TUESDAY NOVEMBER 10, 2015
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TRUDEAUS AND NIXONS
LEST WE FORGET
Special section inside today with Remembrance Day stories and the info you need to attend Nov. 11 ceremonies
Local photographer provides a look at a young Justin
B1-B8
A4
PARKSVILLE VOTES NOV. 21
Vote yes or boil water? City residents being asked to approve a $5.6M loan JOHN HARDING editor@pqbnews.com
With 11 days until the vote, the Parksville Residents Association (PRA) says it has no official position on the referendum asking people to give the city permission to borrow $5.6 million for a water treatment plant. In fact, the PRA’s acting president could still be placed in the ‘undecided’ category as of a few days ago. “I don’t know how I’m voting just yet,” Al Pastars said Thursday. Assent Voting day — that’s what this referendum is officially called — is Saturday, Nov. 21. Parksville residents can vote at either the Parksville Community and Conference Centre (PCCC) or the Parksville Fellowship Baptist Church on Pym Street that day from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voting will also take place in advance polls at the PCCC only from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 12 and Wednesday, Nov. 18. Those who want to cast a ballot must show up with two pieces of identification, one containing a name and address and the other with name and signature (examples include a B.C. driver’s licence, B.C. Care Card, birth certificate, passport). If you do not have documentation showing residency, then two pieces of identification (at least one with a signature) are still required and you will be asked to make a solemn declaration as to residency. (For questions about the voting process, call the chief electoral officer, 250-954-3070.) The length of the voters’ list should be roughly the same as the amount of people eligible to vote during the last municipal election in 2014. There were about 9,600 eligible voters in the 2014 city elections when only 3,383 cast ballots (about 35 per cent). See $10 INCREASE, page A6
J.R. RARDON PHOTO
FUTURE FIREFIGHTER: Joseph Waitson, 2, of Qualicum Beach is geared up and ready for action as he takes the wheel of a fire engine during the open house at the new Qualicum Beach Fire Hall on Saturday.
PASSENGER RAIL SERVICE ON VANCOUVER ISLAND
Still waiting for federal funding CANDACE WU
news@pqbnews.com
Southern Railway of Vancouver Island (SVI) officials say passenger train service could return to Vancouver Island as early as next year. “Maybe by the end of 2016, but by early 2017 in time for the tourist season we expect passenger operations to resume,” SVI director of community relations J. Singh Biln told
The NEWS Friday morning. SVI is the operator of the E&N Railway, owned by the Island Corridor Foundation (ICF). Passenger service was suspended back in 2011 amid safety concerns about the existing track. Biln said the last outstanding piece of funding to sign off is $7.5 million from the federal government, which he said was held up by the re-
cent election. He said the new government and cabinet are not expected to change the course of this project. “We have had previous commitment from the feds and working with Infrastructure Canada so expect no problems getting the new minister to sign (an) agreement in principle by early 2016,” said Biln. See REGIONAL DISTRICT, page A8
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