Sierra Cook from the Prince George Public Library introduces her friend Mr. Squirrel to children at Storytime in the Garden on Thursday morning at the Bob
in the Garden is every Thursday from 10:15 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. in the Knowledge Garden beside the
Nick EAGLAND Vancouver Sun
B.C.’s new parliamentary secretary for forests says he is up to the challenge of helping repair a devastated industry.
Ravi Kahlon, MLA for North Delta, was appointed to the position late last month. He joins Forests Minister Doug Donaldson and his deputy minister, John Allan, as they work to support the sector through layoffs, mill closures and curtailments.
Timber companies continue to consolidate and close operations in the face of a dwindling allowable annual cut, following years of increased harvest because of the pine-beetle epidemic.
In the first seven months of 2019, three B.C. mills closed and another 19 have announcement curtailments and shift reductions, according to the forests ministry.
An estimated 3,984 workers have been affected.
Kahlon said the terrible situation triggers memories of his own family struggling after their local mill closed when he was a child.
Next week, he will begin travelling to affected communities to learn what challenges they face and unique solutions they seek.
The ministry has been meeting with workers to assess their needs and with forestry companies to discuss responsibilities such as supporting workers close to retirement and finding new jobs for others, Kahlon said.
Kahlon joins a team which includes Larry Pedersen, B.C.’s chief forester from 1994 to 2004, who the province has contracted to evaluate the affect of mill closures and provide advice regarding tenure sales that may arise under Bill 22.
The bill, enacted in May, requires forest firms to obtain government approval and consider public interest before transferring cutting-rights agreements to another party. A $60-million proposal made by Canfor and Interfor will be the first tested by the new policy. Pedersen is also providing guidance to executives at both firms.
“I think this work, to be honest, would have been great to have happening a long time ago,” Kahlon said.
“But it’s very important that we get at this now and that communities feel like they have a voice in the future.”
Kahlon said he is outraged the B.C. Liberals didn’t do more to protect the industry while in power, given that it received a report in 2015 describing a grim future for Interior mills following the mountain pine beetle.
A copy of the Murray Hill Consulting report, recently obtained by Postmedia, shows that the authors forecast the eventual closure of at least seven mills to al-
low remaining mills to operate at a “reasonable” level, and of up to 13 mills to allow the rest to operate at close to capacity.
The blaming goes both ways.
“They say we ignored the problem,” said opposition critic John Rustad.
“Sorry for using language but that’s just B.S.” Rustad, the B.C. Liberal MLA for Nechako Lakes, said the previous government had a strategy to create diversification in forestry-dependent communities. Before the last election, the ministry made plans to meet with communities and discuss transitioning efforts starting in the summer 2017, but that plan was dropped by the new government, he said.
But there’s plenty the province can do now including updating stumpage fees monthly, rather than quarterly, to more closely align with fluctuating market conditions, he said.
The province could also hire workers and contractors for wildfire risk management and ask the federal government for urgent support, Rustad said. He pointed to a letter co-signed last week by 21 northern B.C. mayors calling on Ottawa to provide assistance to affected communities and transitioning workers.
“Quite frankly, I’ve been shocked that they (the B.C. government) have been absent on the file,” he said.
“They’re running around talking about the Interior revitalization and it’s great that they’ve appointed a parliamentary secretary, but we’ve got the community of Fort St. James declaring a state of financial emergency – I don’t think there’s ever been a community that’s done that before.”
Cheryl CHAN Vancouver Sun
Plastic bags are soon to become a thing of the past at B.C. government liquor stores.
The B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch is planning to eliminate its distinctive, thicker-than-grocery-store plastic bags in favour of paper bags.
“We’re committed to minimizing the impact of our operations on the environment, and to providing customers with checkout bags that are manufactured responsibly and widely recyclable,” said spokeswoman Viviana Zanocco.
The Liquor Distribution Branch is one of the largest retailers and distributors of alcoholic beverages in Canada, with annual sales of $3.5 billion. It also hands out about 22 million plastic bags a year. It’s currently looking for suppliers that can meet the branch’s requirements for paper
bags, which could be offered to customers for the charge of an “environmental fee,” according to a request for proposal issued earlier this month.
Among the requirements: the bags have to be approximately 16 to 17 inches in height, 9.75 inches in width and six inches in depth; be made of natural kraft paper; be 100 per cent recyclable and compostable; and more importantly, for practical purposes, be capable of carrying a load of 7.5 kilograms without breaking. That’s equivalent to six bottles of wine or a six-pack of beer and two bottles of wine.
The switch would apply to all 197 government-run liquor stores in B.C. Stores in five municipalities, including Tofino, Victoria, Ucluelet, Salmon Arm and Cumberland, have already switched to paper bags, said Zanocco. — see ‘I THINK, page 3
The stage is almost set for the Cariboo Rocks the North festival this weekend. Eleven bands will perform over three days at the Exhibition Grounds. Gates open today at 5 p.m. with Lee Aaron hitting the stage at 6 p.m., Streetheart at 7:15 p.m. and Trooper at 8:30 p.m.
Citizen staff
Northern Development Initiative Trust has approved over $500,000 in grants for economic development projects across northern B.C.
In all, four projects will receive support through NDIT’s economic diversification program with the North Peace Airport Society getting the largest amount at $250,000 for runway rehabilitation at the airport in Fort St. John.
Pavement on one of the airport’s two runways has not been upgraded in over 20 years is on routes for three commercial carriers.
The next-largest grant is $125,000, which will go Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine to equip the newly-built Upper Skeena Recreation Centre in Hazelton.
Specifically, the money will go towards meeting room equipment, bench seating, bleachers, floor covering, fitness mats, among
LANGLEY — A Langley dairy farmer is at a loss to explain why someone would shoot several arrows into a five-day-old calf, ensure it was dead and then make off with the carcass.
Erin Anderson, who co-owns Eagle Acres Dairy with her husband, says they came out to “a bloody scene” in the early morning of Aug. 1 and believed a coyote may have taken the calf.
other assets.
NDIT has previously provided $250,000 for the initial construction of the USRC.
The Metlakatla First Nation near Prince Rupert is receiving $79,094 to repair three suspension bridges and a 72-foot viewing tower on the 21-kilometre Metlakatla Wilderness Trail.
The trail has been closed since 2015 due to safety concerns following a severe storm. It drew more than 1,000 visitors per year when it was opened. Re-opening is slated for May 2020.
And $76,760 is goint to the Williams Lake Indian Band for renovations to the Elizabeth Grouse Gymnasium, including new flooring, new air conditioning and heating systems, commercial grade kitchen equipment and new bathroom fixtures.
The next deadline for applications is Oct. 31.
But the couple had recently installed closed circuit video cameras and instead of seeing an animal, they watched a man and woman enter the barn and shoot the calf with four to six arrows. The video shows the man pulling out one of the arrows and using it to stab the animal repeatedly, then putting the dead calf in the trunk of a BMW and driving away.
Representatives of a Montrealbased lumber producer will be in the Central Interior next week seeking to recruit sawmill workers for their operations in Ontario and Quebec.
Over the course of three days, EACOM Timber Corp. woodlands operation supervisor Sam Haystead and production superintendent Pat Toupin will be travelling to six communities.
Here’s a closer look at their schedule: • Monday: Chetwynd WorkBC Centre, 4757-51st Ave.,11:30 a.m.
to 2 p.m.; Mackenzie WorkBC Centre, 540 Mackenzie Blvd., 4 to 7 p.m.
• Tuesday: Fort St. James WorkBC Centre, 242-250 Stuart Dr., 9 a.m. to noon; Quesnel WorkBC Centre, 100-488 McLean St., 5-8 p.m.
• Wednesday: Williams Lake WorkBC Centre, 201-172 2nd Ave., 9 a.m. to noon; Clearwater, Clearwater Lodge, 331 Eden Rd., 5-7 p.m.
EACOM owns seven sawmills –five in Ontario and two in Quebec – a remanufacturing facility in Quebec and an engineered I-joists plant in Ontario, for a total of 1,100 employees. Its head office is
located in Montreal, with regional offices located in Timmins, Ontario and Val-d’Or, Quebec.
“While EACOM Timber Corporation is not immune to the industry climate, our wood basket in Northern Ontario and Quebec has benefited from more stable conditions,” the company said in a news release. “We are mindful that many workers may be looking for a fresh opportunity to pursue their careers.”
Haystead and Toupin will be offering applicants guaranteed interviews For more information, go to www.EACOM.ca/opportunities/.
‘I think it’s great. It’ll be good for the environment’
— from page 1
“The response from customers has been very positive,” she said. Those paper bags can already hold a weight of 7.5 kilograms without breaking. They don’t have handles, and Zanocco said there is likely no paper bags with handles that have the required tensile strength. They are slightly shorter than the request for proposal specifications.
The liquor distribution branch has not set a timeline for the switch, which partly depends on how quickly a supplier can be finalized and production ramped up. At a downtown Vancouver B.C. liquor store, an unscientific poll of departing customers revealed about half opted out of plastic bags, tossing their purchases into their own bags, either cloth bags or an existing plastic shopping bag.
I don’t trust it. If it rains, the paper will get all soggy and it’ll fall apart.
— Everett Markus
“I think it’s great. It’ll be good for the environment,” said Erica Pizzacalla, who said she wouldn’t mind paying a small fee to use a paper bag.
Everett Markus, who was returning his empties to the store, expressed concern about how paper bags might hold up in typical Vancouver weather.
“I don’t trust it. If it rains, the paper will get all soggy and it’ll fall apart.”
The best solution, he said, is to
BYOB – bags, that is.
