Weekend weather & what’s happening 🌦️

IN THIS ISSUE

➡️ Addressing the elephant in the chamber

➡️ New department store opens today

➡️ Photo: Island Bliss

QUICK HITS

🛠️ Tradespeople without borders: Some flexibility is coming for regulated tradespeople who want to take on work in other parts of Atlantic Canada and for those who want to work on the Island. The four Atlantic provinces have agreed to enable tradespeople to work throughout the region as efficiently and effectively as possible. An order in council from May 30 authorized Premier Dennis King and Housing Minister Rob Lantz to enter into an agreement with our neighbouring provinces to harmonize the technical safety requirements within Atlantic Canada to make this change possible. The order comes into effect next month.

🏒 Simmons is all tendered: The last tender package to complete work on the replacement of Simmons Sports Centre was approved by city council on Monday. A bid worth $12.5M was awarded to FitzGerald and Snow to complete all of the interior and exterior finishes, mechanical work, building utilities, and landscaping. The total cost to replace the arena, originally budgeted at $25.5M, is now expected to come in around $31M. The arena is scheduled to open next spring, quickly followed by the demolition of the original arena.

🥊 Rumble in the chamber: Charlottetown councillor Norman Beck took an opportunity during council’s regular monthly meeting on Monday to address the elephant in the chamber – a pattern of behaviors from some members more fit for a circus than city hall (my words, not his). Beck said he has grown concerned during his six months on council with the decorum among some members and encouraged all councillors to be respectful when conducting business. It wasn’t referenced specifically, but Beck’s comments Monday follow a heated tiff between Mayor Philip Brown and councillor Mitch Tweel (video) during a public works committee meeting last week. The two got into an awkward exchange over a transportation plan for West Royalty, briefly ignoring the chairperson’s orders for them to stop. Neither Brown nor Tweel acknowledged Beck’s comments with an apology.

📝 I should mention that Monday's council meeting was one of the most productive I've watched in recent memory. Councillors remained respectful and on topic as they passed over 20 resolutions. 

BUSINESS BUZZ

💖 Have a Little Hart: Depending on the crowds, you may want to bypass opening day for this one. Hart Stores opens its doors in Charlottetown today at Belvedere Plaza (former location of The Brick). Hart is a chain of family-owned department stores that the owners say is a leading destination when it comes to shopping for home and apparel products.

🐶 New Pet Store: Ren’s Pets will make its Island debut next month when the company opens its doors in Charlottetown. The store will be located at 121 Sandstone Road, the former Payless Shoes location near Wal-Mart. This may be news to you, but the company has openly discussed its plan to open a Charlottetown location for the better part of a year and has recently started advertising its July 26 grand opening date on social media.

🎮 Game Devs Launch New Title: A Charlottetown game development studio launched a new web-based game this week. Second Monitor Games, a sub-brand under Iron Fox Games, began developing smaller titles back in December meant to occupy your second monitor while you should probably be doing something else, like writing a newsletter. Their first title under this label, PvPz, is an extraction-type shooter where the objective is to loot items then escape without losing them. I don’t entirely get it, but it’s a cool achievement for the team at Iron Fox.

Have a tip or hear a rumour of a business opening or closing? Drop me a line, I’ll look into it.

CORRECTION

📝 I incorrectly stated last week that OmbudsPEI made four recommendations for Charlottetown council to follow when going into a closed session. In reality, the recommendations were prepared by city administration as a resolution to the ombudsperson’s investigation. An update on this matter: city council approved the recommendations during their monthly meeting on Monday.

Find last week's issue, Closed-door meetings draw attention from OmbudsPEI, for context to this correction and to read the recommendations.

📢 SHOUT-OUTS 

🩸 To 90-year-old Ewen Stewart who turned off the tap Tuesday after more than 70 years of regularly donating blood. You may recall hearing about Ewen back in 2019 when he became the first person on PEI to give more than 1,000 blood donations. He gave a total of 1,162 donations.

🧑‍⚕️ To the 2023 Family Physician of the Year award recipients Dr. Randy MacKinnon, Dr. Nicole Green, and Dr. Padraig Casey. This shoutout extends to all health care workers who are sticking it out and playing from the rough during these challenging times. Remember to take care of yourselves.

📝 This is National Blood Donor Week in Canada. If you’d like to pick up where Ewen Stewart left off, head over to the Canadian Blood Service’s website to quickly book an appointment to give. At the time of writing, there were more than 80 appointments open for the rest of June.

ISLAND LINKS

🔉 Podcasts for seniors: Charlottetown has produced a limited podcast series for seniors ranging in topics from nutrition to services offered by the seniors navigator program. You can find the series by searching your favourite podcast app for Charlottetown podcasts for seniors or by playing this Youtube playlist.

🤔 Charlottetown community survey: The 2023 Charlottetown community survey is now live on the Charlottetown Hall public engagement portal. The survey will be available to residents until Sunday, June 25. Results will help to inform decisions and priorities including long-term planning, budgeting, and improvements to programs and services. The survey should take 5 to 10 minutes to complete.

Have a useful link to share? Drop me a message so I can pass it along.

#PEIslandEdition

Island Bliss 🥔

Does this not remind you of Windows Bliss, the desktop background picture we all stared at during the Windows XP era? Victor Jung Karki shared this stunning image to his Instagram profile a few days ago, a great compliment to his many PEI photos. Check out his work, you won’t be disappointed.

Tag @PEIslandEdition or use #PEIslandEdition to get your post featured in Island Edition!

COMMUNITY CORNER

🚲 Residents are invited to view a presentation of Stratford’s draft active transportation plan this Thursday, June 15, at 6:30PM at 234 Shakespeare Drive (Southport Room). An opportunity for questions and discussion will follow the presentation.

👥 Two free seniors sessions worth noting this week: 1️⃣ Canadian Mental Health Association will host well-being 101 this Thursday, June 15, from 1 to 3PM at Hillsborough Park Community Centre (199 Patterson Dr). 2️⃣ Then on Saturday, June 17, Retired RCMP Sgt. John Mecher will host a community fraud awareness workshop at Central Christian Church (223 Kent Street) from 2 to 4PM. This will be an opportunity to become fraud aware to help protect your friends and family members who might be at risk. To learn more or either session, call 902-368-1025 or visit http://charlottetown.ca/seniors

🚒 Cross Roads Fire Department will hold its annual general meeting on Monday, June 19 at 7:00PM. Residents of the fire district are invited to attend at 4 Georgetown Road in Stratford. There will be an opportunity for public input and questions. More information can be found on this Facebook event listing.

Send a quick message if your organization would like to publish a PSA. There's no charge for these. Max three per-issue.

WEATHER

Wednesday

🌦️ H 18°C 🌡️ L 12°C 
💨 SE 20 km/h, gusting 40

Thursday

🌦️ H 18°C 🌡️ L 14°C
💨 SE 19 km/h, gusting 27

Looking Ahead

👀 Roll up your windows, there's a risk of a thundershower Wednesday afternoon and evening. Chance of showers Thursday with sunny breaks. Friday looks decent, but that could change.

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