Local woman wins $1M at Treasure Cove slots
Citizen staff
Lightning has struck twice as there’s another local winner of the Powerbucks progressive jackpot at Treasure Cove Casino.
Brittany Hammell won $1.06 million on Aug. 20 playing the Wheel of Fortune Hawaiian Getaway slot machine.
“I didn’t believe it at first,” Hammell said. “I was just in shock at the time. To be honest, it still hasn’t quite kicked in yet.”
Hammell is the second Prince George Powerbucks winner after Marlyne Dumoulin won playing a different machine and took home a record-breaking $2.1 million on July 13, which is the largest slot prize in the province’s history.
“It feels good to win,” Hammell said.
“I think our family will look into buying a house and helping to set up the future for our family.”
The odds of winning the Powerbucks jackpot on a $3 wager are approximately 1 in 25 million.
Since every spin of a machine is random, the odds of winning the jackpot anywhere is the same with every spin.
The Powerbucks $1 million or more progressive jackpot grows as more people place bets across other participating Canadian jurisdictions, including Manitoba, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and P.E.I. A portion of every wager gets added to the progressive jackpot until it is won.
The unusual suspects
B.C.’s middleclass gang problem
Laura KANE, Amy SMART
The Canadian Press
SURREY — At the end of a tranquil cul-de-sac in a pleasant neighbourhood, a tall stucco house overlooks a well-kept lawn and lush flowerbeds. The home is in the Metro Vancouver city of Surrey, where the average price of a detached property is $1.1 million.
Before an officer from the RCMP’s gang enforcement unit knocks on the door to conduct a curfew check, he notes that the alleged gang boss didn’t purchase the home with drug profits. This is his family’s house, where he grew up and still lives in his mid-20s.
“Gangs in Chicago and other U.S. cities, they’re usually geographically based. They keep a watch of the block, or they’re a bunch of new immigrants to a country. It becomes a unity thing, like survival. These kids don’t have that issue,” Const. Ryan Schwerdfeger says.
“Some may be new immigrants to Canada, but their parents sold property back home and they live in $1 million-plus homes and their parents buy them whatever car they want.”
Police officers say the gang conflict in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland is unlike any other in North America. Many young members come from middle- to upper-class homes. They aren’t driven by poverty, but instead by their desire to belong, to be protected or to emulate the gangster lifestyle flashed by other teens on social media. Some become trapped
in gangs once they join, while others just meet the wrong friends and find themselves caught in the crosshairs.
Police are struggling to contain the deadly gunfire and families are left broken and confused. In fact, the situation is so different in B.C. that some say many of the groups toting guns and dealing drugs are not really “gangs” at all. But to end the violence, experts say, it must be understood why kids are jumping into the fray – and why it’s so hard for them to leave.
When losing friends starts to feel normal
From an early age, all of Ary Azez’s friends were involved in the gang lifestyle in Surrey. The 22-year-old now works for an anti-gang group called Yo Bro Yo Girl Youth Initiative, and he casually mentions that his friends “who are still alive” are still involved in drug dealing.
He’s lost seven friends in shootings or to overdoses.
“After a while, it’s like, ‘Oh. Too bad,”’ Azez says with a shrug and a slight laugh.
“It doesn’t hurt as much anymore. In the beginning, it was really tough, when it’s the ones who are really close to you. After that, it’s like, ‘Oh, you got stabbed, no way,’ and then you just continue with your lunch.”
Azez grew up middle-class, but he says joining a gang wasn’t necessarily the clearcut “choice” that police sometimes make it out to be. In his experience, each high school represents itself.
“If you go to the school, you’re basically a part of the gang,” he says. “You could be one of those kids who stays indoors and plays chess with the nerds, or you could be with the cool kids outside smoking and hanging out on the block. On the one hand, you did have a choice. But on the other hand, it’s clear that no one really wants to be on the inside.”
Azez was kicked out of school before he became too deeply entrenched, he says, allowing him to take a step back and observe how “stupid” the lifestyle was.
— see ‘WE’RE NOT, page 3
BCLC HANDOUT PHOTO
Brittany Hammell won $1.06 million on Aug. 20 playing the Wheel of Fortune Hawaiian Getaway slot machine at Treasure Cove Casino.
Park pruning
Two arrested after vehicle flees from police
Citizen staff
Two suspects are in custody after fleeing police in a stolen vehicle near Quesnel on Saturday. At 7:12 a.m., Quesnel RCMP officers spotted a gray Honda Accord, which had been reported stolen in Williams Lake the day before. The car was on Highway 97, coming down Dragon Lake Hill. When police attempted to stop the vehicle, it fled at a high rate of speed. In the interest of public safety, RCMP officers did not pursue the car. However, it was soon spotted heading down a dead end road.
RCMP officers set up a tire deflation device and were able to stop the vehicle, which collided with a concrete curb, then rolled backwards and struck a police cruiser. No injuries were reported in the collision.
The male driver of the Honda fled on foot carrying a duffle bag, and was located by a police dog handler a short time later. A female passenger in the car was arrested without incident. Anyone with information about this crime is asked to call the Quesnel RCMP at 250-992-9211 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-2228477.
Stolen truck recovered
Citizen staff
Prince George RCMP recovered a Ford F-150 pickup truck reported stolen in Fraser Lake.
Just after 8:30 p.m. on Friday, an officer with Prince George RCMP’s Youth Team identified the truck, which was reported stolen on Aug. 13, being driven on Victoria Street.
Multiple officers converged on the vehicle near the intersection of Victoria Street and Fourth Avenue, where the Prince George RCMP detachment is located. Five adults in the vehicle were initially arrested at the scene.
The driver, a 24-year-old Prince George man, was held overnight and released on Saturday on a promise to appear to court. A
37-year-old woman from Terrace was found in possession of what appeared to be a controlled substance. She was also released on a promise to appear. The three other passengers were released without charge. The RCMP is continuing its investigation into the case, and an analysis of the seized substances is planned.
Anyone with information about this or any other criminal offence, is asked to contact the Prince George RCMP at 250-561-3300. 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
The Prince George Toastmasters are celebrating their 42nd anniversary Thursday and are inviting the community to join them at AiMHi, 950 Kerry St. from 6:45 to 9 p.m.
During the event Penny Soderena-Sutton will be recognized with the Distinguished Toastmaster designation. Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs.
Prince George has six clubs, which meet at a number of locations throughout the week at different times.
The Prince George Toastmasters is the second oldest club in the city and was founded on the principles of equality and inclusivity and was the first club in Prince George to welcome women members.
The club has been mindfully located at AiMHi for the last decade. Soderena-Sutton, who has dis-
abilities herself, is a self-advocate peer advisor at AiMHi and helps her peers “have good lives at work, at home and in the community.” There are only 3,022 Distinguished Toastmasters worldwide, so the honour of the designation is considered rare. For more information about the local group visit www.pgtoastmasters.ca. Local
Liz Moleski prunes a linden tree in Wood Innovation Square, the city’s newest park in downtown Prince George Monday morning.
‘We’re not coming from broken families’
— from page 1
He also started to notice the impact on his family, after hiding his behaviour from them for a long time.
“We’re not coming from broken families, where we’re missing parents, or from foster homes, or we’re poor. We have a family. We have a nice house. We have cars,” he explains.
“All of a sudden, when you’re bringing outside drama that doesn’t really belong in that environment, it really crashes down.”
On a high school field, teenagers enrolled in Yo Bro Yo Girl practise kabaddi, an Indian sport. One young player, 18-year-old Jaskirat Dhaliwal, remarks that kids need money to join gangs.
“I’ve seen kids who are loaded and then they get in gangs,” he says, shaking his head. “To hang out with people and go around, you need money. You have to spend on people. There’s a guy here who pays $700 for his gas every month. That’s crazy ... You’ve got to buy stuff for the fights. That’s stupid. I’d rather buy my knee pads and my mouth guard.”
Kids looking for protection or a sense of belonging
The conversation about B.C.’s gang conflict has largely focused on Surrey, often perceived by outsiders to be a rough part of Metro Vancouver. But other than a few troubled neighbourhoods, Surrey is an average suburban community, where the median household income in 2016 was $68,060, higher than the provincial average of $61,280.
Outrage over gang violence in Surrey has reached such a fever pitch that a new mayor was elected last year on a promise to replace the RCMP with a municipal police force. Previous mayors have also tried to curb the gunfire, including in 2017 when then-mayor Linda Hepner convened a task force on gang violence prevention, which produced a report last year.
The report highlights that gang crime is not limited to Surrey. Of 46 gang-related homicides in B.C. in 2017, six occurred in Surrey, seven in Abbotsford, six in Richmond and five in Vancouver.
The report also notes that, unlike other regions, B.C. gangs span socio-economic classes and are multi-ethnic. The highest proportion of gang-related murder and attempted murder victims from 2006 to 2015 were white, while 25 per cent were South Asian.
