Squamish council candidate Janice DesJardins has released her election platform, calling for zero property tax increases, referendums on major capital projects and a return of decision-making authority from staff to council.
DesJardins is running for Squamish District Council in the Oct. 17 general local election. Her platform, titled Who I Am and Where I Stand, sets out her positions on livability, affordability, fiscal responsibility, and accountability and transparency, according to a news release from her campaign.
DesJardins said her roots in Squamish go back to 1912, when her grandfather, Alex Munro, moved to the community. According to the release, Munro founded the volunteer fire department, built the first fire hall, and served as the first fire chief for 38 years as a volunteer. “Community service is in my genes,” DesJardins said.
The release says DesJardins has volunteered in Squamish for decades, including on the district committee that developed the first tourism plan and on the Squamish Estuary Conservation Society, which developed the Estuary Management Plan. She is vice chair of the Vancouver Coastal Association of Family Councils, co-chair of the VCH Regional Resident and Family Councils, and a member of the Independent Long Term Care Councils Association of BC and the Seniors Aging at Home Community Network.
“Today, Squamish is at a point where sound decisions based on community needs, common sense, and affordability are paramount,” she said. “I am running because Squamish needs help, and I want to be part of the team that addresses your concerns and contributes to our livability.”
On livability, DesJardins said local government is not addressing too many issues. Her priorities include housing and density, parking, recreation facilities, transit, safety and property taxes.
DesJardins said Squamish is no longer affordable, pointing to housing, utilities, groceries, gas and property taxes. The living wage in Squamish is $28 an hour while the minimum wage is $18.25, according to the release.
“Many working in our restaurants, shops and small businesses in the service sector are making $18.25 or something close to it. We need all these people and these jobs. Most of them are not homeless, but they are struggling,” she said. DesJardins said she has ideas to turn that around and wants to attract industry that would bring new jobs and new business to Squamish.
On the budget, DesJardins called for spending discipline and living within the district’s means. That means focusing on needs rather than wants, getting market value for district land sales, streamlining practices and limiting further increases to debt, according to the release.
“Annually, we should strive for zero increases in property taxes,” she said, adding that zero-based budgeting could get the district there. She also said renters pay property taxes hidden in their rent, and that retail and industrial tax rates are considerably higher than residential rates, costs she said push residents to move elsewhere and businesses to shut down.
On accountability and transparency, DesJardins proposed that council members write a regular newspaper column on agenda items and recent meetings, that all letters to the mayor and council appear on the agenda, and that major capital projects such as the public safety building go to a referendum.
She called the alternative approval process “a joke,” citing the Public Works Building, which she said was reintroduced after six months and built $19 million over budget. “Residents should not have to guess how or why a decision was made,” she said.
DesJardins also said council has given staff too much authority and must take it back, that public meetings should be held on land use matters, and that the district’s code of conduct should be revisited, with an independent committee to adjudicate complaints. According to the release, she will lay out her positions on seniors, parking, housing, recreation, transit, taxation and safety individually over the coming weeks.
