Hixon Fall Fair
Lots of candy was given to onlookers during the parade that made its way through Hixon on Saturday morning as part
Funeral Saturday for George the barber
Kathy NADALIN Citizen staff
George Blanis, better known locally as George the barber, died this weekend at the Hospice House after a short battle with cancer. He was 81.
His funeral is scheduled for Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Greek Orthodox Church, (511 Tabour Blvd. S.) In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Greek Orthodox Church.
A viewing will be held on Friday at Assman’s Funeral Chapel at 7 p.m.
In 2016, Citizen contributor Kathy Nadalin featured Blanis. That story appears below.
George Kostas Blanis, aka George the Barber, was born in 1937 in Diava Kalabaka, Greece.
It was shortly after the war when a friend of his left for Canada to work as a barber and with the hope of finding a better life. Time went by and he wrote George a letter inviting him to come to Canada and work with him in his barber shop.
George had already been entertaining the idea of immigrating to Australia, the United States or Canada; the letter from his friend helped him to make up his mind and he chose to go to Canada.
George had a friend in Greece who had a sister named Eleni (Helen) Falas who was living in Prince George; in fact it turns out that George and Helen grew up in the same village. George promised to look her up when he arrived in Prince George.
Helen had arrived in Prince George in 1961 and George got here in 1962. A prearranged meeting had been set up for them to meet in the lobby at the Simon Fraser Hotel mainly because Helen worked in the kitchen at the hotel. They spoke their own language to one another and they talked about their dreams and
goals. George said he wanted to work a few years as a barber, get married and have children and then eventually go back to Greece. Helen’s goals were basically the same and to make a long story short they were married in 1962. They had hard times and good times, they worked hard together and they started their family.
They had two children – a daughter Lisa (Fred) Sloyer who lives in Abbotsford and a son Dean (Irina) who lives in Prince George – and they have three grandchildren. Sadly, Helen passed away in 2010. George said, “We had two beautiful kids. They both graduated from high school
here in Prince George and then furthered their education at the coast. Helen and I always worked for the kids. We knew that they were the future – we knew that we had great kids.” George reflected back and said, “There were about 12,500 people in Prince George when I arrived here. I immediately found work with the Pacific Great Eastern Railway. The work was physically hard and I didn’t speak English so it was really tough at first. I worked for the railway for two years; I thought this would be a great place to learn the English language but instead I learned to speak Italian.”
— see ‘I WAS BORN, page 3
Police find missing boy, alive and well
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff tclarke@pgcitizen.ca
After spending more than a day lost in the bush near Mackenzie over the weekend, four-year-old George Hazard-Benoit was reunited with his family late Sunday.
“George has been found, safe and sound,” said RCMP Cpl. Madonna Saunderson.
“It’s amazing, it’s a miracle. He was found walking around in the bush by and police dog and he’s been reunited with his mom and dad. It’s great news.”
The police dog located the boy at about 7:30 p.m., nearly 31 hours after he went missing in a heavily-wooded area near Lions Lake, 11 kilometres south of Mackenzie off Highway 39. He was found wet and cold but otherwise uninjured. It’s believed he was found near a lake during a time when the rain stopped falling.
Light rain which began Saturday persisted throughout the day Sunday hampering the search. Saunderson said an RCMP helicopter was called in for the search effort but was grounded due to poor visibility.
A fixed wing aircraft was also on hand for the search.
Mackenzie Search and Rescue set up a command post at Lions Lake Provincial Park and hundreds of volunteers joined the search, including 13 members of Prince George Search and Rescue and provincial conservation officers. Search and rescue teams from Fort St. James, Chetwynd and Fort St. John also participated in the search.
George had been out with his mother and a friend picking berries near a railway track and was in their vehicle, about 10 metres from where they were picking, when he was last seen at about 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
“He was asleep in the van, and when they went to go check on him he was gone,” George’s father Kristopher Benoit told Global News.
CITIZEN FILE PHOTO
George ‘The Barber’ Blanis sits in his shop in the Days Inn in 2016. A funeral for Blanis is happening this Saturday.
Journey of Shadows
NEWS IN BRIEF
Man stabbed in downtown attack
RCMP are investigating a latenight stabbing downtown on Sunday. At approximately 11 p.m. police were called to stabbing near the corner of Third Avenue and George Street. Police officers found a man suffering from stab wounds and provided first aid until paramedics arrived. The man was taken to the hospital for treatment, and is expected to recover. However the victim has not been cooperative with police, and officers suspect the stabbing was a targeted attack involving the drug trade. The suspect in the stabbing was not located, and was believed to have fled the area on a bicycle. The investigation into the stabbing is ongoing.
Anyone with information about this or any other criminal offence, is asked to contact the Prince George RCMP at 250561-3300. Tips can also be made anonymously by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477, online at www.pgcrimestoppers. bc.ca (English only) or by texting CRIMES (274637) using the keyword “pgtips.”
— Citizen staff
No one injured in Hart house fire
Firefighters were called to a house fire in the Hart at approximately noon on Monday. Fifteen firefighters from three halls arrived to find smoke coming out of the home, located in the 8000-block of Sabyam Road. Fire crews were able to quickly attack the blaze and put it out. Nobody was home at the time and there were no injuries reported, however the home suffered approximately $150,000 in damage. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
— Citizen staff
Stolen property recovered
Prince George RCMP recovered more than $50,000 of stolen goods over the weekend, thanks to a tip from an alert resident.
Officers headed to the area around Highway 16 and Sykes Road in the city’s southwest corner on Friday after receiving a call about a stolen truck. The stolen vehicle was located at a residential area off Highway 16 and officers arrested a 57-year-old Prince George man.
A further search of the property uncovered hundreds of other missing items, including tools, vehicle parts, vehicle tires and rims, pet supplies, lawn mowers and a generator.
Five flat deck tow truck loads, as well as a cargo van full of property, was seized as a result of the investigation. Officers are now attempting to locate the rightful owners of all of the stolen property.
— Citizen staff
Suspect charged for commercial break in
A police service dog took down a break and enter suspect last week after he tried to make a
run from a stolen vehicle. Clinton Jay Baraniuk, 30, is now in custody facing a number of charges. It all started in the early hours of Wednesday when police got reports of three commercial break and enters. Two were on Continental Way in the BCR Industrial Site and another was on the 1400 block of 10th Ave. The glass doors of each business were smashed and cash boxes were the target. At about 8:30 a.m., RCMP got a report that a 2006 Ford F350 had been stolen from a business on the 700 block of 2nd Ave. It is believed the pick up was used during all of the break and enters, police said.
At about 1:20 a.m. on Thursday, members of the RCMP’s street crew unit came upon a break and enter in progress at a Quinn Street business. Baraniuk allegedly sped away in the stolen truck. RCMP did not pursue in the interest of public safety, but a short time later he was found fleeing from the pickup behind a 15th Ave. business, according to police, and the dog was deployed. The B.C. Prosecution Service has charged Baraniuk breaking, entering and committing mischief, possessing stolen property over $5,000, resisting arrest and mischief under $5,000. Baraniuk made his first appearance in court on Thursday and was remanded in custody until his next court date scheduled today. Multiple cash boxes believed to be from previous break and enters were also located in the truck, RCMP added, and are investigating for possible links.
— Citizen staff
Firearms seized during traffic stop
A man well known to police is in custody and facing 15 charges after he was allegedly found in possession of two rifles plus ammunition during a traffic stop shortly after midnight Thursday. David Michael O’Neill, 32, was arrested after a member of the Prince George RCMP’s Street Crew Unit pulled a vehicle over near First Avenue and Ospika Boulevard at about 12:30 a.m. The officer found break-in tools, in breach of the passenger’s probation conditions. That led to a search of the vehicle which police said uncovered the rifles, one of them a fully-loaded SKS-style firearm with a prohibited magazine, along with rifle magazines, one of which was fully loaded and in reach of the suspect.