The task force also shed light on the complex reasons why kids are joining gangs. They might be experiencing trauma or domestic violence, substance abuse at home, lack of parental supervision or have delinquent peers or siblings. Or they might be getting bullied at school and turn to a gang for protection, or just to feel like they belong somewhere. And some might simply be lured by the promise of profit and luxury.
“What we’re seeing is surprising to us and unexpected,” says Joanna Angelidis, director of learning services for the Delta School District. “It seems to be that it’s young people who you wouldn’t necessarily expect would become involved in gang life,” she added.
“So what we’re thinking is that it’s young people who are maybe looking for a feeling of connection or inclusion and they’re looking for that in ways that are clearly unhealthy or dangerous.”
Is ‘gang’ is the right word?
Several hours into his patrol, Schwerdfeger makes a remark that seems surprising for a constable with the words “Gang Enforcement Unit” printed on his bulletproof vest.
Gang involvement by the numbers
SURREY — Law enforcement in British Columbia report the gang landscape in the province is unlike any other because so many members are joining from the middle and upper classes. Here’s a look at some of the numbers as reported by Statistics Canada and the Mayor’s Task Force on Gang Violence Prevention in Surrey, B.C.
37: The percentage of homicides in B.C. that were linked or suspected to be linked to organized crime or street gangs in 2018.
32: The percentage by which the homicide rate rose in 2017 in B.C., the highest rate since 2009.
47: The percentage of all gang-related homicides in Canada that occurred in British Columbia and Alberta in 2017.
53: The percentage of B.C.’s 2017 homicides involving firearms.
68: The percentage of B.C.’s 2017 homicides involving firearms that were known or suspected to be gang-related.
46: The number B.C.’s 2017 homicides with a nexus to organized crime.
40: The percentage of individuals involved in the 2014-16 gang conflict that Surrey RCMP say had been exposed to some type of domestic violence in their upbringing either as victims or witnessing it in the home.
55: The percentage of gang-involved youth who reported their
“In my personal view, I wouldn’t say we have a gang problem in Surrey,” he says. He explains that while the city has some notorious gangs, including the Red Scorpions and Brothers Keepers, many don’t have names and are more accurately described as “drug trafficking groups.”
“When I think of gang, I think of Crips and Bloods, you know, Chicago, L.A., like real gangs. I don’t usually give too much credit to these kids to call them gangsters,” he says. “For the most part, they’re all just boys that sell drugs.”
Schwerdfeger says unlike the Hells Angels, where members all hang out and move as a group, these organizations operate more like businesses where each member has a specific function that they might perform largely in a silo. He compares it to a Walmart, with a general manager, floor manager, shelf stocker and greeter.
When he talks about the Lower Main-
Early morning collision on the Hart
Citizen staff
Emergency services including the Prince George RCMP were at the scene of a collision on Highway 97 (Hart Highway) near Wall Road early Monday morning. The initial report was received just before 6 a.m. advising of a collision between a tractor trailer and a truck. No serious injuries were reported.
An RCMP investigation found that a south-bound pickup truck swerved into the north-bound lane in front of a the tractor trailer travelling at highway speed. The driver of the unloaded tractor trailer managed to swerve into the north-bound shoulder to avoid a head-on collision, resulting in the pickup truck side-swiping the trac-
tor trailer. Investigators learned the driver of the pickup truck was in the process of calling 911 regarding another incident when he drifted into the oncoming lane.
Although the Motor Vehicle Act allows drivers to use their device to call 911 while driving in an emergency, it’s always best to pull over in a safe location if possible before calling emergency responders. The pickup truck driver was issued a ticket for failing to keep right.
crime was motivated by a lack of parental supervision in a study of incarcerated youth in B.C. between 1998 and 2012.
36: The percentage of youth incarcerated for non-gang related crimes who say they were motivated by a lack of parental supervision in the same study.
91: The percentage of incarcerated gang-involved youth who say their crime was motivated by friends.
69: The percentage of youth incarcerated for non-gang related crimes who say they were motivated by friends.
69: The percentage of incarcerated gang-involved youth who reported their crime was motivated by status.
19: The percentage of youth incarcerated for non-gang related crimes who say they were motivated by status.
35: The percentage of incarcerated gang-involved youth who reported their crime was motivated by a sibling.
12: The percentage of youth incarcerated for non-gang related crimes who say they were motivated by a sibling.
51: The percentage of incarcerated gang-involved youth who say their crime was motivated by dropping out of school.
32: The percentage of youth incarcerated for non-gang related crimes who say their crime was motivated by dropping out of school.
land’s gang landscape, he’s quick to mention the work of Keiron McConnell, a veteran police officer and Kwantlen University professor who travelled to Toronto, Chicago, Los Angeles, Maskwacis, Alta., and London, England, to observe gangs for his PhD dissertation.
While gangs in each city had some unique aspects, McConnell broadly found marginalized males living in impoverished, graffiti-cloaked neighbourhoods. B.C.’s clean streets and suburban homes stood in stark contrast.
The Criminal Code definition of a criminal organization – a gang – is a group of three or more people that commits crimes for profit. But McConnell’s dissertation rejects the idea that B.C. has a “gang problem” and says the term is misleading and problematic because it connotes bandanna-wearing youth fighting for turf and suggests streetbased outreach could work.
The Canadian Press
CALGARY — Some prominent Conservative politicians are paying their respects at a memorial for former Calgary member of Parliament Deepak Obhrai. Obhrai, who was 69, died earlier this month from liver cancer.
McConnell accepts that police and media have adopted the label “gang” and it’s stuck, but says it’s important to note how different its meaning is in B.C.
Quitting gang life can be difficult and dangerous
Entering a gang may be a choice for some youth in B.C., but leaving is not so simple. The youngest, newest members typically do the most dangerous work as dial-a-dopers, risking robbery, assault or even death from desperate addicts or rival groups, say police. But sometimes when a dial-a-doper expresses interest in leaving, his own crew will set up a robbery so he must pay back the loss with “tax” that never goes away, explains Schwerdfeger.
“Now they’re working because they have to,” he says.
“Or these guys come to their front door and try to collect from the mom and dad. They don’t care.”
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer and former prime minister Stephen Harper are to make tributes at the service, along with former cabinet ministers John Baird and Peter MacKay. Obhrai was born and raised in Tanzania and settled in Calgary with his family in 1977.
The first Hindu to be elected to the House of Commons, he had represented Calgary Forest Lawn since 1997. He was the longest-serving parliamentary secretary to a minister of foreign affairs in Canadian history, and also the longest-serving Indo-Canadian MP in Parliament.
CP FILE PHOTO
Members of the RCMP Gang Enforcement Team speak to the occupants of a car during a stop in Surrey on May 31.
B.C. father accused of killing his girls says he didn’t lie about loan shark
The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER
— A Vancouver Island father accused of murdering his two young daughters denied Monday he was lying to the court.
At first Andrew Berry ignored the question from Crown attorney Patrick Weir who asked if he was making things up.
“No,” Berry replied.
Weir suggested Berry wasn’t truthful about his involvement with a loan shark named Paul, his two henchmen and his alleged suicide attempt in the days leading up to the murders of his young daughters.
Berry denied the allegations.
He is accused of second-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of six-year-old Chloe Berry and four-year-old Aubrey Berry in Oak Bay on Christmas Day in 2017.
The trial heard earlier that police found a note at the apartment where the girl’s were murdered written by Berry.
Berry told the jury that the note was written a month before the girls’ deaths, when he tried to kill himself.
It was addressed to Berry’s sister, and detailed grievances with relatives and the girls’ mother.
“Betrayed, bullied, and miscast I set out to leave with the kids,” the letter said. “But I thought it better for myself and kids to escape.”
Weir asked Berry if his claim about the suicide attempt was so he could explain the note. Did the suicide attempt leave any marks, Weir asked Berry.
There were no marks, he replied.
Berry was asked by Weir why he didn’t throw out the note.
“I don’t know why,” Berry said.
The note blames his ex-wife Sarah Cotton and his parents for his troubles.
Weir said Berry takes no responsibility for his situation in the note.
Berry agreed, adding that he does take responsibility “in my heart and my mind.”
Weir also suggested to Berry that there was no loan shark named Paul nor the two men who came to collect money owed.
Berry testified earlier that he gave $10,000 in the summer of 2017 to one of the men who came to his apartment to col-
lect money.
“I’m going to suggest to you that you did not give $10,000 to the henchmen ... because there are no henchmen and there is no Paul,” Weir said.
Berry replied said it wasn’t true.
The Crown’s theory is that Berry killed the girls and then tried to kill himself, but Berry says he owed thousands of dollars to the loan shark named Paul and was attacked in his apartment.
Berry told his jury trial that Paul was someone who was in his 30s when he first got to know him about 20 years ago, tall, Chinese, wore collared shirts, sounded Canadian, had a few girlfriends and dated
Journalist-turned-bank robber was depressed, unemployed, lawyer says
The Canadian MEDICINE HAT, Alta. — The lawyer for a former journalist convicted of robbing banks has told a sentencing in Alberta that his client was suffering from a deep depression at the time of the robberies and hadn’t been able to find work.
