Council,
Morrison
will be set up at Studio 2880 today for the
Big Squeeze ready to pour
Citizen staff
Appreciators of lemonade will get their fill on Wednesday when the annual Big Squeeze is held in support of Big Brothers Big Sisters Prince George.
As of late last week, 27 businesses and agencies have signed
up to participate. Each will open up their own lemonade stand from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The biggest fundraiser, as well as the outlets judged by a team from BBBSPG to have the best lemonade, win trophies.
Last year’s best tasting award
went to the Prince George Chamber of Commerce and AiMHi took home the Lemon Trophy as the top fundraiser at $3,576.60.
Both will be back this year as will Blake Productions + Settings Event Design & Decor, Northland Dodge, Vista Radio, Boardwalk Properties, Hub City Volkswagen,
Summer program helps Indigenous youth gain work experience
Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff
mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca
Pauline Tom is thanking a summer program aimed at Indigenous youth for not only teaching her some of the skills to make her a productive member of the workforce but for getting her out of bed in the morning.
“I had no motivation to do anything,” she admitted when asked about the benefits of participating in the Outland Youth Employment Program.
“I’d just stay home all the time, not leave my room, not leave my bed.
“But here, I have to wake up at seven in the morning and sometimes earlier than that and it just gives me something to do every day... I love my sleep.”
At 17 years old, Tom could probably be excused for being a little
lazy in the morning.
A member of the Wet’suwet’en
First Nation, she is among 25 high school-age young people from across the Central Interior participating in the six-week program.
Their days have been full.
For the first two weeks, they were out in the bush where they honed their skills as tree planters and did brush saw work and while also learning wilderness first aid.
This week, they’re in Prince George where they’re exploring post-secondary opportunities at the College of New Caledonia and the University of Northern British Columbia. It hasn’t been as back breaking but arguably just as intense.
Dubbed Science Week, the itinerary includes a tour of the College of New Caledonia campus with an emphasis on the college’s
applied research and innovation department and a trip to Ispah Lake to get hands-on experience in natural resource and forestryrelated research techniques.
From there, they go to UNBC and visit the I.K Barber Enhanced Forestry Laboratory to learn about tree coring, dating culturally modified trees, and tree identification. It wraps up with a terrestrial vertebrate lab demo and in fish lab exercises and a tour of UNBC’s bioenergy plant.
Next week, they’ll be back at Camp Hughes – which they’re renting from Scouts Canada –where they will continue to pick up the skills meant to make them valuable employees wherever they may find themselves, although the focus is on working in the natural resource sector.
— see ‘IT JUST GIVES, page 3
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Integris Downtown Branch, Integris 5th Avenue Branch, Integris Riverside Branch, Studio 2880, Active Body, CNC School of Trades and Technology, Work BC, RBC Pine Centre, Enterprise, Remax and Zandra Ross Lifestyle Studio.
There will also be a category for restaurants who will be selling throughout the day: Mr.
Betulla Burning, Nancy O’s, Moxie’s Grill & Bar and all five Tim Hortons in the city.
All proceeds raised during the event go to Big Brothers Big Sisters Prince George.
Provincial auto crime team reaps arrests in Prince George
Citizen staff
Members of the B.C. Integrated Municipal Provincial Auto Crime Team lived up to their acronym while in Prince George last week.
Also known as IMPACT, members were in the city patrolling for stolen vehicles and landed two arrests for which Crown counsel has approved charges. David Juillette, 34, faces eight counts after he was allegedly found last Monday behind the wheel of a black 2005 GMC Sierra pickup truck reported stolen from Juillette’s hometown of Fort St. James.
RCMP said the truck was found parked outside a 1500-block Endako Street home and then driven to a restaurant with a stop to pick up a woman while on the way.
Members arrested the two at the restaurant and also found three rifles RCMP said were stolen during a break and enter in Fort St. James. The woman was released without charge while Juillette remains in custody.
As well, seven charges have been approved against Colin Durrand, 28, of Prince George. He was arrested last Tuesday after he allegedly hopped into a stolen white 1999 Ford F450 flatdeck parked at a 2100 block Norwood Street home and drove it to a 1900-block Victoria Street business.
A search of the truck incidental to arrest revealed break in instruments and property that had been stolen in a break and enter in the Cluculz Lake area, RCMP said. Durrand also remains in custody.
Maiella Scott, Keirat Sindhi, Simran Sindhi and Stephanie Scott, all students of Donna
Arts
paint part of the lemonade stand that
Big Brothers Big Sisters Big Squeeze fundraiser.
Mikes,
Road work was being done on Massey Drive last week to allow for the
Prince George provincial court docket
From Prince George provincial court, July 29 to Aug. 2, 2019:
• Chad Murphy Peter George (born 1997) was sentenced to 70 days in jail and one year probation for assault. George was in custody for one day prior to sentencing.
• Clinton Levi Poitras (born 1981) was sentenced to 16 days in jail for willfully resisting or obstructing a peace officer. Poitras was in custody for one day prior to sentencing.
• Brennan Mitchell Bredo (born 1996) was prohibited from driving for two years and fined $1,000 plus a $150 victim surcharge for driving while prohibited or licence suspended under the Motor Vehicle Act from a Jan. 11, 2018 incident, sentenced to one year probation and prohibited from driving for one year and fined $1,000 for driving while impaired under the Criminal Code from an Aug. 21, 2018 incident, and sentenced to one year probation for breaching a recognizance or undertaking from a Jan. 17, 2019 incident.
• Chantelle Marie Collier (born 1987) was sentenced to no further time in jail for breaching an undertaking or recognizance. Collier was in custody for four days prior to sentencing.
• Kaleb Daniel Gilbertson (born 1991) was prohibited from driving for one year and fined $800 plus a $120 victim surcharge for driving while prohibited or licence suspended under the Motor Vehicle Act, committed in Prince George and fined $500 plus a $75 victim surcharge for driving while prohibited or licence suspended under the Motor Vehicle Act, committed in Hope.
• Dylon Antoine Felix John (born 1995) was sentenced to 12 days in jail and one year probation for theft $5,000 or under.
• Logan Robert Solonas (born 1997) was sentenced to 60 days
and 15 days in jail for two counts of breaching an undertaking or recognizance, committed on July 30 and to 30 days in jail for breaching probation, committed on July 11.
• Christopher James Giesbrecht (born 1990) was prohibited from driving for one year and fined $1,000 for driving with a bloodalcohol level over .08.
• Deanna Prince (born 1998) was prohibited from driving for one year and fined $500 plus a $75 victim surcharge for driving while prohibited or licence suspended under the Motor Vehicle Act.
• Bert Russell Tom Jr. (born 1989) was sentenced to 14 days in jail, to be served in an intermittent basis, and probation until the end of the sentence and fined $500 for driving while prohibited or licence suspended under the Motor Vehicle Act, committed in Houston.
• Ravinesh James Sharma (born 1986) was sentenced to time served for being unlawfully at large and prohibited from driving for one year and fined $500 for driving while prohibited or licence suspended under the Motor Vehicle Act. Sharma was in custody for 91 days prior to sentencing and remains in custody on other charges.
• Ian Benjamin Clark (born 1985) was sentenced to one year probation for three counts of breaching probation. Clark was in custody for 53 days prior to sentencing.
• Bradley Arthur Denie Collier (born 1984) was sentenced to 55 days in jail for breaching probation and two counts of breaching an undertaking or recognizance, committed in Mud River, 21 days in jail for breaching probation, committed in Prince George. Collier was in custody for eight days prior to sentencing.
• Bradley Robert Foster (born 1979) was sentenced to no further time in jail. Foster was in custody for 43 days prior to sentencing.
The Prince George RCMP street crew executed search warrants on five homes, and seized a number of weapons and a quantities of cocaine, fentanyl, methamphetamine and crack cocaine.
Police seize guns, drugs
Citizen staff
Prince George RCMP’s street crew unit cast a wide net last week when it executed drug-related search warrants on five homes in the city. In the process, the unit seized a shotgun, two handguns, a significant amount of cash, over a
kilogram of cocaine, seven ounces of fentanyl, ten ounces of methamphetamine, and four ounces of crack cocaine.
In addition, a 2019 GMC Sierra pickup truck and a 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe were seized as offencerelated property.
As well, two men, ages 38 and 41 were arrested and later
released from custody pending further investigation.
Two of the warrants were executed on homes in the 100 block of McIntyre Crescent and the rest on homes in the 2800 block of Parent Road, the 4100 block of 1st Avenue, and the 4300 block of Eaglenest Crescent, all on Thursday.
‘It just gives them the confidence that it is ‘accessible and open’
— from page 1
Operated by Outland-Carillon, which provides camp and forestry support services, OYEP originated in Ontario 20 years ago and has since expanded into Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia, where it is now in its second year. A variety of sources – government, private sector and First Nations –fund the program.
The idea is to help young people develop skills for natural resourcebased work culture including safety training, time management, remote and rotational work schedules and work-life balance.
There is also a touch of Indigenous culture in the mix.
Elders from the Lheidli T’enneh First Natiion have made appearances and left Sarah Dixon both impressed and inspired.
“Just saying they believe in us, even though they don’t really know us well,” said Dixon, an 18-year-old member of the Esketemc, west of Williams Lake.
For Marlene Erickson, College of New Caledonia’s aboriginal education director, the week at the college and UNBC are particularly important.
“We find that Aboriginal youth don’t transition to post-secondary at the same rate and even though our population is generally
Four arrested following home invasion
Citizen staff
Four suspects were arrested and have been charged following a home invasion late Saturday morning.
Justin Dupray, 23, Bradley Foster, 40, and Charles Santa, 28, all remained in custody as of Tuesday while Daniela Frasca, 27, has been released on a recognizance with a
Williams Lake man shot to death
WILLIAMS LAKE (CP) — RCMP in Williams Lake say a 43-year-old man has been shot to death in the Interior city.
Cpl. Madonna Saunderson says in a news release that police were called to a report of shots fired early Tuesday. The injured man was found lying in the driveway of a home and was rushed to hospital but was pronounced dead. The victim’s name has not been released.
$2,000 surety.
RCMP said a resident suffered minor injuries when four people burst into the 2600-block Victoria Street home sometime before 10:45 a.m.
Three of the suspects were arrested within minutes and a gun was recovered, while a fourth suspect was apprehended the next day.
