Around 30 people held an impromptu protest in front of the Cortes Airstrip on Wednesday. They received word that a paving crew was coming over on the ferry, to pave the runway. This turned out to be premature, but there will be a town hall meeting at Mansons Hall, from 7 to 9 PM Monday, to discuss the situation.
Continue reading Cortes Airstrip: the protest and Monday’s town hall meetingEditor’s opinion: Prior to NDP candidate Rachel Blaney’s election in 2015, our area (North Island-Powell River) was a Conservative stronghold for 7 years. Blaney won 40.2% of the popular vote, as opposed to the Conservatives 26.2%. Since then, the Conservatives have slowly been increasing their numbers in North Island-Powell River. They lost by 5.3% in 2019 and only 3.5% in 2021. Now that Blaney has decided not to run in the next election, the Conservatives have a chance to retake the riding. As of this morning, 338Canada’s projections show the Conservative Party of Canada taking as many as 5 of Vancouver Island’s 7 seats and the most likely riding to switch is North Island-Powell River.
(This is by no means certain and any swing to the right would most likely have less momentum in the Cortes, Quadra and the other Discovery Islands – which tend to lean more to the left than Campbell River.)
Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Long before the next election, Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre is setting his sights on winning seats on Vancouver Island, despite the NDP’s domination over the past decade.
The NDP holds six of the region’s seven ridings, with the exception of Green Party Leader Elizabeth May’s Saanich-Gulf Island riding.
Continue reading Pierre Poilievre aims to turn B.C. coast blue at NDP’s expense
The Cortes Housing Society’s Virtual Forum kicks off this Saturday with a program on home sharing. This is a monthly event, co-sponsored by Folk-U. At 10 AM this Saturday host Sadhu Johnston will be joined by Noelle Marcus, from the US homeshare program Nesterly, and Janey Rowland, from the SGI (Southern Gulf Island) Housing Now Project.
“We all know that there are a lot of homes that are underutilized or empty, and there are also a lot of homes that are just under-occupied. Maybe the kids have moved away, or for whatever reason there is an extra bedroom. We know there are a good number of people on Cortes who are single and would be happy with a bedroom in a house,” explained Sadhu Johnston, executive director of the Cortes Housing Society.
Continue reading Cortes Island’s Virtual Homeshare ForumThe SRD planning meeting in Mansons Hall did not go as planned. I don’t think the group was opposed to further densification, as much as people just wanted to talk. I think we need to hear insight from some of our respected community thought leaders before placing stickies on a map to indicate where we think development should happen.
Continue reading Op-ed: Reflections on the Cortes Bylaw update meetingAround 60 people turned out for the Strathcona Regional District’s (SRD) zoning bylaw meeting in Mansons Hall at 1 PM on Wednesday, March 6.
The meeting went very differently from how the SRD planned it. There was to have been a short presentation, after which participants were to have gathered around two maps and put sticky dots on the properties where the bylaws should be changed to allow for greater densification. Instead, this was a community conversation.
Continue reading Community Meeting for Cortes Zoning Bylaw Update