Stephen Vogelsang appeared in Medicine Hat Provincial Court on Monday via closed-circuit TV from Alberta’s Drumheller Institution, where he’s serving a five-year sentence for four other bank robberies in Regina and Saskatoon.
In April, he pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery for holding up a pair of banks in Medicine Hat in October 2017.
Vogelsang was a sports anchor and news director for many years with CKY (now CTV Winnipeg) and was also a journalism instructor at Red River College.
His lawyer, Greg White, told court Vogelsang left his teaching job when his wife found employment in Nelson, but despite applying to more than 50 jobs, he was unable to find employment.
Judge Derek Redman reserved his sentencing decision for Oct. 8.
“This was the bottom of a seven-year downward spiral,” White told court, requesting a sentence of six years to be served concurrent to his Saskatchewan sentence. “We’re talking about someone who came to the end of his rope... and made decisions that were simply illogical.”
someone who worked for the airline Cathay Pacific.
Berry said he didn’t know Paul’s last name.
Weir asked Berry whether he was frightened or worried about the safety of his daughters following the first visit of the loan collectors in mid-March 2017.
“Did it occur to you that your daughters should have zero part of this?” Weir asked Berry.
“I thought it would be no big deal,” he said. “I had my head I don’t know where.”
“In hindsight, that was potentially very, very dangerous,” Weir said.
“Yes,” Berry agreed.
His daughters were in the apartment watching a movie while the two men hid a bag in his closet, he testified. Berry has said he thought the bag contained drugs.
The same two men came to his apartment at least five times, the trial heard. Weir asked if Berry thought the request by Paul for a set of his apartment keys was “strange.”
Berry said it was.
“Did you think to how this would affect the safety of the girls?” Weir asked.
“No,” Berry said. “I’m just not that bright.” Berry’s testimony is expected to last through Wednesday.
Limited fish passage through landslide obstruction on Fraser River
The Canadian Press
LILLOOET — Authorities dealing with a massive landslide in British Columbia’s Fraser River say they’ve successfully helped thousands of salmon migrate north of the site, but millions of fish remain threatened by the obstruction.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the provincial government and local First Nations set up a team to lead the response to the slide near Big Bar, north of Lillooet, after it was discovered in late June.
The team says in a news release Monday that fish counting data shows some chinook salmon have been able to swim past the slide using the channels the team has created with large rock manipulation and blasting.
It says as of last Tuesday, a rough estimate of 6,700 salmon have passed through the slide on their own.
The team says the limited fish passage is a “significant and hopeful step forward,” but a tremendous amount of work still needs to be done before all fish can transit above the slide.
It says while operations to create stable, long-term natural passage move forward, it continues to
transport fish by helicopter and has moved over 39,000 salmon past the slide using this method.
The slide could affect the ecosystem and other species dependent on the survival of salmon, and that’s why authorities are working together to explore and address every avenue possible to enable passage, the news release adds.
“The inability of chinook, sockeye, coho and pink salmon to migrate above the landslide area this year, and in future years, could result in significant negative ecological, economic, and cultural impacts to all British Columbians and people throughout the region,” it says. “Salmon are critical to Indigenous communities for food, social and ceremonial needs, and the slide has the potential to impact most Indigenous communities in B.C.”
Liberals launch ‘Choose Forward’ as campaign slogan
from
Forward”
on a
Andrew Berry, centre, appears in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver in April.
CP FILE PHOTO Fisheries and Oceans Canada officials and members of the B.C. Wildfire Service move salmon in a temporary holding pen on the Fraser River on July 24.
Canadian Press
slogan
B.C. pleased with U.S. ruling in opioids case as it continues lawsuit
The Canadian Press
VICTORIA — British Columbia’s attorney general says he is pleased with the findings of a court in Oklahoma that found Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries helped fuel the state’s opioid crisis as it ordered the company to pay US $572 million, more than twice the amount another drug manufacturer agreed to pay in a settlement.
The province filed a proposed class-action lawsuit a year ago against dozens of pharmaceutical companies in a bid to recoup the health-care costs associated with opioid addiction. The untested suit alleges the companies falsely marketed opioids as less addictive than other pain drugs and helped trigger an overdose crisis that has killed thousands since OxyContin was introduced to the Canadian market in 1996.
David Eby likened the aim of the lawsuit in British Columbia to the one in Oklahoma.
“The lawsuit we launched in 2018 holds pharmaceutical companies similarly accountable for the harm they have done to British Columbians and for the financial burdens they have placed on our health care system,” he alleged in a statement on Monday.
“Along with our recently enacted Opioid Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act, this measure is another example of the work that this government is undertaking every day to address the ongoing opioid crisis and build a better system of care and support for British Columbians.”
The civil claim filed by the B.C. government names the maker of OxyContin –Purdue Pharma Inc. – as well as other major drug manufacturers, and also targets pharmacies, alleging they should have known the quantities of opioids they were distributing exceeded any legitimate market. None of the allegations contained in the civil claim has been proven in court.
A statement of defence from Purdue Pharma could not be found on the B.C. Supreme Court website on Monday, but in a previous statement the company said it followed all of Health Canada’s regulations,
Women accused of defaming author ordered to share emails, posts
VANCOUVER (CP) — A
B.C. Supreme Court judge has awarded author Steven Galloway access to emails between a woman who accused him of sexual assault and staff at the University of British Columbia in a test of a provincial law intended to protect freedom of expression. Galloway, who is the former chair of the university’s creative writing department, filed lawsuits against the woman and two dozen others last October, alleging he was defamed by false allegations of sexual and physical assaults made by the woman and repeated by others. The woman and two others applied to have the lawsuit thrown out under the province’s Protection of Public Participation Act that came into effect in March and aims to protect critics on matters of public interest from lawsuits intended to silence or punish them. Galloway had requested access to further documentation he said he needed to defend his case.
including those governing marketing. The company also says it has adhered to the code of ethical practices as a member of Innovative Medicines Canada, a pharmaceutical industry organization that works with governments, insurance companies and health-care professionals.
“Purdue Pharma (Canada) is deeply concerned about the opioids crisis, in British Columbia, and right across Canada,” the company said in a statement after B.C. filed its lawsuit.
“The opioids crisis is a complex and multifaceted public health issue that involves both prescription opioids and, increasingly, illegally produced and consumed opioids, as indicated in Health Canada’s latest quarterly monitoring report. All stakeholders, including the pharmaceutical industry, have a role to play in providing practical and sustainable solutions.”
Earlier this year, the Ontario government said it plans to join B.C.’s proposed lawsuit.
In Oklahoma, Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman’s ruling followed the first state opioid case to make it to trial and could help shape negotiations over roughly 1,500 similar lawsuits filed by state, local and tribal governments consolidated before a federal judge in Ohio.
“The opioid crisis has ravaged the state of Oklahoma,” Balkman said before announcing the judgment. “It must be abated immediately.”
An attorney for the companies said they plan to appeal the ruling to the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
Before Oklahoma’s trial began May 28, the state reached settlements with two other defendant groups – a $270 million deal with Purdue Pharma and an $85 million settlement with Israeli-owned Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.
Oklahoma argued the companies and their subsidiaries created a public nuisance by launching an aggressive and allegedly misleading marketing campaign that overstated how effective the drugs were for treating chronic pain and understated the risk of addiction.
Wastewater test suggests Canadian drug use varies by city
Stephanie MARIN The Canadian Press MONTREAL — A pilot project that analyzed wastewater in five major urban centres suggests Canadians’ may use drugs differently depending on which city they call home.
For example, the analysis by Statistics Canada showed cannabis levels are much higher in Montreal and Halifax than in Toronto, Vancouver and Edmonton.
But the findings reported Monday showed methamphetamine levels were significantly higher in the latter two cities.
Methamphetamine levels were particularly low in Halifax – six times lower than in Toronto, the next-lowest city.
Cocaine use, on the other hand, appeared more evenly distributed across the cities, averaging 340 grams per million people per week.
“While Montreal and Halifax reported the highest levels of cannabis metabolite, they had among the lowest levels of methamphetamine, suggesting that even large cities within the same country may have distinct drug-use profiles,” the report read.
To get results, the agency collected wastewater samples from treatment plants in each of the five major cities between March 2018 and February 2019 and tested them for traces of cannabis and a dozen other drugs. Samples were taken every 30 minutes each day for a week, with the data used to estimate monthly levels.
Statistics Canada said the combined test areas serve 8.4 million people, or about a fifth of the Canadian population.
For cannabis, researchers looked for a compound called THC-COOH, which is produced by the body when cannabis is metabolized. The samples, which analyzed what is flushed down Canadian toilets, showed levels of this compound were 2.5 to 3.8 times higher in Montreal
and Halifax than Vancouver, Toronto and Edmonton.
It also found consumption varied depending on the season, spiking in May, June, and December 2018.
“These spikes may result from shortterm changes in the number of people consuming cannabis or in the amount consumed, or from factors related to the wastewater sampling,” Statistics Canada said.
