Feds, B.C. to push electrification of LNG
The Canadian Press
SURREY — The federal and British Columbia governments want to power the production of the natural gas industry in the province using electricity.
As part of an agreement announced Thursday, the two governments and BC Hydro are forming a committee to push projects that increase power transmission.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the agreement is aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the natural gas industry, which produces about 18 per cent of the carbon pollution in the province.
“We’re taking another major step forward in the fight against climate change,” he said, adding that electrification will also create jobs.
B.C. Premier John Horgan joined Trudeau in making the announcement at a BC Hydro training centre in Surrey, saying the two governments are working to make the economy more environmentally sustainable.
Horgan said the agreement also takes
advantage of BC Hydro’s ability to provide clean energy for industry in the province.
“Our governments are working collaboratively to electrify industries and reduce emissions as we put B.C. on a path to a cleaner, better future,” he said in a statement.
Environmental groups have criticized Horgan’s NDP government for its backing of the liquefied natural gas industry in B.C., arguing changes to the province’s tax structure and subsidies are helping a sector that increases carbon pollution.
The federal and provincial governments have boosted LNG Canada’s plans for a $40-billion project in Kitimat, which is expected to create 10,000 construction jobs and up to 950 permanent positions in the processing terminal on the coast of B.C. Trudeau said Thursday’s agreement builds on that project.
The three-page agreement says $680 million in “near-term” electrification projects are being considered for possible funding.
She said yes, again
Victoria Times Colonist
A Victoria woman plans to say I do again for what will feel like the first time, after a head injury caused her to lose all memory of her husband.
Laura Hart Faganello will marry Brayden Faganello on their anniversary, July 15, 2020, four years after a wedding day she can’t remember.
“I’ve learned that love is a choice, and I am choosing to love Brayden,” said Hart Faganello.
“On Aug. 19, he proposed to me, again, and I said yes, again.” Hart Faganello, 23, was setting up a business event on April 27, 2017, in Langford when a pole fell on her head and she suffered a traumatic brain injury, she said. Her husband, Brayden Faganello, 25, says after the accident, she lost her sense of humour and her “light.”
“She was always down and sad” and in constant pain and sick, he said.
Former leader of polygamous sect gets jail time
Trevor CRAWLEY The Canadian Press
CRANBROOK — A former leader of a polygamous sect in British Columbia has been sentenced to 12 months in jail for taking a 15-yearold girl into the United States to be married.
James Oler, the one-time leader of Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Bountiful, showed no reaction when he was sentenced in Cranbrook by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Martha Devlin.
The sentencing concludes a legal process that began five years ago when he was charged with the removal of a child from Canada under a Criminal Code subsection that the removal would facilitate sex offences.
During Oler’s trial, court heard that church records seized by American law enforcement indicated that church leader and prophet Warren Jeffs called Oler on June 23, 2004, and ordered him to bring the girl to the U.S. to be married. Special prosecutor Peter Wilson recommended Oler spend two years in prison.
B.C. Green Leader Andrew Weaver said the deal and the province’s financial commitment to it is a further subsidization of fossil fuel development, including for projects that have not yet been built.
“The NDP government is not only providing more subsidies for the growth of the fossil fuel sector but are also neglecting their responsibility to this province to be making the investments for an alternative future,” he said in a news release.
Weaver said he supports the electrification of industry, but it must go beyond providing help for the gas sector.
“British Columbians are looking for leadership that is investing in their future by supporting the industries of tomorrow, not the dinosaurs of yesterday.”
Merran Smith, executive director of Clean Energy Canada, said in a statement that the agreement delivers a critical component to B.C.’s climate plan.
“Electrification is the thread that ties all climate efforts together. Powering our cars, our homes and our industries with clean electricity is the only sustainable path forward.”
Oler didn’t have a lawyer during the trial or sentencing process, but lawyer Joe Doyle was appointed as a friend of the court to ensure there was a fair trial and he suggested a sentence of between six and 18 months in jail.
This was Oler’s second trial. He was acquitted in his first trial when a judge ruled it was unclear that Oler did anything within Canada’s borders to arrange the teens transfer to the United States. At the original trial, Brandon James Blackmore and Emily Ruth Gail Blackmore were convicted for removing a 13-year-old girl from the country for marriage. Brandon Blackmore was sentenced to 12 months in jail, while Emily Blackmore was handed a seven-month sentence.
Oler, 55, was also convicted of practising polygamy alongside Winston Blackmore, who was also a leader in the polygamous community. Both men were sentenced to house arrest and probation in June last year.
In sentencing Oler on Thursday, Devlin said she considered the nature of the crime and the impact his actions had on others. She also cited mitigating factors for her decision including his clean criminal record prior to the polygamy conviction and that he acted on sincerely held religious beliefs rather than being motivated by money or sexual gratification.
Couple rebuilding love after Victoria woman lost all memory of her husband
Hart Faganello’s father, Rob Hart, says his articulate, accomplished and confident daughter
struggled to read and write. She was in her third year at the University of Victoria and had to
drop out.
“The way she put her words together, the way she hesitated… She’s been in some ways reduced to survival mode. It’s been very difficult.”
As the symptoms worsened, she would forget why and when she married Brayden Faganello just nine months earlier. Together they had a wedding photography business.
She regularly woke up thinking it was three years earlier, when she was 17 and living in Belgium, where her father – a lieutenantcolonel now with the United Nations Command in South Korea – was then stationed.
She cringed when her husband, a virtual stranger, hugged her. She forgot the sense of humour that attracted her to him.
The two had met as penpals while she was in Brussels and he was in South Africa, and almost a year later met in person in Victoria. But their whirlwind romance came to an abrupt stop nine
months after they said: “I do.”
“I felt completely trapped in the life I was living,” said Hart Faganello. The couple was living in a basement suite in Gordon Head. Living separately wasn’t financially possible, so they became roommates with an imaginary line in their bed.
Faganello tried to carry on a normal life, but he says each day was like the moment someone breaks up with you.
“It was absolutely heartbreaking, especially as we were still so newly wed,” he said. “It shredded me to bits having that total broken heart.”
He lived in that suspended state for almost two years.
“Any feelings weren’t being reciprocated,” Faganello said. “She was cold and distant.”
While he admits “a lot of people might assess the situation and bail,” Faganello said he had made a commitment to Laura for life and believed they could make it work. — see ‘IT’S A STORY, page 3
CP PHOTO
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau talks with hydro workers after making an announcement at BC Hydro Trades Training Centre in Surrey on Thursday.
VICTORIA TIMES COLONIST PHOTO
Laura Hart Faganello and her husband Brayden Faganello will get remarried in 2020. Hart Faganello suffered a brain injury in 2017, and lost all memory of her husband.
No deal on Site C between First Nation, province
Alaska Highway News
Talks between the West Moberly First Nation and the Government of B.C. have ended, as the two sides could not come to an agreement to avoid litigation over the Site C dam.
The case will now proceed to a 120-day trial to determine whether or not Treaty 8 rights have been infringed by the construction of the Site C dam.
The two sides will have plenty of time to prepare their case, as the trial isn’t set to begin until
March 2022.
B.C. Premier John Horgan is expected to defend formerpremier Christy Clark’s decision in 2014 to approve the building of the dam.
West Moberly and Chief Roland Willson have repeatedly brought up past comments made by Horgan condemning the dam, before he took office.
“We can’t disclose anything confidential from the discussions with B.C., but I can assure you that there are dark days ahead for Site C. Watch the numbers
climb and the dates slip. Wait for the excuses and the distractions,” Willson said in a press release.
“Stopping this dam has always been the right thing to do. It would have taken some courage and some leadership, but it could have saved British Columbia billions of dollars and produced a clear example of reconciliation with First Nations. Instead, the Horgan government hooked themselves up to Christy Clark’s boondoggle and are watching helplessly as it skids out of control,” said Chief Roland Willson.
Human remains found near Williams Lake
Citizen staff
A fisherman located a body in the river near the Sheep Creek bridge near Williams Lake on Wednesday. Police, Search and Rescue and conservation officers attended the scene. Williams Lake RCMP are reviewing all missing persons’ files and working with the BC Coroners Service to confirm identity.
Village gov’t,
“We are aware of the most recent missing person investigation and the charges that have been laid and we are exhausting all possibilities to determine if there is any connection with these investigations,” Insp. Jeff Pelley, OIC Williams Lake RCMP, said. The investigation continues. If anyone has any information call the Williams Lake RCMP at 250392-6211 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
society
look to reopen historic Burns Lake church
Citizen staff
The Village of Burns Lake and the Lakes District Museum Society are looking to reopen St. John’s Heritage Church as a multi-use public facility. The church, originally known as St. John’s Anglican Church, opened on Aug. 25, 1929, making the oldest surviving public building in Burns Lake.