Several more items including stolen identification and credit cards were found and the vehicle was seized as part of the investigation. The suspect also put up a brief struggle during the arrest, RCMP said.
O’Neill has since been charges with three counts of possessing a firearm or ammunition while prohibited, two counts each of possessing a firearm without a licence, careless transport of a firearm, knowingly occupying a vehicle in which there is a firearm and breaching probation and one count each of possessing a break-in instrument and resisting arrest.
O’Neill was last in the news in October 2018 when he was sentenced for series of break and enters in the Norman Lake area during August 2017.
CITIZEN PHOTO BY JAMES DOYLE
Sharlene Wallace plays her harp on Saturday night at the Prince George Conservatory of Music during her performance, titled Journey of Shadows.
‘I was born to be a barber’
— from page 1
“In fact I learned more Italian than English and eventually no one believed I was Greek; they even told me I looked like an Italian,” he added.
George worked his job at the railway for two years and after hours he worked on the side as a barber. Finally in 1964 he obtained his barber’s license and got a job as a barber. He opened his own shop – George’s Barber Shop – in 1965 at the Simon Fraser Hotel. That was 51 years ago and today George is known all over the city for his work and his great personality. He is the oldest and the only European barber in the city and he works in the oldest shop in Prince George, a fact that he is very proud of.
He has worked steady for the past 52 years with forced time off when the hotel was sold a year ago to Days Inn Prince George Hotel. He decided to take six months off before he found a new location for his business. As luck would have it everything worked out over time and he is right back at the Days Inn Hotel and at the same location. He intends to keep on doing what he does best and has no plans to retire. George said, “I was born to be a barber.”
When George told his parents that he was leaving Greece and going to Canada his father gave him $100 in U.S. cash and said, “Son, I feel bad that I can not give you more. Take the $100 and I hope you can turn it into $100,000.”
With that and a great work ethic pass on to him by both his father and his grandfather George left for Canada. It wasn’t long and George wrote home to say that he was married, he had opened his own business and that he and his wife had bought a house. His father wrote back and asked, “How the hell can you have all of this?”
George explained, “They were tough years, I worked in my barber shop five days a week and on the weekends I worked jobs bartending and doing janitorial work on the side. I drove all the way out to Baldy Hughes and cut hair one day a week. In my spare time we worked on the house. My wife was always scared that we wouldn’t be able to make our monthly mortgage payment of $100 but we never missed a payment; in fact we even paid early. We worked like this for 12 years; there was no such thing as a vacation – just a lot of hard work.”
After awhile his mother, father and his younger sister came to Canada thanks to the help of a client who worked for the government as an immigration officer. George explained to him that his father was also a barber and wanted to come to Canada to work. To make a long story short, they passed all the tests and the medical requirements and George was able to bring all three of them over.
George reflected back and told me the following story about his father. “When I
was growing up, my father was away for long periods of time because of the war so I spent many years with my grandfather. When my dad came back from the war I didn’t know him, I thought he was a bad soldier and I ran away from him but soon I got to know him. Having my dad come to Canada and working together with him in my shop was wonderful. He taught me how to be a barber in the first place and now we were working together. It was the best thing in my life. He was a great dad, a dedicated partner and my best friend and I thank the Good Lord for giving me this opportunity to spend those 15 years together. My parents eventually went back to Greece because my mother didn’t want to die here; she wanted to go back to her homeland. They went back to Greece in the late 1980s.
“I have said it many times over; thank God I ended up in Prince George. The people of Prince George have always treated me like an adopted son; everyone has always been very good to me.
“I gave haircuts to many great people – in fact just too many to name them all but I would like to make mention that I have been cutting the hair of Turner Stevenson since he was a baby. Turner is a Canadian former professional ice hockey right winger who played 13 seasons in the National Hockey League. Some of my first and long term clients were Orville Claffey, Pat Martin, Cliff Haiste and Harold Moffat.”
George is full of great stories but the one I liked best is how he used to tease his wife Helen. He told me that they used to go to the drive in theatre, which was located by the old dump. The bears could smell the food and they use to come and roam around the area while they were at the movies. He would tease Helen and try to coax her to open the car door. She wouldn’t do it because she was afraid she would be eaten by the bears.
George and Helen always had time to give back to the community of Prince George. Together they became integral parts of the Greek community helping to build the Greek Orthodox Church at 5th and Tabor.
He gave me his business card and on the back it says, “Keep on clipping. Have no fear, George is still here. George is getting older but will keep on clipping for a couple more years, till he reaches his 50th year.”
Well, George is nearly 80 and he just celebrated that 50th year with a great big party. He has no intention of retiring. He said with a twinkle in his eyes, “My profession has become a pleasure and a source of therapy. It has become my social gathering, it is no longer a job and besides that I am just not ready for the rocking chair. Just drop by and see me. I am at the Days Inn Tuesday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thank you to all my clients for your respect, friendship and your business over the past 50 years.”
Prince George provincial court docket
From Prince George provincial court, Aug. 12-15, 2019:
• Shayn Robert Bulmer (born 1997) was sentenced to no further time for breaching probation. Bulmer was in custody for one day following his arrest.
• Jordan Allan Lalonde (born 1994) was sentenced to 18 days in jail for breaching probation. Lalonde was in custody for one day prior to sentencing.
• Raymond Fortin (born 1959) was sentenced to 60 days in jail and ordered to provide a DNA sample for breaking and entering and committing an indictable offence, to 15 days in jail for failing to appear in court, to 12 days in jail for theft $5,000 or under and to no further days for a sepa-
rate count of breaking and entering and committing an indictable offence. Fortin was also sentenced to one year probation on the theft and break and enter counts. Fortin was in custody for five days prior to sentencing.
• Blossom Charity Ann Williams (born 1982) was prohibited from driving for one year and fined $500 plus a $75 victim surcharge for driving while prohibited or licence suspended under the Motor Vehicle Act.
• Victor Lloyd Trevern Baxter (born 1967) was sentenced to no further days in jail for breaching an undertaking or recognizance. Baxter was in custody for one day prior to sentencing.
Judge rules fuel spill fine should go to First Nation
David CARRIGG Vancouver Sun
A B.C. judge has ruled that close to $3 million in fines imposed on the operator of a tug that hit a reef and sank in the Inside Passage in 2016 be handed to the Heiltsuk Nation.
In a reasons for judgment released last week by provincial court judge Brent Hoy, he said the combined fines of $2.7 million issued under the Fisheries Act, $200,000 under the Migratory Birds Convention Act and $5,000 under the Pilotage Act be put into an environmental damage fund administered to benefit the Heiltsuk Nation.
The Nathan E. Stewart, an American articulated tug-barge travelling the Inside Passage from Alaska to Vancouver, ran aground and sank on a reef next to Athlone Island close to Bella Bella in the early hours of Oct. 13, 2016.
Court heard that the seven-crew tug left the Port of Vancouver on Oct. 4 to deliver refined petroleum to the Alaskan port town of Ketchikan, often visited by cruise ships doing the Vancouver-to-Alaska Inside Passage run. Late in the evening of Oct. 12, the second mate relieved the ship master at the helm, made a course adjustment at 12:20 a.m. on Oct. 13 and then fell asleep at the wheel while alone on the upper bridge. At 1 a.m. another
crew member could not contact the second mate and was climbing the internal stairs to the upper bridge when the tug collided with Edge Reef at the entrance to Seaforth Channel west of Bella Bella. The Canadian Coast Guard were notified at 1:20 a.m. and the crew tried to surround the vessel with a boom to contain the spill, but it broke apart. Once the crew realized the tug would likely sink they were able to transfer some of the diesel from the tug to the barge. The tug sank at 9:30 a.m. after breaking away from the empty barge and spilled 110,000 litres of diesel and 2,200 litres of lubricants into the water.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada found the second mate was alone on the bridge – which contravened Canadian maritime law – and was seriously fatigued due to the six-on, six-off roster they were working and the conditions on the bridge at the time of the accident (it was warm, dark, with quiet music playing, the seas were calm and the captain’s seat comfortable).