Eddy Mascarenas, who owns a recycling company, agrees. While he thinks the switch to paper bags is overdue, he says people should bring their own reusable bags.
“That’s the best way to do it.”
At Toby’s Liquor Store, an independent retailer on Commercial Drive, the store is using up the last of its plastic bags as it transitions to paper.
It had switched to purely paper bags for a few weeks, but are now sourcing a better bag, which it wants to be compostable, recyclable, biodegradable, sturdy and with handles, said manager Rhonda Martens.
“Once the customers get accustomed to it, it becomes the norm,” she said.
“Many have remarked that the paper bags are great for using in their compost bins as liners. I think it’s all about perspective.”
Citizen staff
Conifex Timber Inc. said Thursday that it is extending the temporarily curtailment of its Mackenzie sawmill for a further three weeks due to continued high log costs and lumber market conditions. The curtailment, which began July 29, will now last until Sept. 3, the company said in a statement.
“We regret the impact that the curtailment will have on our employees and the commu-
nity,” said Conifex CEO Kenneth Shields.
“We are exploring initiatives with the Ministry of Forests, Land, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, the District of Mackenzie, and other forest industry stakeholders to help enable us to sustain operations through the remainder of 2019.”
The curtailment is now expected to reduce Conifex’s British Columbia lumber output by about 25 million board feet in the third quarter.
Liberals warned of political perils from launching EI
The Canadian Press
OTTAWA — Newly released documents show the Liberals were warned on the eve of an election year about the political consequences of fulfilling a fouryear-old campaign promise to review the employment insurance system.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had asked one of his senior ministers to conduct a sweeping review of the social safety net program to come up with ways to adapt EI to changing labour force demands.
The program hasn’t had a review in more than two decades, during which time it has become more complex while the number of people qualifying for benefits has dropped.
Documents provided to Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos late last year warned about how a detailed review could up the pressure on the Liberals to enact very costly changes to the program. In the documents, dated from December and obtained by The Canadian Press, officials wrote that reconciling and managing conflicting priorities from stakeholder groups would be challenging.
Although the Liberals didn’t launch a review as promised, Duclos’ office says the government is always looking for ways to improve the EI system.
Brenna OWEN
The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER — Unprecedented smoke from British Columbia’s wildfires in 2017 is helping scientists model the potential impacts of nuclear war on the Earth’s climate, says a study from Rutgers University.
The enormous plume of smoke formed the largest cloud of its kind ever observed, which circled the Northern Hemisphere, says the study published Thursday in the peer-reviewed academic journal Science.
The cloud, called a pyrocumulonimbus, formed over the wildfire and sent black carbon high into the atmosphere, said the study’s co-author Alan Robock, a distinguished professor in the department of environmental sciences at Rutgers in New Jersey.
The scientists used a climate model from the National Center for Atmospheric Research in the U.S. to forecast the movement of the dark cloud high into the Earth’s stratosphere, where there is no rain, Robock said.
“This smoke that lofted up, that’s what our climate models told us would happen if we put smoke in (the model) as a result of fires from burning cities and industrial areas as if there was a nuclear war,” said Robock.
The smoke lasted more than eight months in the stratosphere,
where there is no rain to wash it away, the study said.
When soot heats up and extends higher into the stratosphere the process is known as self-lofting, it said.
“We had never observed it actually happen,” said Robock.
“This natural occurrence validated what we had done before in our climate models, so it gave us more confidence that what we were doing was correct.”
The team of researchers, including Robock, plugged the data from the B.C. wildfires into their software and successfully compared the real and the projected results, validating their ongoing climate modeling.
Robock has been studying and modeling the potential impacts of a so-called nuclear winter since 1984. Even a relatively small nuclear war between India and Pakistan would, for example, send soot into the stratosphere, causing unprecedented climatic cooling, he said.
“The temperatures wouldn’t get below freezing in the summer like they would with a war between the United States and Russia. But it would still have devastating effects on agriculture around the world, far removed from where the bombs were dropped,” said Robock, who added that global cooling as a result of nuclear war is by no means a solution to the global heating occurring today.
In the case of nuclear winter resulting from a nuclear war between large superpowers, Robock said temperatures would dip below freezing in the summertime and stay there for years, causing starvation as agriculture grinds to a halt around the world.
The wildfire smoke cloud contained 0.3 million U.S. tons of soot, while a nuclear war between the United States and Russia could generate 150 million tons, Robock said. It was the consensus on nuclear winter between both Soviet and American scientists that encouraged the de-escalation of the nuclear arms race in the second half of the 20th century, Robock said.
Robock said he hopes the modeling of the climatic consequences of nuclear war will help convince countries to sign the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
There are currently 24 signatories to the treaty, which was adopted by the UN in July 2017 and is meant to be a legally binding mechanism to prohibit nuclear weapons and work towards their elimination worldwide.
Fifty countries must sign on to the treaty before it can come into force.
To date, neither Canada nor any of the nine countries known to be in possession of nuclear weapons have signed the treaty.
Mia RABSON The Canadian Press OTTAWA — Canada will not be spared the impact of food shortages and price shocks if global warming is not kept below two degrees Celsius, a new report on land use and climate change suggests.
The report, released Thursday by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, delivers stark warnings about the need for drastic changes to agricultural practices, human consumption habits and forestry management to prevent an escalation in the climate-change-related floods and forest fires that could lead to a global famine.
The Paris climate change agreement is straining to keep global warming below 2 C and as close to 1.5 C as possible, and Thursday’s report is the third in 10 months to lay bare the consequences if it fails. It also comes a week after the planet experienced its hottest month ever in July, following the warmest April, May and June on record.
At warming above 1.5 C, the report predicts periodic food shocks, significant and widespread melting of permafrost and an increase in the length of wildfire seasons.
Above 2 C, there will be sustained disruptions in food supplies all around the world, widespread increases in wildfire damage and detectable losses of soil and vegetation that can be attributed to climate change.
It is projected that for every degree of global warming, the world’s yield of wheat will fall six per cent, corn by 7.4 per cent, and rice and soybeans both by a little more than three per cent each.
Together those four crops account for two-thirds of the calories consumed by people, and with the population growing by 80 million people each year on average, the world needs to produce more food, not less.
Werner Kurz, a senior research scientist at Natural Resources Canada and one of two Canadi-
Joanna SMITH
The Canadian Press
OTTAWA — The federal ethics watchdog has launched an investigation into allegations that Liberal MP Joe Peschisolido failed to update his public records when the Law Society of B.C. took control of his law firm earlier this year. Ethics commissioner Mario Dion confirmed in a letter to Conservative MP Peter Kent, who requested the inquiry, that he is looking into the matter.
Federal ethics rules require MPs to report any material changes to their investments and other private interests within 60 days.
The disclosure summary for Peschisolido, the MP for the Vancouver-area riding of StevestonRichmond East, still lists him as the sole owner of the Peschisolido Law Corporation, even though the Law Society of B.C. appointed a custodian to wind up the real estate law practice in April.
Peschisolido, who also resigned from the bar last year, issued a statement saying he is co-oper-
It is projected that for every degree of global warming, the world’s yield of wheat will fall six per cent, corn by 7.4 per cent, and rice and soybeans both by a little more than three per cent each.
ans among 108 scientists who co-authored the report, said he doesn’t think most people understand the magnitude and pace of climate change, but he also said he believes reports like Thursday’s must be used to deliver potential solutions, not just nightmares.
“As scientists we need to be careful in sort of communicating doomsday scenarios because if we create a fearful world, then inaction will be the consequence,” he said. “People will be paralyzed and fearful.
“What instead this report is trying to do – and I hope is successful in achieving – is to, yes, lay out the consequences of inaction, but also then highlight the many opportunities we have for action and the co-benefits this has for livelihoods, for water.”
Kurz said to slow global warming, people need to burn fewer fossil fuels and improve how land is used, so that it not only contributes fewer greenhouse emissions, but also absorbs more of them.
The report suggests agriculture, forestry and other land use activities contributed almost one-quarter of the greenhouse gas emissions produced by human activity between 2007 and 2016.
That includes changing human diets to be more plant-based and less meat-based, because plant-based proteins require less farmland.
ating with the investigation but cannot comment further.
“I am fully co-operating with the inquiry and have the utmost respect for the office and the process of the ethics commissioner,” the statement said, adding that he is currently working on a response to Dion’s request for more information.
“I am unable to elaborate at this time as I have been requested by the ethics commissioner to keep this confidential.”
Kent based his complaint on reporting by Global News, which published a story about the role the Richmond, law firm had played in a real estate transaction, called a ‘bare trust’ deal, involving an investment in a condo development by an alleged kingpin in a Chinese drug cartel.
Such deals are legal, but have come under scrutiny as B.C. grapples with a money laundering scandal blamed for skyrocketing real estate prices.
Peschisolido, who was first elected as a Liberal MP in 2000, is seeking re-election this fall.
‘There’s been so much tragedy,’ mayor says in wake of manhunt
Dirk MEISSNER The Canadian Press
PORT ALBERNI — The mayor of a Vancouver Island town that was home for two deceased murder suspects expressed her sorrow Thursday for the nationwide tragedy that resulted in five deaths.
Port Alberni Mayor Sharie Minions said the grief is local, national and worldwide.
“We very much just want to express our condolences,” said Minions outside city hall. “There’s been so much tragedy that has happened in this situation. Locally, certainly people are feeling it, but across the country and across the world.”
Medical examiners in Manitoba are working to confirm the bodies of Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, were found in the province’s northern wilderness, ending a Canada-wide pursuit for the two who were suspected in three killings in British Columbia.
