Ferry Consultation Meeting well attended ~

Thank you all who came out to the Open House on BC Ferries last night at Forbes Hall.  We had about 65 people sign in, and maybe a couple more that we missed.  So a good turn out by any standards.  The Q&A session went from about 6:15 to 8:05, and was a very lively discussion with many great points made and questions asked by our local residents of the government.  Representing the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure was Kirk Handrahan, Executive Director Marine Branch, along with two assistants.  Judy Kirk of Kirk & Co. facilitated the discussion.  Judy had two assistants as well, who were recording the proceedings and collecting feedback forms.  MLA Doug Routley was also in attendance with his assistant Patty.  He had a number of interesting things to say about ferries and in particular his commitment on behalf of the NDP (if they are elected) to increase government contributions to ferries in order to increase or sustain service, to freeze or reduce fares, and a promise to build ships in BC.

For those of you who took the Feedback Forms home with you, please mail them to:

PO Box 2223 Vancouver Main, Vancouver, BC V6B 3W2 

Or email coastalferriesengagement@gov.bc.ca

Or click here to fill out the feedback form online.

If you would like to talk to someone, phone: 1-855-387-7882

A comment on that…all submissions will be processed, whether you tick all the correct boxes or not…comments are greatly encouraged and written submissions even more so.  As an example I will be sending my introductory comments in as a written submission.

Thanks again Thetis Island,

Keith Rush

Meteor Shower ~ November 16th

Check out this month's Centre of the Universe Newsletter ~ National Research Council Canada, Victoria, BC

Steve Frankel

Background info for this evening’s consultation meeting…

Click here to view a collection of background information that you might find useful for this evenings meeting.

The first 3 pages are a note from Brian Hollingshead (FACC Chair) to Gary Mason of the Globe and Mail…an excellent document.

At the bottom of page 3 is a copy of an excel spreadsheet which shows the route 20 revenue shortfall before Gov’t service fees…it is a counter to the $51.98/vehicle shortfall that the government is stating in the consultation materials.

The top of page 4 begins a transcript of an interview with Transportation Minister Mary Polak on October 30th on CBC radio.  Some valuable quotes that are worth remembering:

Page 6 begins the Consultation Guide, which you have seen before.

That’s it for now…thank you for your patience

Best Regards…

Keith

Open House re: BC Ferries

One Last Reminder…

Today is the day for the Government’s Open House on the future of BC Ferries.  Ours starts at 5 PM at Forbes Hall.  I believe the government team will arrive from their meeting with the Penelakut Tribe off the 4:20 ferry.

The question and answer session will likely begin around 6:30 PM.  Advice that I have received from the Gabriola FAC is not to arrive too early.  One can only look at poster boards for so long.  Please plan to be at the Q & A session.

Keith Rush

Cowichan Co-operative Connections ~ National Competition

Cowichan Co-operative Connections, a community service co-op formed earlier this year, recently entered a national competition for new and emerging co-ops and is currently the leading finalists from B.C.

Please vote for the short, 90-second film "ccc video" about the co-op and its vision for the community. Just click on this link scroll down, and click on the VOTE NOW option:

The winners will be determined by who gets the most votes through Facebook between now and November 21 with a first prize of $30,000.

Cowichan Cooperative Connections is a non-profit co-op dedicated to promoting co-ops as a viable model of social and economic development in the Cowichan Valley, across Vancouver Island and throughout B.C. So far it has organized several workshops, presentations, public lectures and film screenings to raise public awareness of the value of co-operative enterprise and to provide members of the community with the tools to build co-ops. A workshop on co-op housing is being planned and additional workshops on food production, forestry and social care co-ops will be held in the coming months in addition to more high-profile lectures.

Winning the contest will provide the resources to strongly promote the co-op model in the Cowichan Valley and throughout B.C. and will provide the tools to show what our community could look like down the road with co-ops expanded to new sectors of the regional economy.

Please note that voting can only be done on a laptop or desktop (the contest is not mobile friendly). If you have voted, thank you and forgive the reminder:-)

Veronica Shelford

Thetis Island School & Community Christmas Concert

MARK YOUR CALENDAR !   

Please come and join us on Thursday, December 13th at 7PM at the Capernwray lecture hall to celebrate the Season.

