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www.comoxvalleyecho.com PRICE: 57 CENTS PLUS GST VOL. 20, NO. 92 TUESDAY COURTENAY, BRITISH COLUMBIA November 18, 2014 16.MEET THE MANY FACES OF FIESTA WORLD CRAFT FAIR COMING UP THIS WEEKEND. SKI PATROL 22. Exciting ski movie to raise funds. CHRISTMAS 15.Moonlight and Magic in Courtenay 4 - 6. HAPPY, SAD ELECTIONS NEW CUMBERLAND COUNCIL, ABOVE. COMOX HAPPY TOO, COURTENAY SWEEPS OUT COUNCIL.

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Comox Valley Echo - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 Edition

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www.comoxvalleyecho.com

P R I C E : 5 7 C E N T S P L U S G S T V O L . 2 0 , N O . 9 2

TUESDAY

COURTENAY, BRITISH COLUMBIA • November 18, 2014

16.MEET THEMANY FACES OF

FIESTA WORLDCRAFT FAIR

COMING UP THIS WEEKEND.

SKI PATROL

22.Exciting ski movie to raise funds.

CHRISTMAS

15.Moonlight and Magic inCourtenay

4-6.HAPPY, SAD ELECTIONSNEW CUMBERLAND COUNCIL, ABOVE. COMOX HAPPY TOO, COURTENAY SWEEPS OUT COUNCIL.

NEWSEC

HO

www.comoxvalleyecho.comTUESDAY.COURTENAY, BC. NOVEMBER 18 20142

For the latest Comox Valley Weather visit: www.comoxvalleyecho.com

Comox Valley Weather

Tuesday

Mainly cloudy. High 9°C.

Wednesday

Cloudy with 40% chance of showers.

Low 4°C. High 8°C.

Thursday

Cloudy with 60% chance of showers.

Low 4°C. High 8°C.

Friday

Rain. Windy.Low 5°C. High 7°C.

SaturdayShowers.

Low 6°C. High 8°C. 1.85%

SHHHH...SHHHH...

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By Michael BrionesEcho Staff

The Comox Valley was blessed with nothing but blue skies last week. It was a bit cold but the sun was shining brightly.

Everything looked good. So it seemed.

Unfortunately it wasn’t. There were some things that lingered in our atmo-sphere that the naked eye couldn’t see. And they can have an adverse effect on your health.

There has been a high concentration of fine par-ticulates in the air over the valley. It has led the Min-istry of Environment, in collaboration with Island Health, to issue an air qual-ity advisory for Courtenay, Comox and Cumberland. It was still in effect at press time.

“What we monitor is the 24-hour exposure level,” said Earle Plain, air qual-ity meteorologist. “It’s the amount of particles that you breathe in for 24-hours period. Not hour to hour or minute to minute. That’s what the health ef-fects studies are mostly based on.”

People with chronic un-derlying medical condi-tions were advised not to engage in strenuous exer-cise outside until the ad-visory is lifted. Exposure is particularly a concern for infants, the elderly and those who have diabetes, and lung or heart disease.

The Comox Valley is an “airshed,” an area in which the terrain and weath-er conditions hinder the movement of pollutants away from the area.

Plain said the region had experienced strong high pressure in the last couple of weeks. And when that happens, it suppresses the upward movement of air particles on the surface.

“It’s poor dispersion meteorology,” said Plain. “It just traps things near the surface because of that inversion inducing ability.”

Plain said until the weather changes, the advi-sory will remain in effect. There’s very little wind, he said, to blow the bad air away.

Wood stoves, furnaces, boilers, back yard burn-ing, land clearing and oth-er forestry works are the main causes of air pollu-

tion in the Comox Valley during the fall and winter months.

“Anything that burns fuel will generate really fine particles,” said Plaine. “Some emit less fine par-ticles than others. Some are dirty, some are clean-er. So it could be automo-

biles, industrial processes, marine sources, barbecues, restaurants and many oth-ers. The big difference this time of year is the change in the emission sources. What we see is a fresh kind of infused emissions that we didn’t have the rest of the year. It’s tough to point at one thing but gener-ally speaking, I would say it’s wood burning sources that are causing a lot of the problems right now.”

The ministry has sus-pended the exemption in the Open Burning Smoke Control Regulation (Sec-tions 2(i) and 4(2)(a)) that allows for open burning of debris to occur without a permit or approval from the Ministry of Environ-ment.

No new fires may be ini-tiated in the Comox Valley within a 15 kilometre radius from Courtenay City Hall and pursuant to Section 4(2)(c) of the Regulation, no additional material may be added to existing fires. Contravention of these provisions may be subject to a fine under the Regula-tion.

Here are some tips to re-duce personal health risk.

• Avoid areas with wood smoke.

• Continue to control medical conditions such as asthma, chronic respirato-ry disease and heart failure. If symptoms continue to be bothersome, seek medical attention.

• Maintaining good overall health is a good

way to reduce health risks resulting from short-term exposure to air pollution.

Tips for those with chronic underlying medi-cal conditions:

• Stay indoors, keep windows and doors closed and reduce indoor sources of pollution such as smok-ing, vacuuming and use of wood stoves.

• Run an air cleaner. Some room air cleaners, such as HEPA filters, can help reduce indoor par-ticulate levels provided they are the right size for your home and filters are changed regularly.

• Take shelter in air-con-ditioned buildings which have large indoor volumes and limited entry of out-door air.

Bad air quality lingers over the valleyWood burning identifi ed as the main cause of air pollution in the region as strong high pressure hangs around

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www.comoxvalleyecho.comTUESDAY.NOVEMBER 18, 2014 3

For those regularly driving the Is-land Highway South at Monaltrie Drive, be prepared to encounter some delays on November 19.

The road will be reduced to single-lane alternating traffic between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Crews are in the final stag-es of a water main improvement proj-ect in the area.

Traffic control personnel will be on hand to assist all commuters, includ-ing cyclists. Please use caution and obey traffic control personnel.

The City is notifying area residents whose water service will be interrupt-ed while crews perform this work. The water main improvements will slight-ly increase water pressure in the area, improve the quality of water, and up-grade the fire hydrant water supply to meet City standards.

For more information, please con-tact City of Courtenay Engineering at 250-334-4441 or email [email protected]

Construction on Island

Highway South at

Monaltrie Drive, Nov. 19Aquatic Centre turns 15

The Comox Valley aquatic centre is planning a big splash to mark its 15th anniversary.

The 15 year milestone of of-fering fitness, fun, waves and water slides will be celebrated on Nov. 22 from 1 to 4:30 p.m.

It will be happening during the everyone welcome swim and slide at the centre.

There will be fun games for the kids, prizes, treats and spe-cial surprise. Regular admission rtes apply.

“We’re always excited to see residents and visitors alike enjoying the slides and wave pool, and all the other ameni-ties such as the lap pool, heat zone, fitness centre and meet-ing rooms,” said Jennifer Zbin-den, CVRD’s recreation servic-es manager.

“The aquatic centre is a won-

derful community asset that’s continued to flourish over the years with many long term staff and patrons, user groups and corporate partners all con-tributing to make the facility a thriving centre.”

If you have photos or special memories of the aquatic centre you wish to share, email [email protected] or up-load to the CVRD’s Facebook or Twitter pages at comoxval-leyrd.

For all current programs of-fered at the CVRD’s sports and aquatic centres, including swim lessons, water fitness and yoga, pick up a copy of the Winter Co-mox Valley Recreation Report-er, available Nov. 18 at your local recreation centre.

Or view online at www.co-moxvalleyrd.ca/rec.

The leisure pool offers slides and waves at the CVRD’s aquatic centre.

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www.comoxvalleyecho.comTUESDAY.COURTENAY, BC. NOVEMBER 18, 20144

Comox mayor, Paul Ives, right celebrates with his dad on election night

Courtenay mayor, Larry Jangula, manages a smile after hearing the results Satur-day

Courtenay mayor re-elected, incumbents dumpedManno Theos 3,033Bob Wells 2,985Rebecca Lennox 2,835Doug Hillian 2,592Erik Eriksson 2,448NOT ELECTEDStarr Winchester 2,338Bill Anglin 1,900Marcus Felgenhauer 1,800

Dan Doerksen 1,722George Knox 1,452Terry Chaney 1,351Stu McInnis 1,196SCHOOL BOARDELECTEDJanice Caton 2,265Cliff Boldt 1,784

The Maple Pool campground zoning is-sue appeared to be the deciding factor in who got elected - or not - in Courtenay.

Incumbent Mayor Larry Jangula was re-elected 3,483 votes to challenger Jon Ambler’s 2,502. Jangula said he believed his stand on the Maple Pool issue - plus a lot of door-knocking and hard work - brought him victory.

Just about the entire Courtenay council, though, was wiped out.

Doug Hillian and Manno Theos were the only two incumbents returned.

They’ll be joined by newcomers David Frisch, Bob Wells, Rebecca Lennox and Erik Eriksson (who was actually once a councillor some terms ago).

Incumbents Starr Winchester and Bill Anglin were not returned.

Mayor Jangula, who is to the right on fiscal issues and taxation, could have his hands full with this council, who are all, ex-

cept possibly for Manno Theos, to the left.The non-binding referendum on paying

to help the homeless through an increase in property taxation, was overwhelmingly in favour of the highest level - $10 per year - with 2444 votes. The $0 option got 1588 votes while the $5 option got $1,275.

In the school board race, incumbent Janice Caton was returned in Courtenay, but not Donna Gambacorta. Newcomer Cliff Boldt, a retired teacher, will take her spot.

Voting turnout was about 31.5 per cent - up a wee bit from 2011 elections.

Here are the unofficial election results from Saturday night:

MAYORLarry Jangula 3,483Jon Ambler 2,502COUNCILELECTEDDavid Frisch 3,671

By Michael BrionesEcho Staff

During Paul Ives’ cam-paign, the one issue he heard that was foremost in the minds of many voters is the revitalization of Co-mox’s downtown core.

Re-elected Mayor Paul Ives said that was the mes-sage he got and it’s going to be one of his goals in the next four years.

“I think that every-one said at the door was they wanted to see some-thing happen downtown,” said Ives. “We know that there’s market forces at

play. But they really want to see some projects go ahead and they want to see more vibrancy down there. We will tackle that one. We made some progress. It’s a little bit slow. The other thing I’ll take from this is the people want to see a quicker pace on it.”