Wildfire grows in southern Okanagan
The Canadian Press VANCOUVER — The BC Wildfire Service says a fire burning in British Columbia’s southern Interior doubled in size over a 24-hour period to about 2.5 square kilometres. More than 100 people, supported by aircraft and heavy equipment, are battling the blaze that broke out Aug. 4 north of Oliver. The fire activity had calmed late Monday, but that could change as Environment Canada forecasts the heat will remain in the low- to mid-30s through the week, with no rain forecast until Saturday.
An evacuation alert prompted by the fire was issued Monday by the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen which covers 206 properties north of Oliver.
Steep and rocky terrain is complicating firefighting efforts and the wildfire service says a structure protection specialist and incident management team are at the scene.
Cool and damp conditions in July kept a lid on the wildfire risk across B.C. Smoke from the fire has prompted a special air quality statement for the south Okanagan region.
Environment Canada says Penticton, Summerland, Naramata, Oliver and Osoyoos will be being impacted by the smoke from the wildfire over the next day or two.
The statement says people with health conditions, the elderly, pregnant woman or infants are more likely to experience health effects from exposure to the
smoke.
The wildfire service says a suspected lightning-caused blaze discovered Sunday in northwestern B.C., has already charred 44 square kilometres of timber west of Telegraph Creek. No structures are threatened and the flames are believed to be spreading slowly to the east, but a social media post from the service says smoke is highly visible in Telegraph Creek, nearly 50 kilometres to the east.
Twenty-one homes in that community were destroyed by a wildfire last year that razed more than 12-hundred square kilometres of bush and forced an evacuation that continued for 102 days.
The wildfire service still lists that blaze as a “wildfire of note” because of extreme drought conditions in the region and the potential for flames that smouldered underground over the winter to erupt again as another hot spell arrives.
Anyone conducting activity in the Cassiar Fire Zone, which includes the area west of Telegraph Creek where the current large blaze is burning, should use extreme caution, says the online post from the wildfire service.
Just under 600 wildfires have been recorded in B.C. since the wildfire season began on April 1, with 29 currently active. This time last year, there had been 1,468 fires recorded across the province, the fire service says. The service says 57 per cent of the 2019 wildfires were human-caused, while lightening is blamed for the remainder.
younger, the average entry age for Aboriginal people is about 30,” she said.
“By then, they have families and bills to pay and it makes it that much more challenging to be successful and so programs like this are really important to try to get aboriginal youth to get into college right after (high school) graduation.”
The idea, she said, is to give them a chance to “see the possibilities.”
“It just gives them the confidence to know that it is ‘accessible and open to me and I can do it,’” Erickson said.
Both Tom and Dixon plan on going into nursing upon completing high school. And while the skills they are learning through OYEP are not directly related to their goal, both believe they will help them along that road. After all, they already have a head start on working that classic student summer job of tree planting.
ERIKSON
Items linked to suspected killers found
around the town of Gillam in northeastern Manitoba, since a burned-out Toyota RAV4 they were driving was found there July 22.
GILLAM, Man. — RCMP in Manitoba have found several items linked to two suspects wanted for killings in British Columbia.
Mounties would not disclose what the items are but said they were discovered on the shore of the Nelson River on Friday.
“We have confirmed that these items are directly linked to the suspects,” Cpl. Julie Courchaine said Tuesday in Winnipeg.
The search for Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, and Kam McLeod, 19, has focused on the remote area
The latest items were located only nine kilometres from the vehicle, RCMP said.
Schmegelsky and McLeod are charged with second-degree murder in the death of University of British Columbia lecturer Leonard Dyck, whose body was found last month in northern B.C.
Police also consider the men suspects in the shooting of Australian Lucas Fowler and his American girlfriend Chynna Deese, who were found dead on the Alaska
announced last week that the massive manhunt would be scaled down in Manitoba’s immense northern landscape after it yielded no signs of the two suspects.
The search was supported by specialized military aircraft and RCMP also used all-terrain vehicles, drones, helicopters and planes. Officers had searched more than 11,000 square kilometres of wilderness and canvassed more than 500 homes before resources were pulled back.
RCMP said on the weekend that a damaged aluminum boat was
Time critical to clear path for salmon
Dirk MEISSNER
The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER — Time is critical to find a solution to a massive obstruction in British Columbia’s Fraser River as 90,000 salmon wait downstream and an estimated two million more sockeye are about to arrive, federal Fisheries Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Tuesday.
The minister said dozens of people are working against the clock looking for ways to clear a path that allows salmon to get through the area where a massive rockslide came down in the river northwest of Kamloops.
The slide was discovered in June and has created a five-metre waterfall nearly impassable for the salmon.
“We don’t have a lot of time,” Wilkinson said during a news conference.
“A number of the chinook runs are already circling and waiting to get up. The sockeye run, which is perhaps two million, will start to arrive within a couple weeks. So, we expect somewhere between 3,000 and 6,000 fish per day arriv-
also discovered in the Gillam area. Despite an underwater search by its dive team, officers said nothing else was found.
Nathan Neckoway, a councillor for Tataskweyak Cree Nation, about 87 kilometres southwest of Gillam, posted online that he believed the boat belonged to a family member. He said it was already damaged and he doubts whether anyone could have used it.
RCMP said Tuesday that officers remain in the area. Investigators have said it’s possible the suspects are dead or inadvertently received a ride out of the region.
past Fraser blockage
ing below the rock slide.”
He said rock scalers, engineers and blasters are trying to find a
solution to the natural disaster.
“It is imperative we do whatever we can to enable as many fish as possible to pass through the slide to secure sustainability of these runs, and obviously the communities who rely on these stocks,” Wilkinson said. “This is obviously a very challenging situation, one that could have long-term consequences for the communities on the river and far beyond.”
He said the salmon, including dwindling chinook stocks and valuable sockeye, use the river to get to spawning areas in tributaries throughout central and northern B.C. The salmon are vital to B.C.’s Indigenous people as food and ceremonial sources and provide thousands of jobs in the province’s commercial and sport fishing industries.
The longer the salmon are delayed by the slide, the less energy they’ll have to reach their spawning areas because they don’t eat
RCMP searching for van after attempted abduction
FORT ST. JOHN (CP) — RCMP in northeastern British Columbia say a road flagger working alone on a remote stretch of road fought off an abduction attempt. A news release says the woman was directing traffic on Highway 29 west of Fort St. John on Sunday, when a van pulled up and a man opened the rear doors and tried to pull her in. The victim says she struggled with the stranger before he jumped back in the van and drove west. Officers from several northeastern B.C. detachments are searching for the vehicle, described as dark blue with silver striping, chrome on the front grille and barn-style rear doors. The suspect is described as Caucasian and about five foot nine.
Sgt. Joelle LaChance with the Fort St. John RCMP says anyone who has seen the van should contact police. Investigators are also appealing for any dash cam footage that could help them track the vehicle and driver.
Girl bitten by bear at Langley zoo
once they enter the river from the ocean, Wilkinson said.
“They certainly can’t sit below the rock slide forever.”
Wilkinson said the crews at the site are working to move boulders to create a safe route for the fish.
Helicopters are netting salmon in buckets, with about 5,000 moved so far. A fish ladder has also been constructed to help salmon past the slide site but treacherous river conditions are preventing its installation.
Wilkinson said hot weather forecast for this week could see water levels drop, giving crews a better chance to move rocks and test the ladder.
Grand Chief Ed John of the First Nations Summit, one of the largest Indigenous organizations in B.C., said he visited the slide site and is concerned about the devastation it could cause.
“It is a complete natural disaster we have in front of us,” he said. “To call it a rock slide is an underestimation. It’s actually a big landslide that’s now created a blockage in the river.”
John, who is a member of a north-central First Nation that depends on Fraser River sockeye, said the slide is an emergency that impacts indigenous and nonindigenous people and the salmon as a species.
“Time is a critical factor now,” he said.
The Tsilhqot’in Nation near Williams Lake declared a local state of emergency Tuesday due to the threat of the slide to the salmon fishery, a primary food source for the First Nation.
The Tsilhqot’in called on the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to stop all marine and recreational fisheries for salmon that are destined to spawn past the slide site.
Doug Donaldson, B.C.’s forests, lands and natural resource operations minister, said almost 200 sockeye from the Early Stuart run were removed from the slide area and taken to a provincial hatchery to preserve the gene pool.
VANCOUVER (CP) — The British Columbia Conservation Officer Service says a two-year-old girl was bitten on the arm by a bear at the Greater Vancouver Zoo on Monday. The service says it received information Monday night that a child was injured due to a bite by a black bear at the zoo in Langley. Murray Smith, an inspector for the service in the Lower Mainland, says in a statement that the girl’s arm was bitten. BC Emergency Health Services says it received a call just before 7 p.m. Monday and a patient was taken by air ambulance to hospital in serious condition. Smith says officers from the service and the RCMP are investigating. The black bear enclosure at the zoo has been closed to the public until further notice but Smith says no animals will be euthanized as a result of the incident. The zoo could not be reached for comment.
On its website, the zoo says it has 140 species and is home to rescued, donated and orphaned animals that live on about 48 hectares of land in the Fraser Valley.
Vancouver cop suspended for releasing data about youth
VANCOUVER (CP) — The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner in British Columbia says a senior Vancouver police officer has been disciplined for accessing sensitive police information about a young offender. A statement from the office says an investigation determined the officer, who is not being named to protect the identity of the youth, also passed the details to unauthorized recipients. The commissioner says those details included information protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
An independent adjudicator appointed by the commissioner’s office issued a judgment July 18, imposing three suspensions of five days each. Andrea Spindler, the deputy police complaints commissioner, says the officer’s suspensions will be served concurrently, meaning he or she will only be off the job for five days, but the record will show three suspensions have been served. The ruling followed a review of a decision from the Vancouver Police Department discipline authority. The adjudicator, an unnamed retired judge, also recommended Vancouver’s Chief Constable place a “renewed focus” on training in relation to police databases and disclosure of information by officers. Police Complaint Commissioner Clayton Pecknold says police are entrusted with sensitive data about British Columbians and must adhere to strict rules about its use and disclosure.
Kelly Geraldine MALONE
The Canadian Press
Highway near Liard Hot Springs, B.C. Mounties
RCMP HANDOUT PHOTO
The RCMP Underwater Recovery Team searches the Nelson River following the discovery of several items linked to suspected killers Bryer Schmegelsky and Kam McLeod on the shore of the river on Friday.
DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES AND OCEANS HANDOUT PHOTO
A landslide in the Fraser River that could block the salmon run is shown in a handout photo.
Small town struggles with sawmill closure
Nick EAGLAND Vancouver Sun
VAVENBY — On the afternoon of June 3 foremen walked through the Canfor Corp. sawmill telling the morning shift to shut it all down. The company would be making an important announcement at 3 p.m. Workers were to meet outside the main office building at once.
Production had been interrupted before. In January, Canfor had announced a six-week curtailment due to dwindling log supply, costs and market conditions. But the sudden order to turn off all the machines –an exceedingly rare demand – left knots in many workers’ stomachs.
They were right to worry.
Canfor had reached an agreement to sell the forest tenure – its cutting rights for publicly owned timber – linked to the Vavenby mill to Interfor for $60 million.
The mill would again be shutting down, this time forever. More than 170 people would lose their jobs in a community of about 700.
Workers didn’t know how to react. Many had toiled at the mill for decades, raising children in nearby Clearwater and sending them to college on good union salaries. Where would they find local jobs as bridges to reach retirement?
Others had been there just a few years and had young families, large mortgages and truck payments. How far could they stretch a severance of 10 days pay per year of service?
“There weren’t too many questions because everyone was in shock,” said Madeleine deVooght, 50, a planer tech who worked at the mill for 30 years under various owners.
Rumours had been spreading since Christmas about imminent mill closures across B.C. – up to a dozen facilities, some speculated. But the North Thompson River valley community held hope that trouble in the forestry industry, due largely to a dwindling allowable annual cut, wouldn’t hit them hard.
Two months later, Clearwater and Vavenby remain stunned. The impact of the mill’s closure has been felt far beyond the mill workers who lost their livelihoods that Monday afternoon.
Forestry industry in peril
B.C.’s forestry industry employed more than 57,000 people in 2017, when it exported $14.16 billion in wood, pulp and paper products. It brought in $1.065 billion of the provincial government’s total of $52 billion in revenue for 2018.
But in this year’s budget, government warned that forest revenue was expected to remain flat for the year and decline by 3.2 per cent annually over the next two years, mainly due to lower overall stumpage payments.
Canfor CEO Don Kayne said in June that his company made its decision to close the Vavenby mill in the face of log supply constraints, the high cost of fibre and continuing depressed lumber markets.
“The B.C. forest industry has recognized for several years that sawmill capacity must be reduced as the annual allowable cut decreases following the end of the mountain pine beetle epidemic,” he said. That epidemic killed so many trees that the province had upped allowable cuts to remove dead and dying timber.
Since Jan. 1, 2019, an estimated 3,984 workers at 22 mills in B.C. have been hit by closures and curtailments. Nine of those mills belong to Canfor Corp.
Three B.C. mills have closed, 12 have done temporary curtailments, six have done indefinite curtailments, and another has only reduced shifts, according to the Ministry of Forests.
The mill in Vavenby – a community of 700 people about a half-hour drive east of Clearwater, population 2,300 – had been producing 250 million board feet of lumber annually. Its last board, a 2 by 6, ran through the planer on July 4. Workers signed it and are keeping it in a safe place.
The sale of its $60-million tenure now hinges upon the consent of Forests Minister Doug Donaldson, who is looking at whether the proposal has been discussed with com-
munities, First Nations and unions, and whether the companies have considered ideas from within communities to use the timber.
Bill 22, an amendment to the forest act enacted in May, requires forest companies to obtain government approval before transferring tenure agreements to another party. The proposal made by Canfor and Interfor will be the first tested by the new policy.
Loggers and other contractors hope to resume work locally when the deal is approved. Interfor has said the Vavenby tenure will help sustain its mill at Adams Lake, about a 1.5-hour drive south of Clearwater.
But already, some families have left Clearwater for Kamloops or elsewhere for work, Mayor Merlin Blackwell said. While there hasn’t been “a mass exodus or fire sale” of homes, the “trickle-down effect” of the mill’s closure will come to sting, he said.
“(Vavenby) is obviously going to suffer as well because a lot of people who live here, work at the mill,” Blackwell said. “There really isn’t anything else in the way of employment right now.”
Blackwell said his phone hasn’t stopped ringing since the mill closed. Logging contractors and their employees are “living in a bubble of uncertainty” while they wait for news from the companies about when work will resume, he said.
“I’ve got one guy who’s got two trucks with $24,000 a month in payments on those trucks alone,” he said. “Every month where he doesn’t know whether to sell or move them is another month where he’s draining his financial reserves.”
The uncertainty has put the future of the valley in peril, said deVooght, the planer tech.
“People will go retrain and find work elsewhere, and sometimes it’s way better than what they had here. But it’s not going to help the community. That’s going to be the biggest loser in all of this,” she said.
DeVooght, recording secretary of United Steelworkers Local 1-417, said workers have been offered some support from WorkBC and local agencies. But they are frustrated by the slow response by the federal and provincial governments, she said.
“Just acknowledge that the forest industry is in crisis,” she said. “Every time you turn on the news it’s ‘There’s an opioid crisis, there’s an oil and gas crisis, here’s a crisis, there’s a crisis.’ Well, you know what?
We’ve got a crisis.”
Canfor held a job fair on June 19 in Clearwater, bringing representatives from Interfor, WorkBC, and other service agencies. It was attended by 116 people, deVooght said.
Some hadn’t typed up a resumé since the 1980s and struggled to recall where they worked before the mill, said Frances Johnson, an oiler who worked there for 20 years.
Johnson, 55, said she is racked with worry about what she will do next.
“It’s stressful,” she said through tears.
“It’s a huge loss. I was hoping to be able to retire – that’s all. Fifty-five doesn’t take me there.”
Johnson is now considering the LNG industry, given the sad state of forestry.
“When you look at all these small towns and these mills, what’s going to happen? Where is the economy? There’s going to be a ripple effect and it’s going to affect a lot of people. Because now we’re all in the market looking for jobs,” she said.
Local businesses hit hard
On June 28, more than 50 people attended a meeting for local business owners at the Dutch Lake Community Centre in Clearwater. A panel including the mayor, representatives from the regional district, the province, WorkBC and the tech industry gave them an updated on their efforts to soften the blow from the mill’s closure.
Jodie Dodd, owner of Clearwater MediSpa, and Kurt Dodd, owner of KDC Forestry Consulting, said everyone they know is linked to the mill in some way.
“I have a lot of clients who won’t have the disposable income they used to,” Jodie Dodd said at the meeting. “I’m a little bit worried about that because their husbands work at the mills or they’re some sort of business that’s supported.”
KDC has a staff of 20 to 30 for forestry development work such as timber cruising, layout and GPS mapping. It primarily does contracting for Canfor, Interfor, TimberWest, Interfor and B.C. Timber Sales.
Kurt Dodd said he had six people working on the Canfor account who were moved to other projects. He hoped layoffs would not have to come next.
Kelly Graffunder, 39, owner of Fleetwest Enterprises, sells industrial, automotive and logging supplies. He had more than 20 Canfor contractors as clients.
“They’re our bread and butter,” he said.
“We can get by on just being a community. I’d have to downsize soon, if nothing gets going. I’m not sure how extreme that’s going to be.”
Graffunder is now looking for a way to keep 11 staff on at least until summer’s end.
“I think a lot of the people in the bigger centres don’t realize how industry-based and single industry some of these communities are,” he said. “They read about a mill closure and they don’t see how people are directly effected, immediately.”
Doug Borrow, 50, owner of construction firm Borrow Enterprises, was the mill’s main road maintenance contractor. He had 28 employees working on Canfor projects, running graders, excavators, dump trucks and sand trucks. Most faced layoffs.
“(I’m) kind of sick to my stomach,” he said. “You don’t know what you’re going to do, what all your employees are going to do. You’ve got big payments.”
Local businesses and workers aren’t the only ones suffering. Linda Selbee, 61, finance chair for the Clearwater District Food Bank, said they used to make an average of 165 hampers each month, but made about 190 in June.
“It’s not people coming in because they’re starving,” she said. “Now, what we’re doing is we’re subsidizing. People are paying their bills and they have to cut somewhere, and it’s groceries.”
Hope for forestry in B.C.
Ian Moilliet, pastor at the Vavenby Christian Church and a lifelong resident of the community, said some parishioners are young mill families who just moved into town. The church has been praying for them each Thursday morning.
“Some people are pretty distraught. They just bought land or a house and they have to move on now. It’s pretty difficult,” Moilliet said.
But Moilliet, 67, has seen the community recover many times. During the 2009-2011 shutdown, workers took jobs with railway contractor Remcan. When the Weyerhaeuser mill closed in 2002, they left for other mills and industries.
“It’s discouraging, but we try to keep hope alive,” he said. “I’m really trying to encourage people that there’s something else around the corner. Don’t be dismayed.”
Around the corner at the Vavenby General Store, co-owner Joylene Bailey said she and her husband Michael have no plans to sell. It’s a popular stop for friendly logging truckers who grab a coffee in the morning, a deli sandwich at lunch and a six-pack at the end of their shift.
“I’ll buy less to sell less,” she said. “We’re just making a living, that’s all we’re doing, and have a heart for our community.”
Harry Nelson, associate professor of forest policy and economics at the Faculty of Forestry at the University of B.C., is certain the province’s forestry industry will endure. In recent years it has experienced wildfire, the mountain pine beetle and the global final crisis, but the trees always grow back, he said.
“Definitely, we’re going to be smaller and we’re going through this kind of reorganization and transition, but we’re still one of the great timber baskets of the world,” he said.
“We’ve got the ingredients you needskilled people, skilled management, trees.”
But the question, now, is how those ingredients will be sustained to benefit B.C. For Blackwell, part of the solution requires British Columbians to stand by their rural neighbours and support work to protect the province’s resource sector. It requires recognizing that farmers, tourism operators and mill workers make big contributions to the economies of large city centres like Vancouver.
“This is where the money starts,” he said. — With files from Derrick Penner
VANCOUVER SUN PHOTO BY NICK EAGLAND
Madeleine deVooght, a planer tech, and Frances Johnson, an oiler, were longtime employees of the Canfor mill in Vavenby, which is being permanently closed.
