A commentary by a Saanich resident.

Growing up in Gordon Head, every neighbourhood had that one weird kid.

You know the type — the one who insisted on being “different” in all the wrong ways. The kid who refused to bathe, dressed differently than everyone else and seemed to take pride in breaking every unspoken rule of decency.

While they weren’t “hated,” they didn’t have many friends and other kids would keep their distance.

You might have to interact with them at school or pass them on your walk home, but you always did so carefully and reluctantly — never letting their chaos spill over into your life.

In our region, Victoria has become that kid.

The once-beautiful “City of Gardens” is now a walking ­cautionary tale, a city caught up in its own virtue-signalling and failed social experiments that it’s lost sight of what a ­functioning........

© Times Colonist