Dear editor,

While the CVTA runs full page ads attacking the Dogwood Initiative for scheming to 鈥渓and lock鈥� Canada鈥檚 dirty oil it is, simultaneously, attacking progressive Courtenay councillors for 鈥渙ut-of-control spending.鈥�

It seems someone should take members of the CVTA on a cost evaluation tour of the hurricane-stricken U.S. Carolinas or New Orleans or Houston or Puerto Rico. It would be good to include a tour of the vast acreages and homes destroyed by fire in California.

Or perhaps they could stay in our own country and visit Fort McMurray to view the devastation (and costs) of the 2016 fire that destroyed 5,895 square kilometres of Alberta or鈥攅ven closer鈥攖hey could look at the B.C. costs of dealing with the unprecedented two consecutive years of disastrous fires in our own province.

In the 2014 municipal election, developers, or a few of them, were running expensive full-page colour ads about how inept Courtenay council of the day was because it was taking 鈥渢oo long鈥� for city staff to process development permits. Now when council attempts to respond to developers鈥� complaints, the CVTA runs vitriolic ads denouncing council for hiring more staff! It seems very difficult to please big money.

If members of the CVTA just took the time to look over the VI municipal tax research published by the Comox Valley Record under Taxing Vancouver Island, it might save them and the rest of us a lot of unnecessary heartburn. According to the research published on The Record site, Courtenay鈥檚 tax increases, even with the added responsibilities, is well within the moderate middle range for Vancouver Island communities at 2.83 per cent. Courtenay鈥檚 total taxes collected on an average home is 10th among Island municipalities at $3,125. These figures seem to say quite loudly 鈥渞esponsible government鈥� rather than the rabid tax gougers suggested by the CVTA hysteria.

Norm Reynolds

Courtenay