The tugboat owner and operator, Kirby Offshore Operating, admitted full responsibility for the spill and paid almost $6 million in compensation to the Canadian Coast Guard ($1.94 million), provincial government ($410,000) and the Heiltsuk Nation ($3.6 million).
HEILTSUK NATION HANDOUT PHOTO
Tugboat Nathan E. Stewart sits in the Inside Passage on B.C.’s coast after sinking in Oct. 2016.
Forget Greenland, Trump – buy Canada
In recent days, the mainstream media reported on U.S. President Donald Trump’s interest in acquiring Greenland, which is a “constituent country” within the kingdom of Denmark. Greenland has responded with an emphatic, public and polite refusal. This has been manna from heaven for political scientists, who have proffered many useful takes.
All I can say is, thank God Trump’s more stalwart defenders have taken pains to point out the president’s keen insight in wanting to buy the island. On Sunday, Trump’s economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, a brilliant man who always stays in his lane, said on television, “It’s developing. We’re looking at it... I’m just saying the president, who knows a thing or two about buying real estate, wants to take a look.”
The Washington Examiner’s crackerjack editorial team has defended Trump on this question, pointing out that, “don’t laugh –an American purchase of Greenland could represent an extraordinary deal in terms of America’s national security, economic interests, and environmental protection... Americans of all political stripes would benefit from Greenland and its 56,000 inhabitants joining our national family.”
I won’t lie, I was initially dubious about the Examiner’s enthusiasm for this acquisition. The more I thought about the logic of that editorial, however, the more convinced I became that Greenland is for small-timers. The Examiner argued Greenland “has extraordinary strategic value” and “abounds with resources.”
True that, but this just means the Trump administration needs to think more ambitiously. If the 45th president really wants to think big, he should make an offer for an even bigger, richer, more strategic and more passive-aggressive Arctic ally.
I speak, of course, of Canada.
Here’s my proposal – the Trump administration offers Canada and the Queen of England the following deal:
• $20 trillion in cold, hard cash – $10 trillion to the Crown, $10 trillion to be distributed among the residents of Canadialand.
• A one-for-one exchange of the loonie for the greenback.
• Each of the 13 Canadian provinces and territories would be admitted as a state in the union, with representation in the House and the Senate.
While we’re admitting new states, D.C. and Puerto Rico get statehood as well,
bringing the United States to 65 states in total. This is one of those rare win-win-winwin-win deals in international politics. The United Kingdom would win from the cash reserves it would receive from relinquishing sovereignty – and, let’s face it, it’s going to need the money. Canada would win from unification with its Southern neighbour, combining forces for an economic and Olympic powerhouse. No longer would Canadians have to truck with this “middle power” nonsense, they’d be part of the hegemon, baby! Finally, they would have some proper security forces for their strategic maple syrup reserve.
I listed five wins, however, and the remaining three are in the United States. The Trump administration could secure multiple wins with this deal. In acquiring the second-largest country by geographic size, Trump would cement his name in the history books. He would also engage in some bank-shot expansionary monetary policy. See, if the $20 trillion was just printed, Trump would have discovered a way to inject massive amounts of liquidity into the system at the exact moment when markets have been getting jittery. He would not acknowledge this, but the reduction of trade
YOUR LETTERS
Tribute to George
My dear friends of Prince George, I’m extremely saddened that one of our city fathers and community leaders in kindness and character has left us.
George the barber, who cut the hair of premiers, mayors and distinguished guests, has moved to the spirit world.
I was always a great friend of George. He even helped me when I thought I had no friends. I will miss his big smile and gracious being,
He had an insight we all need to love your fellow man and appreciate who you are and how important we all are to our community of Prince George. We overlook those less fortunate then ourselves.
George was one who addressed the now.
He loved life and the people whose hair he cut. Think of your future, grow in your love of your fellow man, no one culture has a lead, we are all together as Canadians.
George, God bless your family and Godspeed. Go to the Light, as your work is done here on Earth Robert Sebastian Hazelton
Arts need space
On Saturday, Aug. 10, Joy Cotter raised some good points in discussing the need for a performing arts centre In Prince George. It certainly is time we had a cultural focal point in this city, or maybe two.
Firstly, there has long been a need for a properly designed concert hall, which would be perfect for our own performing groups, but also first rate visiting companies. A spurious argument against a concert hall has been the “elitist” nature of the music performed. In fact here we are in a situation where only the elite can afford to travel to concerts, operas, etc. in other centres. If we had a beautiful performing arts centre, our own population, hundreds of musicians, music
students, and their families, and people from the north would be able to come to first class performances without having to save all their pennies. Secondly, there is the question of what to do about the soon to be demolished Studio 2880 buildings, which house important craft and music studios, administrative offices and an excellent shop selling unique and beautiful things made by our talented and hardworking artisans. The staff in the administrative offices have been fortunate until now that they are able to work in rooms far from any noise from the music studios. Clearly a single recycled bank building will not be adequate to contain all this creativity.
We certainly need a purposebuilt concert hall, but I don’t feel it would be at all feasible to unite music and crafts in one building. It would be interesting to see what other people come up with in trying to fill this massive gap in our town.
Carolyn McGhee Prince George
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barriers between the two countries would be another boost for economic growth. What is great about this deal, however, is how even in a polarized moment, both Republicans and Democrats would enthusiastically endorse it. For Democrats, the electoral math is simple. The center of political gravity in most of Canada’s provinces is to the left of the median U.S. state. In acquiring Canada (as well as turning D.C. and Puerto Rico into states), the Democrats would enhance their ability to control Congress for the next several decades. For Republicans, the political logic is even more simple: Trump wants to buy Canada. Also, most Canadians are as white as Republicans. Stephen Miller is probably salivating over the racial possibilities! Would a purchase of Canada be free of problems? Gosh, no. The boost in hockey coverage would be annoying, and I suppose the rising anti-Americanism in our neighbour to the north might be a bit of a problem.
It will require a great dealmaker to close this sale in as swift a manner as possible. Go for it, President Trump. Show us the art of the deal, eh? — Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at Tufts University.
Trudeau’s excuses cause for concern
Justin Trudeau has been handed a live grenade as he enters the critical period to retain office.
We might wonder: what might he do? Thumb into the hole? Toss it down the road?
He has no easy call. The report last Wednesday by the federal ethics commissioner into the SNCLavalin affair is in living memory the most extensive critique of a handling of a conflict-of-interest scandal of any prime minister. Beyond that, its implied questions about possible obstruction of justice are the most troubling for any prime minister. Further, its consequences – either for an election outcome or for the definition of the Liberals under Trudeau – could be the most substantial single albatross for any prime minister that anyone can recall.
So, what will Justin do?
His first response is, without question, the most banal of any possibility. Found by an impartial officer to have interfered with his attorney general, implied to have made attempts to obstruct the natural course of prosecution, then castigated for denying that independent officer vital information and free-speaking witnesses, what did he do?
Up to the microphone he went, defending his actions as defending jobs, as if nothing in the leadership playbook of a prime minister might supersede that – not leaving his attorney general alone, not leaving his public prosecution office free to decide if a trial were merited, not standing back as SNC-Lavalin paid a price for paying off Libyan officials for years to earn contracts.
The report from commissioner Mario Dion is frightening. Its verbiage about Trudeau’s efforts toward his then-attorney general was clear: “circumvent,” “undermine,” “discredit.” If cynics believe Trudeau is merely the first prime minister to be caught in what others have tried and done, then we are a sad lot indeed. Regardless, we are to worry.
Dion articulated the scandal as best he could – nine witnesses had to tell him that they had relevant information but couldn’t disclose it due to cabinet confidences, a matter Trudeau sealed and wouldn’t unseal in what the prime minister promised would be a full review.
What is clear is that the Quebec engineering firm, since shellacked to a shell of its former self, lobbied for prosecutorial changes through legislation to permit it – and, yes, possibly, others down the road, but for the time being it and it alone – to defer trial through an agreement that would not render
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a judgment that might disqualify it from federal contracts or deliver some kind of corporate scarlet letter.
