Midcoast Morning

A new exhibit at the Vancouver Island Military Museum features the Chinese Labour Corps from the first world war. Museum Vice President Brian McFadden spoke with Midcoast Morning about the exhibit. ★ Support this podcast ★

A group of novelists, poets, and playwrights will be giving readings at an event Wednesday May 22 at the Palestine Solidarity Encampment on the grounds of Vancouver Island University, which has been installed since May 1. Called the Watermelon Seeds Festival of Literature, the authors include a number of VIU faculty.  Three of the authors giving readings joined Midcoast Morning to speak about the...

The Regional District of Nanaimo has a new plan to manage growth in our area through 2040. This week the RDN board approved the adoption of S haping our Future 2024 , which contains goals related to climate mitigation and adaptation, economic and food system resiliency, among others. Jamai Schile, a senior planner with the RDN spoke with Midcoast Morning about the strategy. ★ Support this podcast...

Brechin Lanes owner Ray Brittain is planning to sell the business that’s been in his family for more than 50 years, citing rising costs and competition from a foreign owned chain worth roughly a billion Canadian dollars. Midcoast Morning host Joe Pugh paid a visit to Nanaimo’s only 5 pin bowling alley, to learn about it’s past, present, and what remains of its future. ★ Support this podcast ★

The RDN and BC Transit have a survey open, asking about the impact of a potential fare increase for trips on busses in the city. And you may have noticed a bunch of new e-bikes around town. The City of Nanaimo has partnered with BCAA’s Evolve E Bike share to launch a bike sharing pilot program. ★ Support this podcast ★

Vancouver Island University’s response to a Palestine solidarity encampment on its grounds has drawn criticism from the B.C. Federation of Students, The Vancouver Island University Students Union, and more than a hundred of the school’s faculty and staff. ★ Support this podcast ★

Thousands are expected to gather Saturday at a comic convention in Nanaimo that’s paying tribute to the man who founded it. Curious Comicon is on Saturday at Country Club Mall. It got started in 2016, when the Nanaimo branch of Curious Comics take Free comic book day, an annual, North America wide event, and expand it into a local convention convention. With guest artists, a cosplay contest, and v...

As of May 1, in communities with a population over ten thousand, short term rentals will only be allowed in an owner’s principal residence, or in a secondary suite or accessory dwelling on the same property. A number of less populated communities, including Gabriola Island and Tofino have opted in to the regulations. In those areas the rules will take effect on November first. According to data ob...

175 people lost their lives as a result of their jobs last year in B.C. Flags at government buildings will be at half mast to mark the occasion. Midcoast Morning hears what else will be happening locally to mark the occasion. ★ Support this podcast ★

Walking around Nanaimo can be a very different experience depending on where you live. Because of how the city’s developed and amalgamated different areas over the years, the sidewalk network is incomplete. Members of the South End Community brought concerns around pedestrian safety in their neighbourhood to Nanaimo City Council this week. ★ Support this podcast ★

Downtown Nanaimo is set to welcome a major production for six weeks of shooting. While Non Disclosure Agreements mean that sources can’t confirm the identity of the production, Susan Gittins has reported on the website Hollywood North Buzz that season 2 of the HBO series The Last Of Us will be filming in Nanaimo BC’s Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport Lana Popham released a statement ear...

The provincial snowpack is extremely low, according to BC’s Ministry of Water Land and Resource Stewardship. Midcoast Morning explores what that means, and what the situation is on the island vs. the rest of the province. And with peak tourism season just around the corner, we check in on social enterprise 4VI two years after it made the transition from Tourism Vancouver Island. ★ Support this pod...

Exploring bad leadership and threats to democracy. Monday night in at VIU’s Malaspina Theatre, Michael Mackenzie, the university’s Jarislowsky Chair in Trust and Political Leadership will be giving a lecture called “Bad Leaders, Bad Followers: threats to democracy that we don’t talk enough about.” It’ll be followed by a panel discussion and Question and Answer where Mackenzie will be joined by Ang...

It’s no secret that downtown Nanaimo has developed a certain reputation, according to a recent column appearing in the Nanaimo News Bulletin. That assertion could be backed up by news headlines with the phrase downtown disorder, or online comments in local Facebook groups, where people express a fear of going downtown. Midcoast Morning explores perceptions of downtown. ★ Support this podcast ★

Public engagement suggests People want BC Ferries to be reliable, affordable, and integrated with other forms of transit.  Those emerged as the top three priorities for respondents of the companies’ fall engagement process called Charting the Course. BC Ferries recently published an report on the findings from that process. Also this year, The BC Federation of Labour and the BC office of the Canad...

Nanoose Bay resident Natasha Bob is working to keep a piece of local history alive. It all started 30 years ago with the discovery and partial excavation of a burial site where a condominium development was planned. Throughout 1994 archeological work at Craig Bay or Qilxemait, just south of Parksville uncovered the skeletal remains of more than 300 people. Over that time period the remains of more...

The largest Vancouver Island based financial services organization is planning to merge with a credit union on the mainland. Coastal Community Credit Union and BlueShore Financial have announced that they’ve signed a memorandum of understanding to explore a merger to form a combined credit union serving British Columbia’s West Coast and Vancouver Island communities.  Coastal Community Credit Union...

A Buddhist butler mixed up in murder, a decade off grid on a remote island, and the journey to self publishing, Midcoast Morning explores the experience of some of the many authors living in and around Nanaimo. ★ Support this podcast ★

Islands trust Council has approved this year’s budget following a quarterly meeting that took place in Nanaimo last week. Among this year’s projects is a review of Gabriola Island’s official community plan. Gabriola Island Trustee Tobi Elliot speaks about that project and other issues relating to the community and the Islands Trust. ★ Support this podcast ★

Nanaimo has announced the winners of its 2024 culture awards. The prizes have been bringing awareness to the breadth and variety of cultural activity in Nanaimo since 1998. This year’s winners include a world champion highland dancer, a member of Canadian Music Hall of Fame band Trooper, and someone who’s brought Banghra to Polish TV audiences and Nanaimo citizens alike. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Islands Trust is a special form of government serving gulf islands in the Salish Sea. It was created by provincial legislation in 1974, with a mandate to preserve and protect the environment and unique amenities of the gulf islands. Multiple groups have raised concern after the trust released a document following an in-camera meeting in September. The document said that Trust Council’s view is...

On Friday, federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh was in Nanaimo as part of a tour of Vancouver Island. He visited the CHLY studio, alongside Nanaimo-Ladysmith MP Lisa Marie Barron for a conversation touching on pharmacare legislation, Barron’s recent motion on electoral reform, Harewood Plains, and the next federal election. ★ Support this podcast ★

The City of Nanaimo is bringing in bylaws around its electric vehicle(EV) chargers.  This week city council adopted new bylaws set to come into effect in June first that will see EV drivers pay two and a half cents a minute for the first two hours of charging at city owned stations. Fees will increase to six cents a minute after two hours, as well as during overnight hours. The show explores the n...

Financial troubles at Vancouver Island University could mean the end of the school’s music programs. The VIU Senate Planning and Priorities Committee voted to approve a proposal to phase out the University’s bachelor of music program, and cancel a jazz diploma program that was set to launch in September. Vancouver Island University faces a deficit of more than 20 million dollars this year, and is...

It’s mating season for Eagles on Vancouver Island. Mike Yip says everybody recognizes the eagle, but not everyone is aware of what the raptors get up to month to month. The Nanoose Bay based amateur photographer is getting ready to launch A Year of Eagles, a book he’s self publishing next month. On today’s show we’ll spend more time learning about eagles and other raptors you can find around the i...