Tag Archives: Kermit Dahl

Development, Politics

Rural Directors against Municipalities taking over the Electoral Areas Planning Service

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The City of Campbell River is considering taking control of the Strathcona Regional District’s (SRD) Electoral Areas Planning Service away from rural directors.

Currently, the members of that planning service are the four Regional Directors of : Area A (Kyuquot/Nootka-Sayward), Area B (Cortes Island), and Area C (Discovery Islands and Mainland Inlets) and Area D (Oyster Bay – Buttle Lake ).

Campbell River’s five Directors are looking at joining the service, though it would cost the city’s taxpayers close to $500,000 per year for its share of the service’s assessments. They asked the other incorporated municipalities in the SRD—Tahsis, Zeballos, Gold River, and Sayward—to consider joining as well.

On Wednesday, October 1, 2025, the Regional Directors of Areas A, B and C issued a joint press release rejecting the idea. In today’s story they outline why they believe the planning service must remain in the hands of the rural areas.

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Politics

SRD Municipalities wanting control of the Electoral Areas Planning Service

In the past, Rural Directors have not always appreciated Campbell River ‘interference’ in their affairs. An initiative coming out of the Strathcona Regional District’s (SRD) Municipal Services Committee could result in a lot more interference from Campbell River and other municipalities. A planning service typically manages zoning and land use rules, reviews development and building applications, prepares community and regional growth plans, protects environmentally sensitive areas, and coordinates public input on land use decisions. They would like to take control of the Electoral Area Planning Service.

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Forests

BC’s Coastal Forestry Crisis Demands Immediate ActionCommunities Like Campbell River Can’t Wait

Open letter from Kermit Dahl, the Mayor of Campbell River, to Premier David Eby (reprinted as public information)

Dear Premier Eby,
When you reshuffled your cabinet on July 17, you pledged to “protect jobs and the economy” and to “grow a resilient economy.” Those words ring hollow for thousands of coastal forestry workers watching their industry collapse—not from market forces, but from policy paralysis and regulatory misfires.

Since 2019, harvest volumes on the coast have dropped by over 40%. More than 5,400 direct jobs have disappeared since 2022. Mills have closed. Communities have lost critical tax revenue. And the situation is
worsening.

Continue reading BC’s Coastal Forestry Crisis Demands Immediate ActionCommunities Like Campbell River Can’t Wait →
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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Politics

BC Conservatives under fire for letter backing Aaron Gunn

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Provincial and municipal politicians in the North Island-Powell River riding are joining the fray about whether embattled Conservative candidate Aaron Gunn should stay in the running for the federal seat. 

Last week, First Nations located across the riding took Gunn to task for his long collection of social media posts that argue the treatment of Indigenous people in residential schools does not amount to genocide. 

They demanded federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre remove him as a candidate, arguing Gunn has “absolutely no authority” to determine what constitutes genocide when it comes to Indigenous people’s experiences of residential schools. 

Continue reading BC Conservatives under fire for letter backing Aaron Gunn →