My wife and I attended the Harmony Project as our granddaughter, Alissa Bates, the youngest member of the HPS Drumline was performing. We were impressed with all the young entertainers but I was especially disheartened that many people continued talking and making noise while they were performing making difficult to hear them. I would suggest that in the future, a microphone is used as much of what was said about each group of performers or specific performers was lost with all the noise and that next time someone explains up front that in respect of the entertainers there will be not talking or be kept at a minimum during the presentations but people can talk between the presentations.

A brilliant initiative!

Yes, totally agree that Sooke needs a tree cutting bylaw. If councillor Beddows can’t see the benefit in this how did we even get elected?
This old ‘wild west’ mentality that a land owner can do whet they want on their property has to be expanded to consider the good of the whole neighbourhood.
Beddows has too many questions that can be answered by just looking how Metchosin does it.Was such a shame when Sooke Disposal bought the historic Milnes Landing farm and first thing they did was clear cut it.

Here is a link to ten tree protection bylaws in place in the Capital Regional District. Go for it, Sooke.

http://www.treehelp.ca/links.html

I would really like to go back to private insurance. ICBC is a mess. Profits are syphoned off by the government. Then they complain there is no money. They blame it all on the increase in accidents. But with populations increasing dramatically you are naturally going to have more accidents. So saying accidents are increasing is misleading. Plus with an increased population there is more revenue going into ICBC. Yes the bad drivers cause accidents but many of us good drivers pay rising premiums through no fault of our own. I don’t think ICBC IS FIXABLE. Please bring back Private Insurance.

Glad to see that we don’t have to put up with the behaviour of CAO Sullivan
Hope they make a good choice. Maybe they can cut back a few thousand on the CAO salary.

Excellent news… long time coming and very welcome!

Sooke drivers still stopping traffic to make left turns on double solid lines! We either need more left turn lanes or more RCMP giving out tickets. Too many serious accidents on Sooke Rd.

I don’t know if there is something special planned for the grand opening. I found this information on the website:
Tuesday, November 27

5-7pm in the SHOP: Damien (3D Printing)

7-9pm in the SHOP: Susan (Woodwork) & Marilyn (Arts)

​

Wednesday, November 28

5-7pm in TEXTILES: Kara & Christien

5-9pm in the SHOP: Willy (Woodwork)

​

Thursday, November 29

5-7pm in the SHOP: Kaya (Woodwork)

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Friday, November 30

2-5:30pm in the SHOP: Chris (Woodwork)

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Give Sooke Council the list above, as well. It seems to fit the Sooke OCP and parks plan better than the CRD regional parks plan.

All excellent advice…yes take note and earmark parts of your manual for emergency help as well.

Mariner’s Village Garry Oak and Coromonat roosting site, shoreside at the bottom of Church Road.

This reminds me of Chilliwack Creep catchers on facebook. I’m greatful for those keeping the kids safe. Sometimes I talk with adult men who tell me that they have been talking with younger girls who are fleeing abusive family members. These young people, need safe places and I think that there is a demographic bias at most of the places of refuge like soup kitchens and homeless shelters. I’d like to see more middle and upper class people that are stable and drug free appreciating financially and physically attending these places. I don’t think that they should just be for “poor” people. They keep us all safer by creating an environment where we have shelter, food and a table to sit at and meet each other.

“Parkland Institute is a non-partisan public policy research institute in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta.”

It’s hard to tell how “non-partisan” the Parkland Institute is. Their annual report shows 1/3 of their support comes from “organizational donations”.

Journalist Vivian Krause has uncovered evidence that the US based Tides Foundation and Russian Oil Companies have been funding Native Groups and other protesters of the Trans Mountain Pipeline Project.

Are Russian Oil Companies and the Tides Foundation funding the Parklands Institute?

We may never know – even the Parkland Institute’s Annual Report doesn’t say who these “organizational donations” are.

And how much I do hope this last incentive, in Mr. Morneau’s Economic Statement, is
advantage and monetarily useable for you Britt and SPN.

Last year I was given the challenge by Kim (Manager) of the Sooke Food Bank to collect 100 pairs of socks which I succeeded in doing. At the time, I decided this would be something I would do yearly, I am just over half way there again.
You can never have enough socks…..

Well I would like to see the Government start by banning some of the worse offenders well before 2025. It’s good to be selling more electric cars but getting rid of one big pick up truck or Hummer will equal 4 to 5 regular cars.
Time to start the mind set that big polluters aren’t welcome in our society.

Sooke Pocket News is my daily go-to several times-a-day. Breaking & everyday local news in local Sooke language. Sooke Pocket News helps myself, my family and my business make sense of who/what/where in Sooke and South Vancouver Island. Thank you!

We were the first family to live beside that park and pirate ship. My son and daycare kids spent many hours on that ship. Wish I had known so we could have gone back and taken photos of it. Loved the two big rocks there, too. Great memories of many kids from many years ago!

Do you have a date and route for the Otter Point Volunteer Firefighters’ Santa Run?

We would be happy to help him at Academy Dental. Please call Joanna at 250-385-6552 between 10am and 6pm tomorrow.

Ok not sure about the fancy cross walk stuff. But would prefer a roundabout at the Sooke river rd. Intersection. The whole thing might be screwed up with the Tim Hortons at the high school. Has anyone really looked into how this stuff will affect the flow of traffic?
I understand that it would be illegal but for the side road access to the Tim Hortons.
Personally would like to see a bus station instead of a coffee shop.

