Recently Sold Land-based Salmon Operation To Become Public Company
MARK MACDONALD
NANAIMO – Former Parksville-North Nanaimo MLA Michelle Stilwell is the newly appointed Director of Rapid Testing for CVM Medical Ltd. CVM is the first company in BC to be approved by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia’s Diagnostic Accreditation Program for Rapid Antigen Testing. This allows the company to perform on-the-spot, point-of-care testing to detect COVID 19, with results available within 15 minutes. The company also recently reached an agreement with Vancouver International Airport and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to conduct rapid testing of all KLM passengers departing for Amsterdam.
Graham Williamson is CEO of CVM Medical’s parent organization, Nanaimo-based LIFESUPPORT Group of Companies, which offers global air ambulance and medevac operations since it started in Errington in 2005.
Island Inkjet has a new location in Nanaimo, at Country Club Centre.
Garden Works Home and Garden Center is opening soon near Woodgrove Centre.
The BC Used Oil Management Association has announced its 2020 Top Collector Award winners. Included in the 30 businesses from across the province are Bings Creek Recycling Centre of Duncan and Peerless Road Recycling Centre of Ladysmith.
WES MUSSIO
Nanaimo Clippers owner Wes Mussio has put the BC Hockey League team up for sale. The Clippers owner also owns Mussio Goodman Law, which specializes in ICBC cases.
Steve Atkinson notes that the BC Aquafarms land-based steelhead salmon operation based in Nanaimo that he recently sold to Blue Star Foods is going to take another big step forward. Shortly after releasing its annual financial report on March 31, Blue Star CEO John Keeler says the company is going to go public.
Wayne Procter continues to grow his Gas No Go fuel station and convenience store network throughout Vancouver Island, as his new sparkling new Lake Cowichan Gas N Go operation is now open for business.
Island West Coast Developments continues to build at a torrid pace across Vancouver Island.
They have numerous projects on the go, including building a new Colwood location for Harris Chrysler, part of the Nanaimo-based Harris Auto Group. They are also getting close to completing the new location for European Specialty Automotive on Kenworth Road, which has been extended through the former Madill property.
European Specialty has been bursting from the seams at its 1702 Northfield Road location, and is looking forward to its sparking new building.
Saywell Contracting Ltd. is also very busy, as their vehicles and signs are evident on Old Victoria Road, doing some work in the former Caprice Theatre location just south of the Firehouse Grill. They’re also building a storage facility for clients on School House Road in south Nanaimo, which continues to get a major facelift with new buildings. Wajax is one of the newest tenants in recently built structures on the frontage road next to the Trans Canada Highway.
Numinus has announced it will be expanding into Nanaimo with a 7,500 square foot laboratory to open by the end of 2021, which is about half the size of a hockey rink. The Vancouver-based organization supports safe, evidence-based and accessible use of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies in addressing mental health. The new lab will continue research in Psilocybe mushroom cultivation and extraction.
Lights, cameras, action – in Chemainus! Minute-Road Production Limited will be filming The Baker’s Sons, a Hallmark movie along Willow Street between Mill Street and Victoria Street. The “star” of the show will be the Willow Street Café, which will be central in the filming.
It is said we learn a lot about people when we walk in their shoes. Well, Central Vancouver Island citizens are going to learn about how generous Mohammad Shafi is, as the owner of Ortho Depot Inc. in Nanaimo at 4750 Rutherford Road and in Parksville at Wembley Mall has decided to donate his remaining shoe inventory to the Mt. Arrowsmith Salvation Army. Shafi, 91, has been in the shoe business for over 70 years. He opened his first store in Parksville’s Wembley Mall.
Mark MacDonald is President of Communication Ink Media & Public Relations Ltd. and can be reached at mark@communicationink.ca