Despite his request for help being turned down by the Regional District of Nanaimo, Ken Kirkby isn’t disheartened.
Rather, the president of the Nile Creek Enhancement Society said the RDN’s refusal to give the society a water licence for Nash Creek will just spur him to further action higher up the political ladder.
At last week’s committee of the whole meeting, RDN directors turned down a request from the society to take out a water license on Nash Creek, opting instead to lobby senior levels of government to change provincial legislation to allow societies to hold the licenses, which they are currently not allowed to do.
The request, if granted, would have allowed the society to do restoration work at Nash Creek.
“I was brought up to believe you never give up — ever,” Kirkby said. “I’m going to Victoria and I’m going to make some very nice demands,” Kirkby said. “I’m not interested in begging It’s up to us to use the legislature and get the job done according to the methods we have brought about to run a country.”
Kirkby suggested the RDN move didn’t come entirely as a surprise, adding the proposal went over better than he anticipated.
“Our director (Bill Veenhof) made a valiant effort and there was far more support at the table than I anticipated,” he said. “We are farther down the road than I thought we might be. This is a good news story in the making.”