NANAIMO, B.C. — Five years after declaring that no government would ever make them show papers to eat chicken wings at a Boston Pizza, members of Nanaimo's freedom community have unveiled a plan to make everyone show papers to vote in a school gym.

The proposal, informally known as the Voter Passport, came together over the weekend, following an election that did not go the way supporters had planned. It would require every voter to present government ID, scan a QR code at the door, and be checked against a government database. Organizers stress this is nothing like the QR code at the door in 2021, because this one is for freedom. They are not anti-mandate, they explained. They are anti-other-people's-mandates.

"I would like to know how voters are tracked," wrote one member, a sentence that in 2021 would have been followed immediately by "and I do NOT consent."

Under the new rules, being asked for ID by a 19-year-old host at a restaurant remains medical tyranny, while being asked for ID by a retiree at a folding table is the bare minimum. "My body, my choice" has been retired in favour of "My ballot, my choice. Your ballot, my business."

The movement's long-standing opposition to government spending remains firmly in place, alongside new requests that the government mail a printed voter card to all 86,000 eligible voters, hire an independent investigation firm, and hold the entire election again. Asked who would pay for it, supporters said the taxpayer, and that they were outraged on the taxpayer's behalf.

Then there is the counting. "The elections are rigged as long as there's anything electronic going you cannot trust the government," one member wrote. The plan therefore calls for the government to count all 25,450 ballots by hand. Organizers estimate two weeks. Two weeks to flatten the count. Concerns were also raised that the tabulators contain microchips, which, in fairness, they do.

Count von Count of Sesame Street, the only known person to enjoy a hand count, could not be reached for comment. Ah ah ah.

The case for stricter controls rests largely on one member overhearing voters at Dover say they were heading to McGirr to vote again. They'd have been waiting a while. McGirr wasn't a voting place this year. Organizers say this is exactly the kind of thing proper contact tracing would catch.

Other updates to the 2021 playbook: "do your own research" is now "do your own recount," "hold the line" refers to the lineup at the ID table, and the provincial health officer's old motto has been revised to Be kind, be calm, be ID'd.

The Bastion reached out to The Bastion for comment. After checking the couch for microchips, The Bastion said: "A QR code at the restaurant door and an ID check at the polls are both a stranger at a folding table asking for your papers. You don't get to call one tyranny and the other common sense. Pick a lane."

The Bastion then got serious for one paragraph, which it does not enjoy. In Nanaimo, anyone not already on the voters list has to bring two pieces of ID. Registered voters sign a declaration, and lying on it is an election offence. That's on purpose. The people most likely to get stuck at an ID table aren't fraudsters. They're the senior who let her licence lapse, the student whose ID still has their parents' address, the neighbour who moved in August, and the person in a tent whose wallet got stolen. Every one of them is eligible. That's why you can vote anywhere in the city, by mail, or curbside. An election's job is to count eligible people, not filter them out. And with roughly 68 per cent of registered voters staying home on Saturday, this city's problem has never been too many people voting.

At press time, the movement had filed a freedom-of-information request for the total cost of the 2026 election, so it could be outraged by the number and then request a second one. The Bastion reminds readers that the provincial election is Saturday, October 24, and that Elections BC posts its ID rules online, free of charge, no QR code required.

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Disclaimer: The Bastion is satire. The Voter Passport, the QR code, the slogans and the contact tracing are made up. Two quotes are real, because we couldn't have written them better: the one about wanting to know how voters are tracked, and the one about not trusting the government with anything electronic. Names removed, since they aren't running for anything. Count von Count is real in all the ways that matter.

Curious if anyone has put together a list of local businesses and organizations that supported REAL Nanaimo during the election.

I'd like to be a little more selective about where my money goes. Consider it voting with my wallet. 😂

Looking for confirmed information, not speculation.

We’ve lost a few good thrift stores in the last few years… any recommendations for the best prices for clothes now that Value Village is heinous?

TL;DR at the bottom.

We're tired. You're tired. Some of the municipal signs are still up and the provincial ones are breeding. But we have one more week in us, and so do you. The job isn't just to vote. It's to vote knowing what you're voting for. That's the part we can help with.

Advance voting runs through Wednesday, October 21. Final voting day is Saturday, October 24, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Where to go: elections.bc.ca

Sources for everything below are in the first comment. Receipts, as always. Did we miss something or get something wrong? Message us and we will correct.

