This is a letter I wrote on March 19 (it was published on March 26) to the Times-Colonist in response to an article by Jim Hume, "A hundred years later, Saanich gets no respect" (March 19). Note: the City of Victoria is a relatively small piece of the Capital Regional District, which is comprised of 13 municipalities. Saanich is one of these; it used to be largely agricultural, but has lately attracted newer industries, and is home to the Vancouver Island Advanced Technology Centre (VIATeC).

Dear Editor,

Thank you for the fascinating article by Jim Hume on Saanich's 100-year history of consolidating its identity ("A hundred years later, Saanich gets no respect," March 19).

I think it's interesting that Saanich has been a producer of goods and resources all these years (agriculture, and now high-tech), while Victoria has focused on resource exploitation. Think about it: Victoria's economy was based on seal hunting (we were the biggest sealers around). When the seals died out, Victoria focused on whales (this ceased only when Alaska's 1964 earthquake pushed tidal currents further out to sea, making the whales inaccessible to Victoria's smaller boats).

Victoria exploited lumber and fishing, grabbing the resource and sending it out relatively unprocessed as fast as possible. Currently, Victoria exploits tourism. Let them come; let them spend their money.

Let's also grab as many retirees as we can, and make them spend their money. Just let's not focus on having a productive economy, because remember: There must be another resource worth exploiting right around the corner that fits Victoria's hit-and-run economy.

With that kind of history and still-current mindset, who can blame Saanich and its productive citizens (farmers, biotechnologists, researchers, traders) for not wanting to join Victoria? After all, with our history, Saanich would become just another resource to be exploited.

Perhaps Jim Hume's cheeky prediction is correct and Saanich, once it's ready, will allow us to join them. For Victoria, that would be a paradigm shift from exploitation to production. Bring it on.

Yule Heibel