A customer leaves the Home Building Centre on Main Street in April. The store had announced it would be closing its Osoyoos location, but a deal was worked out to extend the current lease by five more years. (Richard McGuire photo)
The Osoyoos Times being named the best small town community newspaper in Canada and decision to keep the Osoyoos Home Building Centre open and not turn it over as the new home of the Osoyoos Museum made headlines in April.
One year after being named the best community newspaper in British Columbia, the Osoyoos Times was selected as the best community newspaper in its circulation class in the entire country as the Canadian Community Newspaper Association (CCNA) announced the winners in its annual CCNA Awards Competition.
The Osoyoos Times captured three major awards, including Best Overall Newspaper, General Excellence, in its circulation class.
It also captured top honours for Best Front Page and Best Editorial Page.
This comes one year after the Osoyoos Times captured first place in the annual Ma Murray Awards, which honours journalistic excellence among all of the community newspapers in British Columbia.
The Osoyoos Times edged out the Blyth/Brussels Citizen from Ontario and South Peace News from High Prairie, Alta. in voting for Best Overall Newspaper in the circulation class 1,250 to 1,999. That was the same order of finish in voting for Best Front Page and Best Editorial Page as well.
Winning the award for Best Overall Newspaper in the entire country in its circulation class against hundreds of other newspapers in small towns across Canada is a remarkable achievement, said editor Keith Lacey.
“I have been in this business for just over 30 years now and have managed to win a few awards along the way, but nothing compares to this one,” said Lacey. “To be named as the very best community newspaper in Canada is almost overwhelming.
“We have a great team of employees at the Osoyoos Times who take great pride in their work and we all work hard to put out a quality newspaper each and every week. To be acknowledged by your peers as the best overall newspaper in Canada quite remarkable and something everybody who works here is rightfully very proud of.”
Meanwhile, a glimmer of hope remained to try and keep Osoyoos’ only home building centre open and save 16 full-time jobs in the process.
Paul McCann, the owner of the Home Building Centre on Main Street in Osoyoos, confirmed he informed his staff in March the store would be closing effective the end of November.
However, after talking to Town of Osoyoos Mayor Sue McKortoff, McCann agreed to meet with McKortoff and senior administration from the town, Mark Pendergraft, the chair of the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) and Mat Hassen, chair of the board with the Osoyoos Museum Society.
The Town of Osoyoos owns the land where the Osoyoos Home Building Centre is located, while the RDOS owns the building.
The building would be the new home of the Osoyoos Museum and Archives and was scheduled to be turned over to the Osoyoos Museum Society board effective Oct. 1, 2016.
Back in 2010, management from Home Hardware Building Centre’s head office in Ontario purchased several acres of land adjacent to the Osoyoos Airport and had planned on building a large new home for the Osoyoos Home Building Centre.
However, current economic realities have resulted in head office being unwilling to commit to spending several million dollars to construct a new building, said McCann.
McCann said he “had no choice” but to inform his staff about closing the store and believed the end of November was the best time as the store traditionally slows down significantly during the winter months, said McCann.
“I was informed we had to leave,” he said. “I was told I had to get out … I was left no choice but to close the store.”
It was announced two weeks later that the town and RDOS had signed a deal to extend the lease for the Home Building Centre in downtown Osoyoos until the fall of 2019.
This means the Osoyoos Museum won’t be moving into its new home for another five years, instead of next fall as had been planned since a referendum was approved by local citizens three years ago to make the Home Building Centre building its new home.
McKortoff said she and members of council unanimously agreed that keeping this profitable business in Osoyoos and maintaining the 16 full-time jobs was crucial.
“We needed to make a decision quickly as Mr. McCann was offering most of those jobs to his employees in Osoyoos to work at his store in Penticton and we didn’t want that to happen … we wanted those jobs to stay in town,” she said.
A new public opinion poll showed significantly increased support for a national park reserve in South Okanagan-Similkameen.
Depending on the sample area, support for a national park ranges from 65 per cent to 76 per cent.
The poll results, however, didn’t change the minds of Boundary Similkameen MLA Linda Larson or the provincial government that strongly oppose it. Larson dismissed the results of the poll.
“I could actually do a poll myself if I wanted to and depending on how I worded the question, I could get the answers that I wanted,” said Larson. “Basically, if you wanted an answer that’s in favour of what you want to do, then you word the question accordingly.”
Pollster Angus McAllister, however, bristled at the suggestion that the poll was biased.
“No one is ever going to like polls that don’t concur or line up with what they’d like to see,” McAllister said. “I understand that. My job isn’t to make people happy based on the results. It’s to do accurate polls.”
Larson later announced she was working on a proposal to have the Osoyoos Desert Centre nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The MLA for Boundary-Similkameen held a meeting of a committee she has put together to discuss the idea and to follow up on a January meeting with the Osoyoos Desert Society.
Her project, however, came as a surprise to some other local politicians who say they weren’t invited or even told about it.
Neither Osoyoos Mayor Sue McKortoff nor the federal MP for this area, Alex Atamanenko, were even told about the project, let alone invited to participate. Both are strong supporters of the national park.
McKortoff also said she knew nothing of Larson’s project until she was told of it by the Osoyoos Times.
“This is the first I’ve heard about it,” she said.
For her part, Larson insists the idea has nothing to do with the national park, but rather is an attempt to protect the fragile environment and to attract tourism.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
Doreen Olson, co-ordinator of the SOS National Park Network, presented results of an opinion poll in April about support for a national park. The slide she’s showing suggests that MLA Linda Larson is out of step with local business, tourism associations, regional governments and first nations who support a park. Looking on are Osoyoos Mayor Sue McKortoff and Chamber of Commerce President Brian Highley. (Richard McGuire photo)
Mayor Sue McKortoff gleefully shaves the head of Osoyoos Fire Chief Rick Jones during Easter Eggstravaganza, but she was unwilling to offer up her own head. (Richard McGuire photo)
Students at Dance Oasis Studios take a break from rehearsing to pose for a group photo. The students won honours at dance competitions in the Okanagan in April before heading off to Lower Mainland. (Richard McGuire photo)
