I want to take this opportunity to wish everybody in Central Okanagan West a very

Merry Christmas.

I hope your stockings get stuffed. 

Christmas time is one of reflection and caring and this is true for your Local Government. It is an opportunity to examine and evaluate efforts and their consequences during the preceding year. Central Okanagan West is an electoral area representing many different sized communities with a variety of concerns and issues. Being a very large and diverse geographical region it is impossible to achieve one single plan or solution that will satisfy all the residents. The many small communities within that geographical area have different aspirations for their section of the world, and these desires deserve the same attention of the RDCO Board as do the issues of the large municipalities within the RDCO boundaries.

Let’s hope that 2017 sees more empathy and support toward the Electoral Areas on the part of our larger partners on the Regional Board than 2016 saw. Democracy only works if all participants involved operate with equality and respect for the other person and what it is they want. Without these vital elements in any decision-making process any outcomes will be regarded as unfair and not a justifiable decision by those that were denied full participation in that decision-making process.

From the perspective of an Electoral Area Representative we are not there yet. Let’s hope that 2017 brings good representative government to the Electoral Areas and throughout the Regional District of the Central Okanagan.

This message is Santa Approved.