The Chilliwack
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European influences a flare for fashion.
Chilliwack gaming centre takes shape.
Chiefs clinch playoff spot with win.
Y O U R C O M M U N I T Y N E W S PA P E R • F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 1 • W W W. T H E P R O G R E S S . C O M • T H U R S D AY, M A R C H 8 , 2 0 1 2
Martin blasts Premier for campaignstyle visits to Chilliwack-Hope Robert Freeman The Progress The BC Conservative candidate in Chilliwack-Hope leveled a double-barreled blast Tuesday at Premier Christy Clark and the BC Liberal government. Candidate John Martin took umbrage with Clark’s thwarted visit to a Chilliwack private school during the teachers’ strike, and with her government’s failure to act as another court case in B.C. was stayed for taking too long to come to trial. For good measure, Martin also took a shot at Clark for her failure to call the byelection in Chilliwack-Hope, but in the meantime making another campaignstyle visit to the riding with BC Liberal candidate Laurie Thorness in tow. “If the campaign’s on, let’s announce it and have a level playing field,” Martin said. He said the BC Liberal candidate is “in a spending mode” buying newspaper and billboard advertising, and accompanying the Premier on multiple visits to the riding, yet Clark has yet to announce a byelection date. Clark and Thorness did a campaignstyle walkaround of downtown Agassiz on Feb. 16, with side trips to the Britco plant and the Tycrop plant in Chilliwack. Thorness was also with the Premier in Hope on Monday before she cancelled her visit to the Unity Christian School in Chilliwack when she learned striking teachers were waiting to greet her. Martin said the visit to a non-union school site during a teachers’ strike “was just such a slap in the face of the teachers.” “You don’t go rub peoples’ faces in it when they’re out on the picket line, and you’ve got parents making daycare arrangements,” he said. “The Premier should be above that kind of fighting in the gutter,” he added. “There’s other (staff) to do that.” Continued: LIBERALS/ p8
A group wanting to save the Paramount has been given time to come up with a proposal to stave off the wrecking ball in downtown Chilliwack. JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS
Paramount dodges demolition, for now Jennifer Feinberg The Progress Chilliwack’s historic Paramount Theatre building has won a reprieve. Council voted Tuesday afternoon to give a hastily formed grass-roots group a bit more time to craft a proposal and business plan to save the building from the wrecking ball. Some councillors said they weren’t holding out much hope but wanted to see what the group would come up with. “I think this is a Hail Mary, frankly,” said Chilliwack Mayor Sharon Gaetz. “We should have had this interest earlier in the
process.” She reminded them there was “no appetite” to put taxpayers’ dollars into it. Coun. Stewart McLean said they needed some sort of “concrete plan” before them. Coun. Ken Huttema said he was surprised by the emotion expressed to save the Paramount, when the same level did not come forward when they were demolishing the Empress Hotel. “This has woken a lot of people up,” he said. He said there were a lot of good ideas being floated. “I just hope they have the deep pockets to go along with that,” he said.
$1.25 1-12T CS17
Council’s decision to offer a reprieve came as it was about to vote on a staff recommendation to accept an offer from Chilliwack Economic Partners Corporation (CEPCO) to demolish the building on the city’s behalf. “This group is very passionate,” noted Coun. Chuck Stam, and he was the one to move the motion to extend the demolition vote by 90 days. In a Feb. 27 letter to the city, CEPCO said its demolition of the neighbouring “Ewert Building” would cause “irreparable harm” to the Paramount, and that CEPCO would therefore be willing to demolish the Paramount
as well at no cost to the city. That offer prompted an 11thhour plea to save the building and especially the historically significant sign by the “Save the Chilliwack Paramount Theatre working group,” which was given 10 minutes to make its case before council Tuesday afternoon. Mayor Gaetz acknowledged it was an unusual step to allow them to speak. The group, which drew 29 people to a meeting at Decades the night before, were led by Chilliwack residents Sam Waddington and Jim Balakshin. Continued: REPRIEVE/ p13