Janice Perrino
Website: www.janiceperrino.com
Facebook: Janice Perrino Nanaimo City Council
Instagram: @janiceperrino_citycouncil
Are you associated with or running as part of a slate? If so, which one?
No slate, simply running for a Councillor position with the Nanaimo City Council
Do you live in the municipality where you are running, and if so, for how long? If not, what is your connection to that community?
I’ve lived in Lantzville for the past four years, two years before that in Nanaimo. I worked for the Nanaimo & District Hospital Foundation located at the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital for the past six years.
What is your occupation, and for how long?
I was the Chief Executive Officer at the Nanaimo & District Hospital Foundation for the past six years, retired June 30, 2022
Tell us about your previous elected and/or community experience.
I was first elected as a Councillor in the Municipality of Summerland in
1999 and was a Councillor for two terms. Then I was elected the Mayor of Summerland from 2008 for two terms and choose not to run again in 2014.
I was also a Director on the Regional District of the South Okanagan and the Chair of the Regional Hospital District for three years.
Why are you running? What’s your motivation?
Nanaimo is the second fastest growing city in BC and ranks in the top 5 in Canada. These are exciting days in our city and yet we have a regional hospital in desperate need of expansion. Nanaimo must have a cardiac cath lab and a full cancer treatment facility to serve the residents in the central and north island. We need more long-term care beds, walk-in clinics and we have 35,000 residents without a family doctor.
With leadership from my time in civic government and the knowledge of years in healthcare, I am uniquely qualified for the role of Council.
What are your top three issues?
Our Council must advocate more with the Provincial Government for the hospital’s major expansion, cardiac cath lab and a full cancer treatment facility as well as long-term care beds, walk-in clinics and more doctors.
Our Council must also advocate more with the Provincial Government for support for our homeless community and those suffering from addiction and mental health issues.
We must do more to support our downtown business community to ensure that it remains a vibrant, safe area for residents and tourists.
What’s your vision for your community in 25 years?
Nanaimo is a beautiful city with mountains and the ocean right at our doorstep. We need to aspire to be leaders in building not only a gorgeous, safe city but in caring for our unique environmental issues regarding the ocean that we look at every day. Our residents and this region deserve the same level of medical care that they would get in Victoria. Above all we need to care for our most vulnerable citizens, those who are homeless, those with addictions and mental health illnesses. It will take years to accomplish these goals but the Council of today must make the best decisions for the future of our city and our region.
What’s one “big idea” you have for your community?
We must push for Nanaimo to get agreement from the Provincial Government for a major hospital expansion at NRGH. The construction alone will be a huge economic boom for this region. I’m talking about thousands of good paying jobs in design, construction, healthcare and leadership roles.
These jobs will be for our residents along with future generations.
Every one of those people live here, bring their families and shop all over town.
I believe that in the future our university will want to add more programs to teach medical students and provide major medical research.
This is important for our residents today and for the generations to come.
