Advance voting for the 2026 Provincial General Election begins tomorrow, Friday, October 16.

Advance voting places will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (local time) each advance voting day. There are six days of advance voting for this election, from Friday, October 16 to Wednesday, October 21. Advance voting is an option for all eligible voters, and most advance voting places are wheelchair accessible. Voters can vote at any voting place in the province.

List of advance voting places (PDF)

Here is how it works: Coombs Country Candy has created 1,000 handmade chocolate sand dollar-shaped bars wrapped in gold foil. Inside three of those bars is a golden ticket. Each of those three tickets represents a prize valued at $500 or more.

Prior to her election as MLA, Osborne worked as a fisheries biologist for the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, led an environmental education non-profit, and was Tofino’s mayor for just short of eight years.

cross-posted from: /c/VancouverIsland

Today's bracket features Vancouver Island. The eight contenders stretch from as far north as the world’s largest burl in Port McNeill and as far south as the Mile Zero display at the end of the Trans-Canada Highway go up against each other in the first round.

PARKSVILLE — Organizers of a Vancouver Island beach festival say multiple artists were left devastated after vandals partially destroyed several sand sculptures over the weekend.

First, anyone who wants to harvest shellfish — clams, oysters, crab, prawn — needs a tidal waters sport fishing licence. An annual licence for a B.C. resident is under $26.

Erin Milligan, shellfish sanitation program coordinator for Fisheries and Oceans Canada, said it’s important to read and understand the conditions of the licence.

St. Andrews Lodge in Qualicum Beach, B.C., is a Tudor-style, waterfront home with three bedrooms that opened in 1938 to become a popular vacation destination on the east coast of Vancouver Island.

The Town of Qualicum Beach, B.C., released a statement on Tuesday saying it was aware of online posts that claimed the council would vote on whether to close the airport the following day.

"There is no intent to close the airport," the statement said.

The idea to rename the highways, which run through Parksville's downtown core, was part of a larger traffic-calming initiative that aims to make the neighbourhood more walkable and accessible.

cross-posted from: /c/VancouverIsland

Historically, the Island has not been considered a year-round habitat for grizzlies, although some bears will occasionally swim over from the mainland in the summer, says Nick Scapillati, executive director with the Grizzly Bear Foundation.

But sightings of the mom and her cubs goes back to 2024 and Scapillati says that due to the small size of the cubs, they wouldn’t have been able to swim over. He believes it could be evidence of the first ever grizzly cubs to be born on Vancouver Island — a sign that grizzlies could be wintering on the Island.

The owners of the Truffle Farm in Parksville, B.C., about 120 kilometres northwest of Victoria as the crow flies, say they found two of their sheep dead from an apparent cougar attack Saturday morning.

The farm says the neighbouring property then had a sheep killed the next night and an emu the night after that, prompting people in the community to start patrolling the area in an effort to ward off the animal.

A delegation representing caregivers in the Oceanside region of mid-Vancouver Island, B.C., delivered a petition to Qualicum Beach town council on Wednesday, asking for more respite and seniors care facilities in the area.

The Hamilton Marsh is a 360-acre parcel of land, located along Highway 4, just north of Nanaimo, B.C., near the Town of Qualicum Beach. The wetlands are a major part of the French Creek watershed and is home to over 120 species of birds.

Wind and rainfall warnings have been issued for a large portion of British Columbia on Thursday, as Environment Canada is forecasting 110 km/h gusts and 140 millimetres of rain throughout the day in some areas.

The town first proposed in July that it had reached a conditional agreement to purchase the nine-hole golf course for $8.5 million. Plans for the property include housing, parkland and a refurbished golf course.

Officials say money from the development and sale of homes on the golf course would go towards the purchase. Last month, an anonymous donor pledged $2.1 million if the town keeps 40 acres, or about 16 hectares, of the 42.5-hectare property as parkland.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/50641122

This project is part of a $19-billion housing investment by the B.C. government. Since 2017, the province has more than 93,250 homes delivered or underway, including 280 new homes in Oceanside.