The village government and museum society signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday to create a business plan to reopen the church, with the museum society taking responsibility for managing the structure.
“We are excited to collaborate with the museum society to rejuvenate and reopen this building as an important and vibrant community asset for all to enjoy,” Burn Lake Mayor Delores Funk said in a press release.
If the business planning process shows it is feasible to operate the church building as a multi-use building, the village will do the work to reopen the building.
“We look forward to working with the village of this project,” Lakes District Museum Society president Russ Skillen said in a press release. “This building should be preserved and open to the public.”
Former foster children take province to court
Penticton Herald
Two former foster children are suing the B.C. government over claims their time as wards of the state set them up for lives of crime as adults.
Bre-Anne Buhler and Kael Svendsen filed matching lawsuits last week in B.C. Supreme Court in Penticton. They both name as defendants the Ministry of Children and Family Development and its director of child welfare.
Both are seeking unspecified damages, plus additional compensation for loss of earnings and future earnings.
Penticton lawyer Michael Patterson, who is representing both Buhler and Svendsen, declined comment, except to say his clients are “the tip of the iceberg.”
Svendsen’s notice of claim says he was placed with an alcoholic foster parent, who provided him with booze on multiple occasions. Svendsen says he was later removed from the home by the RCMP, but had become an alcoholic himself by then and later turned to drugs.
The director of child welfare is at fault, alleges Svendsen, because he was placed with an unsafe foster family and there was no plan in place to ensure Svendsen’s continual well-being.
“As a result of the director’s failures, the plaintiff suffers from alcohol addiction, criminality and a continuous transient homeless lifestyle,” the lawsuit concludes.
“The plaintiff has suffered from psychological and emotional trauma as a result of being homeless (and) being involved in criminality to support his drug and
Svendsen’s notice of claim says he was placed with an alcoholic foster parent, who provided him with booze on multiple occasions.
alcohol habit.”
Buhler’s notice of claim covers much of the same ground as Svendsen’s, but adds the director failed to ensure she had all of the supports she needed, including trauma counselling related to an episode she experienced in care, and failed to apply for unspecified benefits or entitlements on her behalf. She also claims the director “failed to put in place any future planning of care for the plaintiff to assist the plaintiff in dealing with living independently as an adult exiting the care of the director.” Neither the ministry nor the director of child welfare has filed a response to the claims. The ministry declined comment.
Buhler is currently serving a 28-month sentence handed down Aug. 12 for twice leading police on drug-fuelled chases in stolen vehicles last year. The case made headlines because the judge rejected the 17-month sentence proposed by Crown and defence.
Svendsen is also in jail, but awaiting trial on a multitude of charges, including break and enter, assault and escape from lawful custody. He has been behind bars since his arrest in November 2018.
CP FILE PHOTO
The Site C Dam location is seen along the Peace River near Fort St. John.
Mowing the lawn
It has been the summer of lush lawns, after the above-average rainfall. A city mower works in Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park Thursday morning.
Court wrestles with transgender teen case
Vancouver Sun
A family dispute involving a 14-year-old transgender boy who sought testosterone treatment over the objections of his father has now morphed into a complex and emotionally charged legal battle in B.C.’s top court, with potentially far-reaching implications for child autonomy, parental responsibility and freedom of expression.
In written arguments filed with the B.C. Court of Appeal, the father and his supporters take the position that a lower court delivered a “rush to judgment” in siding with his child, who as a minor is incapable of appreciating the potential consequences of a “still experimental treatment.” Further, they argue that previous court orders compelling the father to refer to his child using only male pronouns amount to “totalitarian interference.”
“The state cannot compel parents to forget their daughters and remember sons in their stead,” said a filing by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, a conservative advocacy organization with intervener status in the case.
But the child, his mother and their supporters state in court filings that the father, together with anti-trans activists, have recklessly used him as an unwilling poster child in a campaign to promote “conservative gender ideology” and that the father has shown nothing but “disdain for judicial process” by repeatedly referring to him as female.
They argue that while the father may want to frame the case as a clash of rights, the focus needs to remain on what’s best for his child – and that B.C. law is settled regarding young people’s authority to decide on their own medical treatments.
“The law is clear that for the purposes of assessing informed consent… a youth
seeking gender affirming health care is to be treated – and must be treated – in the same way as any other youth seeking any other medical treatment,” states a filing from the Canadian Professional Association for Transgender Health, which also has intervener status.
It is now up to the B.C. appeal court to untangle these arguments, with hearings scheduled for next week. A publication ban prevents the media from identifying both family members and the health professionals who assessed the child.
The dispute started last year when the child, who has identified as male since age 11, was diagnosed with gender dysphoria and referred by a psychologist to the gender clinic at B.C. Children’s Hospital.
The clinic concluded it was in the child’s best interests to proceed with hormone therapy to transition from a female body to a male one.
The child and his mother signed a consent form that outlined the risks, including that testosterone treatment in young adolescents is still fairly new and “long-term effects are not fully known.”
The father went to court to try to block the treatment from proceeding, but in February B.C. Supreme Court Justice Gregory Bowden ruled that the child was “exclusively entitled” to consent to treatment under the B.C. Infants Act and that there should be no further delay, citing a previous suicide attempt.
Bowden went on to declare that the child must also be referred to as male or using male pronouns and that any attempt to persuade the child to abandon treatment or references to the child as a girl or using female pronouns “shall be considered to be family violence.”
In April, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Francesca Marzari, responding to a separate
‘It’s a story of commitment and unwavering support’
— from page 1
“I had this feeling that things would be OK as long as I tried to understand her and if I could just keep working at it and loving her,” he said.
“It taught me a lot of patience. I took it day by day and didn’t try to look too far in the future. I went from being a stranger to a buddy, and we slowly transitioned that way. If I saw her smiling one day, that was a big win. I was always looking for small wins and accomplishments that could push a little bit of hope into the next day.”
For her part, Hart Faganello said she made a choice to see his good qualities and care for him the way he was caring for her. If she couldn’t remember their love, she could recreate it.
“One day I was sick of being a victim, sick of being depressed, sick of resenting him Eventually, I got out of bed and put my all into my relationship.”
She recognized how patient he had been, how he never complained, while he recognized that no matter how hard it was for him, it must be worse for her. That appreciation grew into a real fondness.
The two began “dating” and their love grew.
On Aug. 19, Brayden took Laura to three locations that were significant in their relationship. At each site, he read a letter that detailed a chapter in their relationship. The last was Goldstream Heights, where they had their first date.
“I’ve learned love is not something you get
I took it day by day and didn’t try to look too far in the future.
I went from being a stranger to a buddy, and we slowly transitioned that way.
— Brayden Faganello
once and you can just bank on it,” said Faganello. “It’s something you need to persist at and work at every day. I chose to work at it and she chose to love me again. Love is a choice, but it needs to be nurtured.”
Hart and his wife Victoria Hart plan to return to Victoria for the wedding. “It’s something that will be very poignant,” said Victoria Hart, from South Korea. “It rings very true to us that this is what needs to happen. It’s a story of commitment and unwavering support on Brayden’s part and strength on Laura’s part.”
“The most powerful words we have in our vocabulary are ‘I choose,’ ” said Rob Hart. “Laura has chosen to re-engage with Brayden, chosen to move forward and not let her disabilities dominate her life and I think that’s a powerful message – that no matter our circumstances, we can decide to choose a brighter path, even if it’s fraught with difficulties.”
application from the boy’s lawyers, issued a protection order restraining the father from publicly discussing the case after finding that interviews he’d given to conservative media outlets had potentially exposed the child to violence and harassment.
“I find that (the father) is using (his child) to promote his own interests above those of his child,” Marzari said.
In appealing both judgments, the father – whose court filings continue to refer to his child as his “daughter” – argues that the lower court failed to consider the complexity of gender dysphoria and ignored evidence from the experts he had put forward. Instead, the lower court conflated the best interests of his child with his child’s wishes, and the wishes of “conflicted, profit-driven doctors pushing transgender ideology.”
The father’s legal team goes on to state that the order preventing him from referring to his child as his daughter is an infringement of his right to freedom of expression and based on a “subjectively determined, unsupportable and patently objectively false version of ‘truth,’ that (his child) is male.”
Lawyers with the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms support these arguments, writing that the outcome of the appeal case will have broad implications nationally and that the courts must create parameters for doctors who promote “experimental and elective gender transition to impressionable underage children over the objections of deeply concerned parents.”