Trudeau bought the line, biting into the hook with its sinker, and determined that thousands of Quebec jobs – the kind that mean more than, say, the Alberta energy ones – might be lost if the company were torpedoed by a trial.
We know the rest of the story: Jody Wilson-Raybould, his justice minister and attorney general, received a steady stream of entreaties from Trudeau’s team to overturn her prosecution service’s decision to proceed to trial; the prime minister’s office kept asserting that her service’s decision might be best reviewed by more eminent jurists, the ones that might back its viewpoint; she bowed up but eventually bowed down to Trudeau’s withering verdict she could not keep her gig, winding up in a lesser role; news leaked of the episode; she and cabinet colleague Jane Philpott stood firm, spilled some beans, and were smacked from caucus. Today Wilson-Raybould is favoured to retain VancouverGranville as an independent. Justin? Well, as he moves into the campaign for October’s election, he is not so favoured to retain his job. One might write off Dion’s report as one of those inside-baseball things that do not affect voters. One might very well be proven wrong, though, because the handling speaks to the culture that the prime minister and his crew created. Adversaries will make a meal of it.
If he wishes to get past it, he has to summon a better defence than he has to date. If he is sincere and accepts responsibility for what happened, and agrees that it shouldn’t have happened that way, then he needs to abandon his protect-jobs-at-any-cost nonsense.
His job is to demonstrate principled leadership, not blind power. Given that SNC-Lavalin has in recent weeks restructured, changed its focus to stick more to its original knitting of stewardship of engineering projects, and shown its senior management the door, there is little for him to lose now in acknowledging that he was protecting a mirage.
The clichéd phrase about what he might do is called ripping the bandage off the scab. Yes, prime minister, it hurts, but the fresh air that greets it ultimately heals.
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BCNE fun
CITIZEN PHOTOS BY JAMES DOYLE
Top, Riders on the Frenzy fly high above the midway Friday at the BCNE. Above left, two llamas eat hay in a 4-H barn Saturday. Above right, the President’s Choice Superdogs performed Friday. For more BCNE photos, see page 6 and for a full gallery of BCNE photos, go to pgcitizen.ca.
Food, fun and animals at the 107th BCNE
Top, a heavy horse pull competition was held in the Agriplex on Saturday afternoon. Left, Clinton W. Gray performs a card trick during his magic comedy show Friday. Right, Kurt Flesher loads up his burger Sunday afternoon during the final round of the BCNE BBQ Cookoff.
Bailey wins Simon Fraser Open, tops instructor
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff
tclarke@pgcitizen.ca
Cody Bailey and his golfing buddy Blair Scott were so accurate taking shots at the pins at Prince George Golf and Curling Club, it was like they were aiming darts at the bullseye.
One that was as much as 500 yards away. Just when it seemed one was about to take advantage of a beautiful shot, the other would land his ball in the same sweet proximity.
Tied at 66 after the opening round Saturday at the Simon Fraser Men’s Open, Bailey built a two-stroke advantage by the time they teed off on the Par 5 No. 16. Bailey’s drive ended up 300 yards down the middle of the fairway, while Scott put his in the thick rough to the right with a tree blocking his path to the green and a water hazard beckoning.
The 18-year-old Bailey, recharged after playing the previous week in the Canadian junior boys championship in Hartland, N.B., used the opportunity to turn up the heat on Scott, his golf instructor, the teaching pro at PGGCC.
With his second shot, Bailey ended up just seven feet from the hole but Blair blasted a four-iron shot that place his ball in the same vicinity, about 10 feet away.
Scott just missed his eagle attempt but Bailey stroked his slightly downhill putt perfectly to get down in three and increase his lead.
Leading by three, Bailey finished up with birdies on 17 and 18 and won the 83-player tournament by five strokes over Scott. Bailey equaled his 66 round on Saturday for a 10-under 132 total, while Scott went 66-71--137.
“The eagle on 16 I think really put it away, Blair just hit the lip,” said Bailey.
“That eagle putt he missed on 16, I put it in right after that and I knew after that I was hot and he was on his heels a bit.”
Kevin Botham finished up with a scintillating round of 68 on Sunday, after shooting 73 on Saturday and finished third at 141, nine strokes off the pace. Rounding out the top five were Will Gilbert (70-72142) and Tyler Johnson (70-72-142).
Dave Venman of Kitimat was in the final foursome after shooting a 69 Saturday but tailed off with a final round of 73 for a 145 total. Two-time defending champion Trevor Metcalf of Vanderhoof was suffering from a back ailment and ended up seventh overall (76-70--146).
Venman had one of the nicest shots of the day on the Par 4 No. 17. The pin was placed at the far edge of the green down a slope and Venman left his second shot six inches from the cup. Not to be outdone, Bailey followed up by getting his approach even closer, five inches away, on the opposite side of the cup. They both tapped in for birdie.
Bailey’s proud father Allan was on the course watching and took a photo of the two balls left within easy striking distance
of the hole and quipped: “I taught him everything he knows.”
Scott left his approach on 17 well short, 30 feet from the pin and three-putted for bogey, which sealed it for Bailey. He’d found a way to top his teacher.
“Walking up on 18 we were just talking about how much fun the weekend’s been playing together and shooting low numbers,” said Bailey. “It was definitely down to the wire with me and Blair and probably the funnest tournament I’ve played this year.
“I’ve been struggling a lot, probably the last three weeks. I couldn’t hit the ball straight and my putts were missing on both sides. On Friday I went out and shot a good round and me and Blair were probably on the green for two hours Friday night working on stuff and having putting contests just to get ready for the weekend. Obviously it turned out good.”
After a busy summer on the junior tour, it was Bailey’s last round of tournament golf before the Terrace native heads to Abbotsford to begin his studies in criminal justice at the University of Fraser Valley as part of the school’s golf team. Bailey has won the Junior Simon Fraser Open the past three years and he’s always wanted to win the club’s most prestigious tournament. Now he’s got both titles in the bag in the same year.
“Next Saturday I’m moving down to go to school and I don’t think this could have been any better to give me some confidence and be ready down there,” he said.
Scott started working with Bailey in 2017, a year after he earned his tour card, and they’ve been thick as thieves on the course ever since. They celebrated Bailey’s win Sunday by playing another round together. Scott started out Sunday’s tournament round with a par and bogie and found himself trailing Bailey by two, but got back on even terms on No. 3 when he parred the hole and Bailey doubled. At one point they were both three-over par but they overcame that in a hurry to finish on a roll.
“I’m really happy for him, he was just so clutch, that was really impressive,” said Scott, 22. “Anything I would try to do he would just come back and hit a better shot. He was making those clutch putts and that was a lot to handle. It makes me really proud because him and I worked together quite a bit.
“I felt like I was pushing him quite a bit. I hit some clutch shots too, coming down the stretch.”
None better than his hit out of the rough on 16.
“That was a tough shot, I thought I hit a perfect drive but it got caught up in the rough and I had to hit a big slice around that tree,” said Scott, now a two-time runner-up in the Simon. “I had to hit the green there and that felt really good. I almost made the putt too.” Scott, who played a year of college golf in Phoenix, Ariz., plans to pull up stakes and head south for the winter to take advantage of the year-round golf season.
Cody Baily watches his tee shot on the second hole on Sunday morning at Prince George Golf and Curling Club during the final round of the men’s Simon Fraser Open.
Hornet racing
Zain Johnson races around the track on Sunday afternoon at PGARA Motor Speedway on his way to
Raiders’ Willson finally to play in Canada
Judy OWEN The Canadian Press
Luke Willson figures he’ll have a smooth travel day when his Oakland Raiders head to Winnipeg for Thursday’s NFL pre-season game against the Green Bay Packers.
“I think I’m going to have the easiest time going through the border compared to everybody else,” the veteran tight end from LaSalle, Ont., said in a phone call after a weekend practice in Napa, Calif.
