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  1. “This year’s local government elections marks the return of full democracy in Canterbury – the public’s first chance since 2007 to vote for all their councillors.”

    This from a very good article in Newsroom by David Williams, Democracy Returns.

    Excerpt:
    “The cairn was erected on a bitterly cold June day in 2010, a few months after the John Key-led Government sacked Environment Canterbury councillors, replacing them with appointed commissioners. Ostensibly the regional councillors were dismissed for mismanagement, but it was widely seen as a water grab – a chance for the Government to take control and promote irrigation schemes.

    “A plaque on the cairn says it “marks the river of unease that presently flows through our community, a river whose turbulent waters threaten to divide us”. ”

    Former ECan chairman Sir Kerry Burke is quoted as saying that the former Government sacked the elected council “because it was very worried about the pro-water environmental movement that was gathering steam”.

    Water problems in Canterbury, water quality factors, water pollution, dairying, farm management and mismanagement, and behind the scenes power manoeuvers … all are discussed at the link.