Ives was voted back in office after garnering 2,276 votes at civic elec-tions on Saturday to beat former Comox councilor Tom Grant by 281 votes.

Ives will work with fa-miliar faces as he will be joined by council incum-bents Hugh Mackinnon,

who topped the polls with 2,782 or 64 per cent of the total votes, Barbara Price with 2,599, Ken Grant with 2,463 and Maureen Swift with 2,275. Russ Arnott, a previous Co-mox councilor, got 2,659 votes and the newcomer to the rank is Marg Grant (1,896).

“It’s all about trust the voters have placed in us to carry on the things we said we were going to do dur-ing the election and also leading up to the election,” said Ives.

(Continued on page 5)

Comox mayor re-elected,

two new council facesIves to focus on improving downtown core

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(Continued from page4)

“I think it’s a great turn-out. That many people that we had coming out, not on-ly on the day of the election but also the advance polls, testament to the people who ran.”

Ives paid tribute to his adversary Grant for run-ning a clean campaign and for the way he stood on the issues.

“I respect all the work that he has done as a coun-cillor for 12 years and I wish him all the best in his future endeavours,” said Ives. “I know we will see him again as active as he is

in the community. So that’s really important.”

Ives said he is ready to return to work and sit down with the councilors to see what jobs they would like to undertake in the next four years.

“There’s a lot to do and we’ll get right through it as soon as they’re sworn in on December first,” said Ives. “It’s an exciting time.”

The school trustee for Comox went to incumbent Peter Coleman, who had 1,350 votes.

This year’s election drew 4,350 people at the polls out of 10,509 regis-tered voters for 41.4 per cent turnout.

Comox re-elects Ives

By Drew A. PennerEcho Staff

Two of three rural di-rectors on the Comox Valley Regional District board have been returned to office. Bruce Jolliffe won back his Area A (Baynes Sound – Denman Hornby Island) seat by 484 votes,

Edwin Grieve won his Ar-ea C (Puntledge – Black Creek) seat by 289 votes, while Rod Nichol beat in-cumbent Jim Gillis by 726 votes to take over in Area B (Lazo North).

“I’m glad to see the re-sults, that’s for sure,” said Bruce Jolliffe, who got 921 votes. “I’m looking for-

ward to meeting the peo-ple I’m going to share the board with.”

Jolliffe was first elected to the regional district in 2008 then was acclaimed in 2011, so his campaign-ing skills were a bit rusty.

“It was definitely a bit of a challenge,” he said. “You soon got into the mode, but it took a bit of time.”

Gillis, who managed 417 votes – compared with Nichol’s 1,143 – said it’s been a pleasure serv-ing the community.

“It’s been a really great experience,” he said, not-ing that he’s off to Cuba to do some soul searching now that he’s leaving poli-tics. “This’ll be it for me. I’m 72.”

He believes his hard support for water meters as a way to curb expensive infiltration issues in the water system cost him the votes of many of the 1,500 Area B residents who had the meters installed.

Gillis says he’s proud of the work he did on the Regional Growth Strategy and park initiatives.

“I enjoyed being there

for six years,” he said. “I wish Rod Nichol all the best.”

Nichol came to the Co-mox Valley as an RCMP dog handler and served as the Area C director in the late 1990s. He feels the strong support has set him up to enact his agenda of controlling spending, low-ering water rates for rural residents and focusing on

solid waste issues.“It was very humbling,”

he said of his big win. “I knew I was reaching quite a few people. They were certainly engaged when I was talking to them. It def-initely made me feel like I was on the right path. I’m really looking forward to sitting at the table.”

He also wants to im-prove lines of commu-nication with residents, getting them directly in-volved in civic issues.

“People want to know what’s going on,” he said. “I’m going to have an ad-visory committee set up with residents through-out the area. I’m also go-ing to set up a blog and get as much information out to them as possible.”

Nichol chose not to criticize Gillis’s politics, but said he will bring a new direction.

“Peop l e wanted a change,” he said, adding he hopes his fellow direc-tors will work with him to enact his agenda. “Hope-fully they understand with my platform I do have a mandate to follow.”

James Derry lost by 289

votes to Edwin Grieve,who got 765 votes com-pared with Derry’s 476.

Sheila McDonnell got1080 votes compared withChris Aikman with 592 in the School District No.71 (Comox Valley) Trust-ee race for Area A. TomWeber was acclaimed astrustee in Area B. Ian Har-greaves beat Paula Selby639-511 for the trusteeshipof Area C.

For Islands Trust (Den-man and Hornby Islands) David Critchley got 365votes, compared withLaura Busheikin’s 351 andPerri Gorrara’s 86.

On Hornby Island bothAlex Allen and Tony Lawwere acclaimed.

In response to thequestion “How much an-nual property tax wouldyou be willing to pay toreduce homelessness?”6,860 residents from theCVRD, Courtenay, Comoxand Cumberland selected Up to $10 per year (for ahome that is assessed at$300,000), 3,657 select-ed Up to $5 per year (fora home that is assessed at$300,000) and 4,425 se-lected $0.

CVRD Rural Directors: Two stay, one gone

Rod Nichol

Comox Valley residents vote to give max amount to help homeless

Excluding Verilux

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www.comoxvalleyecho.comTUESDAY.COURTENAY, BC. NOVEMBER 18, 20146

Mountain View Cemeteryin Vancouver is searchingfor information about the

following interred who mayalso be Rights Holders of

unused plots . Anyone withknowledge of the following

please [email protected], David Louis -

Born in Victoria, Nov 19, 1921 toGeorge and Laura ( nee Copland).

Died July 26,1922.

Forcimer, Benjamin Nathan -Born in Austria Jan 2,1869.

Settled in Nanaimo.Died in Nanaimo Feb 26,1914.Occupation: Watchmaker.

Franklin, Violet -Born March 27,1898 in Wellington( North Nanaimo) to Barney & Sara

Weinrobe ( nee Zarbesky)Husband: Sigmond. Siblings: Birdie,

Gertrude, Nathan & Saul.Died Nov 7,1979.

Kline, Ellen -Born in Germany.Died in childbirth inNanaimo in 1895.

Baby also named Ellen Klinedied 8 months later in 1896

in Nanaimo.

Robinson, Helen Frances -Born Kiev, Ukraine 1853 to Samson

& Rose Blender ( nee Levy)Husband Adolph.Died in VictoriaMarch 19, 1928.

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Vancouver Island’s LargestPajama Party and Kick-Off toChristmas Shopping Event

ONE NIGHT ONLYTHURSDAY NOVEMBER 20TH

5:30PM ‘TIL LATE

MADNESSMoonlightComox United Church and the Comox

Valley Unitarian Fellowship will present the film “Happy” on Friday, November 21, 2014 at 7 pm.

Academy Award nominated director Roko Belic has produced an award-win-ning film that takes us on a journey from the swamps of Louisiana to the slums of Kolkata in search of what makes people happy.

How do you make a film about Hap-piness? By interviewing real-life happy people who are poor, disfigured, live in terrible conditions or work with dying people in India, and also, by interviewing leading brain scientists and psychologists who have studied happiness for decades. Many of our ideas about what produces happiness are wrong, and many assump-tions underlying our modern society keep us from being happy.

Which country consistently rates the happiest? Would you believe there is a na-tional government which considers how the happiness of its citizens might be af-fected before making major decisions? Which country has consistently low over-all happiness, but also has an area of many healthy long-lived citizens who are very happy? Which traditional values contrib-ute to a sense of happiness? What prac-tices produce measurable feelings of hap-piness?

Come and see the film “Happy” to dis-cover the answers to these questions. The presentation will be at 7 pm Friday, No-vember 21, 2014 at Comox United Church, 250 Beach Drive in Comox.

There will be a group discussion after the film for those who wish to stay and discuss the film’s themes. Admission is by donation.

Film about happiness showingFriday night at Comox United

Young faces added to Cumberland CouncilBY DREW A. PENNEREcho Staff

Both incumbents and the two youngest faces in the running will join Mayor Leslie Baird at the Cumberland’s coun-cil table for the next four years. It was a pretty sat-isfying turn of events for Sean Sullivan, who hap-pened to be celebrating his 38th birthday on elec-tion day.

“It’s the nicest present I could get tonight – that’s for sure,” he said, adding he knows he’ll now have to live up to everyone’s expectations and plans to start reading through documents right away. “I’ve gotta make good on all this. I’ve got my work cut out for me, but I’m not worried. I like to read a lot.”

Returning councillor Gwyn Sproule inspired the most support with 703 votes (according to preliminary results), newcomer Jesse Anne Ketler came in second with 609, the other in-cumbent Roger Kishi got 555 votes and Sulli-van rounded out the pack with 538 votes.

Sullivan squeaked past Roger Albert by 17 votes (Albert got 521), followed by Michael Walton (with 500), Steven Royer (with 290) and Colin Failler (with 116).

Sullivan pledged to do his best to represent the community in his new role as an elected official, explaining people drove home just how much they care about their vil-lage while he was going door to door.

“I was pleasantly sur-

prised at the support that everyone in Cum-berland has for every-body not just me, for all the candidates,” he said. “People are genuinely entrenched in politics here. That’s more what I noticed campaigning, the care that everyone here has for this community. Cumberland has a lot to gain and a lot to lose.”

This is Kishi’s second time winning a Cumber-land council election.

“It’s a really good feel-ing,” he said. “I’m hon-oured to be returned to the council table to con-tinue the work that the existing council has been working on. I’m really looking forward to work-ing with the new coun-cil. We’ve got lots on our plate and we’ll see where things go once we all sit down and get to work on the issues.”

He remembers what it was like getting into the political game and is sure the new councillors won’t have too much trouble.

“Last time was my first term,” he said. “It is a steep learning curve once you get elected and you are sitting at that table. I’m confident that the council that we have now will be up to the task.”

Gwyn Sproule said she feels it was the support of the established Cumber-land residents that pro-pelled her to the top of the heap.

“I’m the only person Old Cumberland knows any more,” she said, not-ing she first came to the Village in 1978. “Even the people who thought I was a bit of a nuisance all of these years – a treehu-

gger – have come around. They’ve seen the work I’ve done. I’ve been consistent.” Sproule is looking forward to moving ahead with sewer and water improvements, bringing in the greenways plan, promoting ecotour-ism and developing more parks and historic areas.

Jesse Anne Ketler set out to be a voice for young fam-ilies and many decided to take her up on the offer. But she’s also passionate about addressing Cumberland’s water needs, using skills she picked up in her inte-grated water resource man-agement profession.