The potential consequences of crosssex hormone treatment are “too grave for children’s immature, developing minds to comprehend appropriately,” they state.
The child’s team of lawyers submit that the father’s appeal is essentially moot since the child has legally changed his name, the gender on his birth certificate and has been
undergoing “partially irreversible testosterone treatments” since the first week of March. (The father had sought a stay in the treatment until the appeal case could be heard, but B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson denied the request earlier this month).
The appeal should fail regardless, they argue, because it is up to treating physicians to determine the best interests of the child.
They cite an Alberta appeal court case in which a pregnant 16-year-old girl sought an abortion against the wishes of her parents.
“Parental rights (and obligations) clearly do exist and they do not wholly disappear until the age of majority,” the appeal court wrote. “The modern law, however, is that the courts will exercise increasing restraint in that regard as a child grows to and through adolescence.”
On the father’s assertion that his Charter rights had not been considered, the boy’s lawyers argue that freedom of expression is not absolute, nor are parental rights in relation to a child.
“Courts have repeatedly held that the infringement of a parent’s… rights is justified where those parental rights conflict with the best interests of a child.”
According to submissions by LGBTQ rights advocates Egale Canada, another intervener in the case, the father’s allegation of censorship is also exaggerated. The limits on his expression, they argue, have “trivial impact” on the ability for society to engage in debate about gender identity,
“If a father had an extensive history of calling his anorexic and suicidal daughter fat… few would claim that limitations on the father’s abusive expressions would warrant constitutional protection. Yet when the victim of that abuse is transgender, free expression suddenly presents itself as a supposed defense.”
Anti-gang units target 10-year-olds
The Canadian Press
Sgt. Mike Sanchez didn’t expect to find himself working in elementary schools as a senior officer with the RCMP’s gang enforcement unit in Surrey.
But when he looks around some classrooms, he said there are already signs of kids glorifying what he describes as a “gang lifestyle.” They wear clothes mimicking older kids who sell drugs and show no surprise when his team gives its presentation.
“When you see a young individual in Grade 7 already looking like that, that’s alarming. I never thought we’d be delivering this content to Grade 6s and Grade 7s and that is actually our target now,” Sanchez said.
British Columbia is facing what some law enforcement officials have called a unique and unprecedented gang problem. Unlike Los Angeles and Chicago where gang members are born into poor neighbourhoods with no other options, police say a large portion of B.C.’s gang violence is between young men who grew up in middle-class and affluent families.
It means the province is carving its own path as it tries to stop the trend without other models to follow.
“Assessment tools and other gang policies that exist out there, they’re just not relevant to our experience,” said Keiron McConnell, a criminologist and Vancouver police officer.
The result has been a patchwork of programs operated by non-profits, school districts, law enforcement agencies and others. A task force on gang violence in Surrey found that while many promising programs exist across the province, they often operate in silos and with budgets that limit their effectiveness.
Targeting at-risk children under 12, as well as providing more culturally and gender appropriate programming, were among several recommendations it made last year.
The average age of a gangster on the Lower Mainland remains in the late-20s, according to the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, the province’s anti-gang agency.
But teens and young adults can be attractive partners for older, more entrenched gang members who may direct them to kill, in order to reduce the risk of retaliation and criminal charges, the task force found.
“Sixteen-year-old youth are particularly valuable since they have driver’s licences,” the task force report said.
That’s why the Mounties are trying to get ahead by speaking with kids as young as 10 years old.
“Our hope is reaching out and understanding where the young people are at before they’re introduced to those images or even the proposal that that lifestyle is good for them. We want to get the messaging to them early enough, so they have that education, they have the tools to make that decision right then and there,” Sanchez said.
The social media challenge
The Mounties started noticing a trend around the time that Sanchez joined the anti-gang unit a few years ago: the age of gang-related casualties on B.C.’s Lower Mainland was dipping into the teens.
RCMP data shows the average age of gang members in Surrey involved in the 2014 to 2016 gang conflict was 23, while the average age of their first criminal offence was 16 and their first school suspension was 13. Sanchez pins part of the downward
shift on technology. The force monitors youth expressing themselves through open accounts online in ways that reflect the affluent gang lifestyles glorified in media and entertainment, he said.
“The gangs, they know this too. That’s why I honestly believe we’re starting to see that trend of getting much younger,” he said.
Sanchez spoke outside a school in Surrey where the parents advisory council had organized an information night on the gang conflict. During his presentation, he showed social media images that had been shared with police, including photos of guns, drugs and money shared by high school students and a video of a group of teens beating up someone from a rival school. A gang member soon offered the lone teen “protection” as a gateway into the lifestyle, he said.
There’s a reason emulation of the gang lifestyle seems to escalate around the begin-
ning of high school, Sanchez said.
“If you think about it, the younger generation of parents want to be in contact with their kids,” he said. “What do they give them? A phone.”
Parents unfamiliar with the power of a phone, including all its apps, chat options, encryption and secret mode searches, can’t keep up with what their kids are doing, he said.
Technology also poses one of the biggest challenges for law enforcement, as gangs are communicating more efficiently than ever before. Sanchez believes gang members instantaneously share information like which officers are on patrol and where.
“They monitor us. I really believe they study our patterns and the way we work just the way we study them, which we’ve never seen before. It’s different, so we have to be a little wiser, a little more efficient to keep up.”
Family calls for change at teen’s funeral
Canadian Press
The
The family of a 14-year-old boy whose apparent overdose death was filmed and posted on social media delivered a powerful call for change at his funeral in Langley.
Carson Crimeni’s mother, Chantell Griffiths, told the crowd of hundreds that change is needed in the world, before asking them to reflect on a song with lyrics that
focused on transformation. The teen’s family believes the drugs were given to him by others who wanted to film his reaction for social media.
RCMP and the police watchdog, the Independent Investigations Office, are both investigating the case.
Bella Griffiths, his sister, said the people around him at the time of his death were “heartless” and it hurts her to think of the pain he
felt in the hours before he died on Aug. 7.
She urged the crowd, which included many teens, to remember that drugs are not a joke and they can take away anyone in a heartbeat.
Crimeni’s father, Aron Crimeni, sobbed as he thanked his son for being his best friend and remembered his sense of humour, love of cooking and dream of becoming a veterinarian.
PHOTO
RCMP Sgt. Michael Sanchez is the officer in charge of the Surrey Gang Enforcement Team.
Liberals using social issues to dodge scandals: Scheer
The Canadian Press
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer sought Thursday to put a pin in the question of whether his party would reopen debates on abortion or same-sex marriage, blaming the Liberals for trying to aggravate ancient divisions to distract from their own failures.
Scheer has long been on the record as opposing both abortion and same-sex marriage personally, and disavowed neither of those positions Thursday despite being asked several times for clarity.
Instead, after a week of silence in the face of repeated calls for him to address a 14-year-old speech he gave in Parliament against same-sex marriage, and confusion in Quebec over whether his MPs could bring forward private members’ bills on abortion, he sought to reassure Canadians that if elected prime minister, his own opinions won’t get in the way.
“While every individual Canadian has a right to their own personal convictions on any number of issues, I will always ensure I am governing for all Canadians,” he said in a press conference. “And on
this issue I have been very clear I will not reopen this debate, I will oppose measures or attempts to open this debate.”
As a member of Parliament who is also a practising Catholic, Scheer has consistently voted in favour of efforts that were understood to restrict abortion rights, and in 2005 gave a speech against same-sex marriage. Among other things, he said then that while same-sex couples can be in loving relationships for life, they can’t marry because they can’t “commit to the natural procreation of children.”
Conservatives had been expecting his record to be an issue for them during the campaign, but were still caught off-guard last Friday when the Liberals began circulating a video of the speech.
While Scheer’s team tried to do damage control by issuing statements on his support for the law allowing same-sex unions, calls had not abated for Scheer to address the issue personally.
On Thursday, he said his speech was part of a now-closed chapter of Canadian history, and he accepts the law as it stands.
“My personal views are that LGBT Canadians have the same inherent self-worth and dignity as every other Canadian and I will always uphold the law and always ensure that they have equal access to the institution of marriage as it exists under the law,” he said.
Scheer said the Liberals were sending around the video because they are afraid to run on their own record.
“It’s just the Liberals who are
Couple failed son, court told
An Alberta prosecutor says a couple that failed to seek medical attention for their son who later died of bacterial meningitis were aware that he was suffering from a form of the deadly infection.
David Stephan and his wife, Collet, are charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life to 19-month-old Ezekiel in 2012.
The Stephans have testified that they originally thought Ezekiel had croup, an upper airway infection, and that they treated him with natural remedies, including a tincture of garlic, onion and horseradish added to a smoothie.
