Butler partnered with a fucking convicted money launderer – Robert Murray Bohn of Vanuatu, owner of Union Bay Industries. Butler has the asshole Pete Hoekstra on the band wagon, ffs. I see he’s still peddling the same bullshit about investment money. It’s all bullshit. If the only way for you to put food on the table is by this constant bullshit, you’re going to go hungry.
Parksville, BC Mayoral and Council Candidate Involved With Port Project Opposed by Community Residents
Two candidates running in Parksville, BC’s upcoming municipal election are executives of a company at the center of a proposed controversial “shipbuilding, repair, and recycling facility” in Union Bay.
Mike Butler, the CEO of Coastal Gateway Port, a Canadian port and shipbuilding company confirmed to PressProgress that he is running for mayor in Parksville, BC, a city roughly 60km south of Union Bay on Vancouver Island.
Alana Barager, Coastal Gateway Port’s chief financial officer, is running for a seat on Parksville’s city council.
In 2025, Coastal Gateway Port announced it is partnering with Union Bay Industries on the shipbuilding and repair project.
Concerned residents and six environmental organizations wrote a letter to BC Premier David Eby and Prime Minister Mark Carney earlier this year regarding the proposed project, which they say could harm Baynes Sound’s sensitive ecosystem.
Baynes Sound, a federally recognized Ecologically and Biologically Significant Area, “supports nearly half of the province’s shellfish production, functions as a nursery for the last commercially harvested herring stock on the coast and provides a key traditional food harvesting area for the K’ómoks First Nation,” the letter reads.
The letter warns that the shallow nature of Baynes Sound means that the area would likely need to be dredged in order for the facility to be built, or that ships would need to be beached, both of which could lead to heavy metals seeping into the environment.
The area was previously home to a shipbreaking operation run by Deep Water Recovery, which lost its Land Act lease due to “repeated non-compliance” and pollution.
Butler told PressProgress that the company “still needs to talk to council” about moving forward with the proposed project.
“We haven’t signed a deal to close anything off yet. We’re in the midst of applying for some federal dollars and some bank money to develop both the strategy across Canada, and so we have multiple sites we’re looking at, not just the Union Bay site, but we definitely would like to improve the island capacity and to get things moving forward, building ships here on Vancouver Island,” Butler said in an interview with PressProgress.
“We would love to see shipbuilding come back to BC. It was a major job creator here for a long time, and then the funding stopped, and then all the jobs were lost.”
When asked if he plans to continue working with Coastal Gateway Port if elected as mayor of Parksville, Butler said he “definitely would.”
“We’re definitely looking to work with the company. Whatever is legal within our rights to do. We’re looking to create good jobs and good paying jobs and good opportunities here on Vancouver Island,” Butler said.
“At the end of the day, most mayors on the island have to have a job still, too. It’s not like a full-time position. It’s mostly a part-time position. But any conflict of interest, I’ll be happy to absolve myself from any votes or anything like that.”
According to the City of Parksville’s 2025 Statement of Financial Information, in 2025 the Parksville mayor made $62,521.56. On average, councillors made $36,322.10.
Barager confirmed that she too would remain with the company if elected to council.
“Of course. Yes. We have to create jobs, whether I work on council or not, and that’s number one in BC: job creation,” Barager told PressProgress.
The pair said they have a long history of being involved in politics with their second company, Optimus Group, a government public relations firm.
Barager said she “briefly” helped MP for North Island-Powell River Aaron Gunn with his 2025 campaign and also volunteered for Republican party of Alberta leader Cameron Davies in 2025.
Butler added that the pair also previously worked for Danielle Smith’s 2022 UCP leadership campaign.
OptimusGroup.Ca
“I was their deputy campaign manager, and then Alana was their executive assistant,” Butler said. “I ran for election with Jack Layton before, and Mike Ignatieff in the past as well, so we have a long history in politics.”
Butler reaffirmed that the pair would refrain from voting on things they felt were in conflict, but did not plan to stop working for the company.
“We both need to put food on the table, too.”
allthingsunionbay 