Road link praise
After two years of campaigning for fiscal fairness, Powell River’s business community is applauding the province’s announcement that it will look into alternative connections to ferry service on the Sunshine Coast.
“We are elated by the fact that the province is investing money in a study that we believe will demonstrate the need, and logic, of a fixed link from the Sea to Sky region over or around Howe Sound to connect the Sunshine Coast,” president of Powell River Chamber of Commerce Jack Barr stated in a press release.
Since the provincial government announced plans to curtail ferry service and increase fares on the coast in 2013, the chamber has lobbied Victoria to provide affordable, reliable service that is not an unreasonable burden on taxpayers.
The capital plan for the region points to the need for significant investment of about $2 million at the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal.
Money that could just as easily be spent building roads than ferry terminals, said Barr.
According to Barr, the chamber believes a road to the Lower Sunshine Coast will help Powell River’s economy by promoting tourism and aiding the movement of goods and people.
“We see the biggest change is that the connection will be reliable, and 24/7. There will be access to new areas along the road, but likely the Lower Coast will not change much simply by turning the ferry into a highway,” he said.
Barr added that Powell River residents and business people have lived with the high cost and sometimes unpredictable service of the ferries for some time and a road connection would offer an improvement. “With a fixed link, we have reliable transportation, and we look forward to seeing families move back to the region, which will be a shift from the current trend of an aging population on the coast,” said Barr. “This fixed link study is a good start, but there’s still a lot of work to do.”
Bear attacks man
Conservation officers have destroyed a bear responsible for sending a 51-year-old man to hospital in the early hours of Thursday, September 24.
Powell River RCMP have confirmed that a man walking his dog on the 4700 block of Redonda Avenue, behind the Town Centre Mall, was attacked by a bear at approximately 5:30 am.
The man sustained only minor injuries in the attack and did not require BC Ambulance Service paramedics to transport him to Powell River General Hospital, Constable Tim Kenning told the Peak at 9 am.
Kenning said that the unnamed man told him “the bear came out of nowhere.”
“He stepped in trying to protect his animal, thinking the bear was going after his dog,” said Kenning. “Next thing he knew he was on the ground with a bear on top of him.”
Kenning added that a neighbour came out to see what happening after hearing the man yell and saw the bear and two cubs running away. The two cubs were also later destroyed.
The attack likely occurred because the bear was protecting its two cubs, said Kenning.