“We’ve kind of reached

our maximum capacity for water here, so we need to look at water options,” she said.

“The well that we built in Chinatown got shut down this summer because of drought conditions. It was supplying the new Coal Val-ley Estates (housing devel-opment) second phase up there.”

Cumberland has issues with both quantity and quality of water, she ex-plains.

“We’re drawing from some pretty shallow res-ervoirs,” she said. “We on-ly have chlorination which actually doesn’t meet the

Vancouver Island Health Authority’s 4,3,2,1 policy that they have. It asks for two forms of disinfection. So they need both filtra-tion and chlorination. We need it more than Courte-nay does.”

Mayor Leslie Baird, who was acclaimed after no one filed to run against her, said she’s glad to see the enthu-siasm of the new candi-dates.

“They’re very excited about being part of the council,” she said, adding it will be nice to work with familiar faces as well. “I’m really glad to see Gwyn and Roger back. We start-

ed something three years ago and we want to con-tinue with where we are going.”

Baird expects the fu-ture will be full of imple-menting plans that have already been created.“We spent almost three years doing plans and up-dating,” she said.

“Now we’re at the part where we can implement some of those plans. I’m just thrilled.”

Introducing Cumberland’s new council: (L-R) Gwyn Sproule, Sean Sullivan, Leslie Baird, Roger Kishi and Jesse Anne Ketler.

www.comoxvalleyecho.comTUESDAY.NOVEMBER 18, 2014 7

CORRECTION NOTICE

Please note that on Page 3 of our Black Friday flyer in today’s paper – disregard the information on the Palliser Sofa & Sectional where it says “includes headboard, footboard, rails, dresser, mirror and night stand”.

We apologize to our customers for any confusion this may cause – we

look forward to seeing you during our Black Friday Sales Event.

RCMP AWARDS

Dedication, valourand bravery honoured in RCMP ceremony

Amber Dufour of Courtenay received the 25-year Civilian Long Service Award

Staff Sgt. Andrew Frederick Isles of Courtenay received the 25-year Bronze Clasp and Two Undress Ribbons.

BY DREW A. PENNEREcho Staff

Averting a suicide, res-cuing sailors facing gun vi-olence on the high seas and steadfast service through thick and thin were some of the actions recognized by RCMP brass in an official ceremony held at Crown Isle Nov. 5. Attended by police officers and their families from around the region, the Island District Awards Ceremony was a pomp and circumstance-laden event marking pro-fessionalism, compassion and courage within the po-lice community.

Chief Superintendent Ray Bernotes, the Island District Commander, said bestowing official honours is a way to acknowledge some of the many people deserving of commenda-tion for helping to keep our communities safe.

“Today is an incredibly positive day for us,” he said. “These ceremonies take place across the province during this season and in the spring when we take a moment to recognize those members, employees, vol-

unteers and others who’ve gone beyond the call.”

Bernotes, one of four district commanders in BC, said the long-service pins highlight the com-mitment of employees and volunteers who provide a foundation for community policing.

“These are people who should be very proud of their service,” he said. “Many people here will be recognized for a single in-cident or many incidents that culminate in some-thing that’s sort of extraor-dinary and beyond what we even expect of our employ-ees.”

Amber Dufour of Cour-tenay received the 25-year Civilian Long Service Award.

C o n s t . Wa y n e A . Downey of the Comox Val-ley detachment received the 20-year Long Service Medal and Two Undress Ribbons.

Staff Sgt. Andrew Fred-erick Isles of Courtenay re-ceived the 25-year Bronze Clasp and Two Undress Ribbons.

Cpl . Scott Andrew Lachapelle of the Comox

Island service ceremony held in Courtenay where several Valley members - police and civilian - were presented awards

If we see something on the Island that we think deserves commenda-tion we make sure we recognize that”

RAY BERNOTESChief Superintendent, Island District Commander

Valley detachment re-ceived the 25-year Bronze Clasp and Two Undress Ribbons.

Sgt. Will McKinley of the Comox Valley detach-ment received the 20-year Long Service Medal. He also received the 25-Year Bronze Clasp and Two Un-dress Ribbons.

Bernotes is the man who signs off on the District Commander’s Certificates of Appreciation.

“If we see something on the Island that we think de-serves commendation we make sure we recognize that,” he said, referring to the seven certificates giv-en out during the morning gathering.

(Continued on page 8)

Cpl. Scott Andrew Lachapelle of the Comox Valley detachment received the 25-year Bronze Clasp and Two Undress Ribbons.

www.comoxvalleyecho.comTUESDAY.COURTENAY, BC. NOVEMBER 18, 20148

4-2760 CLIFFE AVE. COURTENAY

(Continued from page 7)

“I hope they feel very proud of their accomplish-ments. Many of our mem-bers and employees do fantastic things that aren’t recognized. They simply go to the next call after that one.”

Staff. Sgt Roger Plam-ondon was honoured with the District Commander’s Certificate of Appreciation, for his tenure helming the Comox Valley detachment during the recent leader-ship transition period.

Plamondon managed the Comox Valley detach-ment from December 2013 – July 2014 and undertook planning for protective ac-

tivities for events such as MusicFest, Atmosphere Gathering and Nautical Days, while performing duties of both Officer In Charge and Operations NCO positions.

“His exceptional com-munication and leadership skills held him in high re-gard amongst members, staff and the Comox Valley community,” his certificate reads. “Staff Sgt. Plamon-don assisted the incom-ing Officer In Charge with community introductions and facilitated a seam-less transition during the change of command.”

Other activities recog-nized during the ceremo-ny included the investiga-

tion of the Robert Pickton murders, the efforts of the Missing Women’s Joint Task Force and the suc-cessful take-down of a mil-lion dollar Ponzi scheme in Nanaimo

Deputy Commission-er Craig Callens said po-lice bravery, integrity and valour should not go un-noticed.

“Those acts are carried out in the interest of com-munity safety and I’m just tremendously proud of the members of the RCMP in this province,” he said. “I’m just appreciative of every-thing they do.”

Thirty-six people were honoured with awards dur-ing the presentation.

RCMP honour members, employees

Beachcombers School will be building a new in-tegrated preschool facility as a result of a BC Ministry of Children and Family De-velopment Major Capital Funding award.

The award is for $218,853 and will create 16 preschool and child care spaces.

The grant is part of the Ministry of Children and Family Development’s BC Early Years Strategy, which has a focus on creating new high-quality child care spaces in communities.

“It’s important that fam-ilies in the Comox Valley have access to quality child care,” says Comox Valley MLA Don McRae.

“Child care helps par-ents who are working or at school with the devel-opment of their children. These new licensed child care spaces will provide lo-cal families with more op-tions close to home and give parents added peace of mind their children are being looked after.”

“We are thrilled!” says Beachcombers School’s Principal, Wendy Preston. “Our Little Oyster Pre-school is a small nature-in-spired program that is pop-ular and over-prescribed.

“The Ministry of Chil-dren and Family award to Beachcombers School means that we will be able to expand and provide this opportunity to many more young children.”

“The preschool years are such a formative time in a child’s life,” Preston continues.

“We find that children

The Little Oysters enjoy a beautiful fall day this week with Manager Janet LeBlanc

We are thrilled! OurLittle Oyster Preschool is a small nature-in-spired program that is popular and over-prescribed.”

WENDY PRESTONBeachcombers School Principal

Preschool facilities are very challenging to fi nace, particularly as Beachcombers School has tried to keeppreschool fees reason-able while providing a high quality program.”

ZOE LAMBERTPresident

PRESCHOOL EDUCATION

Major grant for Little Oysters programCapital funding for Beachcombers School’s preschool facility from Ministry of Children

who attend our Little Oys-ters Preschool gain self-confidence and a thirst for learning that help them to make a successful transi-tion into kindergarten. I look forward to welcoming preschool families to our newly renovated ocean-view facility later in the New Year.”

The Capital Funding Grant has been awarded to Beachcombers Educa-tion Society, a non-profit society that runs the Lit-tle Oysters Preschool and Beachcombers School.

President Zoe Lambert says that the grant is key to providing an expanded preschool facility that will ensure long-term child care spaces.

“Preschool facilities are very challenging to finance, particularly as Beachcombers School has tried to keep preschool fees

reasonable while providing a high-quality program,” says Lambert.

“I would also like to congratulate Preschool Di-rector, Janet LeBlanc,” says Lambert.

“Janet is responsible for developing our truly wonderful nature-based educational program for young children. She has consistently advocated for the importance of this ear-ly education, and we have certainly seen the results when these children tran-sition so successfully to kindergarten.”

“I am thrilled that the Little Oysters Preschool will be able to provide more opportunities for Co-mox Valley families need-ing quality preschool and childcare for their chil-dren,” says LeBlanc.

“And I am excited about the creation of an im-proved outdoor play space for our ‘Little Oysters’.”

For more information about the Little Oysters Preschool you may view the website: http://www.

beachcombersschool.ca/little-oysters-preschool.ht-ml To book a tour please

email Principal Wen-dy Preston at: [email protected]

Little Oysters Preschool students with Manager Janet LeB-lanc

www.comoxvalleyecho.comTUESDAY.NOVEMBER 18, 2014 9

EVERYTHING FOR EVERY PET

BARK FriDay sale

Deals You'll be Barking about for Years to Come!!!

November 28, 2014

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795 Ryan Road,Courtenay (beside Superstore)........ 250.338.0424

46-1760 Comox Ave.Comox (Lower Level Comox Mall).... 250.339.2272

I recently diagnosed Lyme disease in an 8 month old kitten in Comox with a tick bite, which served as a real reminder that Lyme carrying ticks live here in our valley. People and pets are most at risk. Lyme disease is readily treatable if diagnosed early, but if left undiagnosed it can create ongoing illness. The common signs are initially a ‘bulls eye target’ red rash, which is easy to see in people, but not so in pets. Later signs may include, joint pain, kidney failure and seizures.Tick bite season in the valley occurs all year with spikes in the wet spring and

fall (now). Deer ticks are the size of a pinhead when they latch on. With a blood meal they swell to half the size of a small grape and have a hard shell to the touch. Most of our pets have ticks that we’ll never spot.

the mouth parts that form a skin bump for months afterwards, which can sometimes get infected. I simply freeze the skin and use a small skin biopsy punch to remove everything, and treat with antibiotic if needed.The best prevention is tick avoidance but we like our pets to enjoy our backyards! The next level is a tick repellent medicine. Advantix (Bayer) and Revolution (Zoetis) are two products that prevent ticks from biting. Even further, you can vaccinate your dog if you have a ‘deer farm’ in your backyard.We’re here to help with your questions.

