October
•West Vancouver business and community leaders were pouring salt water on the province’s plan to study a highway link to the Sunshine Coast. A new highway to a new community would only mean more traffic for the North Shore’s already choked bottlenecks, according to West Vancouver Mayor Michael Smith.
•A public information session for the proposed George Hotel and Residences project attracted more than just interested residents. Town of Gibsons staff and development experts were joined by the Gibsons Waterfront Defense Association who shared conflicting information on the hotel project.
•The District of Sechelt was getting closer to crafting a water conservation plan after a second e-town hall meeting on the issue was held Sept. 29.
•The zoning and Official Community Plan bylaw amendments for the proposed George Hotel and Residences project were adopted unanimously by all Gibsons council members on Oct. 6, excluding Silas White, who recused himself due to conflict of interest, and Mayor Wayne Rowe.
•Local hero John Phare was recognized for his bravery and dedication to the Sunshine Coast community on Oct. 6 as the first recipient of the Medal of Good Citizenship. The award was presented to Phare’s fiancée Kimiko Hawkes by B.C. Premier Christy Clark.
•Close to 450 people attended the public hearing for the George Hotel and Residences Official Community Plan and zoning bylaw amendments on Oct. 1. Out of 90 speakers at the public hearing, the crowd was almost evenly split between support and opposition for the bylaw amendments.
•Questions about pipelines and tankers, residential schools and legalizing marijuana touched close to home at an Oct. 2 all-candidates meeting. Questions about post-secondary fees, the long form census and the wearing of the niqab got the biggest reactions from a crowd of more than 100 people assembled.
•There was much controversy over Conservative candidate John Weston’s choice not to attend an Oct. 2 all-candidates meeting in Sechelt, which organizers said he agreed to in early September.
•The final all-candidates meeting on the Sunshine Coast saw the riding’s four main-party candidates talk about protecting Canada’s democracy, the country’s role in combating terrorism and their stance on immigration. Green Party candidate Ken Melamed, NDP candidate Larry Koopman, Liberal candidate Pam Goldsmith-Jones and incumbent Conservative candidate John Weston attended the evening debate on Oct. 8, hosted by the Sechelt and District Chamber of Commerce.
•Incumbent MP Conservative candidate John Weston went on the offensive, attacking the record of Liberal candidate Pam Goldsmith-Jones during his opening remarks at an all-candidates luncheon hosted by the Sechelt and District Chamber of Commerce on Oct. 8.
•Three Sunshine Coast residents shared the $1 million they won by way of a Lotto 6/49 guaranteed prize draw on Oct. 3. Carol Sawchuk, Brent Davey and Ronald Colpitts came forward to claim the $1-million prize on Oct. 8.
•Squamish Nation chiefs and council voted to grant an environmental certificate for the Woodfibre LNG facility proposal slated for Squamish.
•Some forms of crime were on the rise in Sechelt due to the number of homeless in the area, according to Sunshine Coast RCMP Staff Sgt. Vishal Mathura.
•A severe lack of funding and the need for a coordinator delayed the opening of the Sunshine Coast’s only homeless shelter and cut the number of days it would be available during the season.
•Liberal candidate Pamela Goldsmith-Jones sailed to an easy victory in West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country, receiving more votes than all of the other candidates combined. The former West Vancouver mayor joined Prime Minister-Elect Justin Trudeau’s 184-seat Liberal majority government in Ottawa.
•The Sechelt Nation was “ecstatic” about the election of a Liberal majority government in Canada, Chief Calvin Craigan said.
•With the election behind her, the Sunshine Coast’s new Member of Parliament – Liberal Pam Goldsmith-Jones – said she would reach across party lines to help people with differing viewpoints work together.
•Sunshine Coast resident Casandra Fletcher had no idea that writing an online letter to Prime Minister-Elect Justin Trudeau would go viral – but it did, with over 31,000 shares in just two days. Trudeau responded to her in a Facebook post shortly after. “Casandra, I’ve read your letter with great interest and admiration,” he wrote. “Your honesty and frank words have resonated across the country, and I take them to heart.”
•Frank White, pioneer, raconteur and author of bestselling books, died Oct. 18 at his home in Garden Bay. White claimed to be British Columbia’s oldest active author when he published his memoir, That Went by Fast: My First Hundred Years, at the age of 100 in 2014.
•BC Ferries abandoned diplomacy and took a hard line, saying it was no longer willing to talk about fare equity or restoring cut sailings on the Langdale to Horseshoe Bay route.
•The Woodfibre LNG project received provincial environmental approval, but it was felt federal approval could be harder to come by after the Liberal election win.
November
•Vancouver Coastal Health cleaning staff who weren’t rehired when VCH switched cleaning contractors said they were targeted for speaking up to management and making waves at work. Former Sechelt Hospital cleaner Beau Roy said all 11 workers on the Lower Sunshine Coast who weren’t rehired were qualified and met the new employer’s requirements.
