CRD Doggs questionaire

My answers to the questionaire provided by CRD DOGG

The organizers have said they will share in the upcoming weeks but for transparency to those that ask here is what i shared with them :)

Are you familiar with the lingering issues created by the People, Pets and Parks Strategy in Saanich?

Yes. I have read the strategy and the bylaw, and I have talked with parks staff. The lingering issues are the dog parks that were promised and never finished, and a bad taste left in the dog owner community from a lack of follow-through and a clear timeline shared with them.

Dogs are family in a lot of Saanich homes. Parks also have to work for the kid who is nervous around dogs, the owner with a reactive dog who needs a calm walk, and the wildlife in our conservation areas. One of my own kids has been wary of dogs. I can't know whether a dog I've never met will come back when called. That is why shared space needs rules.

Council adopted the strategy unanimously in June 2023, and the Animals Bylaw amendment passed in November , 2023. The structure is sound: on leash in shared parks, with places set aside where dogs can run free. I support the strategy, and I will not vote to repeal it.

Off leash was not banned. Schedule D of the bylaw lists 56 leash optional parks. More than forty others allow off leash from 6 to 9 every morning. Leash optional areas allow retractable and training leashes too. And the beach spots closed for nesting season open to dogs again every September 1.

2 . Has the People, Pets and Parks (PPP) initiative been effective so far? Why or why not?

Partly. The strategy went through a long public process and a unanimous public vote, and the new signs make the rules clearer than they were.

What fell short is what came after. The permanent dog parks owners were promised have not been built. Three years on, people are arguing over numbers that don't appear in Saanich documents. When misinformation starts, the District and Council should correct it that week so the whole community knows the facts.

What aspects of the PPP, if any, do you think need to change?

The pace.

Council funded the design of the first permanent dog park on April 14. Five months later the location is still to be confirmed. Confirm the site, publish a build date, and keep going until the pop-ups at Lambrick, Hyacinth and Rudd are replaced with permanent parks that don't close in October.

Build them properly, with dog comfort in mind and designed in consultation with your members. Shade, water, lights, drainage, waste stations, a small dog area.

How do you see Saanich supporting education programs related to park, beach and trail etiquette?

Twenty years keeping film crews safe taught me people follow guidance when they trust who is asking and understand the reason. Signs don't persuade anyone.

Park ambassadors. School programs. Experienced dog owners helping newer ones with recall and trail manners. Saanich adding a bylaw officer to patrol parks is great, and it will help with other aspects of community life too. That role should be known for kindness and teaching before tickets.

Is the $1.7M taxpayer funding allocated to the PPP the best use of those funds for Saanich? Why or why not?

I couldn't find the $1.7 million in Saanich's records.

Most of the money in the plan was always meant for dog parks. The 2023 draft set aside $4.2 to $6 million of a $5.3 to $7.1 million five-year plan for new fenced leash-optional areas. That is the part still waiting.

Money spent on shared public space is not wasted. Money spent undoing a decision made in public by unanimous vote is. Reopening the strategy means staff time, consultants, more hearings, and the same fence at the end. Taking the money from the budget to finish the strategy and help bring cohesion back to our community is more important.

Are you familiar with the peg and post fencing added to PKOLS this year?

Yes. The partial fencing is complete. In April, council approved finishing the full fencing of the lower leash optional trails, and staff are still working out the timing. The style will match what is there.

6a. Do you support spending a further $270,000 to fully enclose the 1.7 km off-leash trail at PKOLS? Why or why not?

Yes. A half-fenced trail doesn't work for anyone. Dog owners can't tell where off leash ends, walkers on the on-leash trails meet dogs they weren't expecting, and dogs end up in the sensitive areas the park is protecting. That kind of conflict is how off-leash access gets lost. Finishing the fence is what will keep a leash optional trail at PKOLS.

I've heard people call the fence ugly. Tearing out what is built costs more than finishing it. Vandalism and graffiti tend to happen close to high schools no matter what the fence looks like, so I'm not sure changing it would stop that.

7 . In seeking to be elected, what do you stand for that you think would be important for our members to know about?

I was born in Cordova Bay, and I'm raising my two kids in the Strawberry Vale community. I'm a mixed Indigenous mom and a Scout leader. For twenty years I was self employed in the film industry, and I was a department and union leader in my local. This is my first time on a ballot. It is not my first time getting things done.

I don't own a dog. I know how much the people who do love theirs.

On leash or off leash, we are all residents. The person with a dog and the person who crosses the street to avoid one walk the same trails, pay the same taxes, and want the same thing: a park that feels good to be in.

Lately every issue in Saanich gets sorted into boxes. Dog owner or not. For development or against it. Bikes or cars. Once people are in a box, they know who to be angry at. I'm not running for a box.

Saanich council should not be left or right. It's local. It's the sidewalk, the permit, the park, the school zone and rec center. Decisions should be made with the people who live with them, and those people should be told what is happening and when and why.

When Saanich plans something, the first conversation should be with the people who use the space every day. For a dog park, that is the owners at the pop-ups and the families at the playground next door. Ask them before more money is spent.

As a gig worker, I learned to only spend what is coming in. That is how I'm running my campaign. It only spends what comes in as donations, and I'll bring that same care to Saanich's budget. Finish what we have already paid for before starting something new. Look after what we already own, so our kids aren't paying more to fix it later.

The dog park was funded. Build it.

Saanich has had too many years of neighbours shouting past each other. Every decision on council takes five votes, so the job is working with people who see it differently and bringing all the voices in together. That includes this group, and others.

Let's move past division. Let's get things done.