KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK THURSDAY
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NOVEMBER 13, 2014 | Volume 27 No. 135
GIL’S WILL THRILL
TODAY’S WEATHER
A21
High -2 C Low -11C SUN PEAKS SNOW REPORT Opens on Nov. 22
RIH laundry service to be privatized?
HEATHER HAMILL: Kamloops woman was killed in 2003.
RICHARD ROLKE AND DALE BASS
BLACK PRESS/STAFF REPORTER
NEW TRIAL BEGINS IN KAMLOOPS
dale@kamloopsthisweek.com
TIM PETRUK
STAFF REPORTER
tim@kamloopsthisweek.com
The Crown expects to call 13 witnesses during a month-long trial of a Kamloops man accused of killing his wife more than a decade ago. Robert Balbar’s second-degree murder trial, which started on Wednesday, Nov. 12, in B.C. Supreme Court in Kamloops, marks the first time so-called Mr. Big evidence is heard in a Canadian courtroom since a landmark decision earlier this year limiting the controversial undercover technique employed by the RCMP across the country. See BALBAR, A4
DAVE EAGLES/KTW
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
The Kamloops civic election is two days away. Voters will go to the polls from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 15. Turn to pages A30 to A33 for civic-election news.
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How to provide laundry will be put through the wringer at Royal Inland Hospital and other health-car facilities as the Interior Health Authority (IHA) looks at the possibility of privatizing the service. The IHA has notified unionized staff it is exploring the future of laundry service — specifically whether using a private contractor is financially feasible. “There is no pre-determined option,” said Lori Holloway, the IHA’s regional director of facilities management. The health authority has five large and six small laundry sites with 175 employees. In Kamloops, there are 15 full-time equivalent staff. “We want to ensure we have a sustainable laundry service,” Holloway said of the review. “We have limited capital dollars to support our aging infrastructure.” Mike Old, communications director with the Hospital Employees’ Union (HEU), which represents the workers, said the collective agreement allows the IHA to contract out services after a 90-day consultation period with the union. That right was created through the controversial Bill 29, the Health and Social Services Delivery Improvement Act, which was passed in 2002 and allowed the province to tear up its contract with the HEU and which led to the layoff of more than 8,000 workers. See HEALTH, A4
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