Cortes Currents

Bryan McKinnon/CKTZ - The unedited audio of Michele Babchuk's meeting with Cortes residents on Oct 12, 2024

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - NDP incumbent Michele Babchuk came to Cortes Island Saturday, October 12, in the second in a series of meet the candidate events organized by FOCI’s Climate Action Committee. There is not room to unpack close to two hours of fact filled conversation into this half hour, but the full podcast is at the bottom of this page and here are some highlights. Babchuk began by g...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - 338Canada’s latest projection, taken on Sunday October 13, shows the NDP may be heading towards a majority government.  The NDP was leading in 49 ridings, but in 6 of these only by a narrow margin. The Conservative Party of BC was leading in 42 ridings, but in 7 by a nose. Our own North Island riding is one of the the latter. Conservative candidate Anna Kindy is curre...

Unedited copy of meeting recording

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents Around 30 people turned out to meet Green candidate Nic Dedeluk when she came to Mansons Hall on Monday, October 7. Cortes Currents recorded 145 minutes of the two hour meeting, which is far too much to fit into a half hour broadcast. So today’s program consists of a few highlights.  A copy of the unedited audio is embedded in the written version of this story.  As a th...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - “A ccording to NASA, if we look back 800,000 years, we can see that carbon dioxide concentration fluctuated between roughly 180 and  280 parts per million and just in the geological blink of an eye, we have sent that  parts per million up to just about 400. So we're getting very close to a doubling of CO2 relative to where it has been for a long time.”  That quote was...

De Clarke/Cortes Currents - Company seeks permission to locate wind farm north of Campbell River. Capstone Infrastructure Corporation, an independent and publicly traded power generating company headquartered in Toronto, has applied to SRD for permitting and approval for a new project on Vancouver Island. The "Brewster Wind Project" would install about 30 wind turbines on a site about 40 km northw...

De Clarke/Cortes Currents - There was some bad news this month for the Norwegian fish feedlot industry in Canada: their own trade magazine featured the following headline: The Critics Are Right: It’s Time To Close Down Salmon Farms As many of our readers know, the Norwegian salmon feedlot industry continues to defend its BC operations fiercely against critique from fishermen, environmentalists and...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - Transcript of a radio broadcast by Sabina Leader Mense Just last weekend several of us were at the Cortes Island Museum for the launch of Sheila Harrington's new book 'Voices For The Islands: 30 Years Of Nature Conservation In The Salish Sea.' What Sheila does in this book is she celebrates this amazing community of conservationists that are living and working in the...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - While the Green party has shown promise in the past, especially on Vancouver Island, this has yet to translate into votes on election day. So my biggest question for Nic Dedeluck, the candidate for North Island riding, is why should we vote Green?  Nick Dedeluck: “The Green Party is running candidates in 69 ridings, but we have six ridings that we are really hopeful w...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - A small group of people turned out to hear an overview of FOCI’s Western Screech Owl Project at Mansons Hall on Friday September 27, 2024. Participants listened to different owl calls, examined owl feathers and learned why putting up nest boxes is important. The speakers were the two biologists from Madrone Environmental who wrote FOCI’s final report. Cortes Currents...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - There was a Truth and Reconciliation ceremony at Gorge Harbour on Monday, September 30. It consisted of sacred songs and sharing experiences, as well as Chief Steven Brown’s perspectives on how the Klahoose are reclaiming their present and their future.

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - 338Canada’s latest projection for North Island Riding, taken on September 30, shows the Conservative party of BC having just taken the lead in the popular vote. Nineteen days from the election, they may currently be supported by 47% of the electorate as opposed to 42% for the NDP. The media website uses data from recent polls and the riding’s history. They have covere...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - The  Liǧʷiłdax̌ʷ [pronounced Lee-gwilth-daxw] Nations (We Wai Kai, Wei Wai Kum and Kwiakah) are asking the province to change several geographic names in the Campbell River area. They wish to change the name of the Discovery Passage to Liǧʷiłdax̌ʷ Passage, the Quinsam River to Kʷənsəm and the Tyee Spit to ʔuxstalis [pronounced Oox-sta-lease]. The Discovery Passage was...

