News

Let the mudslinging begin — unless a spring election can be avoided in light of the federal Conservative budget announced Tuesday. The Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois have all panned Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's 2011 budget proposal, necessitating a fifth federal election in a decade unless the minority Tories amend the document.

The transportation review by the school board's ad hoc committee is a start, but it doesn't solve all the problems. That was the general feeling around the school board table Tuesday, as trustees received recommendations.

Tuition at North Island College will increase by two per cent next year, as the college works to maintain its programming. The college's board of governors approved the bylaw increasing tuition Wednesday.

The recall campaign against Comox Valley MLA Don McRae has failed. Canvassers collected just 5,181 signatures, well short of the 19,348 required to unseat the rookie MLA recently named agriculture minister by Premier Christy Clark.

Education shouldn't be a debt sentence. That's the theme of a campaign by student unions across the province, and North Island College (NIC) students learned more about the campaign this week.

The Kiwanis Club of Courtenay welcomes Tom Miles to its next meeting on Thursday. The public is invited to attend.

Fourteenth Street will no longer be a truck route between Cumberland Road and Willemar Avenue. Courtenay council voted last week to remove the truck route designation from that section of roadway.

The long arm of the law reached out and arrested a Courtenay man, accusing him of impaired driving in the Yukon.

Restoring trust in government is a key aspect of Mike Farnworth's campaign for the BC New Democrat Party leadership. To do so, the longtime Port Coquitlam MLA suggests getting away from a "top-down approach" in the premier's office and back to working with communities to solve the problems and challenges they face.