Why it’s so difficult to fire a misbehaving employee
Arecent decision by the B.C. Employment Standards Tribunal appears to accept, and in some respects even reward, workplace disobedience.
The case involved an employee at a dental clinic in Lumby, a small town 26 kilometres east of Vernon.
The employee had been warned several times that texting while in meetings, or in front of clients, was inappropriate. Matters came to a head when the employee was seen by co-workers at a staff meeting texting with her cellphone concealed under the table.
Other colleagues had previously complained about this habit, which allegedly had been going on for years.
On these grounds, the employee was fired with cause. Her boss, dentist Dr. Paula Windsor-Lee, argued that her repeated warnings about inappropriate texting established grounds for dismissal.
That justification, however, was ruled insufficient by the tribunal. The fired employee was awarded compensation of $5,164, and Windsor-Lee was fined an additional $2,000 for contravening the Employment Standards Act.
There are two issues here. The first has to do with the level of workplace misbehaviour that warrants dismissal.
According to the provincial government’s interpretation, “An employer can fire an employee with just cause if they commit a serious offence. For example, if an employee steals, commits fraud, acts dishonestly, assaults or harasses others, or breaks company rules.”
No one would disagree that theft, fraud or physical violence are grounds for termination. But if that’s what it takes to get fired, surely the bar is being set too high.
Standards Act, the statute Windsor-Lee was found to have contravened. They are the work of employment tribunals and court rulings, which over time have continually narrowed the grounds for legitimate dismissal.
Most of us would think that acts of insubordination, inattention, laziness or just plain rudeness should also count. But the government discounts these...
Most of us would think that acts of insubordination, inattention, laziness or just plain rudeness should also count. But the government discounts these: “Unsatisfactory performance (e.g. an employee is unable to perform job duties) or minor misconduct (e.g. lateness or not coming to work) are not considered just cause.”
It’s worth noting that none of these guidelines are set out in the Employment
A cautionary note is needed here. None of us would wish to revisit the bad old days when employers could fire staff members for purely trivial acts.
Workers are entitled to a robust defence of their rights.
But returning to the case at hand, if staff members can repeatedly ignore reasonable directives about workplace behaviour, discipline goes out the window. Other employees, seeing that there are no consequences for disobedience, will be tempted to follow. That can rapidly lead to a breakdown in morale, and to a toxic worksite.
The second issue concerns the steps an employer must take before firing a worker.
Here is the procedure laid down by the government: First, employees must be told clearly what the employer’s reasonable
British Columbians feel more in common with Western U.S. than Eastern Canada
In one of his candid conversations with Brian Mulroney, author Peter C. Newman gave the sitting prime minister a piece of advice. Newman urged Mulroney, who was running for a second term in office in 1988, to stop using the words “out here” during campaign stops in Western Canada. Mulroney’s propensity to start his speeches with “It’s great to be out here in…” Newman noted, made Western Canadians feel alienated. It also suggested that, once candidates left francophone Quebec or centre-of the-universe Ontario, every other Canadian province was essentially the same. I have had the opportunity to ask British Columbians and Albertans questions for more than a decade. In recent months, we have discussed the unique allure of Cascadia for British Columbians, and reviewed separatist feelings in Alberta.
A lot has happened since we last checked in. British Columbia has lost its place as the most environmentally friendly province in the country – a distinction now enjoyed by Quebec – and Albertans said goodbye to a New Democratic Party government after giving a massive mandate to the United Conservative Party. Some things have not changed. In the latest Research Co. survey, two thirds of British Columbians (66 per cent) continue to say they have more in common with the people of Seattle and Portland than with those in Toronto or Montreal. Three-in-four (74 per cent) believe they will stay in the
BY THE NUMBERS
MARIO CANSECO
province for the rest of their lives.
More than four-in-five (86 per cent) are very proud of British Columbia.
While Albertans have endured jokes about a perceived affection towards the United States for decades, their views on a supposed brotherhood with Americans are nowhere near the Cascadia lovefest that British Columbians espouse. Albertans are evenly divided when asked if they have more in common with Americans than with other Canadians (43 per cent agree and 43 per cent disagree). Men are significantly more likely than women (52 per cent compared with 35 per cent) to feel that the U.S. is “closer” to Alberta than other provinces.
In Alberta, the notion of secession has reached 30 per cent for the first time since I started tracking this question in 2014. The proportion of Albertans who feel they would be “better off” as their own country is higher than what we found in British Columbia this month (17 per cent) and slightly lower than what Quebecers told Research Co. in December 2018 (34 per cent).
Across Alberta, 27 per cent of residents say they consider themselves “Albertans first, and Canadians second.” In British Columbia, only 19 per cent of residents place their province before their country. Quebec, at 48 per cent the last time we checked, is on a
completely different league. When asked about recent governments, the negativity is evident in British Columbia. Twoin-five residents (39 per cent) cannot pick any of the last nine premiers as the best one. The last three reached double digits: John Horgan at 14 per cent, Gordon Campbell at 12 per cent and Christy Clark at 11 per cent. When British Columbians ponder their worst recent head of government, the level of undecideds falls to 29 per cent. More than a quarter of residents (27 per cent) pick Clark as the worst premier. Campbell is a distant second (11 per cent), followed closely by Horgan (10 per cent).
In Alberta, Ralph Klein wins as “best recent premier” by a large margin (44 per cent), with Rachel Notley finishing second with 17 per cent. This is definitely a situation in which the province’s centre-left voters gravitate towards their only head of government. In any case, conservatives appear to return the favour when asked about the “worst recent premier.” Notley is first with 26 per cent, with Alison Redford a close second at 25 per cent.
More than half of Albertans (51 per cent) picked a woman as the worst recent head of government. There is a gender gap, but it’s not immense, as 47 per cent of women gave their “worst” vote to either Notley (27 per cent) or Redford (20 per cent).
In British Columbia, 30 per cent of women selected Clark on this question, compared with 24 per cent for men.
Mario Canseco is president of Research Co.
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standards are. Next they must be told they aren’t meeting those standards. Then they must be given reasonable time and help to meet the standards, and warned they will be fired if they do not improve their behaviour. Finally the employer must show that the employee still didn’t comply with reasonable standards after all of the above. It takes months, if not years, to meet all of these requirements. Extensive recordkeeping is needed to show that each of the necessary steps were taken.
Many employers find this process so burdensome, they simply put up with lazy or inept staff members.
Small businesses, in particular, have difficulty with all the paperwork involved, and yet they are the most vulnerable. It seems unfair to impose on them complex regulations that may be far beyond their means. It does appear, on balance, that the standards required to dismiss employees have swung past a point of reasonable balance. The rights of workers must be protected. But if Windsor-Lee was not entitled to dismiss a disobedient and disruptive staff member, what rights do employers still retain?
— Victoria Times Colonist
Seventy-four
years after the bomb
The bomb – that is, the atomic bomb – has been on my mind this week, as it was for all the world
74 years ago when Perry Como crooned: “A friend of mine in a B-29 dropped another load for luck.”
More than seven decades later, debate continues to rage about whether nuclear weapons were necessary to achieve final victory in the Pacific theatre, or if the Allies knowingly committed a heinous war crime, confident that their victims would be powerless to retaliate.
In May of 1945, Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allied forces, leaving Japan as the only Axis belligerent still standing. Ultimatums were made, but both the military junta and the Emperor refused to capitulate.
Thus, the Manhattan Project continued, giving birth to the atomic bomb, which was successfully tested on July 16, 1945. Japanese cities, left untouched by the firebombing campaign, were then chosen for the dropping of “Fat Man” and “Little Boy.”
To be clear, the destruction from napalm bombs far exceeded the toll inflicted by atomic weapons.
Gen. Curtis Lemay, who had implemented area bombing tactics in Europe, was put in charge of the Marianas B-29 bomber group, which until spring of 1945 had failed to affect the Japanese homefront. The Superfortress was a pressurized, high altitude precision bomber with $3 billion dollars in RD: Lemay turned it into a 400 MPH fly-by-night flamethrower at 5,000 ft.
The results were devastating. A single raid on Tokyo caused over 100,000 casualties. Lemay simply took a world almanac, and continued down the list of Japan’s most populated cities, demanding his crews destroy the enemy or face a court martial. Asked about his tactics later, Gen. Lemay said he knew war criminal charges would come if the Allies had lost the conflict; but there’s no arguing his Clausewitzian attitude towards modern warfare shortened it.
Long before either mushroom cloud, the tactics being used to bring Japan to its knees would
have eventually left nothing but scorched earth. Iwo Jima and Okinawa had just been taken at great cost between February and June of 1945, putting Japan within range of the bombers sitting idle in Europe. Weekly destruction would have turned into daily raids, the only limitation being how many napalm bombs could be produced and shipped out from America.
The one-two punch of nuclear fission made this strategy redundant, though it ought to be noted the pervasive myth “the Allies were out of nukes” is complete hogwash – more were being built and new targets were listed. After consulting with physicists regarding the attacks, Emperor Hirohito made the sovereign decision to surrender to the Allies, with the lone caveat that Japan’s monarchy be preserved in the post-war regime. On Sept. 2, 1945, the Second World War ended.
The resources expended throughout the Pacific War are beyond comprehension: nothing would contend with splitting the atom or designing the B-29 until the Apollo missions. Add to this the casualties – an estimated 900,000 in firebombing and 200,000 by atomic bombs – and the scope becomes truly unfathomable, especially considering this was inflicted from the air by a small number of combatants. Such costs had no precedent in humanity’s long violent history.
The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as the indiscriminate tactics used by Allied forces, permanently mar the victor’s triumph. But the intended effect came to pass: peace was concluded, and no nuclear weapons have been used since. In the end, conflict is always brutal, and the temptation to respond disproportionately is constant. Perhaps that old rule of warfare is all we can hope for: the only thing worse than a mistake is not learning from it.
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RIGHT OF CENTRE NATHAN GIEDE
Food
Cut the sugar, keep the flavour with these fruity deserts
Marcy GOLDMAN Special To The Washington Post
Do you crave dessert but prefer less sugar and, in tandem, less guilt? Do you gravitate toward recipes that bake in no time and don’t heat your balmy summer kitchen much? Then you’re in luck, because the diverse universe of quick, easy and, coincidentally, lower-sugar cobblers and crisps has you covered. Summery-souled, fruity cobblers and crisps have been around since Colonial days, when British and European settlers brought their recipes with them. Those bakers were adept at using what was seasonally copious, combining it with a few pantry ingredients for a sweet course that was satisfying and, as far as desserts go, nutritious.