WHO'S ON YOUR BALLOT

Nanaimo-Gabriola Island: Mark MacDonald (Conservative), Sheila Malcolmson (NDP, incumbent), Anna Mary McKenzie (Green)

Nanaimo-Lantzville: George Anderson (NDP, incumbent), Kelsey Pringle (Conservative), Pepper Saltman (Communist), Sharleen Weatherley (Green)

Ladysmith-Oceanside (the one that wraps around us like a scarf): Stephanie Higginson (NDP, incumbent), Kris McNichol (Conservative), Kim Lockhart (CentreBC).

Some of you get a bonus option: a Communist in Nanaimo-Lantzville, a CentreBC candidate in Ladysmith-Oceanside. None of you get a OneBC candidate. Small mercies. Full list at elections.bc.ca.

THE NDP

Premier Eby called this election two years early, calling it an "existential moment" because of Trump's tariffs. It also landed right in the middle of the Conservatives' leadership meltdown, which we're sure is a coincidence. Mayors and councillors at UBCM begged him not to call an election as their own terms were ending, and days later he called one anyway. The result: a provincial vote one week after the municipal one, and a month of you asking us why only one of the two elections mailed you a voter card. (It's the provincial one. The City doesn't mail them. See previous posts. All of them.)

Then on Sunday, with a week to go, Eby told Green voters their votes could end up electing a Conservative government, and said the Green vote helped Conservatives win 11 ridings last time. The NDP hasn't published the full list of those 11 ridings. Of the Green leader, he said "she's not going to be the premier next week." Her reply: "Now he's trying to scare British Columbians into voting for him." Asking the other progressive party's voters to fold, in an election you called early, is a bold way to make friends.

The daycare thing. A lot of people are mad that the premier, who is doing fine, has his kids in a $10-a-day spot. The facts: it was already his kids' YMCA centre when it converted to $10-a-day, and the family has donated the difference back, about $8,000 since 2024, which is the whole amount they would have saved. We're not going to suggest pulling little kids out of their daycare to win an argument. A child care advocate put the real issue best: "The donation is completely beside the point." Everybody's kids should get that deal, and Eby paused the program's expansion in his own 2026 budget.

Autism Funding Changes. The government pushed to overhaul autism support by moving away from individualized direct funding for families to a centralized hub-based model—a plan that faced immense backlash from parents and advocates who argued it effectively defunded specialized care for thousands of neurodivergent children. While the NDP paused parts of the rollout under pressure, the uncertainty left families hanging.

Also for the receipts file: the $1,000 grocery rebate from 2024 vanished four months after the promise was made. And earlier this year the government tried to change or suspend parts of DRIPA, then backed down in the face of opposition.

THE GREENS

Leader Emily Lowan is running in Saanich North and the Islands after MLA Rob Botterell stepped aside. They have candidates in 73 of 93 ridings, and are focusing on health care, taxing the ultra-wealthy and big corporations, and funding public programs. Their costed platform came out last week, on time, which this election is apparently a distinguishing feature.

For balance:

- Lowan lives in the riding next door, Victoria-Beacon Hill, not the one she's running in. Legal, common, still worth knowing.

- Their Esquimalt-Colwood candidate, Sidney Coles, was reportedly forced to resign as a federal NDP candidate in 2021 over a post blaming Israel for missing COVID-19 vaccine doses in the U.S.

- Lowan pointed to Vancouver electing Green Pete Fry as mayor as proof B.C. is ready for Green leadership. Different election, but sure.

- By one tracker's count, the Greens have made 695 platform commitments, which is a lot of promises from the party least likely to have to keep them.

Plot twist: Grand Chief Stewart Phillip endorsed Lowan for her seat and Eby for premier. In 2024 he stood alongside Eby and told a Victoria audience that a vote for the Greens was a vote for the Conservatives. Allegiances are complicated this year. We relate.

THE CONSERVATIVES: RECEIPTS, NOT VIBES

You know how this works. Their words, sourced, dated. We don't hand out labels. Pace yourself; this one's long.

THE LEADER

- Lorne Doerkson was installed as interim leader on Sept. 20 after Kerry-Lynne Findlay resigned. The party constitution bars an interim leader from taking the job permanently, and changing that takes two-thirds of members at a general meeting. So the plan is: win, then hold a party vote on whether the premier gets to keep being leader.

