Originally published in the South Cowichan Echo. Posted with Peter Rusland’s permission By Peter W. Rusland Peter Rusland A veil of legal secrecy concerning severance of several Cowichan region staffers was lifted in documents Read more…
Continue readingTag: CVRD
Cowichan Conversations: A Curious Situation Has Developed the Cowichan Valley Regional District.
Dara Quast A curious situation has developed at our Regional District. Our staff is leaving, in droves. In a large organization such as the CVRD there is bound to be staff turnover. In 2014 Read more…
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Opinion: Will future of food be an election plank?
This piece comes from the Edmonton Journal and applies to all of Western Canada, very much including our Cowichan Valley. We can look back and see significant increases in our food production and array of Read more…
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Goodbye To The Historic Voice Of Our Community: The Closing of the News Leader Pictorial
Staff of the Cowichan Leader, 1954 CVMA By Peter W. Rusland Peter Rusland If anyone had told me a year ago my beloved Cowichan News Leader Pictorial would be closed, dead and Read more…
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Roger’s Bid To Improve Reception and Access For Cobble Hill Will Be Decided At CVRD’s Wednesday Meeting
Richard Hughes I am puzzled, as I am sure many readers will be, to learn that the CVRD Electoral Area Directors have by a 5-4 vote followed a staff recommendation rejecting support for a Read more…
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: West Coast Environmental Law Supports Community Action Regarding Proposed Gravel Mine on Balme Ayre Farm
A petition to the Supreme Court of British Columbia has been filed on behalf of concerned Cowichan Valley residents by Ms. McKenzie requesting a judicial review of the Agricultural Land Commission’s approval to extract Read more…
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: CVRD CAO Brian Carruthers Reveals The Details Of Court Action To Stop SIA Cold.
Richard Hughes The CVRD has spent over 3 years and well in excess of 600,000 dollars of our money flip flopping about over the South Island Aggregates (SIA) plan to import 5 million tonnes Read more…
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Rob Douglas & Roger Hart’s Big Idea Series Focuses On Small Business in Cowichan—Local Ownership
Does local ownership of the economy matter? Rob Douglas Here is Big Idea No.5 Local Ownership from Rob Douglas and Roger Hart regarding economic development and the potential of expanding co-operatives in Read more…
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: The CVRD Has Amended Their Petition Over Bylaws To Halt SIA’s Contaminated Site Facility
Here is the CVRD’s late Friday release. In communications circles late Fridays are the time to deliver unpleasant news, firings, and the like. I spoke with CAO Brian Carruthers and he confirmed that the change Read more…
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Protesters Blockade Contaminated Soil Site in Shawnigan Lake
Protesting Shawnigan residents show no signs of giving up or backing down over the BC Liberal government’s approval allowing South Island Aggregates (SIA) to dump 5 million tonnes of contaminated soils on their Stebbings Read more…
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: NC Councillor Rob Douglas-Roger Hart—Big Idea No. 3: Community Investment Funds
Here is the Big Idea No.3 from Rob Douglas and Roger Hart regarding economic development and the potential of expanding co-operatives in the Cowicham Region. Big Idea No.3: Community Investment Funds Rob Douglas-North Cowichan Read more…
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: *Big Idea No.2: Anchor Institutions*–Rob Douglas-Roger Hart On Local Economic Development in the Cowichan Region.
Rob Douglas and Roger Hart have rolled up their sleeves and prepared economic development options for Cowichan that are a refreshing alternative that makes a good deal of sense. Well worth the read and your Read more…
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Judith Lavoie on the Shawnigan Contaminated Soil Battle
This article was originally carried in Victoria’s Focus Online. It covers the issue well but misses the crucial matter of the CVRD Shawnigan land use bylaws that prohibit treating and processing materials from off site. Read more…
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: The gap between the 1 percent and the 99 percent is widening-Co-operatives could narrow that spread in Cowichan
Here is another instalment from Rob Douglas and Roger Hart regarding economic development and the potential of expanding co-operatives in the Cowicham Region. BIG IDEA #1: CO-OPERATIVES Rob Douglas-North Cowichan Councillor The gap between Read more…
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Shawnigan’s Challenges Demand Reform At The CVRD
Richard Hughes- Political Blogger Sonia Furstenau was elected as Shawnigan’s CVRD Director last November. She inherited a horror show left by the former Doctor Director Bruce Fraser. When news of South Island Aggregates (SIA) Read more…
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Director Furstenau faces the threat of 5 million tonnes of contaminated soil being dumped in the Shawnigan Watershed
Richard Hughes-Political Blogger Sonia Furstenau was elected as Director, November 2014 to represent the Shawnigan community at the CVRD Board Table. She was immediately immersed in the struggle to stop the importation of 5 Read more…
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Economic development is an area of growing interest to local governments across Canada
This is the first of a five part series examining a different approach to beneficial economic development in the Cowichan Valley. Rob Douglas-North Cowichan Councillor Economic development is an area of growing interest to Read more…
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: NDP MLA Bill Routley Presses Minister To Test Leachate To Determine Impacts To Shawnigan Residents Drinking Water
BC Government issued a ‘Stop Work’ order instructing SIA to supply full reports on their activities. This is to be reviewed this Friday by MOE. Cowichan NDP MLA Bill Routley has been Read more…
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: The One Percent Tax Resolution-Local Government Is Being Squeezed
THE ONE PERCENT TAX RESOLUTION NC Councillor Rob Douglas Every year, elected officials from Vancouver Island, Sunshine Coast, Powell River and the Central Coast meet for the general meeting and convention of the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC). They debate and vote on a wide range of
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Screw the Law! — BC Liberal Government Rides Roughshod Over Cowichan Communities
Richard Hughes-Political Blogger The BC Liberal government’s Mines ministry has fully embraced a new political tactic. Screw the law, it is all about rewarding businesses to plunder at will. South Cowichan residents face two significant challenges that has the BC Liberal government riding roughshod over local government land use jurisdiction
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