Victoria October Movers and Shakers

The Wild Rover mobile pub owned by Victoria residents Danny Hamilton and Warren Crolly, offers people the opportunity to rent a miniature trailer-mounted pub for private events. Decorated to resemble a classic Gaelic drinking establishment, the pub is available for a variety of events. Alcohol and service staff are not included, but the Wild Rover is equipped with four taps to serve drinks. To find out more, visit www.thewildrover.ca.

Victoria’s Aryze Developments has joined Island Outfitters founders and former owners Darren Wright and Ward Bond in redeveloping the site where the outdoor goods store once stood before a fire destroyed it last January into a mixed-use housing development project. Pending approval, construction could begin in 2022.

Mayor Barb Desjardins broke ground on the Esquimalt Gorge Park pavilion, a project that is part of a community improvement initiative provided by the $17-million McLoughlin Amenity Funds. The park upgrades are expected to be completed by winter 2021.

Vancouver Island and the Greater Victoria region were named among top destinations by the Condé Nast Traveler in their 33rd Readers’ Choice Awards, with Victoria taking the eighth spot in a list of 10 best small cities in the world.

Sale of Western Speedway in Langford is almost complete, with a buyer entering into a conditional contract, according to president of ESAI Corp and consultant on the sale Duncan Thompson. The 81-acre property has 42 acres of potential commercial use and 3.34 acres for residential development.

Victoria council is considering designating the Times Colonist-housing Victoria Press Building a heritage building. The building at 2615 to 2629 Douglas Street was built in 1971, and would be the first mid-century modern heritage designation in many years.

A proposed community garden at 1223 Clarke Road in Saanich’s Brentwood Bay neighbourhood has received support “in principle” from the Central Saanich council. The Council would next have to rezone the residential lot to enable its future use for such purposes.

The Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League’s renamed Saanich Predators have unveiled their new team logo, an orca chomping a hockey stick, in their season debut against the Kerry Park Islanders. Formerly the Braves, the team changed names and logo in deference to First Nations.

The Get Growing Victoria program launched in response to the pandemic to address food insecurity in Victoria could become an annual program. Using city greenhouses to grow food for distribution to residents, 42 partner organizations have distributed more than 80,000 food starts throughout the community since its launch in March. City council approved a motion to endorse in principle the annual continuation of the program.

UVic Mathematician Betty Kennedy left a $3.6 million gift to the university in her will, $3 million of which will go toward an endowed chair in mathematical biology. $600,000 will be added to the Betty and Gilbert Kennedy entrance scholarships in engineering, law, math and music, with remaining funds received from Kennedy’s gift going toward creating endowed graduate scholarships within the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, along with supporting other awards created by Doctor Kennedy.

Victoria’s Pani Energy received a $2.8 million investment from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) toward their artificial intelligence (AI) water treatment optimization technology. The funding will accelerate development and deployment of the award-winning plant optimization tech, allowing water treatment plant owners and operators to save on vital operating costs while tackling climate change.

Lorna Crozier was awarded the City of Victoria Butler Book Prize for her book The House the Spirit Builds, while Mark Leiren-Young won the City of Victoria Children’s Book Prize for Orcas Everywhere; The Mystery and History of Killer Whales at the 17th annual Victoria Book Prize Gala.

Royal Roads University is awarding Dr. Bonnie Henry with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree for her work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce 2021 Board of Directors are Chair John Wilson, Vice-Chair Kris Wirk, Past Chair Dan Dagg, Secretary Christina Clarke, Treasurer Moira Hauk, Rose Arsenault, Ian Batey, Judith Ethier, Pedro Marquez, Richard Michaels, Tom Plumb, Captain (N) Sam Sader, Ann Squires Ferguson, Erin Boggs and Bruce Williams. Board members are elected for two-year terms.

The South Island Prosperity Partnership’s 2020-21 board members for Victoria are Chair Frank Bourree, Past Chair Craig Norris,​ Secretary/Treasurer Sean Midwood, Director Deirdre Campbell, Director Tina Ryan, Director Anna MacMillan, Director Jennifer Vornbrock, Director Kear Porttris and Director Geoff Wilmshurst.