The variations in toppings –crumbles, crisps, batter and biscuit dough – probably stemmed from regional and cultural preferences, as well as what a baker had on hand. Extra pie trimmings, or leftover biscuit dough, might do double duty as a cobbler top, while a nub of butter with some brown sugar and oats made a quick crisp topping. What these toppings had in common was that they were all pantry-friendly: sugar, butter, milk or buttermilk, flour or oatmeal, and a touch of cinnamon or spice.
One person’s crisp is another’s brown betty; a cobbler might be called a buckle by someone else, but there are slight differences. They are all similar desserts with different names. What they have in common is they are fruit-based, baked in a skillet or casserole, and have a topping but not a bottom.
Crisps, crumbles and betties all feature a crisp and clumpy topping of butter, sugar, flour and/or oatmeal. Cobblers are topped with a biscuit, pie dough or soft batter, with the dough or batter dolloped on top of the fruit. Buckles, the precursors to present-day coffeecakes, are similar to cobblers, but the fruit is generally folded in.
There are also a slew of derivatives – from grunts and slumps to sonkers and pandowdies – all homespun desserts of fruit and something floury and sweet to tie it all together.
At the outset, cobblers and their kin were naturally low in sugar, and palates were accustomed to the natural sweetness of fruit, which might have been sweetened with just a little sugar, honey or maple syrup. As sugar became more widely available, the national sweet tooth exponentially increased, and recipes began to echo this addiction. If you look at a cake, cookie or cobbler recipe from the late 19th century, you will find far less sugar than in those of the late 20th century. In giving these recipes a contemporary, less-sugary reboot, it was a cinch to go back to their roots and not only reduce the sugar but also find little hacks to bring out the natural sweetness of the fruit.
One trick was to precook the fruit to concentrate the sweetness. This was a breeze in the strawberry roasted rhubarb crisp, as you just scatter the rhubarb on a baking sheet with a trace of sugar and roast it to a deep-flavored, tart sweetness before adding it to the rest of the ingredients.
In other cases, using honey in place of some of the sugar helped to reduce the overall sugar. Sugar helps fruit thicken, which you can compensate for by adding a touch
of thickener, such as cornstarch or arrowroot, which is a bit more neutral in taste. Another trick I relied on was a sprinkling a scant tablespoon of turbinado sugar on top of the peach apricot buttermilk cobbler. That small amount made the cobbler a touch sweeter, sure, but also added a beautiful sparkle to the top.
Fresh fruit is always preferable, but if you make these recipes in the winter, frozen fruit (not defrosted) will work. With blueberries, I prefer to use cultivated berries, which have more pulp and make fruitier fillings. But you can also throw in a handful of wild blueberries to add a little zing.
This style of baking is just the thing when you’re pressed for time and have an overflow of farm-stand fruit – be it ripe plums, blushing rhubarb, juicy peaches, nectarines or jewel-like berries begging to be put into service.
Cobblers and crisps are essentially a baker’s mix-and-match game of a fruit filling and topping. And they’re equal opportunity fare for both confident and casual bakers. So, find a favorite fruit, match a topping and enjoy your wholesome – but still decadent –dessert.
Peach apricot buttermilk cobbler
Active: 30 minutes | Total: 1 hour 5 minutes
8 to 10 servings
This is also known as a buckle. Adding some finely minced dried apricots naturally sweetens this recipe and intensifies the taste of the peach-apricot filling. A bit of turbinado sugar on top adds sparkle and brings out the country flavor of this summery cobbler. The fruit caramelizes slightly while the topping puffs up and turns golden with a texture somewhere between a scone and a biscuit. For a deeper Southern flavor, replace half the flour with cornmeal.
Ingredients
For the filling 1/2 cup (65 grams) dried apricots
2/3 cup (160 milliliters) boiling water
4 medium peaches (475 grams), halved, pitted and cut into eighths (about 3 cups)
5 apricots (400 grams), pitted and quartered (about 2 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup (60 milliliters) fresh orange juice (from 1 orange)
3 tablespoons granulated or light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 tablespoon cornstarch or arrowroot powder
For the topping
1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose or whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup (50 or 60 grams) granulated or light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine sea or kosher salt
1/4 cup (60 grams) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup (60 milliliters) buttermilk or Greek yogurt
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar
Steps
For the filling: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter or spray an 8-inch square pan.
Place the dried apricots in a small bowl and cover with the boiling water. Let stand until softened, about 10 minutes. Drain, dry and then finely mince the apricots.
In a medium bowl, mix the reconstituted apricots, peaches, fresh apricots, orange juice, sugar and cornstarch (or arrowroot powder). Gently toss to combine and transfer to the prepared baking dish.
For the topping: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Using a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, stir in the melted butter, then the buttermilk or yogurt, egg and vanilla until combined. The topping mixture will be thick and sticky.
Drop dollops of the topping over the fruit. Dust with the turbinado sugar. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the topping turns light golden brown. Serve warm.
Nutrition (based on 10 servings)
| Calories: 200; Total Fat: 6 g; Saturated Fat: 4 g; Cholesterol: 35 mg; Sodium: 115 mg; Carbohydrates:
34 g; Dietary Fiber: 2 g; Sugars: 18 g; Protein: 3 g. (From food writer and cookbook author Marcy Goldman.)
Bumbleberry crumble
Active: 25 minutes | Total: 1 hour 5 minutes
6 to 8 servings
Here is a quartet of sweet and vibrant fruits – cherries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries –collectively referred to as bumbleberry. An extra-generous crown of the crispy oatmeal topping offers a buttery, crumbly contrast to the preserve-like jammy fruit filling. In the summer, use the plentiful fresh berries, but feel free to use frozen in the winter.
Ingredients
For the topping
1 1/2 cups (145 grams) oldfashioned oatmeal
1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose or white whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup (120 grams) light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/8 teaspoon fine sea or kosher salt
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons/113 grams) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the filling
2 cups (270 grams) blackberries
2 cups (300 grams) blueberries
2 cups (250 grams) raspberries
1 cup (125 grams) pitted fresh or frozen cherries, halved
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup (67 grams) sugar
1 tablespoon mild honey
1 tablespoon cornstarch or arrowroot powder
Steps
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Generously spray a 3-quart baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
For the topping: In a medium bowl, combine the oatmeal, flour, sugar and salt. Using a pastry cutter, work in the butter until the mixture is crumbly and the butter pieces are pea-size. Stir in the vanilla.
For the filling: In another medium bowl, toss the blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, cherries and lemon juice together. Sprinkle in the sugar, add the honey and cornstarch (or arrowroot powder),
and, using a wood spoon, stir to combine. Spoon the fruit into the prepared baking dish and then top as evenly as possible with the oatmeal mixture.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until fruit starts to bubble around the edges and the topping turns golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack and let the cool for 15 to 20 minutes before serving.
Nutrition (based on 8 servings) |
Calories: 390; Total Fat: 13 g; Saturated Fat: 8 g; Cholesterol: 30 mg; Sodium: 20 mg; Carbohydrates: 66 g; Dietary Fiber: 7 g; Sugars: 35 g; Protein: 5 g.
(From food writer and cookbook author Marcy Goldman.)
Strawberry roasted rhubarb crisp
Active: 30 minutes | Total: 1 hour 10 minutes
6 to 8 servings
A little oven roasting helps to intensify the rhubarb’s tart-sweet flavor and makes the fruit jammy and tender. If you want a glutenfree version, use almond meal to replace the flour and ensure your oats are gluten-free.
Ingredients
For the fruit
3 cups (375 grams) chopped (in 1-inch pieces) rhubarb, from about 1 1/2 medium stalks
3 tablespoons light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
2 cups (300 grams) small strawberries (halved, if berries are large), hulled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons mild honey
2 tablespoons cornstarch or arrowroot powder
For the topping
3/4 cup (65 grams) old-fashioned oats
3/4 cup (94 grams) all-purpose or white whole-wheat flour
1/3 cup (75 grams) light brown sugar, firmly packed
A pinch fine sea or kosher salt
4 tablespoons (60 grams) unsalted butter
Half-and-half, for serving (optional)
Steps For the rhubarb: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the rhubarb on the baking sheet and add the brown sugar and orange juice, tossing gently with your hands to coat the pieces. Roast the rhubarb about 20 minutes, or until it has softened and juices run on the pan. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Transfer the rhubarb to a 2 1/2to 3-quart oven-safe casserole dish and add the strawberries and vanilla. Toss gently to combine, then add the honey and cornstarch (or arrowroot powder) and gently stir to combine.
For the topping: In a large bowl, combine the oats, flour, sugar and salt. Using a pastry cutter or your fingertips, work in the butter to make a rough, crumbly mixture. Spread the topping mixture evenly over the fruit. Bake 35 to 45 minutes, or until the fruit is bubbling around the edges. Transfer to a cooling rack and let rest 5 minutes before serving. Serve warm, as is, or with half-and-half. Nutrition (based on 8 servings) | Calories: 230; Total Fat: 7 g; Saturated Fat: 5 g; Cholesterol: 15 mg; Sodium: 40 mg; Carbohydrates: 40 g; Dietary Fiber: 3 g; Sugars: 21 g; Protein: 3 g.
(From food writer and cookbook author Marcy Goldman.)
THE WASHINGTON POST PHOTO BY TOM MCCORKLE
This peach apricot buttermilk cobbler has plenty of flavour, but less sugar than many deserts.
Nobel-winning novelist Toni Morrison dead at 88
Emily LANGER The Washington Post
Toni Morrison, the Nobel Prize-winning novelist who conjured a black girl longing for blue eyes, a slave mother who kills her child to save her from bondage and other indelible characters who helped transfigure a literary canon long closed to African Americans, died Aug. 5 at a hospital in the Bronx. She was 88.
Paul Bogaards, a spokesman for the publishing company Alfred A. Knopf, announced the death and said the cause was complications from pneumonia.
Morrison spent an impoverished childhood in Ohio steel country, began writing during what she described as stolen time as a single mother and became the first black woman to receive the Nobel Prize in literature.
Critically acclaimed and widely loved, she received recognitions as diverse as the Pulitzer Prize and the selection of her novels – four of them – for the book club led by talk-show host Oprah Winfrey.
