Nanaimo news

• Remembering North Island MLA Colin Gabelmann

  14-10-2026 14:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Campbell River, the North Island and the province have lost one of their greatest champions with the death of former North Island MLA and Attorney General Colin Gabelmann.
  Gabelmann died on Oct. 3 aged 82, after a brief illness.
  He was North Island MLA from 1979 to 1996, the last five of those years as BC Attorney General.
  “Colin was one of the finest and most principled people and leaders that I ever knew,” Mike Harcourt, B.C. Premier from 1991 to 1996, said. “His attention to
  
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• B.C. crews free sea lion with thick rubber band cutting into neck

  14-10-2026 18:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  For at least one year, a California sea lion survived in the wild with a thick industrial rubber band cutting into its neck.
  The animal was first seen two kilometres from the shores of Metchosin at Race Rocks Ecological Reserve in October last year. However, it did not stay in the area long enough for rescuers to intervene, said the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Society.
  When the sea lion reappeared in September, members of Pearson College UWC’s Eco-Guardian program began monitor
  
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• Patron irate over steak banned from restaurant: Salmon Arm RCMP

  14-10-2026 17:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  A Salmon Arm restaurant blacklisted a customer for causing a scene that required police attention.At 9 p.m. on Sept. 16, Salmon Arm RCMP received a call from a 51-year-old diner who reported she’d been pushed out of a Lakeshore Drive dining establishment and wanted to press charges.Around the same time, police received another report of a disturbance involving the 51-year-old woman.
  Police responded and learned the woman was “upset about a steak that was not how she wanted it.”
  
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• North Saanich fires planning director who is also running for mayor

  14-10-2026 16:27 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  North Saanich council has decided to fire the district’s director of planning after an independent investigation determined a ‘breakdown in trust’ is causing staff work issues district-wide.
  After in-camera discussion Tuesday (Oct. 13), council unanimously agreed to terminate the employment of Felice Mazzoni, who has been the district director of planning since 2023.North Saanich received multiple complaints regarding Mazzoni, who is also running for mayor, under its Respectful
  
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• North Saanich fires director of planning after report outlines lack of respectful communication skills

  14-10-2026 16:27 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  North Saanich council has decided to fire the district’s director of planning after an independent investigation determined a ‘breakdown in trust’ is causing staff work issues district-wide.
  After in-camera discussion Tuesday (Oct. 13), council unanimously agreed to terminate the employment of Felice Mazzoni, who has been the district director of planning since 2023.North Saanich received multiple complaints regarding Mazzoni, who is also running for mayor, under its Respectful
  
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• Nanaimo MP, former MLA want more participation in Nanaimo Accord

  14-10-2026 14:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Senior members of government in the city want to know why they were excluded from more participation in the development of the Nanaimo Accord.
  At a special mayor’s leaders’ table on Sept. 25, the MP for Nanaimo-Ladysmith Tamara Kronis, and Sheila Malcolmson, the former MLA for Nanaimo-Gabriola Island, asked the table members why they hadn’t been brought into the conversation, which began last year.
  Conceptualized by the mayor’s leaders’ table last year, the accord d
  
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• Nanaimo-Ladysmith teachers’ union host trustee candidates in election forum

  14-10-2026 14:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Prospective members of Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools’ board introduced themselves and were questioned by the teachers’ union in a Q&A.
  Nanaimo District Teachers’ Association hosted an all-candidates forum at Beban Social Centre Thursday, Oct. 8. The NDTA provided candidates with 16 topics beforehand and queried candidates on seven, ranging on a number of subjects – the public did not ask questions.
  All candidates – Tania Brzovic, Adrianne Cafariello, Kailey G
  
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• Palmieri scores 2 as Islanders edge struggling Vancouver Canucks 3-2

