Jay Shukin
Website: electshukin.com
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. A resident since 2015.
What is your occupation, and for how long?
Public affairs manager. 25 years.
Tell us about your previous elected and/or community experience.
I was president of the Association for the Protection of Rural Metchosin (APRM) from 2020 to 2022. I’ve helped establish groups on local matters like water, land-use and Indigenous relations. I co-led a successful effort to stop the subdivision and sale of the Metchosin Wilderness Camp. I’m now working with others to examine our District’s plans to sell the 112-acre Buffer Land without public engagement. As APRM president, I’ve attended almost every Council meeting through the last term. A 20+ year career in the utility sector has provided deep experience with local government, Indigenous relations and community engagement.
Why are you running? What’s your motivation?
The goal of strengthening rural Metchosin and protecting our environment drives my involvement in this community. Metchosin is both resilient and vulnerable, a unique municipality of green-blue-gold ecosystems that are under mounting pressure from development in the West Shore. There is an inherent value in protecting rural Metchosin, not only for residents, but for those across our region seeking access to locally grown food and land that supports natural habitat. My own role in advocating for this community has been to closely follow Council matters, to ask questions and to offer ideas that are fiscally responsible and effective.
What are your top three issues?
First, bylaw enforcement to protect the land, air, trees and water, and to build a sense of community respect. I’ve heard of too many stories in Metchosin of neighbours who are adversely impacted by unauthorized dumping, tree-cutting, and noise. Second, fiscal responsibility: watching our taxes, yes, but also having strong and transparent processes. Third, developing a made-in-Metchosin climate action plan. No such plan currently exists in Metchosin and that needs to change. It’s so often the small communities that are hit hardest by climate change forces.
What’s your vision for your community in 25 years?
Metchosin’s value as a rural community is an established, enduring and loved element of southern Vancouver Island. Residents and visitors can find locally grown food here and experience natural habitat, especially intact forests and protected coastline. Those of us living here contribute to an ever-stronger sense of community, environment and respect.
What’s one “big idea” you have for your community?
Metchosin needs a credible public engagement process on the future of its 112-acre Buffer Land. The Buffer is a community-owned asset which came to Metchosin from the historic land swap in 2017. The proposed sale in October 2021 raised serious questions about Council transparency and intention, and the future of other large public lands in Metchosin. There has been an unsubstantiated linkage tossed out about how a Buffer Land sale is connected to other land use decisions; this has been a distraction and impacted serious discussion about the future of the Buffer Land.
