Provides financial assistance
The board approved a number of grants-in-aid at the meeting, including $20,000 to Pacific Region Summer Music Academy, $12,000 to Sunshine Coast Tourism, $12,000 to the Texada Arts, Culture and Tourism Society, $4,110 to Lang Bay Community Club and $2,000 to the Lasqueti Island Internet Access Society.
Accepts parkland acquisition strategy
After a presentation from Friends of Stillwater Bluffs last December requesting the board look at accepting its 2015 parkland strategy, the board formerly accepted the report. The document will help guide the future purchases and decision-making on expanding parks throughout the boundaries of the regional district.
Savary Island pest problems
Powell River Regional District chair and Electoral Area A director Patrick Brabazon reported at the board meeting that Savary Island residents are fighting a growing problem on the previously rat-free island. A rat was spotted last summer, now islanders are bringing over pest-control products “by the truckloads,” said Brabazon.
Census results prompt comments
Regional district Electoral Area C director Colin Palmer told the board at its Thursday, February 23, meeting that comparing the recently released census results from Statistics Canada to those of 2011 was akin to commenting on the weather while discussing climate change. Palmer, who was mayor of Powell River in the 1980s, told the board it would be more useful to take the recent results in the context of the past 40 years of statistics for the region.