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October and November we are all about senior pets!There’s still 2 weeks left to take advantage of our

discounted Senior Pet Wellness Package.

REHABILITATION –IS IT THE RIGHT CHOICE FOR YOUR SENIOR PET?

Do you have an older pet that is having a hard time get-ting up in the morning? Are they slower on their walks? Do you find that they do not want to play like they used to? If so, maybe it’s time for a visit with your veterinarian.

As your pet ages (an aver-age of 3.5yrs every 6 months), the signs of aging become more noticeable and it is often thought of as just that....“oh he’s just getting older”. However aging is not a dis-ease. It’s the symptoms of aging that affect the quality of your pet’s life and these symp-toms can be treated.

There are several things that may be done to help man-age and treat the signs of aging in your elderly pet. Your vet-erinarian will perform a com-plete physical exam; run some blood work to assess their overall health and organ func-tion and offer guidance and advice on nutritional or behav-ioral concerns which change as your pet ages. In some cases, x-rays may be taken to help identify osteoarthritis or abnormalities in their bones, lungs, heart or abdomen. Once you have a better overall pic-ture of your senior pet’s health, a plan specific to your pet’s needs can be devised. This may or may not include things

such as a diet change, adopting a new exercise routine, an age appropriate vaccine protocol, the use of supplements or NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory) and the intro-duction of a rehabilitation pro-gram.

Rehabilitation (also referred to as physiotherapy in the human world) can help strengthen your pet’s body, which helps to maintain their balance. By performing specif-ic exercises and therapeutic modalities your pet can increase strength and endur-ance. There are wonderful pos-itive psychological effects for pets and owners when per-

forming rehabilitation. This is a tool that increases the bond between you and your four legged companion. It can allow you to be more in tune with your pet’s day to day comfort and quality of life and allow you to assess when it is time for a follow up visit with your veterinarian.

There are several benefits to performing physical reha-bilitation with animals. It will improve the biomechanics and flexibility of their body and can reduce pain, allowing them to move more confidently. Physical rehabilitation is non-invasive and may make a dif-ference in your pet’s tempera-

ment. One wonderful aspectof rehabilitation is that it canhelp prevent further injurythrough owner and trainereducation.

If this is something thatinterests you, please discussthis with your family veterinar-ian. As with people, rehabilita-tion isn’t right for every pet.Your veterinarian can assessyour pet and see if physicalrehabilitation may not only bebeneficial, but perhaps slowdown some of those uncom-fortable and inconvenientsymptoms of aging!

Submitted by Van Isle Veterinary Hospital

www.comoxvalleyecho.comTUESDAY.COURTENAY, BC. NOVEMBER 18, 201410

*Subject to REDcard application approval, you will receive 5% off purchases paid for with your REDcard at Target stores in Canada, except on prescriptions and certain otherpharmacist-dispensed items, purchases at Brunet affiliated pharmacies in Québec, Target gift cards and Target prepaid cards, and where otherwise prohibited by law. 5%discount applies to eligible purchases minus any other discounts and the value of any promotional Target gift cards received in the transaction. Other restrictions apply. Seeprogram rules at Guest Service or Target.ca/REDcard for details. The Target Debit Card cannot be used at some independent businesses in Target stores, such as prescriptionpurchases at the Target Pharmacy. REDcard: Target Debit Card (issued by Target Canada Co.) and Target RBC MasterCard (issued by Royal Bank of Canada). ® MasterCard isa registered trademark of MasterCard International Incorporated, used under license. ‡ Lion & Globe Design, Royal Bank and all other RBC marks are registered trademarksof Royal Bank of Canada, used under license.

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www.comoxvalleyecho.comTUESDAY.NOVEMBER 18, 2014 11

In the article published in the Echo November 14 titled “Hospitals to be used as dry run for future worker training on major infrastructure projects” quotes attributed to Gary Herman should have been attributed to Doug Podetz, ITA Apprenticeship Advi-sor for Nanaimo and the Vancouver Island region.

CORRECTION

BY DREW A. PENNEREcho Staff

Cumberland council ap-proved the sole sourcing of a contract for Cumberland Creek Dam #2 design work unanimously, a job worth well over $50,000. Last year Tetra Tech (EBA) beat out Golder Associ-ates for the nearby Stevens Lake dam design duties. In that case while the Village had budgeted $52,000 for designs and handed Tetra Tech an $85,000 deal.

This time the Village has set aside $50,000 for design work on Cumber-land Creek Dam #2, along the same waterway, but expects the total cost for plans will end up, once again, higher.

Coun. Gwyn Sproule said sole sourcing the con-tract was in the Village’s in-terest.

“I understand why you

would make that recom-mendation,” she said, pointing to the intercon-nected nature of the series of dams along the water-way that serves to provide some of the Village’s wa-ter. “They are all connect-ed. You can’t just have one without the other. You have to know the way they all in-teract.”

Sproule said that “since this company has already looked at the whole sys-tem, to start over…would be unwieldy, time consuming and costly.”

Coun. Roger Kishi want-ed to know more about the financial makeup of the deal, which specifies that Tetra Tech would be re-sponsible for pre-design and complete design du-ties, and asked about staff’s perspective on the matter directly.

“I’m just wondering if they’re comfortable with

the $50,000 figure,” he said. “Is that going to be enough for this?”

Manage of Operations Rob Crisfield said $50,000 probably won’t cover the full design, as was the case with Steven’s Lake Dam.

“What happened was those figures were import-ed into the budget based on a report from Levelton (Consultants Ltd.) from 2010,” he said.

The Levelton Engineer-ing report pointed out that Steven’s Lake Dam and the Cumberland Lake No. 2 dam could both fail in the case of a seismic event, a document which played a heavy role in capital plan-ning.

However, going through the pre-design process al-lowed the Village to realize a significant savings af-ter switching approaches from rebuilding to just for-tifying the dam, Crisfield

told council.“It saved us quite a bit

of money,” he said. “Staff’s thought is to kind of go through the same pro-cess.”

Coun. Kate Greening got quite worked up in the fallout from council’s de-cision to proceed with the less expensive dam stabi-lization instead of borrow-ing money, as had been approved, to renovate the

entire dam.Tetra Tech has done

a number of consulting tasks in the Village in re-cent years, including an-alyzing the zinc, boron

and ammonia-filled liquid produced by the region-al landfill that’s within Cumberland’s municipal boundaries, and providing options for its treatment.

Cumberland hands another dam contract to Tetra Tech (EBA)

BY MICHAEL BRIONESEcho Staff

The renewal select committee of the new fire hall project on Hornby Island has chosen a construction system that is going to make the new facility energy efficient. But it’s go-ing to cost an additional funding of $100,000.

The committee is seeking the ap-proval of the Comox Valley Region-al District Board to grant additional funding. If the board endorses the request, it will hike up the cost of the project from $1.8 million to $1.9 million.

The committee had reviewed two designs provided by the architect. One is a hand-frame construction system design and the other uses a passive house building system. The former is cheaper and was endorsed by the board on Sept. 30, 2014 when they approved a final $1.8 million construction cost.

But the committee upon further review of the designs determined the passive house system will provide long and short-term efficiencies for the project because it is known for extremely low energy consumption. The only problem is, it approximate-ly costs $100,000 more than hand-frame.

The committee wants the extra funding to come from the Elector-al Area A Community Works Fund. That’s because the CVRD, on Oct. 2011, had approved a contribution

of $100,000 from the CWF toward energy efficient components of the fire hall project.

Staff was instructed to seek ad-ditional CWF funding to facilitate the use of the passive house build-ing system. The committee also recommended the Sept. 30 motion that was approved by the board be replaced to reflect the new final cost of the project estimated at $1.9 mil-lion based on passive-house con-struction.

The additional funding will not af-fect the loan authorization bylaw ap-proved by the board on Oct. 21. The electoral assent will continue to be based on the long-term financing of $1.6 million. The rest of the money will be from transfer from capital re-serve funds and the CWF funding.

The architect’s report stated the passive house building system can achieve an estimated annual energy cost saving of between $6,700 and $10,600.

Hornby Island residents and property owners will be given the opportunity to look at the designs at a community open house slated to take place on Nov. 22. It’s aimed at providing the community informa-tion required to help them decide during the electoral assent process.

The open house will feature the fi-nal design of the fire hall and the 95 percent refinement of construction cost estimates. The architect will al-so be present to introduce the proj-ect and also answer questions.

Committee opts for energy effi cient design for new Hornby Fire HallBut it will cost more and CVRD board being asked to approve more funds

On Saturday November 22nd the Courtenay Museum and Palaeontology Centre invites the community to a birthday party.

This year makes 26 years since the discov-ery of the elasmosaur fossil in the Puntledge River.

The museum will be celebrating the Elasmo-saurs birthday and also a kick off for the holi-day season.

Fun crafts, face painting, door prizes, cake, cookies and juice make for a great celebration of discovery. A visit from the elasmosaur mas-cot is also in the plans.

A great time to be had by all. If you haven’t

been to the museum lately, you might be in fora big surprise.

Partytime is 11am till 4 pm. Hope to see youthere.

Everyone is invited, admission is by dona-tion to the museum, a food item for the Cour-tenay Food Bank or a new or gently used un-wrapped toy for Santa’s workshop.

Your donations are greatly appreciated andhelp support the local community.

The Museum is located at 207 Fourth Street in downtown Courtenay. For more informa-tion call 250-334-0686 ext.5 or check out thewebsite at www.courtenaymusuem.ca.

Help Elasmosaur celebrate

80,000,026th BirthdayFun-fi lled family day at the Courtenay Museum

SHHHH...SHHHH...

www.comoxvalleyecho.comTUESDAY.COURTENAY, BC. NOVEMBER 18, 201412

BY MICHAEL BRIONESEcho Staff

Courtenay SuperStore is onceagain asking the community to help “Fill the Bus” with goodies for this coming Christmas.

The annual fundraiser orga-nized by staff is geared towards

helping those in need in the Co-mox Valley.

For the third year in a row, they’re partnering with Comox Valley Transit again to provide the bus for the event.

SuperStore general manager Pablo Ortiz said they’re excited to organize the Fill the Bus event

again this year. They’re hoping to beat last year’s goal.

