Podcast appearances and mentions of Campbell River

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - I volunteered for the NDP Party during the 1968 election. Aside from that, the only campaign headquarters I've stepped inside was Elizabeth May's Salt Spring Island office in 2019. So when in the midst of doing errands in Campbell River, I found myself with more than an hour to spare, it seemed like a fun idea to visit a campaign headquarters. Somebody told me the ‘red guys' are behind Save On Foods, which is how I ended up at Jennifer Lash's headquarters. After returning home, I learned that yet another poll has been conducted in our riding. The first two were not connected to any political party, but the LIberals comissioned #3. Like poll #2 which was not their's, it shows the Liberals having taken over the second place slot. After contacting 318 voters in North Island Powell River between April 20 and 21, Spadina Strategies reported that 37% intended to vote for the Conservatives, 30% for the Liberals, 25% for the NDP, 5% Green and 2% were undecided. The projection website Poliwave is also reporting a shift in voter intention. On April 18, they stated the #2 party in our riding was the NDP. Their latest projection, published on Wednesday April 23, showed the Conservatives at 45%, the Liberals trailing at 29%, the NDP at 20% and the Green's at 5%. This is not what I intended to report, when I dropped in at the Liberal Party's Campbell River office on Friday. Jennifer Lash was away, knocking on doors, but there were five people gathered in the entrance when I arrived. A young woman immediately detached herself from their conversation. She was one of the four staffers from Ottawa who are working on the Liberal campaign. Sarah Manney gave me permission  to walk around the office taking pictures and interviewing people. I started with her.  Sarah Manney: “Well, I'm Sarah, I'm the campaign manager. I was working in Ottawa, but grew up in Comox. My family's in Nanaimo. When I found out that Jen was running, I knew her in Ottawa and I said, ‘this is the candidate I've always dreamed of for my hometown.' What better person could I ask for to represent the people I grew up with.' So it was just a dream to be able to come work for her and try to make that a reality here in North Island Powell River.” “My whole family's been knocking on doors. We have Jen's family. We have at least five times the number of volunteers that we've ever had in this riding. It's amazing just to see the energy. The other day someone remarked, ‘I've never seen so many Liberals in one place.' It was just this magical feeling like we've all waited for this moment to have someone like Jen to rally around.” The next person I interviewed looked a lot like Jennifer Lash, for good reason. “My name is Wendy Lash. I am Jennifer's sister.”  Cortes Currents: How did you end up working for her in a campaign office?  Wendy had not been expecting that question, but after a few hesitant seconds she suddenly sounded like an old pro. “Well, how can you not support somebody when they're living their purpose? Jen has had a fabulous career of doing good for many people and many things in Canada, but right now -  this is an important time for us! She's bravely taken this on and she's doing a fabulous job. When we heard that she was going to be doing this,  as a family, we knew we needed to support her. So we booked our tickets and we've come from Ontario. We are thrilled to be here and in action.” Cortes Currents: Whereabouts in Ontario are you from?  Wendy Lash: “My husband and I are from Barrie.  Our sister Catherine is coming from Toronto. Jen's kids  are coming back from Ontario and they're also here with us.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - NDP candidate Tanille Johnson will coming to Gorge Hall on Cortes Island. This is the last in a series of Meet and Greets organized by the Cortes Island Climate Action Network that has also included meetings with Green Party candidate Jessica Wegg and Liberal candidate Jennifer Lash. Conservative candiate Aaron Gunn was also invited, but has not taken advantage of this. As I am going to be off island when Tanille is here, we had an interview ahead of time. Cortes Currents: What's the big question on voters' minds during this election? Tanille Johnson:  “Oh man, there's a lot of big questions right now!Honestly, what I spend most of my day talking about is people are terrified at the possibiloity of having Conservative representation in the federal government, and like ‘what's the strategic vote for North Island Power River?'” “I really end up being in a lot of these conversations, breaking down strategic voting, what it means and apologizing for it. We're in this situation because our Liberal government did not follow through with its promise of proportional representation, which would've allowed people to vote for the person that they felt was going to do the best job for them. We are now essentially getting shoved into a two party system that nobody wants. We don't want to mimic our United States relations to the south, but here we are. That's a big discussion right now across the board. Every riding is talking about it.” “It doesn't discount the real threat of all the ongoing tariffs from Trump. It doesn't discount the threat of annexation that Trump is bringing. It doesn't diminish our healthcare crisis, our housing crisis, or our opioid crisis, but right now it feels like people are most fearful of a Conservative government.” Cortes Currents: Two polls have just come out,—one by Research co suggests you're best placed to stop a Conservative win, the other by Mainstreet Research says it's the Liberals. What do you make of this? Tanille Johnson: “I t honestly doesn't make sense because there is such a stark contrast, there shouldn't be a stark contrast at all. I think it's fairly well known that Mainstreet is operated by Conservative pollsters.” Cortes Currents:   I wasn't aware of that, so I did a quick fact check. There's a list of national polls on the 338Canada website. The vast majority of the 94 polls taken between April 1st and April 21nd, reported that the Liberals were leading in this race, but there are 6 polls that stated the Conservatives were either leading or tied with the Liberals. 5 of those 6 ‘outlying' polls were taken by Mainstream Research. Tanille Johnson: “I think it was 571 people out of like a hundred thousand voters. Like, if you had a hundred thousand people and you only asked 500 of them a question, are you really going to solidly depend on that answer for whatever your decision making is moving forward? I would hope not, because that is a tiny sample size.” Cortes Currents: Tell me some highlights of the campaign for you. Tanille Johnson: “Here's a super funny one. We were door knocking in Campbell River just the other week. I knocked on a door and this gal opened and she was so excited to see me. She kissed both of her hands and then put her hands on either sides of my face. She's like, 'keep doing what you're doing.' It was just so cute and awesome.” “It's been a highlight watching people get creative with their support. There's been some really cool like self-made bumper stickers that say, 'Go Tanille' or 'Vote NDP, Vote Tanille.'" “It was a huge honor to have Megan Hildebrandt donate a vote Tanille Design, to be able to screen print 'Vote Tanille' t-shirts by hand in Powell River. That was super, super cool and amazing.” “It's been really just an honor to travel the whole riding and get to meet people from all over the place and have the time to sit and listen to their concerns.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - With only five days of campaigning left until the election, Liberal candidate Jennifer Lash says the energy on the ground in North Island–Powell River is palpable.  “We've been door knocking, doing ‘meet and greets' and town halls and phone banking. I am  hearing just an amazing amount of support. So I'm loving it,” she said.  “This poll to me reflects  what people are telling us. So I am optimistic that the undecided will come over and join us and that we can send a Liberal to Ottawa.”  She was referring to the poll that Mainstreet Research released on Monday, April 21, which is one of the reasons I wanted to speak with her. You can access it on the Mainstreet website, but need to pay. I also wanted to ask about last night's all candidates meeting in Campbell River, which was cancelled at the last minute. Cortes Currents: So tell me about this poll. Jennifer Lash: “ We did not commission this poll, that's why it's behind a paywall. If we commissioned it, we would own it and we could share it. What it shows is that while the Conservatives are still in the lead, the Liberals are second and within the Conservative's margin of error, while the NDP are in third, quite considerably.” Cortes Currents: Jennifer sent that data, which shows the Conservatives at 35%, the Liberals at 27% and the NDP at 18%. As this is the property of Mainstreet Research, I cannot post the chart but the Liberal campaign staff have drawn up a chart of their own.  Jennifer Lash:  “The margin of error is plus or minus 4.1%, with a 95% confidence level.”  Given that they are only 8% apart, this poll indicates that it is possible, though unlikely, that Liberals are actually tied with the Conservatives In another poll, released on Sunday and commissioned by the David Suzuki Foundation, it was the NDP who came in second and the Liberals trailing considerably behind.   Jennifer Lash:  “What this tells me is that there's going to be a lot of different polls and projections that say different things. I know there's a lot of angst out there amongst people who particularly are worried about the Conservatives winning and really looking for some direction on how they should cast their vote so that they can unite as much as possible to keep the Conservatives out. But right now there's no data that says exactly what you should do, and I don't think there ever will.”   “Some people are going to choose to believe some polls and not others, and that's totally fine. People can do that, but I think what it comes right down to is there is no definitive poll that's going to tell people exactly what to do.  People need to vote for either the Prime Minister, the party, or the MP that they want.”  “What we're hearing is overwhelmingly, people want to have Mark Carney as the Prime Minister,  which means you have to vote Liberal.  I know  that people say that Carney's just going to win no matter what, but that's not necessarily true.” “If we really want Mark Carney as Prime Minister, people need to vote for the Liberal party. If people want a member of Parliament who is part of Mark Carney's government and can help deliver programs, then people need to vote for the Liberal party and that means voting for me.” Cortes Currents: I also wanted to ask about the all candidates meeting that was cancelled last night. 

The federal election is less than two weeks away, but many voters on the island are struggling to decide how to vote. For some it's down to Liberal versus Conservative, for others NDP versus Liberal, for some it's still a total toss up. We'll hear from folks in Esquimalt, Campbell River, Ucluelet, and more about what issues have them stuck. 

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - There are some Cortes Island elements to the story of a boat stolen from Campbell River on Tuesday, April 8, 2025. Someone living in the Potlatch Road area of southern Cortes Island observed ‘big military type planes' and some helicopters flying around the ocean that morning and thought it might be a Sea-Air Rescue excerise. He did not think about it again until reading about the incident on CHEK News. At 8 AM the Powell River RCMP received a request from the Quadra detachment to help intercept the stolen boat. GPS tracked it to the vincinty of Mitlenatch Island. An RCMP vessel from Powell River responded and was en route to Mitlenatch when it was notified that the Quadra detachment had already located the stolen vessel. The stolen boat was escourting it to the Mansons Landing dock, on Cortes Island, where it was secured and two ‘suspects' were arrested for Possession of Property Obtained by Crime over $5,000. They were transported back to Campbell River and turned over to the Campbell River RCMP. Mansons Landing dock is maintained by Harbour Authority Cortes Island (HACI), but as it was a straighforward matter police did not think it necessary to inform them. Consequently HACI did not learn of the incident for another five days. The Quadra Island detachment used to issue weekly reports of their activities on Quadra, Cortes and other Discovery Islands, but have discontinued that service. The RCMP press release for this incident comes from the Powell River detachment.

