Reassurances that the Sequoia will not be removed cannot be trusted. The Sequoia is safe only with respect to phase one of the revised project, simply because that phase would now begin at the bottom end of the Square, away from the trees.  

In other words, the politicians that support project, appear to be waiting until after the election to remove the sequoia.

Now is the opportunity to really save it.

What happened last week?  When Councillors Hammond and Gardiner brought forward their motion at last week's City Council meeting to halt work on the project, Dell and Caradonna countered with their own motion to defer a vote on it until revised plans for the Square project were available. Revised plans would be irrelevant if Council voted to refuse borrowing up to $7 million for merely phase 1 of the project.

Councillors Hammond and Gardiner had moved to halt any work on the Square which would cause the City to take on more debt (but explore ways to update the Square using the $2 million provincial money which has already been dedicated to it). This makes perfect sense in terms of the City's budget struggles (up to a 13% increase in property taxes for 2026!), as this is a project which is not only not essential, but has also met with huge public resistance.

However, the motion to defer was passed by a 5-4 vote.

BOTTOM LINE: Councillor Hammond's motion to halt the Square project and not add $7 million to the City's growing debt will be brought forward for a vote on November 27.  Council was told by the City Parks Director that the revised plans would be ready by that date. 

What about the Sequoia?  Caradonna’s reassurances that it will not be removed cannot be trusted, given his tendency to prevaricate, as he did with the BC Hydro misinformation which was revealed by the excellent journalism of Mary Fowles. The sequoia is safe only with respect to phase one of the revised project, simply because that phase would now begin at the bottom end of the Square, away from the trees.

PLEASE WRITE: We need to keep up (firm, but gentle) pressure on Mayor Alto  (malto@victoria.ca) and Councillor Loughton (kloughton@victoria.ca), reminding them of their responsibility to the citizens of this City to spend money carefully.

The same goes for Councillor Kim (skim@victoria.ca) who should also be congratulated for voting with Hammond, Gardiner and Coleman against deferral at last week's meeting.  All three need to be reminded that this will be an election issue if the project goes ahead.  Thompson, Dell and Caradonna all may be a lost cause, but if a majority on the council votes against them, they won't matter.  

The thousands of voters who signed petitions against this project will not forget their positions on this issue.  

Finally, if you are moved to make one more point: the City Parks Department announced at last week's meeting that it would proceed with tendering the Square project on November 20.  Since then, Council was told that the revised plans for the Square would not be ready until the November 27 Council Meeting.  As the vote to halt the project completely will be held at this meeting, this tender process date makes absolutely no logical sense and is fiscally irresponsible. The Mayor and Councillors Kim and Loughton must be pressured to delay this tender process.

We suggest that you not waste your efforts with messages to Councillors Dell, Caradonna and Thompson, as this will have no effect whatsoever on their entrenched positions. If this project proceeds, all bets are off with respect to the future of the Sequoia and the other trees. In the meantime, the Fountain and other historical aspects of the Square will have been destroyed in phase one, and, according to Councillor Dell, the monoliths will be "placed in storage" (a euphemism if there ever was one).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you again for all of your suppport!!!

For more information, please contact treesmatternetwork@gmail.com

Note: As always, don't bother donating to the petition, as the money goes to Change.org, not the petition, no matter what Change.org's marketing suggests.