The agency said the goal of the pilot project is to determine whether wastewater testing can be used to “efficiently and anonymously measure total societal use of specific drugs” and to guess the size of the drug market. It could also be used to determine whether Canadians respond honestly when surveyed about drug use.
The study noted that a difference in trace drug levels between cities couldn’t be attributed solely to differences in the level of drug consumption. Other factors, including drug potency and the condition of the sewers, could also affect the levels.
“For example, if cannabis edibles were more common in one city than another then the city excretion rates would differ since edibles have a different excretion rate than smoked cannabis; or if the sewer systems had different residence times and microbial environments, then they could have different degradation,” the report stated.
However, the report said the impact of these differences was likely to be small and that differences in drug consumption were by far the likeliest factor.
While the results look promising, the agency said more research is needed to improve the precision of the technique and to determine whether it could be used to test for other things, such as infectious disease and environmental contaminants.
Friend saw no sign Canadian slain in Mexico was in danger
Morgan LOWRIE The Canadian Press
A longtime acquaintance of a Quebec man found slain at his residence in the Mexican resort city of Cancun said he’s shocked by the death of his artistic friend.
Marc Vin, a retired Cancun restaurant owner, said Monday that he had known Daniel Lavoie for decades, and they often sat together enjoying a glass of wine and talking about “everything and nothing.”
The attorney general’s office for Quintana Roo state said Sunday that Lavoie,
a retiree who once served as an honorary consul for Canada, had been killed “with violence.” The office declined to discuss a possible motive. Vin said he was disturbed to hear the violent details reported in local Mexican media. While Lavoie hadn’t discussed the details of his personal life, Vin said he’d seen nothing to indicate his friend was in danger or connected to the wrong people.
“Like a lot of people, I’m wondering what happened for someone to kill him,” he said in a phone interview from Cancun.
pills are shown in Toronto.
Who will finish third?
With the next federal election just two months away, this is a first look at the party standings, topof-mind issues and how the leaders are performing.
Of course, polling numbers eight weeks out provide, at best, only limited guidance. Nevertheless, with that in mind, here is where things sit today.
At the party level, the Conservatives lead, on average, by one percentage point over the Liberals, 34 to 33. This is a considerable narrowing of the race. In mid-June the Tories were up by six.
The NDP stands third at 14 per cent, a drop of five points since mid-July, and the Greens remain steady at 11.
We’re not going to include the Bloc Québécois or Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party, since neither, at present, appears a factor. That could change, of course.
The standing of the leaders is more difficult to read. For most of 2019, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has run ahead of Andrew Scheer, his Tory opponent. On average, Trudeau leads Scheer by about seven points.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has had a terrible summer, with his approval rating hovering around nine per cent and dropping. Elizabeth May, the Green leader, matches Singh’s numbers, but this is misleading.
During the 2015 election, the NDP took 19.7 per cent of the vote, and the Greens, 3.5 per cent. Clearly, under May’s direction, the Greens have improved their standing. Equally, NDP support has fallen under Singh.
The state of party finances to some extent matches the polling numbers. During the second quarter of 2019, the Tories raised $8.5 million, the Liberals $5 million, the Greens $1.44 million and the NDP $1.43 million. It’s never clear to what extent money plays a role in election campaigns. The Tory lead, though not to be dismissed, might not matter in the end.
But the eye-opener here is the success of the Greens in out-raising the NDP. Here again, there are ominous signs for Singh and his party.
Top-of-mind issues are harder to tie down. Polling earlier in the year put climate change in top position. Health care came second, the economy third, and deficit/ government spending fourth. Immigration/ refugees and taxes tied for fifth place.
Some of this may have to do with the prominence given to respective issues in news reports. Climate change, due in part to constant skirmishing over pipelines, has dominated the news cycle for most of the year.
But when it comes time to cast a vote, bread and butter concerns such as housing affordability, job retention and family finances often come to the fore.
There is also the question of trust. Justin Trudeau began his time as prime minister with a huge lead over the other party leaders in this field. He was widely seen as honest, forthcoming, and well-intentioned.
Of course, honeymoons never last. But if the Liberals have a weak point, it centres on his squandering of that asset.
His latest self-inflicted wound came with his refusal two weeks ago to apologize for breaching the Conflict of Interest Act. Ethics
Commissioner Mario Dion had brought down a scathing report on Trudeau’s efforts to bully his former attorney general, Jody Wilson-Raybould.
Wilson-Raybould wanted a legal action brought against the Quebec-based firm SNC Lavalin. Trudeau tried to pressure her into dropping the matter, and when she refused, demoted her. This was a clear breach of the
YOUR LETTERS
Getting nasty
Daniel Dresner’s laughable column in the Aug. 20 Citizen about U.S. President Donald Trump’s wish to buy Greenland ignores the fact it would take a dollar value somewhere in the neighbourhood of say $23 trillion, roughly comparable to the U.S. national debt ceiling. Given the fresh water resources and other mineral resources there, and so many arid states in Trump’s voter base I am reminded of NAWAPA, (North American Water and Power Authority), in the 1960s where the U.S. wanted to dam up the whole Rocky Mountain Trench to water the U.S. Southwest.
Could this be a return to America becoming great by returning to it’s exploitive past?
Or does he think Congress will endorse this idea and give him money he can redirect to building a wall?
More likely Trump’s thinking is much simpler. He may want to switch channels given economic wars with China, falling stock prices, likely personal tax revelations or a small country like Denmark saying no to him – an answer he termed “nasty.” I guess in his warped thinking calling Hillary Clinton “Crooked Hillary” or firing staff for disagreeing with him isn’t nasty?
Calling the last election “rigged” before his winning results and still accepting the result shows a man of no conviction. Had his son-in-law or daughter
been killed in the Saudi embassy in Turkey, rather than a Muslim American journalist, we might really have seen “nasty.”
As likely as not, Trump wants to buy Greenland because his Aryan cohorts have probably told him all the bears in that region are white with no blacks or browns to deal with, not unlike his treatment of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.
Alan Martin, Prince George
What electric?
As per Dave Beckett’s suggestion that I drive an EV (Drive electric, letter, Aug. 24), I take issue with the feasibility of actually driving an EV. Ford has not developed or produced a F-150 EV.
There are no charging stations in Fraser Lake.
Fraser lake is a 320 km round trip to Prince George, I do not think existing EV battery lives are up to the challenge of this type of drive, especially in winter months when battery life is shortened.
Even if I wanted to test drive an existing Ford EV none are stocked north of Penticton.
I would have to drive a 2,000 km round trip just for an EV to test drive.
Will I ever drive an EV?
A wide range of EV’s need to be developed and produced.
Maybe news mines to produce exotic metals for the millions of batteries.
Maybe new plastic plants like
the proposed Olefins plant in Prince George. EV’s by the nature of there limited batteries need to be lighter than existing carbon powered vehicles.
The real problem – increasing electrical production, upgrading major and local electricity lines, upgrading major and minor electrical substations, upgrading local transformers and wiring upgrades to existing homes.
Yup, I may drive an EV, if I live long enough.
Wayne Martineau, Fraser Lake
Do their duty
In law, there is a concept called a fiduciary duty. In a fiduciary relationship, good conscience requires the fiduciary to act at all times in the best interests of the person(s) who have placed their trust and confidence in them.
The city council of Prince George, Northern Health, and the Ministry of the Environment have a fiduciary responsibility to protect the health and well-being of its citizens.
To allow the placement of a massive petrochemical plant colocated with up to three plastics plants in the Willow Cale area just two kilometres from lower College Heights, in my opinion, would breach this fiduciary duty of care.
To jeopardize the health of 78,000 persons for 700 jobs is neither just nor equitable.
Dr. Marie Hay Prince George
LETTERS WELCOME: The Prince George Citizen welcomes letters to the editor from our readers. Submissions should be sent by email to: letters@pgcitizen.ca. 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.
principle that politics should play no part in prosecutorial decisions. By refusing to apologize, Trudeau broke one of the basic rules of politics: stop digging when you find yourself in a hole. It remains to be seen what effect, if any, that has on his popularity.
However, if there is a light on the horizon here, it lies in the weakness of Trudeau’s main opponents. Scheer has been almost invisible since his election to the leadership in May 2017. His French is ropey and he is the second Conservative leader in a row from Western Canada, not a strong point in Quebec.
And Jagmeet Singh has struggled with almost all the tasks of leadership – fundraising, party building, preserving good caucus relations and political adroitness.
Rarely has a prime minister been so fortunate in his opponents.
Eight weeks is a long time in politics. But if there is anything to conclude so far, it is that the real drama in this election may lie in which party comes third.
As the conscience of the country, the NDP have long held that position. If they lose it to the Greens, a major revolution will have occurred in Canadian politics.
— Victoria Times-Colonist
Hong Kong issue political hot potato
Astatement: in sup-
port of the daily democratic demands in the streets of Hong Kong, rather milquetoast in language by western standards, to speak for the 300,000 there who hold Canadian passports.
