Dear West Vancouver residents,
On June 7th I attended a meeting sponsored by the "Concerned Citizens of the North Shore", and hosted by Mark Sager. The meeting was advertised as a non-political event to inform interested citizens of the impact on our community of a number of new taxes proposed by the provincial government. I attended in order to listen and learn more about the concerns that West Vancouver residents have about the new taxes. The meeting began with a statement read on behalf of Mayor Michael Smith, who was unable to attend, expressing the shared concerns of Council regarding these taxes:
"Next year our position will be much more challenging. The provincial government is introducing new taxation that will increase the cost of municipal operations and impose additional tax levies on property owners directly. These new taxes will make it difficult to provide services at the current tax levels. West Vancouver will be impacted more than any other community. I encourage citizens to write the Premier and Minister of Finance."
As a candidate for mayor, I have significant concerns about the new "school" tax and payroll tax, and worry about the adverse effects they could have on our community. Mayor Smith is right, we should advocate strongly for reconsideration of these taxes.
I believe that as community leaders, we should model civility and respect when dealing with other levels of government. The inflammatory language used at last week’s event, including that “the NDP should be shot” was unacceptable. This is not the West Vancouver that I know. Our citizens are thoughtful, intelligent, and caring. I believe that a constructive and respectful approach is much more productive; and I agree with the advice given in the editorial in Wednesday’s North Shore News that we "all be a little more decent to each other".
Sincerely,
Mary-Ann Booth