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - The Blue Hat Memorial Project opens at 10 AM this morning, Tuesday, April 14, 2025. Campbell River artist and city councillor Ron Kerr has installed 50,000 flags at Tyee Spit (ʔUxstalis), representing the number of people who have lost their lives through Canada's ongoing opioid crisis.   “What I really want to do is to stimulate conversation about the gaps in men and boy's healthcare. These deaths are generally fentanyl drug deaths. If you look at the other results of addiction, alcohol addiction, and other kinds of addiction, the numbers are far higher. I don't think the men's health system is doing an adequate job of addressing that,” he explained.” “ We're trying to do a ‘one size fits all' and I understand that from a financial economic point of view, but I think we need a lot more recovery facilities, better access, and second stage housing. We need ‘dry' housing where they can get their lives together without the daily influence of addictive substances. Unfortunately, supportive housing right now is completely full of people still in their addiction. So if not onto the street, they're right back into that same kind of environment they left. That is a really important part of the picture.”   “I think we need male specific facilities, so they're not going to go back into a situation where they're not being supported. We've only got one dedicated men's center in the province, where men can actually go and find services, find support, and find programs. It's just not supported.”  “There's a reluctance to have something that is specifically male orientated, but I think we need men's health clinics where men and boys know that they're going to find people that understand them. Peer supportive groups are probably a lot less expensive, and I think it's more powerful for supportive recovery than all the psychiatrists in the world.”  Cortes Currents: How did this become the Blue Hat project?  Ron Kerr: “The problem for me, as an artist, was how to actually convey that number into something that people could feel.  Initially I had the concept  of having  a huge number  of blue hard hats,  because the number of men in trades and throughout a blue collar workforce  have been right from the start overrepresented in the numbers.” “I thought of using the blue hard hat itself as a symbol, but the problem was that any kind of an installation, or art project, using blue hard hats was very expensive and just logistically hard to do. So it was a challenge and  I had been thinking about that for a year or two.” “Last summer when I was sitting in my garden recovering from knee surgery, I looked at a project that I'd started in the yard before my operation. I had a number of sprinkler flags marking spots around the garden. I was sitting there watching them blow in the wind, and it just came to me that that was a way of  really signifying the immensity of death.” 

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - Depending on which election poll you are looking at, the Liberals are leading by anywhere from 5 to 10 points nationally. The last poll to suggest the Conservatives were tied with them was taken by Abacus on February 4, 2025. An Angus Reid poll taken on April 7, 2025 found that in British Columbia the Liberal Party leads by 11 points. It's more difficult to get a breakdown riding by riding. While 338Canada's projections are generally fairly accurate, they are calculated using a mostly proportional swing model adjusted with provincial and regional polls. In North Island Powell River there are currently at least three factors which this approach does not take into account. Firstly there is the widespread reaction to a series of tweets Conservative candidate Aaron Gunn made between 2019 and 2021. Many people feel his comments about residential schools are demeaning to First Nations and at this point 57 elected and former politicians, as well as Frst Nation leaders, have signed a joint letter calling for his resignation. So has every other candidate in North Island Powell River. There is also a little group of 9 politicians, primarily based in Campbell River, who have come out in support of Gunn. However with this kind of controversy going on, it is difficult to believe that 48% of the electorate would vote for Aaron Gunn if there were an election today. There is also NDP candidate Tanille Johnson's popularity with some of the electorate, and the fact Bob Chamberlain, former Vice President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, endorses her. Lastly, Liberal candidate Jennifer Lash, her Campaign Manager and Deputy Campaign Manager are all government staffers with an intimate understanding of how elections are run. When I interviewed Deputy Campaign Manager Holly Johnson last week, they had recruited 150 volunteers. Those are three good reasons to ignore 338Canada's projections for North Island Powell River. The only poll that could tell us what is going on in North Island Powell River must be taken here.

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - All of the recent polls report the Liberals ahead in this election. If the election were held today, 338Canada and CBC's Poll tracker are projecting a landslide victory, with between 193 and 202 seats going to Mark Carney's Liberal Party. It's a bit more difficult when it comes to calculating the outcome in individual ridings. According to 338Canada's projections, North Island-Powell River is the bluest of the four northern Vancouver Island ridings. Aaron Gunn is expected to receive about 47% of the popular vote, but projections rely on algorithms and past voting history, and there are some things that can sneak under the radar.  For example, does 338Canada know about NDP candidate Tanille Johnson's following, as the only non-Conservative councillor in the city of Campbell River? Or that Liberal candidate Jennifer Lash, her Campaign Manager and Deputy Campaign manager are all government staffers who have amassed an army of 150 volunteers to knock on doors, man the phones and put up lawn signs? Or of the small successes of a Green Party movie and conversation night?  The following stories came out of interviews with an NDP Campaign manager, a Liberal Deputy Campaign manager and two of the leading Green Party campaigns workers. The Conservatives were to have replied by an email which, should it arrive later, will be published separately. 

Welcome to Inside Policy Talks, where we dive into the ideas and policies shaping Canada's future!In this compelling episode, the Macdonald-Laurier Institute's Director of Indigenous Affairs, Ken Coates, sits with Dallas Smith, spokesperson for the First Nations for Finfish Stewardship (FNFFS) and a member of the Tlowitsis First Nations in Campbell River, B.C., to unpack the nuanced world of salmon aquaculture on British Columbia's coastal regions.Smith provides a fascinating insider's perspective on the salmon farming industry, discussing its evolution, economic importance, and critical role in supporting remote First Nations communities.From the groundbreaking Great Bear Rainforest agreements to the challenges of sustainable resource management, this conversation offers a deep dive into how Indigenous leadership is reshaping economic and environmental policy in Canada.Be sure to like, share, and subscribe to Inside Policy Talks for more thought-provoking analysis on the key issues facing Canada today!

Roy L Hales/Cortes Island - NDP candidate Tanille Johnson recently visited Cortes Island, where 20 people were waiting to see her in the Pioneer Room at Mansons Hall. The event was sponsored by Cortes Island's Climate Action Network, which also provided lunch.  Johnson said she prefers small meetings like this,  “I've been spending most of my time going to people's houses, meeting with their friends,  I like to think that I'm a very truthful, honest person and I actually care about what happens in this riding. It means a lot to me, like my family, generations and generations, lived here.” Recent polls suggest the Conservative Party may have lost its early lead in this pre-election period. Both EKOS (February 26) and Ipsos (February 25) released polls that show the Liberals edging forward in what has once again become a two party race. The NDP are a distant third and fading.  That's on the national level, it has always been a very different race in North Island-Powell River. If you include the results from the former Vancouver Island North riding, the choice has been NDP or Conservative for decades. Rachel Blaney has been our MP since 2015, but her predecessor John Duncan was a Conservative and the Conservatives have been a close second in every recent federal election.  Now Blaney is stepping down. 338Canada's most recent projections still depict Johnson as the underdog in our riding, but those projections will only be released on Sundays until the election is declared. A great deal has changed since last Sunday. More will change in the weeks to come.  Tanille Johnson began,  “ I was born and raised in Campbell River,  that's my home territory and my home community in more ways than one.  I am a member of the We Wai Kai First Nation, one of the three Liǧʷiłdax̌ʷ Nations that make up the greater Campbell River area and a little bit up into Sayward for our traditional territory.  I didn't grow up on reserve. I spent a ton of time on reserve, but my house was down in Willow Point in Campbell River, which started me off in an interesting place in my life.”  “I purposely moved back from Victoria eight years ago because I wanted to be home. I wanted to be home for me and for my kids.  I did not want to raise a family outside of my traditional territory. I'm extremely connected and loyal to this area. I'm not going anywhere.  I recognize that Ottawa is very far away and  I will be in Ottawa when I have to be in Ottawa but I will have big accountability for showing up in the riding and having my ear to the ground and showing up when you need me and being where I need to be.”  “I first got into politics in post secondary education.  I dove in with both feet.  I was on the Native Student Union Council, I was on the UVic Student Society Board of Directors, I was on the UVic Senate. I sat at the Equity Advisory Council for the School of Social Work, federally with the Canadian Federation of Students on their Federal Executive Board as well as their Provincial Executive Board.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - 21 people attended the Premier of the feature documentary Yintah at the Campbell River Community Center on February 20th, 2025. The movie is sponsored by the North Island Powell River (NIPR) Federal Green Party Riding Association and follows the Wet'suwet'en land defenders 10 years struggle to keep gas companies from building a pipeline through their territory. Cortes Currents interviewed two of the event's organizers about the film and some of the deeper issues within the local community.

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - While most of the Strathcona Regional District's costs can be directly allocated to specific areas, others are labelled administration costs and need to be shared among the 10 communities. At their February 19 meeting the SRD Board discussed ways to make a more fair allocation of this expense.  Chief Administrative Officer David Leitch explained, “ To put this in perspective, let's say the SRD's total budget is $20 million or whatever it may be this year, we're talking about $2.8 million for admin costs.” Campbell River has close to three quarters of the SRD's population, but only contributes $1.6 million towards the $2.8 million administration bill. That's just under 56%. Some Campbell River Directors dispute that number and most appear to think they are paying too much for a service they derive very little benefit from. Mayor Kermit Dahl served notice that at the next SRD Board meeting he will move to slash Campbell River's contribution by 82%.