  14-10-2026 04:29 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Kyle Palmieri scored twice, leading the New York Islanders to a 3-2 win over the visiting Vancouver Canucks in NHL action Tuesday at UBS Arena Elmont, N.Y.Matias Maccelli also scored for the Isles (3-3-0), with llya Sorokin making 23 saves to pick up the win in goal. Max Sasson and Brock Boeser replied for the Canucks (2-6-0), who have dropped five straight games.Leevi Merilainen took the goaltending loss, stopping 35 of 38 shots.
  The Isles opened the scoring 14:57 into the first period. After a
  
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• Conservatives commit $60 million towards new cardiac-catheterization laboratory at NRGH if elected

  14-10-2026 01:58 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  If elected to be the next provincial government, the B.C. Conservative Party is promising to commit $60 million toward the long-anticipated cardiac-catheterization laboratory at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.
  Brennan Day, the Conservative candidate for Courtenay-Comox and former Opposition Critic for Rural and Seniors Health, made the announcement at Nanaimo’s Millstone Medical Building on Tuesday, Oct. 13.
  He said the construction of a cardiac cath lab at the NRGH is long overdue.
  &ld
  
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• Conservatives commit $60 million towards new cardiac cath lab at NRGH if elected

  14-10-2026 01:58 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  If elected to be the next provincial government, the B.C. Conservative Party is promising to commit $60 million toward the long-anticipated cardiac-catheterization laboratory at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.
  Brennan Day, the Conservative candidate for Courtenay-Comox and former Opposition Critic for Rural and Seniors Health, made the announcement at Nanaimo’s Millstone Medical Building on Tuesday, Oct. 13.
  He said the construction of a cardiac cath lab at the NRGH is long overdue.
  &ld
  
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• Woman found dead at Vancouver Island landfill

  14-10-2026 01:38 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Police are seeking the public’s help to identify a woman found dead at a waste disposal facility in Central Saanich on Tuesday morning (Oct. 13).Central Saanich police responded to a report of a deceased person at the facility, and the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit has taken over the investigation with assistance from local officers.
  The woman is believed to be in her 30s and is approximately 5’9” with a heavy build, brown hair with blonde highlights and a horizo
  
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• B.C. party leaders lay out economic visions at board of trade event

  14-10-2026 01:31 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  NDP, Conservative and Green Party candidates vying to be Premier of B.C. presented their competing visions for the province’s economy to the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade on Tuesday.
  NDP Leader David Eby continued working to assuage concerns about the recent contract to build four new BC Ferries ships in China, promising that if his government is re-elected, he will work with Ottawa to build a new shipyard in the province.
  “We can build B.C. Ferries here at home, driving economic
  
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• B.C. southern resident orca census counts 76 in 2nd year population growth

  14-10-2026 01:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The plight of the endangered southern resident killer whales remains in the balance despite a rise in their population.
  The annual photographic census of the killer whales, conducted by Washington-based Center for Whale Research, found that as of July 1, there were 76 living individuals, up two from last year’s 74.
  During the census period, four calves were born, with only two surviving.
  “J64 survived for less than a month, while L129 was only photographed during a single encounter,&
  
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• ‘Catastrophic’ sediment dump threatens spawning salmon at Shawnigan Creek

  14-10-2026 00:44 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  A catastrophic sediment dump into Shawnigan Creek on Friday, Oct. 2 has killed an unknown number of spawning fish that had been set to be moved from a fish trap the following day by members of the Mill Bay and District Conservation Society.
  For decades, MBDCS volunteers have been trapping and then physically assisting a run of Coho salmon during their migration above a series of waterfalls on Shawnigan Creek where it enters the Salish Sea near Mill Bay.The sediment release was due to a ruptured
  
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• Candidates share climate views across B.C. ridings

  14-10-2026 00:44 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Voters across British Columbia – from Greater Victoria to Nelson – can now read about their 2026 local election candidates’ positions on climate and environmental issues.
  Climate action groups across the province have posted positions at a new website: Vote4Tomorrow.ca. The survey platform was developed by My Sea to Sky with input from the South Island Climate Action Network.“Climate change is already harming our communities, and driving up costs for everyday people,&rdqu
  
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• NDP’s Eby says he donated back B.C. childcare subsidies, won’t say if he got tax benefit