“It’s very exciting. Obviously, being Canadian, I think the more NFL stuff that can head up there is a great thing.”
The game will mark the first NFL contest in Canada since the Buffalo Bills completed a run of eight games in Toronto with a regular-season clash against the Atlanta Falcons in December 2013.
It’s Willson’s first trip to Winnipeg and first football game in his home country since his high school days in LaSalle, which is near Windsor, Ont.
He played five seasons with the Seahawks, getting into every game in his rookie 2013 season as Seattle captured the Super Bowl against Denver. He spent last season across the border from home with the Detroit Lions and signed with Oakland in March.
Willson is battling for playing time with Raiders tight ends Brandon Barnes, Paul Butler, Derek Carrier and projected starter Darren Waller.
It’s his 86 career games, including 45 starts, that he says might give him an edge.
“I think experience definitely helps when it comes to identifying defences,” said the team’s only Canadian-born player.
Willson has caught 102 career passes for 1,216 yards with 11 touchdowns. With Detroit last season, the six-foot-five, 254-pound tight end got into 14 games and had 13 receptions for 87 yards.
He missed Oakland’s first pre-season game because of a minor injury, but played in the team’s second victory last week in Arizona and had one catch for four yards.
He expects to play in the Week 3 game versus Green Bay (1-1) at IG Field, home of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Oakland (2-0) is the home team.
“It’ll be competitive,” Willson predicted.
“I can’t speak for Green Bay, but there’s a lot of guys here who have a lot to prove. All these pre-season games mean a lot as far as making the team and guys’ careers.
“Obviously, the starters won’t play the whole game, but they’ll be some hard-nosed football going on up there.”
However, two of the game’s big drawing cards aren’t sure things to play.
Green Bay star quarterback Aaron Rodgers didn’t play last week because of tightness in his back and was held out of Sunday’s practice, but did resume practising.
The Packers say he is expected to play Thursday.
Meanwhile, new Oakland receiver Antonio Brown is recovering from frostbitten feet he got during cryotherapy in France last month. He also recently lost a grievance to wear his old, uncertified helmet.
Brown missed Sunday’s practice and Raiders general manager Mike Mayock told reporters he was a no-show because he was still upset about the helmet issue. The GM said it’s time for Brown “to be all-in or all-out.” Brown did report to training camp on Monday.
Willson said he hasn’t followed ticket sales for the Winnipeg game, which are at about half the stadium’s 33,000-seat capacity. Tickets were priced at $75 to $340 before taxes and fees, with recently reduced end-zone tickets costing a total of $94.25.
When asked if he’d be surprised it wasn’t a sellout, he said a lot of factors impact that.
“To be honest with you, it kind of depends on the game and market,” Willson said. “Obviously, Winnipeg has the Blue Bombers, I’m sure that’s the No. 1 team up there.
“I don’t know if there’s a bunch of Packers fans in Winnipeg, possibly. Might be a few Seahawks fans. I don’t know if there’s a ton of Raider Nation in Winnipeg, so I’m sure that plays into it.
“And it’s a pre-season game, so I get that maybe not everything is sold out right now. But I’m sure there will be a lot of football fans in the Winnipeg area that are happy, regardless, and excited to come out and watch.”
Knights cap Westerns with comeback win
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff
tclarke@pgcitizen.ca
The PG Surg Med Knights ended it with a bang. Trailing the Leduc Giants 9-3 Sunday morning, the Knights scored seven runs in the bottom of the seventh inning in a walk-off 10-9 victory which evened their record to 2-2 at the Western Canadian 18U midget double-A baseball championship in Strathmore, Alta. But the Knights’ dream of repeating as Western Canadian champions ended with that victory. They needed to defeat the Giants by four runs to advance to the final and finished third in the five-team tournament.
The Giants, Knights and Unity Cardinals were all tied after the preliminary round with 2-2 records. The deciding factor to determine the other finalist was the number of runs each team allowed per defensive inning in head-to-head games against the other two tied teams.
The Giants played 12 defensive innings in their games against the Knights and Cardinals and allowed 10 runs for a 0.833 ratio. The Knights gave up 12 runs in 13 defensive innings against Leduc and Unity and were left with a 0.92 ratio. The Cardinals allowed 15 runs in 12 innings combined against Prince George and Leduc, which added up to a 1.25 ratio.
The Giants moved on to the final Sunday afternoon against the Altona Bisons (3-1), who beat them 4-3 for the championship.
The Knights opened Friday with a 3-1 loss to Unity, the Saskatchewan champions. On Saturday they lost 2-1 to the Manitoba–champion Bisons. The Knights came back Saturday
They needed to defeat the Giants by four runs to advance to the final and finished third in the five-team tournament.
night to edge the Strathmore Reds 7-6.
Prince George qualified for the Western Canadian tournament after winning the Baseball BC provincial championship last weekend in Burnaby when they beat the host Braves 7-1 in the final.
The Knights also captured the BC Minor Baseball provincial crown, two weekends ago in Kelowna, when they defeated the Vancouver Canadians 9-4 in the championship game.
The Knights have four graduating players this season – Kaelon Gibbs, Richard French, Kolby Lukinchuk and Brady Pratt. They’ve played their final midget tournament but the Knights still have some baseball left.
They’ll begin the Century 21 Prince George Senior Men’s Baseball League playoffs Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Citizen Field when they face the Inland Control & Services Tigers.
The Knights finished second in the five-team league with a 9-11 record, equal to that of the third-place Tigers. The winner of the Knights-Tigers game will play the first-place (16-4) Queensway Auto World Mariners Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. In the other playoff matchup Tuesday at 9 p.m., the (8-12) fourth-place JRJ Construction Orioles face the (8-12) fifth-place D.O.B. Contracting Gladiators.
CITIZEN PHOTO BY JAMES DOYLE
capturing the Ron’s Towing hornets main event victory.
WILLSON
Auger-Aliassime passes Raonic as top Canadian in men’s tennis
The Canadian Press
Felix Auger-Aliassime is now the topranked Canadian in men’s tennis after jumping into 19th spot in the latest ATP Tour rankings released Monday.
The 19-year-old from Montreal moved up two spots to become just the second Canadian to break into the top 20 since the ATP started publishing rankings in 1973.
Auger-Aliassime jumped past Milos Raonic of Thornhill Ont., who moved down two spots to No. 22. Raonic, the only other Canadian to crack the top 20, has a career-high ranking of No. 3. Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., fell four spots to No. 38.
Auger-Aliassime’s rise to the top of Canadian tennis comes despite the teenag-
er putting up some mediocre results on grass and hardcourt. He hasn’t advanced beyond the third round of a tournament since reaching the semifinals of a Wimbledon warmup event in late June. He was drummed out of the first round of the recent Masters event in Cincinnati after No. 58 Miomir Kecmanovic posted a convincing 6-3, 6-3 win. He reached the third round of his hometown event the week before at the Rogers Cup, but was pushed to a third-set tiebreak by Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil – ranked No. 205 – then moved on to the third round when the ailing Raonic retired before the third set of their second-round match. Auger-Aliassime was then beaten in three sets by No. 8 Karen Khachanov.
However, with an injured Raonic un-
able to defend points and Shapovalov also struggling, Auger-Aliassime was able to take the mantle of top-ranked Canadian heading into the upcoming U.S. Open. The top four of Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, Spain’s Rafael Nadal, Switzerland’s Roger Federer and Austria’s Dominic Thiem remained unchanged, with Russia’s Daniil Medvedev jumping three spots into fifth.
In women’s rankings, Rogers Cup champion Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., fell one spot to 15th after sitting out the Cincinnati tournament. Japan’s Naomi Osaka, Ashleigh Barty of Australia, Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, Romania’s Simona Halep and Elina Svitolina of Ukraine round out the top five.
Thibault wants to keep learning at CP Women’s
John CHIDLEY-HILL
The Canadian Press
Brigitte Thibault is having the best summer of her young career, and it’s only going to get better this week at the CP Women’s Open.