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - Brian Kingzett, the Executive Director of the BC Salmon Farmers Association, recently informed the city of Campbell River that:  “ We have seen a weaponization of science where industry and government have their science, industry science is always put into conflict. Then we see activist science, which is largely coming out of urban areas  being weaponized against us. We need that independent science more than ever.”  What Kingzett, who by the way has a Master's degree in Marine Biology from SFU, did not say is that the professors he was defaming ‘have cumulatively published over 1,500 peer-reviewed scientific papers, serve or have served on over 30 editorial boards of scientific journals, include five Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada, and have many decades of experience in science advice processes across levels of government.' Nor did he mention that they were either professors working in the following universities,  or have moved on from them after obtaining their PHDs: namely Simon Fraser University, the University of British Columbia, University of Calgary, University of California (Davis), University of Hawaii, University of Toronto, and the University of Victoria. At least two of them are also connected to the Pacific Salmon Foundation.   When Cortes Currents asked Dr Gideon Mordecai, from UBC's Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, for a response, he pointed out that the urban label was not accurate because ‘much of the work is carried out by researchers living outside of large urban centres' and additionally, there is a huge amount of science being led by, or carried out in collaboration with, First Nation Communities, which are often more rural.' Cortes Currents: Do you have any response to Kingzett's comments? Or his dismissal of a letter from 16 recognized scientists as ‘activist science?'   Gideon Mordecai emailed: “Bias exists in all scientific endeavours. However, I would suggest that it is quite clear who stands to benefit the most from certain scientific narratives. Industry-backed science inherently has a vested interest in outcomes that support continued operations, whereas independent academic research is typically more driven by curiosity and public interest. All that to say, let's not let the BC Salmon Farmers Association be the final arbitrator of science!” “The 16 scientists who critiqued the DFO rapid science response did so based on their expertise. Dismissing their concerns as “activist science” oversimplifies the issue and avoids engaging with the actual critiques they raised (which would be more typical of the scientific process). These issues (as described in our letter) are that DFO's sea lice report is fundamentally flawed due to selective reporting of methods and results. We noted that the report was did not meet any reasonable standards of independent peer review, and downplays a large body of peer-reviewed research — both BC-focussed and international — that has repeatedly demonstrated the relationship between salmon farms and sea lice on wild juvenile salmon” “One of the usual ways to mitigate bias is transparency— e.g. disclosing funding sources, data access, and methodologies. DFO has failed to share data for the sea-lice rapid science response (see the Information Commissioner's report on this). We will have to wait and see if the data is released in the coming weeks.” There is much more in the podcast 


Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - It is only two weeks until President Donald Trump decides whether to impose 25% tarrifs on Canada and Mexico. There is some question whether he will follow through. Trump was initially going to impose the tarrifs on February 4, but the previous day Wall Street's three main indices fell sharply over concerns about the global economy. The stock market recovered that afternoon after Trump announced he would postpone the tarrifs for a month. However Canadians are preparing for the worst and, on the local level, one of the topics discussed at yesterday's Strathcona Gardens Commission meeting is impact Trump's proposed tarrifs could have on Campbell River's $130 million REC-reate Strathcona Gardens project. Commissioner Cal Grunerud raised the question: “ What's happening with America.” Commissioner Ron Kerr stressed,  “This is a tariff that is definitely going to raise our costs.” Wolfgang Parada, Senior Engineering Manager with the Strathcona Regional District, assured the Comissioners that steps are already being taken to minimize any impact.  “The first thing is looking at the contracts, what type of contract the general contractor has with the trades. It's under the duties and taxes, basically the trades are only responsible for those duties and taxes when they bid for the project. Anything extra will be billed to the general contractor. The general contractor will pass it to us.” “We need to work carefully to minimize the impact to the project and the first thing that we have done is we asked the General Contractor to compile a list of materials and equipment coming from the States.” “This is very preliminary right now because if the tariffs are implemented to Canada, that doesn't affect the project. It will only affect the project when Canada retaliates and put tariffs on the States, if those tariffs are related to some of the materials that are coming for this project. That list is being developed at this point. We need to understand what suppliers we have here in Canada, if there are alternatives. We need to look at the status of the solutions.” “This is not an easy process. When we hire a trade, that trade needs to submit shop drawings. Those shop drawings are approved. They need to procure the equipment. Once they buy the equipment, they ship the equipment from the States. Once they cross the border, that's when they pay the tax.” Parada explained they are trying to assess which materials can be brought into Canada before the tarrifs are implemented. They are also trying to identify Canadian alternatives for some products. “I'm happy to provide an update as soon as I have more information, but we know it's critical. We're ahead of the game and we're hoping that the project budget and as well as the schedule doesn't get impacted by the tariffs.” David Leitch, CAO of the SRD, added, “If there's going to be a negative impact, we're going to let our MP, MLA and the province know because they will be hurting us.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - The Strathcona Regional District (SRD) may have a nasty surprise for property owners in Campbell River and Area D. They may soon be asked to approve an additional $54 million debt to finance the second phase of the new REC-REATE Strathcona Gardens project. When they originally consented through an Alternative Approval Process (which automatically passes unless 10% of the electorate object), taxpayers were informed the cost was almost half of what is now being put forward “The April 2023 staff report indicated that both phases of the REC-CREATE project were going to be included. They had a Class A estimate they were using for the swimming pool and Wellness Center and they had a  2019 Class D estimate for the ice arena. They also said that the Class D estimate for the ice arena had been escalated. So you would assume by reading that the April  2023 staff report was costed up to be based on current construction costs and inflation.  In addition to that, what I found in the staff report was that they said that the $73 million would include both phases and that staff would strive to deliver the project within the $73 million budget.  That staff report, since it was in April 2023, was less than two years ago,” explained Deborah Rasnick, a professional accountant who worked in senior budget positions of BC public sector organizations for 15 years. “ The new business case that was presented in December of 2024, and approved tentatively by the Strathcona Gardens Commission now, has an estimated cost for phase two only of $58 million. That's on top of The previous approval. So the total cost now of the entire REC-REATE project could increase to around $130 million, and that's an 80% increase from the prior amount.”  “Same thing goes with debt. The original approval allowed for the SRD to borrow Up to $64.67 million and that was approved through AAP. Now this new REC-REATE project phase two, as they're calling it,  wants to allow for an additional $54 million, creating a total debt of up to $118 million, providing they get authority to do that from the participants in the Strathcona Gardens service area.  That increase to total debt reflects an over 80% increase from the prior balance as well.” 

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - 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 legislature. Anna Kindy: “ The NDP didn't call the house. We had no sitting which is unusual, currently there's a lot of crisis that needs to be dealt with. The first sitting will be February 18th.” Cortes Currents: The legislature hasn't met in how many months? Anna Kindy: “Well apparently, if you look back, it's since May because usually they don't run the legislature during the summer.” Cortes Currents: The NDP government dropped the writ for the last election on September 21, 2024, four months after the last sitting. The legislature will have had a 278-day break when it reopens on February 18. Anna Kindy: “Our party did FOIs (Freedom of Information requests) to see what kind of meetings they we're doing. To me it seems almost unconscionable that you're not at work when you've been elected and part of work is becoming accountable, sitting in the legislature to make sure that you respond to the questions that the electorate has and move forward on policy that might improve certain things.” Cortes Currents: How many times have you been to Victoria? Anna KIndy: “Since October 19th, I think twice. Around February 12th to 14th we have MLA school and then on February 18th, the house starts.” Cortes Currents: Are your relationships with the NDP frosty? Anna Kindy: “I don't think. From what I hear you still talk to each other, but once it comes to the Ledge gloves are off, but behind the scenes, you try to make things work.” Julie Osborne is a former mayor of Tofino and was first elected in 2020. She was appointed Minister of Health in November 2024 - courtesy BC Government News “For example, with this specialist group that I met , they try to get a hold of the Minister of Health, Josie Osborne, and for some reason they weren't able to get through. Which surprises me a little bit, but I think she's very busy and there's probably layers of bureaucracy that they have to approve. They've talked, I think, to the Deputy Minister and they still didn't get through.” “So my job will be two things. I want to talk to her personally if I can, say, ‘hey, these are the specialists of BC.' I probably would listen to what they have to say and then if that doesn't happen, I bring forward what their concerns are - bring it forward so that people are people at BC are aware. That's my job as a critic.” “I've been pretty full on since being elected, to be honest.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - A timeline on the REC-REATE – Strathcona Gardens Revitalization Project website traces the origins of this project back to an operational review in 1998. At that time, most of the community was satisfied with the existing facility and the idea of building a new complex did not gain momentum until 2015. A community survey taken between February 2nd and March 2nd that year found that someone from 72% of the Campbell River and 64% of Area D households visited Strathcona Gardens at least once a year. Construction for Phase One,  the New Aquatic and Wellness Centre, finally began on September 10, 2024. However the estimated cost of this project had risen to $73 million and the Strathcona Regional District is exploring the idea that Quadra Island and Sayward taxpayers should be contributing. Nothing has been decided, but the SRD has received a stream of letters from hundreds of Quadra Island residents stating they do not use Strathcona Gardens and definitely do not want to pay for it! A little group calling itself the Friends of Area C collected hundreds of names on a petition opposing the suggestion that Quadra taxpayers should be included in Strathcona Garden catchment area.  Cortes Currents: How long have you been collecting signatures? “We've been collecting for two and a half weeks. We have well over 600. My last estimate, because I haven't actually collected the form, is that we're closer to 800 already.  We're actively canvassing, in some cases door to door. We have signing tables in front of the grocery stores. We have petition sign up locations at a multiple business locations throughout the island,” explained Mike Gall from the Friends of Area C. Cortes Currents: How long will you continue to collect? Mike Gall: “Well, I could set a limit and say 1,000. We think that would be a pretty good representation of the sense of the community. Or a week or so before the next board meeting, which will be February 19th. There's no set timeline for all of this because it's really a non-binding petition.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - Campbell River's Strathcona Gardens is in the midst of re-development. Following a successful Alternative Approval Process (APP) in Campbell River and Area D, whose residents use this complex, in 2023 the Board authorized borrowing up to $64.6 million for this project. Crews are currently building the foundations. The SRD is exploring the possibility of using Area C property tax dollars to support this complex, but has not yet decided upon a course of action. This sparked a great deal of resistance from Area C residents who do not want to see their property taxes increased to pay for a ‘Campbell River' project. In a motion made by Regional Director Robyn Mawhinney in November, she referred to hundreds of items of correspondence to that effect. The flow of correspondence continues. Emails and scanned letters from 65 Quadra residents, 2 Read Island residents and 1 Maurelle Island resident were received as correspondence at the January 22, 2025 SRD Board Meeting. None of the 68 correspondents supported the project. One admitted to using the Strathcona Gardens approximately 4 times during her 40 years on Quadra Island.

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - On January 9, 2025, Campbell River's City Council gave first and second readings to a public nuisance amendment bylaw intended to prevent floodlighting, spotlighting and directional lighting from shining beyond the properties they protect onto residential areas. Council is giving the public to respond in writing before making a decision.  Bylaw Services Manager (SM) Karl Read pointed out that it has been a year since Paula Burque asked the city to remedy this matter. 

