Hello there!

After a pivot to Victoria that appeared to leave Langford scrambling, it looks like the Canadian Football League will visit the Westshore after all. Also visiting the region: Plenty of storms, which caused a record-setting number of outages in BC last year.

— Cam

NEWS

Langford will host BC Lions for preseason CFL game

Following Victoria's BC Lions vs. Ottawa Redblacks game last year, Langford will host an exhibition game between the Lions and Calgary Stampeders on Victoria Day. The May 19 event will also feature music, food trucks, and kids' activities.

Last year's Touchdown Pacific regular-season event won't return this year, but the region still scored a door prize with this preseason booking in the Westshore. It’ll be held on the holiday Monday at 1pm in Starlight Stadium, which is listed as able to hold 6,000. That total includes standing room, not just the fixed seats.

Announcement sets right a past slight

Langford had expressed shock in late 2023 when Victoria was granted the 2024 Touchdown Pacific game. The city said on Facebook that it had been in discussions with the CFL and Lions since 2022 about hosting the game. The fact that the Lions owner grew up in Victoria / Oak Bay may have tipped the scale, the Times Colonist speculated at the time. Amar Doman told them that bringing his team to his home city was “a dream come true.”

Another factor was seating capacity. Starlight Stadium has lower capacity than Royal Athletic, but Langford had paid $4M+ to remove a pole that was blocking the expansion of seating. Pacific FC's original agreement with the city came with the expectation that an upgrade to 10,000 capacity would come eventually.

Stadium expansion up for referendum

When Pacific FC declined to exercise its 5-year contract renewal option, the seating issue again came up. Due to the high cost of expanding ($10-15M, based on proposals in 2022), council chose to approve $50K for design work but ultimately take the decision to a future referendum. Pacific FC signed a 1-year extension last April.

The stadium has hosted a number of international soccer and rugby games, ranging from Team Canada exhibitions and Olympic qualifiers to, just last week, a CONCACAF international-tourney match (more on that below).

Last year's Vic event drew 14,000 fans

Victoria ended up adding extra temporary seating to Royal Athletic to fit the Lions' share of local CFL fans. That Labour Day crowd saw the Lions win easily, 38-12, behind 300+ yards from Victoria-born star quarterback Nathan Rourke.

Destination Greater Victoria estimated the economic spinoff to the region at $16M. The City of Victoria spent a reported $141K more than it had budgeted, but some of that was in purchasing equipment and amenities that can be reused. Royal Athletic, it appears, won't get the chance to get in that extra use this year.

Tickets for the Langford game go on sale March 11 through Ticketmaster.

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NEWS

Storms that hit Westshore last fall were among decade's worst: BC Hydro

The province had its most power outages ever last year, BC Hydro says. Approx. 1.4M of its customers lost power last year due to weather—the highest in its history and part of a broader five-year trend of increasing storms and outages.

Much of last year's total—about a million—came from Nov. and Dec. storms that the utility provider says were among the top 5 largest of the decades.

The late-year storms included those on election weekend (which caused fatal flooding past Sooke); the “bomb cyclone” system in Nov.; and Dec. windstorms. Even back in Jan. 2024, what was mostly a mild winter still featured a windstorm that sent trees into multiple Westshore homes. 

During the bomb cyclone, some 55K Westshore customers were without power around Metchosin, Colwood, and Langford when the bomb cyclone rolled in on a Tuesday; that improved to 39K by 3am that night. BC Hydro says it has made strides in shortening how long people wait to have power restored, which has offset the rising frequency of outages.

Overall Sooke and the communities further up the western coastline have been particularly affected by this rise in extreme weather, and the district has been looking at ways to try to address this fallout. 

The BC Hydro report also cited years of drought as a reason why so much vegetation is coming down when storms do hit. 

BC Hydro says it has managed to offset this rise by making its response times faster. It specifically cited restoring power to 315K out of 320K affected customers within 24 hours after a Dec. 2024 storm.

Around the 'Shore

⏳ View Royal 2050 survey is open online until the end of Sunday.

⚽️ Calgary soccer team makes history in Langford: Pacific FC rival Cavalry FC—playing “home games” here because Calgary in February is not exactly soccer-friendly—beat Pumas UNAM last Thurs. That makes it the first Canadian Premier League team to defeat a top-level Mexican club in the annual CONCACAF international tournament. [CBC]

🚍 Strike is underway in Cowichan transit system; local bus routes & Victoria/Westshore connectors cancelled. [CHEK]

🚨 Sooke raid yielded 3.5kg of meth, fentanyl, and cocaine, RCMP claim. The Jan. 30 raid on properties at Kemp Lake Road & Walse Road led to arrests of a man, 53, and woman, 33. 

🐛 “Evil-looking worms” are spawning at Macaulay Point: A UVic prof says that the breeding cycles of polychaetes (giant pile worms) aren't fully understood, but that the creatures come up in a swarm to increase the odds of fertilization. That's why a dog-walker saw hundreds, many dead, on the park beach. [VicNews]

🦝 Wild ARC practicum applications have opened: The hands-on wildlife rehab program in Metchosin runs April-Oct. every year and offers college or certificate credit. [Info via SPCA]

🗞 Last week's news: Langford budget, snow photos, Camosun classes, EV chargers. [Thursday]

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Community Events

🎓 Royal Roads info sessions for prospective students—including those interested in the new Langford programs announced yesterday—are this week. 

🎂 Cake Decoration Workshop: Join this fun and creative evening, learning new decorating techniques at Flourish BeauTea in Langford tonight. 6:15pm. [Info]

📚 Sooke Library events schedule this week.

📖 Juan de Fuca Library winter schedule: Baby Time & Family Storytime are both on Wednesdays.

🤗 Family Day long weekend events in Langford. [Details]

What’s Offshore?

🚢  No vessels off Colwood coast or in outer harbour.

Westshore Snaps: Love birds

A peck on the cheek (literally): Esquimalt Lagoon rock pigeon gives its Valentine a kiss. Photo: Glenys Pumfrey

“Common Goldeneye flirting with the females. That time of the year!” – Gary Woodburn

If you have any of your own photos of cute bird pairs or funny mating rituals, send them in and we may include them in the pre-Valentine's newsletter on Thurs.

❄ “Is this Narnia?” The snowy landscapes around Port Renfrew. [Photographer TJ Watt]

🌄 A magical sunset over Witty's Lagoon. [Doug Clement photo]

This week, send us your photos and stories related to the places you believe are the most romantic spots in the Westshore. [email protected]

That’s it!

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