Here is a copy of the speech I gave at one of the Cable Bay hearings:
Jobs come and go. Companies come and go. Old trees and Garry Oak ecosystems do not. Once they’re destroyed, and the land repurposed for other uses, they won’t just grow back. This is a permanent decision.
I feel a deep responsibility to leave the world in a better place for future generations. Not just in 10 or 20 years from now, but 200 or 500 or 1000 years. What greater purpose do any of us really have but to protect the land and the water and the air for the living beings who will come after us?
I fear that we’ll look back on decisions like this in 50 years from now, where we didn’t protect old growth forests, Garry Oak Ecosystems, and ancient ancestral lands of the first nations people, and realize that we were on the wrong side of history.
Buying a piece of land with the assumption that it can be rezoned is a poor business decision. Future generations shouldn’t be the ones that have to pay for that. Don’t let this be your legacy as a council.