TUESDAY OCTOBER 9, 2012
www.pqbnews.com
Official newspaper of the Save-On-Foods Oceanside Generals
ONE WOMAN VAUDEVILLE
THIS GUY’S GOT PIPES
Impersonator brings awardwinning show to Parksville
Local metal master helping save dogs in Mexico
A25
A4
NEW HEALTH CENTRE
On time, on budget Negotiations continue with X-ray, lab services AUREN RUVINSKY
writer@pqbnews.com
The Oceanside Health Centre is right on schedule and budget, according to the Vancouver Island Health Authority. The second floor of the 3,640 square metre (39,000 sq.ft.) facility is currently being framed and the hope is to have the roof on by the end of the October and the facility remains on track to open in July 2013, said VIHA spokesperson Suzanne Germain. The health authority is making progress but haven’t completed negotiations with X-ray and lab services that are expected to relocate into the facility, said Germain. A need for the urgent and primary care health facility has been recognized in the area for nearly 20 years, and construction began this year. Formal studies date back to 2001 and things started rolling in early 2009, but as recent as the beginning of this year, there was little solid progress. After an Expressions of Interest process of more than a year, VIHA selected a Lower Mainland company to build and operate the facility in a public private partnership (P3) model. The following year, VIHA announced they would build it themselves but have never explained the change. Amid the questions and occasional protests about the lack of progress, VIHA held a surprise ground breaking on January 27 this year. Budgeted at $15.8 million, local residents will pay 40 per cent through regional district property taxes estimated at $1.54 per $100,000 of property value. Its opening will coincide with the addition of 10 “health practitioners” to the region’s 36 physicians, though Germain couldn’t specify what kind of professionals would be part of those 10. See MAJOR, page A5
BRENDA GOUGH PHOTO
LOOKING BACK: former volunteer firefighter John Pickard has a seat in one of the original Errington Volunteer Fire Department trucks. The department is holding its annual open house on Oct. 14. See story page A7.
GREAT WEATHER NOT GOOD FOR EVERYONE
No rain means no mushrooms Buyer hasn’t purchased one chanterelle this year from area pickers
NEIL HORNER
news@pqbnews.com
The weather is beautiful on Central Vancouver Island this fall, but don’t tell that to Keith Hunter or the people he serves. They’re looking for rain, soon, and lots of it. Hunter is the driving force behind First Nations Wildcrafters in Port Alberni, which buys natural products collected from Island forests. One of the main products he sells is chanterelle
mushrooms, but it’s starting to look like there could be at best a poor season for mushrooms, or maybe even no real season at all. And every day the sky remains cloudless and the ground stays dry makes that possibility ever more real. To date, Hunter hasn’t purchased a single chanterelle from area pickers, a far cry from the season three years ago when his first shipment went out in early August. “That was considered early,” he said.
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“Last year we didn’t start until midSeptember, because we were waiting on quality. When they come up early they can be dry and we sell into the produce market, so they want shelf life.” The end of the yellow chanterelle season comes when the ground freezes and Hunter noted there has been frost in the Alberni Valley over the last couple of nights, although he stressed it’s not enough to hurt the mushrooms — yet. See ‘ . . . IT’S, page A3
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