We are looking for people to fill out the program, so  If you would like participate, please contact Lynn Hunter 250-246-2176 or Simone Luckham 250-246-4802 as soon as possible.

Seniors Dinner ~ November 18th

Our third dinner of the season will take place on Sunday, November 18th at Forbes Hall. Please RSVP by Wednesday, November 14th to donella123@aol.com or leave a note for Dee, Box 16-2 in the Drop Box by 5 PM.

Seating is at 5:30 PM. Pay $18 at the door. Wine $2.50, liqueur & port $2.00. Seniors, 60 & over, may each bring two guests. 

MENU

Five-Spice Beet Soup

Homemade Dinner Rolls

Chinese Style Glazed Pork Loin

Coconut & Ginger Rice

Seasonal Vegetables

Pear & Ginger Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce

Pot of Gold Coffee - Tea - Punch

Wine, Liqueur, Port for sale at the Bar

Consultation Meeting with Min. of Transport. re BC Ferries

Wednesday, November 14th ~ Forbes Hall 5 - 8PM

Reminder: meeting with the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure regarding the future of BC Ferries.

Important web addresses:

Click here to view the  Discussion Guide & Feedback PDF

Feedback form starts on p 16 of above

Click here for Route specific information 

Please note that the feedback form will only print on 8.5x14 paper.

A couple of things to keep in mind…

This is a Government initiative, and in particular the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MoTI).  MoTI and their consultants (Kirk and Company Consulting) will be facilitating the event.  BC Ferries are subject matter experts for this exercise and unfortunately will not even be present at the Thetis and Penelakut meetings.  Your local FAC members will attend and will gladly answer any questions.  Additionally, we will attempt to keep the Ministry ‘honest’ during the discussions…

The format is an ‘Open House’ format from 5 to 6:30 pm followed by a 90 minute question and answer session (this may vary slightly).

To best be prepared for the meeting please consider the following:  If you have access to the internet go to www.coastalferriesengagement.ca and read the Discussion Guide, the Appendix of route specific information and then have a look at the Feedback Form (see additional addresses above).  This is the form MoTI will want you to fill out on Wednesday…or print your own copy and complete in advance, or complete an online copy.  Additionally, I have placed paper copies of the guide and the appendix in the library.

There is also a printed ‘Consultation Guide’ that members of the Ferry Advisory Committee Chairs have put together in an attempt to counter some of the misleading statements in the Discussion Guide.  The reference to page numbers refers to the Ministry’s Discussion Guide.  I have pasted another copy of the ‘Consultation Guide’ below.

Please note that the questions ask you to rank your agreement between strongly agree to strongly disagree…unfortunately there is no box for completely unacceptable. If this is the case folks can put an x in any of the squares and can add any clarification they desire, such as expanding 'basic levels of service' or adding 'additional funding from Gov't to cover the 'shortfall' in whole or part' in the comment section.  Whenever possible write in that Government needs to increase its funding to Coastal Ferries.

Please come to the Open House…and bring your neighbour.  It is important that the Government understands how important the ferry service is to life on Thetis Island.

Keith Rush 

Missing Mutsu

Once again all of my Mutsu (Crispin) apples in my orchard on Pilkey Point row were stripped from the tree this week.  I know it wasn't raccoons or windfall.  I figure the reason that this happens is that somebody figures I don't want them.  The truth is that the Mutsu apple is supposed to be picked in late November.  I count on this variety for blending with my other orchard apples to make apple cider.  I know whomever took them is going to use them, but since this is certainly not the first time it has happened I wanted to get the message out that all the apples in my orchard are valued and useful to me.  We spent many dozens of hours this year picking off tent caterpillars in order to have a crop of Mutsus, and it is disappointing to see them taken again.

Jeannine Caldbeck

Open Letter of Thanks to Les Saul

Remembrance Ceremony

Dear Les,

Thank you AGAIN, for this year’s Remembrance Day ceremony. We deeply, deeply appreciate you doing this for our community.

We look forward to seeing you up there next year. May we never forget the fallen and those who served, past and present! 

1 Life ~ 196 Countries

Blogger Kelly Little shares her Thetis trip with us.

http://1life196countries.wordpress.com/2012/11/09/thetis-island-b-c-hidden-secrets/

Remembrance Day Service

Les Saul is putting on the Remembrance Day Service beginning at 11.

He will be showing a related 1 hour film as well.