A Victoria councillor has suggested that the city seek federal money to fund military events such as Remembrance Day.
A committee meeting on Thursday hosted the debate, with one side pushing for more funding for Canada Day policing costs.
Coun. Ben Isitt spearheaded an amendment to the motion, looking to retrieve costs for events such as Remembrance Day.
The amendment read: “That Council direct staff to engage DND/Veterans Affairs Canada officials to seek to recover costs associated with military events in the City.”
According to Isitt, those entities have substantially greater resources, and that “responsibility for military commemoration and honouring veterans is more properly the responsibility of those federal agencies.”
Isitt wasn’t alone in this point of view. The motion had support of other councillors, such as Laurel Collins, Sara Potts, Jeremy Loveday and Marianne Alto.
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps, as well as Councillors Geoff Young and Charlayne Thornton-Joe voted against the motion.
“The DND has a much larger budget than we do and I do think that policing costs could also be covered by them,” Collins said.
Council voted to cover $78,000 lacking in the Victoria Police Department’s costs to cover the annual Canada Day celebration.
The city of Victoria would also allocate $135,000 from the 2019 contingency to cover those costs.
Join and support independent free thinkers!
We’re independent and can’t be cancelled. The establishment media is increasingly dedicated to divisive cancel culture, corporate wokeism, and political correctness, all while covering up corruption from the corridors of power. The need for fact-based journalism and thoughtful analysis has never been greater. When you support The Post Millennial, you support freedom of the press at a time when it's under direct attack. Join the ranks of independent, free thinkers by supporting us today for as little as $1.
Remind me next month
To find out what personal data we collect and how we use it, please visit our Privacy Policy