Morrison placed African Americans, particularly women, at the heart of her writing at a time when they were largely relegated to the margins both in literature and in life. With language celebrated for its lyricism, she was credited with conveying as powerfully, or more than perhaps any novelist before her, the nature of black life in America, from slavery to the inequality that went on more than a century after it ended.
Among her best-known works was Beloved (1987), the Pulitzer-winning novel later made into a film starring Winfrey. It introduced millions of readers to Sethe, a slave mother haunted by the memory of the child she had murdered, having judged life in slavery worse than no life at all. Like many of Morrison’s characters, she was tortured, yet noble – “unavailable to pity,” as the author described them.
The Bluest Eye (1970), Morrison’s debut novel, was published as she approached her 40th birthday, and it became an enduring classic. It centered on Pecola Breedlove, a poor black girl of 11 who is disconsolate at what she perceives as her ugliness. Morrison said that she wrote the book because she had encountered no other one like it – a story that delved into the life of a child so infected by racism that she had come to loathe herself.
“She had seen this little girl all of her life,” reads a description of Pecola. “Hair uncombed, dresses falling apart, shoes untied and caked with dirt. They had stared at her with great uncomprehending eyes. Eyes that questioned nothing and asked everything. Unblinking and unabashed, they stared up at her. The end of the world lay in their eyes, and the beginning, and all the waste in between.”
Morrison’s Nobel Prize, bestowed in 1993, made her the first native-born American since John Steinbeck in 1962 to receive that honour. The citation recognized her for “novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import” and that breathed life into “an essential aspect of American reality.”
Morrison was “an African American woman giving voice to essentially silent stories,” Elizabeth Beaulieu, a dean at Champlain College in Burlington, Vt., and the editor of The Toni Morrison Encyclopedia, said in an interview. “She is writing the African American story for American history.”
Beyond her own literature, Morrison was credited with giving voice to black stories through her work as a Random House editor beginning in the late 1960s.
There was a “terrible price to pay,” she once remarked, for leaving the comfortable familiarity of Lorain, the Ohio town where she had grown up, for a career in an unwelcoming white society.
But she wanted to participate in the creation of a “canon of black work,” she said. While raising two sons, and while pursuing her own writing in the hours before dawn, she shepherded into print works including autobiographies of boxer Muhammad Ali and political activist Angela Davis.
“There are writers that we would not know had she not been in that very crucial position as a black woman in publishing,”
Angelyn Mitchell, a professor of English and African American studies at Georgetown University, said.
Morrison also helped anthologize the writings of African authors including Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka. She oversaw the publication of The Black Book (1974), a best-selling documentation of black life in America that included advertisements for the sale of slaves, photographs of lynchings, and images of churches and other spiritual places that had helped sustain black communities.
In addition to professorial duties at Yale and Princeton universities, Morrison was an essayist and lecturer, weighing in with withering force on race and its role in the events of her times.
One of her most provocative public commentaries came during what she saw as the persecution of U.S. President Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. In a polarizing New Yorker magazine essay, she observed that Clinton, his “white skin notwithstanding,” was “our first black president.”
“Blacker than any actual black person who could ever be elected in our children’s lifetime,” Morrison wrote in that article, published in 1998, a decade before Barack Obama, the son of a Kenyan father and a white American mother, occupied the White House.
“After all, Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald’s-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas.”
At the end of her life, her dreadlocks by then streaked with gray, Morrison often appeared to fill the role of a sage elder.
In 2012, then-president Obama awarded her the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, recognizing her for “her nursing of souls and strengthening the character of our union.”
Obama described her as “one of our nation’s most distinguished storytellers,” a judgment that was nearly unanimous among literary critics. They tussled, however, over whether Morrison was best described as an African American writer, an African American female writer or simply an American writer – and whether the label mattered at all.
“I can accept the labels,” Morrison told the New Yorker in 2003, “because being a black woman writer is not a shallow place but a rich place to write from. It doesn’t limit my imagination; it expands it. It’s richer than being a white male writer because I know
more and I’ve experienced more.”
Morrison, one of four children, was born Chloe Ardelia Wofford in Lorain, Ohio, on Feb. 18, 1931. Her parents, George Wofford and the former Ramah Willis, were transplanted Southerners. A grandfather had been born into slavery.
Morrison’s father held various jobs, including working as a car washer, a steel welder and a construction worker, and the family moved frequently.
Her mother was hopeful about the future of race relations, but her father, she wrote in a 1976 essay in The New York Times, distrusted “every word and every gesture of every white man on earth.”
Once, she recalled, he threw a white man down the steps and then tossed a tricycle toward him, believing that the man intended to molest his daughters.
“I think my father was wrong,” Morrison wrote in the Times, “but considering what I have seen since, it may have been very healthy for me to have witnessed that as my first black-white encounter.”
At 12, Morrison made the personal step of converting to Catholicism, the faith followed by a branch of her extended family, and took Anthony as her baptismal name. For short, she became Toni.
As a writer, Morrison would draw on her experiences as a child. Once, she and another black child discussed whether there was a god.
“I said there was,” Morrison told the New Yorker, “and she said there wasn’t and she had proof: she had prayed for, and not been given, blue eyes.”
She enrolled in Howard University in Washington, D.C., receiving a bachelor’s degree in English in 1953 and, two years later, a master’s degree in English from Cornell University. She soon joined the Howard faculty, where her students included the civil rights activist Stokely Carmichael.
While at Howard, she married a Jamaican architect, Harold Morrison.
They had two sons, but their marriage was an unhappy one, in part, she told the Times, because “women in Jamaica are very subservient in their marriages.”
“I was a constant nuisance to mine,” she said.
In her unhappiness, she sought escape through writing. One early story was about a black girl who longed to have blue eyes.
After divorcing, Morrison moved with her sons to Syracuse, N.Y., where she became a textbook editor before joining the Random House headquarters in New York. She said that, as an editor, she avoided the simul-
taneous release of books by multiple black authors so that reviewers, who seemed to regard works by African Americans as all of a piece, would not be enticed to dump them into a single review.
Later, as an author, she encountered some of the same prejudices.
“I was reading some essay about the ‘Black Family,’” she once recalled, “and the writer went into a comparison between one of my novels and The Cosby Show.”
The analogy, she told Time magazine, was “like comparing apples and Buicks.” Morrison rewrote her old short story as the novel The Bluest Eye in part, she said, to counter the prevailing credo of the time, “Black is beautiful.”
“When people said at that time black is beautiful – yeah? Of course,” she told the Guardian. “Who said it wasn’t? So I was trying to say... wait a minute, guys. There was a time when black wasn’t beautiful. And you hurt.”
In that book, Pecola is raped by her father, Cholly Breedlove. But even that event is complex, the result of the father’s lifetime spent in oppression.
“Miss Morrison exposes the negative of the Dick-and-Jane-and-Mother-and-Fatherand-Dog-and-Cat photograph that appears in our reading primers, and she does it with a prose so precise, so faithful to speech and so charged with pain and wonder that the novel becomes poetry,” Times book reviewer John Leonard wrote in 1970.
The intensity of her books at times attracted criticism, and no work more than Beloved. Stanley Crouch, the cultural critic, called the work a “blackface holocaust novel.”
He described Morrison as “immensely talented” but remarked, according to Time magazine, that she would benefit from “a new subject matter, the world she lives in, not this world of endless black victims.”
Outside such criticism, however, Beloved was praised as one of the most significant works of the century.
“If she wrote only Beloved, that would have been enough,” said Mitchell, of Georgetown, “because in that she is able to take her readers to a moment in American history that is unthinkable.”
In 1988, 48 black writers – among them Maya Angelou, Alice Walker and Ernest J. Gaines – placed an open letter in the Times protesting the fact that Morrison had not yet received the National Book Award or the Pulitzer Prize.
That year, the Pulitzer went to Beloved. The Nobel came in 1993.
Author Toni Morrison receives her Medal of Freedom award during a ceremony at the White House in Washington on May 29, 2012. Morrison died on Aug. 5 at the age of 88.
Knights win provincial championship
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff tclarke@pgcitizen.ca
In the biggest game of his life, Preston Weightman saved his best for last.
The Prince George Jepson Petroleum Knights used that positive energy Weightman was creating to put a lock on the BC Minor Baseball 15U bantam double A provincial championship.
His home run to lead off the fourth inning took the steam out of the Cowichan Valley Mustangs’ rally and he went on to pitch four scoreless innings the rest of the game to beat the Mustangs 15-7.
“What’s going through my mind is all the hard work we put in all season for this day, just coming through and shutting it down and getting this trophy in front of everybody,” said Weightman.
“I think it was really good that I had a chance to come in and strike everybody out and I had an impact on us winning this tournament. I finally got a good barrel today, hitting my home run. I had to stay confident all weekend because I knew I’d have my chance.” Weightman, the Knights’ regular shortstop, had been struggling at the plate in the tournament but went 3-for-5 in the final, including his timely home run, which reversed the trend just when it looking like the game was slipping away on the Knights.
The second inning produced some significant offence from both teams. The Knights scored eight in the top half to add to the 1-0 lead Weightman had given them in the first inning and the Mustangs answered with seven runs in the bottom of the second to create some nervous tension among the Knights’ spectators gathered at Nechako Park.
The Knights already had one run across in the second when Chase Martin singled into the gap between second and third to score Caleb Poitras and Tyson Ramsay. Weightman beat out a throw to
first base and got to third after Logan Dreher’s grounder to right field scored Lucas Langevin and Chase Martin, who just beat the tag at home for a 6-0 lead. Jace Hamm took over the ball from Cowichan starter Dylan Gage and the first batter he faced, Brenden Gaboury, took a golf swing at a low pitch, sending the ball on a slicing arc into the outfield for an RBI single. Noah Lank then doubled in two more for a 9-0 lead.
A couple of defensive lapses proved costly to the Knights in the Cowichan half of the inning. Poitras, the Prince George pitcher, gave up his first run on a groundout from Sel Patterson and Ben Shugar then hit a liner that got through the legs of first baseman Parker McBurnie to score another run with two Mustangs already retired. The next batter, Myles Pastuck doubled in a third run and Gage beat out a weak throw to
first for an RBI single. That set the stage for Hamm, the tournament home run derby champion, and he took a Poitras pitch over the centre field fence to reduce the deficit to 9-7.
