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Friday, April 17, 2026
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West Shore & Sooke

Langford, housing strategy

Langford housing strategy survey open to May 3

Island Social Trends - 0
Wednesday April 16, 2026 | LANGFORD, BC by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends A plan to address housing challenges in Langford is underway. At the same time, the City is updating how it...
sooke, municipal hall

Sooke property owners see 10.5% tax increase in 2026

Langford, public input, arts and culture

Last chance for input to Langford’s Arts & Culture strategy

Langford, mayor, child care building

Langford asset: child care centre & art studio building breaks ground

Business & Economy

sooke, municipal hall

Sooke property owners see 10.5% tax increase in 2026

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Wednesday April 15, 2026 | SOOKE, BC by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends District of Sooke council has adopted their 2026-2030 Five-Year Financial Plan, with a 10.5% property tax increase in 2026. The municipal portion...
avi lewis, ndp leader, don davies, heather mcpherson

NDP: oil company price cap better than gasoline pump tax holiday

carney, champagne, hodsgon

Fuel tax holiday introduced on first day of Liberal majority

softwood lumber

BC Forests Minister: no change to softwood lumber duties

Health & Safety

house fire, sooke

One person deceased in Sooke house fire Easter morning

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Monday April 6, 2026 | SOOKE, BC by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends On Easter morning, April 5, there was a fully involved structure fire in a home in the Rhodonite Drive area...
MVI, colwood

Collision at Ocean Boulevard in Colwood on Easter Sunday

Jeremy Hansen, lunch

Artemis II: Day 3 meals & tech work

AccessBC

AccessBC celebrates 3rd anniversary of free prescription contraception in BC

Environment & Sustainability

creatively united, earth day event, 2026

Earth Week webinar: balancing nature’s needs with fire protection

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Tuesday April 14, 2026 | VICTORIA, BC by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends With the arrival of spring and some warmer days, the topic turns serious when forests, trees and gardens wither under the...
wind blowing, wind warning

Windy Easter Monday afternoon & overnight into Tuesday

Let's Chat Langford, surveys

Got time? Three Langford surveys on Easter weekend

langford, climate resilience

Langford climate action plan survey open to April 8

Greater Victoria / CRD

bay street bridge, traffic

Bay St Bridge night closure Thursday April 16

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Thursday April 16, 2026 | VICTORIA, BC by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends This news was first published on January 27 (and February 3 and 13, 2026) City of Victoria says the closure is...
highway 17, keating

Keating X Rd on-ramp to Hwy 17 closed for a week

playground, slide

Victoria Police make playground arson arrest

wind blowing, wind warning

Windy Easter Monday afternoon & overnight into Tuesday

Technology

Jeremy Hansen, astronaut, NASA

Astronaut Jeremy Hansen enthusiastic about space flight impact on humanity

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Thursday April 16, 2026 | HOUSTON, X by Mary P Brooke | ISland Social Trends Just six days after the Artemis II crew splashed down from their nearly 10-day mission around the Moon and back, the...
Mark Carney, Stubb

Canada & Finland make joint statement on shared security & economic...

avi lewis, press conference

New NDP leader prioritizes affordability & digital surveillance price-fixing

Artemis ii, splashdown, parachutes

Artemis II astronauts safely home but humanity hungers for more

Lottery News

winning numbers, lotto max

New Lotto Max: no big winners in new-game April 14 draw

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Wednesday April 15, 2026 | VICTORIA, BC by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends The winning numbers for the April 14, 2026 Lotto Max draw are: 04, 13, 20, 31, 37, 43 and 51....
lotto max, april 10

Lotto Max April 10 draw numbers, new game kicks in

Lotto Max, winning numbers, April 7, 2026

$75 million April 7 Lotto Max jackpot winner in Penticton

iphone, gambling

Ontario iGaming revenue surges past $4 billion as casino play leads...

Politics

avi lewis, ndp leader, don davies, heather mcpherson

NDP: oil company price cap better than gasoline pump tax holiday

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Wednesday April 16 2026 | NATIONAL News anaysis by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends The NDP says it would be better to cap the big oil companies from charging more, rather than ultimately short-changing...
Mark Carney, Stubb

Canada & Finland make joint statement on shared security & economic...

carney, champagne, hodsgon

Fuel tax holiday introduced on first day of Liberal majority

by-election, Liberal candidates

Liberals form majority government by winning three by-elections

Education

camosun college, engineering buildings

Infrastructure upgrades to boost Camosun College engineering programs

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Monday March 30, 2026 | SAANICH, BC by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends Building upgrades will improve Camosun engineering technology programs say the Ministry of Infrastructure and Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills The...
UAE, RRU, building

Royal Roads closes UAE campus during Iran conflict

royal roads, mount royal

Royal Roads launches partnered program in Calgary

classroom, instructor, Vancouver Community College

Post-secondary institutions should adjust to current conditions, says Ministry

Artificial Intelligence

Mark Carney, Stubb

Canada & Finland make joint statement on shared security & economic...

Island Social Trends - 0
Wednesday April 15, 2026 | OTTAWA, ON by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends The first visit of a Finnish president in 12 years happened yesterday in Ottawa as Prime Minister Mark Carney met with the...
Carney, norway

Canada & Norway: strategic Arctic defence, economies, technology

mark carney, australia

Carney’s trade mission in Australia: speeches & gains

Food Supply & Healthy Eating

seafood, orca seafoods, salmon

BC Agriculture Minister leads BC seafood promotion at Seafood Expo North...

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Wednesday March 18, 2026 | VICTORIA, BC by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends Agriculture and Food Minister Lana Popham joined BC seafood businesses last week in Boston at Seafood Expo North America to...
Carney, Modi

Canada-India economic and political partnerships strengthened during Carney’s visit

stephanie mclean, seniors, house of commons

Secretary of State (Seniors) Stephanie McLean takes Vancouver Island interests to...

mark carney, prime minister

Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit replaces GST rebate to help Canadians...

Housing

gregor robertson, mark carney

Federal Communities Strong Fund delivers for Vancouver

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Tuesday April 7, 2026 | BRAMPTON, ON by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends The first delivery under the federal Build Communities Strong Fund (BCSF) was announced today by Prime Minister Mark Carney in Brampton,...
bc rent bank, funding

BC Rent Bank gets more provincial funding but seeks donations

apartment building, affordable housing, langford

MLA Parmar responds to City of Langford housing concerns

Arts & Entertainment

Langford, public input, arts and culture

Last chance for input to Langford’s Arts & Culture strategy

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Wednesday April 15, 2026 | LANGFORD, BC by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends The City of Langford's Arts and Culture Strategy is in the last phases of public input. The online survey is open until...
Langford, mayor, child care building

Langford asset: child care centre & art studio building breaks ground

mark carney, juno awards

Carney dazzles at Junos with tribute to Joni Mitchell

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