Provincial Politics

Alberta NDP mocks UCP for taking COVID cash from 'sugar daddy' Trudeau

EDMONTON - The Alberta Opposition says Premier Jason Kenney's United Conservatives have a new "sugar daddy" in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and should not accept a federal COVID-1...

May 28, 2020

RDN replacing handyDART buses to improve customer accessibility

NANAIMO - Vastly improved service for public transit riders with physical disabilities is coming to mid Vancouver Island.Daniel Pearce the RDN's director of transportation services told NanaimoNewsNOW...

May 28, 2020

Alberta government stands by energy minister's pipeline and COVID comments

EDMONTON - Alberta's government house leader is not backing away from his fellow minister's comment that the COVID-19 pandemic is a great time to build pipelines. On Friday, Energy Minister Sonya Sava...

May 26, 2020

B.C. schools to partially re-open June 1, attendance is optional

NANAIMO - Schools will be going back in session, albeit in a dramatically altered and scaled-down fashion due to COVID-19.Education minister Rob Fleming announced kindergarten to grade 12 classes will...

May 15, 2020

Vancouver Island again escapes new COVID-19 cases

NANAIMO - Two full days of data yielded no new diagnosed COVID-19 cases on Vancouver Island.Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry made the announcement during her Monday, May 11 briefing, which r...

May 11, 2020

Crews resurfacing Inland Island Hwy. between Parksville and Bowser

PARKSVILLE - An extensive project is seeing a 40 kilometre stretch of Highway 19 on mid Vancouver Island smoothed.A Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI) statement to NanaimoNewsNOW sai...

May 01, 2020 Crews are actively resurfacing the slow lanes of the Inland Island Highway between Parksville and Bowser. (MOTI)

Cost of restoring E&N Rail Line to full capacity in Nanaimo-area more than $200M

NANAIMO - The final numbers are in for restoring rail service on Vancouver Island. The ministry of transportation and infrastructure released their assessment of the E&N Rail Line on Tuesday, Apri...

Apr 28, 2020 The stretch of E&N Rail between Duncan and Parksville would cost around $100 million to upgrade to a bare minimum level of service. (Spencer Sterritt/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Vancouver, Victoria homeless camps to be dismantled, no new supports announced for Nanaimo

NANAIMO - The province is tackling swelling homeless camps but no supports were announced for the Nanaimo areas. Shane Simpson, minister of social development and poverty reduction, announced Saturday...

Apr 25, 2020 Shane Simpson, minister of social development and poverty reduction, announcing major homeless camps in Vancouver and Victoria will be dismantled. (Gov't of B.C.)

Key COVID-19 trends continue in right direction, new outbreak linked to Alberta work site

NANAIMO - The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases jumped modestly Monday, but the amount of active cases and hospitalizations continues to fall.Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced 52 n...

Apr 20, 2020 Five new COVID-19 cases have been announced in the Island Health region, for a total of 102. (Government of British Columbia)

User rate payment deadlines extended as COVID-19 financial fallout comes into focus for Nanaimo City Hall

NANAIMO - Payment deadlines for user rate bills will be extended for all property owners.Nanaimo city council on Thursday, April 9 unanimously endorsed allowing property owners pay their user rate bil...

Apr 09, 2020 Nanaimo councillors grappled with major financial decisions from afar during a special meeting on Thursday, April 9. (City of Nanaimo)