Andrew Duffy

2 weeks ago | timescolonist.com | Andrew Duffy

A group that has been exploring the pros and cons of combining the region’s two largest municipalities has recommended that Victoria and Saanich pursue amalgamation, although a full report explaining the conclusion will not be presented to the two councils for another month. The chair of the 48-member Victoria-Saanich Citizens’ Assembly, which has been working on the issue for the past eight months, said the decision was still up in the air a month before it was released on the weekend.

2 weeks ago | timescolonist.com | Andrew Duffy

The City of Victoria’s Canada Day celebration may not be able to match the production the city put on last year, even with a similar budget. Victoria council voted unanimously this week to allocate another $130,000 to this year’s July 1 festivities, bringing the total budget to $455,000. Last year’s budget was $478,421. Coun. Jeremy Caradonna made a successful motion Thursday to add $30,000 to a request from city staff for an extra $100,000.

2 weeks ago | timescolonist.com | Andrew Duffy

The City of Victoria has approved the $2-million budget of the Downtown Victoria Business Association, which shows a small deficit for 2025. The city enables the association by imposing a levy on businesses within its downtown border. This year member businesses will pay $1.83 million to the organization, up from last year’s $1.76 million.

2 weeks ago | timescolonist.com | Andrew Duffy

Victoria residents will get another chance this summer to weigh in on the latest version of the City of Victoria’s draft Official Community Plan. Council, sitting as committee of the whole Thursday, approved the latest version of the OCP in a vote of 7-2. Councillors Stephen Hammond and Marg Gardiner both voted against the plan. Hammond, who said there was not enough public consultation on the project, characterized the plan as a developer’s dream and renter’s nightmare.

2 weeks ago | ca.news.yahoo.com | Andrew Duffy

Bill Wilson, 55, stands outside his new apartment in Renfrew. Formerly addicted to pot and cocaine and homeless for about two years — where, he says, friends died beside him in tents in the winter — Wilson is an example of how Renfrew's Mesa program has worked. (Credit: JULIE OLIVER)Bill Wilson stands in his furnished, one-bedroom apartment in downtown Renfrew less than one year removed from living in a pitched tent near some railway tracks.