🌅 Victoria approves 2023 budget

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The City of Victoria has adopted its $300M operating budget for 2023, along with $180M in capital projects, after a process that had council attempting to balance its rising costs from inflation with its residents’ rising cost of living. The budget will see a 6.15% increase for residents and non-industrial businesses, down from what was originally about 9%.

“Budget 2023 focuses investment on what the community has told us matters to them,” said Mayor Marianne Alto in a release. “This year’s budget continues to support and boost a healthy economy, investing in communities across the city.”

This budget includes climate action improvements, with $3.9M allocated for new electric vehicle charging stations and $15.4M to replace aging service vehicles with fuel-efficient and electric options. Nearly $1M will be put toward improving downtown, including beautification, cleaning, and safety.

One source of contention was the VicPD budget, which initially sought a 9.6% increase from 2022 to $69.5M. The police board refused to trim that rise to 6.9%, in line with inflation, as Victoria and Esquimalt councils had asked municipal departments to do.

The councils then decided to fund no more than that 6.9% increase (around $68M total) and suggested certain line items to defer (such as building maintenance, a body cam pilot, and new archival/files positions). The province may still force the municipalities to fund some of those. Victoria also removed but then reinstated a $255,000 fund from a non-VicPD part of its overall budget to put toward extra police patrols downtown (particularly at night).

The 2023 budget includes:

• $58.5M for Victoria portion of VicPD budget, plus the separate $255K
• $22.1M for multi-modal corridor improvements to support road safety, walking, cycling, transit, liveability, and accessibility
• $19.1M for fire services
• $15.4M to replace aging service vehicles and heavy equipment to improve the city’s carbon footprint
• $5.9M for arts and culture
• $3.1M for community development, housing, and heritage restoration
• $3.9M for EV chargers throughout the city
• $1.8M to restart the Crystal Pool replacement project
• Nearly $1M for the new Downtown Revitalization program
• $200K for reconciliation efforts with Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations

Almost every weekend morning in downtown Victoria, lineups form outside more than a dozen brunch restaurants. It would be an understatement to say brunch is popular here. But which local brunches are the most popular?

Tasting Victoria and Capital Daily readers voted for their favourites, and we rounded up the top choices.

With a warm weekend and an especially brunch-friendly special occasion—Mother’s Day—it’ll undoubtedly be a busy weekend for brunch. So if you find somewhere to go, be sure to get there early.

An officer and suspect are in hospital with apparent non-life-threatening injuries, BC’s Independent Investigations office said, after a Friday incident around 6:30am. A second officer shot the suspect after his vehicle entered the detachment parking lot and drove into the first officer’s vehicle—injuring that officer—while it was being prepared for patrol, per the IIO.

It’s unclear how deliberate or targeted the crash was; RCMP say they are “unsure what the man’s intentions were at this time.” The North Cowichan/Duncan General Investigation Section is investigating that initial collision, while the IIO is now investigating the shooting and conduct by police.

Video shows shooting, but not initial crash
A nearby resident posted video that begins with the police cruiser partway down a ditch and the black SUV above and still in contact with it. Two officers move to flank a person in a grey hoodie who is accessing the back seat of the SUV. The person withdraws from the open door and is shot by an officer who has circled around the back of the vehicle.

Though the RCMP release says the officer “discharged his firearm at the vehicle striking the driver,” in the video the officer aims and fires at the driver while both are visibly to the right of the vehicle. The video later cuts to a different officer in the ditch being attended to.

Second Duncan-area police shooting in past two months
On March 28, Davin Cochrane, 32, was shot in the head by police while driving a skid-steer construction vehicle along residential Duncan streets without stopping. He had been in a car crash earlier that day; his wife said he left the hospital after receiving a narcotic. After weeks in an induced coma in Victoria, he regained consciousness and is now breathing on his own.