Pair of Island businesses sold to Ontario-based company

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ISLAND BRIEFS

Darlene Bernard has been elected to serve another three-year term as chief of Lennox Island First Nation. Bernard has served as chief between 2001-2013, and most recently since 2019.
PEI's Patient Registry will soon grow by over 5,000 people when three family physicians in Charlottetown leave their practices over the coming weeks. There are 23,669 Islanders waiting for a family doctor.
Islanders can reunite with the much-loved owl from Rainbow Valley this summer at Confederation Centre Art Gallery. The iconic owl is part of an exhibit looking at 150 years of tourism on PEI.

QUICK HITS

Transportation: Construction of a roundabout at the Vogue Optical intersection in Sherwood reached a new milestone Monday after council voted to award a $5.75M tender to Island Coastal Services. Council also instructed city staff to make all efforts to incorporate active transportation into the design as a change order. Bike Friendly Communities raised concerns that the roundabout, which has been in the planning stage since 2008 (yes, 14 years) would be unsafe for cyclists.

Vehicle Sales: Despite empty showrooms and long wait lists, the sale of new motor vehicles remains strong on PEI when compared to pre-pandemic sales. A total of 2,121 new vehicles were purchased between January and April of this year. Over the same period in 2019 there were 2,301 vehicles purchased, which works out to be a difference of -7.8 per cent. Worth noting, 81 per cent of new vehicle sales between January and April of this year are classified as trucks; that figure is up from 40 per cent over the same period in 2019.

Windfall Tax: PEI Green Party Leader Peter Bevan-Baker is calling on Ottawa to address the growing cost of living crisis by introducing a "windfall tax" to redistribute record profits being earned by oil and gas companies to Canadians struggling to afford basic needs. For example, Imperial Oil had its best opening quarter in 30 years as it posted profits of $1.17-billion.

Family Business: The family of the late Harry James have decided to carry on with his appliance repair business. James, who was known by many Islanders for his elaborate Christmas displays, past away last month at the age of 81. James ran his appliance repair business since 1966.

BY THE NUMBERS

🪦 44: A review of death certificates has resulted in an updated number of deaths on PEI where COVID-19 was listed as an underlying condition. As a result of this review, 13 additional deaths were added to the total, and five were removed. PEI has lost 44 of its community members to the pandemic.

😁🆙 59.7%: After Newfoundland and Labrador, Islanders are reporting the highest life satisfaction in the country, at 59.7 per cent, a Statistics Canada survey shows. The national average for this survey stood at 51.7 per cent. The survey reflects Canadians' attitudes during the first quarter of 2022.

🌊 54%: A University of Windsor undergrad student says warning signs do not go far enough to protect swimmers from rip currents. Summer Locknick surveyed 500 beachgoers at Cavendish Beach in 2019 to find out how aware people are of rip currents. Just over half those surveyed could properly define a rip current, even less recalled seeing warning signs.

#IslandEdition

Charlottetown is blooming 🌻

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WHAT'S GOING ON?

WEDNESDAY

🎵Richie Bulger & Brian Langille @ Olde Dublin Pub / 7 :00PM

🎬A Small Fortune @ City Cinema / 7:00PM: When a desperate man finds a bag of lost money off the shores of Prince Edward Island, his decision to keep it turns his quaint fishing village into a growing crime scene. Buy tickets | Watch Trailer

🎵Justyn Thyme @ Craft Beer Corner / 8:00PM

🎵Dave Woodside @ The Gahan House / 9:00PM