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - Starting on Saturday, January 11th,  Dance Temple Cortes will be held every two weeks in Manson's hole.   "Everyone has an excuse not to dance. In Gabriel Roth's book, Sweat Your Prayers, there's  a two page list or maybe a three page list of all the reasons. That's great, if that's your choice, but there's something to be said for  getting over the resistance because there's no wrong way to dance. There's no wrong way to move. It's incredibly freeing to be in a space where you can  dance in all your goofiness, offbeat, rolling around, whatever works for you and just engage with your body in a healthy way," explained Connie Quail.  "Sometimes it's just stretching that shoulder. You can do Dance Temple sitting in a chair. You can do Dance Temple lying on the floor. It's just about moving however feels freeing to each person.  That's the essence of Dance Temple. For some it's a spiritual practice. For some it's just a connective practice. For some It's healing, hence somatic healing, and for me, in my recovery from a dissociative disorder, embracing mindfulness practices has been key to what's brought me into being able to be functional and well again.  So good for mind, body, heart, and spirit."   "The support of a room full of people doing that has a collective energy that helps us stay engaged with the energy in our bodies in a way that can be transformative." Cortes Currents: How did you come to Cortes?  Connie Quail: "I moved here first in 2003, and left Cortes for some years to spend some time in Victoria, where my kids were in high school." "I found this weekly Dance Temple in Victoria and  I just started going every week." "Dance Temple first began something like 15 years ago on Salt Spring Island and in Victoria. It's a model,  a container,  a way of doing dance." "People picked it up all through the pandemic. Like Mary Lloyd, who facilitated dance on Cortes. She had these outdoor silent DJ headsets. We just kept dancing on the beach all through the pandemic and then back indoors when that was allowed."  "It was slow to get the ball rolling on Cortes. I think it was just once a year for the first couple of years.  Naomi Jason, one of my mentors and one of the founders of Dance Temple, came to Cortes a couple of times." "That just became  such an important source of community, of wellness for me,  a big part of my own healing journey. So I took facilitator training, I took DJ training just to be able to keep carrying  this forward and offering it where I live on Cortes so I still always have access to it. It's a little bit selfish that way, because I just want to keep dancing."  "Andrew Lee and I picked it up with a lot of support from Dancing Wolf two years ago.  We said we want this in our lives and we want the DJ experience." "I'm DJing Dance Temple in Campbell River at the end of the month.  I'm DJing in Mid Island - in Cedar Dance Temple, Salt Spring Dance Temple - in the coming year. Then in Victoria again.  It's a consistent container in every place it's offered, or as consistent as we can make it."  "We start with very slow, gentle music, then slowly build, build, build, build, build in tempo and intensity of music until we reach a peak.  The peak is the chaos stage of five rhythms and then we go down through what would be lyrical and into silence. So, into a quiet relaxed ending, sometimes the sound is healing, sometimes it's just a little bit of breathing meditation."   "So it's a whole journey that we go on, and there's something for everyone. Some people don't like the peak. For years, I didn't. I'd leave the dance temple in Victoria, go outside for a bit, just wait for the intensity to ease off, and then I'd go back in and rejoin the dance. Some people don't like the slowness at the ending, so they duck out early, after they've had their journey. There's so many ways to approach Dance Temple and it's so much fun." 

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - At their December 11 meeting, the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) Board passed a bylaw to regulate bulk water processing, bottling and sales on Maurelle, Sonora, Stuart, and the Rendezvous islands. Three Campbell River Directors voted against receiving the staff report for this bylaw. Director Susan Sinnott explained,  “I just want to hear from staff, the reasons necessary. Is there a pending application for people to bulk water in the distillation sound area? Is there an imminent issue?” Chief Administrative Officer David Leitch replied,  “The impetus of this. Bylaws came from the directors. So I think it's probably more appropriate for the director to speak to it.” Cortes Island Director Mark Vonesch pointed out,  “This is the same bylaw we already passed for Area D, Cortes and Quadra Islands.” Director Sinnott:  “Well, thank you, my recollection was there was concerns about water usage and aquifer protection. I just wanted to know if this was similar. I don't know if there's an issue in the Desolation Sound area that's similar.” Robyn Mawhinney is the Regional Director for Area C, which includes Quadra, Maurelle, Sonora, Stuart, and the Rendezvous islands:  “Although it says the Desolation Sound Rural Land Use Bylaw it's funnily enough, not in Desolation Sound. It's Read, Maurelle, Sonora, Stuart, and the Rendezvous Islands. If you look at the bylaws, it's really about providing an opportunity for community to have a public hearing If there is an application for a commercial water extraction enterprise.”  Director Sinnot: So raising my question again, are we regulating something that's not ever going to happen? I can't imagine there's ever going to be a person that wants to bulk water bottling or any type of extraction of a very remote area without ferry service. So one, I don't like the idea of regulating things if we don't have to, but second of all, we're intruding into an area outside our jurisdiction if it's about water preservation.” Director Mawhinney: “I would suggest that providing an opportunity for the community to have input on a commercial enterprise, which could drastically affect their drinking water is reasonable. I think when you look at what happened in Merville, if you wait until an application is coming forward it's too late.” The concern about bulk water extraction can be traced back to a Merville property owner's idea to bottle and sell the water beneath his property. On March 8, 2023, two weeks before CVRD approved MacKenzie's application, Regional Director Robyn Mawhinney asked the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) to report on the possibilities for limiting groundwater extraction within Area C. The District had just gone through the severest drought in Campbell River's records and it was about to go through the drought of 2023. On September 25, 2024, the SRD passed bylaws prohibiting ‘bulk water sales, bulk water processing and bulk water bottling' on any upland or foreshore area of Cortes or Quadra except where expressly permitted within a zone. That was when Director Mawhinney then introduced what has erroneously been called the Desolation Sound Bulk Water Regulation. Director Mawhinney: “ We've had a public hearing and the community was in support of it, as they have been for Area D, Area B (Cortes Island) and the Quadra island portion of Area C.”

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Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - A Strathcona Regional District (SRD) motion that might have taken Gas Tax funding away from its rural areas was narrowly defeated at the Wednesday, November 27, Board meeting. Every year, the funds collected through Canada's Gas Tax are used on infrastructure and planning projects across the nation. In British Columbia, the Union of BC Municipalities distributes $280 million to local governments. Municipalities like Campbell River, Sayward and Zeballos are all paid directly, receiving $1.7 million, $79,000 and  $69.000, respectively. Viewed on a per capita basis, every municipality in the SRD except Campbell River receives between two and ten times more Gas Tax funding than the district's rural areas. However the $543,000 for the Strathcona Regional Discovery's four rural areas goes through the SRD. Up until now, this money was used ‘solely for their benefit,' but there has been a push to explore ‘other options' for this funding.

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - According to the 2024 Interim Housing Needs Report, in the next two years Cortes Island will need another 95 new housing units and Area C will need another 270. The studies underlying assumptions are that the Discovery Island's population will continue to grow by 8% over the next few years. One of the key findings is that “there is a need for housing that is affordable and accessible for those on a fixed income, particularly within the rental market. An aging population presents a greater need for at-home care options and smaller housing units that allow for downsizing. Seniors are also more likely to be living with a disability or activity limitation than other age groups and may have to pay for all household expenses on a fixed income” Another sector identified in the report was renters who are expected to face continued challenges because the increase to their housing costs will continue to be greater than increases in income. Around 45% of the renters who responded to recent surveys indicated they were paying unaffordable rents.  This is particularly alarming when you consider that a quarter of the respondents to Campbell River's most recent Point in Time Count stated had been homeless for less than 6 months and the #1 cause they cited was not enough income to pay rent.  There are currently 145 rental units on Cortes Island and 250 in Area C. Three of the comments cited in the report:  “This is a crisis that needs to be dealt with. The number of folks online that are desperate for housing is shocking. Any renter is at the mercy of their landlord to become homeless.”  As a small business owner and someone who grew up on Quadra Island, I see the struggle younger generations are going through to find housing. Rentals are increasingly hard to come by and finding property to buy for a young family trying to make a living on the island is not possible. There are younger generations that have grown up on the island and want to stay but just can't make it without some kind of affordable housing. As a business owner, I am experiencing a lack of labour options because of this.”  “There is a huge lack of affordable housing on Cortes. People are in a constant search of a place to live; some are elderly, many are young. People live in cars, vans, tents, derelict boats. People request a place to bring a trailer or a trailerable home.”    By 2041 Cortes Island is expected to need another 241 units and Area C another 633 units.

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents -The final count for Cortes Island's 2024 Chum run is not yet in, but according to local streamkeeper Christine Robinson, “We have never seen a return like this during the 34 years we've lived on Cortes, but the phenomenon is up the coast as far as Alaska. It's not specific to Cortes and the Discovery Islands.”   “It's down into Washington state as well,” added her husband and fellow streamkeeper, Cec Robinson.  On Monday, November 18th, five Cortes stream keepers and a semi-retired DFO employee from Campbell River gathered in the Klahoose Hatchery to count this year's first egg take from Basil Creek.   Christine Robinson: “Males and females were taken from the creek.  The milk and the eggs were taken out and they were  fertilized by hand. It happened twice this year because there were enough that came in.” Cec Robinson: “So ten pairs and then another fifteen pairs.” Cortes Currents: All of the eggs counted Monday were from those first 10 pairs. There were 24,949 eggs. 829 were dead, which leaves more than 24,000 live eggs. Assuming that there is a similar harvest from the remaining 15 females, the streamkeepers could have about 60,000 Chum eggs.  Cec Robinson: “Today was  shocking the eggs that we have in the Klahoose hatchery. Shocking, picking out the dead ones and counting  what we've got. The shocking is a simple process of physically shocking the egg to break a little membrane inside any of the non viable eggs. This little membrane will fracture and when the water gets in, it turns the egg white. So you know which ones are not viable and you pick them out. So it's a case of counting or weighing the number of live and the number of dead.  We want to know the percentage of the survival, how many eggs we've taken and  the level of fecundity of the females. That's of all super interest to DFO.” “In this case it was terrific. The usual expectation is around 2,000 eggs per female.  We took 2,500. These fish were extra big and extra healthy. The eggs actually are extra large. It all bodes well for the survival of these little guys. Now we know how successful we've been so far and what our potential is for stocking the creeks.” Cortes Currents: Do you usually have a number of eggs that die?   Cec Robinson: “There's always some, I think 5% mortality is excellent and at this point we're under four (3.32%). There will be a few more over the next few days and we'll just keep picking out the ones that have turned white.  It'll still be under 5%.” Cortes Currents: Do you have any idea how many salmon came up this year?   Cec Robinson: “Our best guess would be easily 2,500 and there could be close to 3,000 - in Basil Creek alone.”  Christine Robinson: "Not collectively on the island, I'm still totalling up."  Cortes Currents: Given that this year's run seems to be shaping up to be two to three times larger than anything seen in recent memory, why bother taking eggs?  Cec Robinson: “That's a darn good question. I'm sure nature does the job way better than we can, but it's happened twice in recent years that Basil Creek has had a massive flooding that essentially blasted most of the eggs out of the creek or buried them. If the fish are unfortunate enough to have that happen again, this year we've got a bit of a reserve. The other thing we can do is use some of these eggs in the less productive streams. So, in Whaletown Creek, James Creek or Carrington Creek. Some of them will go there, and those streams are the ones that could definitely do with a larger run.”  

