r/nanaimo

Within days of Donald Trump taking office, Brandy Frye watched medical papers begin being scrubbed, then neighbours were detained and orders were received to remove certain words in medical policy that the government didn’t find acceptable.

Every single day, I drive through at least one roundabout.

Nearly every single time, some random old bastard either comes to a stop to try to wave me into the busy roundabout in front of them, or doesn't even look before plowing into a loaded roundabout and I have to stomp my brakes to avoid a crash.

I honked at one yesterday and he jumped out of the seat of his enormous pickup truck like he had NO idea there was a car coming, which he didn't, because I was staring him down and he NEVER looked left, just drove straight in without signalling or slowing down.

Is it a gap in driver education? Or are they just too stubborn and selfish to think they should have to learn these new fangled satanic traffic circles "the libruls" are putting in everywhere.

The average driver can barely handle a proper four-way stop procedure anymore, and I think roundabouts are far simpler and work really well when everyone knows and respects how they freakin work.

Tried to google and reddit search this but nothing came up. Just curious, is the clock tower in woodgrove mall still alive and well? Does it still do that crazy water show on the hour every hour? Haven't visited woodgrove mall in over 15 years. It was a back to school tradition to go to Chapters and visit the clock💙

I can add details as needed...

The short form is that my dogs ran up to someone in my neighborhood when they were walking by my home. My dogs never left my property nor came within a meter of this person. They claimed that my dog bit them and their child, and they've provided "photo evidence" of their arm that was supposedly injured by my dog. Both my partner and myself witnessed the entire incident and there is absolutely no way that my dog was even close enough to bite anyone. My dog also has no history of aggression. The city claims the neighbor has more proof because of this photo...????

Is there anything I can do here???

I am trying to understand why our small city with limited water resources would even consider allowing the center to be built. Certainly there is limited benefits to us so why would city hall approve it? It is not even a Canadian company but a numbered one.

The company was incorporated in Ontario in 2020 and only registered the business name Maplecolo in 2024. It presents itself as a Canadian company headquartered in Toronto. However, the owner operates a similar facility in Hong Kong, with a client base including banks, government agencies, and insurance companies. The true beneficial ownership behind the numbered company (2779022 Ontario Inc.) has not been publicly disclosed — it’s a shell-style numbered company, which is a common way to obscure who ultimately controls and profits from the asset.

Summary: What Nanaimo gives vs. what it gets

What the community gives:

•	Up to 25.2 million litres of water per year from Nanaimo’s public water system 

•	BC Hydro electricity — and if the facility qualifies for BC Hydro’s Innovation Rate, it could receive electricity discounts of up to 20% for the first five years  — a subsidy paid for by all ratepayers

•	Rezoned public land converted from rural to industrial use permanently

•	Diesel backup generators on site raising emissions and local air quality concerns 

•	Environmental risk to the Millstone River watershed during summer droughts

What the community gets:

•	Temporary construction jobs

•	A small number of permanent operations roles — data centres are highly automated

•	Modest water billing fees of $160.00 a day

•	A $60,000/year penalty if water limits are exceeded — but the covenant explicitly states the City is not required to enforce it 

•	Some industrial property tax revenue

The ownership problem:

The profits flow to a numbered Ontario company with Hong Kong operational ties and undisclosed ultimate ownership. There is no transparency about where revenue goes after it leaves Nanaimo. The community bears the physical costs — water, power, land, environmental risk — while the financial upside leaves the city entirely.

Bottom line: Nanaimo is providing subsidized public resources to a corporation with opaque ownership, in exchange for minimal, largely temporary local benefit. The councillors who approved it cited Canadian data sovereignty as justification — but given the Hong Kong connection and numbered company structure, even that argument is questionable.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Anyone else really missing this place besides me?

My Mom used to take me here as a treat. The Butterscotch Pecan was her go to, mine was the Cherry Streusel.

Note: Pic is not the Woodgrove location, I couldn't find a pic of that one.