Nanaimo news

• Lorne Doerkson pledges to create $50M fund to address emergency room closures

  06-10-2026 00:28 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  A Conservative government would create a $50-million fund to help address rural healthcare emergency room closures and staffing shortages.
  Lorne Doerkson, the Conservative Party of B.C.’s interim leader and the incumbent MLA for the Cariboo-Chilcotin, made the announcement in 100 Mile House on Monday, Oct. 5, outside the District General Hospital. Doerkson also pledged not to cut the 2026 healthcare budget and to make healthcare funding a priority in future budgets, if elected premier.
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• Endangered southern resident orca seen pushing dead calf in B.C. waters

  07-10-2026 20:00 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Tragedy has once again touched the critically endangered southern resident killer whales.
  A female orca was observed carrying a dead newborn calf on its nose near Sombrio Point in the Strait of Juan de Fuca on Oct. 3.
  The death was confirmed by researcher Mark Malleson from Washington-based Center for Whale Research, who encountered the orca identified as J31 – also known as Tsuchi – travelling with her immediate family.
  “It’s unclear whether the newborn was a male or fem
  
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• Duncan boundary realignment study finds limited financial impact on municipalities

  07-10-2026 19:49 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  An independent study examining a potential boundary realignment between the City of Duncan and Municipality of North Cowichan has found the overall financial impact on either municipality would likely be limited, although some property owners could see higher tax bills.
  The completed technical study was presented to Duncan council at an open meeting on Sept. 28 and received for information. No decision has been made to pursue a boundary change, and the two boundaries examined in the report were
  
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• THE MOJ: B.C. Lions continue roll with unusual win over Toronto

  07-10-2026 19:45 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  LIONS CONTINUE TO ROLL: The B.C. Lions’ 24-17 win against the Argos in Toronto on Saturday was rather unusual. Unusual in the sense that you don’t win many football games when you don’t score a touchdown but you do when kicker Sean Whyte boots a team-record eight field goals and your defence gets two turnovers in the final three minutes of the game as the Lions did with a T.J. Lee interception and an unbelievable goal line stand in the dying seconds. The bottom line is that it
  
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• Japanese retailer Muji opens 5th B.C. location at Mayfair centre in Victoria

  07-10-2026 19:14 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  A much-anticipated Japanese shop opens its latest B.C. location at Mayfair Shopping Centre on Oct. 24.Founded in 1980, Muji’s origin was to provide simple, low-cost, good quality products.
  Now with more than 1,000 stores around the world, carrying more than 7,000 items ranging from clothing and household goods to food and even houses, Muji brings its minimalist approach and vast array of goods to Victoria with the company’s fifth shop in the province.
  The Mayfair Muji hosts a grand o
  
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• Four-peat: Victoria named world’s best small city once again

  07-10-2026 19:10 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Move over, Venice and Florence. For the fourth year running, travellers have declared Victoria the undisputed king of small cities.
  The waterfront capital took first place in the 2026 Readers’ Choice Awards by Condé Nast Traveler, beating out renowned global hotspots including Porto, Dubrovnik, Amalfi and San Sebastián.
  The award recognizes cities with populations under 350,000.
  Nearly 800,000 readers across the United States took part in the annual survey to rate their trave
  
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• BC NDP promises new support for small businesses hit by U.S. trade war

  07-10-2026 18:38 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  BC NDP leader David Eby says small businesses hit by U.S. tariffs will be eligible for interest-free loans to help them get through Trump’s trade war with Canada.
  Eby is in Surrey Wednesday morning (Oct. 7) as leaders continue their provincial tours in advance of the Oct. 24 B.C. election.Eby also announced that the BC NDP will also introduce a new tax credit for businesses that provide a young person with their first job, as well as expanding support for those businesses that want to expo
  
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• New coaches to steer VIU Mariners’ basketball teams for 2026/27 season

