Tag Archives: Gabriola Island

Politics

Area C Director’s Report: the latest on Strathcona Gardens + Quadra Island

From the desk of Regional Director Robyn Mawhinney

Hello,
At the beginning of the week I submitted a Director’s Report to the Discovery Islander which focused on results of the Quadra Island survey regarding Strathcona Gardens. Since then, there has been an SRD Board meeting where actions were taken to further the potential inclusion of Quadra Island properties in the Strathcona Gardens Service. This report shares news on that, as well as info from the survey which 626 Islanders participated in.

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Politics

Quadra is one step closer to paying for Strathcona Gardens

The Strathcona Regional District (SRD) voted 7-6* that Quadra Island taxpayers should also pay for the Strathcona Gardens Recreation facility. The proposed amount has been reduced to 80% of their property’s assessed value, and amounts to about $446 for the average property owner. This decision is to be ratified by a referendum of all Campbell River, Area D and Quadra residents at the next election.

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Politics

Minister of Forests requests Nanaimo motion for a staff report be rescinded

By Hope Lompe,   Gabriola Sounder, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Ahead of the Nanaimo City council meeting on Dec. 15, B.C. Minister of Forests, Ravi Parmar, sent a letter to council requesting a motion for a staff report be rescinded. 

The window for the motion to be rescinded would have been at the next council meeting on Dec. 1, 10 days before the minister’s dated letter to council. 

“Is it typical? No, but it’s also not typical to see the actions of a councilor and council that have significant implications on British Columbia’s forest sector and on workers and their livelihoods,” said Parmar during a phone call with the Sounder. 

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Housing

RIEP Presentation: Affordable Housing Across The Islands

One of the 2025 RIEP Virtual Forum presentations was a panel discussion of how the affordable housing societies were faring on six rural islands. There were a lot of common themes running throughout their stories: difficulties obtaining funding through BC Housing, CMHC and other organizations whose requirements are drawn up for urban rather than rural areas; the cost of building on remote islands; relationships with regional districts and Islands Trust; and water issues. The moderator was Mike Hoebel from the  Galiano Affordable Living Initiative Society (GALI).

Mike Hoebel: “The lack of affordable housing is truly a crisis in our communities and housing policy was a major item for discussion back at the RIEP 2023 In-Person Forum Gabriola. Today we’re going to hear from a number of people about housing related initiatives underway in their communities.”

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Community, Development

This Week: 2025 Rural Islands Economic Partnership Virtual Forum

The 2025 Rural Islands Economic Partnership (RIEP) Virtual Forum is coming up on Thursday, March 6 and Friday, March 7. Two of the organizers, Francine Carlin and Kate Maddigan are my guests today.

“ It’s going to be a jam packed two half days, 9:15 AM to 12:30 PM.  Our virtual events are really unique because we all live on islands or remote coastal communities and don’t have the opportunity to get together as a collaborative regional grouping. So it’s important to have these virtual events that bring together people from all across the coast and the islands, up from North Island as far as Alert Bay, to Sooke and beyond. So we have a pretty broad reach and this year it’s really important, particularly with the events in the world around economic  issues that relate to  our local  economic and social wellbeing,” explained Francine Carlin, Chair of the Rural Islands Economic Partnership. 

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