McLeod and Schmegelsky were charged with second-degree murder of Leonard Dyck, 64, of Vancouver, whose body was found on a highway pullout in northern B.C. Police have also linked the pair to the deaths of Australian Lucas Fowler, 23, his 24-year-old American girlfriend, Chynna Deese, although charges haven’t been laid in that investigation.
“It has been a difficult few weeks for the community,” Minions said. “From the teens being missing to it being released they are suspects, the search, and now this part of the conclusion. This is definitely not what we had hoped for in terms of an outcome. A lot of people in the community have struggled with how to handle the news.”
She said there is concern for the local relatives of McLeod and Schmegelsky, the families of the victims and the impact the ordeal has had on people and communities across Canada.
Sarah Mackie said she felt overwhelming emotion for the families of the two suspects and the town of Port Alberni as it attempts to comprehend what has happened.
“It’s a good town,” said Mackie, outside a local McDonald’s restaurant. “There’s a lot of sadness because we’re never going to know why. Who’s going to talk?”
Marilyn Hill, who was preparing to teach a Tai Chi class along Port Alberni’s harbour waterfront, said she was concerned about the town getting known for violence when “we’re really good.”
“Those are two individuals who made a misstep somewhere in their lives,” she said.
“The rest of us are trying to do the best we can and be as kind as possible. From my perspective those two boys were lost. They were lost somewhere and the safety net
OTTAWA (CP) — Canada’s ambassador to Washington is leaving his post.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says in a statement this morning that David MacNaughton will leave the job at the end of the summer.
Trudeau says MacNaughton will return to the private sector in Toronto.
Kirsten Hillman will become Canada’s acting ambassador to the United States, having served as deputy ambassador since 2017.
Trudeau says MacNaughton has earned every Canadian’s gratitude for his work in Washington.
VICTORIA (CP) — A pair of tourists visiting northern B.C. had a terrifying close encounter with a black bear recently.
Nicole Caithness, a conservation officer with the BC Conservation Officer Service, says the couple stepped out at a common tourist pullout on the South Klondike Highway just south of the Yukon boundary on July 29.
She says they took their dogs for a walk on leash and happened upon a lone black
We don’t know what caused this, what might have led to it. The important thing is how we move forward now.
— Mayor Sharie Minions
wasn’t there.”
Minions downplayed speculation the two men were involved in violent video games and may have been involved with or influenced by ultra-right ideologies.
“It’s difficult to speculate at this point because there’s so little information with what has happened now and we might not get the answers that we’ve all been really hoping for,” she said.
“We don’t know what caused this, what might have led to it. The important thing is how we move forward now.”
Minions said concern that violent video games can influence youth development is widespread and fears about the impact of racism goes beyond Port Alberni.
“At this point, we don’t want to speculate on what it is or is not,” she said. “We know as a community we have work to do, like other communities.”
Minions said early childhood education programs and expanded activities for youth are viewed as positive investments.
The McLeod and Schmegelsky families have not been available for comment since the discovery of the two bodies.
Schmegelsky’s father, Alan Schmegelsky, said in an interview days after the police search started that his son had struggled because of his parents acrimonious split in 2005 and that his son’s main influences had become video games and YouTube.
“He wants his hurt to end. They’re going to go out in a blaze of glory. Trust me on this. That’s what they’re going to do,” he said in a July 24 interview with The Canadian Press.
He said his son asked for an airsoft gun for Christmas two years ago and he bought it so Bryer and his friends could “battle” each other in the woods.
RCMP said last month they were investigating allegations that Bryer Schmegelsky sent photographs of a swastika armband and a Hitler Youth knife to an online friend. Schmegelsky said his son wasn’t a Nazi sympathizer, but thought the memorabilia was “cool.”
The photographs also showed the young man in military fatigues, holding an airsoft rifle and wearing a gas mask.
bear as it came out of a ditch.
The bear attacked one of the dogs and then the man jumped on the bear and began punching it, but Caithness says the bear remained focused on the dog until both bear and man rolled into the ditch.
The bear bit the man, who managed to escape and get help at the Carcross Health Station in Yukon.
Yukon conservation officers later attended the area and destroyed the bear.
The last several federal censuses show how Prince George is an island onto itself in the Central Interior.
While the city’s population growth has been small or flat, the surrounding communities have been steadily declining in numbers, as the forestry and resource development sectors have gone through significant changes.
The only rural locations outside of Prince George seeing sustained population growth has been in First Nations communities.
As the regional hub, Prince George has been significantly shielded from the decline of the neighbouring small towns. Prince George is blessed with a regional hospital, a university, a college, a refinery and an airport, along with service centres for the federal and provincial governments and the head offices for the regional district and Northern Health.
Combine that with the headquarters for numerous private sector companies that provide goods and services to clients throughout the region, as well as in the
Southern Interior, Vancouver and out of province and country.
Add in the pull on area residents to come to Prince George to shop at WalMart, Costco and other stores not available in outlying communities. Factor in special events in Prince George, like this weekend’s Cariboo Rocks The North, drawing residents from several hundred kilometres in every direction.
Long gone are the days when what’s good for Prince George is also good for our rural neighbours.
That outdated notion is as ridiculous as what’s good for Vancouver is also good for Prince George.
Area residents coming to Prince George for post-secondary education, specialized health care or to see their favourite classic rock band in concert is easier than having to go to Vancouver but it still means having to leave their communities.
Not only is Prince George a smart choice to live for Central Interior residents who want to remain in the region while having easy access to urban amenities, it is an alluring destination for residents of Kelowna, Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton
looking to escape their lengthy commutes and crazy home prices for a more laidback lifestyle and cheaper cost of living while making only moderate sacrifices on weather and amenities.
Prince George is especially attractive to young families and retired with its affordability, professional opportunities and arts and culture offerings.
While the curtailments and closures in the forest sector affect Prince George and local residents, the impact is far less than it is with our neighbours, where the question isn’t so much how the community will cope but how will the community survive.
The three pulp mills are an essential part of the local economy but a production slowdown is a minor blip.
The unemployment rate remains low, the construction sector is booming, and real estate is steady, both in prices and sales, while many business owners remain optimistic, not just in words but in their decisions to hire staff and expand operations.
A potential $5.6 billion petrochemical plant, along with a new LNG pipeline and
Britain’s Royal Society held that there was insufficient understanding of the enhanced melting and retreat of the ice sheets on Greenland and West Antarctica to predict exactly how much the rate of sea level rise will increase above that observed in the past century for a given temperature increase. The Royal Society did not deny global warming is occurring but admits no one cause can be assigned to it.
According to Eric Post of Penn State University – the lead author the International Polar Year research of 2007/08: ‘’the Arctic as we know it may soon be a thing of the past.” And “temperatures across the Arctic are estimated to be increasing two or three times faster than those in the rest of the planet.” These statements are backed by recorded facts.
A 1990 study by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found that there was a lack of warming in the troposphere in the tropics. However, the latest paper in 2011, reviewed 195 cited papers, climate model results and atmospheric data sets and found that
the troposphere is warming.
A 2013 paper published by Boston University, in Nature Climate Change, held that it’s long been known that climate change is proceeding more quickly in the Arctic than anywhere else – about twice the global average. Most of the warming that’s happening in the Arctic is taking place in winter with somewhat less happening in spring and fall and the least in the summer.
Using satellite data, the team found the change that’s already happened is equivalent to about five degrees of latitude. They then averaged 17 different climate models to suggest that, by the end of the century, Victoria Island will have the same temperature profile as Wyoming. In 2016, researchersconfirmed the widespread release of ancient carbon from melting Arctic permafrost under Arctic lakes.
Scientists have long known that permafrost contains vast quantities of carbon in dead plants and other organic material, about twice as much as the entire atmosphere. They hold that the increasingly warmer Arctic may eventually reach a permafrostcarbon tipping point. Scientists
estimate there are more than 1,400 petagrams of old carbon stored in permafrost. Each petagram is a billion tonnes. Global warming is occurring worldwide, but why is there such a marked increase in acceleration rate in the Canadian Arctic? The only marked difference that is noticeable between Antarctica and the Arctic is the number of international flights using the Arctic as corridors. The airplane exhaust is a visible layer of smog that is compatible with the altitude used by those flights. Could the seasonal curtailment of sunlight allow these warmed pollutants to drop down to the surface and is this the trigger responsible for the accelerated surface melting that occurs mostly in winter?
The final question has to do with the Paris Accord and Canada’s commitment to it. Who does Environment Minister McKenna expect to pay the carbon tax levied on the massive amounts of greenhouse gases being released? Would she hold both of the two local governments and their resident citizens responsible or bill the airlines that made them?
Abe Bourdon Clinton
LETTERS WELCOME: The Prince George Citizen welcomes letters to the editor from our readers. Submissions should be sent by email to: letters@pgcitizen.ca. No attachments, please. They can also be faxed to 250-960-2766, or mailed to 201-1777 Third Ave., Prince George, B.C. V2L 3G7. Maximum length is 750 words and writers are limited to one submission every week. We will edit letters only to ensure clarity, good taste, for legal reasons, and occasionally for length. Although we will not include your address and telephone number in the paper, we need both for verification purposes. Unsigned or handwritten letters will not be published. The Prince George Citizen is a member of the National Newsmedia Council, which is an independent organization established to deal with acceptable journalistic practices and ethical behaviour. If you have concerns about editorial content, please contact Neil Godbout (ngodbout@pgcitizen. ca or 250-960-2759). If you are not satisfied with the response and wish to file a formal complaint, visit the web site at mediacouncil.ca or call toll-free 1-844-877-1163 for additional information.
shipping facility in Kitimat, bode well for the city’s future. Yet Prince George shouldn’t get too comfortable as there are looming clouds on the horizon.