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - In previous years, bits of Quadra and Cortes Island data have been incorporated in Campbell River's Vital Signs Reports. This is the first year that both islands are collecting their own data. Cortes has already published its 2024 Vital Signs Report. The Quadra Island Foundation is about to start accumulating the baseline data that will enable it to produce a report for Quadra and  Jody Rodgers, Chair of the Quadra Island Foundation:  “Vital Signs  empowers organizations for tailoring their initiatives: so they can work on things to improve, and also not spin their wheels on things that are already good.  It also really gives them the hard data to apply for grants more effectively.”  “I think that it allows us to gain perspective on the differences in spending needs of organizations.   Vital Signs  is a vehicle for organizations to measure their effectiveness or lack thereof, according to certain benchmarks.”   “One of the problems that Quadra Island as a community has with respect to Vital Signs is it was always tucked in as  this little afterthought to the Campbell River Vital Signs. They got our data from the surveys of Canada. Not only were they out of date, they were not very controlled because only certain people responded to the surveys.  While it was a tiny little sidebar in their large report, I felt like it was non data.” “They also included Cortes and did the same sorts of things based on Surveys Canada. Cortes' needs may be vastly different than Campbell River's and ours, which is what we strongly suspect.” Cortes Currents: Quadra Island's needs are different from Campbell River? Jody Rodgers: “Yes, that's why Quadra wanted to break off from being a combined effort. I love the folks over at Campbell River Foundation. They are fantastic and they've been very generous to include Quadra in their Vital Signs report.” Rodgers met with Michaela Arruda and Manda Aufochs Gillespie, Executive Directors of the Campbell River and Cortes Island Foundations, respectively.   “I gently said, we really want to go off and do this ourselves,  if you don't mind, because I think our community would appreciate that too. It'll make it much easier for us to say to these grant writers, ‘we know you've given to XYZ. However we don't share these resources. We are completely separate organizations and entities and communities.' In view of the fact that our communities are unique, it seemed more sensible for us to be able to measure ourselves against ourselves.”  “There are 12 indicators that are part of the Vital Signs. They range from things that are extremely applicable like housing, economy and education, to things that are aspirational, like transportation.” 

De Clarke/Cortes Currents - In September of this year, Currents reported on a proposal from Liǧʷiłdax̌ʷ [pronounced Lee-gweeth-dowkh] Nations (We Wai Kai, Wei Wai Kum and Kwiakah) for the formal renaming of various locations in the greater Campbell River/rapids area. The new names would be drawn from First Nations language and tradition. Three of these place-names are local to the city of Campbell River. The well-loved park now known as Tyee Spit would be renamed to ʔuxstalis [pronounced Oox-sta-lease], the spelling of the Quinsam River would be updated to "Kʷənsəm River", and Discovery Passage would be renamed to "Liǧʷiłdax̌ʷ Passage".

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - There has been a colourful addition to the Tyee Mall. The four brightly coloured boxcar-like units are a remembrance of Campbell River's old logging railroads. They are also part of an innovative project designed to have cottage industries make the transition to brick and mortar stores. The Rail Yard Market has been open for about 3 months. "The project is fantastic. I think it gives little entrepreneurs like myself and the rest of  my pod mates here a fantastic opportunity. We're allowed to be here for up to three years at a time  and the city also provides business initiatives like marketing and online resources. They're putting us  into a course right now. We've done  two days in October and we'll probably do another two days in November. It gives us a lot of help to survive today's economy and a leg up on what to expect when we get to a real brick and mortar. I think we can be a success and I'm hoping that they'll open more," said Tina from Maggie's treats. "I think the Mayor had a real winner with this one." Cortes Currents: Whose idea was this? Tina: "It was the Mayor Kermit Dahl's idea. Mayor Kermit Dahl was actually my first sale as well. He doesn't own a dog, he bought a bag of dog treats for his neighbour." Rose Klukas, Director of Economic Development for the city of Campbell River explained, "It  came together in maybe a roundabout way. On an annual basis, the provincial government makes available a grant to communities and particularly communities that have a strong connection to a resource sector, in this case forestry, which have been impacted by change.  They make grant funding available through a REDIP (Rural Economic Diversification and Infrastructure Program) grant. It's a way for communities to try to diversify their local economy." "Simultaneously, we had a practically brand new mayor at the time. Kermit Dahl came with an idea that we should be looking for opportunities to grow businesses in Campbell River. He had seen various examples of this, including in Langford,  and asked the Economic Development department to figure out a way to replicate that model here in Campbell River as a way to support the growth." "One of the challenges that businesses have today is that starting up is expensive. Rents in British Columbia are expensive and so this is a way to allow businesses to get their roots grown and hopefully move on from these units into more traditional bricks and mortar down the road." Cortes Currents: Tell me how you went from an idea to opening the doors to those four businesses? Rose Klukas: "Very quickly, which is the case from almost anything you do in Economic Development. We had two or three weeks to flesh out the concept and get the application in by the deadline. All this was happening over Christmas and then we had to wait for approval of the grant,  which we weren't guaranteed for sure. During that waiting period, we gave some more thought to what this program could look like. We're not inventing the wheel. We connected with other communities, to learn from them. What are some best practices? What could they have done differently? Or what should they have done differently? “I think it was probably in March or April that we were approved for the grant." The Rail Yard Market officially opened on September 13th, but as you will soon hear,  some of the stories have been there since the end of July.  Maggie's Treats, the Tin Can Pottery Shop, the Mossy Coast and Sinfully Delicious each rent an 8 by 20 foot module.

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - There are more Chum swimming up Basil Creek than we've seen for years. According to Matthew Clarke of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Cortes Island isn't the only place where the Chum run is good this year.  “As a general rule this year things are looking much better for Chum than they have looked, albeit with a couple of places that are not quite as strong as we would have hoped to see,”  he explained. “We are seeing strength like you mentioned on Cortes. We actually saw some Chum in Campbell River, which has been hard for us to really survey for a while. It was nice to see that because we have had that as a question mark. Oyster River has some good Chum numbers in it, and as we move down the island, things are generally good."  "There are definitely some returns that are better than we have seen in recent years, but we are also seeing some runs that may not come up quite as high as we would like to see. At Orford (which empties into Bute Inlet and has a summer Chum population) we saw a few thousand fish come back, but it wasn't excellent returns relative to what we've seen elsewhere. In adjacent rivers, like the Qualicum, Little Qualicum, and Big Qualicum, one is not showing quite as strong, but the other one is showing reasonable strength." "As a rule, pretty much throughout the entire south coast area, we've seen poor Chum productivity since about 2017. Some years we did see some slight upticks in abundance. 2019 was  poorest year on record for all south coast Chum stocks and that has tumbling down effects. Chum returns are primarily  3, 4 and 5 year old fish with the 4 year old component typically being the strongest, but that can vary a little bit."  “Last year the dominant brood year return would have been from 2019, a low abundance year. We saw low abundance pretty much throughout, but with maybe a slight indication that things were improving for Chum. We typically see that four year old component as the most abundant component, but in the test fishery last year, we actually saw the three year olds showing up in really strong numbers. Typically,  four year olds are about 80% of what we would expect to see. Last year,  in the final days of the test fishery, 50% of the run consisted of 3 year old fish." 

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - The Cortes Island Community Foundation just published Cortes Island's Vital Signs report.   “ When I started with the Community Foundation a few years ago, I  was already in the community, trying to make things happen. In particular, I tried to make things happen in the most grassroots  small nonprofit ways possible, but often in the area where I saw that there was a lot of need. Very quickly, I was in the process of writing grants and trying to figure out how to bring in those resources that I knew were out there somewhere,” explained Manda Aufochs Gillespie, Executive Director of the Cortes Foundation.  “We're all being taxed the same as someone who lives in the city more or less, but when you look around, we don't have transit and fancy bike lanes and we don't have subsidized housing like the cities have. So I said, I know that there's money out there. There must be a way to bring some of that money here to Cortes. One of the things I realized very quickly is that we did not have data related to Cortes. Volunteers on the island would be like, ' we clearly have a housing crisis' but how do we try to express that because no one believes that rural communities at the time had a housing crisis.  By and large, the data that was available to us had us lumped in with the entire Strathcona Regional District, including Campbell River.” “If you look at child vulnerability rates in Campbell River, they're looking at available childcare spots: What kind of resources are going into after school programming for the youngest? What kind of early literacy programs there are? What kind of food bank supports are available for families with young kids?”  “When we tried to see how our young kids were doing, there was basically nothing.  I would be talking to Desta Beattie, at the family services on Cortes, and she would say, 'I cannot get them to give us funding for a head start program, because I cannot show them that we have any particular need.'”   “When I started working with the Community Foundation, a few years ago, I learned about  Vital Signs and Vital Signs are usually done by community foundations with a lot more resources. Community foundations told the stories of needs and opportunities specific to their communities because  a community foundation's job is to help bring the resources that a community needs to thrive and bring the knowledge of how best to leverage those resources into the hands of the community.” “I was like, 'we need to start with understanding what the opportunities are,  what the needs are and what an amazing thing that this Vital Signs tool exists.'  The Vital Signs tool is largely just a framework for looking at the health of the whole community.” “It has taken us a number of years to be able to come up with enough capacity and financial wherewithal to do it. I was told recently by one of the people who helped us with this project that we are, as far as she knows, the smallest community foundation to ever do a Vital Signs of this size.” “We specifically tied our Vital Signs into the release of the Campbell River Vital Signs. That beautiful community foundation offered to support us in a number of ways. One of the biggest ways was that they gave us a page in their print document because we are many thousands of dollars away from having the resources to do our own print document.” “We have this page that's going to thousands of people in and around the Campbell River area, including our representatives that sit on the Board for the Regional District and other government officials who make funding decisions for us. They get to see one page about Cortes, amongst the other things, and a link to our whole report, which is on our website.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - NDP incumbent Michele Babchuk came to Cortes Island Saturday, October 12, in the second in a series of meet the candidate events organized by FOCI's Climate Action Committee. There is not room to unpack close to two hours of fact filled conversation into this half hour, but the full podcast is at the bottom of this page and here are some highlights. Babchuk began by giving an overview of her career: “I've lived in Campbell River for 20 years, with my wonderful husband of 37 years, my two kids, and my three grandkids. I started off in the school board in 2005, moved to Municipal Politics in 2014, became the chair of the Strathcona Regional District in 2016, and then made the jump to MLA in 2020, in the last provincial election. In between there, I had the opportunity to work on the Hill in Ottawa for the Member of Parliament for this area, in Jack Layton's caucus. My little claim to fame is I have either been elected or staff at every level of government. So, we joke that I am polylingual - because we know that they don't all speak the same language.” “It's no secret to people on Cortes that BC still has some issues that we've got to sort out. We have housing issues and we've got some education inequity issues, affordability issues. We're turning the corner and starting to get some of those going, but we've got a long way to go.”

