Community Articles (listed by posting date)
General News · 4th December 2025
Mark Vonesch
Hi Everyone,
Currently all of Cortes Island’s local government services and decision making comes from the Strathcona Regional District (SRD). As your Regional Director, I share the decision making for most of our services with thirteen other Directors on the SRD Board.
Local government decisions impacting Cortes Island are currently decided by people who do not live on our island and a lot of you have approached me with the idea of having more local governance control.
In September I asked the SRD Board to support a motion to have staff create a report on the process for communities wanting to consider incorporation. That report can be found here:
https://agenda.strathconard.ca/SRDAttachments/SRDBoard/Open/BRD/22-Oct-25/20251009-Community-Incorporation-Overview.pdf
Today I am releasing the following petition to formally assess your interest in inviting the province to support us in a fact-finding process to explore Cortes Island local governance. If advanced, this process could finish in a referendum - where, armed with facts & figures, Cortes Islanders vote on whether or not to restructure our local government through incorporation.
“ We, the undersigned, invite the Province of BC to work with the Cortes Island community and First Nations to explore our local governance, which may lead to a referendum vote on whether we should incorporate. “
The potential upsides of incorporation are local control of services, bylaws, land use decisions, parks, and planning. It would also mean our tax dollars would be spent hiring people who live and spend their pay cheques on Cortes.
The downsides are the potential change to property taxes. Will they stay the same? Will they go up? If so, by how much?
There will be opportunities for our (many) questions to be answered by applying to the province for a study grant to explore current Cortes Island issues. By signing this petition you are helping move that process forward.
The Provincial ‘restructuring process’ is guided by a set of principles and has six phases. It begins with an exploration where the community examines the local context and provides general information about community issues. If the Province approves a study grant, they will assist with the creation of a terms of reference and restructuring planning grant providing funding to hire a consultant with expertise in local governance.
Restructuring requires community members to become well-informed about the implications of any change. This includes involvement of First Nations, who must be consulted about their interests.
More information about the local government restructure process can be found here: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/local-governments/governance-powers/incorp oration-restructuring/restructure-planning-process
If you are interested in exploring a new governance model on Cortes, please add your name to the petition here:
https://forms.gle/SQpZbad2v35NzWBp9
By Friday afternoon, paper petitions will also be located at the Manson’s and Whaletown post offices, the Gorge Harbour store, Squirrel Cove Store, Klahoose multi purpose building, Cortes Market, Cortes Co-op, and Manson’s Hall.
Thank you and please reach out if you have questions or want to chat about this or anything else Cortes Island related!
Mark
PS: Sign up to my e-newsletters here:
https://www.cortestogether.com/sign-up
Mark Vonesch
Cortes Island Regional Director
Email: mvoneschsrd.ca
mb: 250-202-4422
Currently all of Cortes Island’s local government services and decision making comes from the Strathcona Regional District (SRD). As your Regional Director, I share the decision making for most of our services with thirteen other Directors on the SRD Board.
Local government decisions impacting Cortes Island are currently decided by people who do not live on our island and a lot of you have approached me with the idea of having more local governance control.
In September I asked the SRD Board to support a motion to have staff create a report on the process for communities wanting to consider incorporation. That report can be found here:
https://agenda.strathconard.ca/SRDAttachments/SRDBoard/Open/BRD/22-Oct-25/20251009-Community-Incorporation-Overview.pdf
Today I am releasing the following petition to formally assess your interest in inviting the province to support us in a fact-finding process to explore Cortes Island local governance. If advanced, this process could finish in a referendum - where, armed with facts & figures, Cortes Islanders vote on whether or not to restructure our local government through incorporation.
“ We, the undersigned, invite the Province of BC to work with the Cortes Island community and First Nations to explore our local governance, which may lead to a referendum vote on whether we should incorporate. “
The potential upsides of incorporation are local control of services, bylaws, land use decisions, parks, and planning. It would also mean our tax dollars would be spent hiring people who live and spend their pay cheques on Cortes.
The downsides are the potential change to property taxes. Will they stay the same? Will they go up? If so, by how much?
There will be opportunities for our (many) questions to be answered by applying to the province for a study grant to explore current Cortes Island issues. By signing this petition you are helping move that process forward.
The Provincial ‘restructuring process’ is guided by a set of principles and has six phases. It begins with an exploration where the community examines the local context and provides general information about community issues. If the Province approves a study grant, they will assist with the creation of a terms of reference and restructuring planning grant providing funding to hire a consultant with expertise in local governance.
Restructuring requires community members to become well-informed about the implications of any change. This includes involvement of First Nations, who must be consulted about their interests.
More information about the local government restructure process can be found here: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/local-governments/governance-powers/incorp oration-restructuring/restructure-planning-process
If you are interested in exploring a new governance model on Cortes, please add your name to the petition here:
https://forms.gle/SQpZbad2v35NzWBp9
By Friday afternoon, paper petitions will also be located at the Manson’s and Whaletown post offices, the Gorge Harbour store, Squirrel Cove Store, Klahoose multi purpose building, Cortes Market, Cortes Co-op, and Manson’s Hall.
Thank you and please reach out if you have questions or want to chat about this or anything else Cortes Island related!
Mark
PS: Sign up to my e-newsletters here:
https://www.cortestogether.com/sign-up
Mark Vonesch
Cortes Island Regional Director
Email: mvoneschsrd.ca
mb: 250-202-4422