They said he appeared to be recovering at times and they saw no reason to take him to hospital despite his having a fever and lacking energy.
A family friend, who is a nurse and midwife, testified that she advised Collet to get a medical opinion the day before the boy stopped breathing. The friend feared “something more internal like meningitis.”
“It’s the Stephans failure to respond to what I would say to increasingly alarming information or feedback from their child during that period of time,” said Crown prosecutor Britta Kristensen in her closing argument Thursday. “Both parents knew the child had meningitis.”
Kristensen said by doing so the Stephans endangered Ezekiel’s life.
“Knowing that he had meningitis – there were forms of it that are fatal and fast acting – it was incumbent on them to see a doctor
and a doctor’s supervision,” she said. “There was no decision to take him to a physician notwithstanding his declining health over the next two days.”
Stephan, who is representing himself, said in his final argument that evidence suggests a failure by medical professionals to properly intubate his son was the real reason Ezekiel died.
Testimony indicated the boy was without oxygen for nearly nine minutes because the ambulance that took him to hospital wasn’t properly stocked with breathing equipment to fit a child.
“There was a request made for equipment for approximately one year. Those requests were never honoured. The ambulances were never equipped,” said Stephan. “Within a week of Ezekiel’s passing... magically the ambulances are restocked. I think these are grounds for misrepresentation and a coverup. I’m no expert in law but I think that would constitute a case of criminal negligence resulting in death.”
Stephan told the judge he feels there were elements of prejudice against him and his wife because they were sovereign citizens – people who believe in common law and don’t feel they are responsible to any government.
“It is my position that the Crown has not proven its case,” said Stephan. “I respectfully ask that it be a not guilty verdict.”
It is the second trial for the Stephans. The Supreme Court of Canada overturned their original conviction.
Justice Terry Clackson said he would render his verdict on Sept. 19.
Court awards solitary confinment inmates $20M
The Canadian Press
The federal government will have to pay thousands of prison inmates placed in solitary confinement for long periods a preliminary $20 million for breaching their rights, a Superior Court judge ruled on Thursday. The decision, which comes without a full-blown trial, is the latest in a string of similar rulings across Canada that have gone against the government and are now at various stages of appeal.
“The Correctional Service operated administrative segregation in a way that unnecessarily caused harm to the inmates,” Justice Paul Perell said in his ruling. “Class members suffered harm because of a systemic failure.”
Administrative segregation involves isolating inmates for safety reasons where
authorities believe there is no reasonable alternative. Prisoners spend up to 22 hours in small cells without any meaningful human contact or programming.
Critics argue among other things that the practice can cause severe psychological harm and amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, facts which Perell – and other courts – have accepted.
The representative plaintiff in the current case, Julian Reddock, launched the action in March 2017.
Reddock, who said he sometimes spent days without leaving his cell, said he binged on an anti-anxiety drug.
“All I wanted was to pass out cold for as long as possible, again and again,” Reddock testified. “It was all I could think to do to cope with the hopelessness of not knowing they would let me out.”
pushing this, trying to distract from their record of failure, corruption and scandal, trying to dredge up issues from long ago in attempt to divide Canadians and distract from their own scandal,” he said.
The question of Scheer’s opposition to abortion, however, did not resurface at the hands of the Liberals. On that, it was Scheer’s own Quebec lieutenant sowing confusion, telling Conservative candidates in the province that backbench MPs would not be allowed to propose private member’s bills to restrict abortion access.
Richmond-Arthabaska MP Alain Rayes’ promise appeared to fly in the face of Conservative policy, which has been understood to allow MPs to bring forward private members’ bills on whatever subjects they like.
Scheer insisted Thursday there was no contradiction. He said MPs know they are allowed to hold their own beliefs, but that they must also all work together. While he did not explicitly rule out allowing private members’ bills, he suggested they would not be welcome.
“A Conservative government will not reopen this issue, and I as prime minister will oppose measures that reopen this issue.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for Scheer to be far firmer with his MPs. He pointed out that in the Liberal party, MPs are required to be unequivocally in favour of what Trudeau framed as “women’s rights.”
“Canada includes everyone and leaders need to defend everyone, particularly people who’ve been marginalized. It’s not enough to reluctantly support the law because it’s a law, especially when it comes to the rights of women and LGBTQ2 communities,” Trudeau said at an event in Surrey, B.C. Scheer said Trudeau’s desire to distance himself from his record was also behind the prime minister’s refusal so far to agree to take part in two scheduled federal election debates, and called on him to accept.
Trudeau said he is looking forward to the debates during the election, but declined to commit to either the Munk foreign-policy debate or one being hosted by Maclean’s magazine.
SCHEER
The Canadian Press
Will Trump go away quietly?
As primary season heats up in the United States, the Democrats are anxiously debating the best path to unseat Donald Trump in 2020.
But the question of how to beat Trump is perhaps less urgent than the issue of whether he will accept defeat.
Trump has already questioned his loss of the 2016 popular vote with baseless accusations of voter fraud.
He has also repeatedly toyed with the idea of extending his presidency beyond the eight-year limit enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, even trumpeting Jerry Falwell Jr.’s assertion that his first term be extended by two years to compensate for the Russia investigation.
Perhaps most ominously, Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen warned while testifying before the House Oversight Committee in February 2019:
“Given my experiences working for Mr. Trump, I fear that if he loses in 2020, there will never be a peaceful transition of power.”
Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, recently voiced her concern that Trump will not
concede if the Democratic margin of victory is too slim.
The anxiety over Trump’s potential response to 2020 is an outlier in the history of American politics. With the striking exception of 1860 and the ensuing Civil War, the record of American presidential elections is one of peaceful transfers of power. People and parties have rotated the office with minimal trouble for more than two centuries.
Americans tend to look to the election of 1800 as the precedent for this achievement.
After Thomas Jefferson and his running mate, Aaron Burr, tied in the Electoral College, the contest was thrown to the House of Representatives to decide the victor.
After 35 successive ties in the House, Jefferson, a Democratic-Republican, emerged victorious, confining Federalist John Adams to only one term.
This was the first time a president relinquished his office to a member of a rival faction.
The 1800 election tested whether the republic could survive a partisan battle over the presidency and the resulting success assured Americans that the nation’s experiment in democracy could work.
But that’s not the whole story. The elec-
tion of 1800 was more of a near-miss than most realize.
As the House repeatedly deadlocked, the Democratic-Republicans grew wary that the Federalists would use the stalemate to stall until March 4, 1801, at which time Adams’s term would end and the presidency would then pass to the president pro tempore of the Senate, also a Federalist.
As the March 4 deadline loomed, Pennsylvania Gov. Thomas McKean prepared to defend the Democratic-Republican presidency by force. In case the Federalists tried to install one of their own, the governor drafted a proclamation ordering all officers and citizens of Pennsylvania to declare loyalty to Jefferson as president and Burr as vice-president.
McKean also readied arms for 20,000 militiamen who he would deploy to arrest any member of Congress who prevented Jefferson from taking the presidency. Virginia Gov. James Monroe likewise ordered a guard for his state’s arsenal to prevent any Federalists from plundering its weapons.
But Jefferson finally received a majority on Feb. 17 and McKean aborted his plan. Still, his preparations are revealing.
McKean’s plot demonstrates the contingency of American democracy and its
Will the forest sector survive?
There are those who want to keep on logging until the last tree is cut, no matter the repercussions; at the other end of the spectrum are those who say we have cut enough and now is the time to stop.
While neither view is practical or realistic, there are some good reasons why people have come to these conclusions. We only must look at the past few years to understand why.
The industrial forest sector, and the future of B.C.’s forests were dramatically changed in the early 1990s. A mountain pine beetle outbreak started in Tweedsmuir Park and spread outside of the park and across most of the province. Although the government of the day had the opportunity to address the initial outbreak by harvesting and prescribed burns, they bowed to public pressure and let “nature” take its course.
Nothing was done to stop the pine beetle attack from growing until it was too large to contain. Over the past 25-plus years, roughly 50 per cent of the commercial-sized pine was attacked and died. Of that, about 60 per cent of B.C.’s lodgepole pine was harvested.
Once the outbreak grew to the point that it became unstoppable, the government and the ministry of forests had to change the laws governing timber harvest, to allow forest tenure holders to harvest more pine.
The changes were to give forest companies priority to harvest the dead and dying pine and salvage some economic value from these
trees before they became worthless, recognizing that they never would be worthless, in the true sense of the word.
Love or hate those decisions, what we see and live with today are the result of that direction. Roads and public access were created to most all of B.C.’s pine stands.
The only pine areas not accessed were in parks, protected areas or where the trees were not of commercial quality.