  07-10-2026 18:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  New head coaches will skipper Vancouver Island University women’s and men’s basketball teams as they attempt to return to the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association championship games this season.
  Tony Bryce and Matt Kuzminski, last season’s respective women’s and men’s bench bosses, have both moved on, making way for Luke Holmes, Bryce’s assistant, and Eric D’Andrea, who previously played for Kuzminski.
  The women’s team captured both Pacific Wes
  
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• Vehicle incident snarls Pat Bay Highway traffic

  07-10-2026 18:25 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Drivers saw delays on the Pat Bay Highway on Wednesday (Oct. 7) after a morning crash southbound.
  Emergency services were on scene just before 9 a.m. after a driver managed to straddle a concrete barrier in a single-vehicle incident on Highway 17.
  Chief Stacey Lee of the Central Saanich Fire Department said the collision involved three vehicles and resulted in the closure of both fast lanes. He says two people have been transported to hospital.
  The highway opened up again just past 10 a.m.
  
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• Single-vehicle crash snarls Pat Bay Highway traffic

  07-10-2026 18:25 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Drivers can expect delays on the Pat Bay Highway on Wednesday (Oct. 7) after a morning crash southbound.
  Emergency services were on scene around 9 a.m. after a driver managed to straddle a concrete barrier in a single-vehicle incident on Highway 17.
  More to come …
  
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• B.C. ball hockey team completes undefeated run to capture national title

  07-10-2026 18:00 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  A year after a quiet quarterfinal exit, a Langford ball hockey team stormed through New Jersey to capture a national title.
  The West Coast Giants capped a perfect season by winning the National Ball Hockey League (NBHL) Tier 2 championship, finishing an undefeated six-game run with a 5-2 victory over the South Jersey Soul on Sept. 20.
  It was a dominant tournament for the club, which plays out of Eagle Ridge Community Centre in Langford.
  The Giants also went 10-0 during the regular season against
  
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• Break point: Kelowna to continue with indoor tennis court plan after terminating contract with partner

  07-10-2026 17:39 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Almost a year and a half after a new indoor tennis court was announced, the City of Kelowna is looking for a new partner.On Tuesday, Oct. 6, the City announced it is still moving ahead with the project at Mission Recreation Park, but has terminated its agreement with Tennis Clubs of Canada (TCC).
  “Our focus is on moving this project forward responsibly as the need for more year-round tennis opportunities in Kelowna has not changed,” said Doug Nicholas, City of Kelowna sport and event
  
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• Ladysmith storyteller brings forgotten female composer’s story to the stage

  07-10-2026 17:00 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Ladysmith resident and storyteller Rachel Dunstan Muller is helping bring the life and music of a once overlooked 19th century female composer to the stage in Nanaimo.
  She Composed, Herself: The Life and Music of Mel Bonis will debut Saturday, Oct. 10 at 2:30 p.m. at the Port Theatre by The Quill & Scroll Ensemble, combining storytelling with live cello and piano to explore the life of French composer Melanie “Mel” Bonis.
  The original production has been more than two years in th
  
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• The Island looks different from the highway shoulder

  07-10-2026 16:10 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  I’ve driven across Vancouver Island more times than I can count, usually focused entirely on the destination.
  But seeing it at 25 kilometres an hour changes the landscape entirely. When you’re spending hours in the saddle with the wind in your face, the Island you thought you knew starts to shift.
  Over 14 days, our team pedalled more than 1,000 kilometres from Port Alice to Greater Victoria. Together, we raised more than $700,000 for childhood cancer research and support programs.
  So
  
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• Pop-punk heavyweights Simple Plan bringing tour to Victoria

  07-10-2026 16:00 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  A pop-punk favourite is bringing a stacked lineup to Victoria early next year.
  Simple Plan will bring its Bigger Than You Think! Canada Tour to Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre on Jan. 26, 2027, with Marianas Trench and Bowling For Soup joining the Montreal-based band for the Victoria stop.
  The show will mark the first stop of the 15-city Canadian tour, which runs through January and February.
  “Canada, it’s FINALLY your turn,” the band wrote in a social media announcement Tuesday
  
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• WOLF: Remembering Mum, nearly 40 years later

