The Times Colonist continues its misleading smear campaign against Saanich residents.
The Yellow Journalism of the Times Colonist and other media outlets in regard to Saanich residents, has helped propel a narrative that has been used to suppress public input in the democratic process and needs to be exposed.
By Sasha Izard
Nov 13, 2025
In a recent article I exposed the Times Colonist’s use of Yellow Journalism.
How a groundless narrative cooked up by elected officials and the press of “boisterous” and “raucous” meetings, was used to justify major claw backs in open public input to Saanich Council. – CRD Watch Homepage
In the article I showed how the Times Colonist invented that Saanich’s last off-site Town Hall was “boisterous”. No journalist from the Times Colonist was present at the unrecorded Town Hall, and when I questioned the author of the Times Colonist article Andrew Duffy, who writes about real estate, what the origin of boisterous was in the title, he replied: “You would have to ask the editor who changed my lede” [sic, it seems he meant lead]
“Yellow journalism is a style of newspaper reporting that emphasizes sensationalism, eye-catching headlines, and exaggeration to increase circulation, often at the expense of facts.”
A perfect example of Yellow Journalism is from the Times Colonist today:
“Save Our Saanich encourages mob behaviour that silences voices”
This is a typical Times Colonist-style framing title. It is the TC’s editor that makes the titles of letters to the editor.
Civic engagement turned into mob behaviour at meeting – Victoria Times Colonist
(Accessed: Nov 13, 2025)
See my article on media framing: The New DeveloPer’s Lexicon: How the Discussion around Housing has been Framed by Industry
The name of the writer of the commentary does not appear in a Google search with Victoria BC next to the name. Was the commentary written by a pseudonym? All it mentions is that the writer is a Saanich resident with no more information about the person, unusual for a TC commentary, but not by any means unreasonable.
Still it begs the question. Did the TC print a commentary from a real author, and why did it give it that title? People who were at the meeting have posted on Facebook that they did not observe what was in the commentary.
I emailed the TC’s editor David Obee this morning:
Hello David Obee,
In today’s Times Colonist is a Commentary titled:
Save Our Saanich encourages mob behaviour that silences voices
Was that title created by the Times Colonist, or by the author of the commentary?
Thank you,
Sasha Izard
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I received an auto-response from Obee’s email:
“I will be out of the office until Tuesday, November 18. If you cannot wait: For advertising or circulation, contact Ed Kennedy at ekennedy@timescolonist.com. For the newsroom, contact localnews@timescolonist.com. For questions about the Comment page, contact Bruce MacKenzie at bmackenzie@timescolonist.com. Thanks!”
I emailed the same question to the newsroom at the email provided.
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The ongoing narrative by the local media has been one that has fit hand in hand with what the development lobby has been pushing, that public input in local government should be reduced as much as possible. This has led to vast amounts of public hearings being removed across the Province.
The following is an excerpt from a March 19, 2023 article by Andrew Duffy:
“Kathy Whitcher, executive director of the Urban Development Institute, said some developers have found working with Saanich difficult, but she understands there are plans to change.
“They’ve hired some more staff and they do recognize that they have an issue and so they’re working on it, which is great,” she said.
As for some projects being able to skip the public-hearing process, Whitcher said that’s always been an option.
“It’s actually been around for years, it’s just that the municipalities weren’t using it,” she said, noting it has come to light because of the length of some public hearings. “It’s a tool that the industry has kind of been promoting to help speed up the process — if your project aligns with the OCP, then you shouldn’t have to go to public hearing.
Like Edge, Whitcher notes that the public is already involved in creating the OCP, which means municipalities are duplicating the process by having public hearings when a project already complies.
Saanich says it’s working to speed up housing approvals – Victoria Times Colonist
The same day, I created a petition that the Times Colonist withdraw its paid membership from the Urban Development Institute (UDI), a registered lobbying organization for real estate and development interests on the BC Lobbyists Registry:
Petition · Withdraw the Times Colonist from Development Lobby Membership and Media Partnership – Canada · Change.org
Later that year I exposed the TC’s connections to real estate with an article: A Quick Glance At Glacier Media’s Real Estate Connections
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Here is what a Saanich resident posted on social media about the event referred to in the TC commentary:
In a true democracy, the people are in charge. The word democracy, means citizen-rule from Ancient Greek, the Demos being the citizens. If the citizens or residents are to be in the driver’s seat, then the people’s voice, or Vox Populi, must be first and foremost.
The current media operates in the opposite sense. The voice of the citizenry or residents is driven to the back pages, corralled, controlled, selected and their messages mitigated by the editor. Many people don’t realize for example, that the titles given to letters to the editor are not the titles given by those who wrote to the editor.
Newspapers understand that many if not most people, will simply skim over the titles. As such the newspapers can control, or at least confuse and mitigate, the narrative of the public through the paper’s use of titles, which are often even the reverse of the content of the letters themselves. The papers also often change the content and edit letters, sometimes removing even whole sections of information that they don’t want the public to see.
They have other techniques of hiding public opinion and sentiment as well. One technique newspapers use is to only publish online and not in-print, letters that they don’t want the mass public to see; that is, if they publish certain unwanted letters at all. While the mediums have changed, none of this is new. Many readers will be familiar with the story of Randolph Hearst’s media empire. Modern techniques of message suppression are much more sophisticated.
Plato in the Republic wrote about the poets misleading the citizenry with illusions, and this is what I consider is what the media in the 21st century does for the most part.