Economic objectives took precedent over other forest values. The general assumption was that dead trees and dying forests were not of great value for values such as big game winter ranges, small fur-bearers and trappers, viewscapes along our travel corridors or watershed management.
Fast forward to today. The pine beetle epidemic has become a distant memory. Now, we must pay another economic price, as the volume of timber available to sustain the current size and configuration of our manufacturing plants is not there.
Plant closures, mostly based on lack of wood fibre, and curtailments, based both on fibre availability and the selling price of the commodity, have become regular announcements.
But it isn’t just about the lack of pine that drives all of these announcements.
The removal of the timber
harvesting land base for other reasons compounds the timber supply shortage. As new parks, conservancies, sensitive areas and other harvesting restrictions are created, less and less land is available to grow the trees that our mills need to survive.
A smaller forest industry is also what others wish for, and especially for those who believe that no industry should exist, when it has negative impacts on other resources.
This is nothing new, but there is now a renewed effort to ensure this happens, and that coincides with government reviews of the legislation regulating forest practices.
It will be public sentiment that sways this government as to what new legislation they will bring in to regulate our forest industry. In saying this, one needs to look no further than our grizzly bear management strategy as the example they follow – if the average person thinks harvesting bears is bad, then it must be; if the average person thinks harvesting trees is bad, then it also must be. So which will it be?
Management by opinion, or management in support of rural B.C. and those who derive their living from our forests?
Will decisions involve local people making local decisions on how our public lands are managed or will it be dominated by big money NGO’s funding wellorchestrated PR campaigns to continue the quest of making B.C. the biggest park in the world?
— Evan Saugstad is a former mayor of Chetwynd and lives in Fort St. John.
reliance on the decision-making of those charged with maintaining it. Peaceful transitions of power are the result of choices made by individuals. They are not, nor have they ever been, a natural feature of the American political character. In its first three years, the Trump administration has demonstrated open hostility to the customs that have traditionally stabilized American political institutions. Its myriad conflicts of interest, defiance of subpoenas and court orders, refusal to release the president’s tax returns, the hiring of Trump’s children, assaults on the media and lack of media access (to name just a few) all raise alarming flags. And then there’s Trump’s repeated suggestion that he serve more than eight years. All told, Trump looks poised to contest the 2020 results if they do not go his way.
Americans and anxious onlookers should not take a Trump concession for granted. Whether 2020 will follow the peaceful path of 1800 or the road to war of 1860 is anyone’s guess.
— Shira Lurie is a University College fellow in early american history at the University of Toronto. This article first appeared in The Conversation.
B.C. voters ignore political party lines
In just a few weeks, Canadians will participate in the country’s 43rd federal election. Some candidates have already started to knock on doors to discuss why they want to represent their communities in Ottawa. We have already seen billboards discussing policy positions, and the moderators for the televised debates have been announced.
Politicians all over the world like to say that the election that is just ahead is “the most important ever.” This year in Canada, there are several factors that make this statement particularly compelling.
The election of Donald Trump in the United States has given way to a new era of rancorous partisanship on Facebook and Twitter. We have many examples of supporters of a specific party completely ignoring “Issue A,” while supporters of a different party pretend to behave like “Issue A” is the most important revelation in history.
But in spite of the radicalism that social media suggests, few British Columbians are intimately and unreservedly aligned with federal political parties. Most voters in the province look at specific options and go from one party to the next. In the last five Canadian federal elections, the Conservatives had their largest share of the vote in British Columbia when they earned their only majority mandate (46 per cent in 2011) and the lowest in the last election fought under Stephen Harper (32 per cent in 2015).
The Liberals were unable to crack the 30 per cent mark in 2004 and 2006 (29 per cent and 28 per cent respectively), fell to fewer than one in five votes in 2008 and 2011 (19 per cent and 13 per cent) and rebounded to 35 per cent under Justin Trudeau in 2015.
The New Democrats swung between 25 per cent and 29 per cent, climbing up to 33 per cent in Jack Layton’s last election as leader in 2011. These fluctuations are very different from what is observed in the rest of Western Canada, where one party usually dominates solidly against all others. Research Co. asked British Columbians about specific issues related to federal politics this month, and the results outline a great deal of skepticism. Just one in four residents (24 per cent) believe “most federal politicians actually care about what happens to people like me.” British Columbians aged 55 and over (30 per cent) are less cynical than those aged 35 to 54 (24 per cent) and those aged 18 to 34 (18 per cent).
Only two in five British Columbians (40 per cent) think “most
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federal politicians are trying to do the right thing.” While half of baby boomers (49 per cent) appear to endorse the morality of those seeking a seat in the House of Commons, only 27 per cent of the youngest group of voters concur. It is not surprising to see more than seven in 10 British Columbians (72 per cent) believe “most federal politicians have to follow the party line and have little to no autonomy.” Those aged 18 to 34 are not as “offended” (57 per cent) as those aged 35 to 54 (73 per cent) and those aged 55 and over (84 per cent). Almost three in five British Columbians (58 per cent) think “there is currently no federal political party that truly represents my views.” Across the province, we find a third of residents (33 per cent) who disagree with the statement, including 13 per cent who “strongly disagree.”
Finally, when asked if “voting should be mandatory in all Canadian federal elections,” 57 per cent of British Columbians agreed and 35 per cent disagreed.
Dejection with the current state of affairs can manifest itself in several ways. The fact that many millennials are dissatisfied with the independence of federal politicians, and very few believe they actually care about what happens to people like them, could lead to a lower voter turnout. We must remember that young voters were instrumental in giving the Liberal Party its best showing in British Columbia in the last federal election (35 per cent) since 1968. The survey shows a province that is not exceptionally motivated heading into a federal election, but this is nothing new. There are always reasons to be upset with the incumbent government, and the allure of the opposition parties may not be enough to move the public into the “time for change” mode that was pinpointed at the provincial level in 2017.
This is precisely what the campaign is for. When the writ was dropped in 2015, it began with discussions on how a government under polling frontrunner Tom Mulcair would function in Ottawa and deal with issues like the Canadian Senate. It ended with Justin Trudeau forming a majority government, and his party going from two to 17 seats in B.C.
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THE NUMBERS
MARIO CANSECO
Mental health help key for students
The Canadian Press
For Jenna Kaplan, the thought of taking a day off from university to manage her anxiety disorder only made her feel worse.
The now-23-year-old graduate student remembers grappling with panic attacks and sky-high stress levels during her undergraduate degree at Concordia University while trying to shine in a highly competitive theatre program.
Tests and social events – cornerstones of the university experience – were triggers, but she’d try to push through. When she sought help in first year, she was told she’d have to wait five months to see a psychologist at the school. Eventually, it all took a toll.
“There’s so much pressure and I didn’t know my limits,” she said. “I’d push myself to go to school even when I was feeling absolute crap ... and have a panic attack in the bathroom.”
Data suggests Kaplan is part of a growing contingent of students who experience anxiety, depression and high stress as they navigate the post-secondary education system, prompting schools to re-examine the supports they offer in an attempt to meet students’ needs.
Earlier this year, about 55,000 students across 58 post-secondary schools responded to a survey that
indicated more than 60 per cent of respondents were dealing with above average or tremendous stress levels.
The National College Health Assessment also found that 23 per cent of respondents had been diagnosed with anxiety, and 19 per cent had a depression diagnosis.
In 2013 – when 38,000 students from 32 schools were surveyed –12.3 per cent of students had an anxiety diagnosis, and 10 per cent had been diagnosed with depression. Schools have spent nearly a decade trying to figure out how to address students’ needs, developing a patchwork of policies and initiatives to boost mental health and treat existing anxiety before it becomes a larger issue, said Paul Davidson, president of Universities Canada.
The advocacy organization, which represents 95 universities, has been working with institutions to figure out what works best.
It is also among a group gearing up to release a draft of the first voluntary standard for psychological health and safety of post-secondary students. The document will be up for public review until Oct. 31, and a final version is expected early next year. One of the key considerations, Davidson said, is that each school has unique needs.
“Universities across Canada are very diverse,” he said. “You’ve got
large urban universities with close proximity to the most advanced health care in the world, and you’ve got smaller universities that are some distance from mental health supports.”
An urban school can lean more on the broader mental healthcare system, he said, while rural schools should make sure they have their own infrastructure in place. Schools must also take students’ lifestyles into account, Davidson said. If a school is made up mostly of students in residence, it makes sense to have in-person supports, but if it’s a commuter school or a university that offers
most courses online, services offered on the web or over the phone might be more appropriate.
Kevin Friese, assistant dean of students for health and wellness at the University of Alberta, said figuring out which services the school should offer and what should be left to the broader system has been a years-long journey.