“I think we filled half the bus on both days but this year we’re hoping to fill at least three quarters of the bus,” said Ortiz. “It’s all for a good cause.”

A Comox Valley Transit bus will be parked at the SuperStore twice this month for two important drives.

On Nov. 22 from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., the organizers are hoping to fill the bus with non-perishable goods that will be donated to the Comox Valley Food Bank. Then on Nov. 29, the bus, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., will be look-ing at collecting lightly used to new toys or clothes that will go to Santa’s Workshop.

According to organizer, Achille Vermeersch, Bulk Foods Manager, said since starting this event two years ago, they have raised a total of approximately 3000 lbs of food for the Food Bank and two busses of toys for Santa’s Workshop.

“As in every year that we have run this event, our goal is to stuff the bus full for their respective organiza-tions,” said Vermeersch.

Cash donations are also accepted and will be donated in the form of PC gift cards to the organization that the drive is aimed to support.

This years event will feature local Girl Guide/Scouting groups singing carols from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on both event days.

As well, Vermeersch said, they have received confirmation that the man himself, Santa Claus, will be present for the duration of both drives to thank donors and their children for their charitable spirit.

Comox Valley Transit will once again supply the bus to fi ll up with food donations Nov. 22 and toys on Nov. 29

‘Fill the Bus’ with toys and food is set to go on drive mode

BY MICHAEL BRIONESEcho Staff

The City of Courtenay has shortlisted five firms for invi-tations to submit proposals for the new firefighter train-ing centre that will be built on the east side of the city.

The centre will be located on Waters Place, a 3.4-acre property owned by the city, near Home Depot. It will also be where the new satellite fire hall will be built.

The five firms who are asked to submit tenders for the proposed state-of-the-art fire training facility are: Johnston Davidson, DGBK Architects, GHMA Archi-tects, Hughes Condon Mar-ler Architects and Chernoff Thompson. The deadline is on Nov. 20.

The project will built in two stages.

Last June-July, coun-cil approved a budget of $2,480,000 —  $965,891 for the training ground and $1,510,984 for site prepara-tion — for Phase 1 of the East Courtenay Fire Services Proj-ect.

Instead of loaning the mon-ey for the initial cost, council

Courtenay picks fi rms to submit tenders for fi refi ghters training centre

has opted to draw the fundsfrom city surplus and addedthe expenditure to the 2014-2018 financial plan.

Phase 2 of the project isthe construction of a satel-lite fire hall. Council has notapproved funding for it and itwill also require a public ap-proval process before it canproceed.

Staff indicated they will beworking with the new coun-cil in 2015 in helping to define actual costs for Phase 2 anddetermining next steps.

School District 71 will have new three new faces serving on the board of education.

Incumbents Peter Cole-man, Janice Caton and Sheila McDonnell have all weathered the electoral storm as they were elected back into office.

The only other incumbent back in the board is Tom We-ber who won by acclamation.

The three newcomers to the board are Cliff Boldt from Courtenay, Vickey Brown from Cumberland, who won by acclamation, and Ian Har-greaves from Electoral Area C.

3 new school trustees

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www.comoxvalleyecho.comTUESDAY.NOVEMBER 18, 2014 13

Hi Friends,

Furniture & Mattresses is celebrating two years since was incorporated, and we want you to join us! We are offering to pay the sales taxes on all in-stock merchandise until November 25, and we have a lot of products in-stock.

endless phony sale events, and we’ve only ever offered to pay the taxes

taxes, we really mean it, it is coming right off of our bottom line. We can’t afford to do this all of the time, as we could not sustain it, but for now, we want to celebrate!

Sincerely, Mark, Ana, Kerry & Michael Tardif, the family that brought you

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Photo By Van’s Portraits

A beautiful stained glass window that is dedicated to 19 Wing Comox and the Canadian Armed Forces now welcomes passengers to the Comox Valley Air-port.

Created by local glass artist Jan Lindstrom, the new creation features 19 Wing and Canadian Forces Base Comox coat of arms, which depicts a Thunder-bird — a powerful First Na-tions symbol. A giant su-pernatural bird, with great power and intelligence, the Thunderbird is believed to help the weak and the poor. The Thunderbird also rep-resents the carrying out of law and protocol.

The art work was made possible through a dona-tion from the BMO Bank of Montreal.

“The Canadian Forces have a major presence in the Comox Valley and have been an important part of this community for more than 70 years,” said Ste-phen Gardner, Regional Vice President, Personal Banking, Central & North-

ern Vancouver Island for BMO Bank of Montreal.

“This window is a won-derful way to recognize the contribution of the mili-tary to the Comox Valley and BMO’s long standing tradition of supporting our troops.”

Colonel Tom Dunne, 19 Wing commander said the artwork reflects the good relationship the military has established and sus-tained with the community for more than 70 years.

“This window is an ex-cellent reminder of our commitment to the Co-mox Valley and the excel-lent working relationships that exist between the

Wing, the airport and our local governments,” said Dunne.

Comox Valley Airport CEO, Fred Bigelow echoed

the same sentiment stating that YQQ could not exist without the support of 19 Wing Comox.

“Our positive relation-

ship with the men and women of 19 Wing allows us to offer our airlines ac-cess to the longest runway on Vancouver Island and

24 hour emergency servic-es. We remain ever appre-ciative of the integral role 19 Wing plays in our opera-tions,” said Bigelow.

New stained glass art now welcomes passengers to Comox Valley Airport. Unveiling the work dedicated to 19 Wing are (l to r) airport CEO Fred Bigelow, artist Jan Lindstrom, BMO representative Chelsea Stubbs, K’omoks First Nation Chief Robert Ever-son, 19 Wing Commander Tom Dunne and 19 Wing Chief Warrant Officer Jean-Claude Parent.

New stained glass art recognizes impact of 19 Wing and Canadian Forces

www.comoxvalleyecho.comTUESDAY.NOVEMBER 18, 201414

The citizens of Cour-tenay have chosen their municipal government, enabled by their free-doms of speech, ex-pression and assembly, informed by a free and independent press, and conducted by a secret ballot. This process, of which I am proud to have played my part, is democratically sound and I fully respect the outcome. It has been my privilege to serve.

I congratulate May-or Jangula on his re-election, after a hard-fought campaign, and I also congratulate Coun-cillors Frisch, Theos, Lennox, Hillian, Wells and Eriksson who will join him in the Council Chambers.

Their work will not be easy: I wish them every success as they make decisions on myriad is-sues.

I would like to pub-lically acknowledge and thank my support-ers. This includes my campaign team: their passion, energy and commitment were awe-inspiring. Also, I would like to thank those sev-en private citizens that contributed money to my campaign.

I must also thank Sco-tia Bank and Billy D`s, both located on Fifth Street, for their hospi-tality in permitting me to use their spaces for campaign events.

As I cease my duty as an elected official I would like to acknowl-edge the efforts of the staff of both the City of Courtenay and the CVRD. Their complex work is largely unrecog-nised and all too often unappreciated: any suc-cess I had as an elect-ed official was based to a great extent on their work.

Finally, I would like to thank all the citizens that voted for me: your faith in my ability to lead the City of Courtenay is a tremendous compli-ment, for which I sin-cerely thank you.

Jon AmblerCourtenay

A special salute to Comox candidates who cared about our com-munity enough to put their names forward as candidates but did not win Mayoralty, Coun-cillor and School Board Trustee seats.

These individuals de-

LETTERS

serve our admiration and respect because they brought discus-sion and debate to our community and ensured that democracy occured in Comox.

You all are noble citi-zens who deserve recog-nition and thanks one more time. Thanks to Tom Grant, Kathleen Bell, Don Davis, Ian Moul, Vivienne Webster, Jeany DellSiega, Tonia Frawley, Chettie Mac-Donald, and Meredith Starkey. We are a better community because of all of you!

Hugh MacKinnonComox

I would like to thank all the Comox residents who trusted me with their vote. I was not the successful candidate but I do so appreciate your faith in me.

My special thanks to my angel Agnes Wisden, who was my steady ev-erything throughout the campaign. Financial Agent, website design-er, Twitter organizer, proof reader, advertise-ment co-ordinator etc. I couldn’t have done it without you.

Congratulations to the new Council and Mayor. What a great lineup, you will do the

town proud! Thank you also to the residents of Comox who voted re-soundingly to start the process towards a strong initiative on be-half of the homeless. We are now able to focus on assisted housing for many of our neighbours who are in need.

A good turnout at the polls, 41.4% last time I looked, what a great town to live in

Thanks again,Vivienne Webster

Comox

Wasn’t that a party? The election, I mean.

I was so encouraged to see more people dem-onstrate their democrat-ic responsibility by vot-ing. You deserve to be thanked by our commu-nity for this.

To be a candidate means putting your ego at risk. That feeling stays with you to the end.

I woke up this morn-ing feeling that my suc-cess last night was due to so many factors, and the only ones I could concentrate on were the people who sup-ported me emotionally, financially, going door to door, putting up and taking down signs and by voting for me. There exists a feeling of grat-

itude for that support that is difficult to de-scribe in words.

Courtenay, thank you and I hope I live up to expectations. I encour-age all Courtenay citi-zens to make sure that they follow me and oth-er elected officials over the next four years and that you keep our feet to the fire. The ball is now in your court too.

Cliff Boldt,School trustee-elect

Courtenay

The voter turn out in the Comox Valley Re-gional District election was about 31% . Pretty dismal considering all the newspaper coverage ,on line coverage of can-didates, door knocking and signage.

The turn out was only slightly better than the roadside garbage pick up service referendum which inspired the inter-est of 29% of CVRD vot-ers . On that issue, there was a clear disconnect between CVRD staff who predicted 90% support for the service, while rural voters reject-ed the service by 73%. This should have been a message on the discon-nect, and that change was needed.

The disconnect be-

tween voters and CVRD Directors continues. Sixty -Nine percent-the clear majority of CVRD Constituents did not vote, on issues that will continue to affect them directly .

Who has the respon-sibility to connect Con-stituents and our Elect-ed Representatives? Should not most of this responsibility be with our Elected Represen-tatives? Who else?

I have read the policy statement on the CVRD Board/CAO relation-ship. It appears that the roles and responsibility of the directors, to rep-resent constituents is missing from this doc-ument. The document very clearly defines the role of the CAO and ap-pears to restrict the in-volvement of the Di-rectors in any technical advisory committee. So, who defines the role of the Directors in con-necting with their con-tinuents-the people they represent?