De Clarke/Cortes Currents - Company seeks permission to locate wind farm north of Campbell River. Capstone Infrastructure Corporation, an independent and publicly traded power generating company headquartered in Toronto, has applied to SRD for permitting and approval for a new project on Vancouver Island. The "Brewster Wind Project" would install about 30 wind turbines on a site about 40 km northwest of Campbell River.  The proposed site is on some ridges between highways 28 and 19 -- more specifically, between the White River and the Memekay River, spanning a range from west of the Memekay Horse Camp to north and east of Memekay Peak. Capstone is submitting their proposal in response to the 2024 BC Hydro Call For Power.  Hydro is soliciting bids with the goal of acquiring about 3000 GWhrs per year of new clean or renewable electricity to serve the region.  Capstone's project, when completed, would produce about 200 MW; they anticipate a 30 year operational lifetime.  If everything were to go smoothly, they anticipate a successful environmental impact report by 2028 and completion by 2031;  so this project will not be popping up overnight. Capstone requested that SRD post the relevant information in public, and also ask and also asked for advice on a list of stakeholders who should be consulted.    SRD responded by advising that Capstone should consult with the BC Speleological Federation, the Canadian Cave Conservancy, the BC Paleontological Alliance, and the Royal BC Museum Palaeontology Department.

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - 338Canada's latest projection for North Island Riding, taken on September 30, shows the Conservative party of BC having just taken the lead in the popular vote. Nineteen days from the election, they may currently be supported by 47% of the electorate as opposed to 42% for the NDP. The media website uses data from recent polls and the riding's history. They have covered 13 general elections and, so far, 338Canada claims to have successfully identified the winner in 1,657 electoral districts 89.9% of the time. That said, this is essentially a ‘point in time' analysis and yesterday showed these two parties virtually tied.  “We know this is going to be a really close election, so we're rolling up our sleeves and we're not taking anything for granted,” said Michele Babchuk, the NDP candidate and current MLA for our riding. “I'm just actually in the car pulled over on the side of the road right now. It just came out of a meeting with a local group here. We will be in Campbell River today at the campaign office. As soon as I get back, I will be knocking on doors and out with my team. Another group will be on the phones, putting in the hard work, putting up signs, doing some fundraising. I've been all over the riding all summer, but this week focused in Campbell River.” “We've heard Mr Rustad talk about not believing in climate science, how the government shouldn't be involved in helping people with housing. We've heard a few conspiracy theories come out, so I am just concerned of what this looks like for the North Island.” Cortes Currents sent Babchuk, the Conservative candidate Anna Kidney and Green candidate Nic Dedeluk a series of questions about extreme weather events, emissions, the housing crisis, food prices, employment and education in our area. Dedeluk agreed to an interview which will take place later this week. Kidney's campaign manager, Richard Martin, emailed “More than ever, British Columbians are struggling to keep up with the rising cost of living as they see jobs, investment and economic opportunity leave our province.  Anna owes it to the people of North Island to speak with them about their concerns on the direction of our province and how we can make it better. In the lead up to October 19, her focus is on engaging with voters directly at the doors.” So far, Babchuk has been the only one to respond in detail.

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - The  Liǧʷiłdax̌ʷ [pronounced Lee-gwilth-daxw] Nations (We Wai Kai, Wei Wai Kum and Kwiakah) are asking the province to change several geographic names in the Campbell River area. They wish to change the name of the Discovery Passage to Liǧʷiłdax̌ʷ Passage, the Quinsam River to Kʷənsəm and the Tyee Spit to ʔuxstalis [pronounced Oox-sta-lease]. The Discovery Passage was once called Yaculta Narrows, because the Ligw”itdax peoples charged a toll for canoes passing through. The name Ligw”itdax belongs to a virtually unkillable worm. If it is cut into segment, each part becomes a new worm. “Kʷənsəm” is a Coast Salish word meaning resting place. The Quinsam River was originally K'omoks First Nations territory and home of their first two ancestors. It is now Lig”itdax territory as a result of a conflict between the two nations which ended with a marriage between noble families. ʔuxstalis is a Ligw”itdax word which could mean ‘beach on the back side' or ‘where the land ends.' There were once several longhouses there and it is surrounded by food-gathering areas. There were crabapples, gooseberries, wild strawberries, medicial plants and fish traps. On August 19, Trent Thomas from the BC Geographical Names Office informed the city of Campbell River they have until October 25 to ask any questions or make any comments about the proposed changes. This matter was brought up at the September 5 city council meeting and referred to the Committee of the Whole Meeting on Wednesday, October 8, 2024.

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - At their Wednesday September 25 Board meeting, the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) Board unaminously voted to support a We Wai Kai application for funding to make a feasibility study for the Caddisfly Wetlands Restoration project, south of Campbell River. This had been a topic of some debate a month ago, when the Board decided to defer making a decision on this project. Salmon once spawned in Caddisfly Creek and if they return, it could trigger a need for setbacks along the banks. This could directly impact building projects in Campbell River, as it is one of the sources of Caddisfly Creek. As CAO David Leitch explained, “There was some discussion at a previous board meeting about supporting this application and the folks from Campbell River had some hesitancy and anticipation that it possibly would interfere with some development applications they had in the works. We've attached some correspondence from the city staff which says there aren't issues and they would support the application.” Robyn Mawhinney, Regional Director for Area C, responded, “I'm really happy to see this request for resolution of support on the agenda. I am 100 percent in support of a resolution to support the We Wai Kai Nation's application to undertake wetland restoration planning activities for Caddisfly Creek.” John RIce, Regional Director for Area D, added, “I'm also quite happy to see this back on. I know that for Area D, where Caddisfly Creek is, the wetlands behind it have historically had a problem with high water. I'm hoping that there are a lot of things that can be addressed by this.” “I also want to point out that it's Area D's Stream Keeper (Greg Roberts) that has been working quite hard on Caddisfly Creek. There's still lots of things to do and I'm very thrilled to see Campbell River supporting this. I think if you're going to be the Salmon Capital of the World, you have to be able to support creeks that could possibly have Coho.” One of the Campbell River Directors who originally called for deferment, Ron Kerr, made the motion that all the SRD directors supported: “That a resolution of support be provided for the We wai Kai First Nation's application to the 2024 Disaster Resilience Innovation Fund Grant Program to undertake wetland restoration planning activities for Caddisfly Creek.”

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - The final report on the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) Western Screech Owl Project will be unveiled at Mansons Hall on Friday. The two biologists who were hired to write it will be giving an hour long talk that starts at 7 PM. “Western Screech Owls are a beautiful little owl. They used to be one of the most common owls in coastal BC, but they've declined hugely in the last 20 years,” explained Helen Hall, Executive Director of FOCI. “They're a species that need attention. In the last three years we've been running a project on Cortes, Read, Maurelle and Sonora Islands to look for Screech Owls and to do what we can to help conserve them. We started the project in 2021. In the spring of 2022, we conducted our first audio surveys, mainly on Cortes Island. Then in 2023, we expanded our surveys onto Read, Maurelle and Sonora Islands. We did pick up Screech Owls in the north of Cortes and one on Read Island. We also went out put up nest boxes around all the islands to try and provide nesting habitats for the owls.” “In the spring we employed consultants from Madrone Environmental, Roxanne Chilcalo and Alicia Mildner to conduct our final report for us. They looked at all the results. We're really lucky that they're now going to come over to Cortes on Friday and give a talk about the report, what we found on Cortes and to put it into the context of regional work on Screech Owl.” “They've been working recently on another big project in the Campbell River area. So there's a really good comparison for what we're finding on Cortes. They're also finding a lot of the landscape has been logged. There's only very small pockets of old-growth remaining and again, they're finding Screech Owls in those pockets.” “What we're trying to work out now is what is the strategy for making sure they can exist in those small pockets and how do we provide more habitat for them. This is just one indicator species showing that where you have old growth, you still have some really valuable species like Western Screech Owls. Obviously, we don't want to see any more old growth forests cut down, and I think this is just another argument for retaining everything we have, and having a moratorium on logging old growth areas.” “We're hoping that we can do some more work on Screech Owls going forward. We're just in discussion about that at the moment.”

We checked in with Bailey from Campbell River for day 5 of Cops for Cancer Tour de Rock! You can support Bailey's Tour de Rock journey HERE

Liberal MPs met this week in Nanaimo, B.C., quick to tell reporters they've got full confidence in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The House is on the ground, taking the temperature, talking to Liberals about how they think they can turn their fortunes — even as one of Trudeau's own MPs says people are “tired of his face.”We also hear from Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer about how his party hopes to force a non-confidence motion to bring down the government as soon as possible.Then, we head up Vancouver Island to Campbell River, which is likely to become a battleground between the Conservatives and the NDP. The CBC's Emma Godmere speaks with voters there about the issues that matter most to them.Finally, with British Columbians going to the polls next month, Premier David Eby said he'd scrap the carbon tax if Ottawa removes the requirement to have it. The Toronto Star's Tonda MacCharles, and the National Post's Stuart Thomson break down what to expect ahead of Parliament resuming on Monday.This episode features the voices of: John McKay, Liberal MP for Scarborough—GuildwoodFrancis Drouin, Liberal MP for Glengarry—Prescott—RussellHedy Fry, Liberal MP for Vancouver CentreAndrew Scheer, Conservative House leaderCBC's Emma GodmereTonda MacCharles, Ottawa bureau chief for the Toronto Star.Stuart Thomson, Parliamentary bureau chief for the National Post

Dallas Smith is a spokesperson for the First Nations for Finfish Stewardship (FNFFS) and a member of the Tlowitsis First Nations in Campbell River, B.C. He talks with our host, Ian Roberts, about how the First Nations communities are coming together to defend the renewal of salmon farming licenses in British Columbia, Canada.