The city, like the province and the country, is aging rapidly and faces a huge challenge over the next 10 years as the bulk of the baby boomers retire. Prince George has not seen enough growth among the number of young professionals to fill all of those vacant positions in both the private and public sector.
Has local government prepared for the number of homeowners claiming the seniors discount on their city taxes? And if UHNBC has to put patients in the hallways now due to overcrowding, what will happen over the next five to 10 years?
The predictions about a significant decrease in forest sector activity across B.C. have come true but Prince George hasn’t been too hard hit yet.
If the predictions about the effects of the retirement of the baby boomers also come to pass, Prince George might not be so fortunate.
— Editor-in-chief Neil Godbout
In early June, a tweet by Justin Trudeau garnered more than 3,000 “likes” and almost 700 replies.
In the succinct message, which linked to an online news story, the Canadian prime minister celebrated the fact that the country had “the lowest unemployment rate on record.”
Social media provides an irretrievably biased assessment of how many humans and some “bots” can react to the effect of policies depending on which party they support or their contempt towards a political leader.
Replies to Trudeau’s “lowest unemployment” tweet offered the usual miscellany of congratulations and provocative memes.
In a survey conducted by Research Co. last month, 19 per cent of Canadian voters said “the economy and jobs” is the most important issue facing Canada –on par with “health care” (19 per cent) and higher than the environment (16 per cent), housing, homelessness and poverty (13 per cent) and immigration (11 per cent).
Economic concerns are more prevalent in Alberta, a region where the governing Liberal Party is not expecting major gains in this October’s federal election.
Still, the ability to point to data that shows a low unemployment rate could be helpful in establishing Trudeau as a good economic manager on the campaign trail.
When Research Co. asked a representative sample of Canadians just how much credit Trudeau deserves for the country’s low unemployment rate, three in five respondents (60 per cent) said that the prime minister deserves “all of the credit” (12 per cent) or “some of the credit” (48 per cent).
This majority of Canadians who appear to endorse the prime minister’s economic management climbs to 65 per cent in Quebec and 63 per cent in British Columbia.
These are two crucial provinces that the incumbent Liberal Party will need to connect with in the leadup to the election.
The survey also provides an opportunity to evaluate Canada’s political divide.
While 81 per cent of Liberal voters in 2015 think Trudeau deserves “all” or “some” of the credit for the low unemployment rate, the proportion falls to 54 per cent among those who supported the New Democratic Party (NDP) in 2015 and just 37 per cent among those who voted for the Conservatives.
The U.S. president has also used social media in an effort to delin-
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eate his economic record.
In early May, Donald Trump tweeted a link to a story from CNBC that quoted the “lowest unemployment rate since 1969.”
As was the case with Trudeau, the replies had a bit of everything, including praise for the policies of Trump’s predecessor and gloating statements from red hat wearers.
Americans were also asked by Research Co. to discuss their views on job creation and their commander-in-chief.
Some numbers were not too dissimilar to what was observed in Canada, with only 12 per cent of Americans thinking Trump deserves “all of the credit” for the country’s low unemployment rate. A significant proportion of U.S. citizens (45 per cent) say that the current president deserves “some of the credit” for this result.
This means that a majority of Americans (57 per cent) tend to express positive views of Trump’s management of “jobs and the economy,” including 64 per cent of Republicans, 53 per cent of Independents and 50 per cent of Democrats.
Conversely, 43 per cent of Americans believe Trump does not deserve “much of the credit” (17 per cent) or deserves “no credit at all” (26 per cent) for the current state of affairs when it comes to jobs.
The proportion of Americans who suggest Trump should definitely not be gloating about the unemployment rate reaches 35 per cent among those aged 18 to 34, 31 per cent in the West and 38 per cent among Democrats. In Canada, “no credit al all” for Trudeau is highest in Alberta (29 per cent) and among Conservative voters in the last federal election (31 per cent).
So, for all the talk about the polarization of U.S. politics, the unemployment rate is an issue where some Canadian voters are less willing to commend the incumbent government.
In spite of all of the reasons that Democrats have to be upset with Donald Trump, half of them appear to begrudgingly acknowledge that jobs have not been lost under his watch.
In Canada, fewer than two in five Conservative voters offer the same assessment of Justin Trudeau’s efforts, even if both countries hover around record lows.
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Geoff EDGERS
The Washington Post
Elvis was terrified. The contracts had been signed, the audience was packed with celebrities – Cary Grant, Ann-Margret, Sammy Davis Jr. – and billionaire Kirk Kerkorian had flown in a slew of critics on his private jet.
Backstage at Kerkorian’s International Hotel in Las Vegas, Elvis Presley told guitarist James Burton, who had put together the backing band for the singer’s return to the stage, that he couldn’t perform.
“He hadn’t been onstage in nine years,” says Burton, 79. “He said, ‘James, I don’t know if I can go out there. I don’t know if I can walk out there and do this, man.’ I said, ‘Sure you can. Just walk out there and don’t even pay attention to the audience. Just sing to us, man. Make it like a jam session in the Jungle Room at Graceland.”
Elvis, who was 34, would take the stage that last day of July 1969, and his 57-show run at the International would punctuate his comeback, launched after a decade of dreadful movies and his electrifying NBC special late in 1968. Today, Sony is releasing an 11-CD set from that run, showcasing Presley at a crucial juncture, in strong voice and performing dazzling versions of early staples while introducing such latter-day hits as Suspicious Minds and In the Ghetto.
Now, 50 years later, we spoke with three who were there – Burton, singer Darlene Love and veteran journalist Robert Christgau. There was talk, early on, of Elvis bringing back Sun sessions guitarist Scotty Moore and drummer D.J. Fontana for the Vegas run. But Moore ran a successful studio of his own and complained that the $500-a-week offer was too low. Elvis then called Burton. The Louisiana-born Burton was a teenager when he played on Dale Hawkins’s 1957 hit Susie Q. He then backed Ricky Nelson.
Burton: Elvis said, “Man, I watched you on the Ozzie and Harriet TV show. I said, “You got to be kidding.” The king of rock ‘n’ roll watching me on TV playing guitar? And you know, he laughed. He wanted to come back. He wanted to go do live shows. He got tired of doing movies for nine years and he said he wanted to get back onstage with a live band and just go for it. He missed playing live to the fans.
The band that Burton formed would include drummer Ronnie Tutt and bassist Jerry Scheff, and it became known as the TCB Band.
Burton: Well, Elvis actually came up with that – taking care of business – and that became its logo. Also, he came up with the idea of TLC – tender loving care – for the ladies. But for the guys, TCB, when we walk onstage, when we sing and when we play, it’s taking care of business, man, straight ahead.
One of highlights of the set would be Elvis’ performances of Mystery Train and Tiger Man.
Burton: Just the tempo was so cool and everything and that little guitar riff thing behind the song. And then the solo and everything. Very similar to the original record, but a little more energy, a little more up. And then he jumped into Tiger Man and that was kind of a surprise, so we went with it. And that gave me a chance to do some more chicken picking.
In 1969, Iron Butterfly, Led Zeppelin, the Who, the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix ruled the charts. And in August, in the midst of Elvis’ Vegas run, hippies would gather on a farm in upstate New York for Woodstock. Kerkorian wanted to make sure Elvis’ comeback was noticed and flew in a group of music critics for the show, including the late Nat Hentoff, the New Yorker’s Ellen Willis and the Village Voice’s Robert Christgau.
Growing up, Christgau was not an Elvis fan. But he had been impressed with Presley’s return to the Top 10 in April with In the Ghetto.
Christgau: It was a major hit that made a pass at a show of conscience and political consciousness. We understood that Elvis Presley was a credible interpreter of the black popular music of the early ‘50s. That much we knew. It was more that he’d fallen away to a greater extent. In the Ghetto really changed the tone of who he was, and it made the notion that he was making a comeback far more acceptable within counterculture-oriented people, which was most rock critics, all rock
critics.
Singer Darlene Love had performed on Elvis’s 1968 TV special with the Blossoms. They were asked to back him in Vegas but were already booked. Still, Love made it to see the show on opening night. Presley took the stage in a black jumpsuit.
Love: He was trim, all right. He looked good. That’s why he was able to wear that body suit ... and he was a, what do you call it, a black belt. So he actually did those kind of moves while he was onstage. The crowd responded as soon as Elvis took the stage. The screams can be heard during the set. And for Burton, the excitement led to an unexpected challenge: the musicians couldn’t hear one another.
Burton: The audience went nuts. He walked out there, and all you could hear was screaming and hollering and clapping. We only had monitors onstage for his voice, but we couldn’t hear each other... And man, it was amazing. It makes you think, how did these guys play together?
Love: Elvis was the one that started that leaning over the stage, you know, taking their handkerchiefs, and whatever else they had they gave him, and wiping his face off with them. So you probably would hear their screams louder than you would hear anybody else’s because he had the microphone in his hands. But it was like that all over the audience.
Christgau’s review, in the Village Voice, was a rave. “It was
A documentary from Leonardo DiCaprio about electric car racing, a look at a controversial yoga teacher dogged by sexual misconduct claims, and a Drake-backed feature about immigrants who served in the U.S. military only to be deported, are headed to the Toronto International Film Festival. Festival organizers said Thursday that the 25 films chosen for this year’s non-fiction slate include And We Go Green, produced by DiCaprio and directed by Fisher Stevens and Malcolm Venville; and Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator, directed by Eva Orner. Drake’s project, Ready for War, is executive-produced by the Toronto rapper along with Future and David Ayer, and directed by Andrew Renzi. A TIFF publicist says the production is bound for the U.S. broadcaster Showtime but there’s no word yet on a Canadian outlet.
