Gregory (Top Gun) Matte
Are you associated with or running as part of a slate? If so, which one?
No, I’m Independent
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?
I have resided in Saanich for four (4) years and remain a resident of Saanich.
What is your occupation, and for how long?
I’m fully retired (was previously in the Canadian Armed Forces, the Federal Public Service, and the non-profit sector).
Tell us about your previous elected and/or community experience.
I was never previously elected. I’ve been quite involved with the community on a national scale during my nearly 7 years as the National Executive Director of the Helmets to Hardhats Canada program, a non-profit designed to assist military veterans seeking to transition into new careers in one of 60 different skilled trades in the construction industry. I was actively involved in Beavers, Cubs, and Scouts as a Leader, as well as on different Parent-Teacher councils whilst my children were growing up. More recently, I was involved in assisting homeless veterans in Ottawa via Soldiers Helping Soldiers and Veterans House.
Why are you running? What’s your motivation?
My wife has about 5 years before she will retire as a school teacher in Saanich. As such, being fully retired, this is an opportunity for me to give back to my community and hopefully restore a modicum of respect to politics and political institutions. Our country is founded on being a democracy, and many military veterans sacrificed themselves to protect it. As such, having served nearly 30 years in the military, including on operational missions abroad, this is important to me personally.
Hopefully, my small role will inspire others (especially youth) to seek to serve as elected officials.
What are your top three issues?
Responsiveness, efficiency, and effectiveness. Effective democracy is not based on a populist approach to vocal minorities, but rather a fair, balanced, and principled approach to issues that respects accepted plans, while following an incremental, predictable implementation methodology. Saanich is a large municipality with diverse communities and neighbourhoods. A “once size fits all” approach to issues is causing dissatisfaction to a lot of residents. I seek to embrace active listening and thoughtful consideration to complex issues, including the underlying secondary and tertiary aspects. Priorities need to shift towards safety (intersections and x-walks) and routine maintenance (e.g. trimming bushes along sidewalks).
What’s your vision for your community in 25 years?
Other than for planned and community approved growth along major corridors, I would want to see Saanich retain most of its character and appearance in terms of residential neighbourhoods, parks, trails, and tree canopy. I would like to see more dormitories built at the University of Victoria and Camosun College to provide out-of-area students with more affordable accommodations that would greatly reduce their need for personal vehicles while allowing them to enjoy living within their campus community. I’m deeply concerned that the electrical infrastructure is not equipped to handle the growth in electric vehicles. As such, I would like to see incentives that lead to homes, commercial, and municipal buildings installing solar panels to address the looming electrical deficit while embracing renewable energy solutions.
What’s one “big idea” you have for your community?
I’m deeply concerned about our electrical infrastructure! I would like to see incentives that lead to homes, commercial, and municipal buildings installing solar panels to address the looming electrical deficit while embracing renewable energy solutions. Applying a feed-in-tariff (FIT) program via BC Hydro would be a great approach as it would minimize the need for battery storage and the associated environmental issues related to battery production (especially lithium) and disposal. Neighbourhood micro-grids could also lessen the load on the existing transmissions lines thereby reducing the likely brownouts that we will eventually be facing if nothing is done to address the looming problem of a massive, increasing demand for electricity (to charge EVs and to power the rapid increase in the use of air conditioners).
