A Harbor

Community Advocate; Small Town-Big Picture;
Summerland Society for Civic Engagement-Director;
Pintail Ponds Wetland Preservation Society-President

[A Harbor @A_Harbor_]

@wyatt_claypool @a_warbus @Margare7a Who cares about elections when infiltration of the opposition is so much more reliable? I think the party system has run its course and voters need to base their decision on personal character and integrity. Maybe the time for the Independents has arrived.

[A Harbor @A_Harbor_]

@CastanetNews So, can we admit now that his journalism was biased?

[A Harbor @A_Harbor_]

@Concern70732755 But a defeat to who?

[A Harbor @A_Harbor_]

Hello Summerlanders! Below are my core principles and I ask for your feedback and questions as the campaign continues! It would be my honour to work for you, the citizens of Summerland, on our next Municipal Council and I humbly ask for your vote. You can find my full platform on my Candidate Page here: https://t.co/L9PmNQbjg6
RESPECT: I am committed to facilitating a welcoming, respectful environment where residents can share concerns, ask questions, and offer constructive feedback directly to Council before key decisions are made. If elected, one of my first actions will be to put forward a Motion that Council reinstate the Regular Public Open Comment Period at the end of every Council meeting.
REFOCUS: My priority will be to increase affordability for residents and I will focus on evaluating the true value for the dollar in municipal spending. I will advocate for a refocusing of the budget to infrastructure and core services. I will put forward a Motion that Council request a thorough review of every District department to ascertain inefficiencies, cut waste, evaluate priorities, and ensure taxpayer dollars are used responsibly and efficiently. My Motion will ask that staff prepare the next budget with a goal of containing any property tax increase to 2% or less.
REPRESENTATION: I commit to working as a representative for the voices of our business community, in recognizing that our beautiful natural environment and tourism are integral to who we are and how our community thrives. I will work proactively with our provincial representatives on key issues like fire protection and recovery to ensure that Summerland receives its fair share of provincial funding and emergency response resources. I will put forward a Motion that Council create a Local Business Owners Committee, as a way to support our business community and ensure that their concerns are heard.
RESEARCH and RECORDS: As a rule, our Municipality should be keeping detailed records for tracking and measuring outcomes for future decision making. We need data and evidence to determine value for dollar because good decision making depends on facts. I will advocate for data tracking and measurement parameters to evaluate the performance outcomes of our government services and projects.
Thank you Summerland!

[A Harbor @A_Harbor_]

@CityNewsVAN I wonder why we can't start putting them out better? With more waterbomber response. BC still has a fleet comparable to the nineties and it's not working well enough.

[Eva Chipiuk, BSc, LLB, LLM @echipiuk]

The purpose of government, and the public services it delivers, is to create value for society and serve the people who fund it. That is the social contract.

Our Constitution speaks of “Peace, Order, and good Government.” Those are not empty words. Government must be competent, responsible, transparent and accountable for the outcomes it produces.

Public institutions should make our communities safer, our economy stronger and our lives better. When services become costly, dysfunctional and unresponsive, citizens have every right to demand answers and better results.

Citizens do not exist to serve government. Government exists to serve citizens. Public servants and elected officials are entrusted with public authority and public money, and that trust carries an obligation to deliver value.

Somehow, we have lost sight of that most basic principle. Government has become focused on preserving and expanding its own institutions, budgets and authority, rather than proving that it is actually delivering better outcomes for the people it exists to serve.

[A Harbor @A_Harbor_]

Please do some research into what studies there actually are. I can find no actual studies. So far these are theories, unless there is something in writing. Please look at these stats. Ignitions are approximately stable within variation, hectares burned have doubled or tripled, and out aerial fleet is only 10 units more, mostly helicopters. We need more waterbombers to protect towns and put these fires out!!!

[A Harbor @A_Harbor_]

@CastanetNews We need more waterbombers. Our fleet has only increased by 10 units since 2000, and it's mostly helicopters.

[Eva Chipiuk, BSc, LLB, LLM @echipiuk]

One of the most troubling shifts in our “free and democratic” society is how quickly questioning our institutions has become confused with attacking them.

Questioning government is not anti-government.

Questioning public health is not anti-science.

Questioning the justice system is not anti-law.

Questioning the media is not anti-truth.

Questioning elected officials is not an attack. Refusing to answer the people you represent is.

Transparency and accountability are how our institutions, and the people entrusted to lead them, earn and maintain public trust.

When legitimate questions are met with ridicule, labels, censorship or personal attacks instead of answers, public trust is destroyed.

People begin to wonder not only why the questions are so difficult to answer, but why those asking them need to be silenced in the first place.

A healthy democracy does not shame, coerce or intimidate people into compliance.

It does not fear scrutiny.

It depends on it.

[A Harbor @A_Harbor_]

@millerman I remember more things as a function of my husband of 30 years also remembering them ( more or less lol) 😂
Two heads are better than one 😁🩷

[A Harbor @A_Harbor_]

@ShareawareCdn Lovely. She’s wondering how many more of her constituents she will need to block over the next few months.

[A Harbor @A_Harbor_]

Please give your thoughts on a request for dedicated Okanagan water bombers stationed on the lake through the summer. Look at all the bombers operating today, and think if we had had them when the fire only looked like this outside of Summerland. We had blue skies that day and a rapid response time could have made a difference.

[A Harbor @A_Harbor_]

@KelownaNow In my humble opinion, it’s arson and a lack of rapid air response resources. We need water bombers stationed on Okanagan lake all summer.

[A Harbor @A_Harbor_]

The most gut-wrenching footage that I have seen yet. I know the families of many of the homes along this frantic drive out. I’m crying 😭

[Alex Zoltan @AmazingZoltan]

Heart-pumping footage taken on Friday August 7 at 6:30pm from Fish Lake Rd in Summerland. The driver, following a horse trailer ahead, was able to get everyone out safely along with 10 equines, 5 goats and 2 rabbits. Gives you a real sense of the danger.

🎥 Equineimity on FB.

[A Harbor @A_Harbor_]

@rob_bristow_CA @mack4change @Shuswapland There is no way for you to know that, unless you have access to the details regarding the time of discovery, the time of initial attack and the times and speeds of the winds. If yo have this information, please share, so we can all understand.

[A Harbor @A_Harbor_]

@rob_bristow_CA @mack4change @Shuswapland Not sure why you want to defend the current situation as unimprovable with greater air support. 🤷‍♀️People's houses burned to the ground. We need to do better.

[A Harbor @A_Harbor_]

@VanCityVice We need a bigger fleet of our own. These are political decisions.

[A Harbor @A_Harbor_]

@DanAlbas 8 new forest fires discovered in BC today. There are currently only 132 aviation units in the air. So which fires are they using them on and which fires are they allowing to grow in size? The system is broken. BC needs more water bombers.

[A Harbor @A_Harbor_]

@DanAlbas Why don’t we have water bombers positioned all along Okanagan Lake all summer? Our federal government seems to have money for everything else under the sun.