Thibault, from Rosemere, Que., represented Canada at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, winning bronze in the team event on Aug. 10. She also won the Ontario Women’s Amateur Championship on July 12 before earning an exemption into Canada’s national women’s championship for the second time.
“It’s been huge. Golf Canada helps me get into these events, it’s an amazing opportunity for me to even be in them,” said Thibault. “The CP Women’s Open, as an example, is a tournament where I would normally have to qualify.
“To know I’m already in the field and to be able to get this experience for future opportunities, it’s great.”
Thibault, who has her sights set on representing Canada at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, finished ninth in the women’s individual event at the Pan Ams, 14 shots behind American gold medallist Emilia Migliaccio.
The 20-year-old Thibault has been using her summer to improve her short game before returning to Fresno State University for her senior year this fall. She won the Mountain West Conference Championship this spring to end her 2018-19 collegiate season.
“(Tournaments) are something I look forward to with an open mind,” said Thibault. “Just really try to grab all information or things I can learn that week to really help me for the future.
Open
“There’s so much work to do all the time with golf. It never stops.”
Competing at the Women’s Open on Thursday is another opportunity to improve her game. Thibault has only competed in one other LPGA event – the 2016 edition of the Canadian national championship at Calgary’s Priddis Greens Golf & Country Club – and relishes the opportunity to learn from the best players in golf again.
“The CP Women’s Open has always been an important, special tournament for me,” said Thibault.
“That’s the first LPGA event that I actually qualified for. It’s always been close to my heart and to be in the field as a member of Team Canada, I’m really grateful to be there.”
The Women’s Open tees off at Magna Golf Club in Aurora, Ont., on Thursday.
Top Canadian canoeist Vincent
Lapointe
suspended for doping violation
The Canadian Press
OTTAWA — One of Canada’s top medal contenders in next year’s Tokyo Olympics has been provisionally suspended for a doping violation, but Laurence Vincent Lapointe insists she did “nothing wrong.”
The canoeist from Trois-Rivieres, Que., won’t race at the sprint world championships this week in Szeged, Hungary after a positive test recently.
In accordance with the International Canoe Federation’s anti-doping rules, Vincent Lapointe has been provisionally suspended pending the final outcome of her case. The International Canoe Federation says a full hearing will be held at a later stage.
Canoe Kayak Canada says the substance found in Vincent Lapointe’s sample has been the subject of recent established contaminated supplement cases. The organization says the preliminary information supports that the finding may have “been caused by inadvertent and unknowing use of a prohibited substance from such a source.”
An ICF spokesperson said they are not revealing the substance at this time.
“I am shocked and completely devastated by this situation because I have done absolutely nothing wrong and I have nothing to hide. I am a person of integrity and any form of cheating disgusts me,” Vincent Lapointe said in a statement.
“I believe in clean sport and it is what I apply as a principle in my life as an athlete. I would never put my name, my reputation, or my career at risk to improve my performances and widen the gap with my opponents.
“This feels like a nightmare; I still cannot believe what has happened. Since learning of my positive test just a few days ago, I have done everything possible, with the support of CKC and within a short period of time, to determine the source of the prohibited substance that was found in my sample so that I can prove that I am innocent and that I am an honest and clean athlete.”
Women’s sprint canoe is set to make its Olympic debut next year in Tokyo. Vincent Lapointe, 27, has won 11 career gold medals at the world championships.
Canoe Kayak Canada says Vincent Lapointe will speak at a press conference Tuesday.
“CKC fully supports Laurence in this extremely difficult and unfortunate situation and we will do everything we can to help her prove her innocence,” Canoe Kayak Canada CEO Casey Wade said.
“CKC firmly believes in clean sport, but we also have strong reason to believe that Laurence has taken all of the necessary precautions from an anti-doping perspective and that she has not knowingly or intentionally taken a prohibited substance. We will continue to assist Laurence in determining how this unfortunate situation could have occurred.”
Vincent-Lapointe has won six C1-200 world titles, four C2-500 gold medals, and one C1-5000 championship.
“We are very disappointed this has happened on the eve of our biggest event of the year,” ICF secretary-general Simon Toulson said.
Felix Auger-Aliassime returns the ball to Milos Raonic during a game at the Rogers Cup on Aug. 7 in Montreal.
VINCENT LAPOINTE
Bell cutting rural broadband
The Canadian Press
Bell Canada says it will cut roughly 200,000 households from a rural internet expansion program after a federal regulator lowered wholesale broadband prices that major telecom companies can charge smaller internet providers.
The Montreal-based company said Monday that the final rates set last week by the CRTC will cost it more than $100 million, with the bulk of the sum going to cover the retroactively lower rates.
“Putting this kind of unexpected and retroactive tax on capital investment is not the way to ensure the continued development of Canada’s internet infrastructure,” said Bell chief operating officer Mirko Bibic in a statement.
The company said that in response, it will cut back by 20 per cent on a rural internet program designed to provide wireless internet access to homes that are hard to reach by fibre or traditional cable access.
Rogers Communication said it was very disappointed by the CRTC’s ruling and that it was reviewing all future investment in rural and remote communities in light of the $140 million charge expected by the decision.
The regulator requires that large telecom companies like Bell and Rogers sell access to their infrastructure to smaller internet providers as a way to improve competition and lower prices.
After years of review, the CRTC set final wholesale rates last week that were up to 77 per cent lower than the interim rates set in 2016.
Bell’s decision to cut back spending is a political move designed to play on fears, said John Lawford, executive director and general counsel of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre.
“It bugs the hell out of me that they can hold rural people hostage, or pretend that they are, by saying oh now we’re not going to invest.”
He said that the company will still make profits by selling infrastructure access to smaller providers, and could still very much afford to continue the highspeed expansion to less profitable rural areas.
“If they dug a little deeper in their pockets they could keep those marginal people on if they really believed in rural areas, but they don’t. They’re using them as a pawn, so that’s why it’s sickening to me.”
He said rural internet expansion, which is already subsidized by the government, isn’t really related to the CRTC decision last week to set lower broadband wholesale rates.
The major telecom companies have long threatened that infrastructure investments could be impacted by lower broadband access rates.
Bell says the latest decision
means the rural expansion program will be cut back to a million households from 1.2 million across Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada. The company had expanded the program from an initial target of 800,000 households following a federal government incentive program.
The cut to rural service expansion seems to be based on a false premise, said Matt Stein, chair of the Canadian Network Operators Consortium and CEO of Distributel.
“It seems like they’re trying to put the blame on not being able to charge the excessively high prices that they had been.”
He said the CRTC didn’t give a discount to independent service providers, it just corrected a priced that had been too high based on the regulator’s criteria.
“If Bell was counting on charg-
ing too high a price for these services to wholesale ISPs as a way to fund rural broadband, that doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
A Competition Bureau study released in early August found that CRTC rules that allow smaller providers to buy access to networks have created more choice for consumers and increased competition, though rural and remote customers have fewer options.
The study found 90 per cent of all customers were generally satisfied with their internet provider, while customers of independent providers were more likely to be very satisfied.
The Competition Bureau said it was important to set wholesale rates at the right level to make sure there are still incentives for the major providers to invest in infrastructure, while also giving opportunities for smaller players.
Disney Plus coming to Canada in November
The Canadian Press
The Walt Disney Company is swooping into the Canadian market with its powerful new streaming platform Disney Plus in November, and analysts say the menu of Marvel superheroes, Pixar characters, and Disney animated classics could give viewers another reason to drop cable altogether.
The company says Disney Plus will cost
Brian Tracey, the famous sales trainer, has a story that he tells about the importance of great questions.
Brian was having a meeting with a life insurance salesman who asked if he had enough life insurance. Since he did not want to deal with this man, Brian assured him he did have enough insurance. As he was about to finish the meeting, the salesman asked Brian “how long will you be dead for?” Because, he went on, “with the life insurance policy that you currently have, you are going to need to come back to life after six months to help pay the family bills...”