Will the CAO ‘s Gov-ernance agreement (policy reference 0530-00) maintain the status quo for constituent in-volvement for the next 4 years -or will there be change?

Phil Harrison AreaB

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COMOX VALLEY ECHO

OPINIONSEC

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Winners, losersand voters

www.comoxvalleyecho.comTUESDAY.NOVEMBER 18, 2014 15

Moonlight and Magic is a highly anticipated annual event that hits the streets of beautiful Downtown Courtenay this Nov. 21-23!

Businesses, arts organi-zations and charities will all join forces to get the Co-mox Valley into the “sea-sonal swing of things”.

The event runs 5-9 pm Friday, November 21st, and 9 am-5 pm Saturday November 22nd. ,

The Comox Val ley Christmas Parade follows on Sunday November 23rd at 2:00 pm.

Fire Performance to Light Up the Streets Friday-Downtown Courtenay lights up the night with a Moonlight and Magic Live Fire Show Friday at 6:30 pm on Duncan Ave with NOVA Fire Spun Arts! The Moonlight and Magic Fire show is becoming a real not-to-be-missed an-nual tradition in Down-town Courtenay. Visi-tors can also enjoy roving performers, live music, kids craft activities, a ‘pop up’ craft market, Magi-cal Faces Face Painting, cozy campfires and more in a variety of downtown locations right through till 9 pm.

Friday Night the Comox Valley Art Gallery is also hosting their 40th birthday party from 4 to 9 p.m. Ev-eryone is welcome to join them for snacks, warm bev-erages and birthday cake. While you’re there check out the 40th Annual CVAG Christmas Craft Fair fea-

turing work by over 60 lo-cal artists. CVAG is open 10-9 on Friday, November 21 and 10-5 on Saturday, Nov. 22.

Live Music Part of the FunValley favourite Todd

Butler will offer up great music and big laughs on the CVAG Plaza at 5:30.

After the fire show stick around for choral mu-sic from Just in Time Jazz Choir! Later in the evening at 8 pm you can tuck away into the Old Dive Shop for a mesmerizing musical ex-perience with The Moon Band. The Moon Band is a collaThere are limited seats for this special FREE one hour concert!Don’t Miss Shane Philip

With influences drawn from every corner of the music world, Shane Philip is one-man show instilling audience members with awe and moving them to dance. Shane performs at 2 pm on the Sid Plaza

Elasmosaurs Party and Fiesta World Craft Bazaar

It is the Elasmosaur’s Eighty Million and Twent’y Sixth Birthday/Christmas Party and you are all invit-ed to the Museum from 11 -4! Join friends of the Cour-tenay Museum for birthday cake and Christmas good-ies and punch, tons of door prizes, kids crafts, face painting, a reading of the Dinosaur’s Night Before Christmas. Admission is either by a new or gently used toy for Santa’s work-shop, or food donation for

Moonlight and Magic startsseasonal fun in CourtenayMagic, music and much more in downtown, cappedwith Santa’s Parade

Great Music.Enjoy the fun music of Todd Butler, upper left, and The Moon Band

NOVA Fire show. Don’t miss this event on Friday night.

our local food bank.On November 22nd and

23rd from 10 till 4 bothfloors of the Filberg Centerwill be transformed into aGlobal Craft Bazaar withover 40 local and global or-ganizations and businessesselling their fair trade prod-ucts.

Don’t Miss the Comox Valley Christmas Parade

Santa Claus is coming totown! The weekend culmi-nates with the much antici-pated Comox Valley Christ-mas Parade! The theme for2014 is “A Christmas Car-ol’ and spectators can getready for an incredible ar-ray of parade entries fromlocal businesses and com-munity organization. Kidscan look forward to the vis-it of the season from JollyOld St. Nick himself! Pa-rade starts at 2 pm on Sun-day November 23rd.

Friday November 21st 4-9 Warm Fire, CVAG 40th an-niversary celebration, Hot Cider and More on the CVAG Plaza4-8 Crafts, Magical Faces Face Painting and hand on Crafty Fun at the Old Dive Shop on Duncan Ave5:30 Todd Butler performs on the CVAG Plaza6:30 NOVA Fire performance on Duncan Ave7:15 Just in Time Jazz Choir on the CVAG Plaza7-9 The Figments at Zocalo Ca-fe8:00 The Moon Band at the Old Dive Shop on Duncan Ave8-11 The Jilli Martini Band at Billy D’s

Saturday November 22nd 9-12 Comox Valley Farmers Market10-4 2014 Fiesta World Craft Bazaar Florence at the Filberg Centre11-4 Elasmosaurs Birthday at the Courtenay Museum11:00 Captain Thunderpants Kids Show at the Sid Plaza12 noon - All Ages Hula Hoop Jam! Come and give it a spin! - Sid Plaza12-4 Acoustic Jam at the CVAG Plaza Campfire with special guests1 pm Josie Aileen Patterson at the Sid Plaza2:00 Shane Philip Live at the Sid PlazaSaturday November 22nd is al-so a fantastic day to head down-town and take in the Comox Val-ley Farmers Market, complete with live music and tasty treats to get your day started right! Then wander up to the heritage heart of the City and enjoy live performances from 11-4 at the Sid Plaza and free face-painting for the kids! It’s a great day to make plans with friends or fam-ily, stop by a local craft fair, or visit a local cafes and restau-rants for a delicious and fun fi lled visit to get you in the spirit of the season.

CLOSED THURSDAYAnniversary Gallery Hours

Follow comoxvalleyrd

Join us for a special celebration on Saturday, November 22, during the everyone welcome swim

at the Aquatic Centre from 1-4:30pm377 Lerwick Rd, Courtenay.

There will be prizes, games and a special surprise!

Regular admission rates apply.

For details visit:www.comoxvalleyrd.ca/rec

or call 250-334-9622

www.comoxvalleyecho.comTUESDAY.COURTENAY, BC. NOVEMBER 18, 201416

F I E S T A W O R L D CRAFT BAZAAR will show many faces on Saturday Nov. 22nd from 10 to 4 pm and Sunday 23rd 10 to 3pm at the Filberg Center and they will all be smiling.

The faces of the hun-dreds of artisans who have created the unique quality crafts that will arrive from around the world. The faces of the many non-profit and business vendors who will come from Vancouver and up and down the Island.

And the faces of the peo-ple of the Comox Valley who again will be amazed and delighted with this op-portunity to shop the world right at home. The goodwill and connections that take place between the vendors and the artisans allow you to make ethical fair trade purchases.

This is FIESTA’S 22ND year, and it has been won-derful to watch it grow. Last year over 2500 people wan-dered the bazaar over the two days, many came for the delicious ethnic lunch and most certainly many found that special something that they feel good about giving this Christmas.

There is always some-thing new at FIESTA. This

year there will be many beautiful door prizes do-nated by the vendors. You will be given a ticket as you enter and you will place the ticket with your name and phone number in a box downstairs in the Ro-tary Hall. The Evergreen Lounge downstairs will have a kitchen with snacks and beverages. There will again be childcare provided by the talented and hard-working Interact Clubs from our three local High Schools.

We have at least seven new vendors joining us.

We have food and spices covered.

There really is something for every pocket book, from hacky sacks to carpets! There will also be opportu-nities for you to buy an al-ternative gift or living gift.

FIESTA also has anoth-er side, with unique post-ers, cards, calendars and books from Syracuse Cul-tural Workers in New York and New Internationalist Publishers, that you will find beautiful and mean-ingful.

There will be a delicious menu for lunch, Manoja will be serving chicken ka-bobs and carrot salad and a

hearty pumpkin curry soup, Javier will have empanadas and Rikhi will have samo-sas. The Comox Valley Land Trust will provide a wonderful variety of sweets and drinks.

This year FIESTA is helping the Syrian Refu-gee Support Committee who are working to bring in a family. Please bring any jewellery that you are no longer using and drop it off at their table inside the main door. You might want to drop off a donation at the

same time. So bring your smiles

and remember FIESTA WORLD CRAFT BAZAAR IS ALL ABOUT FUN, FAIR TRADE AND FOOD! Ad-mission is $2, and the Fil-berg Center is wheelchair accessible. Visit our web-site at www.fiestafairtrade-fair.org to learn more about our artisans and vendors and to watch our promo-tional video, and like us on Facebook at FIESTA WORLD CRAFT BAZAAR. The world is coming!

Ho, ho, ho. While Jol-ly Old Saint Nick is busy with his elves in his high tech workshop at the North Pole, the local crafters are also excitedly assembling their Christmas goodies in preparation for the Biggest Yellowest Merville Hall An-nual Craft Faire, Saturday, November 22nd, at the Big Yellow Merville Hall. The tables will be packed with crafty Christmas es-sentials for your shopping pleasure so plan on arriv-ing early. The Merville Grannies will be serving up the canteen treats and the MCA staff will see to it that your craft excursion is memorable. Situated on the Old Island Highway between Courtenay and Campbell River, the eye catching hall is perfectly situated to attract patrons from both communities. The hall will be packed so plan to get there early.

There is plenty of park-ing; the hall is big and warm; the washrooms brand new; and the new entrance ramp makes ac-cess easy. The main doors swing open at 9:30am and the buying bonanza con-tinues to 1:30. Come one, come all.

New vendors added andplenty of food to enjoy as well as helping others

MervilleHall Craft FairSaturday

Artisan in Bangladesh. Eric St Pierre photo

Fiesta World Craft Bazaar has many faces

FIESTA World Craft Fair will show ... the faces of the hundreds of artisans who have created the unique qualify crafts that will arrive from around the world.”

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Nov 21 to Dec 22Tickets from $25

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JOIN US FOR ADVENT QUIET DAY

St. John the Divine Anglican Church in Courtenay invites you to an Advent Quiet Day to be led by Sr. Dorothy Handrigan of the Sisterhood of St. John the Divine (Victoria) this coming November 22nd, Saturday from 9:30am to 3pm.This day is an invitation to step aside from the pre-Christmas rush and spend some time refl ecting on the wonder and mystery of God’s coming amongst us. Come, join us for a day of relaxation and prayer, meditation, silence and optional sharing to take time out before the busyness of Christmas season begins. This will be suitable for Christians of all denominations. Please bring a bag of lunch. Coff ee, tea, water, and dessert will be provided. RSVP is preferred but not required. For more information, please contact- 250-897-8569 or 250-334-4331

ECOLE ROBB ROADHOSTS HUGE SALE

Elves of all ages from Ecole Robb Road are gearing up for the holiday season early! Busy sorting through garages and creatively crafting stocking stuff ers and holiday gifts, the elves are getting ready for the school’s upcoming garage and craft sale.This indoor Garage and Craft Sale takes place on Saturday Nov. 29th from 9 am to noon at Ecole Robb Road (between Anderton and Church St) in the school gymnasium.If you would like to sell some gently used items or homemade crafts, please contact Lauren Lan at 250-941-4290 or email at [email protected] to reserve a table. Cost is $15 per table.Looking to get ahead on some early shopping, come join us for the morning!

