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qathet Regional District director continues work as Texada Island rep

Sandy McCormick retained position by acclamation
qathet Regional District director Sandy McCormick

While many candidates running in local elections across the province recently were made to wait for nail-biting ballot counts before being elected into office, qathet Regional District Electoral Area D (Texada Island) director Sandy McCormick faced no such agonizing anticipation.

Despite running against three other contenders in 2014, McCormick ran unopposed for Area D this time around. She was acclaimed to office, and said she feels humbled to have retained her seat without opposition.

McCormick’s experience in civic politics goes back a long time. Before moving to Texada in 2006, she sat for two terms as a school trustee (1993 to 1999) and then for one term as a city councillor (1999 to 2002) in City of Vancouver with the Non-Partisan Association (the party whose mayoral candidate narrowly lost out to Kennedy Stewart in that city’s recent municipal election).

However, McCormick said she was glad to leave behind the infighting and partisan scrums of Vancouver’s municipal government.

“I totally prefer sitting as an independent,” she added. “It means you can look at issues based on their own merit and not have to toe a party line. It means I can advocate for the people of Texada, and not for any other agenda.”

Although McCormick did not relocate to Texada until a little over a decade ago, she had been a regular visitor since the 1980s. She said her longstanding association with the island has made her into a passionate advocate for the community’s interests.

However, when she first moved to Texada, McCormick did not initially involve herself with the qathet (then Powell River) regional government, and chose instead to engage in volunteer work and local activism. She was involved in the local protest group Texada Action Now, which campaigned against the proposed construction of a liquid natural gas facility on the island in 2007.

McCormick’s dedication to her community was quickly recognized. In 2008, then regional director Dave Murphy appointed her to serve as his alternate, a role McCormick held until she was elected to the directorship herself in 2014.

Recently re-elected City of Powell River councillor CaroleAnn Leishman, also a municipal director on the regional district board, said McCormick always takes care of the interests of Texada residents.

“I have worked alongside Sandy on the regional district board for the past four years, and I can definitely say she has the best interests of Texada residents in mind at all times,” said Leishman. “I think her constituents know that. That is likely why she was acclaimed.”

Reflecting on her time as Area D director so far, McCormick said she is particularly proud of the fact that she helped keep Texada’s heritage and recreation commission independent. She said there have been strong efforts to create a regional system that would incorporate this body.

However, McCormick said there are bigger, more long-term challenges facing Texada residents.

“We have a skilled labour shortage, a shortage of carpenters and people to work at the hotel,” she said. “We need to attract more working-age families to come and fill some of those tasks.”

McCormick also added that she would like to see more business and investment opportunities presented to Texada.

“For example, Texada has been known for decades for various strains of cannabis,”” she said. “I would like to see an opportunity for our producers to sell to retail outlets in the same way craft breweries sell to liquor stores.”