Locelle Digital Founder and CEO Humaira Ahmed has launched a new mentorship program, Mentor Moments, designed to empower women in the workplace, focused on development and career advancement. The Victoria-based entrepreneur’s mentorship guests include Veza Global Founder and CEO Manpreet Dhillon, Vice President at RBC, Commercial Banking Hurriya Burney, and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Program Lead Stephanie Redivo, to name a few.

Victoria tech holding company Tiny Capital has acquired a majority stake in government software startup Button for an undisclosed amount. Button most recently partnered with the BC government’s CleanBC program, designing software to track whether industrial operations were meeting greenhouse gas emissions benchmarks. Tiny Capital has founded and acquired over 25 tech companies, and has made available zero-interest loans from businesses in hospitality industries during the global pandemic.

The National Stage Company of Canada has been formed in Victoria by producer, writer, and director Anthony James. The not-for-profit arts organization will include live theatre, dance, concerts, and film. Current plans are for a 2021 formal debut, featuring a central core of 20 artists of varying ages and backgrounds.

Victoria’s First Light Technologies, Freshworks and SendtoNews have been listed among the Globe and Mail’s list of Canada’s Top Growing Companies for the second consecutive year.

A $597,000 contribution from the federal government will help Victoria’s Islands Trust Conservancy launch a program to protect endangered species in locations containing some of the highest densities of at-risk species in Canada. The contribution agreement will see the federal government providing the $597,000 over three years, with the conservancy using the money for various conservation initiatives, as well as engagement and work with First Nations.

Victoria is getting six new level 2 EV chargers downtown on Broad Street via funding from Natural Resource Canada’s Zero-Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program, in partnership with BC Hydro.

The Victoria Regional Transit System has officially added 60 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles to its fleet, dropping its average fleet age from 12.5 years to 9.8.

Victoria’s StarFish Medical has received federal approval to manufacture and ship their re-designed ventilators to the public health authority’s emergency stockpile immediately. Officials will begin testing the devices and assign them to needy hospitals across the country. The Canadian government has ordered up to 7,500 ventilators from StarFish.

The Sidney city council voted 6 to 1 to support Happy Buddha Cannabis 2410 Beacon Avenue, after hearing more than 350 largely positive written and oral comments in favour of opening the business. Owners Cindy and Zach Pendergast and Brad Styles will eventually launch the business under an updated name, and make it the first cannabis retailer in Sidney.

District of North Saanich staff have provided feedback to a pre-application proposal for a campus-of-care style retirement community at two potential sites at 9064 East Saanich Road and 9028 East Saanich Road. Both properties lie partially within the Agricultural Land Reserve.

The District of Sooke’s estimated capital cost for Phase 2 of the DeMamiel Creek Pedestrian Crossing has been reduced to $407,284, a one-third reduction from its earlier $610,00 price tag. The district hopes to partner with the federal government to fund the $1.53-million project.

The District of Saanich has won for Community Planning and Development at the 2020 Climate & Energy Action Awards via the Community Energy Association in partnership with the Province of British Columbia, Union of BC Municipalities, BC Hydro, FortisBC and the Real Estate Foundation of BC.

A 1,940-square-metre parcel of land adjacent to the Cedar Hill chip trail and King’s Pond has been donated to the District of Saanich from the estate of Brian Patriquin, who passed away in 2017. The property will be added to the Saanich park system. The district will install a memorial bench in the area to commemorate the gift.

The Lakehouse at Shawnigan restaurant is now open, offering lakeside dine-in experiences, as well as takeout with drive through and dockside pickup. Visit them at 2460 Renfrew Road.

The Victoria Immigrant and Refugee Centre Society has helped turn two Oak Bay homes into housing for new Canadians. The District of Oak Bay signed a three-year lease on properties at 1538 Monterey Avenue 1532 Hampshire Road. The locations will house refugees and immigrants for up to nine months while they settle and integrate into Canadian society.

The Island Corridor Foundation (ICF) recently surveyed Vancouver Islanders to discover how important the rail corridor is to island residents. The survey was designed to guide the ICF through the process and next steps of restoring rail life on Vancouver Island in collaboration with provincial, municipal and First Nations partners. The BC Chamber of Commerce, South Island Prosperity Project and Transportation Action Canada have recommended the provincial government prioritize preservation of rail infrastructure to provide needed commuter and intercity rail service.