•Gibsons council voted on Nov. 3 to continue with the process of transferring money out of the parks acquisition fund and decided – pending ministerial approval of the transfer – to contribute $275,000 towards the expansion of the Gibsons Public Market. Two delegations spoke at the committee of the whole meeting earlier to request funding from the parks fund. Donna Thomas from For the Love of Gospel Rock said the fund should be put towards the purchase of Gospel Rock.
•The District of Sechelt was considering how best to use reclaimed water from its new wastewater treatment plant, and about 40 residents came out to give their input during a town hall meeting on the issue.
•Crime was up and police presence was down on the Sunshine Coast, RCMP Sgt. Steve Chubey told members of the Sunshine Coast Policing Committee. Chubey said the local detachment ran on “almost critical” numbers this past summer and was in need of five more able-bodied members.
•More than 1,300 people up and down the Sunshine Coast attended Remembrance Day services at ceremonies in Gibsons, Roberts Creek, Sechelt and Pender Harbour. The Sechelt service was the largest, drawing an estimated 500 people who congregated at the cenotaph under sunny skies with a massive Canadian flag hanging as a backdrop on Cowrie Street.
•Military veteran Fran Caravan was the only disabled veteran from the Sunshine Coast to take the field for the salute to veterans at the BC Lions’ half-time show on Nov. 7.
•Al Mulholland – a man well known on the Sunshine Coast for his decade of work with Community Futures, his Rotary volunteerism and his trademark laugh – passed away Nov. 8 at Sechelt Hospital. He was 65.
•The Sports Fishing Advisory Committee met on Nov. 9 with a record turnout of almost 70 people in attendance at the Chapman Creek Hatchery. One of the major concerns addressed was the lack of any fisheries officers on the Lower Sunshine Coast.
•Owners of S&M Medicinal Sweet Shoppe, Michelle and Doug Sikora, want the District of Sechelt to license, regulate and limit the number of medicinal marijuana dispensaries allowed within its jurisdiction, and they took their plea to the public on Nov. 8.
•The District of Sechelt was one vote away from adopting a new medical marijuana zoning bylaw that would restrict where future medicinal pot facilities could operate.
•Sechelt council told South Coast Ford general manager Brad Copping he would have to take down his new electronic sign erected on Wharf Avenue or face fines of up to $120 a day.
•Thanks to a major donation from CIBC for the construction of a community kitchen in the Gibsons Public Market, the fundraising arm of the community hub is $100,000 closer to its goal.
•Rev. Clarence Li of the Sunshine Coast’s only homeless shelter was mourning the loss of a regular shelter user who was found dead outside a Gibsons business in the early morning of Nov. 14. The body of the homeless 56-year-old Native man was found on a bench in the 800 block of Gibsons Way. The homeless shelter in Sechelt had not opened yet for the season.
•At the request of Roberts Creek director Mark Lebbell, the SCRD discussed taxing people at the pump to help subsidize local transit plans. Lebbell put the idea forward at a Nov. 5 infrastructure services committee meeting after hearing from staff that there wouldn’t be any money from the province for transit expansion this year.
•Powell River city council was considering a self-run ferry service in the wake of issues with fewer BC Ferries runs and increased economic isolation.
•The pilot project A GP for Me was deemed a success on the Coast since it launched in April – and governments and organizations were being asked for their support to keep at least part of it going when funding dries up in March of next year.
•Sunshine Coast RCMP said they may be performing DNA analysis of blood left at the Roberts Creek Legion after it was broken into just hours after Remembrance Day ceremonies took place on the site. The break-in occurred shortly before 4 a.m. on Nov. 12.
•B.C. government consultant Barry Penner completed his report on the dock management situation in Pender Harbour. The report was being reviewed by the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations.
•The building at Armours Beach was set to be torn down after a contractor is selected for the demolition job. The asbestos insulation was removed last summer, but there are still major problems with the building, including termites, rot and structural damage.
•News of a homeless man dying outdoors – while the Sunshine Coast’s only shelter lacked the means to open – sparked quick action from the community and the provincial government. Harry Paul, 56, was found dead on a bench outside a Gibsons business on Nov. 14. Two days after the story appeared in Coast Reporter, thousands of dollars had been raised by the community, BC Housing had sent a team to Sechelt to open the shelter immediately, and the provincial ministry pledged $40,000 to fund nightly operations until the end of March.
•The Sunshine Coast Hiring Fair on Nov. 20 at the Gibsons and Area Community Centre was well attended by 190 people from a wide variety of employment backgrounds.
•District of Sechelt councilors expressed no interest in licensing and regulating medicinal marijuana dispensaries until the federal laws change. S&M Sweet Shoppe co-owner Michelle Sikora made a pitch for regulation and licensing of dispensaries at the Nov. 18 council meeting, but council wasn’t receptive.
•People, churches and local businesses on the Sunshine Coast showed strong support for the Syrian refugees attempting to escape the war that has been raging in their country for the last four and a half years. A fundraiser gala on Nov. 7 hosted by the Christian Life Assembly brought in a little over $1,000 to help a refugee family make their way to the Coast, and CLA administrator Maria McMullen said this was just the beginning.
