Horgan promises cancer care centre for Nanaimo Regional General Hospital within next decade

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Wednesday evening COVID-19 update

There is another case of COVID-19 on Vancouver Island. Currently there are 12 active cases of the virus. Province wide, there were 115 new cases confirmed since yesterday but no deaths.

Cancer care centre promised for Nanaimo Regional General Hospital

NDP Leader John Horgan is promising Nanaimo a cancer care centre within the next decade. Horgan's 10 year cancer plan includes “investing in dedicated teams providing a full continuum of care, and new equipment to deliver leading-edge prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment services.” Currently, Nanaimo's Regional General Hospital's cancer clinic sees 34 patients a day, which is more than 50 per cent higher than just three years ago. Despite this, there is no oncologist on staff at NRGH. A report by the Nanaimo Medical Staff Association says more specialists and diagnostics are needed to meet what it calls "the overwhelming demand" for cancer services.

City of Nanaimo to review building permit process

The City of Nanaimo has hired a consultant to review its building permit process. Councillors say they receive lots of emails from frustrated homeowners and developers who say they're waiting too long for permits. The city's Director of Development Approvals told this week's council meeting that it can take up to four months to get building permits for large commercial developments, but smaller projects like one or two homes takes less time. Jeremy Holm says his 16 person staff is doing all it can to keep up with record setting numbers of applications.

"The volume of work is substantial so time to actually get to the full code review and the complexity of the applications is substantial as well. So when you look around at other communities, those timelines, they're not far off and in many cases, better than in other municipalities."—Jeremy Holm, City of Nanaimo Director of Development Approvals.

The review will compare systems in other municipalities and will make recommendations to the city in January.

After complaint, masks now mandatory at Nanaimo’s RCMP detachment

An Extinction Rebellion activist says Nanaimo RCMP are not following COVID-19 safety rules, when it comes to dealing with prisoners. Howard Breen told the Vancouver Island Free Daily that officers at the Nanaimo detachment who interacted with him did not wear masks, nor did they maintain two metres physical distance when he was in cells. The 66 year old was arrested on September the 29th, for blocking logging trucks near Port Renfrew. He says officers removed his mask and did not ask whether he has underlying medical conditions. Breen has asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Breen has written to the provincial health officer, outlining his concerns. Two days after the arrest, masks were made mandatory for all employees at the Nanaimo RCMP detachment.