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www.nanaimobulletin.com
VOl. 25, NO. 96
Colliery dam costs rise to $1.6 million I committee looks at research into remediation options.
By Tamara Cunningham The News BulleTiN
CHRIS BUSH/THe NewS BUlleTIN
Fire damage
Firefighters clean up equipment after dealing with a fire that ripped through a rental house on seventh street early monday. the blaze, still under investigation, displaced 10 people living in the home. there were no injuries.
Marijuana job fair attracts hundreds of applicants By Tamara Cunningham The News BulleTiN
If potential employees had experience with marijuana, then last weekend’s job fair at Tilray was their chance to brag about it. Tilray, the company behind the new medical marijuana facility at Duke Point, hosted its first hiring fair over the weekend, attracting more than 400 resumés and 250 interviewees. Philippe Lucas, vice-president of patient research and services for Tilray, said the company was “very impressed” with the number and quality of people who turned out and has little doubt it will hire from the
pool of candidates. There could also be more hiring efforts in the near future once the company knows where employee gaps still exist. “It was very successful for us,” Lucas said. “I think [it was a] combination of a great opportunity to get involved in an emerging company and new industry ... and I think part of it is the interest and attraction of working in a legal setting with medical marijuana.” Lucas said most people were very professional and well-prepared. Many seemed to enjoy talking about their experience with marijuana and medical mari-
juana, which is isn’t something people usually bring up in a job interview, he said, adding that “it’s a novel experience – here you get to brag about it.” The company was searching for up to 60 employees to fill jobs ranging from management to cultivation and horticulture. Tilray will be contacting people as early as this week, with aims of getting new employees trained before its launch April 1. The company is still wrapping up its first phase of renovations and is in the process of securing a licence from Health Canada to grow, process and distribute medical marijuana to patients across the country. news@nanaimobulletin.com
RECRUITMENT
Expenses tied into the century-old Colliery dams now top $1.6 million, according to the City of Nanaimo. Nanaimo officials say $1.6 million has been spent on the Colliery dams since 2012, including close to half a million dollars for work commissioned through a new technical committee. The most recent costs – estimated at $470,000 – come from engineering firm Golder Associates, which was hired by a technical committee of city representatives and special interest groups to research remediation options. City staff members had originally pegged the work to cost between $100,000 and $400,000, but it was only a rough estimate, according to Tom Hickey, the city’s general manager of community services, who said they hadn’t previously known the scope of work. Expenses are still within more than $2 million set aside for mitigation work and isn’t expected to hit taxpayers in the pocketbook, but Mayor John Ruttan says he still expects criticism from the public. “I don’t think the taxpayer will be happy about it, but I don’t know we had an alterna-
tive,” he said, adding if there was support to get an early start on the dams, circumstance might have been different. As it stands, the project is like a taxi, he said – “the longer you ride, the more you pay.” “It’s just a really frustrating thing all the way around and very expensive thing all the way around, but finally we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Ruttan said. Multi-phased work on the dams kicked off in October, when Nanaimo city council unanimously agreed to launch a two-year process to address the risk posed by the middle and lower Colliery dams during a major quake or flood. The process focuses on remediation of concrete structures – an option council originally dismissed because of an estimated $17-million to $30.7-million price tag. The technical committee and Golder Associates have been charged with reviewing data and coming up with options for long-term repairs. Golder, which recently did core drilling work to test the state of the dams, is expected to present its findings around remediation this month. It is not known if the information will be made public. news@nanaimobulletin.com
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