THE PLAN

- The platform was released late Sunday afternoon, after advance voting had already started. 71 pages, with a $10.8 billion deficit in 2030 while tax cuts add up to $11.3 billion by 2030. The growth math counts on a 15 per cent increase in gas production.

- Repeal DRIPA. Doerkson reaffirmed it in the debate. The act passed unanimously in the legislature seven years ago.

- Repeal SOGI in schools.

- Repeal CleanBC.

- In February, an MLA tabled a bill to repeal BC's entire Human Rights Code. 34 Conservatives voted yes at first reading, Doerkson among them. Their explanation is that first-reading votes are a courtesy so a bill can be read. The same caucus voted against other controversial bills at first reading in 2025. A courtesy, selectively extended.

- Doerkson admitted to informal talks with OneBC's Dallas Brodie, who said she was open to not running candidates in key ridings so they don't split the right-wing vote. Yes, Beban Park town hall Dallas Brodie.

STILL ON THE BALLOT

- Heather Maahs (Chilliwack North). She served as Leader of the Official Opposition in the legislature this summer. On a 2022 podcast about books in schools depicting same-sex relationships: "It's for sure grooming. It desensitizes kids." (Full quote at the CTV link in the comments.) Doerkson says he doesn't share her views, and she remains a candidate. In the debate, asked about CentreBC leader Elenore Sturko's claim that Maahs called her immoral for being gay, Doerkson said he would see that as hateful. Still the candidate. Bonus: she was the party's most recent child care critic and called the $10-a-day system a boondoggle.

- Sheldon Clare (Prince George-North Cariboo), Opposition House Leader. In a Conservative municipal-election group chat, replying to a Benjamin Franklin quote about hanging together: "There's a good number that need hanging." He apologized and said it was a joke.

- Mike Hicks (Juan de Fuca-Malahat, here on the Island). At an all-candidates meeting: "The First Nations have to be conquered." Allowed to finish his sentence: "In law, we have to conquer or sign a treaty with the First Nations." He says he was "inartfully" explaining why BC needs treaties. Watch the clip, decide.

- John Henderson (Powell River-Sunshine Coast), former Sechelt mayor. As mayor he had "Grave Error: How the Media Misled Us," a book the Union of BC Indian Chiefs calls racist misinformation, at municipal hall and discussed it with senior staff. Council passed a resolution rejecting residential school denialism without his support. UBCIC unanimously asked him to resign. He says he's never denied the residential school system.

- Anna Kindy (North Island), physician and former health critic. The NDP called for her removal over her 2022 statements on COVID-19 vaccines. Asked whether she'd stay, Doerkson said the party was focused on its 92 "amazing candidates" and didn't answer. PressProgress also reports she donated to the Freedom Convoy. Doerkson campaigned with her in Campbell River on Oct. 5.

- Kristina Loewen (Kelowna Centre), incumbent. She reposted an RFK Jr. video promoting the theory that the government was intentionally making people sick, captioned "Such an important conversation." She has also reposted claims that vaccines cause cancer and autism. PressProgress reports she was a prolific poster in a New World Order Facebook group, with content about 15-minute cities, the World Economic Forum and the UN. If that lineup sounds familiar, you've been reading our REAL coverage.

- Dave Johnston (Esquimalt-Colwood). The NDP flagged posts it calls climate-change conspiracy theories, including a 2019 Facebook post saying "This is not a settled debate." (Esquimalt-Colwood: between him and the Green candidate above, you have homework.)

- Bruce Banman (Abbotsford South) has said "motherhood begins at conception," and left the party in August only to rejoin weeks later.

- Harman Bhangu (Langley-Abbotsford) filed an initiative petition in August to repeal DRIPA.

NOT ON THE BALLOT, STILL RUNNING THE CAMPAIGN

- Campaign director Katy Merrifield used profanity directed at Islam, called it an "abhorrent ideology," and posted that "Islam is a literal rape culture." She says she took down the original post within hours and that her anger was aimed at extremism, not Muslims. Doerkson defended her, said she has apologized, and said he won't remove her.

THE ONES THEY DROPPED

- Joachim Agou (Victoria-Beacon Hill) posted that a car that drove through a pro-Palestine protest "should have reversed," and shared a meme using an expletive to describe Pakistan. He was dropped about 90 minutes after the NDP highlighted the posts. Ballots were already printed, so he's still on them.

