Now that the results of the online B次元官网网址渃ommunity surveyB次元官网网址� regarding the draft of the Cadboro Bay Local Area Plan are in, it is not a surprise that the B次元官网网址榬esults,B次元官网网址� as elsewhere in the CRD, seem to support development and densification, given that the wording of the survey seemed to point the person filling out the survey in that general direction.

Those filling out the online survey could have been from anywhere and could have filled out the survey as many times as they wanted, and the district had promoted it online a lot.

The following figures are quoted from the Saanich website regarding the districtB次元官网网址檚 promotion for community engagement in the local draft plan input process, including the online survey: Saanich had made 5,790 B次元官网网址渋mpressionsB次元官网网址� on Twitter receiving 920 link clicks, 15,552 B次元官网网址渆ngagementsB次元官网网址� on Facebook posts, 15,447 views of their Facebook three-second video and 32,938 B次元官网网址渋mpressionsB次元官网网址� on Facebook ads.

At a total of 55,727 forms of digital ads made, clearly this was a considerable numerical overshot for a community of about 4,000 people, many of whom donB次元官网网址檛 use social media.

Providing such a wide array of blanket online ads was of course likely to garner considerable non-community feedback on the so-called B次元官网网址渃ommunity surveyB次元官网网址� and was thus considerably likely to influence and alter the results pertaining to be from the community and thus likely affecting its very future.

In the 21st century, digital manipulation of local democratic processes is a very real concern and few eyes are sadly focused on the issue.

Sasha Izard

Saanich