TUESDAY JULY 28, 2015
Black Press C O M M U N I T Y
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General Excellence
EXPERIENCE SURE COUNTS
PEOPLE ‘TAKING US SERIOUSLY’
VIU grad goes from being youth in care to caring for youth
Federal NDP finance critic comes to the Island to talk about small business
A24
A5
PASSENGER RAIL SERVICE
Confusion in corridor ICF still doesn’t have money from province, feds JOHN HARDING
editor@pqbnews.com
The City of Parksville doesn’t seem to share the optimism of provincial government officials and Island Corridor Foundation (ICF) board members when it comes to the re-start of passenger rail service. Under direction from former Mayor Chris Burger, the city stopped making its $858 monthly payments to Southern Rail for crossing rights in October of 2014. The invoices continue to come. This decision came after city council passed a motion in November of 2012, instructing its representative on the Regional District of Nanaimo’s board of directors — Coun. Marc Lefebvre, now the mayor — to vote ’no’ to funding the ICF. That 2012 motion also asked that a third-party “formal performance audit be conducted on all ICF programs and initiatives.” Parksville was out-voted at the RDN board table when it came to the ICF funding question and the performance-audit motion was also defeated by the board. On Thursday, the provincial government issued a news release saying it has affirmed its commitment to provide $7 million to the ICF to support the future of the E&N rail line on the Island. The release said the provincial funds would be released once the province has confirmed that $7.5 million in federal funding is in place and, through a tendering process, that the upgrade work can be completed within the $20.4 million it has budgeted However, Vancouver Island North MP John Duncan, the only Conservative Party MP from the Island, told The NEWS the federal money is “contingent on the province doing their due diligence. If they are good to go, we’re good to go.” See SERVICE TO QB, page A4
BRENDA GOUGH PHOTO
ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET, PAINT: The Old School House Arts Centre (TOSH) in Qualicum Beach saw many artists in action on Saturday during the 23rd annual Grand Prix d’Art painting race. It featured 36 painters spread throughout the town painting en plein air (what they see before them). Visit www.facebook.com/PQBNews for more photos and inside today’s paper (A7) for a story about the event.
LABOUR TROUBLES IN QUALICUM BEACH
Union issues 72-hr strike notice AUREN RUVINSKY
writer@pqbnews.com
Qualicum Beach union employees have issued 72-hour strike notice and, while communicating, the two sides are not currently negotiating. The town’s roughly 50 union employees, members of CUPE Local 401, were in a legal strike position as of 10:25 a.m., Sunday, July 26. “They have given some notice that there will be a ban on overtime, but they could also do something more major,” Deputy Chief Administra-
tive Officer John Marsh said before the weekend. “From a management standpoint we have to prepare for the worst-case scenario,” he said, adding they could show up with pickets Sunday morning, but as of midday Monday they were not picketing. “We had a mediator in this morning, but there is no movement yet, no progress,” chief administrative officer Daniel Sailland said Monday afternoon. He said they hope to have news within 24 hours, “but we’re really just taking it one day at a time.”
Employees voted 94 per cent in favour of strike action in early May, after their contract expired in 2013. “We have just finalized the essential service order,” Local 401 vice president Laurence Amy said Friday, adding “we won’t shut Qualicum Beach down, we would like to get back to the table.” But Amy didn’t hide his frustration, explaining that the employer forced a last proposal vote, skipping the bargaining unit and going directly to the members. See TRASH COLLECTION, page A4
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