LETTER: Rest of region not interested in Victoria’s dysfunction

Growing up in Gordon Head, every neighbourhood had that one weird kid who insisted on being “different” in all the wrong ways. The kid who seemed to take pride in breaking every unspoken rule of decency. You might have to interact with them at school, or pass them on your walk home, but you always did so carefully and reluctantly – never letting their chaos spill over into your life. In our region, Victoria has become that kid. The once-beautiful “City of Gardens” is now a walking cautionary tale – a city caught up in its own virtue-signalling and failed social experiments that it’s lost sight of what a functioning community actually looks like. Mayor and council have traded common sense for ideology, replacing accountability with performance politics. They’ve rolled out the welcome mat for open drug use, normalized public disorder, and then acted surprised when crime and public anger followed right behind. While surrounding municipalities have worked hard to build stable, safe and responsible communities, Victoria has doubled down on decisions that repel investment, drive out families, and attract exactly the kind of trouble they claim to be solving. It’s like watching the weird kid decide that lighting things on fire is a form of self-expression – and then blaming everyone else when the house burns down. And now the surrounding municipalities are all expected to support the city as it spirals further into dysfunction. But the truth is, the rest of the region is tired of cleaning up the mess. Langford, Esquimalt, Saanich, Oak Bay, View Royal and the rest of the CRD are quietly but firmly backing away. We’re not interested in importing Victoria’s problems – or its politics. We’ve seen the results: encampments in parks, open drug scenes in front of businesses and a downtown that feels less like the capital of a province and more like a social experiment gone wrong. Victoria’s leadership keeps insisting they’re just being compassionate – but there’s nothing compassionate about creating an environment where addiction, disorder, and crime thrive unchecked. It’s not empathy; it’s negligence disguised as progress. And the rest of the region has noticed. Rather than acknowledging its own missteps, Victoria’s leadership has turned to blaming neighbouring communities for failing to “share the burden” – as if the region’s reluctance to adopt the same failed approach were the problem. Victoria still has the potential to recover – to remember that compassion and accountability are not opposites. But until that happens, the rest of us will be keeping our distance. We’ll wish them well from across the street, but we won’t be coming over to play in their yard – not while it’s covered in needles, crime and excuses. Fred Richards Saanich