The Victoria council has referred the thirty-five-unit, four-storey Oak Bay Avenue development to a public hearing. Named the Redfern by applicant Jawl Development, the building will replace GardenWorks nursery and garden store from 1908 to 1920 Oak Bay Avenue. The development will offer condos of various sizes, commercial units and a rooftop garden space for residents.

A new collegiate baseball team will join the Canadian College Baseball Conference (CCBC) next fall. Consisting of full-time students from the University of Victoria and Camosun College, the Victoria Golden Tide will take on teams from Nanaimo, Kelowna, Kamloops, the Okanagan, Chilliwack and Abbotsford, as well as Calgary, Edmonton and Lethbridge. Local games will be played out of Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park. Curtis Pelletier, former CBL player and current batting coach for the HarbourCats has been named head coach and program director.

The HarbourCats Players Club Training Centre at 1821 Cook Street has now opened, transforming the former Cook Street Squash Club into a year-round training space housing three batting cages, four pitching tunnels and a small fitness and workout area.

The contract to build a new library in Sooke has been awarded to Nanaimo’s Island West Coast Developments. The 13,00 square foot, $7.5 million building will be Vancouver Island Regional Library’s newest location on one acre of a five-acre lot along Wadams Way.

The Heron View housing project in Sooke is entering its second-to-last phase of construction. When fully built, Heron View will consist of ninety-one three-bedroom townhomes between 1,550 and 1,700 square feet covering four hectares of waterfront property on Sooke Harbour. Amenities will include a marina, pool, gym, hot tub, tennis courts and an owners’ lounge.

Royal Beach in Colwood is one of a number of filming locations for a new Warner Bros. and Netflix limited series called MAID. The production will film ten-episode in Greater Victoria between now and March 2021. Based on a bestselling memoir by Stephanie Land, the series details the life of a single mother working as a housekeeper to make ends meet as she struggles with poverty, homelessness and bureaucracy.

Central Saanich will formally alert the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) regarding a soccer pitch proposal on ten acres of agricultural land, though no application has yet come forward. Councillors voted unanimously to forward a report about plans by Pacific Soccer Academy FC to build an all-weather soccer field near the Saanich Fairgrounds at 7480 Tomlinson Road. Academy board member Jenn Stevens has noted the club would not make an application until completing a site plan and addressed public concerns.

Oxford Foods has been sold to Daisy and Adam Orser, operators of The Root Cellar Village Green Grocer in Saanich. Owner-operator Ed Louie, the third generation to run the family-owned store, has decided to retire. Louie’s grandfather, Jew-Nam Louie, opened the location as Fairfield Produce in 1951. The Orser’s have planned major renovations, expected to take around six months, before reopening it as a second location for their business.

The Kindness Factory, a Victoria-based mask-making business, is moving into its new headquarters at the Collaboration Hub, located at 1038 Hillside Avenue near Quadra Village. The new 800-square-foot location will provide space for distribution staff, while sewers remain working from home. Launched out of owner and triathlete Karmen McNamara’s home five months ago, the company has grown to a team of seventeen.

Saanich Tuf-Turf at 4060 Blenkinsop Road reopened October 5th. Offering soils, mulches, seed, gravels and decorative rock, their staff also provide large and small deliveries.

Sidney’s Cascadia Seaweed plans to have its seaweed-based food products on shelves by 2021. The First Nations-partnered company, founded in 2019, plans to be the largest provider of seaweed in North America, and has been cited by Time Magazine and others regarding their work in food security and global climate change. Cascadia is also working on other applications for seaweed, including livestock feed, medical applications and environmentally friendly packaging.

Contractor QM Environmental won’t complete work on Reay Creek Dam until 2021 after encountering what the Town of Sidney municipality calls “challenging” geotechnical issues. The project, already behind schedule, will now require the contractor to re-design a proposed fishway created to facilitate passage of both juvenile and adult fish past the dam. Work on the main portion of the dam will conclude as scheduled this year.