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NEWS REVIEW
Stelly’s Secondary School opens its doors to the community on February 13, page 3
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Beacon change unlikely
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Proponent of two-way street says having the debate with the Town of Sidney is a start Steven Heywood News staff
As Sidney politicians vowed to keep open minds on the subject of traffic patterns on the main street, one proponent of change said it is unlikely that the street would be changed any time soon. Steve Duck, owner of the TIDES Group and member of the Sidney Tourism Improvement Group (STIG), says he feels public input will come out in support of the existing mixed street configuration. STIG has been trying to convince business owners and municipal council of the merits — in both the economy and in tourism — for converting Beacon Avenue back to its pre-1996 two-way traffic pattern. “The goal was to engage people,” Duck said. “It was more about the discussion and how the street will look in the end.” Duck spoke at a town-sponsored open house on Thursday, Jan. 23 at the Mary Winspear Centre. People were lined up prior to the event’s 4 p.m. start time, which demonstrated the interest in the issue. Town councillor Steve Price said the efforts of STIG have really engaged the community. While Price said he was trying to keep an open mind and hear what people had to say, the municipality has to take future planning issues into consideration, no matter how the Beacon Avenue direction matter plays out. “Plans for a new interchange by the Ministry (of Transportation) on the Pat Bay Highway will change all of the different traffic patters,” Price said. PLEASE SEE: Devil is in the details, page 4
Steven Heywood/News staff
Former B.C. agriculture minister Corky Evans says he hopes people speak up to save the Agricultual Land Reserve as the current provincial government debates its future.
Speak up to save the ALR Former agriculture minister Corky Evans calls ALR an accident of timing Steven Heywood News staff
Corky Evans says this generation would not be able to create an agricultural land reserve in the face of high pressure from land developers in British Columbia. “If we lose it now,” he told a gathering of local food producers and buyers at the Saanich Fairgrounds Monday morn-
ing, “it’s not coming back.” Evans was B.C.’s minister of agriculture under the NDP government from 1996 to 2000 and has his own farm in the B.C. interior. He said he wants the debate to be non-partisan but added he knows that when he speaks on the issue, he will be tied by some to the NDP. That’s why, he told the audience, people have to speak up if they want to save the ALR. “The ALR was an accident of timing,”
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Evans said, noting conditions were ripe in the early 1970s for it to take shape. “I came 600 kilometers to speak to you, for if you speak up, no one can bust you for your philosophy.” Evans said for the first time in 40 years, the philosophy of the ALR is under threat, not just the soil. PLEASE SEE: ALR support rally, page 3