For our latest mini INDIGENA (the sweet + sour version of MEDIA INDIGENA), we yank on the global supply chain linking locals in Campbell River, B.C. to the opening of what's only the second “Indigenous-operated, licensed Starbucks store” in Canada. And just like last time—when our MINI went long on what we meant to be just our opening topic—our content cup once again runneth over, as we eat up an entire episode exploring the ethics of commodity-based commerce as carried out by Indigenous participants at each end of the colossal coffee trade. Joining fairly-caffeinated host/producer Rick Harp the afternoon of Wednesday, April 3rd were coffee companions Kim TallBear (University of Alberta professor in the Faculty of Native Studies and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience and Society) and Candis Callison (UBC Associate Professor in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and the School for Public Policy and Global Affairs). CREDITS:

Highlights from this episode: - Lighting up the Court - Satellite Imaging - Tigers - BridgesSponsored by Evlumahttps://evluma.com/dark-sky-friendly-lighting/Intro and outro music by Doctor Turtle Headlines and Sources:Mark Baker and the Soft Lights Foundation Sue FDAhttps://www.softlights.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mark-Baker-vs.-FDA_filed.pdfMajor Variations in Street Light Dimming Functionalityhttps://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2024-01/ssl-impacts-010v-led-streetlights_dec2023.pdfAIR and CAS Partner on Satellite Imaging to Track Light Pollutionhttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17538947.2023.2297013AIMS Using Satellites to Track Hazards to Marine Lifehttps://phys.org/news/2024-01-potential-iconic-marine-wildlife.htmlNew Estimate; Low-Orbit Objects Will Soon Be Responsible for 10% of Sky Glow https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Datawatch/Satellite-glints-grow-in-night-skiesJeju National University College of Medicine Finds that Bright Light at Night Doubles Risk of Eye Diseasehttps://www.newsdirectory3.com/bright-lights-at-night-the-double-risk-of-eye-disease/Diabetic Mice Do Worse Under ALANhttps://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphot.2024.1323539/abstractLED Headlights Are Getting Worsehttps://www.ledsmagazine.com/specialty-ssl/article/14303722/uk-motoring-group-says-blinding-headlights-are-getting-worseUK Gov to Investigate Headlight Brightnesshttps://lightaware.org/news/uk-government-acknowledge-issues-with-glaring-headlights?fbclid=IwAR3E1LC87-HKQtgZJq3zFpKneB72u82y6nNOzgUOy0UHHrPud2t6USoQqKIExcess Lighting Ruins Your Gardenhttps://www.irishtimes.com/life-style/gardening/2024/01/13/tone-it-down-why-too-much-artificial-lighting-is-bad-for-your-garden/Pench Tiger Reserve is India's First Dark Sky Park https://www.livemint.com/news/india/maharashtra-pench-tiger-reserve-becomes-indias-first-dark-sky-park-all-you-need-to-know-11705123164919.htmlLake Placid, NY Forms Dark Sky Committeehttps://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/49090/20240115/making-skies-darker-in-lake-placid-and-the-adirondack-parkTruckee, CA Works on Dark Sky Initiativehttps://www.sierrasun.com/news/dont-be-afraid-of-the-dark-stars-will-light-the-way/Campbell River, BC Resident Ask for Nuisance Lighting Lawshttps://www.campbellrivermirror.com/local-news/campbell-river-resident-calls-for-city-to-regulate-nuisance-lighting-7296211Brightoners Ask for American Express Community Stadium to Turn down exterior lightinghttp://stadiumdb.com/news/2024/01/england_brighton_residents_urge_club_to_turn_off_that_lightAspen, CO passes Light trespass Ordinancehttps://coloradosun.com/2024/01/26/aspen-goes-dark-with-a-new-ordinance-that-punishes-light-trespass/ Samuel De Champlain Bridge in QC adds 5,800 RGB Decorative Lamps without Bothering Wildlifehttps://www.lightspeconline.com/projects/article/33014622/lighting-an-iconic-bridge-while-minimizing-environmental-impact Kansas City's Bond Bridge Decorative Lights Are Out Over Maintenance Costshttps://www.yahoo.com/news/why-lights-kansas-city-bond-120000090.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9hcHAubWVsdHdhdGVyLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAPcMfu8Xb7cYSO8irSBg2XVVUZPQ39i4791pnBsDBLROxE0so_Lxq1NxhhwqWdFCDF3dEhlXre9edZsZYjwnp1b3X_Uhzx1oEefQW17LC3JyQYkzwRxwHdp0hjkn9TkgvwtcyTJpBb4FhCZWyRHe0FVcV1ATM-jl00eIequJG-WLDS Motions to Join Heber Valley, UT as Co-Defendant in Zoning Fight https://ksltv.com/617416/church-of-jesus-christ-asks-to-intervene-in-lawsuit-against-heber-valley-utah-temple/Musta Huone Drops Album in the Theme of Light Pollutionhttps://thequietus.com/articles/33751-musta-huone-interview

“Friendship is like Whisky – the older the better”   Yes, my friends, it's our annual trek to Victoria's inner harbour for the 18th annual Victoria Whisky Festival and the Canadian Whisky Awards. It was the founder of the awards Davin de Kergomeaux who whispered in my ear wondering why I wasn't attending or tasting or writing about his Whisky Awards.  On second thought I think the voice in my ear was me saying “How could you possibly miss this?” just after I had missed the events about 6-7  years ago. I knew almost nothing about Whisky but my thinking was the same as wine – 17 years ago – every interview is going to be a master class. Pay attention and you could learn all about wine and pass it on to the listeners.     I'm pleased to welcome  to Tasting Room Radio – Davin de Kergommeaux – founder of the Canadian Whisky Awards. The Canadian Whisky Awards, held annually with the Victoria Whisky Festival, is the first and only competition dedicated solely to Canadian Whisky. The Awards have become the first stop for whisky producers, distributors, retailers and fans looking for the very best Canadian whiskies. Davin is the world's leading authority on Canadian Whisky. He also has three books available on Canadian Whisky with a fourth coming in March! Davin assembled 10 judges and sent them nearly 200 competing whiskies to blind taste.  Davin announces the winner in his interview. We talk to the winners next week. www.canadianwhiskyawards.com www.canadianwhisky.org [caption id="attachment_28306" align="alignnone" width="800"] Graeme Macaloney[/caption] Dr. Graeme Macaloney PEng, PhD. – Macaloney's Island Distillery (Saanich)   Proud owner of 5 world whisky awards including World best Potstill – Kildara. They are a non-chilled, filtered, no colour-added distillery. In our 8-10 minute interview, I think I asked 3 perhaps 4 questions – Dr. Graeme handled the rest. It was like a masterclass. A charming man in a Cameron Kilt. He won Gold for his 54ppm Peat Project. www.macaloneydistillers.com   Tish Harcus –  Manager Canadian Club Whisky since 1988.  Canadian Club itself since 1858. www.canadianclub.com James Neil – Bowmore Distillery. The oldest distillery in Islay. On the shores of Lochindaal since 1779. Also home to one of the world's oldest Scotch maturation warehouses – The No. 1 Vault. James poured Bowmore 22 Aston Martin www.bowmore.com They took part in the Great Whisky Debate with Micah Dew from Maker's Mark. Words flew, one-liners were exchanged and they still remain long-time friends. Micah was busy with a masterclass but we thank Tish and James for coming by. www.makersmark.com Chris Read –Shelter Point Distillery. Campbell River. Distinctly Vancouver Island. Uniquely Shelter Point. By the time Chris sat down we knew Shelter Point had won 2 Bronze medals for their Oak Cask Single Malt  (smoke, spices, honey, leather and a wiff of ocean) and their flagship Evans Family Reserve. (vanilla, tannins, dark chocolate, coconut, citrus, berries, cloves.) Chris explained the unique influences in their island location. It was like poetry. www.shelterpoint.ca  

Hot on the heels of The Adopting Bitcoin Conference 2023 Julian Figueroa of Kinetic Finance sits down with Mike Peterson to discuss art in Bitcoin culture, the Canadian Bitcoin scene and his future film projects. Peru is on the Horizon.What does it take to reach millions of viewers? Bitcoin art can be many things, short videos, long videos, documentaries, musicals or songs. Julian Figueroa and Mike Peterson dig deep into the details of what is possible.Julian Figueroa talks about a popular mini documentary he produced about a Canadian Whiskey maker from Campbell River who heats his Whiskey Barrels using a spinning liquid-immersed mining rig. Julian Figueroa is currently working a documentary project featuring Bitcoin adoption in Peru.https://geyser.fund/project/kineticperuWarming Up To Bitcoin - The Future of Sustainable Heating?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTRdmYX-0h8&t=156shttps://www.youtube.com/c/KineticFinanceLive From Bitcoin Beach

Tom is joined by Austin Moser live at Three Rivers Marine, they look around at some of the local angling opportunities, Tom recaps his Campbell River adventure, and they are joined by Joseph Princen of JPs Guide Service to get a look at the Olympic Peninsula. 

Bruce Edward Hornidge was born in 1948 in Belleville, Ontario, an Air Force brat growing up where his father was stationed in Gimli, Manitoba, and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Bruce finished school in 1967, joining his brother Brian at MacMillan Bloedel's Kennedy Lake logging division at Ucluelet on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. He was married on a very unusual snowy day in March 1973 and, with his wife, Minnie, raised two boys and a girl. He felled trees for twenty-six years. After losing his job in 1997, he became a security guard in Campbell River, Vancouver, and Vanderhoof, British Columbia. Bruce and his wife, now the Rev. Minnie Hornidge, live in Glen Williams, Ontario. There, Bruce gardens and knits. And writes. After more than two decades harvesting in the beauty of the forest, Hornidge was “loggershamed” as a “tree-killer” and faced soul-searing losses of identity and livelihood, part of the human fallout of the inevitable move away from a resource-based economy.Loggerheads is written from the unique, sometimes humorous, and even irreverent point of view of one of the many loggers in Ucluelet and Tofino whose forestry careers were cut short on the other side of the demonstrators' picket lines and government and company doublespeak. “In a three-week window, decades ago, I produced the bulk of this book in the form of a paper called ‘The Nightmare.' My goal was a story that is truthful, personal, and encompasses many of the issues in this complex problem,” Hornidge says.“Three decades after The War of the Woods, we know what happened, and we've been told why. There's a lot we were never told.” Endless Sky Books was founded by award-winning author and editor Edward Willett in 2023.http://endless-sky-books.com. The Douglas Coleman Show now offers audio and video promotional packages for music artists as well as video promotional packages for authors. We also offer advertising.Please see our website for complete details.http://douglascolemanshow.comIf you have a comment about this episode or any other,please click the link below.https://ratethispodcast.com/douglascolemanshowPlease help The Douglas Coleman Show continue to bring you high quality programs like this.Go to our Fundrazer page.https://fnd.us/e2CLX2?ref=sh_eCTqb8

