Tag Archives: David Shipway

Energy, Politics

In the Midst of a Global Energy Transition: Canada’s New Pipeline

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Someone sent me a Facebook post in which North Island-Powell River MP Aaron Gunn points to a Petro Canada sign advertising gas for $2.09.9 a litre. 

Gunn wrote, “Ridiculous. 4th-largest oil reserves on the planet. $2.09 per litre at the pumps. It’s time to build pipelines, refineries and an energy policy that puts Canada, and Canadians, first!” 

My first response, when I calmed down enough to have a polite response, was ‘does he think a fully operational pipeline is going to drop out of the sky?’ 

So far, no proponents have stepped forward to build the proposed pipeline. Premier Danielle Smith of Alberta recently said there are some Middle Eastern and Asian investors who expressed interest in a minority stake. IF a proponent steps forward and clears all the necessary preliminary steps, it is still going to take years before oil flows through the proposed pipeline. 

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Community

Grand Opening of the Cortes Wood Makerspace

On Saturday, December 6, more than three dozen people gathered for the grand opening of the Cortes Wood Makerspace, in Mansons Landing. 

Shopmaster Hannu Huuskonen explained,    “A lot of people need to do stuff in a woodworking shop and not everyone needs to build themselves a shop, especially big enough to do certain things with it properly equipped. It’s a big outlay of money. So it makes total sense to have people be able to come to a common space.

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Communications, Community

Launch of the new Cortes Island Map Series

The Cortes Community Mapping Project recently launched its Cortes Island Map Series in Linnaea’s Lakeview Room. This morning’s program consists of gleanings from the three speakers: Sabina Leader Mense, David Shipway and Eve Flager. 

Sabina Leader Mense: “I want to give you a little bit of background on how we got this project started. In a nutshell, the project is best described as putting community maps into community hands. That’s been our goal. I’m just one of the team members working on this project.

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Forests

Cortes Island’s Community Forest Operations in 2025/26

The Cortes Forestry General Partnership held its public meeting on October 9th, 2025. In today’s interview, Operations Manager Mark Lombard talks about leadership transitions, plans for selective logging, the Forest Stewardship Plan review, and other topics from the meeting. He also shares his personal opinion about how climate change is affecting our forest.

“We try to have a public meeting every year and we cover whatever topics are relevant at that point. There’s always the year in review, so what have we done in the last year since the last public meeting and what are we planning in the coming year,” explained Lombard.

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Arts, Gardening

The 2024 Creative Spaces Garden and Studio Tour On Cortes Island

The Creative Spaces Garden and Studio Tour is Saturday June 22, from 10 am to 4 pm. This is an annual fundraiser for the Cortes Island Museum, as well as a showcase of some of the island’s hidden gems.  

“It’s a great opportunity to feature creative talents of people on the island, and it’s a self guided  tour of studios and gardens that takes you all the way around from Whaletown, down to Smelt Bay, and Cortes Bay. We’ve got painters, textile artists, weavers, spinners,  ceramicists .  We’ve got a number of potters and pottery studios that are participating. And then some beautiful spaces with gardens that range from low bluff to high bluff. You pick up a map, which includes a button, and you just go around the island visiting people with talents you may not have known about, or see spaces that you were curious about but never had an opportunity to actually walk into. Walk through the gates and see what people are growing there,” explained Melanie Boyle, Managing Director of the Cortes Island Museum.

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