The following news piece was from January 21st, 2008, during a contentious Langford Council meeting. The meeting was punctuated by outbursts from the mayor, including him ordering me to “Sit down and shut up,” despite the fact that I wasn’t saying anything, which to this day I don’t understand. The news didn’t carry that clip as it elected to focus on the protesters inside council chambers rather than the petition canvassers. The news did carry a clip, however, of our mayor being terse with a speaker at the podium (“Yeah, well make it quick,”) and acting in a way many wouldn’t consider very professional.
More interesting is the explanation Mayor Young gave at the time for why he felt we as taxpayers needed to take out a loan of up to $25 million on behalf of developers. His explanation: “Why does Langford have to take out the loan? Because we are going to own it, they are going to pay for it. It’s very simple.”
Apparently it wasn’t so simple because I noted in a radio interview that usually the province would take possession of highway improvements, and at a subsequent council meeting our mayor did indeed admit the plan is to eventually turn it over to the province, and that the province is going to own it. And as for whether developers are paying for it completely, that is a matter of some dispute still.
- Steven Hurdle -