“No one support is going to be the silver bullet,” he said. “What works for one person may not necessarily be the right fit for another.”
Friese said his Edmonton-based school offers a variety of services that include traditional counselling, peer support groups, oncampus outreach programs and an online platform called WellTrack that’s used in several schools.
The service has educational modules based on techniques used in cognitive behavioural therapy that help students change their thought patterns. It also has a survey that helps users track their well-being.
But equally important, Friese said, is figuring out how the University of Alberta fits into the broader mental health system.
Students with more intensive needs – for instance those who will likely need clinical support for much of their lives – might be better served outside of the university, he noted. The school
Study finds new genetic links to homosexuality
The largest study of its kind found new evidence that genes contribute to same-sex sexual behaviour, but it echoes research that says there are no specific genes that make people gay.
The genome-wide research on DNA from nearly half a million U.S. and U.K. adults identified five genetic variants not previously linked with gay or lesbian sexuality. The variants were more common in people who reported ever having had a same-sex sexual partner. That includes people whose partners were exclusively of the same sex and those who mostly reported heterosexual behaviour.
The researchers said thousands more genetic variants likely are involved and interact with factors that aren’t inherited, but that none of them cause the behaviour nor can predict whether someone will be gay.
The research “provides the clearest glimpse yet into the genetic underpinnings of same-sex sexual behaviour,” said co-author Benjamin Neale, a psychiatric geneticist at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“We also found that it’s effectively impossible to predict an individual’s sexual behaviour from their genome. Genetics is less than half of this story for sexual behaviour but it’s still a very important contributing factor,” Neale said.
The study was released Thursday by the journal Science. Results are based on genetic testing and survey responses.
Some of the genetic variants found were present in both men and women. Two in men were located near genes involved in male-pattern baldness and sense of smell, raising intriguing questions about how regulation of sex hormones and smell may influence same-sex behaviour.
Importantly, most participants were asked about frequency of same-sex sexual behaviour but not if they selfidentified as gay or lesbian. Fewer than five per cent of U.K. participants and about 19 per cent of U.S. participants reported ever having a same-sex sexual experience.
The researchers acknowledged that limitation and emphasized that the
Mumps outbreak sickens detained migrants in U.S.
The Associated Press
Mumps has swept through 57 immigration detention facilities in 19 states since September, according to the first U.S. government report on the outbreaks in the overloaded immigration system. The virus sickened 898 adult migrants and 33 detention centre staffers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its report Thursday. New cases continue as migrants are taken into custody or transferred between facilities, the report said. As of last week, outbreaks were happening in 15 facilities in seven states.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Bryan Cox said medical professionals
arrival to ensure that highly contagious diseases are not spread.
will connect students with outside support if needed, he said.
The school will also help students find support outside the university microcosm when they’re approaching graduation, he said.
This is particularly important because fear about the transition to the so-called “real world” is top of mind for students, said Andrea Howard, an associate professor of psychology at Carleton University. She said fears around employment stability and financial health abound among post-secondary students.
“Those sorts of day-to-day stressors can really accumulate,” Howard said. “Those are the kinds of things that we see setting off symptoms, setting off eventually episodes of anxiety or depression.”
That’s compounded by the fact that when students head off to post-secondary, they’re often away from their parents and other supports for the first time - at a life stage when mental illness is most likely to present itself, she said.
When the everyday stressors grew too overwhelming for Kaplan in her second year of undergrad, she got a doctor’s note and took a week off to regroup with her family, reconnecting with the support network she’d left behind. She also found alternate ways of coping, and has started practising mindfulness.
study’s focus was on behaviour, not sexual identity or orientation. They also note that the study only involved people of European ancestry and can’t answer whether similar results would be found in other groups.
Origins of same-sex behaviour are uncertain. Some of the strongest evidence of a genetic link comes from studies in identical twins.
Many scientists believe that social, cultural, family and other biological factors are also involved, while some religious groups and skeptics consider it a choice or behaviour that can be changed.
A Science commentary notes that the five identified variants had such a weak effect on behaviour that using the results “for prediction, intervention or a supposed ‘cure’ is wholly and unreservedly impossible.”
“Future work should investigate how genetic predispositions are altered by environmental factors,” University of Oxford sociologist Melinda Mills said in the commentary.
Other experts not involved in the study had varied reactions.
Dr. Kenneth Kendler a specialist in psychiatric genetics at Virginia Common-
wealth University, called it “a very important paper that advances the study of the genetics of human sexual preference substantially. The results are broadly consistent with those obtained from the earlier technologies of twin and family studies suggesting that sexual orientation runs in families and is moderately heritable.”
Former National Institutes of Health geneticist Dean Hamer said the study confirms “that sexuality is complex and there are a lot of genes involved,” but it isn’t really about gay people. “Having just a single same sex experience is completely different than actually being gay or lesbian,” Hamer said. His research in the 1990s linked a marker on the X chromosome with male homosexuality. Some subsequent studies had similar results but the new one found no such link.
Doug Vanderlaan, a University of Toronto psychologist who studies sexual orientation, said the absence of information on sexual orientation is a drawback and makes it unclear what the identified genetic links might signify. They “might be links to other traits, like openness to experience,” Vanderlaan said.
KAPLAN
The Associated Press
AP FILE PHOTO
A lesbian couple holds hands in Salt Lake City in a 2015 file photo.
New Atwood, Rushdie top fall books
The Associated Press
This fall, some of the timeliest and most topical books will be found in the fiction section.
From Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments, her sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, to Lucy Ellmann’s epic Ducks, Newburyport and Salman Rushdie’s Quichotte, novelists and short story writers are addressing the news of the moment through imagined narratives.
Some are set in the present, others in the distant past and others in the undetermined future.
“Fiction at its best is a journey toward the truth by an indirect route,” said Rushdie, whose novel brings the tale of Don Quixote into the age of YouTube and reality television. “If done properly, (it) can capture a moment in such a way that readers in the present can gain ‘recognition pleasure’ –‘Yes, this is how things are.”’
Atwood has said the rise of Donald Trump helped convince her to write The Testaments, which returns readers to the ruthless patriarchy of Gilead and to those resisting it.
Ducks, Newburyport is a 1,000page journey through the worried mind of an Ohio housewife who makes pies and despairs about Trump.
Jeanine Cummins’ highly anticipated American Dirt tells of a bookseller in Mexico who is threatened by a drug cartel and attempts to flee to the United States.
Rob Hart sets his thriller The Warehouse within a giant tech company called “The Cloud,” a story billed as “Big Brother meets Big Business.”
“Journalism is incredibly important, and data is great at making people angry, but a story sits with you the way data doesn’t,” Hart says. “Stories are about empathy. I think we’ve collectively decided our comfort is more important than someone else’s discomfort, and putting people in someone else’s shoes for a bit seems a good way to counter that.”
Ta-Nehisi Coates’ first novel, The Water Dancer, is the story of a slave’s external and internal journey; the author has called the work a “myth” to counteract
the racist beliefs of the present, explaining during last spring’s booksellers convention that fiction can change minds by taking us to a “bone-deep level.”
New fiction also will come from Ann Patchett (The Dutch House), Stephen King (The Institute) and Zadie Smith (Grand Union) and Monique Truong (The Sweetest Fruits).
Stephen Chbosky’s Imaginary Friend is his first novel since his million-selling debut, The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Andre Aciman’s Find Me is a sequel to his novel that was adapted into an Oscar-winning movie, Call Me By Your Name.
Prize-winning poet Robert Hass will release his first new collection since 2010, Summer Snow.
Poetry also is coming from Sharon Olds, Nick Flynn, Anne Simpson, Daniel Poppick and the country’s new poet laureate, Joy Harjo.
Cutting Edge, a crime and mystery anthology edited by Joyce Carol Oates, features poems and stories from Atwood, Edwidge Danticat and Aimee Bender, among other women.
“In noir, women’s place until fairly recently has been limited to two: muse, sexual object,” Oates writes in the introduction. “The particular strength of the female noir vision isn’t a recognizable
style but rather a defiantly female, indeed feminist, perspective.”
Current events will be addressed directly in such nonfiction as Ibram X. Kendi’s How To Be an Antiracist, Naomi Klein’s On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal and Stephen Greenhouse’s Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor.
Edward Snowden, the former government employee famed for leaking documents that revealed a massive government surveillance system, has written the memoir Permanent Record.
Jonathan Safran Foer, known for such novels as Everything is Illuminated, offers a daily approach to climate change in We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast.
He says the book came out of a conversation with an environmental philanthropist about an expression both had heard too often, “We have to do something.” Foer said the most direct and tangible action is cutting down on meat consumption, a point he felt he couldn’t make through fiction.