A call: to de-escalate and make peace, but listen to what its people are saying.
A clear response: an unambiguous and personal warning, an accusation of irresponsibility, of gross interference in its affairs, of the absolutely wrong line crossed.
An implication: more retribution will come if Canada does not stop “before it’s too late.”
Justin Trudeau may have his eye on the electoral prize Oct. 21, but he cannot afford to take his eye off the festering dispute with a country he entered office four years ago hoping to charm. (No, not America, but it’s hardly worth ignoring, either.)
The December arrest of Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. CFO Meng Wanzhou, detained since on behalf of American authorities seeking extradition, was itself an offence to China.
But the statement of support for the Hong Kong demonstrators by Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland took China’s cake.
Canada now finds itself not just collaterally affected by the arrest at the behest of America but in China’s crosshairs as it scurries to represent hundreds of thousands of residents there – actually, the entire special administrative region – who may soon face more than stern official statements and local police quelling of their demonstrations.
It is difficult to fathom what other options Canada had in December and last week, but it is also difficult to fathom how Canada avoids further consequences in the short and medium term.
Complicating matters were last week’s revelations from Meng’s defence team, including a video and details of her interrogation by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) at Vancouver airport.
On the one hand, an affidavit by one of the CBSA’s agents alleges Meng confirmed Huawei has an office in Iran, a matter that the United States could connect to a violation of its Iranian sanctions.
On the other hand, her lawyers assert her detention without their presence for four hours was a pretence for an interrogation on
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behalf of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation – that the extent of their questioning without her arrest was unlawful.
These matters, part of a trove of documents released to media with the court’s approval, point to one whale of a hearing.
The next court date is Sept. 23, and what the prime minister must pray is that the protracted process will be punted post-election. Meantime, the runny-egg Trudeau of old now faces the task of becoming hard-boiled.
Hong Kong tension more likely fulminates than dissipates. Into election mode, he has no choice but to pivot in principled support of its democratic movement over the practical support of a greater economic entree into the superpower’s market.
Naturally, this is not an issue bothering people in Nova Scotia.
Not unsettling folks in Ford Nation, far as I can tell.
No, the hot mess is in our British Columbian laps, a more dynamic election issue than the pipeline because it requires our prime minister to be more of a forceful statesman than a fortuitous selfie.
There is no jubilance in having the back of democracy.
It is a leader’s solemn task, like the other country or not, and in this case there is some inconvenience in tangling with the Xi Jinping regime because Canada’s prosperity could more quickly accrue with his blessing. Thus the test of Justin Trudeau.
He cannot have it both ways in this zero-sum game.
Every sound bite about Hong Kong come across as a dog bite into Beijing. Every mention of the two Canadians imprisoned for no seeming reason by China, every pledge for the people of Hong Kong, is a dare to tighten the grip on Canadian investment, exports and commerce.
Let’s just see.
The economy could be set aside in this election for the larger matters of who might best navigate Canada’s place in the world. As for the environment: sure thing, there is steady and daunting climate change – and it’s also happening today, just across the Pacific Ocean.
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KIRK LAPOINTE
PM keeps low profile at G7
The Canadian Press
He may have spent the weekend an ocean away from home, rubbing elbows with world leaders during tense talks on international crises, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau kept cool, collected and decidedly out of the fray.
For a political leader who thrives in the flash of cameras and curated social media content, it was an uncharacteristic approach for Trudeau at the G7 summit in Biarritz, France, which wrapped up Monday.
With the start of an election campaign just weeks away, Trudeau kept things low-key. He steered a wide berth around the debris field trailing U.S. President Donald Trump, save for one largely uneventful bilateral meeting, and stayed focused squarely on the Liberal party’s key election talking points: the economy, taking action on climate change and raising the fortunes of the middle class.
In their meeting Sunday, Trudeau praised the new, albeit not yet ratified, free trade agreement between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, a favourite subject of Trump’s. Gone was the tough talk about Canada not being pushed around – a sentiment that triggered a Twitter tantrum from the confines of Air Force One in the final moments of last year’s G7 meeting in Charlevoix, Que. It seemed to work: when rightwing commentator and Rebel Media founder Ezra Levant called out Trudeau on Twitter for what he called “submissive” body language, Trump himself came to the prime minister’s defence.
“No, we actually had a very good and productive meeting,” Trump tweeted in response to Levant.
“Nice!”
In each and every bilateral meeting with a world leader he held on the margins of the two-day summit – Trump, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, among others – Trudeau made sure to mention trade, the global economy and climate issues.
Climate was top of mind all weekend, thanks to the wildfires ravaging the Amazon rainforest and burning up social media feeds around the world.
Canada pledged $15 million and the use of Canadian water bombers to help; Macron also announced a US$20-million commitment from the G7, part of which is earmarked for a long-term global initiative to protect the rainfor-
est. Any link between the two was unclear, however – officials appeared to be at a loss when asked whether the Canadian money was part of Macron’s announcement or a separate offer of help.
The money the G7 nations put forward for the Amazon will be aimed specifically at Brazil, Bolivia, Peru and Paraguay, said Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, with urgent brigades to combat fires and specialized planes. “We think we have to protect these real lungs of our world,” Pinera said.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a populist, far-right leader who initially dismissed the gravity of the threat, relented Friday and promised 44,000 soldiers to help battle the blazes, which mostly seem to be charring land deforest-
ed for farming and ranching rather than burning through stands of trees.
Trudeau wasn’t the only world leader hoping to quell any suggestion of discord. Both Trump and Macron sounded notes of unity as the gathering wrapped up, a markedly different tone from last year, when Trump demanded his name stricken from the shared communique.
This time, leaders opted instead for a short, single page of statements about the economy, Iran and Hong Kong, among other global hotspots.
“We actually had a very good meeting,” Trump said at a press conference of his own. “I had it out with one or two people where we disagreed in terms of concept,
but we actually had a pretty good meeting last year. I would say that this was a big step above in terms of unity, in terms of agreement. We have really great agreement on a lot of important subjects, but last year was good also.”
Fissures between the U.S. and six of the world’s other advanced economies were apparent, however, on issues including trade policy, Russia, Iran and climate change. Trump skipped the climate session, and repeated his push to invite Russia - ousted in 2014 over the annexation of Crimea – back into the group. That’s not about to happen, Trudeau insisted.
His closing remarks sounded a lot like a stump speech – to say nothing of the Liberal campaign ad that happened to drop early Monday morning.
“Around the world, hardworking middle class people are already having a hard time making ends meet, even with a growing economy, ” Trudeau said.
“They’re worried about their jobs, about their businesses, about their future. They wonder what this uncertainty around the global economy means for their retirement, for their kids, for their communities. We in Canada believe that we should put the best balance sheet in the G7 to work for the middle class.”
He denied any sort of pre-campaign strategy was in play – it just so happens that the G7’s priorities happen to align with the priorities of ordinary Canadians, he said.
“When we had the opportunity to host the G7 last year, our focus was on the global economy, on growth for the middle class and indeed on climate and oceans. The year before that, we brought forward strong issues on the global economy and climate change.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a closing press conference following the G7 Summit in Biarritz, France, on Monday.
Suncor, Enbridge clash over pipeline
The Canadian Press
An open season launched by Enbridge Inc. to try to lock shippers into long-term contracts on its Canadian Mainline oil pipeline system is designed to take advantage of “mostly captive shippers,” Suncor Energy Inc. says.
In a submission to the National Energy Board dated last Friday, Canada’s largest oil and gas producer by market capitalization demands Enbridge’s call for contracts be halted before it wraps up in October.
“The open season compels shippers that wish to maintain access to transportation on the Canadian Mainline to enter into irrevocable, binding, long-term firm contractual commitments on the basis of terms and conditions of access, and tolls, that have neither been settled through meaningful negotiation nor approved by the board,” Suncor charges.
Enbridge announced the open season on Aug. 2 and will accept bids until Oct. 2 from shippers who wish to enter into contracts of from eight to 20 years for priority transport on the Mainline, with discounts available based on contract length and volumes.
Only 10 per cent of capacity is to be reserved for uncommitted volumes, down from 100 per cent available to shippers now, with the new arrangement to start when the current tolling agreement expires on June 30, 2021.
Enbridge CEO Al Monaco has said the change is being made to address shipper demands for priority access and toll certainty.
“We’ve got a very diverse set of shippers. We’ve got producers, refiners, marketers, operating in different jurisdictions,” said Guy
Jarvis, senior vice-president of liquid pipelines for Enbridge, in an interview on Monday.
“We think the open season offering represents the best balance of those interests ... The result of that is that people don’t get everything they want.”
The open season has been accepted by supporters from all three types of shippers and its results will help inform a regulatory application to confirm the new Mainline allocation system to be submitted to the NEB before yearend, he said.
Suncor’s complaint echoes earlier submissions registered by fellow oilsands producers Shell Canada and MEG Energy Corp., and the Explorers and Producers Association of Canada, which represents smaller oil and gas producers.
The open season represents an “abuse of market power,” Shell said in its submission last week.
