Tim Morrison

As an Esquimalt Councillor, I currently serve as the Council liaison to the Esquimalt Environment, Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee, responsible for advising Council on environmental policy as well as the well-being of our parks, trees, and green spaces. As a Council member, I successfully sponsored a policy motion requiring all new construction to use low-carbon energy systems (such as heat pumps) instead of dependency on fossil fuels. I have also strongly supported the ongoing implementation and funding of Esquimalt's Active Transportation Network, making it easier and safer to reduce our carbon footprints with greatly improved walking and cycling infrastructure.

In my own life, I reduce my personal footprint in my daily commute to/from work with no need for a car. Each morning, I take the #26 bus from my Esquimalt home to my office at Uptown and each evening, I walk home along from Uptown along the Galloping Goose trail and then along the harbour front back to Esquimalt. I also try to walk or cycle for my other daily local errands as it helps me stay healthy while also reducing my carbon footprint.

Over the past decade, Esquimalt has added a significant amount of new housing supply, well above the housing targets set for us by the provincial government's municipal mandates on housing. While Esquimalt’s efforts on housing are commendable, we must also continually strive for better affordability of our housing as well as protecting existing tenant rights through our tenant relocation bylaw. From families and singles to youth and seniors and housing designed for disabilities and residents in need of supportive housing, we need to focus on what accessible affordability means for everyone in our community.

Affordability means advocating for below market options and creative solutions. We need effective housing measures by working cooperatively across governments and with developers and non-profit housing societies to ensure our community has homes for all income levels, ages and needs.

We have options if we are creative. From advocating for the reintroduction of Co-op Housing into the market to ensuring new developments include a specific number of below-market units and/or partnering with non-profit societies to build non-market rentals, we can achieve better affordability. The Lions at Fleming housing (874 Fleming Street) is a good model to follow of Esquimalt's successful partnership with the Greater Victoria Housing Society providing modern new apartments at affordable rents.

Most recently, Esquimalt Council approved a very creative solution brought forward by community members to provide affordable, customized homeownership through the Esquimalt Village Cohousing concept, which can serve as an excellent example for others to replicate.

Yes, I support Natural Asset Management in Esquimalt. Esquimalt staff have already begun the work on our important Esquimalt Natural Asset Inventory and Management Project, which identifies, measures, and values our community's natural features—such as trees, parks, and shorelines. By incorporating these natural assets into our official asset management framework, Esquimalt values nature as essential infrastructure that provides critical services and climate resilience.

As per a recent Council presentation from the Esquimalt Climate Organizers (ECO), we also need to adjust our rezoning and development permit processes, so that natural asset protection is considered from the start of the process. Specific steps to take include limiting the need for paved parking spaces for developments close to active transportation infrastructure, increasing the tree protection bylaw security deposit amount, and incorporating sustainability into bylaws where appropriate (e.g. X% of landscaping must be native plantings). This will allow our natural assets to be better protected and will reduce unnecessary design rework later in the rezoning/permit process. As a result, we can greatly reduce the risk of losing portions of our valuable natural assets as we continue to grow and develop as a community.

Esquimalt is also planning a major Official Community Plan (OCP) review and update during 2027. In addition to ensuring our OCP will set more aggressive climate action targets to lower our carbon footprint and protect our environment, I will also advocate strongly for the OCP Land Use Maps to clearly identify all our natural habitat areas that need to be protected.

I am a public transit user, cyclist and pedestrian who frequently walks around Esquimalt. I appreciate it when our buses run frequently and reliably and our active transportation is safe, convenient, and connected while our roads run smoothly and safely. We need options that work well for all the ways in which we choose to move around and that make it easier to use practical alternatives to driving.

That is why, as a Councillor, I voted in favour and strongly supported the Township of Esquimalt's Active Transportation Network Plan, which is our 10-year blueprint first approved by Council in 2022 to improve walking, rolling, and cycling infrastructure across our community.

Over the past term, I also voted in favour of the necessary project funding to implement many of our identified active transportation initiatives. These include infrastructure improvements to address gaps in our pedestrian and cycling/rolling routes and a greatly enhanced bike/roll-friendly network for all ages and abilities featuring new protected and buffered bike lanes along our key corridors of Tillicum, Lampson and Esquimalt Road.

We have been making great advancements in our phased rollout while also being efficient with our capital project budgets by ensuring our ongoing corridor improvements have paired active transportation additions (like protected bike lanes) simultaneously with aging underground utility and pavement rehabilitation that benefit everyone. In addition, I also support the Reconciliation Rail Corridor Initiative to revive the E&N line and improve regional connections for Esquimalt, DND/Seaspan, and local First Nations.

As a one-year trial pilot project, Council unanimously supported the mobile sauna being placed at Gorge Park nearby the Gorge Waterway Nature House on the condition that it be affordable and accessible for community use. There are public health and socialization benefits from providing the sauna within our park and it includes a revenue-sharing arrangement that provides funds for Esquimalt to reinvest in our parks. However, we have legitimate concerns about the fees and whether any type of commercialization is appropriate for public parks.

As a condition of approval, Council have directed our Parks & Recreation staff to work with the sauna operator, Gatherwell, on possible subsidies for low-income residents, potentially through our existing Leisure Involvement for Everyone, or LIFE, program. As part of the one-year trial, community consultations must occur on whether or not to continue past one year. We need to have a community conversation on what is and what is not appropriate commercial activity within our parks. Generally, I prefer to keep our parks natural and not used for commercial purposes with a notable exception being our Esquimalt Farmers Market.

There is a strong need to shift the skyrocketing financial burden of climate change away from local municipal taxpayers and onto the fossil fuel corporations that profit from the fossil fuel products causing our climate crisis. I am supportive of taking legal action if legal costs can be capped and shared among municipalities.