Documentary programmer Thom Powers said this year’s collection tackles themes including artistic achievement, immigration, environmentalism, and resistance against corrupt leaders. It also touches on several high-profile figures including Truman Capote, Merce Cunningham, and Imelda Marcos. The section will open with The Cave from Oscar-nominated director Feras Fayyad, about an underground hospital in war-torn Syria. Lighter fare includes Bryce Dallas Howard’s documentary debut, Dads, about fatherhood – featuring her own famous dad, Ron Howard – and Gabe Polsky’s Red Penguins, billed as a comic tale about U.S. hustlers bringing NHL-style hockey to Moscow.
Programmers also announced the 10-film lineup in the Midnight Madness section, typically dedicated to horror, off-beat comedy and quirky genre fare. They include an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s Color Out of Space, directed by Richard Stanley and starring Nicolas Cage; and Joko Anwar’s Gundala, based on Indonesian superhero comic books.
The late-night slot will open with Jeff Barnaby’s previously-announced Indigenous zombie film Blood Quantum and closes with Isaac Nabwana’s Crazy World, billed as “gonzo action flick” and a celebration of the Ugandan film movement Wakaliwood.
“This year’s selections challenge the traditional parameters of genre and shock cinema, but – most excitingly – half of the lineup’s wicked provocations are courtesy of filmmakers making their feature-film debut,” lead programmer Peter Kuplowsky said Thursday in a release.
First-timers include Galder GazteluUrrutia’s sci-fi film The Platform, Rose Glass’s psychological thriller Saint Maud, and Andrew Patterson’s paranormal period piece The Vast of Night.
Other documentary picks include: Alan Berliner’s Letter to the Editor, about photojournalism; Barbara Kopple’s Desert One, chronicling a mission to rescue hostages in Iran; Thomas Balmes’ Sing Me A Song, about a monk in Bhutan who forms a long-distance relationship via his smart phone and Alex Gibney’s Citizen K, which profiles Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who turned against Russian president Vladimir Putin.
he wrote. “We were cheering before we had fully comprehended what had happened.” He was struck by Elvis’s betweensong banter, which the singer filled with self-deprecating jokes and sarcasm.
Christgau: He had a distance from it. I always liked the ironic distance, and Presley definitely had that... Elvis Presley was a very intelligent person. He wasn’t well educated, but he was smart, so he knew what was going on.
Burton: He would just tell stories about things that we had never heard, which is kind of funny onstage. You had to watch him every minute because he may jump into a song or a different song. And we had him covered, man. We
watched him like a hawk. After the run, Presley began touring and would return to Las Vegas repeatedly. But that first night, Love says, the audience knew things had changed. Elvis Presley was back.
Love: A lot of times, as soon as the show is over, people start leaving, especially in Vegas. They go back out and start gambling. But everybody moved very slowly. I think they were letting it all sink in – what happened that night, what happened at that show... and the whole idea that Elvis was on and he was back. I don’t think there would ever be another moment like that. Everybody has their moment, and that was Elvis’ moment.”
Glenn KESSLER
The Washington Post
“How many more people have to die before we reinstate the assault weapons ban & the limit on highcapacity magazines & pass universal background checks? After they passed in 1994, there was a big drop in mass shooting deaths. When the ban expired, they rose again. We must act now,” wrote former U.S. president Bill Clinton in a tweet on Monday.
In the aftermath of the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Clinton renewed a call to reinstate the assault weapons ban that he signed into law in 1994. It was in place for 10 years until President George W. Bush let it lapse.
Even supporters of the law acknowledged that it was riddled with loopholes, such as allowing copycat weapons to be sold, that limited its effectiveness. A 2004 study for the Justice Department found that the ban’s impact on gun violence was mixed, at best, because of exemptions written in the law; if the ban were renewed, the “effects on gun violence are likely to be small at best and perhaps too small for reliable measurement.” The report said that assault weapons were “rarely used” in gun crimes but suggested that if the law remained in place, it might have a bigger impact.
In 2013, we gave Clinton Three Pinocchios for incorrectly claiming “half of all mass killings in the United States have occurred since the assault weapons ban expired in 2005, half of all of them in the history of the country.” But here, his claim is a bit more nuanced – that there was a “big drop” in mass shooting deaths during the ban, and then deaths rose after it expired. Is this claim more credible? Let’s take a look.
Angel Urena, the president’s spokesman, was quick to supply the source of the president’s claim – a paper published in January 2019 in the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery.
(We should note there is no standard definition of a massshooting incident, though the study relied on four or more deaths, not counting the shooter. Contrary to popular perception, there is no FBI definition of a mass shooting, though the FBI defines a mass murderer as someone who kills four or more people.)
The authors, led by Charles DiMaggio, a professor of surgery at NYU Medical Center, studied mass-shooting data from 1981 to 2017 that were common to three open-source sets of data. They concluded that assault rifles accounted for 430, or 85.8 per cent, of the 501 mass-shooting fatalities reported in 44 incidents but that there were nine fewer mass-shooting-related deaths per 10,000 homicides during the federal ban period. Assuming the calculations were correct, the authors said an
assault weapons ban would have prevented 314 of the 448, or 70 per cent, of the mass-shooting deaths during the years when the ban was not in effect.
That’s an interesting finding, but the study has been disputed. In a letter published by the journal, Louis Klarevas, a research professor at Teachers College of Columbia University, said that the “authors misidentified the involvement of assault weapons in roughly half of the incidents.” He wrote that “when the erroneous cases are re-calibrated, the number of incidents involving assault weapons drops 62 per cent from 34 to 13, and the number of fatalities resulting from such shootings drops 46 per cent from 430 to 232.” He also said one incident did not qualify for inclusion because it involved three shooting deaths, not four.
In a response that will be published, the authors said: “We make no claim to have retroactively determined whether these guns would have been illegal under the original statutory language. We question Dr. Klarevas’s claims to be able to do so.” Klarevas told The Fact Checker that he stood by his conclusion that “they conflate many semiautomatic firearms with assault weapons.” As he put it, “assault weapons are by nature semiautomatic, but semiautomatic firearms are not necessarily assault weapons.”
Klarevas, who defines a gun massacre to be six or more deaths, says his own research for the book Rampage Nation, however, backs up Clinton’s statement. Compared with the 10-year period before the ban, the number of gun massacres during the ban period fell by 37 per cent, and the number of people dying from mass shootings
fell by 43 per cent. But after the ban lapsed in 2004, the numbers in the next 10-year period shot up again – a 183 per cent increase in mass shootings and a 239 per cent increase in deaths.
“I assessed only high-fatality mass shootings when I examined the impact of the federal assault weapons ban. I did not have comprehensive data on mass shootings that resulted in less than six killed, which is why my assessment is limited to high-fatality mass shootings,” he said in an email. “My data-set of high-fatality mass shootings shows that the federal AWB seems to have had an impact in reducing the frequency and lethality of gun massacres.”
Another expert who has assembled a database on mass shootings is Grant Duwe, director of research and evaluation for the Minnesota Department of Corrections. Duwe also has concerns about the DiMaggio study, in addition to the points raised by Klarevas.
He said they did not statistically control for any other rival causal factors that may have influenced mass-shooting deaths, he questioned the statistical technique they selected, and he said it was “odd” to restrict the cases to only those appearing in three data sets.
His own data set shows there were 95 more cases (139 vs. 44) from 1981 to 2017 and more than twice as many fatalities (1,014 vs. 501).
DiMaggio acknowledged that the researchers discovered one data set, from the Los Angeles Times, “was limiting the cases, but having set this restriction a priori we felt obligated to adhere to our analysis plan.”
Duwe provided The Fact Checker with a spreadsheet of mass shootings from 1976 to 2018.
Duwe defines a mass public shooting as an incident in which four or more victims are killed publicly with guns within 24 hours – in the workplace, schools, restaurants and other public places – excluding shootings in connection with crimes such as robbery, drugs or gangs. (Note that this would exclude a number of “mass murders” that sometimes get lumped into the data, such as the Beltway sniper who killed 10 people over a three-week period in 2002.)
But beside just looking at raw numbers, Duwe examines trends on a per capita basis, both the incidence and severity (total number of victims) of mass public shootings . Finally, because there are some big fluctuations in the data from year to year, he includes a “moving average” to help clarify the direction of trends over time.
(His spreadsheet included both a three-year and five-year moving average.) For instance, in 1999, the Columbine High School massacre caused a spike in the annual numbers, for a mass public shooting fatality rate of 19.07 per 100 million. A five-year average smooths that out to 7.49.
“When we look at the attached data, especially the charts, there’s not strong support for the notion that the per capita incidence was much lower during the late 1990s and early 2000s,” Duwe said.
“There’s more support, however, for the idea that the per capita severity (the rates at which victims were killed or shot in mass public shootings) was lower during this period of time. But what’s even clearer from the data is that there has been an increase in both the incidence and severity of mass public shootings (on a per capita basis) since the latter part of the 2000s.”
Still, Duwe says it remains it an open question whether the somewhat lower severity in public mass shootings during the 1995-2004 period was the result of the ban.
“No single observational epidemiological study, ours included, can establish causality,” DiMaggio agreed. “But what we can say, and what our study shows, is that fewer people in the U.S. were killed as a result of mass shootings during the ban period.”
Another developing area of research is the effect of lifting the ban, which included limits on high-capacity magazines.
Christopher S. Koper, an associate professor of criminology at George Mason University, was the author of 2004 DOJ study, referenced above, that concluded the impact of the law was mixed.
