Every Friday we feature Valley history taken from our back issues.
Five years ago
this week in the Comox Valley Record:
Defeated North Island MP John Duncan will be eligible for a pension that will, by age 75, be worth more than $1.6 million, said the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
Duncan lost the Vancouver Island North seat to NDP candidate Catherine Bell by upwards of 600 votes.
According to the CTF, Duncan will receive $68,000-plus a year in pension after serving slightly less than 13 years as area MP.
“Shed no tears for retiring or defeated MPs,” CTF federal director John Williamson said. “They are being well looked after by Canadian taxpayers.”
Duncan was not available for comment.
Ten years ago
this week in the Comox Valley Record:
Parents at Cumberland Jr. and its feeder schools will decide next week if they want a dress code instituted at the school.
And the concept doesn’t sit well with Neal Williams, a father of eight children, three of whom will attend Cumberland Jr. next year.
“The idea of trying to make people the same is ridiculous,” Williams said. “If people really consider what the issues are, they really have nothing to do with uniforms.”
The school’s principal, Dave Vranjes, had sought permission from the school board to have a referendum on the issue. He said Cumberland’s socio-economic factors, along with peer pressure, were two reasons for suggesting a dress code.
Fifteen years ago
this week in the Comox Valley Record:
Even before voting day, voters turned out in force to advance polls for the Macdonald Wood referendum. More than 250 voters had cast ballots when advanced polls closed this week.
Advance polls rarely draw more than about 50 voters, according to the regional district.
Many confused residents appear to think the referendum includes Courtenay, Comox and Cumberland, when in fact it includes only rural areas A, B and C, election officials said.
Twenty years ago
this week in the Comox Valley Record:
Speechless with surprise, Margaret Hobson received a standing ovation as she was named Citizen of the Year at a gala Comox Valley Chamber of Commerce banquet.
Hobson — who was involved with the Soroptimists, Easter Star, St. Joseph’s Hospital Auxiliary, Mt. Becher Ski Assn., the Winter Carnival and the Courtenay Recreational Assn. — received the majority of nominations reviewed by the selection committee.
A granddaughter of pioneers who settled in the Valley in the 1860s, Hobson grew up on a family farm near Courtenay, attended an eight-room school on Cliffe Avenue and graduated from Courtenay High School in a class of 13 students.
After the Second World War, she married George Hobson, a previous Citizen of the Year winner. The couple ran the Coffee Stop on Fifth Street for 25 years.
“I’m really proud to have been part of the Valley,” Hobson said.