In response to the MEG and EPAC submissions, the NEB says in a letter posted on its website that it intends to assess any Enbridge application to offer firm service on the Mainline when it is made and will consider input from other parties at that time.
Suncor, however, insists a ruling must be made before the current open season ends because otherwise shippers will be forced to sign contracts out of fear that they will be shut out of the pipeline system that moves 70 per cent of Western Canada’s oil to United States and Canadian customers.
It contends the Mainline, with current capacity of 2.85 million barrels per day, faces little competition from the other major Canadian
crude oil export pipeline systems, Keystone and Trans Mountain, because they are effectively fully contracted and utilized.
“Suncor is not opposed to the contract carrier system but our concern right now is related to the committed and uncommitted tolls that we believe to be unreasonable,” Suncor spokeswoman Erin Rees said. “And the fact that Enbridge is requiring shippers to enter into irrevocable, binding commitments for capacity before the terms of the access are agreed to by the shippers or the board.”
In an email, NEB spokeswoman Sarah Kiley confirmed that Suncor, Shell and EPAC have asked for specific relief with regard to the Mainline proposal and the regulator is reviewing those letters to determine its next steps.
Suncor said in its submission the open season could require shippers to commit to over $150 billion in contract service on the pipeline system.
U.S. refiners could potentially gain an advantage over Canadian producers if the situation is allowed to continue, analysts at GMP First Energy said in a report Monday.
“U.S. Midwest refiners could lock in longterm capacity that would give them additional negotiating power at the expense of price realizations for western Canadian oil producers,” reads the report.
The timing of the open season “seems advantageous” given court delays for proposed expansions of alternative pipelines like Trans Mountain and Keystone, the report said.
The NEB is to be transformed into the Canada Energy Regulator on Wednesday under recent changes by the federal government.
Pot vape race heating up nationally
Bloomberg
Ontario will triple its pot-store count beginning in October, just two months before the introduction of new product formats that are expected to significantly boost sales in Canada’s most-populous province.
While chatter about the next wave of legalization in Canada tends to focus on products like edibles and beverages, many of the biggest players entering the space say consumers will opt for the more conventional format of vapes.
The Canadian market for vapes could be as big as $600 million by 2021, according to Tim Pellerin, Pax Labs Inc.’s general manager of Canada. San Francisco-based Pax, which split from e-cigarette company Juul Labs Inc. in 2017 to focus on cannabis, captures about 17 per cent of the U.S. market for pot vape devices. It’s the top seller in the extremely fragmented market, and hopes to capture at least as
much share in Canada. Pax has partnered with Aphria Inc., Aurora Cannabis Inc., Organigram Holdings Inc. and Supreme Cannabis Co. to sell their oils in its devices.
“We’ll be disappointed if we’re not able to match or exceed our performance in the U.S. market” in Canada, Pellerin said.
It’s shaping up to be a fierce fight, with two tobacco giants joining the fray via investments in Canadian pot companies.
Marlboro-maker Altria Group Inc. bought a 45 per cent stake in Cronos Group Inc. via a $2.4 billion investment that closed in March, while Imperial Brands Plc announced last month that it will invest $123 million in Auxly Cannabis Group Inc. by way of a convertible debenture.
Imperial decided to invest in cannabis after conducting a strategic review to identify new opportunities to offset declining tobacco sales, according to chief financial officer Oliver Tant.
“It’s relatively obvious to most that the tobacco sector is ex-
growth and over the longer term that inevitably presents some challenges,” Tant said in a phone interview. “We looked at caffeine, we looked at high-energy drinks, it wasn’t limited to cannabis, but cannabis seemed like the one we had the most obvious overlap and connectivity with.”
Imperial dipped its toe into the sector last year with an investment in closely held Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies Ltd. and decided to investigate the Canadian market after it legalized recreational pot in October.
“I think we probably talked to the majority of the larger listed entities” before settling on Auxly, Tant said.
Auxly will be Imperial’s exclusive global cannabis partner and will gain access to its vaping technology and Liverpool-based R&D lab Nerudia, which is already licensed to work with cannabis.
“The vape IP is a huge portion of the non-financial value in this transaction and ensures that Auxly is going to have best-in-class vape
devices,” said Hugo Alves, who will replace Chuck Rifici as Auxly’s chief executive officer this week.
Imperial’s technology won’t show up in Auxly’s vape devices when they’re first released on Dec. 16, the day vapes, edibles and beverages will join dried flower and oils on legal Canadian store shelves.
“We’ve been at it now for close to a year, so I’m happy to report that our vapes are designed, our oils are formulated, our pens are tuned to our specific oil and the hardware is ready,” Alves said.
“Our collaboration with Nerudia is forward looking.”
Tant believes the Canadian market for derivative products like vapes will be worth $6 billion by 2025. Although Imperial is taking a go-slow approach for now, he sees future opportunities to expand its investments in cannabis.
“We’re taking a pretty cautious approach to investing in the space, we haven’t spent the $1.4 billion that Altria spent in Cronos,” he said.
Feds make changes on shipyard search
The Canadian Press
The federal government has amended its search for a third shipyard in line for potentially billions of dollars in work following allegations of bias for Quebec’s Chantier Davie yard, but is standing firm in several other areas.
Public Service and Procurement Canada said in a statement Monday it had “corrected” an “inconsistency” in the size of vessel that interested shipyards must be able to build to qualify for consideration as the third yard.
Shipyards will now be required to show they can build vessels that are at least 110 metres in length and 20 metres wide, smaller than the original requirements of 130 metres in length by 24 metres wide. The original requirement was one of several flagged by Hamilton-based Heddle Marine in a complaint to the Canadian International Trade Tribunal last week as not legitimate or reasonable – and potentially biased toward Davie.
Not only would the condition have disqualified all Ontario-based shipyards – their vessels must be 23.8 metres or less to traverse the St. Lawrence Seawaybut Heddle said in its complaint that the requirement didn’t make sense.
That’s because the third shipyard will be building six new Coast Guard icebreakers measuring only 20 metres in width, according to the government. And those ships will be used in the Great Lakes - meaning they must fit through the Seaway.
Public Procurement spokeswoman Stefanie Hamel did not respond to questions Monday about the reason for the original requirement, saying only that it was “inconsistent in the dimensions of the vessels” the third shipyard would build and launch.
The rally started after President Donald Trump claimed China was willing to reopen trade talks. It continued even after China’s foreign ministry said it didn’t know what Trump was talking about.
“I would say it is all about hope,” said Allan Small, senior investment adviser at HollisWealth, noting he doesn’t believe either country wants tariffs to increase as of Sunday’s deadline.
Markets sank Friday after Trump reacted to China’s threat of tariff hikes on US$75 billion of American products by ordering U.S. companies to look at leaving China. He then announced plans after markets closed to add five per cent to tariffs on US$550 billion worth of imports on Sept. 1 and Oct. 1. What remains to be seen is if China will still travel to the U.S. next month to resume formal talks, Small said.
He added that Trump frequently responds to market selloffs by making positive comments a few days later that are wellreceived by investors.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 61.21 points at 16,098.79 after losing almost 216 points on Friday.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 269.93 points at 25,898.83. The S&P 500 index was up 31.27 points at 2,878.38, while the Nasdaq composite was up 101.97 points at 7,853.74.
Officials from the world’s two largest economies have to move quickly to prevent planned tariff increases on Sunday, but Small doubts that a complete deal can be reached by then.
Nine of the 11 major sectors of the TSX rose in the broadbased rally, led by consumer discretionary, technology, consumer staples and financials. Telecommunications and materials were the lone losing sectors. Materials fell slightly as shares of First Quantum Minerals Ltd. and Yamana Gold Inc. lost 2.85 and 2.07 per cent respectively.
The December gold contract was down 40 cents at US$1,537.20 an ounce while the September copper contract was up 1.35 cents at US$2.54 a pound. The energy sector gained 0.22 per cent with Encana Corp. climbing two per cent despite a dip in crude oil prices.
Battling for the puck
Czech import Koffer
fluent in English, hockey
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff tclarke@pgcitizen.ca
The Prince George Cougars had no difficulty convincing Fillip Koffer to leave his home in the Czech Republic for north central British Columbia to play for the Cougars this season.
Koffer and Matej Toman, the Cougars’ other Czech import, have been hockey teammates for years and Toman sold his friend on the idea of jumping across the Atlantic to bring him closer to his dream of playing in the NHL.
“I played with Matej on the national team and I’ve known him for five years, we are very close friends,” said the 18-year-old Koffer.
“It’s good for me because he showed me everything about the city and we traveled together and he helped me lots. I’m very happy that he’s here.” Koffer also heard about the merits of Prince George and playing for the Cougars from former Cougar winger Radovan Bondra, a Slovakian who tried out for the pro team in Koffer’s hometown, Mountfield HK.
“He told me something about the city and everything was good,” said Koffer. “I was a little nervous but the guys here are very nice and helpful, so I’m really happy here. Everything here is like a pro team. The coaching staff are NHL players.”
