Gery Lemon
Are you associated with or running as part of a slate? If so, which one?
No
Do you live in the municipality where you are running, and if so, for how long? If not, what is your connection to that community?
Yes. I’ve lived in View Royal for 30 years.
What is your occupation, and for how long?
Retired journalist and communications professional.
Tell us about your previous elected and/or community experience.
Elected to first term as councillor for the Town of View Royal in 2018.
Appointed to Greater Victoria Library Board and CRD Arts Commission, Protective Services Chair and council liaison to View Royal Climate Coalition.
Former communications chair for Help Fill a Dream and volunteer for Office of the Seniors Advocate initiatives.
Why are you running? What’s your motivation?
There are initiatives underway in View Royal to be completed within the coming months, chiefly the official community plan and the town’s climate action strategy - and I hope to contribute to their completion.
Covid made for a different kind of term. Many meetings took place virtually and many without the public in attendance. The involvement and engagement of residents in civic matters is integral to community well being and council perspective. I look forward to a term in which council can fully connect and meaningfully interact with the people we serve.
I listen and I’m approachable and I hope to continue to be a voice for residents.
What are your top three issues?
Development and the Official Community Plan — The OCP is the key document that will guide and shape the look and feel of View Royal neighbourhoods in the coming years. I look forward to hearing from and engaging with residents on a vision for our town.
Traffic — As a pinch point to and from the West Shore, traffic congestion is a constant frustration for residents.
Climate action — All that traffic passing through our town at peak hours takes a toll on the environment. As the clock ticks on the time left to reverse climate change, every community has a responsibility to make a difference.
What’s your vision for your community in 25 years?
Twenty-five years will pass quickly and I would hope that in 2047 View Royal is still a distinctive, desirable, and green gem on the South Island and not a part of a mass amalgam.
It will have a walkable town core with thoughtful development where residents can live and work and with shopping and other services – eg health - that will provide most of what they need. A reinvigorated rail corridor will host regular service to and from downtown and car ownership will hardly be necessary.
What’s one “big idea” you have for your community?
1. That the town provide substantial incentives for residents to reduce reliance on fossil fuels for home heating and transportation by providing meaningful rebates to each resident who removes natural gas or oil burning furnaces from their home and installs a heat pump and/or replaces their internal combustion vehicle with an electric car or truck. Funded by casino revenues, this program would run for five years with, nominally, a $500,000 cap.
2. If there is development in select locations along main corridors, residents will require services that allow them to live in comfort without requiring a car for all they need. A town core continues for me to be a requirement for a whole and liveable View Royal.
