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CRD Watch awarded the Grumpy Taxpayers Media Award at their Nov 22, 2025 Annual General Meeting


By Sasha Izard
Nov 22, 2025


It was with significant thanks, that I was able to accept today, the Grumpy Taxpayers Media Award, on behalf of all of those who have written and been involved with CRDWatch.ca and Capital Region Watch on Community Television.

The following is the presentation that I made at the Grumpy Taxpayers AGM held at the Hotel Grand Pacific, in Victoria’s Inner Harbour:

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Thank you very much.  I am very honoured to receive this award from the Grumpy Taxpayers, on behalf of everyone whose hard effort has been put into CRDWatch.ca, and Capital Region Watch, which airs on Rogers Television.

The idea behind CRD Watch, is very simple: Citizen Journalism

In a true democracy, according the word’s ancient meaning, the citizens are in the driver’s seat. If the citizens are in the driver’s seat, then the people’s voice, must be first and foremost.

The current media operates in an 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 do not 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 use of titles, which are often even the reverse of the content of the letters themselves.  The papers also often change the content of 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.  I’m sure that most people here are familiar with the story of Randolph Hearst.

CRD Watch does the opposite.  We are democratic.  Anyone can write for CRD Watch, and the writer chooses the title.   No edits will be made without the full permission of the writers themselves.

Similarly, Capital Region Watch on Community Television puts the individual members of the public in the driver’s seat when they are interviewed for substantial time, so that they are not limited and their communications are not truncated, nor interrupted, as is typical of city halls, or on the radio, among examples.

Unlike the typical media, CRD Watch and Capital Region Watch, are commercial free, and we do not accept government grants.  As such, unlike most media that won’t bite the hand that feeds, we can freely criticize power and the misuse of it, and we do.

In the last week, CRD Watch articles included critical exposés regarding grossly questionable spending that makes Trudeau’s Caribbean helicopter flight look mild:

“Plane Flights and Helijets, where taxpayer dollars go from the City of Victoria, for Development Lobby Events” 

Also, “An Expensive Party: Victoria Employee flew to Nashville and back, to hang out with developers at their “Social Event”. Cost to the taxpayer: almost $2000”

Excellent journalism by Mary Fowles, has over the last year, exposed glaring inconsistencies in the council’s narrative around Centennial Square, and has put major pressure on Victoria City Council over the costly to the taxpayer, splash pad redevelopment fiasco.

Hard hitting journalism by Arthur McInnes, has exposed provincial party overreach operating behind the scenes on city councillors, that has only been further confirmed over the last month with proposed Bill M216, which CRD Watch has covered with 8 articles, yet this proposed bill has not been covered by our local media, and barely touched on by major media, despite major implications for overriding municipal powers by outside interests.

Compare such coverage, to the Times Colonist – with its recent headline: “CRD board backs budget, with tax increase shaved to 6.3%”.  Look how the paper frames a tax increase, far more than double the rate of inflation based on CPI.  It’s not a massive tax increase, it’s a ‘shave’ according to them.  This dance at the local or regional government level, happens every year; its compounded and cumulative.  The residents cannot afford it, and this is a critical aspect of unaffordability, that politicians try to brush under the carpet.

To conclude, I could add many other examples of what I consider to be yellow journalism from our local media, but for now I thank you sincerely on behalf of CRD Watch, for awarding us with the Grumpy Taxpayers Media Award; after much hard work, and needed pressure on the overly comfortable establishment.  We are all here to make that felt, understanding that it is critical for democracy.

Thank you.


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See also:

Index of Articles regarding Jet Flights for City of Victoria Staff to development lobby events, that were charged to the City. – CRD Watch Homepage

Index of articles regarding questionable media coverage of local government and public participation. – CRD Watch Homepage