The Knights rediscovered the pop in their bats in a three-run fifth inning for a 13-7 lead, and in the sixth Parker McBurnie delivered a two-run home run which capped the scoring.
“I’ve never been more proud of these kids, the way they handled themselves,” said Knights manager Curtis Sawchuk. “We were up with a 9-0 lead early in the game and they came back with seven and we could have easily folded but they stuck together. They’ve done everything we’ve asked of them all year.
“Preston was a guy who was just missing them all weekend, getting good swings on the bat, but he stuck to it and stayed positive and put the team before himself. He
said this was my time to win and did not let them crawl back into the game at all.”
Poitras gave up five hits and seven runs in three innings, walking just one batter. Weightman finished up with five strikeouts.
“He came in and shut the door and he saved me,” said Poitras. “His solo shot got the boys pumped and we started rolling after that.”
The Knights were provincial runners-up last year and captain James Yandeau said his team did not want to settle for second-best again.
“Just that rebound from last year, to be able to win and have that feeling is crazy, it’s an amazing feeling,” said Yandeau. “Those last six outs we had to have there, that’s when the nerves kicked in but we kept talking and played good D. They couldn’t touch Preston.”
The PG Surg Med Knights ran on
to the field with the bantams for the post-game celebration, back from winning the double-A midget crown Sunday in Kelowna. It’s the first time in 32 years the bantams and midgets have won provincials in the same season.
“This feels a whole lot better than last year,” said Gaboury, the Knights catcher, who ended the fourth inning with laser from home plate to gun down Dylan Battye trying to steal second base. “Having that home crowd and having our friends come out on the field to celebrate with us was pretty special. (The Mustangs) were a great team, we just came out better on this one.”
The Knights beat the Tri City Thunder 20-9 in a semifinal playoff earlier Tuesday, while the Mustangs topped the North Langley Trappers 19-5 in their semifinal. Both teams were undefeated at 5-0 going into the final.
“The boys were a little rough out of the gates and it was hard to bounce back. The game was a little more well-matched from that point,” said Mustangs head coach Trevor Bull.
“We played these guys twice in Kamloops and got them both times but this time they had our number and good on ‘em, they’re a really good ball club and I’m looking forward to competing against them next weekend in Chilliwack.”
The Knights and Mustangs will both be back on the field Thursday in Chilliwack for the Baseball BC provincial championship. The winner of that 10-tear-tournament will represent B.C. at the Western Canadian championship in Strathmore, Alta., Aug. 15-18.
“I sure hope we have two tournaments left in us because the confidence coming from this is just going to boost us,” said Weightman. Weightman has been picked for the Baseball BC U-15 all-star team, while McBurnie made the Baseball BC U-14 select team for tournaments in Washington in September.
Joshua CLIPPERTON The Canadian Press
MONTREAL — Felix Auger-Aliassime has dreamed of walking onto centre court at the Rogers Cup in his hometown. His singles debut at the tournament very nearly turned into a nightmare.
The rising Canadian tennis star got all he could handle from countryman Vasek Pospisil in Tuesday’s first round before securing a dramatic 6-2, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3) victory. Auger-Aliassime wobbled at times, but eventually got the job done in front of an adoring crowd at IGA Stadium to advance
at the US$5.7-million ATP Tour Masters 1000 series event. “I would be lying if I was saying I wasn’t scared to lose,” he said. “I was very relieved when the match was over.” Coming off what he described as his worst performance of the year at the Citi Open in Washington last week, Auger-Aliassime showed fight in the face of adversity on centre court.
“There were a lot of tough moments,” he said. “But I was able to deal with them in a good way.”
Ranked 21st in the world to equal a career-high, the Montreal native was in
complete control early, but Pospisil –205th overall and working his way into form after a long injury absence – battled in a back-and-forth second set that saw the Vancouver product ultimately grab a hardfought tiebreak. With Auger-Aliassime ahead 4-3 in the third set despite a number of unforced errors, the 29-year-old Pospisil cramped up, double faulted and sent his next shot into the net. But the 13-year pro recovered to even things up before Auger-Aliassime found himself facing a dire situation down 0-30 at 4-4. “Losing those two next points, probably
the match would have been over,” said the teen. “What else can you do than just give it all?”
That’s what he did, staying composed and responding with four straight points to go up 5-4.
“That’s something just instinctive in life,” Auger-Aliassime said. “When your back is against the wall, you usually show up with something good.”
In the tiebreaker with the partisan crowd urging him on, Auger-Aliassime fired a huge backhand passing shot with Pospisil serving to go up 4-2. — see ‘HE CAME OUT FIRING, page 10 Auger-Aliassime tops Pospisil in Canadian showdown at
CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN
Prince George Bantam AA Knights player Preston Weightman, right, celebrates a home run in the gold medal game of the BC Minor Baseball 15U bantam double A provincial championship against the Cowichan Valley Mustangs. The Knights beat the Mustangs 15-7.
CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN
Calib Poitras pitches for the Prince George Bantam AA Knights in the gold medal game on Tuesday.
‘He
— from page 9
came out firing’
The teen then pushed ahead 6-3 and sealed it when his opponent sent a shot long.
The Canadians shook hands and patted each other on the shoulder following a match that lasted two hours 33 minutes – much longer than most observers expected.
“He came out firing,” said an exhausted Pospisil, who tumbled down the rankings after eight months on the shelf with a back injury. “Physically, I could have been better... that definitely made a difference”
Ranked as high as 25th in 2014, Pospisil said it was tough having to play a Canadian – and a player from Montreal, no less – in the first round.
“It sucks,” he said with a laugh.
“It was a tough draw considering who it was, what city it was in, what country.”
The pair also played doubles together for the first time Monday, falling to a French duo in straight sets.
After doing a couple of TV interviews, Auger-Aliassime was joined on court by former Expos pitcher Claude Raymond for some tennis baseball. Montreal’s renovated Rogers Cup venue used to be Jarry Park Stadium, the team’s home from 1969 to 1976.
With the 82-year-old Raymond pitching from roughly where the mound would have been located and AugerAliassime sporting an Expos jersey, the youngster hit some balls into the crowd
to lightheartedly cap what had been a tense afternoon.
Auger-Aliassime will now take on 19th-ranked Milos Raonic in another all-Canadian tilt in Wednesday’s second round. The 28-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., defeated France’s Lucas Pouille on Monday.
The pair have only played once before, a 6-4, 6-4 decision that ended in Raonic’s favour 17 months ago at Indian Wells.
But a lot has changed since then.
“I have the confidence that I can win against these type of players,” AugerAliassime said.
“I’m not as nervous stepping on these big courts.
“The overall trust in my game is much different ... we’ll see what I can do.”
Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont. – a 20-year-old ranked 32nd – also won his first-round match Monday and will meet No. 2 seed Dominic Thiem of Austria on Wednesday.
The women’s side of the Rogers Cup bracket is being played in Toronto. The tournament alternates between the cities every year.
Set to turn 19 on Thursday, Auger-Aliassime came into the afternoon showdown with Pospisil having already won 28 matches this season, including a 12-4 record in his past four tournaments.
He’s reached three ATP finals in the past six months, but is still looking for that first title.
In other action Tuesday, 2014 U.S.
Open champion Marin Cilic advanced with a 6-3, 7-6 (6) victory over qualifier Bradley Klahn of the United States. Seeded 14th in Montreal, Cilic made the quarterfinals at last year’s Rogers Cup in Toronto before falling to eventual champion Rafael Nadal.
Hard-hitting American John Isner, the No. 12 seed, also moved on with a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6) win over Australia’s Jordan Thompson.
Germany’s Alexander Zverev, the 2017 Rogers Cup champion in Montreal, and Australia’s Nick Kyrgios, who won last week in Washington, headlined Tuesday’s evening action in their respective matches.
Zverev is ranked No. 7 in the world and seeded third. Kyrgios is ranked 27th. Nadal, the world No. 2 and top seed at this edition of the tournament, is the clear favourite with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer skipping the event.
After getting a bye, the Spaniard opens Wednesday in the second round against qualifier Daniel Evans of Great Britain.
Auger-Aliassime entered Tuesday with a 2-0 record against Pospisil – the last of three Canadian wild-card entries to be bounced in the first round.
He beat Pospisil, who lost the 2013 Rogers Cup semifinal to Raonic in Montreal, at Indian Wells last year and again in the first round at Wimbledon in July.
“I used the crowd in my favor today,” Auger-Aliassime said.
“We had a great battle.”
Rays erase deficit, beat Blue Jays
Dick SCANLON The Associated Press
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Kevin Kiermaier scored the winning run on a wild pitch with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning Tuesday night and the Tampa Bay Rays came back from a six-run deficit to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-6.
Kiermaier led off the 10th by stretching a hit into a double off Buddy Bosher (0-2), and scored the game-ending run after a walk and Willy Adames’ bunt. First baseman Brandon Drury fielded the bunt and threw to third in an unsuccessful attempt to force Kiermaier. After two strikeouts, Bosher’s pitch to Austin Meadows bounced through catcher Danny Jansen and Kiermaier scored. Diego Castillo (2-6) got the win after one inning of relief.
Avisail Garcia, Willy Adames and
Meadows hit two-run homers off Blue Jays starter Trent Thornton in the fourth inning, quickly erasing a six-run Toronto lead.
Meadows’ homer was his 19th of the season, and his third homer and sixth hit in seven career at-bats against Thornton. It was the third time in the last four Blue Jays-Rays meetings in which a team came back from a deficit of six or more runs to win.
Andreescu downs Bouchard
Melissa COUTO The Canadian Press TORONTO — Bianca Andreescu and Eugenie Bouchard started exchanging messages over Instagram when they found out they’d be playing each other in the first round of the Rogers Cup. Any nerves about the all-Canadian matchup were set aside when Bouchard told the 19-yearold Andreescu: “Let’s put on a show.”
Under the lights at centre court, they did just that.
Andreescu, who grew up in nearby Mississauga, Ont., defeated Bouchard 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 Tuesday night in two hours nine minutes in front of a packed Aviva Centre crowd that seemed to be rooting for both players.
“We were actually saying how cool it is that Felix (Auger-Aliassime) and Vasek (Pospisil) were playing each other in the first round (in Montreal) and then me and her, and that’s good for Canadian tennis,” Bouchard said. “I was like ‘yeah, let’s just put on a show out there. And she was like ‘yeah, let’s go.”’
