Tag Archives: Shortage of doctors & nurses

Health

Proposed Discovery Island Community Health Centre.

 The Quadra, Cortes, and Surge Narrows communities, as well as the Klahoose and We Wai Kai First Nations, have sent the BC Ministry of Health an application for funding to set up a Discovery Island Community Health Centre. 

“It offers stability for practitioners. It offers leadership stability through a joint board and a hired executive director. It offers some economies of scale in terms of practitioners being shared and supplies being shared. It offers a shared medical record between the communities. Potentially, one of the things is using video conferencing as opposed to an in-person visit, if that’s appropriate. It’s community driven, it doesn’t involve Victoria telling remote communities what works for them, because that generally doesn’t work for them,” explained Bernice McGowan, President of the Cortes Community Health Association (CCHA) and a member of the planning committee for the proposed Health Centre. 

Continue reading Proposed Discovery Island Community Health Centre. →
Politics

Area C Director’s Report: municipalities joining rural land use planning?!

From the desk of Regional Director Robyn Mawhinney

Hello, 
We have much to be grateful for here in this part of the world, it’s nice to pause, reflect, and give thanks. I’m thankful for a bounty of garden tomatoes and squash and for the diversity of community building efforts underway throughout the islands.

Two weeks ago I did something unusual, I published two Director’s Reports rather than one. The first was about UBCM and local issue advocacy — it was printed in the Discovery Islander. The other was a time sensitive ‘Special Edition’ report which I shared with email subscribers and via Facebook, an update on municipal interest in electoral area land use planning. This report is a recap and a few further thoughts on that topic as rural SRD constituents wait to see what Campbell River and other SRD municipal councils decide.

Continue reading Area C Director’s Report: municipalities joining rural land use planning?! →
Politics

Poilievere blasts Liberals lost decade of leadership in raucous speech before 3,000 supporters in Penticton

By Keith Lacey, Penticton Herald, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre used the term “Lost Liberal Decade” almost a dozen times, promising better days ahead when his Conservative Party becomes government in the upcoming federal election.

He spoke during a raucous rally of supporters in Penticton late Saturday afternoon.

Poilievre, who held a press conference in Osoyoos earlier Saturday morning, spent much of his one-hour speech highlighting the failures of the Liberal Party and new leader Mark Carney, while promising economic prosperity and renewal for Canadians from coast to coast if elected in the upcoming federal election on April 29.

Continue reading Poilievere blasts Liberals lost decade of leadership in raucous speech before 3,000 supporters in Penticton →
Health, Politics

Anna Kindy: Waiting for the legislature, the Health Crisis & Being the MLA for North Island.

Anna Kindy was sitting in her Campbell River office. Her assistant stood almost out of the frame long enough to wave, before handing Kindy a headset and disappearing. The thing I find refreshing about Kindy is she doesn’t sound like a politician, which is understandable because she only recently became one. She and her husband are both doctors. Anna Kindy was elected as the MLA for North Island on October 19, 2024 and is the Health Critic for the Conservative party Shadow Cabinet, but has yet to sit in the legislature. 

This fact emerged when I asked her about the trips between her home in Merville and the provincial legislature.

Continue reading Anna Kindy: Waiting for the legislature, the Health Crisis & Being the MLA for North Island. →
Politics

Introducing Anna Kindy, MLA For North Island 

It has been three weeks since Anna Kindy was sworn in as the Conservative Party MLA for North Island riding.

We actually had a long phone conversation shortly after her election, but this has been a very busy time for Ms Kindy and so we agreed to do the interview on December 3, yesterday. 

As I didn’t get an opportunity to interview her during the election, it’s probably best to start at the beginning. 

“As an MLA,  I represent everyone in this constituency. It doesn’t matter if you voted for me or not, I represent you and I’ll do it to the best of my capacity.  I have to look at what the issues are in my riding and how to address them,” she said.  

Continue reading Introducing Anna Kindy, MLA For North Island  →