  07-10-2026 14:45 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Oct. 7 is always a bittersweet day for me.
  I’ll cry. I’ll smile and enjoy a flood of happy memories. I’ll phone my sister and lament the what ifs and celebrate the what was. I’ll listen to some old tunes.I hate Oct. 7 for what it means. I love Oct. 7 for what it meant. I wish I never had to think about Oct. 7.Oct. 7 marks the anniversary of the day (39 years ago) we lost Mum. She was just 44. Cancer.It boggles my mind she’s been gone so long, given it still seems li
  
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• Business Notes: Popular Nanaimo haunted house not organizing this year

  07-10-2026 14:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  After five incredible years of frights, screams, laughs, and unforgettable Halloween nights, the Stanley family has announced it will take a break from its annual and popular haunted house in Nanaimo this year.
  In a Facebook post, the Stanley family and its Stanley’s Legacy Productions, said the family and organizers of the haunted house, which had been held in Beban Park in recent years and has served a fundraiser for the Vancouver Island Exhibition, are too busy this year to give the hau
  
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• Chapman, Findlay step away from B.C. politics after ‘threats and abuse’

  07-10-2026 03:36 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  A total of five candidates are running in the upcoming provincial election to represent the riding of Surrey South – but former Surrey South MLA Brent Chapman won’t be among them after all.
  Chapman – who had been listed as the OneBC South Surrey candidate prior to Saturday – is missing from the Elections BC candidate list, as is his wife, Kerry-Lynne Findlay, who stepped down as Conservative Party of BC leader on Sept. 20 after several MLAs left, or were asked to leave, t
  
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• Philadelphia fugitive wanted on international warrant arrested in B.C. traffic stop

  07-10-2026 02:06 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  A 25-year-old Philadelphia fugitive wanted for violent offences was arrested during a routine traffic stop in Vancouver on Friday (Oct. 2).
  The suspect has been identified as Halil Abrahim Akbalik, according to a news release from Vancouver police Tuesday. He is wanted in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for charges of rape and other offences. Police added that Akbalik is also the subject of an ongoing investigation by Toronto Police Service’s fugitive team
  A Vancouver police officer stopped a w
  
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• Nanaimo not committing to heritage designation for Chinatown properties at this time

  07-10-2026 01:48 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Nanaimo is making no commitments at this time to place the two last remaining buildings from the city’s third Chinatown in the municipality’s heritage register.
  The Nanaimo Chinatown Heritage Foundation and some members of the community appeared as a delegation at the council meeting on Monday, Oct. 5, asking that 880 and 997 Hecate St., which were in the centre of Nanaimo’s last Chinatown before a fire in 1960 destroyed much of the buildings in the area, be placed in the regis
  
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• Experts to talk water in Kelowna at Environmental Flows Conference

  07-10-2026 01:36 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The Okanagan Basin Water Board, Okanagan Nation Alliance and the Canadian Water Resources Association are ready to talk all things water at the third event in the Environmental Flows Conference.From Oct. 7-9, experts in water will be gathered at Coast Capri Hotel in Kelowna to discuss water scarcity, drought, and access for people while balancing healthy rivers, fish and ecosystems.The event will centre on the theme of ‘Siwɬkʷ (water) For All – Our Responsibility’.
  Ke
  
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• B.C. NDP promises faster health care with new diagnostic equipment

  07-10-2026 01:21 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  B.C. NDP Leader David Eby is promising new diagnostic equipment that will shorten health-care wait times.
  Eby promised to add eight new MRI machines, including one at Eagle Ridge Hospital in Coquitlam near where his announcement was Tuesday (Oct. 6) and 10 CT scanners. He also promised, if his government is re-elected, to introduce co-ordinated regional surgical waitlists that let patients choose the shortest wait.
  The B.C. NDP, in a news release, touted that since first forming government in 20
  
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• B.C. Conservative, NDP leaders rally election support in Vernon

