Endorsement from Laura Patrick
I am honoured to not only be outgoing Trustee Laura Patrick’s pick for Trustee, but her only pick out of 5. Laura has been a wealth of information, and her dedication to equitable engagement has helped folks like Maddy and I get involved.
This was posted on the Gulf Islands Driftwood website on October 7th, and published in the paper on October 14th
This was also posted on the Salt Spring Exchange here on October 8th
Who should we vote for? A few thoughts from eight years inside the Islands Trust by Laura Patrick
Many islanders have been asking me: Who should I vote for? When it comes to electing Salt Spring’s Islands Trust trustees, you get to choose two of the five candidates.
After eight years as a Salt Spring trustee, I ask that you listen carefully to what each of the candidates is saying. Look beyond the slogans and campaign promises. Ask yourself: Does this person recognize that change is happening? Do they understand that a resilient community takes care of both its people and its environment? Have they taken the time to understand the organization and how it can be entrusted to make difficult decisions?
The Islands Trust is not an easy organization to understand. It is both a federation, through Trust Council, and a form of local government, through the Salt Spring Local Trust Committee. It operates within the Islands Trust Act, the Trust Policy Statement, local official community plans and bylaws, other provincial legislation, and administrative policies, and has agreements with provincial ministries, regional districts and First Nations.
At the local level, trustees make decisions about development permits, variance permits, rezonings and many other land-use matters. At the federation level, they deal with budgets, policies, agreements, advocacy and the overall direction of the organization. After eight years, I found myself still learning new things about the Trust.
So what would I look for in a new trustee? Here are some key questions I would ask: Have they done their homework? Have they been observing meetings, reading staff reports? Have they participated in public comment periods, are they asking questions? Are they trying to understand not just what decisions are being made, but why they are being made and what is being recommended?
Among the candidates I have observed, one stands out because he is doing exactly that – he’s done his homework: Eric G. March.
When Trust Council met on Salt Spring in June 2024, Eric reached out to all 26 trustees and offered to take them on a tour of Salt Spring’s housing situation. Three trustees, including me, accepted.
I thought I understood how serious the housing situation was. I was wrong. Eric showed us parts of the island and housing situations that made the reality much more tangible. When the provincial election campaign began later that year, I asked Eric to help me provide a similar tour for the MLA candidates. He did.
Eric has also put in the hours in a very literal sense. When he is working at his job, he sometimes listened to livestreamed Islands Trust meetings where others might listen to music.
He has addressed Trust Council and the Local Trust Committee several times, raising questions about transparency and accessibility for working islanders. He has spoken from his own experience about the challenges of living and working in an island community he loves. He has raised concerns about housing, public participation and the environmental consequences of ongoing development.
Eric serves as chair of an advisory planning commission. He has dedicated countless volunteer hours towards preparing for meetings, carefully reviewing extensive staff reports, and leading thoughtful discussions among a deliberately diverse group of perspectives.
What I have noticed most is his effort to understand how the Trust can use its authority to help Salt Spring become more resilient in the face of demographic change, climate change and increasing pressure on our natural systems.
After 50 years, I believe the Trust needs to modernize — a bit. The legislation, policies and approaches that made sense in the 1970s cannot simply be carried forward unchanged as we face the realities of 2026. Our demographics have changed. Our climate has changed. Our communities have changed.
We are dealing with drought, wildfire risk, freshwater pressures, changing housing needs, hyperabundant deer and many other challenges that were not contemplated when much of the Trust’s framework was created.
We need an institution that can look ahead, anticipate change and prepare for it — rather than continually reacting after the fact.
Most people who call Salt Spring home care deeply about this place. They care about the environment, housing, their neighbours, and having a healthy community for their children and grandchildren. We may disagree about how to get there, but those shared values are much greater than the divisions sometimes portrayed in our public debate.
As you consider the five candidates for Salt Spring’s two trustee positions, I encourage you to look beyond the noise of the election.
Ask yourself: Who has done their homework? Who listens? Who understands the Trust’s legal constraints as well as its opportunities? Who understands that protecting the environment and building a resilient community are not competing objectives? And who is prepared to do the work required for the next four years?
I have watched Eric G. March put in the time and effort to learn about the organization, participate in its processes and think seriously about how the Trust can do its job better.
That is what I am looking for in a trustee.
The decision, of course, belongs to each voter. My hope is simply that everyone will listen carefully to all five candidates and make their choice based on who they believe is prepared for the work ahead. The next four years will bring difficult decisions. Salt Spring deserves trustees who are prepared to do the work.