Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps is defending a council decision to have parks staff grow vegetable seedlings for those in need during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Helps said Monday that people have raised concerns that the program will compete directly with local nurseries and plant stores, but she says that鈥檚 not the case.
鈥淭he plant starts that the city distributes through the community centre network and the Urban Food Table will go to people who don鈥檛 have money right now in their pockets to go to a local nursery and to buy vegetable starts,鈥� she said.
鈥淲e want to support our local plant stores, our local nurseries. They are still in business and growing food is really important at this time. So there is no competition.鈥�
City council voted last week to expand Victoria鈥檚 Growing in the City program and temporarily reassign some parks staff to grow food plants from seed in the municipal nursery and greenhouses.
Fewer hanging flower baskets will be produced as a result, but the city expects to generate 50,000 to 75,000 plant starts over the next four to six months.
Coun. Geoff Young voted against the motion, brought forward by councillors Ben Isitt and Jeremy Loveday.
Young argued that it was not the time for the city to be embarking on a significant new program that will have minimal impact on the city鈥檚 food supply.
鈥淚n the long term, I guess the question is, are we going to repurpose our city staff to be farmers,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd I think the answer is no, for a whole lot of reasons. Our capital equipment, our land availability, our staffing, is all focused on our current ornamental plant objectives and not on producing food.鈥�
Helps, however, said that 鈥渆xtraordinary times call for extraordinary measures鈥� and noted that the city is looking at all the ways it can help residents during the pandemic.
She added that program is in keeping with the city鈥檚 history of using its resources to help those in need during difficult periods.
鈥淚n the Great Depression, city park staff grew thousands of pounds of potatoes in Beacon Hill Park and donated them to the orphanage and the Old Men鈥檚 Home and the Old Women鈥檚 Home 鈥� that鈥檚 what they were called in those days,鈥� she said Monday.
鈥淎nd then, during the Second World War, city staff through council direction, also participated in the Victory gardening program. So this isn鈥檛 new. This isn鈥檛 an idea that we came up with on our own.鈥�
Helps said the city realizes that grocery stores are well stocked at present.
鈥淏ut we also don鈥檛 know how long this pandemic is going to go on,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd so by asking our parks staff to grow plant starts this year for people who aren鈥檛 able to purchase them otherwise, it鈥檚 one small thing that we can do with our resources to help provide relief to those who need it.鈥�
