Cortes Currents

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - This is a COVID 19 update for Thursday April 29, 2021: The numbers of active cases in North Vancouver Island are continuing to fall.

>>> Travel Restrictions

It has been six days since the province issued restrictions on non-essential travel between Vancouver Island and the Mainland.

At that time, Dr Bonnie Henry said, “Community transmission and COVID-19 cases – including variants of concern – have increased in our health authorities, with many cases being linked to non-essential travel within BC.”

In their joint statement yesterday, Wednesday, April 28th, Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, and Adrian Dix, Minister of Health said, “Each week, more and more vaccine is arriving in our province, and with each person who gets their vaccine, we are all a little safer.”

Yesterday, 5,645 doses of vaccine were administered on Vancouver Island. Six of these were AstraZeneca, 1,068 were Moderna and 4,571 were Pfizer.

More than 1.7 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines have now been administered across the province and close to 90,000 of these are second doses.

There were 18 active cases in North Vancouver Island yesterday, as compared to 35 the same day last week.

No North Vancouver Island schools are listed on the school exposure page.

While the data for the Greater Campbell River Health area is already five days old, it shows a similar decrease. There were 4 cases in the epi-week ending on Saturday, April 24th, and 11 the week before.

Similar drops have occurred throughout the rest of North Vancouver Island. There were no cases in Vancouver Island West and 2 in Vancouver Island North.

Higher numbers are only persisting in the Comox Valley Local Health Area, which borders on Central Vancouver Island. There were 16 cases during the epi-week ending April 24.

Roy L Hales/Currents - Cortes CPR: climate plan for Resilience was officially launched just days ago. An interview with Ashley Zarbatany about they hope to do and what they have already achieved

Roy L Hales/Currents - Cortes CPR: climate plan for Resilience was officially launched just days ago. An interview with Ashley Zarbatany about they hope to do and what they have already achieved

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - What solutions does the 2021 Federal budget have for Canada’s our riding’s housing crisis?

Houses were selling for between $452,000 and $2.85 million on Cortes Island, during 2020 and the first quarter of 2021.

The Quadra Island Real Estate team website is currently displaying prices ranging from $725,000 to $4.3 million.

No wonder a realtor recently told the Campbell River Mirror that first time buyers, with a downpayment, are opting for a cheap condo in the downtown area.

Close to 35% of Cortes Island’s population rent their homes. On Quadra Island, where rents are higher, the number is about 23%. A number of these people join the seasonally homeless every year, when their homes become vacation rentals.

>>> Taxing vacant homes owned by non Canadians

A large number of houses on sit vacant most of the year.

This was the problem Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland was trying to address in the 2021 Budget, when she announced, “Houses should not be passive investment vehicles for offshore money. They should be homes for Canadian families. So on January 1st, 2022, our government will introduce Canada’s first national tax on vacant property owned by non-resident, non-Canadians.”

“I think it is a step. I have some appreciation of acknowledging that there is some empty housing, especially people who do not live in the community and are from other places … but the challenge that I do not see a strategy that addresses our housing needs,” said Rachel Blaney, MP for North Island - Powell River.

“For the past 35 years we’ve seen two things happening at the same time. One, a decrease in how much supports the Federal and Provincial governments have been putting into housing strategy across the country. And the other side is that private investors were purchasing less and less housing to rent. These two things have been happening for the past 35 years. I’ve seen the graphs where, on both sides, they are slowly coming down. So the fact we are in a crisis actually makes a lot of sense when you look at the data. The problem is no one was watching that data.”

Photo credit: Affordable housing now by fumigene via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - What solutions does the 2021 Federal budget have for Canada’s our riding’s housing crisis?

Houses were selling for between $452,000 and $2.85 million on Cortes Island, during 2020 and the first quarter of 2021.

The Quadra Island Real Estate team website is currently displaying prices ranging from $725,000 to $4.3 million.

No wonder a realtor recently told the Campbell River Mirror that first time buyers, with a downpayment, are opting for a cheap condo in the downtown area.

Close to 35% of Cortes Island’s population rent their homes. On Quadra Island, where rents are higher, the number is about 23%. A number of these people join the seasonally homeless every year, when their homes become vacation rentals.

>>> Taxing vacant homes owned by non Canadians

A large number of houses on sit vacant most of the year.

This was the problem Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland was trying to address in the 2021 Budget, when she announced, “Houses should not be passive investment vehicles for offshore money. They should be homes for Canadian families. So on January 1st, 2022, our government will introduce Canada’s first national tax on vacant property owned by non-resident, non-Canadians.”

“I think it is a step. I have some appreciation of acknowledging that there is some empty housing, especially people who do not live in the community and are from other places … but the challenge that I do not see a strategy that addresses our housing needs,” said Rachel Blaney, MP for North Island - Powell River.

“For the past 35 years we’ve seen two things happening at the same time. One, a decrease in how much supports the Federal and Provincial governments have been putting into housing strategy across the country. And the other side is that private investors were purchasing less and less housing to rent. These two things have been happening for the past 35 years. I’ve seen the graphs where, on both sides, they are slowly coming down. So the fact we are in a crisis actually makes a lot of sense when you look at the data. The problem is no one was watching that data.”

Photo credit: Affordable housing now by fumigene via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - More than 28% of the population of Cortes and Quadra Islands are seniors. The Federal budget for 2021-22 includes a one-time $500 payment and a 10% increase to Old Age Security for people over 75 years old, but nothing for those aged 65-74. Rachel Blaney, the MP for North Island - Powell River, talks about the forgotten seniors?

She is 100% behind the government’s decision to support seniors 75 and older.

“The problem I have is it seems to say that all seniors between the ages of 65 and 74 are doing great and they have options. They can go to work for a while longer, if that is what they want, and it is all good,” said Blaney.

There are a lot of seniors who are doing well, she admits. Some of told her they do not need the extra money.

“I understand that, but the seniors who need it - need it desperately. One of the things I was disappointed about, is I didn’t see an increase in the guaranteed income supplement. That is a round of money that goes to the most low income seniors across this country,” said Blaney.

She insists that a couple of hundred dollars a month extra would make a difference.

“That would change lives and allow seniors to live healthier, happier and more content.”

Blaney adds, “I keep telling the government, when we are looking at great solutions we shouldn’t just take the simplest and easiest thing that makes us feel better. We need to look at the complexity of the issue and make sure no one is left behind. And I feel in this budget, the most vulnerable seniors in Canada were left behind.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - More than 28% of the population of Cortes and Quadra Islands are seniors. The Federal budget for 2021-22 includes a one-time $500 payment and a 10% increase to Old Age Security for people over 75 years old, but nothing for those aged 65-74. Rachel Blaney, the MP for North Island - Powell River, talks about the forgotten seniors?

She is 100% behind the government’s decision to support seniors 75 and older.

“The problem I have is it seems to say that all seniors between the ages of 65 and 74 are doing great and they have options. They can go to work for a while longer, if that is what they want, and it is all good,” said Blaney.

There are a lot of seniors who are doing well, she admits. Some of told her they do not need the extra money.

“I understand that, but the seniors who need it - need it desperately. One of the things I was disappointed about, is I didn’t see an increase in the guaranteed income supplement. That is a round of money that goes to the most low income seniors across this country,” said Blaney.

She insists that a couple of hundred dollars a month extra would make a difference.

“That would change lives and allow seniors to live healthier, happier and more content.”

Blaney adds, “I keep telling the government, when we are looking at great solutions we shouldn’t just take the simplest and easiest thing that makes us feel better. We need to look at the complexity of the issue and make sure no one is left behind. And I feel in this budget, the most vulnerable seniors in Canada were left behind.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents -A small portion of the property is going to be used for affordable housing. Some Cortes residents have asked what will happen to the rest of Rainbow Ridge?

“If there are a few people, there are several people who haven’t come forward to say anything,” said Elizabeth Anderson, President of the Cortes Community Housing Society.

So she sent the following letter out to the community:

Dear Friends & Neighbours, Residents of Cortes Island,

As you may know, Rainbow Ridge is a 51 acre property, located in Mansons Landing. Recently 6 acres of the property has been rezoned allowing us to create 20 Non-Profit affordable rental homes on the northernmost portion (directly south of the Firehall).

We have received some questions about the status of the remaining 45 acres and we would like to publicly restate that our Board of Directors and staff are committed to the following:

Maintain a permanent public trail connection from Beasley Road to Cemetery Road.

Maintain a wildlife corridor along the west side of the property.

Maintain a green buffer along the east side of the property.

Include two east-west forested zones and wildlife corridors.

Protect the wetland/bog at the south-east corner of the property.

Join all other community efforts to continue protecting Hague Lake.

In the very unlikely event of the sale or lease of any portion of the remaining 45 acres, then we are committed to placing a covenant on that specific parcel to ensure that all our above mentioned protections are honoured by the new owner/leasee.

Our year-end appeal raised all the funds required to retire 100% of the outstanding land loans in 2021, thanks to the immense generousity of local donors, who helped us to take the brave step of purchasing and owning outright these large and important legacy lands.

Through community visioning and collaborations with other Non-Profit groups, we will in time be able to determine specific trail routing, wetland restorations, as well as specific habitat conservation areas, all of which will be sensitively integrated with future housing clusters.

‘It takes a community to raise a village’ and together we can continue to both protect these lands and see our vision of affordable housing on Cortes become a reality.

Thank you all for your interest and your caring.

Sincerely, Elizabeth Anderson, President, on behalf of Cortes Community Housing Society (CHS)

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents -A small portion of the property is going to be used for affordable housing. Some Cortes residents have asked what will happen to the rest of Rainbow Ridge?

“If there are a few people, there are several people who haven’t come forward to say anything,” said Elizabeth Anderson, President of the Cortes Community Housing Society.

So she sent the following letter out to the community:

Dear Friends & Neighbours, Residents of Cortes Island,

As you may know, Rainbow Ridge is a 51 acre property, located in Mansons Landing. Recently 6 acres of the property has been rezoned allowing us to create 20 Non-Profit affordable rental homes on the northernmost portion (directly south of the Firehall).

We have received some questions about the status of the remaining 45 acres and we would like to publicly restate that our Board of Directors and staff are committed to the following:

Maintain a permanent public trail connection from Beasley Road to Cemetery Road.

Maintain a wildlife corridor along the west side of the property.

Maintain a green buffer along the east side of the property.

Include two east-west forested zones and wildlife corridors.

Protect the wetland/bog at the south-east corner of the property.

Join all other community efforts to continue protecting Hague Lake.

In the very unlikely event of the sale or lease of any portion of the remaining 45 acres, then we are committed to placing a covenant on that specific parcel to ensure that all our above mentioned protections are honoured by the new owner/leasee.

Our year-end appeal raised all the funds required to retire 100% of the outstanding land loans in 2021, thanks to the immense generousity of local donors, who helped us to take the brave step of purchasing and owning outright these large and important legacy lands.

Through community visioning and collaborations with other Non-Profit groups, we will in time be able to determine specific trail routing, wetland restorations, as well as specific habitat conservation areas, all of which will be sensitively integrated with future housing clusters.

‘It takes a community to raise a village’ and together we can continue to both protect these lands and see our vision of affordable housing on Cortes become a reality.

Thank you all for your interest and your caring.

Sincerely, Elizabeth Anderson, President, on behalf of Cortes Community Housing Society (CHS)

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - A week ago, on Monday April 19, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland presented Canada’s budget for the fiscal year 2021-22 to the House of Common. Since the finance minister delivered that speech, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau‘s minority Liberal government has survived two non-confidence motions. These pertained to amendments. This morning, Monday April 26, the House will be asked to approve the Budget as a whole. THis is expected to prompt yet another non-confidence motion. The NDP party has promised to support the government and in this morning’s interview Rachel Blaney, the MP for North Island - Powell River will talk about the aspects of this budget she thinks work for her constituents? And what doesn’t?