Tag Archives: SRD Board

Transportation

SRD Board: Proposed Campbell River to West Vancouver Island Transit Service

Editor’s note added Dec 22, 2025: Director Gerald Whalley recently informed Cortes Currents that the final decision on this project has not been made.

At their February 8th meeting, the SRD Board voted to continue examining the feasibility of a transit service from Campbell River to the West Coast of Vancouver Island. 

It has been a year since staff was first instructed to pursue the matter.

Senior Manager Thomas Yates explained, “We’ve got two alternatives recommended for the board’s consideration. Option A is to look at one or more of the service levels that we’ve identified in the report, and they range from everything from twice a day to once a month in terms of the frequency of service. Option B would be, of course, that we drop this whole matter and not look into it further.”

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Housing, Poverty

SRD applying for $150,000 poverty reduction planning grant

The high cost of housing is one of the most visible symptoms. Close to a third of the households on Cortes Island and a quarter of those on Quadra pay more than they can afford for rent or mortgages. The most visible segment of Campbell River’s house challenged population are the 130 people who do not own or rent a home, but 2021 census data shows another 3,450 residents are ‘spending 30% or more of income on shelter costs.’

According to Stats Canada, the nation’s median hourly wage was 36 cents lower in 2021 than 2020, but costs are rising. The average family of four is expected to pay $1,000 more for groceries this year.  In a recent nationwide Angus Reid poll, 45% of the respondents said they are worse off this year than at the same time last year. 

The Strathcona Regional District (SRD) is applying for a $150,000 Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) grant to develop a plan for reducing poverty throughout the District.

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Uncategorized

Alexandra Morton: Open Letter to Strathcona Regional District Board

Editor’s note: The transcript that Alexandra Morton refers to, in the following open letter, is actually the transcript of my January 27 radio program. While extremely quote heavy, it is highly edited, considerably shorter, and not a word for word transcript of the meeting.

To the Strathcona Regional District Board,

I read the January 25, 2023, transcript of your Members’ Report on the Open Net Pen Transition. Thank you for the care and thought you are putting into this.  The statement that logging, tourism and fish farming are critical to Campbell River’s existence must be a serious concern given all of these are facing challenges.

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Rivers & Oceans

SRD to look at ‘ALL helpful information’ about fish farms

Editor’s note: While there are no fish farms on Cortes Island, there was one on Raza Island directly north of us. The Discovery Island fish farms were in Electoral Area C.  The following article comes very close to being a transcript of my radio broadcast.  

The Strathcona Regional District passed a motion for staff to prepare a report that ‘consolidates the information on open net pen transition provided to the SRD Board prior to October 2022, and updates.’ 

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Politics

Robyn Mawhinney’s First Two Months as Regional Director

Originally published on the Bird’s Eye

By Ramona Boyle

BE: What has it been like for you to work with the Strathcona Regional District? Is it what you expected? 

Robyn: It’s been a lot of listening and learning about issues in various areas of our community. Folks have been asking me a lot of questions. If I haven’t known an answer, it’s been a great opportunity for me to be able to learn and share that answer with the bigger community as well as with the folks who are asking the question. There’s also lots of reading and writing. Is it what I expected? I expected a big learning curve, and there is one. So, yes, it is what I imagined it would be. 

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