Don Maroc – Cowichan Conversations Blogger While late Christmas shoppers slipped into panic mode on December 22, a development-at-any-cost foursome on the Duncan City council ramrodded through fourth reading of a motion to permit Vlado Brcic’s Dakova Group to build a 36-condo, five-story monster, with street-level retail shops at Duncan’s
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Cowichan Conversations: In the First Game of the New Season at Duncan City Council the Guys Beat the Girls 4-3.
Don Maroc In November, with the council ready to okay 4th and final reading of a rezoning to allow Edmonton-California developer Vlado Brcic to proceed with the purchase of the prime Duncan real estate at the corner of Government St. and Canada Ave. and construction of a five-story, $11 million,
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Maroc-Black Days Ahead For Cowichan Newspapers
Don Maroc – Cowichan Conversations Six weeks of trying to keep warm by a small propane fire. Six weeks of carrying picket signs, of waving at horn-blowing motorists, explaining to passers-by why they are outside the offices of the News-Leader-Pictorial, when their jobs are inside the building. These selfless people,
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Seniors Advocate for B.C and the Elder Care Co-op
Don Maroc by Don Maroc Last Wednesday, at the Cowichan Community Centre, Isobel Mackenzie, newly appointed Seniors Advocate for B.C., spent two hours listening to the concerns of about 50 seniors and explaining the functions of her new office. The following day a committee of the Cowichan Elder Care Co-operative
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: An Innovative and Creative New CVRD Board Has Been Born.
Don Maroc December 3rd, 7 p.m., second floor of the Ingram Street Cowichan Valley Regional District offices, the Board of Directors meeting room, all seats for the public are filled, people standing along the walls and the hallway is filled with spectators. At the request of Corporate Secretary Joe Barry
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: The Winds of Change Have Altered the Cowichan Valley Political Landscape
Don Maroc Maybe it is the product of the incredible crisp autumn air, the brilliant azure blue sky, and the warm rays of the November sun that brought clarity to the minds of Cowichan Valley voters when marking their ballots for the 2014 local government elections. The Duncan and North
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: 400 Citizens Took in the 2014 North Cowichan Council Debate in Chemainus
Don Maroc – Cowichan Conversations “This is democracy in action,” said Al Siebring, candidate for the North Cowichan council, looking out over some 400 citizens assembled in the Chemainus Secondary School gym for an all candidates meeting. Eighteen of the 20 council hopefuls delivered short statements of their positions
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Seventeen candidates vying for seven seats on the Cowichan School Board of Trustees
Don Maroc by Don Maroc Seventeen candidates vying for seven seats on the Cowichan School District Board of Trustees took the Quamichan school stage before about 75 residents on Thursday (Oct.30th) evening. There were 17 individual pitches made by the candidates for the audience’s votes. But a majority of the candidates have
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: North Cowichan Candidates Pitch Voters at Maple Bay All Candidates Meeting
Don Maroc-Political Blogger by Don Maroc A couple of hundred people jammed the Maple Bay Firehall for the election season’s first all-candidates meeting Wednesday evening, getting their first look at all 23 candidates competing for North Cowichan’s six municipal council seats and the mayor’s chair. The issue on top of
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Frank Raimondo is a Master of Interpretation and Manipulation of Legal Rules and Regulations
Don Maroc-Political Blogger At the Cowichan Valley Regional District (CVRD) board meeting June 11, temporary Chief Administrator (CAO) Frank Raimondo stopped the proceedings with a suggestion that the issue about to be considered should be sent back to staff for a legal opinion. Seasoned by many years of experience the
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Whoo-Who Ever Thought That It Would Happen?
Don Maroc-Political Blogger The voting is not quite over but the decision is made. By a near unanimous agreement, after a last minute plea from a baby owl, North Cowichan council is supporting Mayor Jon Lefebure’s compromise division of Echo Heights’ 52-acre forest. After nearly a decade of shifting alliances and
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Spring Compromise A Breath of Fresh Air In Echo Heights
Don Maroc-Political Blogger With a majority of the North Cowichan Council determined to make a final decision on the use of Echo Heights’ 52-acre forest, Mayor Jon Lefebure has come forward with a compromise plan he hopes will bring an armistice and final agreement to end the almost decade-long
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: “Nanaimo’s New Medical Marijuana Facility Shipped the First Package Of Its Product Last Week.”
Don Maroc-Political Blogger The Victoria Times Colonist gleefully announced, “Nanaimo’s new medical marijuana facility shipped the first package of its product last week.” The Tilray plant, located in the Duke Point industrial park, is no ‘mom and pop” operation. It is a full-fledged 60,000 square foot corporate space, worth, they
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: North Cowichan Council Faceoff Against Echo Heights Preservationists
By Don Maroc With the public seating area of the North Cowichan Municipal council chambers filled with Chemainus residents wanting to leave the fifty- plus acres of Echo Heights forest land undisturbed, the council voted four to two for first and second reading of bylaw No. 3542, to start the
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: More Maroc Messaging For BC NDP’s John Horgan
An Addendum to A Public Letter to John Horgan, MLA, Next Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition Don Maroc You’re right John. the original letter was loaded with enough responsibilities without adding more but a couple of your potential friends pointed out omissions. Alexandra Morton, the indomitable champion of B.C.’s
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: North Cowichan Councillor Jennifer Woike Is Suddenly Flush With Creative Ideas
Don Maroc North Cowichan Councillor Jennifer Woike is suddenly flush with creative ideas meant to save money for municipal taxpayers. First she wants to amalgamate North Cowichan and Duncan as the first step towards a unified regional government. Ona a different tack she wants to study the use of Public-Private-Partnerships
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: North Cowichan Councillor Jennifer Woike Is Suddenly Flush With Creative Ideas
Don Maroc – Cowichan Conversations Contributor NC Councillor Woike wants amalgamation with Duncan and to do away with the CVRD North Cowichan Councillor Jennifer Woike is suddenly flush with creative ideas meant to save money for municipal taxpayers. First she wants to amalgamate North Cowichan and Duncan as the first step
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Shawnigan’s Discovery Elementary School Drama May Be Nearing Resolution
Don Maroc-Cowichan Conversations Contributor Act one of the Discovery Elementary school drama of misguided, overzealous parents disrupting classroom decorum and taking advantage of school district authorities’ well-meaning efforts at accommodation has run its course. Let school district policy makers, whether elected school trustees or a province imposed single trustee, take
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: City of Duncan Parking Tickets Made Easy
Don Maroc – Cowichan Conversations Contributor The tickets you receive from the City of Duncan commissionaires remain the same but, according to Karen Burley, Director of Corporate Services, it will no longer be necessary for you to go to court. As it now stands those who dispute bylaw violation must appear before
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: The CVRD Has Established a Special Committee to Investigate Management Compensation.
Don Maroc-Cowichan Conversations Contributor With rumblings of discontent at over-large salaries growing around the board table, a $200,000-a-year man sent down the road carrying a bag of gold, and an election coming up in November, the Cowichan Valley Regional District (CVRD) has established a special committee to investigate management compensation.
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