The minister of housing recently tried to make an example out of Oak Bay, over the so-called “housing crisis,” which is absurd. Blaming/singling out a small municipality for a national “housing crisis” is mere scapegoating, without addressing the roots of the problem, including the elephant in the room: Canada’s artificially increasing population, based on federal government policy.
Municipalities should have every right to determine their own housing policy, rather than being bullied by the province and developers, to conform to NDP ideology and populist political theatre.
For all the sanctimonious talk about colonialism, here it is in front of us, as clear as day.
Democracy comes from the bottom up, not from the top down.
What is being referred to as the “housing crisis” is entirely manufactured by the government. There would be no reason for it, if they weren’t doing everything they can, to cram greater amounts of people into smaller and smaller spaces, at higher and higher square metre costs. The math isn’t complicated and the developers know it.
Government population policy is unsustainable, not Oak Bay. If the locals don’t want ‘development’, that is their right. It’s called democracy. Get used to it.
Over 400,000 new residents a year to Canada and rising, merely stimulates demand and drives up prices, creating a crisis where there shouldn’t be one.
Frankly, Oak Bay should be lauded, for making a district, that others are only green with envy over.
Sasha Izard
Saanich