Rpy L Hales/Cores Currents - The Active Transportation Planning grants that Quadra Island is about to receive, and both Cortes Island and Area D are applying for, opens the door to far larger opportunities.  As Meredith Starkey, Manager of Planning for the Strathcona Regional District (SRD), explained “Active transportation means anything human powered: walking, cycling, and rolling in the sense o...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - The Strathcona Regional District (SRD) is applying for a grant to develop plans for walking, cycling and rolling (skateboard, roller skates etc) infrastructure on Cortes Island and in Area D.  The Ministry of Transportation refers to these as active means of transportation and has made Active Transportation Network Planning Grants of up to $50,000 available to communi...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - At their Wednesday September 25 Board meeting, the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) Board unaminously voted to support a We Wai Kai application for funding to make a feasibility study for the Caddisfly Wetlands Restoration project, south of Campbell River. This had been a topic of some debate a month ago, when the Board decided to defer making a decision on this pro...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - The final report on the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) Western Screech Owl Project will be unveiled at Mansons Hall on Friday. The two biologists who were hired to write it will be giving an hour long talk that starts at 7 PM. “Western Screech Owls are a beautiful little owl. They used to be one of the most common owls in coastal BC, but they've declined hugely in th...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - The Quadra Island Foundation recently distributed $110,000 to four non-profit organizations. In today’s interview the foundation’s Vice Chair, Marc Doll, explains the rationale behind those choices and a little of what he expects the money to accomplish.  Marc Doll: “There was this recognized recognition of how much this province uses and depends on nonprofits. So the...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - The Cortes Community Forest Co-operative’s 2024 AGM will be from 7:30 to 9 PM on Mansons Hall on Wednesday October 9th.  Together with Klahoose Forestry, they make up the Cortes Forestry General Partnership. Mark Lombard, General Manager for the Partnership gave Cortes Currents an overview of their operations this year and plans for the future: Mark Lombard: “We’ve re...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - It’s been a busy season for Marnie’s Books. Marnie Andrews explained, “It's really fun to have a bookstore on Cortes Island. There's some amazing readers here. I get so many of my titles because friends come in and recommend what they've been reading. There's a lot of regular people, but I think a lot of people came west because of all the wildfires. It's been a great...

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - There was a familiar face behind the Wild Things Seafood booth at Manson’s Friday Market last week. In addition to being our former Regional Director, Noba Anderson’s family has a connection to Cortes Island that stretches back to 1978. So Cortes Currents asked Noba about the new business she is undertaking with Peter Schmidt. “It's Peter's passion, there's no doubt a...

Maureen Williams/ FOCI - In early July of 2024, a small group of Cortes Islanders, supported by Friends Of Cortes Island (FOCI), screened the film “How to Boil a Frog” for the community. The film is about the five-pronged problem life on Earth is currently facing — overpopulation, a war on nature, wealth disparity, peak oil, and climate change—and offers five actions that can help—boycott Exxon, c...

Sadhu Johnston/ Cortes Housing Society & Folk University- Tune in on September 20th for another collaborative monthly housing forum presented by the Cortes Housing Society and Folk University. Themed “Rural Modular Housing”, this forum featured guest panelists Michelle Mazzotta (Viva Kiwi), Ken Sharpe (Supermod), and Salik Khan (Rohe Homes). This is a recording of our September forum, hosted over...

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Union of BC Municipalities 2024 Convention is in Vancouver this week. Local government and First Nations leaders from across the province are participating. One of the delegates is Mark Vonesch, the Regional Director for Cortes Island, who spoke to Cortes Currents via ZOOM as he was heading out on the ferry last Friday.  Mark Vonesch: “I’m on my way to a gatherin...