I have to say that yes asbestos is a wicked material. But we also have to be realistic about it. I’ve read a “lot” of reports that suggest that while asbestos can be a problem, there are many more pressing hazards that should be addressed first if we are going to spend billions of dollars on anything. Most of the deaths from asbestos is with people who mined it or processed it in the factories and that if we really want to make a dent in the number of people dying needlessly , then we might want to spend our money on other things such as stop every gas guzzling car from spraying massive loads of cancer causing exhaust into peoples faces along every street in our cities. Many reports point out that if you want the best bang for your buck and the best outcomes for people’s health, tackling the asbestos issue in peoples homes is well down the list of needs. If asbestos is such a scare as is made out then we would have to level or heavily remediate almost every house in Canada. I say first spend the money on getting gasoline out of our cars, plastics and chemicals out of our food. Then look at asbestos….. if we have any money left.
We should obviously stop using asbestos. We should also stop exporting it to other countries.

Andrea, what a terrible thing to say. Perhaps you should make the effort to find out more about this poor man’s situation before making public comments like yours.

Sent the government a note to ask them how to buy the cannabis and where to get it.
Still haven’t heard from them.
No idea how to get some.

Before the business owner gets any kind of settlement in his favour,he should have to pay all the back taxes he avoided by defying the by-laws

Agreed with everyone who has commented so far. An easing out of the business from the property as suggested by Mr. Callrisian sounds like a good solution and one that might work best if the negotiations to figure out how exactly to implement it included the property owners as well as whomever the DOS wants to bring along to the discussion table. This could easily include a PROFESSIONAL MEDIATOR who would keep the negotiations on track to make sure the solution works for everyone. We can benefit from having that business located in the Sooke region so hopefully by negotiating with a mediator they will end up feeling good enough about the situation to relocate somewhere that is in the area.

This business is clearly in violation. Ir’s flaunting of our regulations affects us all.

Realising that this agenda matter was last discussed with the previous Council, knowing that this was a tough subject to address, it may have been prudent, nay mandatory, to revisit the historical aspect of this issue before opening the door to it to a newly minted Council. It cannot rest on the back burner…it’s a tough nut and must be cracked before getting on with less burning matters.

well good on postponing the progress of this change in the OCP.
This should never have gone this far. Glad to see intelligent precess on this issue.
Stop the changes that the previous Council started and make it right!
This business is illegal and dangerous! Sooke is no longer in the “wild west” past!
Lets see us move ahead with having some rules to live by.
If we have proper rules to live by with proper business licenses more business will be happy to come here.

Sorry to have missed your Inaugural Meeting. Council had their first Regular Council Meeting last night. Looks like a great group to work with. Best wishes to all .

Today! Thanks Britt, see you there! vivi

Even if you cannot attend, the $20.00 ticket would help support the Harmony Project, music to everyone’s ears.

For her, her Mom and Dad and those family members who came before and tthose to come in her, hopefully, peaceful future♥️

Thanks for capturing the sentiment of this day
Your photos are wonderful as always

Not much can be said about folks who sacrifice their principles over money. Probably not much principles to begin with. Don’t follow trump as a really bad unprincipled person. Be Canadian.

Do you know that consuming one softdrink per day increases your chance of being diabetic by 20%?
Do you know that almost all packaged foods contain sugar?
Eat whole foods and drink water.
It is frightening the high rate of diabetes.

Yes, good letter. I wish we actually could support an actual person but in voting for a person we are giving votes to a party that will decide what to do with the votes, and I think I am OK with that.
I don’t think we are best served with one party who has a majority of seats. I would like to see people and partys kept in check and forced to keep their campaign promises.

As with all monopolies, your options are:

1. If you don’t like it, you can lump it, take it down the road and dump it.

2. See No. 1

This is a wonderful letter, and I agree that Pro Rep deserves a chance, whether one enjoys math or not!

Good article and detailed in National Post. Thank you for reprint

well this burn should be illegal!
For the last year, driving by these huge piles of good wood couldn’t imagine they would be allowed to jut burn it.
At the very least they should allow local residents to take it and either process it or use it for wood stoves that actually serves to warm homes.
In this age of trying to reduce carbon emissions this burn is hard to believe.
Shame! What a waste. Adding this to the clear cuts that this company is doing should draw attention.

Always appreciate the background and detail you provide in all matters Sooke, zbritt, thank you

“To represent everyone equally, and with respect”. That is the democratic ideal of government at any level. Wonderful to witness such a promising launch to the new municipal team. Now, if we also can get Proportional Representation at the provincial level —

I found this article about the Canadian Taxpayers Federation interesting. https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.3802441

Would like to have seen Jeff Bateman as Emergency Rep. and Climate change. But Tony St.Pierre will go a good job.
Tough to follow the mess the Councillor Reay left for the Library. Also Reay never did us any favours as member on the CREST board. We still have no repeater past Otter Pt.and no Emergency notification system. Councillor McMath?
Glad that Councillor Kasper is out of the CRD position.
Am sure we won’t see any past friends of Councillors taking the position of CAO like last time. Looking forward to see who they pick.
Looking forward to great things coming up.

These environmental bleeding hearts have lost touch with reality. They would gladly cripple the economy and any chance of economic growth in B.C. for the comfort of a pod of whales.

How will this affect the Driver’s situation?

I consider myself to be a champion of fairness, and FPTP is not fair. Make all votes count. Coalition governments work for the common good. What’s wrong with fringe groups? They may expose something you had not thought about. 5% is a huge fringe. If in doubt follow the money.

All the more reason to not flood the Peace River Valley because it is important arable land for the future. Climate change will make the Peace the primary growing area in 50 years. California climate has been moving north for many years. Think ahead!