Midcoast Morning on CHLY 101.7FM

A new exhibit at the Vancouver Island Military Museum features the Chinese Labour Corps from the first world war. Museum Vice President Brian McFadden spoke with Midcoast Morning about the exhibit.

A group of novelists, poets, and playwrights will be giving readings at an event Wednesday May 22 at the Palestine Solidarity Encampment on the grounds of Vancouver Island University, which has been installed since May 1.

Called the Watermelon Seeds Festival of Literature, the authors include a number of VIU faculty. 

Three of the authors giving readings joined Midcoast Morning to speak about the event.

The Regional District of Nanaimo has a new plan to manage growth in our area through 2040.

This week the RDN board approved the adoption of Shaping our Future 2024, which contains goals related to climate mitigation and adaptation, economic and food system resiliency, among others.

Jamai Schile, a senior planner with the RDN spoke with Midcoast Morning about the strategy.

Brechin Lanes owner Ray Brittain is planning to sell the business that’s been in his family for more than 50 years, citing rising costs and competition from a foreign owned chain worth roughly a billion Canadian dollars.

Midcoast Morning host Joe Pugh paid a visit to Nanaimo’s only 5 pin bowling alley, to learn about it’s past, present, and what remains of its future.

The RDN and BC Transit have a survey open, asking about the impact of a potential fare increase for trips on busses in the city.

And you may have noticed a bunch of new e-bikes around town. The City of Nanaimo has partnered with BCAA’s Evolve E Bike share to launch a bike sharing pilot program.

Vancouver Island University’s response to a Palestine solidarity encampment on its grounds has drawn criticism from the B.C. Federation of Students, The Vancouver Island University Students Union, and more than a hundred of the school’s faculty and staff.

Thousands are expected to gather Saturday at a comic convention in Nanaimo that’s paying tribute to the man who founded it.

Curious Comicon is on Saturday at Country Club Mall.

It got started in 2016, when the Nanaimo branch of Curious Comics take Free comic book day, an annual, North America wide event, and expand it into a local convention convention.

With guest artists, a cosplay contest, and various activities.

Curious Comicon Founder Mike Drummond died earlier this year. Midcoast Morning spoke with some of the organizers who are keeping the event going in his memory.

As of May 1, in communities with a population over ten thousand, short term rentals will only be allowed in an owner’s principal residence, or in a secondary suite or accessory dwelling on the same property.

A number of less populated communities, including Gabriola Island and Tofino have opted in to the regulations. In those areas the rules will take effect on November first.

According to data obtained from the website Air DNA earlier this week, there are 999 short term rental listings in Nanaimo.

The city requires short term rental operators to have a licence which costs $165 per year.

A March staff report found that there were fewer than 300 licences for short term rentals in the community.

Midcoast Morning explores the impact of the potential impact of the new rules in our area, and speaks with B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon

175 people lost their lives as a result of their jobs last year in B.C.

Flags at government buildings will be at half mast to mark the occasion. Midcoast Morning hears what else will be happening locally to mark the occasion.

Walking around Nanaimo can be a very different experience depending on where you live.

Because of how the city’s developed and amalgamated different areas over the years, the sidewalk network is incomplete.

Members of the South End Community brought concerns around pedestrian safety in their neighbourhood to Nanaimo City Council this week.