B.C. Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin, who has family on the Sunshine Coast, has visited the area many times over the years, but this weekend was her first official visit since taking up her vice regal post.
“I have so been looking forward to this,” Austin told the crowd at a May 31 reception at Gibsons Town Hall. “I feel like I’m on holiday.”
Most of the itinerary for Austin, her husband Ashley Chester and their dog, MacDuff, who Austin introduced as the “Vice-regal canine consort,” was filled with private events.
The reception at Town Hall included councillors as well as members of the Chamber of Commerce and Gibsons Landing Harbour Authority board.
Mayor Bill Beamish gave Austin a copy of the book Views of the Salish Sea, published locally by Harbour Publishing, to mark the occasion, and Coun. David Croal presented her with a Beachcombers T-shirt, and a copy of Bruno and the Beach, the story of the Beacombers written by actor Jackson Davies.
“He regretted he couldn’t be here or sign the book personally, so he wrote a dedication for us and sent it,” Croal said.
During her brief remarks Austin expressed a keen interest in the Town’s decision to add two youth councillors earlier in the term after meeting one of them, Jason Lewis.
“I think it’s absolutely wonderful that you have made room in your council discussions for a youth perspective,” Austin said, adding that she would be interested in getting some input from the youth councillors on a democracy initiative she has in the works.
“I’m very concerned about the fragility of democracy in the current global context – the erosion of respect for public institutions and democratic conventions, the decline of civility in public and political discourse – and so I feel compelled to use my time in office as lieutenant governor … to encourage people to participate constructively in our democracy and in civil society. And, of course, my key focus will be with young people because it’s people like Jason who we will need to rely on to run government at all levels in the future.”
Austin’s only public event was a tour of the Gibsons Public Market and the Nicholas Sonntag Marine Education Centre on Saturday.
She also took part in an Indigenous walking tour with Talaysay Tours, visited the Sunshine Coast Arts Council’s exhibit All That We Are LGBTQ2+, the Sunshine Coast Botanical Garden, the Tems Swiya Museum and Sunshine Coast Community Services.