“One thing that has changed from my prior writings is that we have accumulating evidence on the effects of lifting the old federal ban,” Koper said.
He, along with colleagues, has documented a recent rise in the use of high capacity semiautomatic weaponry across a number of local and national data sources on crime guns. His recent work “suggests that the spread of these types of weapons may have greater impacts on shootings than suggested by my earlier research,” he said.
Koper said it was a “more subtle and nuanced policy argument,” but “collectively, I think these studies underscore the old federal ban’s preventive value in capping and gradually reducing the supply of assault weapons and largecapacity magazines, despite its limitations.”
The assault weapons ban existed for only 10 years, and there are relatively few mass shootings per year, making it difficult to fully assess its impact. Definitions also matter.
The DiMaggio study cited by Clinton’s spokesman appears to be missing many cases and mislabeled some weapons. Clinton’s case appears to become stronger when high-fatality (six or more) shooting incidents are studied, such as by Klarevas, compared with the more common four deaths or more.
Duwe’s research, which adjusts for population and also looks at five-year moving averages, suggests only a slight dip during the ban.
We frequently remind readers that correlation does not equal causation. Clinton cited a “big drop in mass shooting deaths” during the ban, but that’s going too far. Given the way the results shift depending on what mass shootings are catalogued and studied, Clinton should not be so definitive.
We wavered between One and Two Pinocchios, but ultimately leaned toward Two. There’s increasing evidence the ban may have had some impact – but at this point it should not be overstated.
The Canadian Press
LIMA, Peru — Sage Watson won gold in the women’s 400-metre hurdles Thursday as Canada continued to pile up track and field hardware at the 2019 Pan American Games.
Watson, from Medicine Hat, Alta., ran to gold in a season-best time of 55.16 seconds. Anna Cockrell of the United States was second in 55.50 seconds and Rushell Clayton was third in 55.53 seconds.
The result was appealed after the race, but Watson was confirmed the champion after a lengthy review.
“I felt very confident going into it,” Watson said.
“I just trusted myself and I just went for the win. I am just went for it. And I knew that something I had to do if I wanted to get a medal and I’m just so excited and happy to come away with the win.
“I made a few mistakes, but overall, you know, when you’re running to win, it doesn’t matter as long as you get across that line.”
Earlier, William Paulson earned a bronze medal in the men’s 1,500 metres while Alysha Newman finished third in women’s pole vault.
Paulson, from Quebec City, finished in a time of three minutes 41.15 seconds, behind Mexico’s Jose Carlos Villarreal (3:39.93) and John Gregorek of the United States (3:40.42)
“I had gold in my mind, absolutely,” Paulson said. “I made my move on the back straight and tried to make a long run for it. The gap opened up and I just went for it.
“Coming into the home stretch I thought I had it but obviously I didn’t quite hold on in the last 30 meters. I’m a little disappointed but obviously super happy to get a medal.” Newman, from Delaware, Ont., who came into the Games having set two Canadian records, finished third with a vault of 5.55 metres. Cuba’s Yarisley Silva Rodriguez
finished first at 4.75, followed by Kathryn Nageotte of the United States at 4.70.
“It was a pretty strong headwind so I think a lot of the girls just try to sit and wait as long as they could to get either a tail or a tail wind. So I guess that’s what was the only thing we really adjust,” Newman said.
“We did bring like all our bed stuff, sheets and stuff from the village and we layered up so that was good. I guess Canadians were used to the cold so it wasn’t too bad.”
Canada has seven athletics medals (three gold, four bronze) so far in Lima.
Meanwhile, Larissa Werbicki and Jessie Loutit captured Canada’s first rowing medal of the 2019 Pan American Games with a second-place finish in the women’s coxless pairs.
Werbicki, of Saskatoon, and Loutit, of Fort Simpson, NWT, finished in a time of seven minutes 36.06 seconds, behind Chile’s Melita Abraham and Antonia Abraham (7:31.44). Mexico was third in 7:46.04.
“We adjusted our race plan to go a bit faster off the start because we knew the Chileans had a fast start,” Werbicki said.
“We took the start a bit more aggressive and we found ourselves in second place coming through the 1000 and we were pretty relaxed about that.”
Werbicki and Loutit’s are making their Pan An debut. Thursday’s silver is Loutit’s first international medal. Werbicki previously won silver at the 2014 world junior championships and bronze at the 2014 youth Olympic Games.
In other rowing results, Luc Brodeur of St. Catharines, Ont., and Graham Peeters of Omemee, Ont., finished sixth in the men’s double sculls in their first senior racing competition. Brodeur and Peeters reached the A final after winning their Men’s Double repechage on Tuesday with a time of 6:26.77.
Layla Balooch of Burnaby, B.C., and Toronto’s Shannon Kennedy came sixth in the
women’s double sculls final.
Montreal’s Alexia Zevnik finished second in the women’s 100-metre freestyle in 55.04 seconds, .87 seconds behind winner Margo Geer of the United States.
“I think it was an all around good race,” Zevnik said. “It’s a great environment out here in Peru and it’s just trying to have fun. That was a close call, second through to sixth, and it was fun.”
Jade Parsons of Orillia, Ont., won the bronze-medal match of the women’s 53-kilogram event, beating Ecuador’s Luisa Valverde 6-3. Parsons was a late addition to Canada’s wrestling team after an injury to Diana Weicker.
“Well, it was definitely a surprise. I found out that I was coming on Friday and by Saturday I was here,” Parsons said. “Luckily, everyone at home was super supportive and I felt as ready as I would have been if I had come earlier or would have known earlier. I prepared as best as I could for this situation.
“It’s unfortunate that Diana couldn’t make it but I’m very happy that it was me that was the alternate because this experience has been fantastic.”
Canada advanced to the women’s semifinals with a 22-3 win over Venezuela. Montreal’s Krystina Alogbo led the way with five goals on seven shots. Canada faces Brazil in Friday’s semis.
The men’s team also advanced to the semifinals with a 13-11 win over Mexico. Reuel D’Souza of Port Coquitlam had four goals on six shots and Nicolas Bicari of Repentigny, Que., added four goals on eight shots.
Canada’s women’s foil team took silver after losing 45-39 to the United States in the final.
“It’s a little bittersweet,” Calgary fencer Alanna Goldie said.
“We’re always happy to get a medal, but we always want to win and we won last time at Toronto 2015 so it’s kind of bitter right now.”
Meanwhile, Argentina defeated Canada 45-23 in the men’s epee team quarterfinals.
Mary Parsons of Delta, B.C., had the top score of the opening round of women’s competition at 3-under 68. Brigitte Thibault of Rosemere, Que., opened at 3-over 74. Austin Connelly, a dual Canadian/American citizen who is representing Canada, opened the men’s competition with a round of 2 under 69, five shots back of leader Fabrizio Zanotti of Paraguay. Joey Savoie of La Prairie, Que., opened at 1 under.
Canada’s men’s team scored three goals from penalty corners in a 3-2 semifinal win over Chile. Canada will face Argentina on Saturday for Pan Am gold and a berth in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“We have to prepare really well, to recover. But if we come with a good gameplan, a good mentality we will get some opportunity,” said Vancouver’s Scott Tupper.
“We look to put our best foot forward and hopefully come away with a gold medal. That hasn’t been done for a while and we would like to do it this year.”
Canada’s women’s team fell to 0-2 following a 3-0 loss to the Dominican Republic.
TORONTO — Bianca Andreescu grew increasingly frustrated as her injured right shoulder forced her to sit out tournament after tournament for a large stretch of her breakout season. Turns out that time off may have done more to help than hinder the Canadian rising tennis star.
Andreescu, competing in just her fourth match since May, advanced to the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup on Thursday by edging world No. 5 Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands 6-1, 6-7, 6-4 in dramatic fashion on centre court.
“Being off for that long and coming into the Rogers Cup and getting into the quarterfinals means so much to me,” the 19-year-old Andreescu said.
“And this time off actually helped me – I figured a lot of things out – and it’s showing on court.” Andreescu won 82 per cent of her first-service points, converted on 5-of-13 break points and saved 7-of-9. She capitalized on her fourth match
CP PHOTO
performance I’ve been putting up right now,” Andreescu said. “I wasn’t expecting it, really. I had zero expectations going into this. I was just really happy to be back on court.
“But I can’t complain right now, so maybe I should just have zero expectations and everything will be fine.”
Andreescu is the fifth Canadian woman to make it to the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup since it became a hardcourt event in 1979, and the first to do it since Aleksandra Wozniak in 2012.
She was on fire early on against Bertens, earning a big break to go up 5-1 in the first set and screaming into the crowd after her winning point.
The 19-year-old started slowly in the second set, falling behind 0-3. But she saved four break points to tie it 3-all, then dug out of a second straight 0-40 hole to hold at 4-all. Bertens had her own comeback in the tiebreak, rallying from a 5-2 deficit to take it 9-7. Bertens said Andreescu was playing an aggressive game.
when Bertens hit a second straight double
delayed
to
“She was putting (on) a lot of pressure,” she said. “And yeah, she can do everything with the ball. So she made it tough today.” “She’s a really good player,” Bertens added.
— see ANDREESCU, page 10
Joshua CLIPPERTON
The Canadian Press
MONTREAL — Felix Auger-Aliassime will look back fondly on his first hometown Rogers Cup.
The roar of an adoring the crowd, the wind in his sails – quite literally at certain points – and the thrill of winning on centre court.
He’ll also no doubt rue a missed opportunity.
Karen Khachanov defeated the Montreal teenager 6-7 (7), 7-5, 6-3 in third-round action at a blustery and raucous IGA Stadium on Thursday afternoon to abruptly end to a story that felt like it was just getting started.
