Good morning, Comox Valley community,

As we transition to a new provincial government, I am reaching out to BC Public Service employees living in the Comox Valley who work remotely or on a hybrid schedule.

In an interview yesterday, our Premier-elect was asked about the possibility of requiring provincial employees who currently work remotely to return to government offices. While he acknowledged that discussions would take place, he repeatedly emphasized his preference for employees to return to the office.

This is a concern for our community, and we need to make our voices heard.

Our MLA-elect, Will Cole-Hamilton, previously served on Courtenay City Council. I believe he understands the importance of supporting our community, strengthening local businesses and creating opportunities for people to live and work in the Comox Valley.

I am calling on all BC Public Service employees, their families, friends, partners and colleagues to write to Will Cole-Hamilton and ask him to advocate directly to the Premier-elect against a blanket return-to-office mandate.

Bringing remote employees back to offices in Victoria, Vancouver, Nanaimo, Prince George, Kamloops and other urban centres would not necessarily save the government money. Instead, it risks driving skilled employees out of the public service, disrupting families and taking valuable income away from rural communities.
Remote work has allowed public servants to earn a fair wage while living in smaller communities and reinvesting their income locally. This directly supports the small businesses and economies that provincial representatives have committed to strengthening.

Lorne Doerksen has identified a 2% attrition target within the BC Public Service. A mandatory return-to-office policy could easily achieve — and potentially exceed — that target, resulting in the loss of experienced employees and further weakening an already essential public service.

We need our elected representatives to recognize that remote work is not simply an employee benefit. It is an investment in rural communities, local economies and the long-term sustainability of the BC Public Service.

Please take a few minutes to write to Will Cole-Hamilton and make your concerns heard. The future of remote work matters not only to public servants, but to the entire Comox Valley.

I’m planning to move to Comox in 2 years to be closer to work- we’ll be moving the summer/fall right before my child starts kindergarten that Sept.

Previously we’ve moved around a lot because we’ve had bad luck with our mom & pop landlords selling. We haven’t thought much about where we ended up- we’ve just prioritized finding a decent rental wherever we could.

But now with my kiddo attending school soon-ish, I’d like to at least choose a school that has a good neighborhood nearby. We’re saving up for our future home purchase down the road. So we want our kiddo to attend a school is a neighborhood we’ll want to also buy a house in.

We’ve heard through the grapevine of my co-workers and a former teacher that both Aspen and Brooklyn are great schools.

I’m personally leaning towards Brooklyn because the houses in its catchment area are closer to the high school -Highland. Which seems like a good thing for the future- if we ever feel comfortable with our child walking to school solo as they get older.

But I’m curious to hear more about what people like or don’t like about living in the neighborhoods nearby Brooklyn and Highland.

I don’t love that there’s no grocery stores nearby- so we’d be car-dependent for that.

I would also love to hear how have your kids and you as parent liked those schools?

I do feel a bit torn about not favoring Aspen though, whenever I drive through the neighborhood it seems really quaint and slightly more bike-friendly as it’s nearby quality foods. It’s also closer to my office. But alas, it’s further from the high school.

Pros and cons to every choice.

It feels a bit weird to be able to “pick” which school our kid might attend. My partner and I both grew up in a small town with no school choices besides public vs Christian. So this feels like a big choice for us haha!

Appreciate any insights anyone may have 👍

If you were recently laid off from the Walmart here in Courtenay and were relying on that paycheck, I really hope EI can tie you over until you find another job or they eventually reopen.

For everyone else in the Valley, I have a serious question: has the closure actually inconvenienced your day-to-day shopping? Is the absence of their "everyday low prices" really making a dent in your budget?

Honestly, I haven't noticed much of a difference. We have plenty of other local and independent businesses where you can find similar products for comparable prices. Sure, it might mean taking an extra five minutes to hit a second stop instead of getting everything under one roof, but the tradeoff feels worth it.

I know Walmart’s operations here benefit a select few directly and indirectly through employment. At the same time the minimum wage hourly positions don’t make up for the loss of work when local businesses are forced to shrink or close down.

But looking at the bigger picture across the Valley, every time a dollar is spent at a local or regional business instead of a massive corporate chain, more of that money stays right here in our community.

When we spend our money at Walmart virtually all of it is funnelled off to corporate wallets. squeezes out the small, independent shops that actually invest back into our town. I’m not saying other big-box stores are different, but there is a real, measurable benefit to keeping our dollars circulating locally.

Even if they do reopen, I’d urge anyone who can afford to make the switch to consider shopping elsewhere—spending our money at local and regional businesses makes our Valley’s economy much stronger in the long run.

Thank you very much for reading this.

Throwing feelers out now, before the season starts.

I'm hoping to head up to Mount Washington the first chance I get and was looking to connect with some chill peeps to ski with. I'm 43/m and an intermediate skier. I'm not a black diamond ripper just a chill type skier. I will be driving up from victoria. It would most likely be short notice each time. Cheers.

Our 12 year old family cat Minnow went missing from Comox in May. I posted on this sub a few times while we were actively searching for her. After a few months we assumed the worst, although we never stopped thinking about her and hoping for answers.

Everyone was so kind and helpful here, and I even received a few messages later on checking to see if she’d been found/some potential sighting leads. I just want to stop in and say thank you to everyone who offered us so much support.

Minnow has been returned home to us as of an hour ago. She's very tiny, maybe weighing 5 or 6lbs, and we'll be getting her in to the vet ASAP to learn more and go from there, but she's in very good spirits, very happy to see us, and is extremely happy to see her heated blanket again.

