Capital Daily for Friday, July 10

Picket lines go up at Victoria General Hospital at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 12. Royal Jubilee Hospital and the South Island Surgical Centre follow on Tuesday, July 14, with Nanaimo Regional General in between on the Monday.

The BC Nurses' Union is expanding job action that began July 2 in Metro Vancouver, saying it wants to pressure the province to hand health employers a mandate that lets bargaining move. Talks this week produced some progress but ended without a deal, according to the Health Employers Association of BC, which said "substantial gaps that exceed the government envelope remain."

Island Health says essential services will hold at every site behind a picket line. Some scheduled appointments and elective surgeries will be postponed, but the authority is telling people to show up for appointments unless their care team contacts them directly, and not to delay emergency care.

The union also filed an unfair labour practice complaint with the BC Labour Relations Board. It says it has logged more than 2,300 reports from nurses of intimidation, coercion, or threats since the strike began, including warnings of discipline and pressure to perform non-nursing duties and overtime.

In 1981, the mayor turned down the application for Victoria's first Gay Pride Week and called it "inappropriate." The organizers held it anyway, closing the week with the Stonewall Tea Dance.

Forty-five years later, the route runs straight down the waterfront. The parade starts at 11am Sunday, July 12, at Government and Johnson, follows Wharf Street along the harbour to Belleville, then turns up Menzies to Superior. From there the crowd walks to MacDonald Park for the festival.

The festival brings drag performers, DJs, 130-plus vendors, a food court, a kids' area with Drag Story Time, and a low-sensory chill zone for anyone who needs the volume down. There's a bar with alcoholic and non-alcoholic options.

The first official parade didn't happen until 1994. This year's edition expects up to 140 entries and 80,000 spectators for a 90-minute walk through the core. Both the parade and festival are free.