Editorials

We’ve arrived at the time of year when invasive species are on the minds of many Vancouver Islanders. As much as they may have sprouted like dandelions in the past month, election campaign signs are not one of them.

When four Parksville-Qualicum Beach area schools were closed in 2014 as a result of dwindling enrolment and funding, it kick-started a debate on what should be done with the buildings.

Tuesday’s provincial all-candidates meeting drew a packed house of engaged citizens to Parksville Community and Conference Centre.

Shortly after announcing the April 25 all-candidates meeting for the Parksville-Qualicum riding in the upcoming provincial election, The NEWS received an alarmed call from a resident who lives north of Qualicum Beach.

While both the Island Corridor Foundation and the Friends of Rail to Trail-Vancouver Island claim the lofty goal of bringing Vancouver Island communities together, their object of their attentions — the 131-year-old E&N Railway — remains highly divisive.

A decade or so ago, the Parksville Qualicum Beach News , along with many other Vancouver Island community papers, grasped the Internet like a shiny new toy. We tossed stories and pictures onto it, opened those stories up for interactivity and felt, “Ah, we’re digital.”

During Sunday’s commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the battle of Vimy Ridge at Qualicum Beach Canadian Legion Branch 76, vice-president Walter Sweet opened with a prayer, then shared a brief history of the First World War fight on a low hill in France.

When Samuel Taylor Coleridge quoted “Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink” in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner , it’s unlikely he had mid-Vancouver Island in mind.

The middle of an election can prove a difficult time to convince people to be on their best behaviour.

Municipal councils are not known for being the most nimble of deliberative bodies. Heck, a single housekeeping amendment to address the change of language to a procedural bylaw can become a case study in plate tectonics.