Class-action suit donation against Big Oil about $12,500
It’s not only the flowers that are blossoming in the annual Best in Bloom contest in View Royal, but also the tax demand from hard-pressed residents.
A few weeks ago council hiked 2023 municipal property taxes by 10.1 percent, despite year-over-year inflation of only 4.4 percent to April. They forecast property tax increases over the next four years of 10, 11, 7 and 4 percent. When compounded over five years, residents face close to a 45 percent wallop.
Even that hasn’t prevented mayor and council from swerving outside their lane and joining a class-action lawsuit that may eventually cost ratepayers about $12,500.
It wants to sue global fossil fuel companies for a share of municipal climate change costs. The town is the second municipality in B.C. to join the Sue Big Oil campaign and has set aside $1 per resident to help cover legal costs once other local governments join.
View Royal claims its budget “supports the enhancement of livability in their municipality through investments in roads, parks and trails, police and fire protection, technology, and a commitment to service excellence.” That should allow for council to focus and fund environmental projects at home in their own community.
Residents should be very concerned that non-budgeted, virtue-signalling has been approved by council before the ink is even dry on the financial plan.
the climate has been changing since the beginning of time , our civilization runs on oil – wake up
Learned through the local Climate Realists group: The danger of a collectivist (groupthink) mindset lies in their claim to have a ‘utopian’ or at least a ‘noble’ goal. Any and all suffering due to what they would describe as unintentional consequences of their actions/policies (that in reality are fully intentional) should be forgiven as (they hope) the end justifies the means. As the basics of living become increasingly costly, from food to utilities to housing, very much as a result of climate mitigation policies, mainstream populations are becoming less and less forgiving.
Climate change, the net effect of interacting cyclic forces that are planetary, lunar, solar, and celestial, is unaffected by human activities. The survival of any species depends upon its capacity to adapt to Earth’s ever-changing climate.