March/April 2019 edition

March-April 2019 Focus.pdf

4 Leslie Campbell | MONEY STILL SKEWING LOCAL ELECTIONS

Holes in the new local elections financing act give an advantage to incumbents. That’s not necessarily in the public interest.

6 Focus Readers | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

14 David Broadland | ARE LOCAL "CLIMATE CRISIS" DECISION-MAKERS MAKING THINGS BETTER? OR WORSE?

Focus Magazine is undertaking a multi-year project to determine whether initiatives to move passenger cars off the streets are having any effect.

18 Ross Crockford | UNFINISHED BUSINESS

What has Victoria learned in the 10 years since it first discussed replacing the Johnson Street Bridge?

20 Judith Lavoie | GRANDSTANDING? OR GRAND GESTURE?

Victoria takes it up a notch with the push for a class action lawsuit against oil and gas companies.

22 Russ Francis | AT THE LEGISLATIVE TROUGH

Baseball games, $258,000 “retirement” allowances for the unretired, and truckloads of alcohol: How did it come to this?

26 Stephen Hume | THE CASE FOR ENDING THE HERRING FISHERY

The commercial herring roe fishery in the Salish Sea may be the final nail in the coffin of chinook, resident orca and some seabirds.

30 Kate Cino | UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL FLORAL PORTRAITS

Jeanette Sirois’ large-scale works are done with patience and precision in pencil crayon.

34 Leslie Campbell | VICTORIA ARTS COUNCIL CELEBRATES 50 YEARS

A new exhibit of works by Pat Martin Bates is just one of the events planned.

48 Mollie Kaye | STRING TENSION

In Syria, Sari Alesh was a professional violinist. War changed all that.

52 Monica Prendergast | THE POSITIVE FORCE OF THEATRE

Generosity and kindness on stage in selfish times.

54 Pauline Holdstock | ESI EDUYAN TALKS ABOUT WRITING FICTION

If writers write with empathy and authenticity, it allows them and their readers to cross all sorts of barriers.

58 Gene Miller | HEAVEN? PRESS 35

Will new Downtown buildings help our resiliency and community in the face of social upheaval?

60 Maleea Acker | FOR THE LOVE OF BATS

Combining creative work with research, Estraven Lupino-Smith collaborates with HAT to monitor and celebrate bats.

62 Trudy Duivenvoorden Mitic | AS THE TIPPING POINT NEARS

There’s no end of dire news, so seek out the glimmers of progress.