Bottoms up!
New whiskey distillery shows demand in Saanich Page A8
NEWS: Meet Saanich’s new CAO /A3 ARTS: CRD arts funding at $2.1 million /A5 DRIVEWAY: Motor City’s auto show /A11
Gray Rothnie
SAANICHNEWS Friday, January 22, 2016
250 744 7034
www.graymatters.ca
Connected to More
®
Watch for breaking news at www.saanichnews.com
Economic plan jumping ahead
Saanich Police investigating arson at Reynolds Jacob Zinn
Travis Paterson
News Staff
News Staff
The region’s new economic development group made a huge step forward on Friday, laying the constitutional groundwork. Friday’s South Vancouver Island Economic Development Association meeting drew unanimous votes for every motion said Dan Dagg, a lead on the SVIEDA plan. “Friday was a pretty critical meeting in which we needed agreement on the constitution and bylaws which can hang an organization up, we had unanimous approval on the critical pieces,” Dagg said. “The public and private sector is working to gather to make this happen, it’s been great progress in a short period of time.” SVIEDA is currently in the process of accepting applications for the nine person board of directors, which will be strictly reserved for members of the business community. The board is scheduled to launch April 1. SVIEDA will employ five full time staff to deliver its projects. To date, 26 private partners are on board on as well as 12 of the 13 municipalities in the region (only Metchosin has abstained). Wilson’s Transportation is one of those initial 26 companies. On Monday Dagg accepted cheques from CEO John Wilson of Wilson’s Transportation and Coun. Fred
Travis Paterson/News Staff
John Wilson, left, and Coun. Fred Haynes, right, present cheques to Dan Dagg of the South Vancouver Island Economic Development Association at Saanich municipal hall. Haynes on behalf of Saanich. “Our growth is related to the economic growth of Greater Victoria and we want to be part of that,
breaking the boundaries of the municipalities to create a strong economic format for the whole community,” Wilson said.
Wonderful Title of House House CordovaTitle Bayof Residence
777Address Address Street Street 773 777 Haliburton Road MLS 123456 123456$769,900 $100,000 $100,000 MLSMLS 359058
PreferredHomes.ca 250.220.5061 250.220.5061 PreferredHomes.ca
See story on A3
Estevan Village Title Titleof of House House Home 4 Bedroom Executive 777 777Address Address Street 2732 DewdneyStreet Avenue MLS 355993 $1,575,000 MLS MLS123456 123456 $100,000 $100,000
Camsoun Camsoun
The quick actions of a school district facilities worker may have saved Reynolds Secondary from burning to the ground overnight. Around 10:15 p.m. on Tuesday, an SD61 facilities employee noticed a strong odour of smoke inside the school during his shift. He went to the northeast entrance and found a jerry can on fire outside the exit doors. “He quickly grabbed a fire extinguisher and put out the fire, and then turned around and discovered the doors had been burnt as well,” said A/Sgt. Jereme Leslie. “There was no one seen last night, it was just the smell of smoke. We do not have any suspects, but we’re also in the infant stages of the investigation.” The Saanich Police forensic identification team and Saanich Fire investigators attended the scene in the 3900 block of Borden Street and are currently combing through forensic evidence. Leslie said he wasn’t sure if the school had security cameras on the northeast side of the building, but noted police are working to obtain surveillance footage from neighbouring properties. jacob.zinn@saanichnews.com
Fantastic Jubilee Area Title Titleof ofHouse House Condo
777 777 Address AddressFoul Street Street #313-2022 Bay Road MLS 359445 $219,900 MLS MLS123456 123456 $100,000 $100,000