ECOLE ROBB ROADHOSTS HUGE SALE

Comox Legion Ladies Auxiliary is hosting a Luncheon open to the public in the Upper Legion Hall, on Comox Avenue.Enjoy this Homemade Soup and Sandwich Lunch on Thursday, November 20th, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m .A full lunch is $8; individual entrees $3. Endless tea and coff ee. Come and enjoy a homemade lunch and dessert with family and friends.FYI: The monthly soup and sandwich lunches fi nish in November - but we’ll be back in January on the 15th ready to serve you another delicious homemade meal. Hope to see you then!

CUMBERLAND LEGION BAZAAR

Cumberland Legion Br. 28 welcomes you to their Christmas Bazaar on Saturday, Nov. 22There will also be a bake sale, too.The fun runs from 9 am to 4 pm. Please drop by - we’re looking forward to seeing you.

A CHANCE TO DANCE NIA

A Chance to Dance: If you haven’t experienced Nia and you are looking for a workout for the body and the soul, you are in for a treat.Nia’s logo is: “I love my body. I love my life.” Nia believes everyone can dance and every body is lovable. The more you dance Nia, the more you enjoy and love your body. This is one important piece to loving yourself. Nia insists that everyone dances their body’s way, which means that Nia is creative and healing on every level. This is a chance to experience Nia with founders Debbie and Carlos Rosas leading,

KIWANIS JUNTIQUESALE COMING

The Christmas Kiwanis Junktique will be held on Friday November 28th from 6.00 p.m. until 8.00 pm. and Saturday November 29th from 8.00 a.m until 11.00 a.m in the Church Hall at St. Georges United Church on Fitzgerald in Courtenay. There will be a lots look at and buy. Some fi xed price collectibles. All the proceeds go straight back into the community so you help yourself and others by coming. Kiwanis is known for tremendous value, come and check us out.

on a large screen with other dancers. The joy and pleasure of Nia is infectious.Dance is at 3 pm on fi rst and third Thursdays, Nov. 20, Dec 4 &18, at Comox United Church at Beach and Comox Ave. Email [email protected] to get on the mailing list or to get more info. Bring water; bringing a yoga mat is optional. Drop in fee is $5-7; $3 for low income. If daytime doesn’t work for you, please email your interest for

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Fairvote Canada willexplain proportional representation Nov, 22

Is democracy at risk?The Vancouver Island

North branch of Fairvote Canada thinks it is and asks this question:

Is 39.6% a majority?Ordinarily the answer

would be “NO” but in Ca-nadian Elections the an-swer is “YES”.

Canada currently has many examples of ‘ma-jority’ governments being formed without the con-sent of the majority of vot-ers. Federally we have a Conservative government that received 39.6 % of the popular vote securing 166 seats, which translat-ed into 100% of the pow-er to make decisions and create legislation that the majority of voters may dis-agree with. Provincially we have the Liberals in Brit-

ish Columbia with 44.1%, the NDP in Manitoba with 46.5%, and the Liberals in Ontario with 39.%.

This means that the majority of the votes cast in those elections did not count.

Fairvote Canada spokes-person Michael Nutland, stresses that this is not a partisan or political issue but one of democracy and Fairvote Canada is advo-cating the implementation of a system of Proportional Representation, to address the occurrence of false ma-jorities.

“Under the current ‘First Past the Post’ sys-tem everyone, somewhere, sometime, regardless of political stripe, loses rep-resentation to which they are entitled. For example, if only 60% of eligible voters exercise their right to vote, which is not uncommon, a party can form a majority

government with as little as 25% of the popular vote, so fully 75% are discarded, meaning there is no effec-tive representation for the majority. This is NOT de-mocracy”.

“One of the main ob-jections to Proportional Representation has been that it will create minority governments, which some view as ineffective and un-stable. History tells us dif-ferent.

“Through cooperation and consensus, minority governments have been responsible for Univer-sal Health Care, the Can-ada Pension Plan and the Charter of Rights, to name a few,” says Nutland.

With Proportional Rep-resentation ALL votes would count and that would be more accurately reflect-ed in the make-up of the legislative body. 39% of the vote for any one party

would get that party 39% of the seats.

The Vancouver Island North branch of Fairvote Canada is hosting an infor-mation session, including two speakers with expert knowledge of Proportional Representation. Represen-tatives of the fed

eral political parties have been invited to attend and to briefly present their parties position on PR. There will be an opportu-nity for all in attendance to ask questions.

Fairvote Canada ex-tends an invitation to all who believe in and are con-cerned about true democ-racy to attend at the Lower Elks Hall, 231 6th Street, Courtenay from 1 pm to 3 pm on Saturday, Novem-ber 22nd

For more information, go to www.fairvote.ca, or contact Michael Nutland at 250-897-6188

Find out about a diff erent way of voting

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The Riptide U14 Girls soccer team was on the road again Saturday for their eighth game of the VIPL season, playing their second match against the Gorge/Lakehill Thunder team in Victoria. Coming off a tough loss last week and with only one of their ten points being earned on the road coming into this match, Riptide’s mental toughness and technical training would be put to the test.

The teams last faced off in early October, when Riptide outscored Thun-der 7-1 at home. However, the Gorge/Lakehill team had been gaining momen-tum since then, result-ing in a very close game against Saanich and a win against UI Storm (the top two teams in the league) in their previous two games this month.

Right from the game’s starting whistle, it was clear

that both teams came with the intention and commit-ment to win. Despite their efforts, neither team was able to find the back of the net, and the first half ended with no score.

With some strategic po-sitioning adjustments to counteract Gorge/Lake-hill’s style of play, Riptide came back strong in the second half, scoring with-in the first three minutes. Aisha Hunter-Bellavia dug deep at midfield to send a through pass to Sophie L. who weaved through two defenders before finding the back of the net to score the only goal of the game.

Throughout the game, Riptide maintained most of the ball possession, but the main story continued to be the team’s strong de-fense, shutting down most of their opponent’s scor-ing opportunities. Rip-tide’s keeper took care of the rest.

Upper Island Riptide U14 celebrate their first road win

Road win. In blue, Riptide’s Lauren Wigard (left) and Kaitlyn Dreger (middle) ready for a loose ball as midfielder Aisha Hunter-Bellavia (front) digs deep to send a through pass to Sophie L who scored the solo goal of the game.Photo by: Heidi Summers

GIRLS SOCCERRiptide co-coaches Matt La-

ver, Lisa Wigard and Jim Stew-art were very pleased with howtheir team played on the road.Stewart said, “Gorge/Lakehill Thunder was only one point be-hind us coming into this game,so this was a big three pointsfor us. Both teams played verywell defensively, and although we had most of the possession,we only managed to capitalizeon one of our scoring chances.Fortunately, one goal was all weneeded on this day.”

Stewart went on to explain,“The key to this win was ourability to register another shut-out. When the girls play welldefensively, they always givethemselves a chance to win.This was our 3rd clean sheetin the last four games, a trend we’ll seek to continue.”

The Riptide U14 Girls soc-cer team, sponsored by Lacasse Construction, has byes for theremainder of November. They play their final game of 2014 onDecember 6 in a home gameagainst Juan de Fuca/Sooke.Until then, Riptide will contin-ue their regular training sched-ule and will also be doing a team fundraiser at the CourtenaySuperstore. Look for the teambagging groceries by donation there on November 29th.

For more informationabout games and events, visitthe team’s Facebook page athttps://www.facebook.com/rip-tide2001girls

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The Mt. Washington Ski Patrol Association (MWS-PA), incorporated in 1980, is set to begin its 34th year of volunteer services in support of Mount Wash-ington Alpine Resort’s safety program, which has as a primary objective the provision and maintenance of a safe environment for all visitors.

The roster of the MWS-PA is comprised of approx-imately 130 dedicated vol-unteers, who apart from maintaining their profes-sional 1st aid certification, attending a mandatory an-nual 2-day refresher and re-certifying their CPR/AED every year, will each donate between 150 and 450 hours of volunteer ser-vices each season.

The 8-10 directors of MWSPA add a further day or two per month, year-round.

A variety of skills are

brought to the association by individuals from vari-ous vocations including, EHS, law enforcement, business management, nursing, military, technical trades, education and oth-ers who collectively pro-vide an extremely broad base of expertise.

In addition to the ‘on hill’ red-jacketed patrol-lers, other members may be scheduled to staff the on-hill clinic (First Aid Room).

The volunteer doctors’ association is most ap-preciative to have the as-

High adrenaline ski movie Nov. 27

MT WASHINGTON SKI PATROL sistance of our member ER nurses, paramedics & other highly skilled medi-cal personal to assist & en-hance patient care.

The out-of pocket cost to each MWSPA member to volunteer for a season is significant and will vary depending on the num-ber of additional days do-nated, the travel distance from home, requisite gear supply, repair and replace-ment.

“A volunteer patroller may accrue expenses ex-ceeding $1000 per season in addition to donating his or her valuable time & skills”, states Paul Vroom, a 25-year veteran and direc-tor of the patrol.

Like most registered non-profit organizations, the MWSPA does not gen-erate sufficient revenue through dues alone to meet annual operating(Continued on page 23)

www.comoxvalleyecho.comTUESDAY.NOVEMBER 18, 2014 23

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Rt. 8102 – Urquhart, Tull, 27th, Stewart

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costs and therefore must reach-out to the com-munity for donations and support.

Vice President, Dr. Mar-tin Martens, points out that while annual dues have re-mained at $100 per year, the association over the past several years has had to purchase its’ own inven-tory of VHF radios (20), patrol jackets (170), train-ing adjuncts (O2, tobog-gans, etc.)

Whether you ski, snow-board, snowshoe or just enjoy the outdoors, we feel

that you will enjoy the film “DAYS OF MY YOUTH”. Please consider supporting our association by attend-ing a showing near you!