  14-10-2026 00:10 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  B.C. NDP Leader David Eby says that when his children’s YMCA childcare centre became one of the 10 per cent in the province to offer its services for $10 per day, he and his family decided it was best to donate the difference to the centre.
  “We made that decision because we didn’t feel that we needed that benefit,” he told reporters in Vancouver on Tuesday. “We wanted other families to benefit.”
  Since 2024, the total amount donated, including the amount the fa
  
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• NDP’s Eby says he donated back B.C. childcare subsidies, but won’t give details

  14-10-2026 00:10 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  B.C. NDP Leader David Eby says that when his children’s YMCA childcare centre became one of the 10 per cent in the province to offer its services for $10 per day, he and his family decided it was best to donate the difference to the centre.
  “We made that decision because we didn’t feel that we needed that benefit,” he told reporters in Vancouver on Tuesday. “We wanted other families to benefit.”
  But he dodged questions about the donation amount, or whether he
  
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• Eby promises ‘some of the toughest rules in North America’ on AI data centres and watershed protection

  13-10-2026 23:50 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  BC NDP Leader David Eby promised what he called “some of the toughest rules in North America” around AI data centres and watershed protection at a Comox Valley campaign stop over the weekend.
  “Rural communities in the province understand very intimately where their water comes from. It comes from the watershed,” Eby said. “They understand that if their community is to survive, if it is to have the water that it needs for agriculture, for food, for drinking, then the
  
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• Nanaimo municipal candidate scorecards and questionnaires from across the community

  13-10-2026 23:28 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Local groups and non-profits are interested on seeing how these municipal election hopefuls will contend with the issues facing Nanaimo residents.
  While the main jobs of municipal council is taxes, water, sewer and zoning, other issues that fall on their lap include health care investments, homelessness and numerous others.
  Doctors for Safer Drug Policy
  Doctors for Safer Drug Policy gave grades to each of the candidates, along with a short explanation describing each grade. Those who didn’
  
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• Man enters guilty pleas nearly 3 years after Kelowna teen’s death

  13-10-2026 21:37 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Dozens of people filled the court room in Kelowna the morning of Oct. 13 to hear Brandon Kazakoff plead guilty.The defendant pleaded guilty to dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death and to the lesser charge of assault for events that resulted in the death of Kelowna teenager Tristan Seeger.The court heard an agreed statement of facts in which, on Oct. 21, 2023, Kazakoff reacted to an incident in which family members, including his father, had been bear sprayed by a group of teens. Anothe
  
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• BC NDP, Conservatives both propose big investment into Kelowna’s airport

  13-10-2026 21:25 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The BC Conservatives and BC NDP are ready to pay big for Central Okanagan votes, with both parties now pledging to investment millions of dollars into the Kelowna International Airport (YLW).
  On Tuesday morning, Oct. 13, the NDP’s Kelowna Centre candidate Loyal Woolridge proposed that an NDP government would invest $20 million into YLW, supplementing a previously announced $22.4 million from the Federal government which will help construct infrastructure needed to unlock the airport’
  
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• Bride wins $4,300 judgment against Langley venue for wedding cancellation

  13-10-2026 21:15 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  A woman who had to find a new location for her wedding at the last minute has won a $4,365 judgement against the original Langley venue, which cancelled after it turned out they had no business license.
  The venue was Latimer Rooftop, which was located on a lowrise office building at 84 Avenue and 200 Street. The venue appeared in 2023.
  According to an Oct. 9 ruling of the B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal, the bride booked the venue in late 2023, for a Sept. 1 2024 wedding. The price was to be $3,4
  
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• Saving salmon v. highway upgrades: Victoria students explore perspectives

  13-10-2026 20:55 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Critical thinking took to the streams this week for one Victoria classroom.The proposed widening of the narrow Goldstream section of the Malahat provided those diverse perspectives for one Grade 8 class from Central Middle School.
  First announced in 2018, the project proposed widening 1.7 kilometres of the highway near the provincial park, plus the installation of over 1.5 kilometres of a median barrier.
  The province said it would improve the safety and reliability of the Malahat corridor.
  Conce
  
