My name is Harald Wolf, and I'd like your vote for Saanich Councillor on November 19th, 2011. Here's why:

The world around us is changing, fast.   This region has basked in the riches of the past, and built the wonderful community most of us appreciate and enjoy. But the changes ahead will require new ideas .... fresh dialogue .... new leadership ....

The turnout for the last Saanich municipal election was a paltry 20%!  Please get involved!

The way we lived in the past is largely responsible for the changes just starting to affect us.  We need to start the process of transition into a new world, hopefully retaining some of the best of what we have and planning for an even better community.

We can't expect the necessary solutions and changes to be handed to us from provincial, national or world leaders - the future is in our hands - at the local level - so let's get on with it!  

I believe I can bring that new leadership to Saanich.

Please read my thoughts on the Platform page or pick an issue below, and look at my diverse background on the Bio page.  If you have suggestions, questions, or want to help, please drop me a line.

Let's start the dialogue!

Issue ...	… and what I would do …
What's wrong with what we have?	We have good ideas and good people, but are lacking a clear vision of how we will deal with the huge changes ahead. I will focus on building that vision, and building resiliency into the community
Economy	Break away from the globalisation trend and work to build local business for the local reality - especially for our young people.
Sustainability	Start acting like we live on an island.  We need to re-learn how to grow our own food, generate our own energy, and employ each other for our own well-being
Development	Shift the force for change from developers back to to the residents!  Promote initiatives that improve the well-being of existing residents and provide meaningful work opportunities for our youth
Food Security	With soaring energy costs, increased demand and potential instability, our reliance on cheap food arriving on our shores is threatened.  We must expand our Island food production big time!
Energy	The wind and tides swirling around our Island remain largely untapped.
Transportation	Like everywhere else in North America, the region is designed for cars, not people.  We all know this needs to change, but not much is being done.  We need to connect our density hubs with people corridors and make it more pleasant to get from A to B on foot, by bike, or on convenient public transit.
Housing	The shift from being largely a bedroom community to a fully livable community means a transition to a wider spectrum of housing options.  We need to legalize secondary suites, and encourage apartment and townhouse construction - putting the brakes on the current trend to condominiums.
ACTION	Build RESILIENCY   So much of our local economy is determined by forces outside our control.  So many changes are threatening our way of life, yet no one really knows how they will unfold.  We need to become more self reliant in everything we do, and learn to live with less stuff, especially stuff brought to the Island, and learn to turn to each other first, rather than rely on goods and services from elsewhere.
Saanich as a leader	Saanich is the largest community on the Island and has a huge wealth of positive attributes - yet remains one of the most anonymous and timid places in this country. It is time for Saanich to become proactive and assume a leadership on the Island!
Saanich's identity	Shout from the top of Mt Doug!

 

A good leader is someone who can look down the line and say, "This is coming; we've got to do something about it." Robert F. Kennedy Jr (Toronto 2008)

 

"Paradise is not a distant place. It is something we can create in our own communities." Todd Litman