The reason I bring this up has nothing to do with life insurance, although especially in the early stages of an entrepreneur’s lifetime, life insurance might be a good bet. Unfortunately, most people in business don’t consider their untimely death. None of us want an early expiry date and while we might hope to live to a ripe old age having accomplished all our objectives, life has a funny way of throwing a wrench into the best made plans of mice and men. While I have never been asked to help out a business after the untimely death of the owner, I know
$8.99 per month, or $89.99 per year, when the service launches on Nov. 12. On top of Marvel, Pixar and its animated library, the company owns the rights to Star Wars, as well as many TV shows on U.S. network ABC, including Grey’s Anatomy.
Disney also recently purchased rival Hollywood studio Twentieth Century Fox, giving them access to decades of film and TV, including action hits like Die Hard, and classics such
that day will be coming soon. Often, I have clients who want to work with me because they are preparing for their exit from the business. Some have the foresight to make plans when they hear they have an illness or are approaching retirement age.
Unfortunately for some business owners, they don’t have the right plans in place when they die and as a result, there is no one to help their family or employees negotiate through the traumatic days that follow the loss of an owner or founder.
For solopreneurs or small businesses where the business revolves around the owner, there is no option but to shut the business down.
Usually a lawyer or accountant can help you quickly transition through the necessary paperwork. However, when there are employees and customers, substantial assets, loans or payables as well as work in progress, that are often factors in larger businesses, things are usually much more complicated and can take months or years to wrap up.
as The Sound of Music.Add to that some of this year’s biggest movies, including Avengers: Endgame, Aladdin and Toy Story 4, which are expected to eventually land on the service.
The initial slate of titles that’ll launch on Disney Plus hasn’t been announced, but the company has teased some projects. It’ll update the Home Alone and Night at the Museum franchises exclusively for the platform, as well as a Lady and the Tramp remake.
So what would happen if your staff woke up one morning and discovered that you have died? Hopefully they will miss you and shed some tears, which means that you probably made a difference in their life.
However, without a plan for emergencies, like death or even the disability of an owner or founder, companies that were once going concerns, stumble and begin the downward slide into oblivion.
The lack of a vision, direction and strategy that the owner brought is missing after a few weeks or months while the family is grieving. Often key employees who doubt the future without a leader jump ship. Without leadership, many businesses and their employees become paralyzed by indecision. In either case, the future is often bleak for the future of the business. While a life insurance policy might protect your family from some of the financial losses of your income, does it protect them from the financial liability of your businesses? To ensure that your business can survive you, there are a number of things that you might do, these include: • writing down a plan for the worst-case scenarios and discussing them with key staff members.
• talking to trusted advisors including lawyers, accountants or mentors, about what your plans for the business are.
• discussing or documenting some options for transitioning the ownership of your business should disaster hit such as who should your management talk to, will they need a business coach or fractional CEO to come in and help, what should they expect for leadership from your family, how would you value the business if it needs to be sold, what happens if they can’t sell the business and how should they deal with family.
While the answers to these questions might be included in your will, having backup documentation in your operations manual or company safe, might be a great start as well. Not many people come back to life after being dead! Chances are, you won’t either.
If you want to rest in peace before and after you die, it might make sense to come up with some concrete plans that position your business for the benefit of your family and employees long after your untimely departure.
— Dave Fuller, MBA, is an award-winning business coach and strategist. Not resting in peace? Email dave@profityourselfhealthy.com
The catalyst for Monday’s increases was the Trump administration extending a limited reprieve on U.S. technology sales to Huawei that will likely become a negotiating point between the world’s two largest economies, says Craig Fehr, Canadian markets strategist, Edward Jones.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 154.26 points at 16,304.05.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 249.78 points at 26,135.79. The S&P 500 index was up 34.97 points at 2,923.65, while the Nasdaq composite was up 106.82 points at 8,002.81.
Fehr said global central banks, including the Federal Reserve, are moving to lower interest rates. Fed chairman Jerome Powell will address expected further rate cuts at a meeting Friday in Jackson Hole, Wyo.
The European Central Bank and German policy-makers have also indicated willingness to institute aggressive monetary and fiscal stimulus to help the struggling German economy.
And in China, the central bank unveiled an interest-rate reform designed to lower borrowing costs.
Health care was the lone sector of the TSX to fall as shares of several cannabis producers moved lower, including Canopy Growth Corp., down 4.3 per cent, and Aphria Inc., down 3.5 per cent.
The energy sector gained 2.45 per cent to lead the sectors as higher crude prices supported a 5.9 per cent gain by Encana Corp. Husky Energy Inc. rose 5.13 per cent after an analyst suggested its low share price makes it a good time for the company to be taken private.
The October crude contract was up US$1.33 at US$56.14 per barrel and the September natural gas contract was up one cent at US$2.21 per mmBTU. Crude prices rose on an improved global outlook along with heightened geopolitical risk following the weekend attack on a Saudi oil facility by Yemeni rebels. After bond yields inverted last week to signal a potential recession, the 10-year yield curve has increased and pushed up the U.S. dollar. The Canadian dollar traded for an average of 75.20 cents US compared with an average of 75.27 cents US on Friday.
CP FILE PHOTO
Bell Canada’s head office is seen on Nun’s Island in Montreal in this 2015 file photo
Pumping iron at 85
Montreal senior raising the bar for world weightlifting title
The Canadian Press
Olympic-style weightlifting isn’t just about strength or power. It’s about speed, coordination, focus.
More than five decades ago, Marcel Perron learned that in a visceral way.
The 85-year-old lifter – then a young member of the Canadian national team – was at a Montreal bus depot when he spotted a driver surrounded by three assailants.
“They were mad at him. I don’t know why... but I knocked them, bop-bop,” he said.
“You have to be explosive, swift,” he said.
For years Perron worked as a nightclub bouncer – “a small bouncer... I was not big, but I was fast.”
Now the senior gym junkie is on track to win the World Masters
Weightlifting championship, an annual contest hosted this year in Montreal where nearly 800 men and women over 34 are competing by age and weight class.
Currently the oldest competitor, Perron may not hoist the heaviest weights over his head, but the title of grandmaster is determined by a formula that accounts for age and weight, making the spry 156-pounder the man to beat after he clean and jerked 61 kilograms –equivalent to almost two La-Z-Boy recliners.
The event, which kicked off Friday, draws entrants from 60 countries, including Genice Paullay-Beazley, 50, who was working out hours after her flight touched down from New Zealand on Saturday morning.
A member of that country’s national Olympic weightlifting body and owner of a CrossFit studio in Auckland, Paullay-Beazley came to the sport by way of bodybuilding after starting to pump iron at 16 in New York City, where she grew up.
“This wasn’t really available to women then,” she recalled, adding that weightlifting has grown “exponentially” in the last decade or so.
“It’s exploded, at least for us in New Zealand,” she said. “It’s been actually really liberating to carry a little more skin on me, a little
more fat on me, and care more about getting weight over my head than what my butt looks like in a bathing suit.”
Most rewarding has been discovering the strength, skill and technique her body is capable of, she said.
“It’s my catharsis. I’m a mom. I own a business. This is the only thing I do for me, really.”
As Paullay-Beazley speaks, steel weights periodically crash to the ground in the training zone, walled off by a black curtain that shakes with the floor panels while men and women in Lycra onesies squat, chalk their palms and fling down barbells.
At the snack counter nearby, a tray of hard-boiled eggs complements the chips and sports drinks on offer.
For Owen Duguay, 69, it’s not
the protein but the persistence and mental discipline that keep him tethered to the sport.
“I like that when you first start out, you set a goal. And my goal was to get back in shape,” said Duguay, a retired tax collector who used to run a weightlifting club in Sherbrooke, Que.
He developed tendinitis recently, which required constant stretching and icing.
“I had to overcome that and start over again from zero and gradually build my way up,” said Duguay, an internationally qualified referee.
“Weightlifting is my passion. It’s the sport I like so much that 50 years later, I’m still lifting.”