A rising star celebrating his 19th birthday, Auger-Aliassime pushed ahead early and appeared to have the rattled No. 6 seed on the ropes, but was undone by 12 double faults and a series of mistakes at key times.
“For sure frustrated because it was a big occasion,” he said.
“There was a lot of expectations. It’s tough to see it slip away, but there’s a reason for that.
“I still have things to improve to win these type of matches and to deal better with these type of moments.”
Victorious just six times prior to 2019, the world’s 21st-ranked player and last remaining Canadian in the men’s bracket has made three finals since February, but is still looking for his first title.
A Francophone with a chance to hoist a trophy in Quebec was always going to get a lot of attention, and Aliassime said he felt that weight build throughout the week.
“The pressure was enormous,” he said. “I can’t hide that.”
Khachanov, meanwhile, now turns his focus to the quarterfi-
nals of the US$5.7-million ATP Tour Masters 1000 series event, where the Russian will meet No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev after the German advanced with a 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 (5) decision over Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili.
“It was really a competitive match from both of us,” Khachanov said. “Felix is a great player.”
In other action, top-seed and world No. 2 Rafael Nadal, a fourtime Rogers Cup champion, defeated Argentina’s Guido Pella 6-3, 6-4 in Thursday’s evening session. The 33-year-old Spaniard won last year’s tournament in Toronto, the site of the women’s bracket in 2019.
Other men moving onto the
quarters are No. 2 seed Dominic Thiem of Austria, No. 7 Fabio Fognini of Italy and No. 8 seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia. No. 16 seed Gael Monfils of France played in the late session.
In front of a decidedly partisan gathering Thursday, Auger-Aliassime won a sloppy first set in gusty conditions that saw both players broken twice.
Tied 7-7 in the tiebreak, Khachanov sent a shot into the net on serve and then fired another ball over the second deck and out of the venue – which was home to the Montreal Expos from 1969 to 1976 – in frustration at the crowd cheering his mistakes, which led to loud boos.
— from page 9
“So it was really not a surprise for me,” Bertens added.
The win puts Andreescu at 5-0 against top-10 ranked opponents this year – including her Indian Wells final win over then-No. 8 Angelique Kerber in March for her first WTA title.
She also improved to 14-3 in three-setters this year, and 24-4 on the season overall.
Andreescu, who began the year outside the top 100 before skyrocketing to her current position at No. 27, said she wants to improve that ranking before the season is out.
“I would say my goals for the end of the year would have to be to break the top 10,” she said.
“I really believe that I can do that.”
Pliskova, meanwhile, downed No. 16-seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia 6-3, 7-5 in Thursday’s first match on centre court. She will face Andreescu for the first time Friday.
“I just saw her a little bit on
TV. So it would be interesting, of course challenging, to play her here in Canada,” Pliskova said.
Pliskova has a lot at stake at this Rogers Cup, with a chance at reclaiming the top spot on the WTA rankings with a solid run at the Premier 5 event.
Pliskova also reached the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup the last time it was in Toronto in 2017, during her seven-week run as the top-ranked player in the world. She lost to Bertens in the second round of last year’s tournament in Montreal.
Andreescu praised Pliskova’s serve, and said facing Bertens was a good warmup to her quarterfinal matchup.
“I’m going to study her, study where she likes to serve to, just so I can be ready for those return games because every point is important,” she said.
“I’m trying to get as much as I can.”
In other early play Thursday, American Sofia Kenin continued her stellar run at the tournament
with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Ukrainian teenager Dayana Yastremska. Kenin, ranked No. 29, had knocked off the top-ranked Ashleigh Barty on Tuesday to reach the third round. She will play 2017 Rogers Cup champ Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals. Svitolina, from Ukraine, defeated 2015 tournament winner Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 6-2, 6-4 in another rain-interrupted match on the grand stand.
Wimbledon champion Simona Halep of Romania, the 2018 Rogers Cup winner, beat Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 6-2, 6-1 later Thursday.
Also Thursday, American star Serena Williams took on Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova and Latvian Jelena Ostapenko played qualifier Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic. No. 2 Naomi Osaka of Japan was slated for the late match against qualifier Iga Swiatek. Swiatek upset former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in three sets Wednesday night.
“I cannot deny that I got a little bit crazy,” said the Russian. “But I’m really a bit disappointed... with the crowd as well. I don’t have anything against it when they cheer for Felix. It’s normal. He’s the home favourite.”
“I wish they could cheer the same way in Russia for me,” Khachanov, 23, added with a smile. “But still, not when I miss or not wishing me to miss, screaming during the points. It’s disrespectful.”
Auger-Aliassime sealed the set on his next serve, much to the delight of his ear-splitting supporters.
“I’ve never heard a stadium yell like this, sound like this, have an atmosphere like this,” he said. “It was incredible. At the changeover
at 6-all, I could see the people there. I was raising my fist, and I felt energy coming up my legs. “It was the first time I ever felt that.”
After three breaks apiece in the second set – thanks in large part to the wind swirling around the stadium – Khachanov broke the Canadian for a fourth time to secure a 7-5 decision that evened the match.
Khachanov, ranked No. 8 in the world, broke Auger-Aliassime again to go up 3-1 in the third set. The crowd favourite battled back to make it 4-2 as fans chanted his name, but Khachanov held serve despite going down 0-30 in the final game to seal the match in two hours 50 minutes.
Fans sang “Happy Birthday” to Auger-Aliassime after the competitors shook hands before a video featuring fellow pros –including Khachanov – passing on their greetings played on the big screens.
Auger-Aliassime, who started the year ranked 108th, advanced to Thursday’s round of 16 thanks to victories in all-Canadian matchups with Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil and Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont. Pospisil gave the teen all he could handle in the first round before Auger-Aliassime advanced following a third-set tiebreak Tuesday.
Raonic, the top-ranked Canadian at No. 19, was then forced to retire from their second-round match with things tied at one set apiece because of a back injury on Wednesday night.
Auger-Aliassime now begins preparations for the start of the U.S. Open at the end of the month, but said the experience of his first Rogers Cup in Montreal was positive – even if it ended sooner than he would have liked.
John CHIDLEY-HILL
The Canadian Press
TORONTO — Mark Shapiro can sympathize with frustrated Toronto Blue Jays fans – he’s unhappy too.
The Blue Jays president and CEO spoke with media on Thursday afternoon, and before taking questions he acknowledged that a sizable portion of Toronto’s fanbase is unhappy with a series of moves that have cleared out most of the players from the team’s 2015 and 2016 postseasons runs.
Shapiro was also clear that there was only one solution to the disconnect between the Blue Jays’ front office and its fans.
“Winning will fix everything, without a doubt. There’s no question in my mind. Ultimately that’s the only thing that will satisfy people,” said Shapiro in a Rogers Centre boardroom. “I sympathize with the frustration. No one likes to go through any period other than winning, par-
ticularly when it means changing players who people build a strong attachment to.”
The departures of starting pitchers Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez ahead of Major League Baseball’s July 31 trade deadline were particularly contentious. Although some fans understand the need to rebuild Toronto’s lineup around rookies Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, and Cavan Biggio, many felt that Stroman and Sanchez –28 and 27 respectively – still had a place on the team.
When Shapiro was asked directly if he was frustrated with the backlash, he said he also wanted the team to get back above .500.
“I just want to win,” said Shapiro. “It bothers me to lose. Terribly,” he added. “As far as anything else, you just turn that toward how much more can we do, how much harder can we work, how much more urgency can we have to get back to a winning team? That’s where my energy is focused.”
Bloomberg
Despite a cool, wet start to the growing season, the pot plants were already chest high by midJuly at WeedMD Inc.’s farm in southwestern Ontario, a region better known for producing fruit and corn than cannabis.
WeedMD is one of 13 Canadian pot companies that have been granted outdoor cultivation licenses in an industry that predominantly grows in greenhouses or warehouses. It has planted 21,000 plants on 27 acres that formerly grew asparagus, and expects to harvest more than 25,000 kg of dried pot from its outdoor operations this year, more than half its total production.
The amount of outdoor-grown cannabis will make up a small portion of the market this year – less than 10 per cent of the cultivation licenses granted in Canada are for outdoors – but many more are in the pipeline after the Canadian government changed its rules last year to allow pot farms. The appeal is clear: growing outdoors can cost as little as one-fifth that of greenhouse production and it can be marketed as being grown “au naturel” under the sun. It can also carry higher risk from pests, pesticides and weather.
“Growing outside is a dream,” said Derek Pedro, chief cannabis
officer at WeedMD, during a tour of the farm in Strathroy, about 225 km from Toronto. He said the natural changes in light and temperature outside result in “bigger, tastier, denser” buds with a better high than the same strain grown in a greenhouse.
As recently as a year ago many companies were disparaging outdoor-grown pot.
“Restricting the cultivation of cannabis to indoor facilities, both greenhouse and buildings, will ensure a safe and secure production environment,” Bruce Linton, then co-chief executive officer of Canopy Growth Corp., told a Canadian Senate hearing in May 2018, pointing to the potential for theft and low-quality product outdoors. Thirteen months after that hearing, Canopy announced it had received a license to grow outdoors in northern Saskatchewan.
Earlier opposition was “propaganda,” said Jeannette VanderMarel, co-CEO of 48North Cannabis Corp., which received one of the first outdoor cultivation licenses for a farm in Brant County, Ont., with a potential capacity of 40,000 kg. The company also has a small indoor cultivation facility and a processing and manufacturing plant.