Mount Washington Al-pine Resort, our major sponsor, is offering a sig-nificant number of two-for-one lift pass vouchers which will be distributed by draw at each venue. The lift pass vouchers, alon

g with many other draws & door prizes, will guaran-tee that no one will leave without a ‘thank you’ to go along with the visual thrills presented in this family friendly movie .

Movie showings are:C O M OX VA L L EY:

Thursday Nov. 27. Doors open at 6pm. for 7 pm. show (Cumberland United Church, 2688 Penrith Ave, Cumberland)

CAMPBELL RIVER: Friday Nov. 28. Doors open at 6pm. for 7 pm. show (Timberline School Theatre, 1681 S Dogwood Street, Campbell River)

Tickets are $10 each and are available at locations listed on our web site and at the door.

For more information visit us at mwskipatrol.com

BY DAWN STEVENS, Active Comox Valley Coordinator

Join in the fun and step up your activity level with this year’s 30 Minute Chal-lenge on Wednesday Nov 26. Pledge your commit-ment for activity today and help the Comox Valley reach their goal of 1 million activity minutes in a 24 hr. period. We are trying to earn the title of the Sporti-est Community in B.C and we can’t do it without your help.

Physical activity does more than make you feel better - moderate exercise improves mental well-be-ing, helps increase produc-tivity and enables healthier lifestyle choices including improved eating habits and a better night’s sleep.

Logging your daily physical activity helps mo-bilize personal change, both psychologically and physically. There are al-ways obligations in the workplace or at home that seem to take precedence to raising the ol’ heart rate - the 30 Minute Challenge encourages you to fit activ-ity into daily life by track-ing 30 minutes of activity on that day. If you can shift your thinking from feeling guilty that you couldn’t fit in that hour-long step class or burn x-amount of calo-ries on the elliptical train-er, you’ll find by counting

10-minute ‘bursts’ of ac-tivity throughout the day, the minutes add up quick-ly and you will still reap the health benefits. Give it a try - walk to work or the store, round up the kids for a family ball game, or walk the dog with a friend. When you see on paper the time you’ve spent expending en-ergy and how you’re build-ing up your stamina and fitness level, one activity burst at a time, it will make you want to keep going!

Working out with a friend is also a great way to stay motivated and make positive healthy lifestyle choices. Rediscovering an activity you once had the time for will also prove how enjoyable physical ac-tivity can be and keep you interested. On November 26, you will have a chance to try something new, as several free classes are be-ing offered as a part of this challenge.

The 30 minute chal-lenge will be offering some great prizes for commit-ting to 30 minutes of ac-tivity on Nov 26. It’s easy to get involved, try some new activities or challenge a co-worker, friend or fam-ily member to work out with you.

For more info on how you can get involved with the 30 Minute Challenge, visit www.activecomox-valley.ca/challenge or call (250) 890-9116

It just takes 30 minutes to feel like a million

The Mount Washington Freestyle Club will be hold-ing a drop in registration on Saturday, November 22 from 9am to 12pm for the upcoming ski season. The registration will be held at Comox Valley Sports Cen-tre, 3001 Vanier Drive in Courtenay. They are of-fering programs for vary-ing ages and abilities that will run from January 3rd to March 29th, 2015.

Register Saturdayfor freestyle ski club

Time to sign up for club volleyball

CV Lacrosse AGMset for Nov. 20

The Comox Valley Strik-ers Volleyball club is host-ing an information and sign up session. All competitive volleyball players in grades 7 to 12 are invited to attend. The event will be held on Thursday, November 20th, 2014 at 7:00 pm at High-land Secondary School Multipurpose room in Co-mox. Try-outs are typically held in December with the season running from Janu-ary to May.

The club runs a Junior Strikers program for play-ers in grades 4-6. Informa-tion for this age group will be available soon on our website (www.cvvcstrik-ers.com).

With interest in our club growing, we are always looking for new coaches. If you have experience with volleyball and would like to share your knowledge through coaching, please contact our president, Mi-chelle Craig, at [email protected]

The Comox Valley La-crosse Association will be holding their Annual Gen-eral Meeting on Thursday, November 20, 2014 from 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM in the mezzanine at the Comox Valley Sports Centre.

Election of officers will take place. Please come out and support local la-crosse.

Adrenaline-fi lled ski movie

Glacier King Sheldon Brett is sent crashing into the boards by VictoriaCougar, John Kretzschmar as the Kings were downed 2-1 Nov. 15 at SportsCentre 1. The Kings still retain the number two spot in the north division be-hind l River Storm. Next home game is Saturday November 22, 7:30 pm at Sports Centre 1 vs third place Nanaimo Buccaneers.(Jim Hockley photo)

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Offer includes delivery, destination, fees and a $3,500 cashcredit9 . Offer based on 2015 Rondo LX MT (RN551F) with aselling price of $23,082.

2015

$3,500 IN CASHCREDIT9INCLUDES

4

OWN IT FROM

WEEKLY

+DON’T PAYNEXT YEAR1

INCLUDING

4

OWN IT FROM

DON’T PAYNEXT YEAR1

+WEEKLY

Rondo EX Luxury shown5 - hwy / city 100km5: 6.3L/9.2L Sorento EX shown5 - hwy / city 100km6: 9.0L/12.7LSportage SX Luxury shown5 - hwy / city 100km6: 7.0L/10.0L

BE READY FOR WINTER WITHOUR WINTER READY MODELS

$1,000 HOLIDAYBONUS10

2015 LX MT

HEATED SEATSHEATED STEERING WHEEL WINTER TIRES HEATED MIRRORS REMOTE STARTER

OR CHOOSE GREAT CASH OFFERS

0%+ $6,0003

CASH BONUSUP TO 84 MONTHS2

FINANCING

ORDON’T PAYNEXT YEAR1

ON ALL 2015 FINANCING OFFERSON SELECT 2014 MODELS

UP TO

OFFER ENDS

DEC.1ST

LAST

CHANCE 2014 CLEAROUT UP TO $6,000 CASH BONUS3

Offer(s) available on select new 2014/2015 models through participating dealers to qualified retail customers who take delivery from November 1 to December 1, 2014. Dealers may sell or lease for less. Some conditions apply. See dealer for complete details. Vehicles shown may include optional accessories and upgrades available at extra cost. All offers are subject to change without notice. All pricing includes delivery and destination fees up to $1,665, other feesand certain levies (including tire levies) and $100 A/C charge (where applicable) and excludes licensing, registration, insurance, other taxes and variable dealer administration fees (up to $699). Other dealer charges may be required at the time of purchase. Other lease and financing options also available. 1“Don’t Pay Until Next Year” (60-day payment deferral) applies to purchase financing offers on all new 2015 models on approved credit. No interest will accrueduring the first 30 days of the finance contract. After this period, interest starts to accrue and the purchaser will repay the principal interest monthly over the term of the contract. Offer ends December 1, 2014. 20% purchase financing is available on select new 2015 models on approved credit. Terms vary by model and trim, see dealer for complete details. 3Cash bonus amounts are offered on select 2014 models and are deducted from the negotiated purchaseprice before taxes. Available on cash purchase offers only. Offer varies by trim. Certain conditions apply. $6,000 maximum cash bonus amount only available on the 2014 Optima Hybrid EX (OP74CE) and includes a $1,000 ECO-Credit. 4Representative finance example: 0% financing offer for up to 84 months available to qualified retail customers on approved credit for the new 2015 Sportage LX MT FWD (SP551F)/2015 Sorento 2.4L LX AT (SR75BF) with a selling priceof $24,782/$27,282 and includes delivery and destination fees of up to $1,665, tire tax and AMVIC fee of $22 and a $0/$1,500 loan rebate. 364 weekly payments of $68/$75 for 84 months with $0 down payment. Credit fees of $0. Total obligation is $24,782/$27,282. See retailer for complete details. 5Model shown Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price for 2015 Sportage SX AT Luxury AWD (SP759F)/2015 Sorento 3.3L EX AT AWD (SR75HF)/2015 Rondo EX Luxury (RN756F)$38,495/$34,495/$32,295. 6Highway/city fuel consumption is based on the 2015 Sorento LX 2.4L GDI 4-cyl AT/2015 Sportage 2.4L 4-cyl AT/2015 Rondo 2.0L GDI 4-cyl AT. These updated estimates are based on the Government of Canada’s approved criteria and testing methods. Refer to the EnerGuide Fuel Consumption Guide. Your actual fuel consumption will vary based on driving habits and other factors. 7Loan rebate amounts are offered on select 2014/2015 modelsand are deducted from the negotiated purchase price before taxes. Available on financing offer only. Offer varies by trim. Certain conditions apply. Offer ends December 1, 2014. See your dealer for complete details. 8Cash purchase price offer for the new 2015 Rondo LX MT (RN551F) with a selling price of $19,582 includes delivery and destination fees of $1,665, tire tax and AMVIC fee of $22 and a $3,500 cash credit. See retailer for complete details. 9Cash creditamounts are offered on select 2014/2015 models and are deducted from the negotiated cash purchase price before taxes. Available on cash purchase offer only. Offer varies by trim. Certain conditions apply. Offer ends December 1, 2014. See your dealer for complete details. 10$1,000 Holiday Bonus amounts are offered on select 2015 Winter Edition models and are deducted from the negotiated purchase price before taxes. Available on financing offers only. Certainconditions apply. $1,000 Holiday Bonus amount available on the 2015 Forte LX+ AT Winter SE (FO74SF), 2015 Rondo LX AT (5-seat) Winter SE (RN75SF), 2015 Rondo LX AT (7-seat) Winter SE (RN75TF) and 2015 Optima LX AT Winter SE (OP74SF). Information in this advertisement is believed to be accurate at the time of printing. For more information on our 5-year warranty coverage, visit kia.ca or call us at 1-877-542-2886. Kia is a trademark of Kia Motors Corporation.

WE’VE GOTYOU COVERED*5-year/100,000 kmworry-freecomprehensivewarranty.

TH

ANNIVERSARY

Graham Kia Victoria2620 Government Street, Victoria, BC

(250) 360-1111

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(250) 334-9993

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(604) 931-5425

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(604) 273-1800

Kia South Vancouver396 Southwest Marine Drive

Vancouver, BC (604) 326-6868

Harris Kia2575 Bowen Road, Nanaimo, BC

(250) 751-1168

Applewood Kia16299 Fraser Highway, Surrey, BC

(604) 635-3010

Applewood Langley Kia19764 Langley By-Pass, Langley, BC

(604) 533-7881