Morning Star Editorial Dec. 11:
The North Okanagan's rural areas have spoken loud and clear and hopefully the City of Vernon and the provincial government get the message. A survey shows that most residents in the five electoral areas, including the two in Greater Vernon, are satisfied with their current governance structure within the regional district. And the results should be considered fairly accurate because of the high return rate — 19 per cent. Vernon Mayor Wayne Lippert has tried to use the stats to indicate some acceptance of annexation of Areas B and C, but the highest support for governance change was 26 per cent in BX-Silver Star and that's not even worth talking about. Lippert also goes on to say that based on future growth and land use issues, all options must remain on the table. But he must remember that it's not Vernon's table. It belongs to the residents of Areas B and C and ultimately it is their decision whether they want to keep status quo or join another municipality, and it may not necessarily even be Vernon.
Hopefully the provincial government also looks at this survey and shelves any mass valley-wide governance changes. After all, the previous initiative launched by Victoria didn't consider the vast geographical size of the electoral areas, that most municipalities couldn't afford to provide services to those communities and the needs of the rural areas are often distinct from their urban counterparts. Because we all share the North Okanagan, there is nothing wrong with co-operation and working together on issues of mutual interest. But co-operation is only going to blossom if we acknowledge each other as partners and not new territory to take over.
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