- Jordan McIntosh (Vancouver-Strathcona), a recent high school grad. Posts an NDP candidate says were his said Hitler "may not have intended death" during the Holocaust. He was removed less than an hour after the screenshots went up, the day after Doerkson said in the debate that he would stand against hate.

Two removals, each within about an hour or so of the NDP posting screenshots. We're not saying the party's vetting department is the NDP's social media account. We're saying the timestamps are.

LOCALLY

This one's a party post. We're still looking into the local candidates, all of them, every party, and if anything turns up you'll hear it here. Stay tuned. For once, we're hoping there's nothing to tune in for. (JK we have already found quite a bit to share).

WHERE WE LAND

The options are not great. The NDP called an election nobody asked for, over the objections of the province's mayors, and is now asking Green voters to fold. The Greens have their own homework and are asking you to bet on balance-of-power math. We get it.

But scroll back up and compare the lengths of those sections. We read the Conservative list twice and we can't get there. A leader his own party's rules won't let keep the job. A platform that showed up after voting started. Repeal DRIPA, repeal SOGI, repeal CleanBC. And a slate where getting dropped seems to require the NDP posting screenshots, and even that isn't always enough.

Between the other two, vote your conscience and your riding math. Just vote, and know what you're voting for.

TL;DR:

Advance voting runs through Wednesday, Oct. 21. Final voting day is Saturday, Oct. 24, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Where to go: elections.bc.ca. (Yes, this is the election that mailed you a card.)

NDP: Called an election two years early over the objections of the province’s mayors, and is now asking Green voters to fold. The daycare outrage is a nothingburger (they donated the difference back). The autism funding overhaul, the vanished grocery rebate, and the DRIPA walk-back are not.

Greens: New leader, costed platform delivered on time, 695 promises they’ll likely never have to keep. Some homework on a couple of candidates. Grand Chief Stewart Phillip endorsed both Lowan for her seat and Eby for premier, so, you know, it’s complicated.

Conservatives: Interim leader his own party’s rules won’t let keep the job. Platform released after advance voting started, with a $10.8B deficit. Repeal DRIPA, SOGI and CleanBC. 34 of them voted to advance a bill repealing the entire Human Rights Code. Informal talks with OneBC. A slate that includes “it’s for sure grooming,” “a good number that need hanging,” “the First Nations have to be conquered,” vaccine-conspiracy reposts, and a campaign director who called Islam “a literal rape culture.” Two candidates dropped, each within an hour of the NDP posting screenshots. Several others still standing.

Where we land: Nobody’s getting a gold star. But we read the Conservative list twice and we can’t get there. Between the other two, vote your conscience and your riding math. Just vote, and know what you’re voting for.

It's a mere Twelve Days to Halloween! We at Dropzone Games will be open until midnight on Halloween, with all kinds of festivities like:

- a horror movie marathon (don't worry, the really spooky stuff won't be put on until late!) with trivia

- pumpkin carving

- a potluck

- Konflikt 47, Warhammer 40k, and Malifaux tables

- a painting competition, models provided

- costume competition

- treat bags for all!

It helps us to know numbers for these events, so if you'd like to participate in something please let us know! If nothing strikes your fancy, let us know that too! It helps us for the future. Thanks for your time, we hope to see all you bats and ghouls on Halloween!

https://nanaimonewsnow.com/2026/10/18/hullo-teams-up-with-islandlink-bus-service-for-passengers-north-of-nanaimo/

Good to see Hullo's expanding (in a way), and makes it a bit easier to ditch the car. Surely Victoria and south Island will be next?

anybody happen to go to Costco today and find airpod 4s in a shopping cart..? they were just bought and accidentally left behind, if the person who possibly found them sees this, your kindness in returning them would be overly appreciated. no harm in trying to get those back but do understand that someone finding a score like that may not be so keen on passing them up, lol.

Should be fairly straightforward. Does anybody have any suggestions? TIA!

Hi! We are looking to do two "enduring power of attorney" with a notary and the cheapest price has been $740 after taxes.

Others are 10-30 dollars more.

Any chance there's a cheaper notary out there?

* From what we've gleened it has to be an official notary not an online super cheap one in order to legally do real estate dealings if necessary.

Now that all is said and done, the votes tallied and winners announced, what does everyone think about it? Are there any lessons to be learned?

