Tag Archives: Jessica Wegg

Environment, Politics

Staging an International Celebrity Event in Courtenay

Annie Smith and Katy Lepine were members of the organizing committee for the David Suzuki Event on October 17, 2025 at the Florence Filberg Centre in Courtenay, BC.  David Suzuki’s presentation was titled: Humanity at a Crossroads: Transformation or Extinction.  It was a huge undertaking for the small group of volunteers with the North Island – Powell River Greens.  Annie and Katy share their reflections and photos from the event. 

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Politics

Liberal Minority; the Race in North Island Powell River

The Liberal Party’s anticipated landslide failed to materialize on election night. Mark Carney has been elected Prime Minister of Canada, but up until this afternoon it was not clear that he will form a majority or minority government.

Fair Vote Canada described the results of this election as a ‘tsunami of strategic voting.’ 

On Vancouver Island

Green Party leader Elizabeth May was re-elected in Saanich–Gulf Islands and is now her party’s only remaining Member of Parliament.

Two days ago, the NDP held six ridings on Vancouver Island; after election night, only Courtenay–Alberni remains in NDP hands. 

The expected Conservative surge on the islands was weaker than what the projections had suggested. They only captured three ridings from the NDP: North Island–Powell River, Nanaimo–Ladysmith, and Cowichan–Malahat–Langford.

The Liberals won the NDP’s old southern Vancouver Island seats in Esquimalt–Saanich–Sooke and Victoria.

North Island-Powell River

In North Island–Powell River, Conservative Aaron Gunn won with 31,356 votes (38.8%).

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Politics

Aaron Gunn MIA after Vancouver Island riding debate suddenly cancelled

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

It turns out the biggest question at the all-candidates debate in Campbell River Tuesday night was if it would go ahead at all. 

It didn’t.

The event, organized by the board of the Campbell River & District Chamber of Commerce and the sponsored by the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board, was officially cancelled on Facebook as people were already filing into the Tidemark Theatre when the venue’s doors opened at 4 p.m.

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Politics

Campbell River Chamber board issues apology for debate debacle

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Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Campbell River Chamber board suggests some rogue members are responsible for the perplexing last-minute cancellation of an all-candidates debate on Tuesday evening.

After an emergency meeting Wednesday, the board issued a statement saying recent actions by the specific members “were not decisions of the remaining board directors or officially known to the board.” 

The board said a decision to postpone an original debate set for early April, as well as to ultimately cancel the April 22 event at the Tidemark Theatre, was taken by isolated members. 

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Politics

How Aaron Gunn Riles Foes in a Coastal Riding

By Andrea Bennett, Originally published on the Tyee

It’s a packed house at the federal all-candidates meeting in Powell River, with one very notable absence: Conservative candidate Aaron Gunn.

Outside the Evergreen Theatre, campaign volunteers staff a table stacked with placards bearing Gunn’s name and face, perhaps with the idea his supporters may hold them up in the crowd, conjuring the idea of his presence.

Inside, four candidates — the NDP’s Tanille Johnston, the Green Party’s Jessica Wegg, the Liberals’ Jennifer Lash and Independent Glen Staples — answer questions about crime, the toxic drug crisis, reforming the RCMP, Israel and Palestine, and what they’d do to ensure Canada implements the recommendations emerging from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

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