Back on May 7th, I reminded you that this is an election year for local governments in B.C. and that maybe you should run. I know, of course, that you have given it some thought. I also know, of course, that you did no such thing, and don’t plan to. For most people, running for local government office isn’t only far down on the list of things they are interested in, it isn’t even on the list!
So let me start out by saying this: it isn’t important who the people are who run for office; it’s important what those who do get elected do after the election is over.
So that’s my issue today, and the issue is what would we like whoever gets elected to do?
Usually, we sit around and wait for those who run to tell us what they plan to do if elected. That’s really the horse going in the wrong direction; it should be the electorate telling the candidates what they want done. But in the absence of that, we can’t blame those who run for writing their own ticket if we don’t provide some direction.
So what do you want done?
You know that my asking that question means that I am going to follow it up with my list, or at least a thing or two, that I think we should be doing. So I won’t disappoint you. And if you have looked at this page even more than just a few times over the last half year, you know that a secure food supply is going to be on the list.
Sure it is, but it’s not top of the list. Not the first priority of what we who live in the Golden area, both town and rural area, should be putting our minds to.
Before I tell you what I think our first priority should be, I want to tell you that this year is important, more important than most years. Remember there won’t be local elections for another four years, so if we do it wrong this year we have to wait till 2030 to make a change. This year isn’t just about a recreation facility or two, or some small issue.
This year is a year for people who will put their shoulder to the plow and look after themselves, not just whine and snivel about ‘government’ not doing its job, whoever the government is, but presumably it’s somebody out of town.
Now you think I’m going to still do an about-turn and sneak food supply in here, don’t you!
The top issue is not food supply. The top issue is fire protection.
Now I know, the town has a good fire department. Nicholson has a good fire department. And no other part of our rural area qualifies for a fire department because the tax base is not large enough, and not in concentrated neighbourhoods, since our houses and improvements are spread over our entire valley, which really boils down to a ribbon of land about two miles wide and sixty miles long.
I know that. And I know it in large part because I did the political work to start the Nicholson Fire Department.
I also know that the rules that worked for us in the 1980’s don’t work for us anymore. At least in regard to this issue. They didn’t work in Fort McMurray and Jasper, where about half of those towns were destroyed by forest fires in recent years. They didn’t work in Kelowna, where 300 homes were lost several years ago. They didn’t work west of Salmon Arm three or four years ago. And they didn’t work in Parson a couple of years ago.
And as I put fingers to keyboard to write this piece, there are serious fire dangers in Kimberley, where there has been a possibility of evacuating that city of 8,000 people; there is an expectation of evacuation in Clinton and 70 Mile House Monday morning.
So when will it be that we may face a similar danger here in our Golden area? And whenever it is, it won’t be the first time. We lost our forest industry in 1926, and if you look at early pictures of Golden, I’m sure I’m right in saying that there are signs of fire in some of the early pics.
So what can we do?
Nothing, if we don’t make an effort.
But surely, if something could be done by a local population, wouldn’t it have already been done?
I have more faith in the people in our valley than that. I think we could make a difference in protecting our valley. And in saying that, my concern here is not small fires, ones that burn a small number of buildings. I’m concerned about catastrophic fire. Forest fires that can burn dozens or hundreds of homes or a town.
I believe that the locally elected people to our town council and regional district could and should take a lead in dealing with the forest fire danger. That puts more onus on the rural people since the rural area is much larger, but the town should be involved just as much, perhaps even financially, since, if a large fire should burn a large section of our valley, it would not necessarily stop at the town boundary. We are all in fire danger together.
Every time I write a piece like this, one that includes the consideration of things that are not part of our lives today, I can’t help but think how farfetched people might think some of this is. Yet fifty years ago we would never have thought of getting our television from space. We would never have thought of having our phones with us wherever we go. But many things that are part of us today would never have become that if someone hadn’t thought that those things, which seemed impossible, were worth giving a try.
Fire protection isn’t as cool as cell phones.
But one terrible day, we could learn that that’s not the case.
It should be Issue Number One in this year’s local elections.
