Feb 16 - The best Chinese food in Victoria

Good morning !

Today we feature some of the region's most delicious dishes, but first we have a Sunday follow-up on this past week's story about funding to charge ships up at Ogden Point. There have been a few announcements in recent years about the shore power project—so today we break down some of the hurdles it still has to clear.

The city is also experiencing a few hurdles when it comes to keeping its cold-weather warming centres open, staffed, and funded. More on that in the Insider edition.

— Cam

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Today’s approx. read time: 4 / 7 minutes

🌡️ Weather Forecast

Today: 🌧 7 / 4

Tomorrow: 🌧 8 / 3

Tuesday: 🌧 8 / 5

NEWS

Victoria's shore power project still has challenges left to navigate

Earlier this month the federal government supplied $22.5M to help allow ships to access on-shore power (OSP) at the docking berths at Ogden Point. OSP allows ships to plug into the electrical grid while docked, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, noise, and air pollution. This long-awaited initiative aligns with the environmental goals of the city and the cruise industry's push to reduce its carbon footprint.

But it may still be years yet before the project comes online. Despite the federal help last week, securing any additional support from other levels of government may be an uphill sail. Just this month, the BC government announced a $9B deficit and cost-saving measures, while Victoria adopted a major capital project in Crystal Pool.

The Greater Victoria Harbour Authority (GVHA) will need to cover part of the project’s costs, though we don't yet have details on the exact cost-sharing agreement with the city. The GVHA also draws money from the cruise lines that use Ogden. When COVID shut down the industry, the GVHA wasn't able to power ahead with shore power despite the construction-friendly lull—it had no revenue.

Power supply is another concern, as the local electrical grid may be challenged to meet the increased demand from electrified terminals.

The good news is that several of the cruise lines such as Disney and Norwegian that frequently visit Victoria already have the capacity to use shore power in other ports. 

While some funding and infrastructure hurdles remain, the success of this project could position Victoria as a leader in sustainable cruise tourism on the West Coast.

Read more about how other places use shore power, and what it will take to get Victoria's chargers online, at Capital Daily.

⚠️ Capital Bulletin

Rain expected all week with temperatures mostly in mid-single-digits.

Stolen Sisters Memorial March is today, beginning 11:45am at Centennial & moving to Legislature. 16th annual event honours missing & murdered Indigenous women, girls, & 2SLGBTQ+ people. [Info]

Last day of Victoria Film Festival [Schedule]

FOOD

The best Chinese food in Victoria

Lunar New Year was celebrated locally last weekend in Canada's oldest Chinatown. This weekend, we have a roundup of the best Chinese restaurants in the region, both in and out of Chinatown itself. 

Featuring some of the best in Sichuan / Szechuan, Cantonese, Hunan, and other regional cuisines, these restaurants offer pretty much any classic Chinese dish you can name: noodles, wontons, fried rice, steamed rice, chow mein, ginger tofu, spicy shrimp, sweet & sour, and much much more.

All of these restaurants are delicious, but to see which ones readers like you voted as the best, read the final rankings at Tasting Victoria.

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