PENINSULA
NEWS
Established 1912
Getting owly
Ocean Discovery Centre fundraiser
Barn owls rescued from the Thrifty Foods warehouse are released into the wild, page 11
Camosun College hospitality management students host inaugural event, page 22
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
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Make it legal: MLA Follow U.S. lead on pot in ths province says MLA Kash Heed Tom Fletcher Black Press
VICTORIA — B.C. political leaders should stop pointing fingers at Ottawa and follow the lead of U.S. states on marijuana legalization, Vancouver-Fraserview MLA Kash Heed says. A former B.C. public safety minister and commanding officer of the Vancouver Police drug and gang units, Heed spoke out as voters in Washington, Oregon and Colorado prepared to vote Tuesday on initiatives to regulate and tax the sale of marijuana for adults. Heed said Premier Christy Clark and NDP leader Adrian Dix have no difficulty speaking out about federally regulated interprovincial pipelines, but both defer Kash Heed to the federal jurisdiction on marijuana law. Action is needed to address the gang violence that goes along with the marijuana trade, he said. “There’s a lot of hypocrisy going around Victoria right now,” Heed said in an interview. “They’re speaking out of both sides of their mouths on different issues.” Both Clark and Dix have admitted to trying marijuana in their younger days. PLEASE SEE: B.C. not ready yet, page 2
Devon MacKenzie/News staff
Saanich Peninsula Hospital Auxiliary members Norma Stewart, Lorraine Jakimchuk and Berva Farr, show off the Christmas puddings they made for the organization’s bazaar on Nov. 17.
Sidney wants business harmony Town councillor Steve Price is after one business group: a BIA is OK, too Steven Heywood News staff
As support grows for a business improvement area in downtown Sidney, one town councillor is calling for the disparate business groups to combine their efforts, no matter the outcome of this latest BIA proposal. More than 10 business owners stood before Sidney town council on Oct. 29, expressing their support for a BIA, which would market the downtown to potential
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customers locally and around the Island. The business community itself — not town hall — would have to approve the BIA (50 per cent of owners, representing 50 per cent of assessed commercial value in the downtown) in a voting process, run by either the proponents or the town (see sidebar). The Town of Sidney would then become the collector of its fees. The proponents of the BIA, the Sidney Business Development Group (SBDG), still have challenges to overcome — not the least of which is the town’s history with
proposed BIAs. The most recent initiatives have all failed and some people in the business community are either against it, or uncertain. That’s why the SBDG is meeting with as many people as possible, says chair Cliff McNeil-Smith. “We plan to meet soon with the entire (Saanich Peninsula) chamber board to talk about how the BIA group can work with them,” he told council. PLEASE SEE: Town could step in soon, page 7