Nov 3 - Fore! The CRD buys a golf course

Good morning !

Victoria gets plenty of new restaurants every year, but one of 2023’s openings has ranked in the top three best new restaurants in Canada. Can you guess which one? Scroll down and find out.

Today’s approx. read time: 4.5 minutes

🌡️ Weather Forecast

Today: 🌦️ 12 / 11

Tomorrow: 🌧️ 15 / 9

Sunday: 🌧️ 12 / 9

7-day forecast

NEWS

CRD buys the old Royal Oak Golf Course land for $8.5M

The CRD is spending $8.5M to acquire the Royal Oak Golf Course, a 10.92-hectare (27-acre) parcel of land adjacent to Elk/Beaver Lake Regional Park in Saanich.

The nine-hole golf course hasn’t been fully used for golf since 2015.

“Acquiring a parcel of this size adjacent to such a popular park is extremely welcome news and creates new opportunities to protect valuable green space and explore future potential uses for the land,” said Colin Plant, the CRD board chair.

What exactly those uses are will be determined down the road.

The CRD is in discussion with First Nations, and plans to have “a full public engagement on future land uses and relationship with Elk/Beaver Lake Regional Park.”

Today’s story from Sidney Coles breaks down how these government park land acquisitions work—and how the region’s growing population will force tough decisions in the future.

Read it at Capital Daily.

⚠️ Capital Bulletin

Have your say on potential fare price changes at BC Transit.

Have more say on bus route changes for the 11 (Tillicum/UVic), 9 (Royal Oak/UVic), 24 (Cedar Hill/Tillicum), & 25 (Maplewood/Tillicum).

NEWS

Victoria author killing it with her new murder mystery

Things started to look up when Jean Paetkau began to look up.

“I spent 10 years not looking at the sky,” the author of Blood on the Breakwater, a murder mystery set in James Bay, tells Capital Daily.

“It was only last year that I started taking photos of sunrises and sunsets.”

Perhaps it’s no coincidence then that Paetkau’s first novel begins up in the Victoria sky with the sun’s “leisurely descent toward the ocean’s horizon, infusing the clouds with pinks and purples, heralding the end of day.”

Paetkau’s main character—a radio journalist, single mother of two named Helene—is walking along the Breakwater, taking photos, when all hell breaks loose.

Unlike Helene, whose gritty discovery that fall evening would change the course of her life, her best friend’s aversion to intimacy, and the landscape of Canada’s art world, Paetkau’s relationship with the Breakwater has been more life-giving.

Read Mark Brennae’s full story on Jean Paetkau and her new novel here.

NEWS

Victoria eatery named top-3 new restaurant in Canada

The annual ranking of the country’s best culinary debuts, put on by Air Canada enRoute, gave Douglas Street’s Marilena its #3 spot as well as its best design award.

Marilena Cafe & Raw Bar finally arrived across from Victoria City Hall this summer after being delayed for years. The upscale restaurant from the Aquilini (of Canucks ownership fame)-owned Tabletop Group mixes expertly cooked local and global seafood with an authentic Japanese raw bar. 

The new best-in-Canada rankings praised its massive wine cellar, the “seafood towers appear to hold all the secrets of the Pacific,” and the overall balance of “familiarity and formality.” 

This summer, Tasting Victoria reviewed the restaurant’s debut five-course meal and spoke with its executive chef, Kristian Eligh, a Victoria local who returned home to run the restaurant.

Read Tasting Victoria’s full profile on the restaurant here.

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⭐️ Capital Picks

🚶🏻‍♂️🚶🏻‍♂️🚶🏻‍♂️🚶🏻‍♂️ Beatles! New music from the Fab Four. Not kidding. [CBC]

🥑 THIS IS THE PLACE: The Root Cellar at Oxford Corner in Cook Street Village – your innovative destination market for fresh locally grown produce and extraordinary food experiences. Visit the website to learn more!*

 🚑 MADD has kicked off its annual Red Ribbon campaign to prevent impaired driving during the holiday season.

🛍️ Shop & Dine Offer: Meet over 50 local makers at the Bay Centre's Fall Fling Market this Sunday. PLUS get $10 off Earls Kitchen + Bar meal on market day!*

🤝 Now Hiring: Out of School Care Worker at Fernwood Neighbourhood Resource Group.

*Sponsored Listing

🗞️ In Other News

Rats! We’re No. 7. Pest control company Orkin ranked Canada’s “rattiest” cities. Spoiler Alert: Toronto placed first. [CHEK]

Sidney may lose UK doctor who took wrong English test
The doctor’s permanent residency application was rejected because he took the wrong English test. He’s worried his 1K patients in Sidney will join the other 800K BC residents without a doctor. [Times Colonist]

Still got your pumpkin? If you can’t bear to part with your pumpkin, here’s another reason why you should. [CTV]

Victoria council closing in on banning overnight sheltering in 4 parks
The four are Topaz, Stadacona, Hollywood, and Regatta Point. There are 16 people sheltering there. [CHEK]

New communications tower coming to Mount PKOLS 
The tower—a key part of the CREST regional emergency communication system—is 50 and needs to be replaced. The new one is expected to be erected near the mountain summit parking lot, though likely not at the same spot because of environmental concerns. [Saanich News]

🗓️ Things to do

🎶 Elizabeth Shepherd album launch: Victoria Jazz presents a showcase of the performer’s latest project, Three Things, at Hermann’s tonight at 7pm. [Info]

🧺 Victoria Quilters’ Guild Christmas Sale: Get a head start on holiday shopping today and tomorrow at this sale being held at the Emmanuel Baptist Church. [Info]

🎸 Zappostrophe: The Music of Frank Zappa: See this tribute act honouring the eclectic musician’s lesser-known work. Hermann’s Upstairs today and tomorrow at 9pm. [Info]

👨‍🎨 The Cordova Bay Art Group show and sale: Art in various mediums, including oil, acrylic, watercolour, pastel, and mixed media. Annex adjacent to Cordova Bay Elementary School. Today. 10am-3pm. [Info]

📖 Jean Paetkau, author of Blood on the Breakwater, appears at the Read Locally Book Fair, First Metropolitan Church. Tomorrow. 10am-3pm.

🪦 Pop-up on Death: Students from Camosun’s Anthropology of Death class will hold a pop-up exhibit titled Loving Ancestors and Restless Ghosts. Royal BC Museum. Tomorrow. 1-3pm.

👀 In Case You Missed It

Hear this Sooke fisherman’s account of saving an American man lost at sea for two weeks on a life-raft. [Times Colonist]

Thursday’s headlines: John Horgan has a new job. And a BC Coroners Service panel has an idea to help prevent more overdose deaths. [Newsletter]

Taylor Swift coming to Vancouver: Dec. 6-8, next year. [Georgia Straight]

Woman, 79, deposits car into RBC window in Oak Bay. She’s alright. Car’s not.

That’s it!

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