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City cooks up licensing process for food trucks
Election race
Green Party candidate Paul Manly, left, Conservative candidate Mark MacDonald, NDP candidate Sheila Malcolmson and Liberal candidate Tim Tessier debate aboriginal issues Monday at an all-candidates’ meeting at the Nanaimo Association for Community Living building downtown. For a story on that debate, plus other all-candidates’ meetings this week, please visit www.nanaimobulletin.com/ federalelection.
BY TAMARA CUNNINGHAM THE NEWS BULLETIN
More city parks and parking spaces will open up to food truck entrepreneurs if Nanaimo officials are on board with a new licensing process. The city has cooked up a process for food truck licences, with potential new fees and locations for entrepreneurs to serve up fare. It’s all geared to encourage culinary tourism and a more vibrant downtown, while making it easier for food vendors to apply for licences and find a place to set up, a report shows. Until now, food trucks haven’t been able to set up roadside and require a licence-use agreement to be in parks. Come next year that could change with a process that would open up select city streets to food trucks for the first time in downtown Nanaimo, the hospital district and Duke Point. Food trucks and trailers could also set up in neighbourhood parks like Harewood Centennial and May Richards Bennett Pioneer Park, or take fare to Merle Logan turf field and the Brechin Boat Ramp. Maffeo Sutton Park, which currently allows for one truck, could see up to four vendors, but options hinge on a review of the park’s master plan. The proposal, which is still in the approval process, would also scrap the park licenceuse agreement, allowing food trucks one $790 licence to set up in any park, parking lot or street stall open to vending. Food trailers will pay $665 to set up in parks and parking lots. There’s also a $150 charge to hook into city services in parks and vendors have to be 25 metres away from restaurants. Coun. Ian Thorpe, chairman of the Parks and Recreation Commission, calls the process a good first step. The city has opened designated locations with a process to apply for those spots, but if there are other spots vendors think are better, those can be looked at in the future, he said. The commission recently endorsed the proposal, which still must pass through the planning and transportation committee before it can be recommended to city council. See ‘ROOM’ /4
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GREG SAKAKI THE NEWS BULLETIN
Pacific trade deal faces mixed reaction
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CANDIDATES AND local business owners respond to partnership. BY KARL YU THE NEWS BULLETIN
A Nanaimo-area farmer is concerned about the Trans-Pacific Partnership between Canada and Pacific Rim countries. The partnership is a free-trade deal – similar to the North American Free Trade Agreement – among the other 11 countries, including the U.S., Japan, Australia and Chile. It has provisions to relax or even do away with tariffs that could affect a number of industries in Nanaimo, including forestry and agriculture. Barbara Ebell, co-owner of Nanoose Edibles Organic Farm, said based on numbers from Statistics Canada, $5.6 billion per year of foreign food is delivered and sold on Vancouver Island.
“If you extrapolate that to what would happen, if not only was it coming from the States, which it mostly is now by probably 95 per cent, it’s going to come from any country who wishes to sell their food into Vancouver Island and for sure it’s going to be cheaper. “So that means that the Vancouver Island farmer, who is a big-time landowner, is going to have no market,” said Ebell. The agreement was discussed at an all-candidates’ meeting at Vancouver Island University Tuesday. Mark MacDonald, Conservative candidate, said the partnership “is a tremendous deal” that was done by people looking after the country’s interests. We live in a global world and have to have access to these markets, he said. Tim Tessier, Nanaimo-Ladysmith Liberal candidate, said his party encourages trade, but only when done in Canada’s best interests. A deal can’t be signed that saddles this generation with mistakes.
Paul Manly, Green Party candidate, expressed concern about investorstate sections of the deal. Manly said there are provisions that allow foreign corporations to sue the government if Canadian laws and policies affect profit. If the deal is truly fair trade and good for Canada, Sheila Malcolmson, NDP candidate, said her party would support it. However, it was negotiated in secret and making decisions in the middle of a campaign is not right, nor transparent, she said. Andre Sullivan, Nanaimo Economic Development Corporation board chairman, said the corporation is generally for global trade partnerships, but not all details of this partnership are known. “We know at a high level that it opens up our exports to new markets with the downside of opening up our markets to new imports, but in general most trade agreements benefit the economy,” said Sullivan. – with files from Greg Sakaki reporter@nanaimobulletin.com
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