The last thing we need during the municipal elections are confusing referendum questions.
It makes sense to hold referendums during the already-scheduled elections, which now take place only every four years, to save costs and piggyback one issue on top of the other for voters.
But we already had one referendum this year on whether to amalgamate the City of Duncan and Municipality of North Cowichan that had a less-than-successful result with a low turnout at the polls.
The bottom line is it doesn’t matter how a referendum is worded, many people need to understand what it’s all about.
In the case of the amalgamation question, there was so much uncertainty about what would happen if the vote passed that many just decided to vote ‘no.’ Fear of the unknown probably had a lot to do with the way people voted when the status quo seemed more certain.
Now, we’re faced with two more referendum questions Oct. 20 to coincide with the Municipality of North Cowichan’s mayor and councillor vote, Area G director for Saltair/Gulf Islands residents and School District 79 trustees.
1. Are you in favour of the Cowichan Valley Regional District adopting “CVRD Bylaw No. 4201 – Cowichan Housing Association Annual Financial Contribution Service Establishment Bylaw, 2018” to provide regional programs and services to affordable housing and homelessness prevention?
2. Are you in favour of the Cowichan Valley Regional District adopting “CVRD Bylaw No. 4202 – Drinking Water and Watershed Protection Service Establishment Bylaw, 2018” to support regional programs related to drinking water and watershed protection?
Sounds good on the surface, but the associated costs are again going to scare people away and not knowing exactly what this means also won’t help. Let’s face it, few people are going to take the time to do any background reading on these issues to ensure they make an informed decision.
We’d just like to see a larger turnout than the norm in the 30 per cent range for the municipal elections which are so important to our communities. Tacking on additional burdens isn’t going to bring people out of the woodwork.