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• Fish kill near Cowichan Lake prompts investigation into possible roof-moss runoff

  13-10-2026 20:30 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Cowichan Lake Salmonid Enhancement Society and Hatchery president Bob Crandall was walking along Oliver Creek at about 4 p.m. Oct. 1 when he noticed something was wrong.
  Dead juvenile salmonids were scattered through the stream.
  “I collected 31 samples in a short time over 18 metres of the stream,” Crandall said in his report. “They were young coho juveniles, steelhead/rainbow fry, and a few two-year-old brown trout.”
  Based on the condition of the fish, Crandall said they
  
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• Duncan resident’s classic car, and plan to pass it on, go up in flames

  13-10-2026 20:00 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  It was the incredible copper colour that first caught the eye of longtime Duncan resident Joe Sawchuk, the original and sole owner of a classic 1972 Pontiac Luxury Lemans that he bought off the showroom floor on March 18, 1972 from Carter Pontiac Buick in Burnaby at the age of 21.Sawchuk, who was living in Lillooet and working for the provincial government, would head down to Burnaby to go car shopping. It was love at first sight.“When I saw the colour, I was sold, I’m very proud tha
  
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• CentreBC health plans include more nurse practitioners, internationally trained doctors

  13-10-2026 19:58 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  CentreBC leader Elenore Sturko is in White Rock this morning (Tuesday, Oct. 13) making an announcement regarding her party’s health-care policies.
  Sturko, who is running as the CentreBC candidate for Surrey South, announced that her party would add 600 more practitioners in B.C. by 2030 and add 100 more residency positions by the same year.
  She also said CentreBC would double B.C.’s assessment program for internationally trained family doctors, from 96 to 200 per year by 2028.
  Sturko
  
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• 2 dead in plane crash en route to Idaho from B.C.

  13-10-2026 19:44 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The wreckage of a small plane that was headed to Grangeville, Idaho, from Penticton, B.C., was found on a remote mountainside after it went missing on Saturday, Oct. 10.Extensive air resources were deployed throughout Washington State’s Aeneas Valley and Wauconda areas, as well as between Oroville and Okanogan where the plane last registered on radar, with cell phone forensics helping to identify more specific search areas.The plane was described as a 1976 Piper Cub, a small single-engine
  
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• North Cowichan Freeman Dave Haywood dies

  13-10-2026 19:40 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  The community lost a longtime champion when North Cowichan’s David Haywood died on Oct. 7.
  Haywood was first elected to North Cowichan council in 1999 and served 11 years as a councillor (1999-2002 and 2004-2011).
  While sitting on North Cowichan’s council, he sat on numerous committees, boards, and commissions and supported improvements to the Evans Park ball fields, the move of the Cowichan Exhibition to its current location, the creation of the Cowichan Sportsplex, and the purchase
  
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• Juan de Fuca SAR wishes hiker a ‘speedy recovery’ after Friday afternoon callout

  13-10-2026 19:16 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  A Friday afternoon stroll that went sideways serves as a reminder for locals about the work local volunteers provide.Juan de Fuca Search and Rescue was called out on Oct. 9 after a hiker was injured while out for the afternoon with her family in East Sooke Park.“Luckily she wasn’t too far down the trail from an access road, which made for a quick stretcher carry out,” the team said in an online update. “Thanks to BCEHS for their help with patient care and transport to hos
  
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• Volunteers dive into Sidney Pier waters to clean up crab trap debris 

  13-10-2026 19:12 via nanaimobulletin.com
  
  Visitors to Sidney’s iconic pier can expect a little action on and under the water this weekend as divers aim to clean up long-lost crab traps.After a group took to the Salish Sea shoreline this spring to clean up remaining ghost gear and other abandoned items below the waves, they made a vow to return. That happens Oct. 4 when divers and Surf Rider, Emerald Sea Protection Society and the Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea come together.“We have a team of scuba divers and other volunteer
  
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