“I was aiming to make some quite specific factual claims,” he says. “I wanted to make a point about how we can make a huge dent in the environment by some relatively small changes in how
we eat.”
The Pulitzer Prize winners who helped relaunch #MeToo have books out: The New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow has written Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators and Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey reflect on their New York Times coverage in She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement.
The woman sexually assaulted by Stanford University student Brock Turner, her name still unknown to the general public, has a memoir out in September.
Memoirs also are coming from former UN Ambassadors Susan Rice and Samantha Power, Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon, actresses Julie Andrews and Demi Moore, and chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch’s A Republic, If You Can Keep It collects speeches and essays and is expected to touch on his contentious confirmation to the court in 2017. Former Defence Secretary Jim Mattis looks back on his career in Call Sign Chaos.
Music lovers again can look forward to a new round of memoirs. Elton John’s Me is expected this fall, along with Debbie Harry’s Face It, Flea’s Acid for the Children and Andrew Ridgeley’s Wham!: George Michael and Me.
Prince’s The Beautiful Ones”is built around a manuscript he and co-author Dan Piepenbring were working on at the time of his death.
A former Prince collaborator, Morris Day, tells his story in On Time: A Princely Life in Funk.
Liz Phair’s Horror Stories is less a rock star memoir than a memoir that happens to be written by a rock star.
It’s a collection of personal essays reflecting on everything from divorce to the birth of her son to climbing trees on her grandparents’ property.
The singer-songwriter known for her classic Exile in Guyville album told The Associated Press in a recent telephone interview that Prince’s death was one reason she decided to write the book.
“When these great music legends die, you realize how much they meant to you and how much they shaped your career... And it gets you thinking about your own legacy,” she said, adding that her book also was a way of confronting the “horror” of the daily headlines.
“I believe there’s a power to being open and connected to your emotions, acknowledging what’s happened to you. I don’t think it shows weakness. I think it fortifies you against a whole lot of hot air,” she said.
Parasite attracting big buzz
The Associated Press
Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite may be the only film this fall that’s already an award-winner and a box-office smash.
Parasite” will arrive in theatres Oct. 11 after having already amassed $70.9 million in Bong’s native South Korea, where the film notched one of the country’s best opening weekends ever. In May, Parasite” won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, a first for a Korean film.
But for most, there was nothing odd about Bong’s win. Parasite, a class satire about two families – one of poor hustlers living in a subterranean dwelling subsisting on their wits and stolen Wi-Fi, the other wealthy and residing in a stylish modern mansion – has been roundly hailed as a masterpiece and, perhaps, a culmination of Bong’s already illustrious career as a filmmaker of mischievous genre subversions, warm-hearted earnestness and stylistic daring.
Those qualities may sound almost contradictory but that’s exactly the kind of head-spinning amalgamation you get in a Bong Joon Ho movie. They – and in particular Parasite – balance humour and horror, satire and sincerity with a magical ease. That mastery of audiences, combined
with a childlike sense of wonder and an ecstatic imagination (Bong’s previous film, Okja, featured glorious “super pigs”) has made Bong one of the few filmmakers who live up to the label of “Spielbergian.” Parasite is poised to be that rare thing: a foreign language movie capable of drawing big crowds in theatres and contending at the Academy Awards. (South Korea has already made it its foreign language film submission.)
Such a release might give Bong the kind of moment with American moviegoers that he hasn’t exactly been missing, but has thus far often been marred by distraction. His English-language debut Snowpiercer, while it eventually emerged as an art-house hit, was tarnished by the attempted meddling of producer Harvey Weinstein. Bong was able to ultimately rebuff Weinstein’s efforts to cut 20 minutes and add monologues, but it damaged the movie’s release, which was ultimately overseen cut-free by Quinn’s Radius label.
Okja (2017), Bong’s biggest budget film at $57 million, became enveloped in controversy as a Netflix release in Cannes, a festival that has since outlawed movies without a theatrical release from its main competition.
This combination of photos shows cover images from anticipated releases, from left, The Testaments, by Margaret Atwood, The Institute, by Stephen King, Quichotte, by Salman Rushdie and The Water Dancer, by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Having fun
A costumed rider makes their
down the
Timberwolves hosting Cascades on home turf
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff tclarke@pgcitizen.ca
Don’t let the Fraser Valley Cascades’ record fool you.
Despite two losses to open the U Sports Canada West men’s soccer season, the Cascades are as dangerous as the precipice of Niagara Falls.
The UNBC Timberwolves are well aware of what they are up against when the Cascades come to visit them at Masich Place Stadium tonight and Sunday afternoon and don’t want to be trapped in a whirlpool on their home-opening weekend.
Both Cascades losses were to traditional Canada West powerhouses. They held the top-ranked UBC Thunderbirds off the scoreboard until the 58-minute mark of their game Friday in Abbotsford, eventually falling 2-0, then traveled to Victoria and lost 2-0 to the Vikes.
Victoria and UBC now sit atop the Pacific Division, each off to 3-0 starts.
“Fraser Valley’s a tough test,” said T-wolves head coach Steve Simonson.
“They’re always a playoff-contending team the last few years and they attract some really good recruits every year from the Lower Mainland, so we expect them to be good.
“We know them. We’ve played them and we’ve always matched up fairly well.”
As part of their game strategy the Twolves plan to keep a close eye on fifth-year striker Gurmaan Jajh, a Canada West firstteam all-star last year, whose 13 goals in 15 games ranked second in the conference.
UNBC (1-1) started the season last weekend in Kelowna, earning a split with the UBC-Okanagan Heat. They lost Saturday 2-1, then beat the Heat 2-1 on Sunday.
Simonson is convinced the T-wolves have improved significantly in their attacking ability compared to last year’s team, which struggled to score and was held to just 20 goals in 15 games.
“Just watching back our games against Okanagan, historically for us I think we
scored one goal in the last two years against them, and in these last two games we probably created more against what’s known as a very solid defensive team compared to the last three years,” he said.
“We just look like we have a real creative flair going forward and we’re finding more consistency and cohesion amongst each other. I actually think we have a much more threatening team. We were good in possession before but I think we’re a much more attacking-minded team now.”
In the loss in Kelowna the T-wolves came tantalizingly close to tying it, forcing the Heat to clear two balls off the goal line, among several quality chances UNBC generated.
“We look a bit menacing at times when we go forward and I’m excited about that,” said Simonson. “If we can grow that confidence to believe we can score goals. I mean we were down 1-0 with 20 minutes to go (Sunday) and you win the game. That’s got to help your confidence.”
T-wolves drill
The UNBC Timberwolves men’s basketball team work on some drills at Northern Sport Centre on Sunday evening during a training session.
Big Guy Lake drops to 1-3 at senior nationals
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff Chad Ghostkeeper put supernatural fear into the Elmira Expos. Whenever he stood at the plate batting for the Big Guy Lake Kings of Prince George Thursday at the Canadian men’s senior fastpitch championship, Ghostkeeper made contact with the ball and got things moving. He went 4-for-4 with a single, two doubles and home run to lift the Kings to an 8-4 victory over the Expos. Ghostkeeper’s line-drive single scored Bo Thomas with the first run and the veteran catcher’s
second-inning double gave the Kings a 6-1 lead, after Derian Potskin starting the inning with a solo home run. Thomas took over to start the second inning in relief of starting pitcher Josh Anderson, who allowed four runs on five hits in the first inning. Thomas was nearly perfect the rest of the way, pitching six complete innings without allowing a hit. He gave up just one walk and struck out eight. It was the first win of the tournament for the Kings, who lost 3-1 to the Grande Prairie Pirates Wednesday night, after dropping
5-4 decision earlier Wednesday to the Irma (Alberta) Tigers. The Kings (1-3) went on to lose 3-1 to the defending-champion Galway Hitmen of Newfoundland. Thomas tossed a three-hitter and struck out 10 but gave up six walks which came back to haunt him. The Hitmen (3-0) opened with a 9-2 win over the Saskatoon Angels on Wednesday and beat Irma 11-1 earlier Thursday afternoon. On Friday, the Kings are scheduled to play Saskatoon at 2 p.m. PT, then will take on the Oshweken (Ontario) Hill United Chiefs at 6:30 p.m. PT.
Tonight’s game starts at 6 p.m. The rematch is set for Sunday at 1 p.m. After that, the T-wolves have just five home games left in the regular season.
“Every weekend is exciting for me, it’s a chance to prove who we are and what we stand for in the league,” said T-wolves thirdyear midfielder Joel Watson. “The home opener is always a blast, the community support we get in Prince George is one of the best environments I’ve played in and I’m very grateful for that.
