Rick Stiebel/News Gazette staff
It’s not difficult to imagine students stuck in the Colwood Crawl on their way to Camosun College, dreaming about a campus on the West Shore.
That thought may not be that far fetched, according to Langford Mayor Stew Young. “We’ve been looking at that for at least five years,” Young said. “We have 100,000 people on the West Shore and 3,200 students going to Camosun. It would be a good move, considering all the growth out here.”
It also makes sense to give students pursuing a post-secondary education the opportunity to do that in the community they live in. “It’s a lot cheaper to have students living at home with their parents and not having to go off to school somewhere else, plus it would take a lot of cars off the highway. I bet there’s almost as many people driving to Camosun or UVic as there are government workers driving into town. That’s why we’ve been saying for years we want government jobs here.”
Langford is talking to Royal Roads University as well, and Young believes the University of Victoria should also consider a move to the West Shore, adding that “spending money for educational institutions is money well spent.” Young said there are several locations in Langford that would work well for educational institutions. He cited land near the Leigh Road interchange and the new West Shore Parkway that will connect to Sooke as prime examples.
Young said recent discussions with Geoff Wilmshurst, vice-president of partnerships at Camosun College, have been productive. “Langford’s definitely on their radar,” he noted. “Camosun has a good model and we want to enhance that.”
Wilmshurst said they are well aware that the West Shore in general, and Langford in particular, is one of the fastest growing communities in Canada. “We have been exploring that with Langford,” he said. “Giving 3,200 students the opportunity to learn in the community they live in makes sense from our perspective. We haven’t had the opportunity to discuss that with the NDP government yet. We’ll have to see what their reaction is.”