Aryln Greig Calls for a Water-First Approach and Open Conversations About Osoyoos’s Future

Prospective council candidate says clean drinking water, responsible spending and sustained government advocacy must guide the next council

Osoyoos News recently sat down with prospective council candidate Aryln Greig over coffee to discuss what she believes should be the central focus of the next council.

For Greig, the answer begins with something every resident depends upon: water. “I think that should be the only problem addressed in this town until it is solved,” Greig said. “It is a major issue because water is life.”

Her position is not that every other community need should be ignored indefinitely. Osoyoos will always have roads to maintain, facilities to operate and plans to prepare. Greig believes, however, that dependable drinking water must be treated as the Town’s first responsibility when council sets its priorities and decides where available dollars should go.

Greig said Osoyoos will need meaningful financial support from the provincial and federal governments to move it forward without placing an unreasonable burden on local taxpayers. She believes obtaining that support will require persistence. “We need to bring in more grant funding from other levels of government, and I think it has to be a sustained push,” she said. “It cannot be a matter of calling every three months to see if they have any money to spare.” That means maintaining relationships with senior governments, keeping the project ready for appropriate funding opportunities and continuing to make the Town’s case whenever municipal leaders meet with provincial or federal representatives. Greig sees that advocacy as one of the most important responsibilities facing the next council.

The conversation also touched on the Town’s Transportation Master Plan and the broader discussion Osoyoos needs to have about priorities. The TMP is intended to guide long-term decisions involving roads, sidewalks, cycling, transit, accessibility, traffic and movement through the downtown core. Public consultation began in early 2026, followed by the release of a draft plan for further feedback in July. The Town’s 2025 budget included $240,000 for a combined Transportation Master Plan, Asset Management Plan and road-condition assessment. The corresponding combined figure in the Town’s 2026–2030 financial plan is approximately $248,000. Those amounts cover three related pieces of work and should not be described as the cost of the Transportation Master Plan alone. A budgeted amount also does not necessarily represent the final amount spent.

Greig is not dismissing the value of transportation planning. Her point is that residents and council need to have an open conversation about timing, affordability and which projects must come first. “Dollars must go toward fixing the water before any other projects are discussed,” she said. For Greig, that is a statement about priorities—not an attack on the people involved in other projects. Road conditions, sidewalks, accessibility and traffic safety matter. Her position is simply that the Town should have a clear and financially realistic path to dependable drinking water before committing further municipal dollars to projects that can reasonably wait.

A completed Transportation Master Plan could eventually recommend additional capital projects. The plan itself would not automatically authorize those projects or their costs. Individual recommendations would still need to be considered by future councils. Greig believes those conversations should happen openly, before commitments are made.

"Residents should be able to see what has already been budgeted, what remains to be spent and what future projects may cost. They should also understand how each proposed expenditure fits alongside the much larger financial challenge of improving the Town’s water system."

Her approach is not to reject every new idea. It is to ask practical questions: Can the project wait? Is outside funding available? Will proceeding now affect the Town’s ability to pay its share of water improvements? Have taxpayers been given enough information to understand the choice?

Greig believes asking those questions is a basic part of responsible local government.Greig is adding another question to that discussion: while the Town works through several plans and priorities, should water receive a greater share of council’s immediate attention and available resources?

Her answer is yes.

That is the kind of policy discussion Greig believes residents should hear during an election—clear differences in priorities presented openly, without turning every disagreement into a personal dispute.

Greig said fiscal responsibility will be especially important because Osoyoos has significant needs and a limited number of taxpayers available to pay for them. “One of my goals is to have the new council work in a fiscally responsible way,” she said. “We have to watch every dollar we spend, especially in this day and age.” A water-treatment project will not come at an easy cost. Its ultimate price will depend upon the solution selected, the work required, the grants received and the portion left for local water users and taxpayers.

Greig believes that reality makes careful spending more important—not because the Town should stop functioning, but because every major commitment must be weighed against what residents can afford.

She also wants taxpayers brought into those discussions early enough for their input to matter. Open government, in Greig’s view, means explaining what is being considered, what it will cost, what alternatives exist and why council believes one project should proceed ahead of another.

Greig has lived in Osoyoos since 2011. She said longtime residents have told her the community’s water concerns go back even further. “I do not know exactly how long it has been going on, but some of the old-timers tell me it has been longer than that,” she said.

The water situation is complex. It involves aging infrastructure, different water systems, treatment requirements and the challenge of financing improvements in a relatively small community.

Greig does not pretend there is an inexpensive or immediate answer. Her message is that the difficulty of the problem makes it more important to remain focused, pursue every realistic source of funding and speak honestly with residents about what will be required.

Osoyoos will need to continue planning for transportation, recreation, growth and other community needs. Greig wants the next council to consider those plans through a water-first lens and make sure its most fundamental responsibility is never lost among competing projects.

For Greig, the goal is not to criticize what has already been done. It is to begin the conversations that will help Osoyoos decide what must come next.