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Save Our Saanich Cops Out on Subject of Amalgamation

The political organization, ostensibly dedicated to saving Saanich, has not taken a stance on the issue of amalgamation, which is set to be on the ballot in October of 2026.

If amalgamation takes place between Saanich and Victoria, there will be no Saanich left to save.


By Sasha Izard,
May 3, 2026


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Last month, I provided the Save Our Saanich Neighbourhoods Society with a presentation in regards to opposing amalgamation, which was well received by the SOS membership. I thank them for their enthusiasm on the subject.

Slides of my presentation with the goal of saving Saanich from amalgamation, that I provided to the Save Our Saanich Neighbourhoods Society (April, 2026). – Sasha Izard

The plan by the Society was that I would provide them with a case against amalgamation (I had created the Facebook page Save Saanich from Amalgamation partly in response to SOS not taking a stance on this critical issue), and then they would invite Amalgamation Yes, to provide a presentation making a case for amalgamation in early May.

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Despite Amalgamation Yes, having not presented so far, the Save Our Saanich Elector Organization has finally taken a stance on the subject of Amalgamation on their new election website. Their stance is a copout on the subject.

Under the FAQ on their new website the organization states:

Frequently Asked Questions | Save Our Saanich Elector Organization

“Does SOS oppose the possible amalgamation of Victoria and Saanich?

SOS cannot take a position on amalgamation until Saanich Council provides clear, detailed information on what amalgamation would involve and the exact wording of the question that will appear on the October ballot. Any arguments for or against amalgamation right now rest on assumptions that may be wrong. This is a serious decision and the SOSEO urges Council to release the draft ballot question and any implementation framework being considered for public discussion, so voters have the facts they need before they cast their ballots.”

Frequently Asked Questions | Save Our Saanich Elector Organization

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Let’s break this down. SOS writes about assumption, but the biggest assumption is made in the opening line of their paragraph above:

“SOS cannot take a position on amalgamation”.

This is a false assumption. A classic non sequitur if you will.

What is to prevent SOS from taking a stance on amalgamation?

Is it the District of Saanich? Is it Elections BC? No, none of the above.

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It all reminds me of something that I wrote an article about at the beginning of the year:

Grassroots or Astroturfing? A comparison of the Save Our Saanich EO Code of Conduct, and that of the BC Conservatives. – CRD Watch Homepage

In that article I noted how on Jan 27, 2026 the Save Our Saanich Elector Organization (EO) had a meeting at a room at the Commonwealth Pool. Voting on the proposed Constitution was the first item on the agenda. The proposed Constitution had not been modified, despite various voices having brought up key issues with it.

The most pressing issue was in regard to item 3.8, which had what was in my view, clearly misleading claims about Elections BC requirements:

Section 3.8 stated: “At the Initial Meeting, due to the registration requirements of Elections BC, the following positions shall be deemed to be immediately appointed without a vote, and continue for a term of up to one year, but afterwards to be voted on at an AGM or SGM: President, and Vice-President.”

I contacted Elections BC and asked them referring to the above section 3.8: Is the claim in the following paragraph that the following is a registration requirement of Elections BC accurate?

Elections BC promptly replied:

The Local Elections Campaign Financing Act (LECFA) does not use the terms President or Vice-President. Instead, it requires organizations to designate a responsible principal official and an authorized principal official for registration purposes. Neither Elections BC nor LECFA regulates how these principal officials are selected. Decisions about titles, roles, and selection processes are considered matters of internal administration.

Please reach out with any questions.

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It was clear to me from Election BC’s response that Section 3.8 in the SOS EO Constitution draft was not accurate. It is not an Elections BC Requirement that an Elector Organization President and Vice President shall be deemed to be immediately appointed without a vote, and continue for a term of up to one year.

Despite that, and the EO leadership even being compelled to acknowledge that that section had nothing to do with Elections BC requirements, they put it forward to a vote anyway, and it passed overwhelmingly!

I immediately left the organization, having found a great textbook case of an Asch Conformity experiment, whereby people in a group will conform to wildly inaccurate information, if others in the group are going along with it. I left the organization immediately.

They may have modified the Constitution since then. We may never know, as the group has such a tight gag order in its EO Code of Conduct that appears to have been a knockoff of the Code of Conduct in the Constitution of the BC Conservatives, as mentioned in the article.

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So here we are again, the SOS EO is again making a giant non-sequitur, this time that it depends on what others do, for them to take a stance on amalgamation.

Nonsense.

Personally, I’ve taken a stand against amalgamation between the City of Victoria and Saanich. Why not? What is stopping me? Just as nothing is stopping the Save Our Saanich organization from taking a stance, nothing is stopping me from taking a stance on this issue.

The only thing that is stopping the Save Our Saanich organization from a taking a stance on amalgamation is the SOS leadership itself.

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The back story:

In the fall of 2025, the Save Our Saanich Neighbourhoods Society created a Platform Committee, which was headed by Stu Hackett, who at the time of writing is listed as Executive Director for Strategic Support Services in the BC Ministry of Technology, Innovation and Citizens’ Services, the same Ministry responsible for FOIs.

Hackett is now the President of the Save Our Saanich Neighbourhoods Society. Nancy Di Castri, left that previously defacto position, and has since become the President of the Save Our Saanich Elector Organization.

Back in the fall, the platform committee had its committee members rank their preferred priorities for the 2026 municipal election. Hackett then took their responses and created a chart supposedly based on them.

The SOS platform committee had 11 members, and according to one of them Mehdi Najari, he did not submit a response; yet remarkably, Hackett produced a chart with 12 ranked responses, all anonymized. This is it (amalgamation was the overwhelming lowest priority):

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When a member of the committee, Mehdi Najari, brought up the issue of there being more results on the chart, than there were members of the committee, Hackett wrote to him and the other members of the group, that he was blocking his email, and threatened to leave the committee if Najari remained on it.

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Conclusion: Save Our Saanich, which is formed of 2 organizations, the Save Our Saanich Neighbourhoods Society, and the Save Our Saanich Elector organization, ostensibly purports to be attempting to Save Saanich, at least by its name, but when the existence of Saanich is at stake this election, they refuse to take a stance on the whether or not to leave, at least until they see what the question regarding amalgamation will be on the ballot.

The question on the ballot could be released at the last moment, at which there would be no time to launch an effective well organized campaign against it even if the organization does decide to oppose it. Yet Amalgamation Yes, has been preparing for this moment for probably over a decade and may be well organized, even if they haven’t shown up to Save Our Saanich to make a presentation against amalgamation, so far after being invited to do so.

All of this has the appearance of delaying, but the District of Saanich may not have time for delay. It’s existential future could be decided this October in 2026, when the issue of amalgamation, whatever the wording will be, is set to appear on it. Delay on this issue from any potential opposition to amalgamation, benefits only those who are pushing amalgamation.

Why then is the ‘Save Our Saanich’ organization delaying on this issue?

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See also:

An article about a Provincial government employee that made whole spoofs of Save Our Saanich content: Pullman-gate: Government employee Edward Pullman is behind a series of spoof sites of Save Our Saanich. – CRD Watch Homepage

The organization Save Our Saanich has not called out provincial government employee Pullman for the spoof sites, even during time of the 2026 election.

Grassroots or Astroturfing? A comparison of the Save Our Saanich EO Code of Conduct, and that of the BC Conservatives. – CRD Watch Homepage