This was originally written for my campaign site but since the campaign is over that site is no more, but I wanted to make sure that some of the blogs I posted there were still available – especially this one.
First the good news… More than 5,000 people voted for me. The bad news – I needed another 4,000 plus votes in order to be elected.
And now the great news. I don’t just want to thank all of you for your support, I want to let all of you know a few of the things that this campaign accomplished.
1 We raised awareness about the student housing crisis. Jack Knox from the Times Colonist interviewed me just after the campaign about the stories I shared – that he first heard when I shared them at an all-candidates meeting. One of our videos sharing student housing horror stories currently has more than 1100 views. Another has just shy of 500. Hopefully, that increased awareness will turn into action and turn into homes for students. Here’s the link: https://www.timescolonist.com/local-news/jack-knox-students-housing-horror-stories-drive-home-rental-squeeze-5981034
2 We put Natural Assets Management on the map in Saanich. Will Saanich adopt this? Dunno… but, hopefully, the system and the principles will be considered.
3 We publicly shared some of the sketchier practices of some of the “surveys” candidates are sent. Before you take any endorsement from a survey seriously – please look at what the survey’s really asking for and whether it’s really a survey or a purity test or a push poll designed to collect statistics that can be used/misused at a later date
4 We shared information about other candidates. I was told by my advisor at Nationbuilder – my web host – which is the preferred host for candidates around the world and has been around since 2009 – that I was the only candidate they were aware of who had ever shared information about other candidates.
5 We raised awareness around how, despite much talk of inclusion and diversity, public events are being held on days that exclude members of certain communities from participating. I decided that wherever I finished on the ballot, I would be looking into this issue of all-candidates meetings on holy days for non-Christians. So I will be exploring this issue further.
6 We proposed a way to ensure that, if it’s approved, the Camosun film studio can have a huge impact on the local media-making community. My proposal – ensure that the priority for any studio downtime is given to local and/or island media makers at low or no cost. I ran this idea by Geoffrey Wilmhurst – who is spearheading – the studio proposal and he seemed open to the idea. I can’t stress enough how much access to low or no-cost studio time would mean to local media-makers.
I am so grateful for every one who assisted with this campaign – donors, volunteers and anyone who spread the word about this campaign. The Nationbuilder site will vanish as soon as our campaign budget is approved (it’s a great platform, but it’s pricey), but if you’d like to stay in touch, please continue to follow me on social media. All of my “political” sites are now back to being author sites.
And if you’re interested in the work I do around oceans, eco-ethics, the environment (and sharks and orcas) please subscribe to the Skaana newsletter and you can support that work on Patreon.
I will, as always, do all I can to fight the good fights.
Thanks again for being part of this wild ride.
Mark