TUESDAY MARCH 5, 2013
www.pqbnews.com
BCYCNA
Silver 2011 General Excellence
HELPING FIRE VICTIMS
JO DUNN IS CITIZEN OF YEAR
Proceeds of events to help two Nanoose Bay families
Glassies honour Parksville’s best in business and community involvement
A15
A3
NDP LEADER VISITS PARKSVILLE
Raising debate
Adrian Dix says he wants to take high road NEIL HORNER news@pqbnews.com
New Democrat leader Adrian Dix doesn’t want to undo everything the Liberal government has done over their tenure and he doesn’t want to destroy the Liberal party. He wants what’s best for them, he told a crowd of 300 at the Parksville Community and Conference Centre Saturday. It’s just that what he sees as being best for them is a term or two on the opposition side of the legislature. The event, held as a fundraiser for ParksvilleQualicum NDP candidate Barry Avis, saw Dix give a broad outline of his party’s stance prior to the upcoming provincial election and then answer questions from the crowd. The key message he brought to Parksville was that he intends to take the high road in regards to the Liberals, avoiding negative ads and personal attacks. “We have to raise the level of debate, especially at a time when issues are so challenging,” Dix said. “I’ve known Premier Clark for 16 years — not well, I know her and I know John Cummins. He represented things in Ottawa that I don’t agree with, but he did so with passion. Jane Sterk, the leader of the Greens, won 147,000 votes across B.C. with very little expenditure of money. These are all good people and I think attempting to win elections by disparaging them is the wrong thing to do — and we’re not going to do it.” To this end, Dix said he has no intention, if elected, of overturning everything the Liberal government has done. See TOO MUCH, page A5
NEIL HORNER PHOTO
George Ribeyre and wife Sandy take Ty, Jordan and Emma Eaton out Sunday to catch their quota of herring.
ACTION ON THE WATER IN FRONT OF PARKSVILLE QUALICUM BEACH
The herring spawn is on NEIL HORNER
news@pqbnews.com
The beaches were lined with spectators and photographers as fishing boats took position offshore Sunday to harvest the annual spring bounty of herring. The annual spawn, which turns the sea a beautiful shade of turquoise and brings out predators of every shape and size — from birds to sea lions — started Saturday. Greg Thomas, the co-ordinator for
Pacific herring for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, said there it looks like a good year for the fishery in the Strait of Georgia. “We’ve got about 15 miles of spawn in the gulf right now,” he said. “The test fisheries have indicated the fish are of reasonable quality, so there’s no concern there. What we are seeing is a substantial amount of fish, particularly in the Denman and Hornby area. Our soundings have been up to the 100,000 ton range . . . so we anticipate
250-752-5565
Monday-Friday 7- 6, Saturday 8 - 6, Sunday & Holidays 9 - 5 Locally Owned & Operated
6 COLOURS AVAILABLE 5mm thick
See GILLNETTERS, page A4
FLOORING Vinyl $ 99 Solid Clic Lock
WATERPROOF 1395 W. Island Highway, Parksville
a good spawn this year.” This isn’t the case in other areas of the coast, however. “We are reasonably stable at fairly high levls in the Gulf of Georgia, in contrast to the west coast of the Island and the Queen Charlottes and central coast, where we have no fishery. The only other fishery is a small one in Prince Rupert.” He said it’s unclear why the Strait of Georgia herring are doing so much better than their west coast cousins.
1
SQ/FT
No glue needed