With the recent adoption of livestreaming in the Town of View Royal, Langford is the only jurisdiction in the region, aside from tiny Metchosin, that does not allow live public viewing online of its council meetings.
Municipalities that provide this service also have archived video records that citizens can easily access for later viewing. By failing to do so, Langford is denying residents a valuable service provided to almost every other municipality in the region, as well as the Capital Regional District.
By denying livestreaming for taxpayers – particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic – it unfortunately allows a council to dodge or minimize public and media scrutiny.
There are no excuses. Langford is a large city that is growing, and thorough scrutiny of the various development projects is critical. A number of residents have expressed such concerns to us. Langford is a prosperous municipality that can certainly afford this cost of democracy.
Most citizens are busy and can’t attend 5:30 p.m. council meetings at supper time, with family and work obligations. Taxpayers do go on holidays, may be sick or away on business, and livestreaming allows them to find out later what the heck is going on.
It’s 2020, time for livestreaming of council meetings in Langford.
Stan Bartlett, Langford
Chair, Grumpy Taxpayers of Greater Victoria