Much of Tuesday’s Creston Valley services committee meeting was spent discussing whether voters should have a say about daylight time.
Creston Mayor Ron Toyota introduced a motion to put the issue on a ballot in the Nov. 15 local government elections. Toyota did not speak for or against adopting mountain daylight time (MDT), arguing instead that voters should have the right to make their choice.
“This is about getting this issue off the table, and then we’re done,” he said.
In the two previous local government elections, Creston Coun. Judy Gadicke campaigned in favour of MDT. (The Creston Valley and East Shore are currently on mountain standard time year-round.) In both elections, Gadicke received more votes than any other candidate for town council.
Regional District of Central Kootenay Area A director Garry Jackman, an opponent of daylight time, said there is no economic benefit to changing time to make daylight extend longer into the evening, and that the Town of Creston hasn’t demonstrated why there should be a vote.
Arguing that the town “hasn’t done its homework,” Jackman said that there is no evidence that Creston residents want MDT, while a poll of Area B voters showed a 77 per cent opposition to the scheme among the 400 residents who responded.
“This is just some arbitrary five-year-old issue based on one letter,” he said, referring to a town committee of the whole item stemming from a letter by then-businessman Mike Daybell.
“The biggest comment I get is, ‘If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it,’ ” Jackman said. “Creston should do its own opinion poll.
Arguing that daylight time “picks on” certain economic sectors, including contractors and tourism, he said that it wouldn’t be fair if heavy support by Creston voters outnumbered the no votes by rural voters.
A plebiscite, referendum or opinion poll (there is no consensus about what a vote at election time would be called) would not be a binding decision, as the province of British Columbia determines time zone issues. The results of such a vote would be forwarded to the provincial government to determine if any response is warranted. In 1972, a provincial referendum asked voters in the southeast and northeast corners of the province to state their preference about daylight time. The east part of the Nelson-Creston provincial riding voted no by a 50.61-49.39 per cent margin. The other areas rejected daylight time by much wider margins and none, including the Creston Valley and East Shore, were put into the daylight time program.
Area B director John Kettle threw another wrench into the argument when he said some of his constituents have expressed a preference for moving to Pacific time, which would align the Creston area with Nelson and points west, as well as with Idaho to the south.
Kettle invited his former alternate director, Penny A.P. Anderson, to explain how the Area B opinion poll was conducted. She said that she and her partner, Dave St. Germain, worked with Gadicke to ensure the Area B poll, which was publicized in a newsletter, was not biased to the no side of the daylight time debate. Of the 470 respondents, 70 were rejected because they were not from Area B voters.
Area C director Larry Binks, who chairs the committee, said the daylight time debate is ongoing.
“This is not something new — it was a controversy when I was stationed here in 1979 then and the arguments were the same as they were then,” he said. “I’m opposed to doing opinion polls because they don’t work. I have had people in my area say, ‘Put it on the ballet and end it.’ ”
In the end, a motion was passed to defer the discussion until the Feb. 18 meeting. Jackman said that Toyota should come back to the table with a clear indication about what Creston wants the outcome of a vote to be.
“Are you going to tell the provincial government that if the vote is 50.1 per cent in favour of DST that the whole area should have it forced upon it?” he said.
Later, Toyota said that he favours letting voters cast ballots and simply presenting the information to the provincial government to interpret the results as it sees fit.
Committee Briefs
•Emergency services co-ordinator Alana Garrett said the large ice floes on Goat River were being closely monitored. Provincial government staff flew along the Goat River in late December to inspect the unusually heavy build-up of ice along the waterway.
“This was a very early time for ice jams — they usually are just starting about now,” she said. “We are monitoring the Goat River to be cautious, as we always do.”
• Creston and District Community Complex recreation supervisor Neil Ostafichuk reported that the CDCC is putting together a promotional package for schools in Idaho in order to encourage their use of the aquatic centre.
•CDCC recreation manager Randy Fediuk reported that CDCC staff have worked closely with Creston and District Community Resource Centre Society staff in putting together a funding proposal to Columbia Basin Trust. If successful, the funding would be used to upgrade Rotacrest Hall to accommodate the Therapeutic Activation Program for Seniors (TAPS) program.