Andreescu, in her first match since re-aggravating a shoulder injury at the French Open in May, started slow but finished strong to take the match.
She won the deciding point when Bouchard sailed a return wide. Andreescu, who had been animated throughout the match, replied with a subdued fist pump before hugging her Fed Cup teammate at the net.
She won 69 per cent of her first-service points, converted 6-of-12 break points and saved 4-of-8.
But Andreescu looked to be in trouble early on.
Bouchard, of Westmount, Que., broke Andreescu in the match’s opening game and set the tone for the first set. Then Andreescu responded impressively with three breaks in second.
And she took her game to another level from there.
“She started really smacking the ball in the second set and just shows what a good player she is,” Bouchard said. “She has a lot of good power on her balls when she hits it well.”
When Andreescu ran into trouble midway through the third, double-faulting twice to give Bouchard a break and tie it 3-all, she responded by breaking right back, firing a forehand winner past Bouchard and screaming into the crowd. Andreescu wasn’t sure exactly what triggered the turning point. Things just started to click.
“In the first set I was a bit nervous. I’m not going to lie,” Andreescu said. “But I shook those nerves and I tried to refocus for the second set.
“And I stuck to the right tactics. I made sure to put pressure right from the start of the point, and I think that’s what I really did today.”
The win was Andreescu’s second against Bouchard this year.
She crushed her compatriot 6-2, 6-0 en route to a tournament title in Newport Beach, Calif., in their only other career meeting.
She will face Daria Kasatkina in second round Wednesday afternoon. Kasatkina advanced by upsetting No. 12 seed Angelique Kerber on Monday night.
The 27th-ranked Andreescu had a rapid rise up the rankings earlier this year after a great start to the season, highlighted by her title at a big tournament in Indian Wells, Calif.
But Andreescu had played just one match since March because of the shoulder injury, which she said wasn’t bothering her on Tuesday.
“I haven’t felt this strong in a while,” she said.
Bouchard, a former world No. 5, has slipped to No. 112 in the rankings after winning just two matches at the WTA Tour level this year. She was given a wild card into the Rogers Cup, a tournament that she’s historically not done well in.
The 25-year-old Bouchard has advanced past the second round just twice in nine main-draw appearances at the WTA Premier 5 event. Her best result was a third-round appearance in Montreal in 2016.
But Bouchard said she gained a measure of confidence by taking Tuesday’s match to three sets.
“She’s a great player, so to battle with her till 6-4 in the third gives me confidence and just motivates me to work even harder,” Bouchard said.
PHOTO
Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada returns to compatriot Vasek Pospisil during first round of play at the Rogers Cup tennis tournament on Tuesday in Montreal.
Electric vehicle sales up since introduction of federal rebate program
Mia RABSON The Canadian Press
OTTAWA — Canada’s new rebate program to help make electric cars cheaper appears to be showing early signs of stimulating sales but mostly in the two provinces that require a minimum number of electric car sales.
On May 1, Ottawa began offering rebates of up to $5,000 on the purchase of some electric vehicles in a bid to bring the cost of lower-end models closer to that of their gas-powered cousins.
Announced in the March budget, the incentives are part of Ottawa’s goal to increase sales of electric cars to 10 per cent of all vehicles sold by 2025, 30 per cent by 2030 and 100 per cent by 2040.
Last year, electric and plug-in hybrids accounted for about two per cent of total vehicle sales.
Matthew Klippenstein, an engineer who began tracking electric vehicle sales a few years ago on his website Canada EV Sales, said they accounted for four per cent of all vehicle sales in May and June.
It’s still a tiny share – the Ford F-series pickup trucks alone accounted for seven per cent of all vehicle sales – but it is rising. And Klippenstein said the federal rebate “has definitely increased sales in the past couple of months.”
Transport Canada reports that more than 14,000 electric cars and minivans were bought nationwide using the rebate since May 1.
Transport Canada reports that more than 14,000 electric cars and minivans were bought nationwide using the rebate since May 1. The department, which is overseeing the rebate program, also said overall electric vehicle sales were up 30 per cent between January and June, compared to the year before.
But Klippenstein said there is one caveat to the data. More than eight in 10 of the electric vehicles sold in May and June, were sold in British Columbia and Quebec.
Those are the only two provinces that have a provincial rebate – Ontario did until last year when Premier Doug Ford cancelled it after being elected – and both allow their rebate to be combined with the federal one for even greater savings.
Even more important to the sales distribution is that both B.C. and Quebec require dealerships to sell a certain percentage of electric
cars, Klippenstein said. If they don’t meet the quotas they have to either pay a fine or buy credits from competitors who exceeded their quotas.
Klippenstein said there is still a limited supply of electric cars and those the automakers are sending to Canada are going to B.C. and Quebec first to make sure dealerships hit their quotas. Dan Woynillowicz, policy director at Clean Energy Canada, said there is still work to do to install public charging stations in the provinces that have never had a rebate. The lack of that infrastructure is contributing to lower sales there. Transport Canada hasn’t yet been able to provide further details about what kinds of cars were the most popular purchases or sales numbers by province.
The federal rebates are available for fully electric vehicles whose lowest-end model retails for less than $45,000, or $55,000 for vehicles that have seven or more seats like minivans. Up to $5,000 is available, with fully electric vehicles bought outright or leased for at least four years eligible for the maximum. Shorter-range plug-in hybrids or fully electric cars leased for shorter times are eligible for rebates between $625 and $3,750 depending on the length of the lease and the type of vehicle.
Disney earnings no fairy tale
Mae ANDERSON The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Disney is feeling some pain from its biggest transformation in decades as its acquisition of Fox’s entertainment businesses contributed to a 39 per cent drop in earnings.
CEO Bob Iger said one of the biggest issues affecting earnings was underperformance at the Fox movie and TV studio.
Tuesday’s results, the first complete quarter with Fox’s businesses included, missed Wall Street’s expectations. Disney’s shares fell three per cent in aftermarket trading.
The Fox studio was “well below where we hoped it would be when we made the acquisition,” Iger said during a conference call with analysts.
Particularly underperforming was Dark Phoenix, a Fox X-Men movie that failed to find its audience. That offset box office successes such as Avengers: Endgame.
Disney completed its $71 billion acquisition of Fox’s entertainment business in March, putting Cinderella,The Simpsons, Star Wars and Dr. Strange under one corporate roof. The deal paved the ways for Disney to boost its streaming ventures, with the addition of Fox videos. In May, Disney also gained full control of Hulu after Comcast sold its stake in the streaming service.
Iger said it would be two years before Disney can have an impact on the Fox films in production.
“We’re all confident that we’re going to be able to turn around the fortunes of Fox live action and you’ll see those results in a couple of years,” he said.
Disney also spent more money on its ESPN Plus and upcoming Disney Plus streaming services. And its results were hurt by taking control of Hulu, including a $123 million charge as it lowered its estimated valuation of the service.
rising tensions between the U.S. and China. The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 122.17 points or 0.75 per cent at 16,149.49 after hitting an intraday low of 15,994.28 points. The market was closed Monday. The largest single-day decline since late June followed “carnage” suffered south of the border, said Mike Archibald, Associate Portfolio Manager with AGF Investments Inc. “I would say Canada is actually holding up better than I would have expected today,” he said. U.S. markets were down about two per cent over two days after rebounding by about 1.3 per cent Tuesday on the heels of dropping up to 3.5 per cent Monday.
“So all things considered that’s not too bad from yesterday’s action,” Archibald added. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial gained 311.78 points Tuesday at 26,029.52. The S&P 500 index was up 37.03 points at 2,881.77, while the Nasdaq composite was up 107.23 points at 7,833.26.
Markets sold off after the Chinese devalued its currency Sunday night in response to U.S. threats to impose 10 per cent tariffs Sept. 1 on US$300 billion of imports. That’s in addition to 25 per cent tariffs currently applied to US$250 billion worth of imports. Devaluing the yuan allows imports from China to remain competitive globally while also hurting U.S. exports.
Markets partially rebounded after the Chinese didn’t devalue its currency during the daily rate setting Monday evening as much as some feared.
The Toronto market didn’t fare as poorly as U.S. markets because of the makeup of the Canadian benchmark, with more exposure to materials that benefited from higher gold prices. Materials rose 1.3 per cent as the move to safety by investors pushed Yamana Gold Inc. up 9.1 per cent, followed by Kinross Gold Corp. at 6.1 per cent. The December gold contract was at US$1,484.20 an ounce, up US$7.70 from Monday and the September copper contract was $2.56 a pound, up 1.35 cents.
“The defensive sectors in Canada are significantly outperforming what the U.S. sectors did yesterday, so it’s really the reason why you’re seeing the significant outperformance on a two-day basis.”
CP FILE PHOTO
A car is charged at a charge station for electric vehicles on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 1. Transport Canada data shows more than 14,000 electric vehicles were purchased in Canada during the first three months of the federal government’s new rebate program.
SHAW, Allen Lee
April 13, 1958 - July 18, 2019
Allen will always be remembered for his passion with motorcycles and fast cars. He is survived by his mother Lee Shaw; brother Brian (Maria) Shaw; and sister Judy Dotzlaf. Thank you to Allen’s CMHA and HN caregivers and friends over the years.
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Charmaine (Cheri) Marquette
Loving Wife, Mother, Sister, Aunt and Friend. Cheri , 49, of Prince George BC, passed away peacefully on Thursday, August 1, 2019 after a brief, intense battle with cancer. She was surrounded by her loving husband, children and family. A celebration of life service will be held at 1:00 pm, Saturday, August 10 2019 at Croatian Hall, 8790 Old Caribou Hwy. Cheri was born August 1, 1970 in Prince George where she lived all of her life. Cheri was loved and respected by everyone. Her family was everything to her. She was kind, fun-loving, generous and brightened the life of everyone who knew her. She was hard working and would help anyone in need without being asked and expected nothing in return. Cheri is survived by her loving husband Tracy, son Tyler, daughter Haley, sister Lana, brother Curtis and mother Diane Hilgersom. She was preceded in death by her father William Hilgersom.
Gross Revenues of $150.000 plus annually from seasonal work Lots of opportunity to expand the business. Transition support available to the right buyer Serious Enquiries Only Office 250-596-9199 Cell 250-981-1472
