TUESDAY JUNE 11, 2013
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RIDING BOUNDARY CHANGES
MPs not content Lunney, Duncan say residents also don’t like the proposal NEIL HORNER news@pqbnews.com
James Lunney says he is fairly certain he’s going to run in the next federal election, but he’s not exactly sure where he’ll be campaigning. “I’ll make the decision when the time is right,” Lunney said when asked if he’ll run. “I have every intention of running at the present time.” The question though, is where he would be serving, if elected. That’s because the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission has recommended that another riding be added on Vancouver Island, which means a shuffling of the deck for prospective MPs. The new riding, one of seven new ones proposed for the province, would be called Nanaimo-Ladysmith and would result in this riding losing 50,000 voters in the south and a gain of 25,000 in the north. While he’s pleased about the extra representation for both the Island and the province, Lunney isn’t particularly enamored with the specific proposal. In particular, he doesn’t like losing the portion of Nanaimo that is home to his constituency office for the past 12 years and he doesn’t like the plan to add Powell River to the riding. “There is enough population on Vancouver Island to justify seven ridings, with 105,000 per riding. Nanaimo-Alberni has 127,000 so the report calls for a push from the south and a pull to the north,” he said. “I did a lot of pushback with (Vancouver Island North) MP John Duncan. We argued this is a disproportionate distortion for the electorate on the Island.” See NOT ACCEPTABLE, page A8
JOHN HARDING PHOTO
And they are off! Forty sailboats took off in a mass start Sunday morning from French Creek Marina on the second leg of the Black Press Van Isle 360 race, which will end back in Nanaimo on June 22. For many more photos from the start of the French Creek-Comox leg of the race, and some from the finish of the Nanaimo-French Creek leg Saturday evening, visit our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/PQBNews
VAN ISLE 360 SAILBOAT RACE
A sailing start to remember JOHN HARDING editor@pqbnews.com
More than 200 people jammed the breakwater to watch the local leg of the Van Isle 360 sailboat race Sunday at French Creek Marina. Winds were whipping from the north down the Georgia Strait into the bows of the boats and the faces of the sail-
ors at the mass start of about 40 vessels. The sun was shining and local residents were lined up with their cameras to watch the start of this leg of this America’s Cup-style, Black Press-sponsored race, with six divisions and classes of crafts expected to pull into Comox after four-five hours of intense sailing. See U.S. BOATS, page A4
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