Martin ‘mace’-s his point
April 24, 2002
The Member of Parliament who dared to hoist above his head the five-foot, gold-encrusted mace and then turn to the Liberal front bench and declare that we are no longer live a democracy, is faced with a not-so-liberal penalty.
On Monday, Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca MP Dr. Keith Martin was hit with a motion asking him to apologize at the bar (a location in the House) to Speaker Peter Milliken.
The apology was requested because of last Wednesday’s incident when Martin picked up the mace which sits on the clerks’ table right in front of the Speaker’s chair. The object is a symbol of democracy and MPs are forbidden to even touch it.
HIs fellow Alliance members followed him out of the House after the somewhat calculated outburst, with two NDP members in tow (Svend Robinson and Libby Davies).
Martin apologized the same day, which is what he told the speaker on April 22 when the issue arose in the House.
Sooke man reels in 231.6 pounder
April 23, 2003
Des Hatchard already was having a pretty good week catching halibut when he took to the waters last Wednesday morning.
On Monday, he reeled in two halis over 80 pounds and followed that up the next day with one weighing 55 pounds and another at 35. But those catches were small fry when compared to the 231.6-pound monster he pulled in mid-week.
“I’ve caught fish over 150, but nothing like 200,” Hatchard said in a Monday interview.
He said he was fishing off Jordan River, though he declined to reveal the exact location of his fishing hot spot.
APC sparks community interest
April 25, 2007
In an effort to simplify and speed up the rezoning process, CAO Evan Parliament and director of planning Marlaina Elliott came up with a draft bylaw and brought it before District of Sooke committee of the whole on April 16.
“We would like to have the process understood by all three sides, staff, developers and the public,” said Parliament.
He said they were seeking direction to start the process and different ideas on how to move forward in the development permit process.
“A new wave of planning will do better than the old conventional way,” he said.
Developer puts public in plans
April 23, 2008
Despite a lot of decisions which still have to be made, developer Ender Ilkay has released his vision for 5,450 acres of land between Sooke and Jordan River.
“Typically I wouldn’t be releasing plans prior to public input,” said Ilkay. “But the door is closing fast on any opportunity for such a discussion, I felt that it’s important to get this out there to answer some questions.”
Ilkay, founder and principal of Ilkay Development Corporation, has a contract to purchase the land.
His concept for Jordan River would reinstate the town site in a location that once had a thriving community in the last century. The new town would be home to over 10,000 residents over the next 20 years.
He said he sees a village concept which would be very walkable with restaurants and shops and a neat village core. He would need a critical mass to create the green community which would include full sewage and water systems. Forty-eight per cent of the land would be greenspace and six per cent as golf/greenspace.
A variety of housing from townhouses to estate lots could exist creating a very green community, said Ilkay.