While growing up in Hradec Kralove, a Czech city of about 92,000 people, Koffer studied English in school and speaks it fluently. He’s certainly not shy and has fit in well with his new teammates, who see the impact
he could have generating offence on the power play this season. The culture change is still a bit of shock and will take time for him to get used to, but he’s already building bridges with his new Cougar family and his hockey skills will speed up that process.
In his second scrimmage for Team Bourke Saturday, Koffer centred a line with Cougar draft picks Blake Eastman and Boston Maxwell. Already with two assists, Koffer’s puck instincts took over late in the game when he picked up the rebound of Eastman’s shot and from the deep slot filed the puck in under the arm of Colton Phillips-Watts for the tying goal in what ended up a 7-6 overtime loss to Team Byfuglien.
“I’m very happy because everything’s going well,” Koffer said Saturday. “On the ice I feel good. I’ve been here three days and I’m still a little jet-lagged but I feel good. I think my style of hockey is good for this team and the WHL. I like to play hard and hit the guys
and I can make some plays. I like passing and maybe I’m more of a setup guy.”
Having played on larger European ice surfaces since he was four, Koffer’s skating skills are obvious and he has above-average puck skills. He drew one assist in 12 games playing against adults on HC Dynamo Pardubice, after collecting 10 goals and 38 points in 34 games with the HC Dynamo Pardubice under-19 team last season.
“Usually a European player, it’s weighted on the skill side and the puck-handling skills, which he does have,” said said Cougars head coach and general manager Mark Lamb.
“I notice his skating, his first three strides, he’s quick and he’s always around it. He’s got a physical aspect to his game and that was one of the characteristics when we were talking to people about (drafting) him.
“He’s excited and he’s got a lot of life to him and you can see that in his body language. Meeting him for the first time you can tell he’s got a (colourful) personality and the personality kind of goes into how he plays, he had a very good day. He really wants to be here and he really wants to have success.”
Koffer’s parents, Fillip and Monika, plan to come to Prince George at the end of September to watch him play. The Cougars open their season at home against the Vancouver Giants on Friday, Sept. 20. They begin the preseason in Langley Sept. 7 against Kamloops. Team scrimmages resume Monday at 4 and 6 p.m. The BlackWhite intrasquad game is set for Tuesday at 7 p.m. at CN Centre.
Perepeluk turns sniper in Cougars’ camp
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff
It’s only training camp. Doesn’t matter who wins or loses, right? Trying telling that to Reid Perepeluk.
In his second scrimmage of the weekend Saturday afternoon at the Prince George Cougars camp at CN Centre, Perepeluk was playing like a man possessed. Kind of like he always does whenever he gets into game mode.
The difference was he was showing off a goalscorer’s touch.
The 19-year-old right winger was probably the most popular player in the dressing room with his Team Byfuglien teammates after he tapped in a pass from Jaxon Danilec to score the overtime winner – his fourth goal of the game in a 7-6 triumph over Team Bourke.
“That doesn’t happen too often for a role player like me,” said Perepeluk.
Perhaps the six-foot-three, 200-pound Perepeluk has rediscovered the finishing touches he had as a Saskatchewan bantam and when he played a half season of junior B hockey with the Kamloops Storm as a 17-year-old.
The Cougars’ fortunes could take a giant leap forward if he keeps that up in his second full season with the Cats.
Perepeluk has always shown he’s a strong aggressive skater since he jumped to the WHL Cougars after two seasons of major midget with the Cariboo Cougars. The knock on him early in his WHL career was he took too many penalties, which made him a liability. But after 55 games last season in his return to the Cou-
PEREPELUK
gars he’s learned how to channel his aggression in a way that he can still intimidate opponents with his fierce bodychecking style, while keeping that physical style within rules of the game. He’s close to 10 pounds lighter than he was at the end of last season and that’s made him even quicker, more flexible and more shifty on the ice as he patrols his wing.
“Having that experience in the league is a big thing,” said Perepeluk, who had two goals and five assists and 58 penalty minutes in those 55 games. “It’s about being hard on the puck and going to the net and just being in smart positions and thinking the game before you get the puck and thinking where the puck’s going to be next.” Perepeluk spent his minor hockey career in his hometown of Yorkton, Sask., but has lived in Prince George with his family ever since he came west to play midget hockey.
— see ‘PEREPELUK, page 10
UNBC Timberwolves split games in Kelowna
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff
When the UNBC Timberwolves men’s soccer team needed a goal to overcome the UBC-Okanagan Heat, Michael Henman decided to head ‘er. The UNBC striker rushed the UBC-O net when he saw the high pass coming down from teammate Hussein Behery hit the head of Heat midfielder Hamish Walde and bounce over goalie Nicolas Reitsma. With nobody between him and the empty net, Henman got his forehead on the ball for what stood as the gamewinner in a 2-1 victory Saturday in Kelowna. The winner came at the 83:12 mark, 13 minutes after UNBC midfielder Alex Nielson, a Prince George Youth Soccer product, scored the first goal of his first
U Sports Canada West career. Nielson picked up a lead pass and went wide, drawing the goalie Reitsma and a Heat defender and he tucked a low shot between the two of them into the net for the tying goal at 70:17.
“It was a bit windy and blustery and they scored on a weird bounce off of a corner kick and we just kept pushing and got better as the game went on and scored the two late goals,” said T-wolves head coach Steve Simonson.
It was a bit windy and blustery and they scored on a weird bounce off of a corner kick and we just kept pushing and got better as the game went on and scored the two late goals.
of those saves. The other stop came in the dying seconds from defender Jonah Smith, who was standing on the goal line to cover the empty cage when Goodey got stranded trying to smother the ball away from Sam McDonald, looking for his third goal of the season. McDonald staked the Heat to 1-0 lead 27 minutes in. He scored the winner in the season-opener Friday as the Heat beat the Twolves by a 2-1 count.
resilience of going down early in the first game, we could have quit but we didn’t, and in the second game, absolutely we could have quit but we didn’t.
“It just shows a lot of early character.”
The T-wolves will now prepare for the Fraser Valley Cascades, their opponents on Friday and Saturday nights at Masich Place Stadium.
— Steven Simonson, UNBC coach
“(Nielson) came in and we threw him into a higher role than he’s been in preseason, but he just latched on to a quick interchange between Gregor Smith and Michael Henman, they just pounced on a mistake and headed in through and he slotted it.” In the rematch, the Heat outshot the T-wolves 17-7 and five of those UBC-O shots were on goal. Rob Goodey made all but one
“We made a couple early errors and within 10 minutes (the Heat scored) two goals and after that I thought we very good, creating a bunch of chances and good possession attacks and we clawed one back but not the second one we needed,” said Simonson.
“They’re a good solid defensive team and for us to show the
The Cascades started the season Friday at home in Abbotsford with a 2-0 loss to UBC. Fraser Valley went on to play Sunday afternoon in Victoria.
The UNBC women were in Port Angeles, Wash., playing preseason games over the weekend. They’ll open their season on Thursday, Sept. 5 at Masich against the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack.
Team Chara player Wyatt Milner (blue) and Team Byfuglien player Brandan Tronchin battle the loose puck on Sunday at CN Centre during the Prince George Cougars training camp.
Sports
Team Blue took on Team White on Sunday at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena during the final game of the Prince George Spruce Kings training camp. Team Blue won, defeating Team White by a score of 5-1.
Richter brings Broadway Blueshirt bloodlines to P.G.
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff
tclarke@pgcitizen.ca
Prince George Spruce Kings winger Thomas Richter was just three years old when his father Mike retired from the NHL and he can’t recall seeing him play for the New York Rangers but does remember the time he spent around the Rangers’ dressing room at Madison Square Garden.
Mike Richter led the Rangers to the 1994 Stanley Cup, when they beat the Vancouver Canucks in the final, Richter is considered one of the all-time great American-born hockey goalies. The three-time all-star played 14 seasons in the league and won the 1996 World Cup of Hockey and a silver medal at the 2002 Olympics.
In the 93-year history of the Rangers franchise, only eight numbers have been retired and Richter’s No. 35 is one of them.
“I wasn’t born yet when they won the Stanley Cup and he retired in 2003-04 when I was three or four years old, so I don’t remember any of it, I just see it through video or stories,” said Thomas, one of nine Spruce Kings players on the this year’s team already committed to an NCAA Division 1 team. “I remember going up and standing next to the goalie pads and they were taller than me. It’s kind of funny.”
The 19-year-old Richter grew up in Greenwich, Conn., a city of about 60,000 located a 45-minute drive from New York City. Thomas played high school hockey in his hometown last season for the prep team at Salisbury School and in 15 games picked up two goals and six points. He also played for the Midfield Rangers under-18 elite team and finished with three goals and four points in seven games. In October 2018 he signed a commitment to Union College.
“I chose the BCHL just because it’s such a high level of hockey, great guys with some wicked skill, high compete every game, and they play such a professional schedule here it just seemed like the right place to go,” said
Richter, following the team scrimmage Sunday afternoon.