Mario Robitaille, 54, has felt that same gravitational pull since 1978, when he first met Marcel Perron, the now-85-year-old local
superstar. Robitaille, part of the organizing committee this year, was about 14 when he started to lift.
“It gives the idea to the young that you have to put in effort if you want to succeed,” he said. “The more you train, the more you can lift. No shortcuts.”
The week-long contest Robitaille helps oversee takes place in the shadow of Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, at the Centre PierreCharbonneau. But he says the shadier side of weightlifting – and many Olympic sports – has no place at the Masters contest.
“You cannot compete and take drugs,” he said.
Roughly 10 per cent of all competitors are selected for random tests of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs, according to the organization.
Perron, who used to use his lunch hour to bench-press and dead-lift in the basement of the foundry where he once worked, said he’s never considered doping.
A firefighter for 15 years and lifelong Montrealer, he retired 35 years ago to focus on weightlifting. He gets some help from sponsors for international contests but mostly pays his own way, often taking out an informal loan.
“I remember many years ago somebody phoned me at home who was supposed to be a sponsor,” Perron recalled. “I said, ‘OK, what can you do?’ He said, ‘I will buy you a (wheel)chair.’
“I shut the line,” he said. “Too bad I didn’t break the phone.” Established in the mid-1980s, the World Masters Weightlifting competition runs Aug. 16 to 24 in Montreal.
Study finds gender bias during dementia care
The Canadian Press
Researchers say they’ve discovered profound gender differences in the way Ontario nursing home residents with advanced dementia receive care in their final days –findings they say highlight a stark divide in the way men and women receive care and regard their own deaths.
Doctors with the Ontario non-profit research institute ICES released a study Friday that found male nursing home residents with advanced dementia were more likely to be hospitalized, physically restrained and receive invasive treatment than female residents in the last 30 days of life.
Lead author Dr. Nathan Stall said the data points to gender biases known to occur more broadly in health care, in which men are often offered more aggressive treatment than women with similar conditions. While such interventions might be welcome earlier in life, they are often avoidable and distressing later in life and may not provide comfort if the patient is near death, said Stall, noting that by this point the resident is often frail and cognitively impaired.
“The care should generally be focused at this stage on maximizing quality of life,” said Stall.
The study looked at the experiences of 27,243 nursing home residents with advanced dementia who died between June 1, 2010, and March 31, 2015. It was published Friday in the medical journal JAMA Network Open. Stall said men were 41 per cent more likely to be transferred to an emergency department or hospital, and were 33 per cent more likely to receive antibiotics, the administration of which can be painful for seniors who require it intravenously.
The study also questioned how often antibiotics are appropriate, noting “they are often prescribed in the absence of strong evidence for bacterial infection.” The “indiscriminate use of antibiotics in nursing homes” is also linked to the spread of multidrug-resistant organisms, researchers said, posing a “major public health threat.”
Researchers suspected unconscious gender biases were at play when it came to delivery of care. The study cited another paper on people who complained about osteoarthritis, finding that even when pre-
senting similar symptoms, men were more likely to be offered a joint replacement, while women were more likely to be offered physical therapy and supportive therapy.
“We know that men are more likely to be described as ‘the fighter’ than women are,” said Stall. “How does that result in people receiving interventions (at the) end of life?”
The study found that male residents were more likely to die in an acute-care facility, instead of their nursing home, and that overall, only a minority of residents saw a palliative care doctor in the year before death. Those who did see a palliative care doctor were half as likely to be transferred to an emergency room or hospital, and 25 per cent less likely to receive antibiotics.
Stall said men and women also tend to regard death differently, with women tending to be less afraid of death and more likely to refuse intubation and cardiopulmonary resuscitation at the end of life.
Senior author Dr. Paula Rochon added that women are also more likely to discuss their end-of-life care wishes – something she said should be adopted more broadly by both genders.
“We need to think about these things before people are in that situation so that people can be thoughtful and plan,” said Rochon, a geriatric specialist at Women’s College Hospital.
While nursing home residents generally have advance directives that specify if they want to be transferred to an acute-care facility, Stall said a resident’s wishes aren’t always honoured if the directive is unclear, if a family member intervenes, or if nursing staff don’t have the capacity or comfort level to provide the palliative care required.
Part of the problem is that many people simply don’t perceive advanced dementia as a terminal condition, added Stall, who said he tells patients and family members to consider advanced-care planning when he delivers a dementia diagnosis.
While most people with dementia can be productive in many spheres of their life and make their own decisions, Stall noted that advanced dementia often includes profound memory impairment and the inability to perform most, if not all, of the basic activities of daily living – including grooming, bathing, dressing and feeding.
‘Silent’ strokes common in seniors after surgery
The Canadian Press
Canadian researchers say socalled “silent” strokes are common in seniors after they have elective, non-cardiac surgery and double their risk of cognitive decline one year later.
Cardiologist and co-lead researcher PJ Devereaux of Hamilton Health Sciences says that “silent” – or covert – strokes are actually more common than overt strokes in surgery patients aged 65 or older. While an overt stroke causes ob-
vious symptoms such as weakness in one arm or speech problems, a covert stroke is not obvious except on brain scans. Overt stroke occurs in less than one per cent of adults after noncardiac surgery but researchers found that covert stroke occurred among seven per cent of the 1,114 study participants.
The global study detected MRI evidence of the more subtle condition among 78 patients aged 65 years and older who underwent surgery between March 24, 2014, and July 21, 2017.
These patients were also more likely to experience cognitive decline, delirium, overt stroke or a mini-stroke within one year, compared to patients who did not have a silent stroke. The results of the NeuroVISION study were published Thursday in The Lancet. Co-lead investigator, Dr. Marko Mrkobrada of Western University, said the findings underscore the risks involved when older patients undergo surgery, especially as improving surgical and anesthetic techniques allow surgeons to operate on older and sicker patients.
PHOTO
Marcel Perron lifts in the training room during the 2019 World Masters Weightlifting Championship in Montreal on Saturday.
Rebman(Strom),EvelynJuneMarie June1,1925-August13,2019
EvelyndiedpeacefullysurroundedbyfamilyinPrince George,BC,onAugust13,2019.
ShewasborninWillowRiver,BC,andresidedin PrinceGeorgeherentirelife.EvelynmarriedJohn (Jack)RebmanonJune19,1943,justbeforehe wentoverseaswithRCAFBomberCommand.
Predeceasedbyherparents,CarlWilhelmStromin 1963andBorghildStrom(Benson)in1933; husband,Jackin1991;stepmother,Ruth Cunningham;brothers,AlfredStromandCarlStrom; andsister,LillianCoulling.
Evelynenjoyedbeingamother,grandmother,and great-grandmothermostinlife,butalsoenjoyedthe outdoors,poetry,reading,travel,gardening,and, laterinlife,hercomputer.Shewasveryactive writingletterstotheeditorintheCitizennewspaper formanyyearsandveryactiveonFacebook.Shewas agreatsourceoflocalhistoryinformation.Atruly remarkablewomanwhowillbemissedbyfamilyand friends.
Evelynissurvivedbyherchildren,John(Joan) RebmanofChilliwack,Don(Alice)RebmanofPrince George,Mark(Lynn)RebmanofCoquitlam,Kirk (Cindy)RebmanofPrinceGeorge,andSherri (Marina)RebmanofVancouver,plusfive grandchildren;sixgreat-grandchildren;sister, Elizabeth(Jim)O’RourkeofVancouver;brothers,Bill (Muriel)StromofKamloopsandEric(Annette) StromofAbbotsford;andmanyniecesandnephews, aswellasmanyextendedrelativesinNorwayand Sweden.
VeryspecialthankstoDr.Serwelandthenursesand staffonthesecondfloorofUHNBCHospital-Evelyn receivedsuchexcellentcare.Alsospecialthanksto thestaffatthePGHospiceHouse. TherewillbenofuneralserviceasperEvelyn’s wishes.Inlieuofflowers,pleasegivedonationsin hernametothePGHospiceSociety.
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