“They’ve sunk hundreds of millions into indoor facilities and greenhouses, and it’s really tough
for them to then backtrack and say a milligram of THC is a milligram of THC, it doesn’t matter if you grow it in the Taj Mahal or outside in a field,” VanderMarel said. Growing outdoors eliminates the need for costly lighting, heating and cooling systems. VanderMarel at 48North estimated that it costs the company 25 cents a gram to grow outdoors. WeedMD CEO Keith Merker said it can grow for about 20 cents at its farm versus C$1 a gram in a greenhouse and C$2 a gram for a typical indoor site. Critics say outdoor cannabis is more susceptible to pest infestations and contamination from pesticides at neighboring farms.
Detractors also say the long Canadian winters don’t make the country ideal for growing pot, with the plant better suited to places like California, where outdoor growing is widespread.
This is why some companies are taking a cautious approach to growing outdoors. Aurora Cannabis Inc. last month received licenses for outdoor cultivation in Quebec and British Columbia, but is taking a go-slow approach to test the best growing methods and genetics before deciding on largescale farming.
“It’s sort of like two sides of the same coin: the disadvantage of outdoor is you can’t control the environment if there’s an early
frost and your crop gets hit hard and killed, but the disadvantage of indoor is you’re paying for the electricity to make sure the frost doesn’t get those plants,” said Jonathan Page, chief science officer at Aurora.
Most farm-grown pot will be used in products like edibles, beverages and vape pens, where the quality of the original plant matters less than in smokable driedflower. This means it’s likely to be the lowest-margin cannabis on the market, said Elliot Johnson, chief investment officer at Evolve ETFs, which runs the actively managed Evolve Marijuana Fund. “There’s no question about it that outsidegrown product is going to be the most commoditized part of the industry,” Johnson said. However, the crops will be produced “at a dramatically lower cost than if you grow them in greenhouses, and you can bring online a lot more growing capacity.”
WeedMD and 48North both intend to sell some of their outdoor-grown product as dried flower, dismissing concerns it will be lower quality. Both companies are also trying to get their outdoor cannabis certified as organic, and 48North has already pre-sold about 5,000 kilograms of its outdoor pot to provincial wholesalers at a price similar to its greenhousegrown product.
The Canadian Press
A coalition of environmental and Indigenous groups is calling on insurance companies to drop or refuse to provide coverage of the Trans Mountain pipeline, although they concede its lead liability insurer has said it will continue to serve the federal government-owned company.
If it can convince insurers to bow out of covering the pipeline and its recently approved expansion project beyond an Aug. 31 renewal date, Ottawa will be forced to self-insure, which will put public dollars at risk, the coalition of 32 groups said in a news release on Thursday.
“The coalition hopes that by pushing companies to drop their existing insurance policies with Trans Mountain and to stop insuring future oilsands projects, it will show the Canadian government that the expansion is uninsurable and should not continue,” the activists say in a news release.
Trans Mountain said it isn’t concerned about obtaining property and business interruption insurance that’s appropriate for a company of its size.
“Trans Mountain has all the required and necessary insurance in place for our existing operations and for the expansion project and we will do so moving forward,” it said in an emailed statement.
“Mathematically it’s a full recovery, in investors’ minds that’s a different thing,” says Michael Currie, vice-president and investment adviser at TD Wealth. “There’s still a lot of negativity and concern after all the news on Monday.”
While the Toronto stock market was closed Monday for the Civic holiday, U.S. stocks plunged to their worst loss of the year on worries that a worsening trade war would damage the global economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 767 points while the Nasdaq composite fell 3.5 per cent. The S&P/TSX composite index closed Thursday up 139.31 points at 16,404.53.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 371.46 points at 26,378.53. The S&P 500 index was ahead 54.13 points at 2,938.11, while the Nasdaq composite was up 176.33 or 2.24 per cent to 8,039.16.
Markets got a lift from positive export data out of China, good U.S. labour market numbers and China pegging the yuan a little stronger than expected. With the recovery, the TSX is just 1.6 per cent off its record high while U.S. markets are about four per cent below their peaks. The Canadian dollar traded at an average of 75.37 cents US, up compared with Wednesday’s average of 75.06 cents per share.
Nine of the 11 major sectors of the TSX rose, led by technology. It gained two per cent as Shopify Inc. climbed 4.3 per cent to become the 11th largest company on the exchange by market capitalization. Energy was up 1.5 per cent with Crescent Point Energy Corp. increasing 6.9 per cent on a recovery in crude oil prices from Wednesday’s dramatic decrease.
The September crude contract was up $1.45 at US$52.54 per barrel and the September natural gas contract was up 4.5 cents at US$2.13 per mmBTU. Materials was also higher with Eldorado Gold rising 5.3 per cent following an analyst upgrade. The sector increased despite a dip in gold prices from the six-year high set Wednesday. The December gold contract was down $10.10 at US$1,509.50 an ounce and the September copper contract was up 3.65 cents at US$2.61 a pound.
Lynn Dow Hoesel loving mother, grandmother, and friend. Karin, 54, of Prince George, BC and Houston, Texas passed away peacefully on August 6, 2019 after a brave battle with cancer. She was surrounded by her loving family and close friends. Karin was born August 17, 1964 in Prince George where she attended Van Bien Elementary, John McInnis Junior High School and Prince George Senior Secondary School. Karin found her true calling in helping others and completed her nursing degree later working at the Texas Methodist Hospital in Houston. She was hard working and would help anyone in need. She was generous, caring and truly loved and respected by everyone, brightening the life of everyone who knew her. Her kids and grandkids were everything to her. She was kind, fun-loving, with a quirky sense of humour. She was a passionate soccer player who considered her teammates as a second family. Karin is survived by her loving family, sons Korby (wife Maria, and son Miko), Keenan (partner Marisol) and daughter Kerstin (husband James, son Lennon and daughter Milo).
We love you Karin and will miss you dearly.
PAQUETTE, Andre Edgar.
Born to Conrad and Gilbert Paquette on Sept 24, 1941 in Prince Albert, Sask. He was the third of eleven children in a big loving French Canadian family. He passed away peacefully on August 4, 2019 in Prince George, B.C. after a long struggle with many health issues.
He was a self-professed bad boy in his early years, working as a station agent and telegrapher on the railroad, then later in the family garage. He met the love of his life in 1963, Patsy as he called her, and vowed to marry her the day he first saw her. And marry her he did (in 1964). They had an amazing life, with three children. Doug, Todd and Michelle. The family moved to Red Deer in 1968 where he established a very successful career selling cars, winning many awards as top Salesman for Canada. In 1983 he changed professions and became an agent for Sunlife. He was extremely successful there as well and in 1988 he was promoted to become the Branch Manager for the Prince George location. He stayed on with Sunlife for the remainder of his career until retiring in his 70s. Dad was predeceased by his parents, his brothers Pierre and Bernard, his beloved Patsy in 1995, his 2nd wife Ruby in 2010 and tragically his son Doug in 2011. We take comfort knowing he is with them all now. Dad faced many challenges in his life but approached each one of them with positivity, love and humour. He loved to tell a story, and he was some storyteller. Coming alive anytime he had people around him, he loved to entertain. He had many more than 9 lives, beating the odds time and time again. He lived each of those lives to the fullest. He was a beautiful, inspirational, courageous, gregarious, strong willed man. He will be immensely missed by his children Todd (Hailey) and Michelle, his grandchildren Ryan and Evan, his loving siblings and their families, and extended family and friends. The list is endless. Please join the family for a Funeral Service at St. Mary’s Parish at 1088 Gillett Street, Prince George, B.C. at 2pm on Tuesday, August 13, with a tea to follow. Please direct any donations to the Prince George Hospice House. They took phenomenal care of Dad and allowed him to pass on his own terms with dignity and comfort. A very special thank you to Barb for always being there not only for Dad, but for our entire family.
Turn out the lights (anyone who ever played cards with Dad will understand that reference).
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Sandra Waite. Her battle with illness is over. She is survived by her husband Mike, Children Danny Karen, Sherry, Kathy and Jo-Anne and ten Grandchildren in B.C. and her sisters Donelda and Ella-Mae and numerous nieces and nephews in Ontario. She was predeceased by her sisters Joyce and Iva and brothers Fred, Cecil, Melvin and John. There will not be a service at her request. In lieu of flowers please make a donation to the PG Hospice Society. A celebration of life will be held at the Beaverly Fire Hall on August 31st at 2 pm.
June28,2019-July30,2019
RomaYork(Bird)wasborninFortGraham,BC,on June28,1944.SheenteredHeaven’sGatesonJuly 30,2019.
AcelebrationoflifewillbeheldSaturday,August10, 2019,at12:00pmatthePrinceGeorgeNative FriendshipCenter,16003rdAvenue.Potluck luncheontofollow.
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.
Leveridge,StephenM. December21,1961-December13,2018
Itiswithprofoundsadnessthatweannouncethe passingofourfamilymember,Steve.Hegrewupin PrinceGeorge,attendingJohnMacInnisandPGSS. Steveworkedformanyyearsfortherailway, eventuallymovingtoEdmonton. Hehadmanygoodfriendsandmanyacquaintances, ashewasquicktosmileandheacceptedeverybody forwhotheywere.Stevehaslefttomournhis mother,Margaret;brother,Paul(Beth);andsister, Denise(Kirk)Hicks.Healsoleaveshisniece,Emily Hicks;andnephews,JaysonLeveridgeandKyle Hicks.Stevehasjoinedhisfather,Alan,inthegreat beyond. WelaidStevetorestatthePrinceGeorgeCemetery onAugust8,2019,withonlyfamilyandclosefriends inattendance. NowyoucanrestSteveandhavea"nicecupoftea".
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