Good morning!

There’s plenty of buzz around Westshore sports this week, as both the Rebels and Pacific FC played in playoff matches last weekend. With a victory for one, and a loss for the other, the community has come together in support of both teams. Check out each team’s journey and more in today’s edition of the newsletter.

— Emma

NEWS

Amendments to the Police Act don’t impact the Westshore

The provincial government introduced amendments to the Police Act (Bill 36) that make communities of more than 5,000 residents wholly responsible for their own police services. Communities will either have to enter into a Municipal Police Unit Agreement (MPUA) with the RCMP or into an agreement—as Esquimalt and Victoria did in the past—to share the fiscal burden of having a shared municipal police force.

To enjoy the benefits of police services provided by a combined RCMP detachment like the one in the Westshore, each participating municipality must sign an agreement and be financially responsible for their portion of the cost of officers, offices, garages, and jail facilities. Signing the agreement can be costly. The District of Sooke currently dedicates 20% of its operating budget to policing. But for smaller communities like Metchosin, Colwood and View Royal legislators have agreed that sharing the burden is worth it, at least for now.

Colwood and View Royal councils both voted, earlier this year, to fund plans for a new West Shore RCMP detachment building estimated to cost $82.4M. The West Shore RCMP detachment located in Langford, provides policing service to the City of Langford, City of Colwood, Town of View Royal, District of Metchosin, District of Highlands, Songhees First Nation and Esquimalt First Nation.

Head to the Westshore to read more about how these amendments could impact local municipalities in the future.

SPORTS

Westshore Rebels advance to finals as PFC end their playoff run

The Westshore Rebels have had a phenomenal season this year, as they continued their winning streak this past weekend. With a 10-0 record in the regular season, the Canadian Junior Football team went on to compete against the Langley Rams in the Oct. 21 semifinals game.

The Rebels fought hard and went on to win 40 to 14 against the Rams, keeping them at the top of the British Columbia Football Conference (BCFC)with their perfect record of 11 wins; the team has also accumulated the most points throughout the entire league.

The team will take on the Okanagan Sun on Oct. 28 at Starlight Stadium for the BCFC Cullen Cup Final, which will determine the host for the Canadian Bowl on Nov. 11.

An up-and-down season for Pacific FC as they finish in Calgary

Despite the Rebels victory, Westshore sports fans were disheartened to see the Langford-based Pacific FC lose in Calgary on Saturday, ending what could have been the most impressive playoff run in the Canadian Premier League’s short history. A late-season swoon dropped Pacific to the 4th seed, meaning that under the new playoff format it would need to beat all four other playoff teams to win the crown.

PFC got halfway there, knocking off York FC and the Halifax Wanderers. But longtime rival Cavalry FC prevailed on Saturday, winning 1-2 in a reversal of the 2021 semifinal that PFC won on the way to its first and only title.

After starting the season on top, dropping off in the final months, and then rallying in the playoffs, PFC ends up third overall—still a consistently good team, but still not yet on the level of its biggest rival, the four-time champ Forge FC. Not making the finals also cost PFC a spot in the international CONCACAF tournament next year.

The season on the field is over, but there’s still one more chance at glory: for the second straight year, Manny Aparicio is nominated for Player of the Year—the winner will be announced this Thursday.

Around the 'Shore

🚚 Rollover sends truck driver to hospital, closes Langford roundabout
The truck, carrying tree stumps, jackknifed in the roundabout near Centre Mountain Lellum Middle School at approximately 11am, closing it until 1:30pm. The driver is expected to be OK. [CHEK]

🚢 Southern Vancouver Island communities push Transportation Canada for tanker ban: Local councils in Metchosin and Sooke are joining a lobby to ban tankers after raising concerns of spill management in the colder months; while this ban will not stop the ships’ journeys completely, it will prevent them from unnecessary travel. In addition, the cities are looking for provincial aid in spill response equipment, safety gear, shoreline response strategies, and community evacuation plans. [Vancouver Island Free Daily]

🚧 Traffic due to construction expected to cause delays in Esquimalt: Drivers in Esquimalt should plan ahead this week, as the city will see construction underway from Oct. 23-27 between Craigflower Road and the Gorge Bridge. Single-lane alternating traffic is expected to cause delays between the hours of 9am to 3pm throughout the week. [CHEK]

🚔 A Greater Victoria man sentenced to a year in jail after an incident with a social worker: A man from Greater Victoria is facing jail time after an incident on May 3 when he, who cannot be identified because of his child’s involvement with the ministry, threatened social workers and smashed through two locked glass doors with a sledgehammer at the Aboriginal Child and Family Services Office on Esquimalt Road. The judge deemed the act was the culmination of the man’s own history and the intrusion of the ministry in his parenting arrangement; he pleaded guilty on multiple counts. [Times Colonist]

Community Events

🍫 Chocolate Day Event: Calling all chocolate lovers. Make sure to get tickets for the special chocolate workshop hosted by Julie’s Delights Chocolates on Oct. 28. Starting at 1:30pm at the Langford Station, the event celebrates National Chocolate Day and will feature a host of “advent chocolate flavours.”

🏈 Westshore Rebels BCFC finals: Watch the Westshore Rebels take on the Okanagan Sun on Oct. 28 at Starlight Stadium for the BCFC Cullen Cup Final. Starting at 3pm, the final will determine the host team for the Canadian Bowl on Nov. 11.

🎼 Sooke Philharmonic Show: On Oct. 29 from 2:30-4:30pm, join the Sooke Philharmonic for their first concert of the 2023-2024 season at the Sooke Community Hall. With Yariv Aloni conducting, the night’s soloist is 2023 Don Chrysler Concerto Competition winner Patrick Cao, an accomplished eighth grade student who will be performing Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in D minor. Tickets for the show, New Beginnings, can be found online.

What’s Offshore?

🚢 The Dietrich Oldendorff is a bulk carrier built in 2020 and is sailing under the flag of Liberia. It is sailing from Hong Kong 🇭🇰 ➡ Vancouver 🇨🇦 and was scheduled to arrive Oct. 11.

Westshore Snaps

Oct. 9 sunrise at Albert Head Lagoon. —Karleen Phillips, Latoria Walk

That’s it!

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