  07-10-2026 01:20 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  As provincial election campaigns ramp up, two party leaders made stops in Vernon over the weekend to rally support and hear from constituents, while offering voters two distinct options in what is shaping up to be a highly contested riding.B.C. Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson was at Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery for a campaign event Friday, Oct. 2, while B.C. NDP leader David Eby’s bus pulled up on 30th Avenue Saturday for an event that highlighted several of his party’s Okana
  
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• B.C. Conservatives plan to hire more police, stop illegal drug use in hospitals, shelters

  07-10-2026 00:38 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  B.C. Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson used the backdrop of a graffitied alleyway in downtown Vancouver Tuesday (Oct. 6) to lay out his party’s plans to address public safety and street disorder.
  Doerkson said a B.C. Conservative government would bring “order, security, and compassionate care back to British Columbia’s streets,” adding the time to act is now.
  He promised to deploy more police to hard-hit neighbourhoods to deal with street-level crime. That includes hirin
  
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• Nanaimo hopes for almost $2 million in grants to help fund two infrastructure projects

  06-10-2026 21:33 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Nanaimo is hoping to access almost $2 million in federal grant funding for two infrastructure projects that are ongoing in the municipality.
  City staff informed the finance and audit committee meeting at its meeting on Sept. 23 that the municipality is preparing a grant application to the Build Communities Strong Fund for up to $1 million towards the approximately $3.1-million East Wellington Road transportation and mobility-upgrade project.
  Staff also told the committee that it has already subm
  
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• International rinks earn curling Prestige in B.C.

  06-10-2026 21:00 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  With precision and timing, Switzerland’s Marco Hoesli found himself in the winner’s circle at the Prestige Hotels and Resorts Curling Classic Monday, Oct. 5, at the Vernon Curling Club.
  The two-time World Junior Curling silver medalist rallied from an early 4-0 deficit to defeat Japan’s Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi 7-6 in an extra end in Monday’s final.
  With the victory, Hoesli will join Prestige Classic women’s champ Eunji Gim of Korea in the field at the Grand Slam of Curli
  
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• Cliffhanger: B.C. firefighters offer helping hoof to stranded goat

  06-10-2026 20:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  A Metchosin domestic goat with mountain goat-like ambitions found itself in a rather precarious situation and in need of a little help getting all four hooves back on solid ground.
  The animal spent Sunday night (Oct. 4) stranded on a cliff-face ledge on its owner’s property after tumbling over the edge and finding itself unable to scramble back to safety.
  To the rescue came the Metchosin Fire Department.
  Firefighters and trained rope rescue technicians were called to the property early Mon
  
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• Nearly 400 new housing units added in North Cowichan over past year

  06-10-2026 20:28 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  North Cowichan has exceeded its second-year provincial housing target, with nearly 400 net new housing units added over the past year.
  According to the municipality, 399 net new units were added between Aug. 1 2025 and July 31, 2026, bringing the total number of new units delivered since the provincial target was introduced to 540.
  That puts North Cowichan at 44 per cent of its five year target of 1,233 new housing units.
  Of the units added so far, 68 per cent have two or more bedrooms and 60 pe
  
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• Chilliwack golfer storms from behind to win PGA of BC event in Vernon

  06-10-2026 19:59 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  He played well in the opening round, but Kevin Stinson felt he didn’t get the score he wanted.
  That changed in the final 18 holes of the 2026 Srixon/Cleveland Golf Club Professional Championship Tuesday, Sept. 29, at the Vernon Golf and Country Club.
  Stinson, from Chilliwack’s Cheam Mountain Golf Course, fired a bogey-free 7-under-par 65 to finish at seven-under 137 for the 36-hole event.
  He overcame a three-shot deficit, earning a four-shot victory over Padraic O’Rourke (Marin
  
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• Person from Washington State arrested in connection with Tumbler Ridge shooting

  06-10-2026 19:55 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  A person has been arrested on a charge of conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country in connection with the fatal Tumbler Ridge mass shooting, U.S. officials say.
  The suspect is a 30-year-old from western Washington State, according to a news release from acting United States Attorney Charles Neil Floyd.U.S. law enforcement officials and RCMP officials will be holding a news conference at noon to provide more information.
  More to come.
  
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