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- March 1 - National pharmacare kicks in today
March 1 - National pharmacare kicks in today
Victoria's shipping container village is being shipped out
Capital Daily Team
March 01, 2026
Good morning !
Tiny Town—that shipping container village nestled between Royal Athletic Park and Quadra—is being dismantled.
Caledonia Place, as it’s also known, was used as a temporary transition community, and roughly 150 people found it to be a useful springboard to permanent housing.
The City of Victoria extended temporary land-use permits three times, which is all it could legally do. The mayor sent letters all over the CRD asking for someone to adopt the project, but there were no takers.
The 30 shipping containers will be disassembled this week and shipped off to New Westminster, where they will be reassembled into another temporary community.
More here from CTV.
I’d like to snag this space in the newsletter to send a heartfelt shout-out to one of our dear readers. Patricia P. is celebrating a milestone birthday today.
Happy Birthday, Patricia P.!
— Mark
Today’s approx. read time: 6 minutes
🌡️ Weather Forecast
NEWS
Diabetes and menopause medications now free as BC joins the national pharmacare plan
Photo illustration: Shutterstock
What that means is as of today, more than half a million BC residents living with diabetes (Types 1 and 2) and approximately 160K people with menopausal symptoms won’t have to pay for those prescriptions.
Provincial Health Minister Josie Osborne calls it a “game changer."
Saanich’s Teale Phelps Bondaroff, who has been advocating for this, among other health issues, is commending the BC and federal governments “for following through on their commitment to implement the PharmaCare Act and eliminate out-of-pocket costs for these life-saving and life-changing medications."
In 2017, Phelps Bondaroff, a Saanich councillor, co-founded the AccessBC Campaign for free prescription contraception for all residents, which became a reality in April 2023.
“The successful uptake of BC’s groundbreaking free prescription contraception program has already demonstrated the transformative impact of removing financial barriers to basic health care,” Phelps Bondaroff said.
“We will be celebrating here in BC, while urging the federal government to ensure that people across Canada receive the same level of universal access.”
Also known as Plan NP, the policy—which is called PharmaCare with a capital C in BC—is being slowly rolled out one province and territory at a time.
Manitoba was the first to sign on, followed by PEI and Yukon. The remaining provinces and territories are at various stages of looking into the program.
Last year, the province and the feds signed a four-year agreement to implement the Pharmacare program here, with $670M in support from Ottawa.
Beginning today, BC residents get full coverage of the cost for eligible diabetes and menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) medications. Some additional medications will be partially covered.
Coverage for selected diabetes-related devices and supplies will also be extended beginning April 1, Phelps Bondaroff said.
The plan covers “first-line” treatments such as insulin and metformin, but Ozempic—a diabetes medication frequently prescribed for weight loss—and its generic forms do not fall under the plan. They are covered under BC’s Fair PharmaCare plan and subject to deductibles.
BC’s free contraceptives remain free under national pharmacare.
See what’s covered here.
⚠️ Capital Bulletin
E&N Trail will be closed tomorrow between Admirals and Stancombe Pl., 9am-3pm. [CRD]
Saanich road closures:
Cedar Hill between Churchill and Ash, tomorrow through Thursday
Reynolds at Cedar Hill Cross, through Tuesday, 9am-3pm
Kremlin between Broadmead and Kisber, through Friday, overnight 4pm-8am
Kisber at Kremlin, through Friday, all day
Saanich single-lane alternating traffic:
Reynolds between Cedar Hill Cross and Cumberland, through Wednesday, 8:30am-3:30pm
Admirals between Cowper and Arundel, Wednesday through Friday, 9am-3:30pm
Saanich single-lane traffic: 3925 Quadra near Union, Tuesday, 9am-3pm
Cook closed tomorrow between Dallas and Woodstock. 7am-3:30pm. [City of Vic]
Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google.