December
•Sunshine Coast RCMP raided S&M Medicinal Sweet Shoppe on Nov. 28, seizing over $100,000 worth of product and merchandise in an effort to shut down the medicinal marijuana candy producers, who were operating out of a residential home in the Selma Park area.
“Due to the seizures we made relating to their products and logistics, we believe the business was essentially forced to shut down after the execution of the warrant,” Const. Harrison Mohr told Coast Reporter. “However, at this time, no orders have been issued preventing the business from restarting.”
•The fourth top executive to fill the shoes of long-time Sunshine Coast Community Services Society (SCCSS) executive director Vicki Dobbyn handed in her resignation. Valerie MacLean’s last day with SCCSS will be Jan. 11.
•The number of Coast youth abusing drugs and alcohol jumped by 60 per cent since last year, and cocaine is fast becoming the drug of choice for teens, according to reports from the Sunshine Coast Youth Outreach Program.
•The province issued a request for proposals (RFP) on Nov. 26 seeking a consultant to undertake the Sunshine Coast fixed link study. The study will aim to find a feasible alternative to ferry transportation between the Coast and the Lower Mainland and will examine at least four possible fixed link routes.
•Coast business Holy Crap is scheduled to reappear on CBC’s Dragons’ Den Second Chance special on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. “We’re thrilled to be back in the Den,” said Holy Crap founder Corin Mullins.
•A Braun Geotechnical review found that ongoing sinkhole development should be expected at the Seawatch subdivision and residents were stuck in limbo while the District of Sechelt decided what to do about it. Sechelt Mayor Bruce Milne encouraged residents to come together in a class action lawsuit in order to find “a mutually satisfactory omnibus solution” to the problem.
•With a Coast-wide economic development charter signed, the search for people to sit on the board of a Sunshine Coast regional economic development entity was set to begin.
•Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country MP Pam Goldsmith-Jones as parliamentary secretary to Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion just before MPs returned to the House of Commons.
•The Elves Club received record donations through the Elves Club Telethon and the Gibsons firefighter boot drive on Dec. 5. The Telethon brought in close to $24,000, nearly half of which came from the firefighters who raised $11,000. Elves Club president Lynn Nestman said the telethon was their “best ever.”
•School District No. 46 (SD46) was contemplating a change to the student health regulation that would allow “mature minors” to consent to immunizations at school without the consent of parents. The change to the regulation would bring SD46 in line with what the rest of public schools in the province are doing, board chair Betty Baxter said.
•A community effort to refloat a beached sailboat in Granthams Landing – deemed “a clear and present danger” to the wharf and waterfront properties on Marine Drive – put the derelict vessel issue back at the top of political agendas. According to some Granthams residents, the boat, about 15 metres long and missing its mast, had been adrift in the area since late November, before running aground sometime on Dec. 3.
•Harry Almond was honoured for his many years of service with Sunshine Coast Search and Rescue (SC SAR) at the annual appreciation dinner on Nov. 28. Almond – nearly 93 – is the longest serving member of SC SAR, possibly even the longest serving SAR member in Canada.
•Police-based victim services coordinator Wayne Spychka addressed the Town of Gibsons council on Dec. 15 with a request for “secure, sustained” funding for the program.
•Strong winds and rain pounded the Coast, culminating in a storm that left many residents without power for over 24 hours due to several trees falling across power lines. On Dec. 12, more than 3,600 homes on the Coast were without power for periods ranging from one hour to a full day as crews worked to clear downed trees and repair power lines between Langdale and Egmont.
•Town of Gibsons staff planned to work with the Sunshine Coast Affordable Housing Society and Click Homes on phase one of an affordable housing project that will identify parcels of land owned by the Town for possible development.
•Sechelt councillors wanted more information and a detailed plan before making decisions about a proposal for renovations at the Sechelt Public Library.
•Sechelt Your Independent Grocer (previously Extra Foods) opened its new store to over 100 people waiting at the door for the grand opening on Dec. 11 at 5530 Sunshine Coast Hwy.
•Residents learned the partial closure of Howe Sound Pulp and Paper would result in a loss of nearly $200,000 from major industry taxation for the SCRD in 2016, upping taxes for homeowners across the Coast.
•Capilano University Faculty Association officials said the sustainability of the Sechelt campus is in question because of an “incremental erosion of programming.”
•SCRD directors were looking at a possible bill of $300,000 to replace the hot tub at the Gibsons and District Aquatic Facility. The hot tub is currently in disrepair and closed to the public.
•An 81-year-old Halfmoon Bay woman died Wednesday, Dec. 16 after the car she was driving veered off Highway 101 near Trout Lake in Halfmoon Bay. The woman’s passenger – her 12-year-old grandson from Toronto – was taken to Sechelt Hospital, then airlifted to Children’s Hospital in critical condition, but was expected to make a full recovery from the head injuries he received, Sunshine Coast RCMP said.
•The Sunshine Coast Secret Santa (SCSS) added five more families to its nice list, making a total of 21 families on the Coast who received hampers this year. This year SCSS raised just over $20,000 for the hampers; last year they raised about $38,000.
