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Jamie Harris is a tree faller who created a website called Stop the Islands Trust, which he says is controlled by ‘eco-radicals’

A commentary by a Salt Spring resident who has written for several Gulf Islands publications.

“Like most places, we are experiencing a significant increase in real estate activity, and the pattern is when someone acquires a new property they have expectations of what they want to do with it,” Luckham said in an interview from his Thetis Island home. “And right now we are seeing all sorts of applications for raw land, and cabins and homes that need to be renovated.” The Islands Trust area includes 13 major islands, 450 smaller islands and is home to 26,000 residents, 10,000 non-resident property owners and 28,000 Coast Salish people on the waters between Comox and Victoria. ...

Certain communities remain exempted from the tax, which increases rental availability. Time for change? Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria and the author of All Together Healthy (Douglas & McIntyre, 2018). Find him on Twitter or reach him at . SHARES Due to a housing shortage on Salt Spring Island, some workers have to commute from Vancouver Island. Some say implementing the speculation and vacancy tax on BC’s Gulf Islands would ease the shortage. Blake Brown has seen the housing crisis on Salt Spring Island from both sides. An...