TUESDAY APRIL 21, 2015
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DINING OUT FOR A CAUSE
INTERLOPER AT HIRING FAIR
Local restaurants help AIDS Vancouver Island raise money
Reporter Auren Ruvinsky went looking for a job amongst the teenagers
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DEMOGRAPHICS
Young people are returning Report indicates 3,400 people ages 30-34 came back in ‘06-’11 CANDACE WU news@pqbnews.com
The kids are coming home. Despite the popular perception, youth retention might not be Parksville Qualicum Beach’s biggest problem. According to a 2014 Island Coastal Economic Trust (ICET) report the “region had a net loss of more than 7,000 people age 20 to 24 between 2006 and 2011 … But the trend reverses once people reach their 30s, with about 3,400 extra residents in the 30-34 age range moving into the region.” The ICET region includes Parksville Qualicum Beach, Nanaimo, the Cowichan Valley, Comox Valley, Sunshine Coast, Mount Waddington and Alberni-Clayoquot communities. Data was collected using the Canadian Census. It’s welcome news for Parksville mayor Marc Lefebvre who called the findings “hopeful.” “I think why wouldn’t young people want to live here?” Lefebvre said. “We offer a great lifestyle here, I know I love it.” See GREAT PLACE TO GROW UP, page A6
Defending the fleet JOHN HARDING
editor@pqbnews.com
Conservative MP John Duncan says the Canadian Coast Guard was a “bucket of bolts” before his party won office in 2006. Duncan was responding to criticisms from the New Democratic Party and others after an oil spill in Vancouver last week. Duncan’s NDP opponent in this riding, Gord Johns, is urging the federal government to stop its planned closing of Marine Communications and Traffic Centres in Ucluelet and Comox as the NDP promises to reverse cuts to Canadian Coast Guard services across B.C. Duncan told The NEWS his government has pumped money into the coast guard since taking office. “When we came in in 2006 the coast guard fleet was a bucket of bolts,” said Duncan, who lives in Qualicum Beach. “We’ve basically refreshed most of the fleet.” See MOTION COMING, page A6
JESSICA SKELTON PHOTO
EAGLE RELEASE: Qualicum First Nation chief Michael Recalma prepares to release a rehabilitated juvenile bald eagle at the North Island Wildlife Recovery Centre this past Saturday. The release was in conjunction with the ongoing Brant Wildlife Festival and was also a part of the North Island Wildlife Recovery Association’s 30th anniversary celebrations.
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