they are anything other than donations to a fire relief fund seems dubious, especially as none of these allegations are substantiated. This impression was materially strengthened when Noba’s lawyer filed his response on Thursday

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Klahoose Nation The Latest Victims

By Roy L Hales

The damages caused by what appears to be a slipshod legal petition, that fourteen Cortes Island residents filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia on January 2, 2019, continue to spread. One of the first casualties were the two referenda, for First Responder funding and a Community Hall Service tax, which had once been tentatively scheduled for Saturday, February 16, 2019. Though Cortes Island is in the midst of a comprehensive zoning bylaw review and on the verge of updating cannabis legislation, it still does not have an Advisory Planning Commission. This body was to have been appointed at the January 24, 2019, Strathcona Regional District Board meeting, but the decision was deferred “until the implications of the legal petition filed by Cortes constituents is fully understood by the Board.” Regional Director Noba Anderson submitted a revised list of candidates at the March 13 session, but the Board is still hesitant. The Klahoose Nation are the latest victims of this petition.

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