The Trust Christmas-Gifting Us, Again - Alcyonenews

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Islands Trust

Posted December 18, 2020

The Trust Christmas-Gifting Us, Again

In September 2017 we managed to save SSI from urbanization by defeating the referendum proposition. This had been caused by the “3EOs” ( 3 Elected Officials) who pursued it with fierce “C&C” (Consultants and Committees), over the previous 4 years or so. The dice was loaded in favour of incorporation but many of us clothes-pinned our noses and voted to avert urbanization of our Island. This resulted in blessed relief and more grief.

The referendum drove home the message that the iTrust is dysfunctional and the governance system needs overhauling. A “Consensus” was formed by the Provincial government, the YES and NO referendum camps, and, yes, believe it or not, the iTrust. We naive optimists became delighted at the thought the Trust was remorseful but now we know that the Trust was positioning itself to be a “fifth column”.

I tried to discuss implementation of the Consensus for Change with Trustee Grove, but he was determined to “wait and see what the [Trust] staff will come up with”. Well ...

They burrowed for a year and on December 18, 2018, while we were shopping Christmas turkeys, Chairman Luckham went to the Minister with a plan to Change the Trust. He had not shown it to us, the populace because the “change” they were seeking was for ever more power to do to us more of that which had caused the public quest for Change.

Minister Fassbender who had worked with the 3EOs for the incorporation was defeated in the 2017 BC election. The new Minister, Selina Robinson, discerned what was happening and declared that Change to the iTrust Act requires public support. The Trust reacted like Donald Trump-in-defeat. They bilked the public purse for money to hire consultants and task them to generate fake images of public affection for the Trust. These the Trust would lug to the Minister to “prove” that we love the iTrust, expecting the Minister to give them more power with which to generate more public disdain for the Trust.

The iTrust has undermined the Consensus for Change and has managed to suppress the advent of Change for some three. With their consultants, they launched “Islands 2050" and use the Islands Climate Action as an energy-dissipater to help them take the wind from the sails of Change. They are after bogus optics of a population committed to being governed by the Trust for the next three Decades, until 2050. They are addicted to spreading stuff (you know what) and believe they can fool enough of us to make us all endure passively the decrepit Trust for three more decades.

Since its inception, the Trust made expansion its main concern and this they used the DP (Development Permit) method” to that end. Recently they saw an expansion “opportunity” and they grabbed it. They are after Changing the iTrust to empower it to regulate by DP “tree cutting”, like Cityhalls do in their paved downtowns. Don Quixote fashion they fight to DP regulate “Pacific Coastal Douglas Fir Ecosystems”.

On November 30 Chairman Luckham wrote, signed and delivered an epistle to Premier Horgan and Ministers Katrine Conroy, George Hayman, Rob Fleming and Josie Osborne “Re: Development of BC Coastal Strategy and Law”. On the same day, Luckham addressed a second epistle exclusively to Minister Osborne “Re: Enhance Island Trust’s Jurisdiction Over Tree Cutting”, to “make it ... equal to that [tree cutting DP facility] of municipalities”. The Czarismatic Chairman is Charming ...

Both letters are dated Monday; the “news releases were held back to be done the following Friday afternoon. This conforms to the current “technology” of PRofessionals in the dismal art of ”fooling the people”. Worse really, the announcement was done when people are on-line shopping for Christmas turkeys. Just like it was in 2018. Let it not be said the Trust lags behind “modern times”. Le plus ca change le plus ca reste la meme.

The challenge is to toss the Trust out of the Consensus, so we the people can deploy Democracy to shape our governance by reconsidering the Trust on the Zero Basis method. Unlike their secretive manner, we will give them ample chance to present their case. This because Sophocles said: “pass no judgement before you hear all sides of the story” and this we deem fair.