The Spruce Kings are coming off their most successful season ever, in which they won their first Fred Page Cup/Doyle Cup championships and made it all the way to the final game at the national championship in Brooks, Alta.
Richter likes the fact every opponent will dig deep to try to knock off the defending champions. It will just make him work that much harder to be successful.
“Every game we’ll have a target on our backs and we’re going to get the other team’s best game, but with the guys we have in the locker room its a great challenge for us,” he said. “If we work hard every game we can’t be mad at the outcome.”
Defenceman Dylan Anhorn, who played for the Spruce Kings last year, and former Kings forward Blake Hayward now play for Union under head coach Rick Bennett. That connection helped the Spruce Kings recruit Richter.
“The coach at Union speaks so highly of this
place and they’ve had guys come through here in the past,” said Richter.
“When I was home talking to coaches and buddies who played for different teams in the BCHL last year who come out here, even though they were on other teams they still said great things about here. It was a pretty easy decision to come out here.”
The six-foot-one, 170-pound Richter is into his second week practicing with the Spruce Kings and says it’s taken him time to get up to speed and learn the systems preached by first-year head coach Alex Evin, but so far it’s been a smooth transition. Through three intrasquad scrimmages, playing on a line with Jake McLean and homebrew centre Craig MacDonald, Richter had a goal and two assists.
“It’s definitely a new experience, kind of the first time to be away from home, and so far away,” said Richter. “All the guys from the team last year were super-welcoming to us and really made us feel part of the family right away. We’re playing good hockey. It’s definitely a jump up and it’s really fun to come out and play against different kids with such high skill.”
Hockey is a year-round occupation for junior players in Canada, which doesn’t leave much time for other sports. It wasn’t like that for Richter playing minor hockey in Connecticut.
“It’s way different than here, a lot of kids played other sports and we had kids on our hockey team who were committed (for college) to lacrosse or soccer, so coming out here you just see how much more people have invested in the game,” he said. “It’s really nice coming here and seeing that.”
Following Sunday’s scrimmage, the Kings released goalies Jackson Powers and Dawson Smith and defencemen Brandon Wang and Wilson Steele.
The Kings start the brief preseason tonight (7 p.m.) at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena when they host the Merritt Centennials. The same teams meet again Friday night in Merritt.
The Kings open their 24th BCHL season on Sept. 6 when they host the Surrey Eagles.
— from page 1
He spent a month over the summer in Kamloops, working out with Ty Kolle, his former midget teammate, and also did three weeks in Langley with his Cougar teammate Ilijah Colina at Tim Preston’s Impact Hockey conditioning camp.
“Perepeluk puts in the work,” said Cougars head coach and general manager Mark Lamb. “He had a good first day.”
The Cougars could have as many as 17 returning players, including defenceman Cam MacPhee, who had shoulder surgery and missed all of last season. MacPhee, fellow defenceman Ryan Schoettler, Austin Crossley, a blueliner who moved up to the wing late last season, and left winger Josh Maser are the four 20-year-olds in camp.
They’ve bolstered their lineup with import forward Fillip Koffer, 18, who they selected 10th overall in the CHL import draft, and also have 16-year-old draft picks Craig Armstrong, Blake Eastman, both forwards, defenceman Ethan Samson and goalie Tyler Brennan ready to make the jump to the WHL on a team that’s missed the playoffs the past two seasons.
“I’m really excited for all the boys,” said Perepeluk. “They have a lot of guys who came in as rookies last year and now they’re coming in as sophomores and I think it’s going to be a whole different Prince George Cougars team. We have more experience going into the season and more leadership. You get confidence with experience. We’re here to win and definitely make playoffs.”
Canada takes bronze at World Cup qualifier
The Canadian Press AGUASCALIENTES, Mexico — Edmonton’s Madison Willan hit a three-run homer as Canada’s women’s baseball team beat host Mexico 11-1 to capture the bronze medal on Sunday at a World Cup qualifying tournament.
The top four teams at the eight-team regional tournament qualified for the 2020 women’s baseball World Cup. Canada had already secured its berth in next year’s tournament when Cuba upset the Dominican Republic on Saturday. Veteran right-hander Amanda Asay of Prince George threw all five frames, allowing just one run. Sunday’s bronze-medal game lasted just five innings with the mercy rule in effect. The Canadians finished the tournament with a 5-2 record.
Robbie Thomas Joseph Murray took his last greyhound bus ride on August 9th. 2019 His journey began on January 18th, 1958 in Montreal Quebec. The third of 4 children and the only son, Robbie loved being a brother. Although Robbie and his 3 sisters would take many different roads as children, everyone who knew Robbie will remember that miracles happen and those roads led back to each other. Love always wins. Robbie resided in Montreal Quebec until 1978 when he travelled out to BC and the mountains won his heart. In 1984 he was blessed with his first born daughter, Chantel, followed by his son Dustin in 1987 and then his youngest daughter Carlee in 1993. His children were truly the pride and joy of his life and he loved to brag about “the best thing I’ve ever done.” Robbie’s children were his favorite subject and what he always called his “greatest achievement.” The wonders of children brought Robbie his precious grandchildren, Alexander Joseph, Elizabeth, Laisa, James and Lana. He loved being a grandfather and wore that title with pride. Robbie was a passionate man of simple pleasures. His love of flowers and trees and nature inspired many to stop and appreciate the surrounding beauty. He found pleasure in the moment he was in, always. He was a poet, a bard with words, truly a master of the Irish limerick and many of those he loved were blessed over the years with his passion for the written word and treasures in the mail. Robbie was everyone’s “favorite Uncle”, he was truly the man who always had time to listen. He was also “Dad” to so many and he gave his heart freely and loved unconditionally. He will truly be deeply missed by his nephews Gary, Joey and Mark, and his nieces Jodi, Mandi, Nakita, Kimberly, Emily and Jem. Robbie created lifelong friendships and enjoyed spending time camping, fishing, biking and walking but he especially loved watching his favorite team Boston play hockey. He has so many dear friends that will miss him but especially his buddy of 40 years, Armand. Many friends were dear to his heart but he would want to give a shout out to Leo, Steve, Bill and Darryl. Robbie had so many unique hobbies and passions, he loved music, reading, crosswords, puzzles, games, Charlie Brown comics, Herman cartoons, all kinds of candy, painting, fishing, sports and of course he adored his dogs Amiga and Chica. But above all else he loved people, in the moment, as it is, the beauty of it all. Robbie’s unique way of always seeing the good in others was a gift, one look in those blue eyes said it all. There are so many people Robbie’s family would like to thank for their loving support through the journey with this beautiful soul. Although there are just too many to mention we’d like to say thank you to Ray and Llona, his cousin Lily, his friend Rita, the Carmel staff and the Yolks family. You all made a tough time just a little easier, thank you. A special thank you to Kathy and the nurses at Rotary Hospice and Dr. Bartell. There are angels among us. Robbie will be truly and deeply missed by so many: his sisters, Dianne (Garold), Laura (Tony) and Collie (Jody), his chosen Mother Mim, his grandchildren, his abundance of nieces and nephews, his friends, but mostly he will be missed beyond words by his children, Chantel, Dustin and Carlee. A celebration of life will be announced. We all know that Robbie would like to say “wish you were here.” See you when we get there Robbie..
Doris Harvena Catherine Price
December 24, 1937 to August 21, 2019
Doris Price (nee Ter Haar) (born Stewart) is survived by daughters Lydia (Jack), Chris (Jim), Lisbeth (Norm), Wendy (Eddy) & Katina. She was known as Gram to her 14 grandchildren and 25 great grandchildren. She was predeceased by her son Jeffery Ter Haar. A celebration of Doris’s life is planned for Saturday August 31, 2019 at 1:00pm, at Elder Citizens’ Recreation Centre, 1692 10th Ave, Prince George. Please join us afterwards for refreshments and sandwiches. In lieu of flowers please give a donation to Hospice House.
ARNOLDUS,JudithE.
December8,1949-August21,2019
ThefamilyofJudyArnolduswishestoannounceher passingat2:43amonAugust21,2019,atthe UniversityHospitalofNorthernBritishColumbia, surroundedbyfamilyandfriends. Judywaspredeceasedbyherbestfriendandloveof herlife,RaymondArnoldus,andherdearlymissed parents,NelsonandWilmaPeacock.Sheissurvived byherlovingsons,Christopher(Meghan)andColin, aswellasherconstantcompanion,Ashley.Sheis alsosurvivedbyhersiblings,Allan,Laurie(Dan), Bruce,andGayle(Darrell);herelevenniecesand nephews;herextendedfamily;andhercollectionof "adopted"childrenfromalloverthecountry. AcelebrationofJudy’slifewillbeheldatalaterdate. Inlieuofflowers,donationsinJudy’smemorytothe HeartandStrokeFoundationofCanada,theBCSPCA, oranothercharityofyourchoicewouldbegreatly appreciated.
DATE:Wednesday,August14th,2019 TIME:9AM-5PM
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