Dear Editor
At a recent Ashcroft Village open meeting, the Mayor and Council, with able assistance of Natalie Aalderink, explained to the small group of local residents attending the levels of tax increase we may be faced with here in the Village, in large part due to changing legislation out of Victoria. The article subsequently appearing on the front page of our paper was equally clear in explaining the various options open to the village to generate the necessary funds. An increase in Home owners Grants will certainly in large part offset any major increases for the local home owners. Where the Editor did the Village staff a disservice was in the wording of the headline.
Current language use should be quite familiar to our Editor, so the use of the phrase “looking at” is disturbing. The current connotation of this phrase is mostly negative, no matter how grammatically correct it may be. Thus I feel that the headline choice was slanted, unfair to the Village staff who had made such a clear presentation, while completely ignoring the general feeling of those residents present, most of whom spoke in favour of the 37.16% level of increase. The wording of this headline therefore makes it harder for Mayor and Council to present a fair picture of the situation to the public. What a difference a word can make....
Joris Ekering
Ashcroft