Creative Photographer Marijka van Kuik joins Kristin for a live coaching call on this episode of the Dangerous Creatives podcast. She is right smack in the middle of a move to a new city and is preparing to rebuild her business in a way that can support her dreams and needs. They talk about raising prices, prioritizing yourself as a creative, and ways moving can actually build your business to be stronger than ever.  Marijka van Kuik is a creative portrait photographer, soon to be based out of Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada. She first picked up a camera at the age of 10 as a 4-H project, and now is working to take her photography business full-time at age 22. Creative portrait photography inspires her as it allows her to bring to life the magic within each model and show them how beautiful and amazing they are, and she hopes to make these portrait sessions a bigger part of her business moving forward. She brings a part of who she is to each photoshoot, especially through her Invisible Illness Awareness Project - where she acknowledges the hard things while also working to find the beauty in each individual story. Check Out the Mastermind ⁠⁠⁠⁠Dangerous Creatives Mastermind Connect with Marijka:  Instagram: @photographybymarijka Website: photographybymarijka.com  Currently Launching:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Danger School Online Course⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Book a discovery call to see which one of our programs might be best for you! Study Abroad Trips ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Kristin: ⁠⁠⁠  Instagram ⁠⁠⁠@⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠kristinsweeting⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Credits: Music by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@⁠⁠⁠shammydee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   Produced by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jen Madigan Creative⁠⁠

We are here on Vancouver Island for BC Bike Race and going to bring you inside the Ultimate Singletrack experience.Today's guest is someone you may not be familiar with, but you should keep an eye out. Eva Poidevin is a XCO racer from Canada that has been throwing her hand in the off-road endurance space this season. She has had a strong run at BCBR this year with several days on the podium, holding steady in 3rd overall with one-to-go and a stage win on Stage 6 in Campbell River. We chat about her season this year,  what it's like racing at BCBR with a deep field of women and how she got her start in the sport. Enjoy the conversation.  Thanks to Maxxis Tires for supporting this podcast and bringing you inside the action with athletes at the biggest off-road races in North America.Enjoy the show.Hosted by: @andrewlespyJoined by:  @e_poidevProduced by: Bill Schieken @cxhairs

This is part one of a two-part series about our 2023 Death Valley motorcycle trip. In May of 2023, members of Law Abiding Biker™ Media along with members of the Sworn Few LEMC embarked on a 10-day, 4000-mile, 5-state cross-country motorcycle trip. This trip would take us out of Washington State and into Oregon, California, Arizona, and Nevada. We stayed over in cities such as Redding, California, Furnace Creek, California, Huntington Beach, California,  Las Vegas, Nevada, Reno, Nevada, and Bend, Oregon. You can find the Harley-Davidson Ride Plan HERE.  We took several day trips on our adventure.  You can find the Harley-Davidson Ride Plans for Huntington Beach HERE, for Death Valley HERE, and for Las Vegas HERE.   There will be a motorcycle documentary film released later on this entire trip and experience! SEE ALL LAW ABIDING BIKER MEDIA DOCUMENTARY FILMS HERE! We visited many places and saw a ton of great country on our Death Valley motorcycle trip. We stayed at some good and not-so-good hotels and motels. We ate at some good restaurants and some bad ones. We experienced good and bad weather and a few of the bikes experienced some mechanical problems that had to be fixed. SUPPORT US AND SHOP IN THE OFFICIAL LAW ABIDING BIKER STORE We had some very funny times as a group and made memories that will last a lifetime. Everything that happened shaped the trip in some way. Listen in as we tell all the stories of our Midwest motorcycle trip. We also share tips and tricks to assist riders who may be thinking of a long-distance motorcycle road trip. CHECK OUT OUR HUNDREDS OF FREE HELPFUL VIDEOS ON OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL AND SUBSCRIBE! Our Patron Members support us financially, so we can continue to help as many bikes as we can worldwide. Of course, our Patron Members get benefits and exclusive access such as meetups.  Unfortunately, due to health reasons, I was unable to plan a Patron meetup this year.   There is usually an awesome day ride prepared for the members. We have plenty of time to visit and get to know each other on a more personal level. We normally end the day at a private location where the Patron Members enjoyed a catered dinner by Law Abiding Biker Media!  We look forward to doing a Patron Meetup Ride on our next summer trip.   NEW FREE VIDEO RELEASED: How To Rebuild Forks & Change Seals On A Harley-Davidson Motorcycle-Video-DIY Sponsor-Ciro 3D CLICK HERE! Innovative products for Harley-Davidson & Goldwing Affordable chrome, lighting, and comfort products Ciro 3D has a passion for design and innovation Sponsor-RickRak CLICK HERE The Ultimate Motorcycle Luggage Rack Solution Forget those messy straps and bungee cords Go strapless with a RickRak quick attach luggage system & quality bag Sponsor-Butt Buffer CLICK HERE Want to ride longer? Tired of a sore and achy ass? Then fix it with a high-quality Butt Buffer seat cushion? Patrons who attended the Patron Ride: CRAIG BOLLES of Sioux City, Iowa GERALD BOYER of Merced, California RICHARD ZBINDEN of Santa Clarita, California TERRY MCDONOUGH of Medford, Oregon CHARLES WILBURN of Minot, North Dakota BRIAN STOCK of Santa Clara, Utah KELLY SHEA of Delta, Colorado DAN NIELSEN of San Andreas, California JOHN BELANGER of Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada DOUG ERLENDSON of Santa Rosa, California BILL FISHER of Annabella, Utah DONALD RICHTER of Raymond, Washington KERRY CARASCO of Palmdale, California MICHAEL PELLEW of Grantsville, Utah DAVID THOMPSON of Nashua, New Hampshire If you appreciate the content we put out and want to make sure it keeps on coming your way then become a Patron too! There are benefits and there is no risk. Thanks to the following bikers for supporting us via a flat donation: Chidley of Huntington Beach, California Ted Theodore of Beaconsfiled, Quebec, Canada Ryan Lambright of Shipshewana, Indiana ________________________________________________________ FURTHER INFORMATION:   Official Website: http://www.LawAbidingBiker.com   Email & Voicemail: http://www.LawAbidingBiker.com/Contact   Podcast Hotline Phone: 509-731-3548 HELP SUPPORT US! JOIN THE BIKER REVOLUTION! #BikerRevolution #LawAbidingBiker

The director of civil forfeiture has filed a lawsuit seeking to seize the Devil's Army clubhouse in Campbell River. The B.C. government wants convicted killer and Hells Angels associate Richard Alexander to hand over the Campbell River clubhouse where he killed a man in 2016.Help us get to 10,000 subscribers on www.instagram.com/BlackDragonBikerTV on Instagram. Thank you!Follow us on TikTok www.tiktok.com/@blackdragonbikertv Subscribe to our new discord server https://discord.gg/dshaTSTGet 20% off Gothic biker rings by using my special discount code: blackdragon go to http://gthic.com?aff=147Subscribe to our online news magazine www.bikerliberty.comBuy Black Dragon Merchandise, Mugs, Hats, T-Shirts Books: https://blackdragonsgear.comDonate to our cause with Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BlackDragonNP Donate to our cause with PayPal https://tinyurl.com/yxudso8z Subscribe to our Prepper Channel “Think Tactical”: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-WnkPNJLZ2a1vfis013OAgSUBSCRIBE TO Black Dragon Biker TV YouTube https://tinyurl.com/y2xv69buKEEP UP ON SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackdragonbikertvTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/jbunchiiFacebook : https://www.facebook.com/blackdragonbikerGet my new Audio Book Prospect's Bible from these links: United States https://adbl.co/3OBsfl5United Kingdom https://adbl.co/3J6tQxTFrance https://bit.ly/3OFWTtfGermany https://adbl.co/3b81syQThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3267493/advertisement

Official Website: https://www.lawabidingbiker.com In this episode, I'm joined by Oscar and Lurch.  We talk about dirt, adventure bike riding, and Oscar's new Husqvarna FE450.  We love our touring bikes, but we've gotten into dirt and adventure riding over the last few years.  Oscar has a Kawasaki KLR650 in edition to his Harley-Davidson CVO Ultra.   Oscar has been wanting a lighter bike that is more dirt oriented so he can get into places that are difficult to get a KLR650 into.  The search for this bike was a long journey.  Oscar did a lot of research and ultimately landed on the Husqvarna FE450.   Oscar explains why he chose the Husqvarna FE450.  If you're looking for a dirtbike, maybe it's the one for you.   SUPPORT US AND SHOP IN THE OFFICIAL LAW ABIDING BIKER STORE The weight of the bike was important to Oscar.  The Husqvarna came in at 250 pounds.  A lot of the other bikes of the same size were 50 to even 100 pounds heavier.  The Yamaha WR450F was a front-runner, but Oscar was unable to find one at a reasonable price.  The new ones are hard to come by and the price is too high for the used ones.   CHECK OUT OUR HUNDREDS OF FREE HELPFUL VIDEOS ON OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL AND SUBSCRIBE! Oscar, Lurch, Big Daddy, and I will be attending the Tourtech Rally in Plain, Washington.  Plain is near Leavenworth.  The rally is June 22-25, 2023.  We hope to see you there! Of course, we'll be filming the whole trip.  Keep an eye out on our YouTube Channel for the video.   NEW FREE VIDEO RELEASED: Lurch Gets His First Adventure Motorcycle-2022 Kawasaki KLR650 Sponsor-Ciro 3D CLICK HERE! Innovative products for Harley-Davidson & Goldwing Affordable chrome, lighting, and comfort products Ciro 3D has a passion for design and innovation Sponsor-RickRak CLICK HERE The Ultimate Motorcycle Luggage Rack Solution Forget those messy straps and bungee cords Go strapless with a RickRak quick attach luggage system & quality bag Sponsor-Butt Buffer CLICK HERE Want to ride longer? Tired of a sore and achy ass? Then fix it with a high-quality Butt Buffer seat cushion? New Patrons: Keith Higdon of Florissant, Missouri Jeff Frishof of Redwood City, California Rich Vollenweider of Mamaroneck, New York Carl Pate of Mena, Arkansas Gerald Boyer of Merced, California John Belanger of Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada If you appreciate the content we put out and want to make sure it keeps on coming your way then become a Patron too! There are benefits and there is no risk. Thanks to the following bikers for supporting us via a flat donation: Peter Hando John Cimellaro of Newnan, Georgia Douglas Emerson ________________________________________________________ FURTHER INFORMATION:   Official Website: http://www.LawAbidingBiker.com   Email & Voicemail: http://www.LawAbidingBiker.com/Contact   Podcast Hotline Phone: 509-731-3548 HELP SUPPORT US! JOIN THE BIKER REVOLUTION! #BikerRevolution #LawAbidingBiker