VOTE JOHN DACOMBE FOR COURTENAY COUNCIL

Agriculture

Earlier this year, the Cowichan Valley Regional District floated some bylaw changes that would have restricted many farm uses in rural areas. This drew heavy criticism across BC, and rightly so. In an era when our sovereignty is being threatened by the increasingly undemocratic nation we import much of our food from, we need solutions to strengthen local food security, not weaken it.

These proposals from the Cowichan Valley were good for only one group: developers who want to turn rural areas from productive farmland into exurban residential sprawl.

I will always oppose rural sprawl and anything else that threatens local agriculture. Subdivisions, apartments and condos belong in cities, not the countryside.

And I also support urban agriculture, and will vote against any proposed restrictions on chickens, beehives and other backyard farming in the City of Courtenay.