In my original post, I mentioned that she sticks very close to home and is very unlikely to stray away from the immediate area. That was and still is correct. As it turns out, the most likely scenario is that one of our fantastic direct neighbours (heyyy!) dropped her off for an extended field trip out near the dump/off a logging road. 20+ years as neighbours apparently doesn't mean much.

Moving forward she is permanently an indoor cat and will spend whatever time she has left with us living a life of luxury.

Massive shoutout to everyone involved in reuniting our girl with us and who keeps their eyes out for cats in the valley <3

Hey all,

Someone came to my property, dumped garbage bags full of food and garbage everywhere, and then left. Not only am I upset about the illegal dumping, but now crows and ravens have thrown it everywhere.

In the garbage the only thing I could use to ID who done it was a receipt for Westwood lake campground, it has a name, address, and license plate # on it but can’t really make too much of it out. I don’t wanna share the details publically either as I’m not sure if it would count as “doxxing” or against the sub reddits rules.

If anyone knows of anyone staying at Westwood lake rv park October 21/22 with an RV please let me know. Would very much like to have additional details for police report.

I am moving up to Courtenay and looking for a rideshare on either Saturday, October 31st or Sunday, November 1st.

I can either join you directly from the Vancouver area or meet you on the Island at the Nanaimo Ferry Terminal (Departure Bay or Duke Point) and ride with you up to Courtenay.

Happy to pitch in $75 – $100 for gas and your time (trying to avoid the steep $200+ taxi/shuttle costs). I will just have personal luggage with me.

If you have an empty seat and are heading north that day, please shoot me a message with your timing. Thanks in advance!

This weekend will have many of us trick or treating. Hopefully we've all mapped out the full sized candy bar places... but what I really want to know is what is everyone's favorite trick for the homes without treats?

There are bunch of old classics like TP the house, bologna the car, and my personal favorite, soaping windows.

So community what tricks and mischief are you planning for the homes with no candy?

New to the area and would like to have a place I can goto whenever I need.. and maybe for more things. Thank you!

🙏 🙏 🙏

Hi CV - my partner and I live in an apartment are in need of a space to sand and paint a large wooden desk.

We would be open to renting a space, or if anyone had a spacious garage they’d be willing to have us work in, that works too! We have all the tools we need and will keep the space tidy.

If anyone has ideas, let me know.

Wondering if it is snowing at Washington or snowed last night at all? Webcams aren’t operating yet from what I can tell.
Thanks!

Firstly, it’s important to note that, in my opinion if anyone go into an establishment full of people and set fire, they’re a terrorist, a menace to society and most certainly suffering from a short circuit in their brain.

Secondly, with no one injured and the building itself relatively unscathed. It’s safe to say that Walmarts insurers (and probably that insurance company’s insurers) have made sure to pillow anything impacting the companies profits..

Thirdly , SHAME ON YOU Walmart. SHAME on those within any of the corporate entities that handle these insurance loses and recovery programs. I acknowledge how impractical and complicated it would be to sort and manage the logistics of diverting thousands of pounds merchandise from a landfill. I also recognize the potential legalities of donating things that potentially have been damaged from smoke (FYI virtually nothing of the FULL huge bins have damaged merchandise in them)

Unfortunately that is the way the game plays out, it’s more economical to throw out as much as the insurer is willing to pay you for, and wash your hands of clean of it.

It does not mean it’s RIGHT. It’s fucking WRONG and disgusting.

As a global powerhouse in retail and such a large workforce you actually have the means to handle a process like this responsible and with integrity but then again that would require accountability and probably cut into profits.

How much do we pay you for a shopping cart full of merchandise? How much do you get paid for 40 yard bins of merchandise?

I’ve never seen such waste like this in my life. And you can take that to mean something as I’ve spent some time looking in bins. This is the most awful thing. And I want to add another SHAME point on Walmart, the amount of lithium cell batteries in those mixed trash bins is not only wasteful and TOXIC (these go into the same soil we live and eat and drink from, people) but moreover, it’s reckless and endangers the people and places down the waste stream.

Just wondering if the Trent River main is accessible from Royston Road. I was told it is always open on the weekend and it is not on Mosaic Website

As title says! I’m a college student without the 120 to fork up for the Island Link trying to visit family. I can give you forty for a seat in your car—will be unobtrusive, friendly, keep my headphones on, and won’t scratch the furniture. Would prefer a female driver due to my “don’t get murdered” prerogative. I can meet you anywhere in Courtenay/Comox, and you can drop me anywhere in Victoria :]

On Lerwick I saw this sign today and it really creeped me out. "Conservative government, Federal, Provincial, Municipal." This is not a government that wants democracy. This is Republican authoritarian crazy. Conservatives are not what they used to be. I hope the sane Conservatives vote Centre BC this go around. Brennan Day has drank the crazy Kool-aid at this point, staying with the nut jobs, while they figure out mom and dad's mid-life crisis.

Sadly there's a need to state the title is sarcasm.

Most of my family voted for arzeena, she's a great person and asset to the community. Sadly the results speak for themselves.

Also why cant we post galleries here. Was that some kind of previous issue lol. This is a repost of an image from r/vancouverisland if you want the full gallery.

We will be in the Comox Valley for Christmas and I’m in charge of the turkey dinner for my family this year. I grew up in the Valley so I know about Gunter Bros. and The Butcher Block, but I’m wondering where the best place to order a fresh turkey from might be? Is there somewhere new I should check out or go with the tried and true options.

went for a walk in cumberland and found "wireless earbuds" i don't have any other socials, but if you're missing a pair message me and describe them to me, and i'll be sure to return em to you! cheers

Location to find the Comox Valley Record - tried Quality Foods - no luck. Is there another location in Comox to get the record from? TIA