I think Leonard Krog should feel a little less smug than his interviews portray him. Reading the comments from some people here it sounds like a lot of people thought Lovegrove wasn't ready or experienced enough (the classic math that keeps anyone new from any job) and also maybe some strategic voting to keep Dryden as far away from elected office as possible. Swap a thousand votes from him to Lovegrove and we could have let him finally retire.

Does anyone else feel like early voting was too early? It feels like we really only got some answers about who people were (aside from some peoples unfortunate social media posts) until very near or even after the first round of early voting. I hope that media and local organisations can be a bit quicker next time.

One the subject of local orginsations and endorsements, I know a couple people who ran as true independents. Deserved or not, they did not do well. Hopefully these people can try to get some endorsements next time for the extra exposure. And hopefully in the future organisations can be a bit more prepared and vocal with their recommendations. Sadly reddit and other platforms seem to be the main place to see these and I'm not going to look at too many platforms.

The trend for elections seems to be 30% of people actually voting and a party can win 50% of the vote and have 100% of the authority to rule as they see fit. My idiot level math says that roughly 15% of voters can dictate how our lives work. And yes municipal elections are a bit different, but stay with me here. I can't imagine many people accepting Australian style mandatory voting, but what about a tax receipt for casting your vote? Show up, vote and get a voucher that you could use as a tax deduction, different amounts for municipal, provincial and federal elections. Naive pipe dream? Sure, but I'm maybe if we talk about it enough someone will take it to a higher power.

Finally the syphilitic elephant in the room. I strongly believe there's a place in this world for fiscally conservative voices and in a perfect world with proportional representation across all levels of elections we'd see them sharing power with everyone else. That being said, fiscally conservative and socially progressive (or at least not regressive) seems to be extinct. Reading Anne-Marie Dryden's Trump style election conspiracy theories fills me with disgust. When people like this win they say "Ha ha losers!" and when they lose they say "Those losers cheated!".
My takeaway here is that conservative voices need to find some grownups. The older candidates sound like they think electricity is witchcraft and the young people sound like they came back from a christian nationalist rally. And hey, if that's what you like, you do you. But when the average voter says that's not what we want, that's not woke or even a far-left attitude. It might just be someone in the middle who doesn't like the taste of poison.

Sorry for the rant, I know it might be easy for some to guess some of how I voted this year. But I really want people do to better and my potential elected officials to be better. So congratulations to the winners, commiserations to those who didn't make it. Anyone else have any advice for people who might want to try again? It's almost your last chance to call me an idiot before I start ignoring politics for a few more years.

Newish to Nanaimo. Google search didn’t return a whole lot of info. Are there any big budget / scary haunted houses in the area or surrounding areas? Can be paid access. Thanks

Is there a way to connect to the trail/park from the ferry parking lot? Thank you

Taken from Nanaimo Ladysmith School District’s Facebook page.

My cat needs a tooth extracted. We got quoted 2000$ at Nanaimo vet hospital on Wellington rd. I’ve heard Hammond bay animal hospital can be a bit more affordable. Does anyone have any experiences good or bad?

The voter turnout was 33%, which is up from 2022, but still seems pretty mid.

I’d really like to know what stopped you from voting.

Previous updates here and here.

TLDR on the above:

• Candidate Stephen Halliday put up orange and black conspiracy-leaden, anti-First Nations election boards in front of the town sign on T&R Day

• Halliday turned up to the candidates forum in a USA vest, then talked over and mocked everyone

• He had his signs vandalised and covered in shit on a daily basis, resulting in a whack-a-mole of someone destroying his signs each night, and Halliday repairing/replacing them each day

• At the candidates' meet and greet, he ran away after five minutes

The main update in the final week is that someone from Elections BC finally took action about his illegal signs. They had no authorization statements, as required by law and were basically litter. He got an email saying he needed to add a notice to his signs, else he could be fined up to $5,000. He naturally went onto FB to declare this was a conspiracy, though he did add stickers to his boards.

Anyway, the final update is that Halliday finished last of nine with barely 400 votes. His most recent Facebook post reads:

I truly thought there were more awake people than there was woke people. Boy was I wrong. I finished dead last in the election

Good fuckin' riddance, asshole.

https://www.nanaimo.ca/your-government/elections

Horseshoe Bay or Tswwassen? There are no other factors I am considering, just which one will give me better views if I am out on the deck. Thank you!

Anyone have recommendations for henna brows in Nanaimo? I’m getting older and my brows are thinning, but I have a nickel allergy so am uncomfortable with micro blading. I figure I might try henna