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Appendix 1: Letter in response to the TC Commentary from former Gordon Head Community Association President Don Gunn
Saanich meeting was not ‘mob behaviour’
Re: “Civic engagement turned into mob behaviour,” comment, Nov. 13.
As a resident of Saanich and as an attendee at the recent “community open house” that was put on by the developer of the proposed project, I take exception to the recent headline on your opinion page implying that it was an example of “mob behaviour.”
This meeting was not “supposed to be a conversation about the future of our neighbourhood” but, to many of us, seemed to be an effort by the promoters to “tick the boxes” of community consultation in order to proceed with a development that many in the community feel is out of place in form and in function.
The meeting was attended by about 200 individuals, most of whom appeared to be of a “mature” age. They seemed to listen intently to the presentation by the developers who painted their proposal in the most rhapsodic terms. Yes, some of the hyperbole elicited laughter and expressions of displeasure. In general, this proposal was met with apprehension and anger about what it would mean to an established neighbourhood in terms of densification, massing and traffic.
There were representatives from the Save Our Saanich group at the meeting. I was offered a slip of paper with a link to their website, where the reasons for their opposition to the project were detailed.
This group did not appear to be encouraging or inciting “intimidation or verbal abuse.”
Many people chose to express their well-reasoned concerns with the proposal. One individual at the back of the room did yell out inappropriately, but that went no further. Another attendee was able to express her support for the proposal.
This was not a formal meeting where decorum and protocol should rule. It was an open meeting where people who felt strongly about the issue were able to voice their opinions, and those who supported or were opposed could react and express themselves, as well.
Don Gunn
Saanich
Times Colonist – Letter to the Editor – November 18, 2025
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Appendix 2: Letter in response to the TC Commentary from Save Our Saanich member Matt McGeachie
Saanich residents are waking up
Re: “Civic engagement turned into mob behaviour,” comment, Nov. 13.
I attended my first Saanich council meeting in February of this year.
I was expecting to hear well-informed discussions about the future of Saanich.
Instead, I noticed a well-organized group of young people who had obviously had the ear of most council members. I had a brief discussion with one of their supporters about my objection to all the borrowing that Saanich was about to embark on, only to be told that the government should pay for everything.
Someone then filled me in about special interest groups such as Homes for Living, the cycling coalition and free-transit supporters who make it a point to attend and speak at council meetings across our region.
One thing is clear about these lobbyists. They are intent on creating a new societal order where a centralized government takes the reins over people’s day-to-day lives, using whatever crisis they can conjure up to stifle any dissent. Whenever residents push back, they claim harassment, mob rule, intimidation, etc. It is with this in mind that I must comment on the recent opinion piece by Amber Wright. No, you did not witness an out-of-control mob at the recent open house in Gordon Head.
What you saw was an engaged group of Saanich residents who are getting tired of being pushed to the sidelines when it comes to development in our municipality. They have a right to be heard, and they are finally making the most of it. Expect the crowds to get bigger as more residents wake up to what a minority wants to impose on our community.
Matt McGeachie
Victoria
Times Colonist – Letter to the Editor – November 18, 2025
Submit your letter to: letters@timescolonist.com
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Appendix 3: Letter by Donna Van Dyke in response to the TC Commentary from Save Our Saanich
Re: “Civic engagement turned into mob behaviour,” comment, Nov. 13.
Amber Wright’s recent commentary about the 1806 San Juan Ave. open house sounded a little “familiar.” Not just in tone, but in tactics. A key missing detail is that the meeting was about an Aryze development.
That matters because the messaging in her letter closely mirrors narratives promoted by Homes for Living and Aryze’s Luke Mari whenever they’re promoting a controversial project, which, frankly, describes most of Aryze’s portfolio.
Her emotional framing (generational guilt, calls for empathy and accusations of exclusion) is a familiar strategy used to deflect legitimate community concerns. But residents weren’t opposing housing.
They were opposing a specific proposal, raising thoughtful questions about scale, infrastructure, tree loss and neighbourhood fit.
Smith paints the event as a hostile free-for-all, but that’s not how it unfolded.
The meeting was civil, with moments of tension, which is understandable when people feel overpowered by a process that frequently sidelines their voices. What’s more troubling is the predictable cry of “victimization” that tends to surface whenever Aryze or Homes for Living face pushback.
It’s a tactic used to discredit community members and shut down dialogue.
Yes, Save Our Saanich handed out cards, but they were responding to a developer-led engagement process that felt more like a campaign than a conversation.
Communities work best when everyone feels heard.
That means listening to all voices, not just the ones aligned with development interests.
Donna Van Dyke
Saanich
Times Colonist – Letter to the Editor – November 18, 2025
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Appendix 4: Homes For Living Director Sam Holland responds regarding the article, and does not provide any evidence to back up his claims.
The following was a discussion on Facebook on Nov 13, 2025:
Sam did not provide any evidence to back up his claims.
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See also:
Manufacturing Consent – Wikipedia
Yellow journalism – Wikipedia
How a groundless narrative cooked up by elected officials and the press of “boisterous” and “raucous” meetings, was used to justify major claw backs in open public input to Saanich Council. – CRD Watch Homepage
“Informal feedback” was used as justification to eliminate off-site Saanich Council Town Hall meetings. I made an FOI request to locate the “informal feedback”. The only feedback in this direction, that showed up in the FOI response, regarding the May 6, 2025 Town Hall meeting, was from Councillor Bondaroff. – CRD Watch Homepage
Index of Articles and other Media Coverage about Homes For Living – CRD Watch Homepage
CRD Watch Homepage 
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