“We know that UFV is a strong team and has many threats but we also have belief that we can outwork any team, which I believe shows character in each and every one of our players. It’s important for us to match the intensity and standard of the match early on and hold our focus for the 90 minutes that counts.”
The T-wolves women’s soccer team opens its season at home next Thursday at noon at Masich against the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack of Kamloops.
Cats’ first-rounders continue to impress
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff
Christmas might come early this year for Prince George Cougars rookies Craig Armstrong and Tyler Brennan. If their wish lists are fulfilled, Brennan and Armstrong will be ditching their Cougar teammates for about 10 days so they can play for one of the three Canadian teams at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, Nov. 2-9 in Medicine Hat, Alta., and Swift Current, Sask. Both attended Hockey Canada’s summer camp in Calgary and while it’s not set in stone they’ll even make the Cougar roster as 16-year-olds, the coaches are pleased with the progress they’ve shown in training camp. They knew the quality they were receiving when they selected them both in the first round of the 2018 WHL bantam draft.
“It’s good to be back, I finally get to make the team this year, that should be good,” said Armstrong. The U-17 camp was good, but it was tough. I got a little bigger, a little stronger over the summer and improved my game. I haven’t proved anything yet, I still have to make the team, my spot isn’t guaranteed. I just have to get used to the pace of the game because there’s a lot of bigger stronger guys and I have to adjust.” Armstrong, a native of Crossfield, Alta., was the ninth player taken in the 2018 draft. Last season he collected 12 goals and 28 points in 29 regular season games and had three points in three playoff games with the Edge School midget prep team. Built like a fire hydrant, he’s quick on his feet and he cre-
ates offence. Armstrong stands only five-foot-seven but he’s got some meat on his bones, tipping the scales at 174 pounds. And he showed in camp, he’s not afraid of the rough stuff. “He can take a hit and he can give a hit, he’s a
guy for his size and he’s a very tenacious player with a lot of heart,” said Cougars head coach and general manager Mark Lamb. — see ‘CRAIG
CITIZEN PHOTO BY JAMES DOYLE
way
trails at Pidherny Recreation Site on Sunday morning on the way to the starting trail of the Redemption Funduro.
CITIZEN PHOTO BY JAMES DOYLE
BRENNAN
Spruce Kings add European touch
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff
tclarke@pgcitizen.ca
Mack Stewart speaks English with a Canadian accent and you wouldn’t suspect he’s spent most of his life in Europe but his passport tells a different story.
Born of Canadian parents in Villach, Austria, 17 years and nine months ago, Stewart moved to Canada last year to play in Alberta Midget Hockey League for the Calgary Royals and that’s where he was when he landed on the Prince George Spruce Kings’ recruitment radar.
The six-foot-one, 168-pound centre hopes to make a career out of hockey, following the path set by his father Michael, a Calgary-born-and-raised defenceman picked 13th overall by the New York Rangers in the 1990 NHL draft. When Mack went looking for a junior hockey home the Spruce Kings just happened to have a spot available to play for them in the B.C. Hockey League.
“This is the place for development, we have a great coaching staff and this team’s had tons of success in the past and we’re hoping to continue it,” said Mack Stewart, who carries a reputation as a skilled forward with above-average skater skills and a strong work ethic who takes pride in his defensive play.
“I like to feed the puck and make plays and I’m strong in the corners,” he said.
Hockey came naturally to the younger Stewart, who starting playing hockey when he was three and grew up around the rink surrounded by professional hockey players. He spent the first 10 years of his life living in
Villach, a city of about 60,000 located about a two-hour drive south of Salzburg, where his dad played.
“We traveled a bunch around southern Austria (playing minor hockey) and it was awesome,” he said. “The ice was bigger, more skill development. We moved to Northern Germany (Bremerhaven) for three years and that was alright but the hockey wasn’t very good and I played with a couple older age groups.”
Mack played one season in Salzburg (2016-17) and left to attend the Red Bull Hockey Academy in the Czech Republic to play the following season for the under-18 team.
“We traveled all the way to Finland, Swe-
den, went to Minnesota, so that was great experience,” he said.
After 13 years playing on ice surfaces that are 15 feet wider than most North American rinks, that’s required a major adjustment for Stewart.
“The speed took me time to get used to but I think I’m starting to get the hang of it,” he said. “There’s more physicality here, more dump-and-chase. For my team, Red Bull, we weren’t allowed to dump the puck. We were a skilled team and hated it. Here it’s a totally different game.”
In Calgary, he put up 13 goals and 31 points in 31 games with the Royals last season and helped his midget team go 13 games deep into the playoffs, contributing
‘Craig’s a competitor, he’ll do anything to help the team’
— from page 9
“He has good balance and good posture and he doesn’t get knocked off the puck. He’s smart,” Lamb said.
“He follows hockey, he’s kind of a hockey nerd, which is very important, to always know what you’re up against. If you ask him a question about a player, he knows. It’s his passion.”
Armstrong scored a goal and had drew an assist for Team Black on a line with Ilijah Colina and Fillip Koffer in the intrasquad game on Tuesday.
“Craig’s a competitor, he’ll do anything to help the team and he’s very coachable, a coach’s dream,” said Cougars scouting director Bob Simmonds.
“He’s a natural leader. He’s a true warrior and one thing that stood out for scouts in his draft year was his constant level of compete, his energy. There was never any backwards step in his game. We’re going to give Craig a long look in the preseason and if he’s here on opening night I’m not going to be surprised.”
The six-foot-three, 187-pound Brennan, picked 21st overall in 2018, is trying to make the jump to the WHL after playing a year of
midget last season for Rink Academy in his hometown of Winnipeg in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League.
As one of three goalies still left in the Cougars’ camp, he’s in a battle with 19-year-old incumbent Isaiah DiLaura to determine who will back up starter Taylor Gauthier. So far, Brennan has looked impressive. In training camp scrimmages last weekend he gave up fewer goals than any other goaltender.
“His mechanics are sound and the bottom line is he stops the puck,” said Simmonds. “His physical size is the prototypical model of a goalie, for sure.”
“He had a good training camp and what he’s doing is exactly what he’s got to do, just keep getting noticed,” added Lamb. “He’s a first-round pick who comes with a lot of potential and he’s still young. The big step for all these guys now is to see how they do in exhibition.”
Brennan, who turns 16 on Sept. 27, played 19 games for the Rink Academy midget prep team last season and posted a 2.69 goals-against average and .909 save percentage. He had his first taste of WHL
action in February when he played 10 minutes of a game in Kelowna, giving up one goal on five shots. He came ready for his second WHL training camp after facing some talented shooters in August at the national team camp.
“That U-17 camp was grueling, but it was fun,” Brennan said.
“I learned a lot from it and took away a lot. It was good. We were constantly on the go, 12- or 14hour days and you’re grinding the whole time. It would be an honour to play (in the tournament).
“I think I’m ready (for the WHL), I just have to keep working hard for the rest of the camp. I’ve put a lot of work into this. Isaiah is a great goalie, too, and it’s going to be hard-fought to the end. Whoever gets the spot it’s welldeserved.”
The Cougars have 32 players left in camp – 19 forwards, 10 defencemen and three goalies and practices continue at CN Centre.
The preseason starts next weekend in Langley. The Cats face the Kamloops Blazers in their first exhibition game next Friday.
They’ll also play the Vancouver Giants next Saturday in Langley before they head to Kelowna to play the Rockets on Sept. 8.
four goals and an assist. Michael Stewart had just finished his first season in the NCAA at Michigan State when the Rangers drafted him. Now his son is with the Spruce Kings trying to to earn his own U.S. college hockey scholarship.
“He was a defenceman, a tough guy,” said Mack. “He thinks it’s great that I’m here, I’ve been talking to him every day and he’s liking it, we’re obviously getting good development, we’re on the ice a ton.”
Michael Stewart, now 47, never played in the NHL but his pro career spanned 18 seasons in the AHL, IHL, Canadian national team, Austria and Germany from 19892000. He got into coaching the year he retired and served two seasons in Austrian pro league with Villacher SV before he went back to Germany to coach the Fischtown Pinguins. He moved up to the German Elite League in 2015 and spent seven seasons as head coach and general manager of the Augberger Panther and is now head coach of the Elite League’s Kolner Haie.
The Spruce Kings are defending BCHL champions and Stewart will see the fruits of their labour when the team raises its Fred Page Cup and Doyle Cup banners to the rafters at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena next Friday at their season-opener against the Surrey Eagles.
“I’m looking forward to playing top-level hockey with top-level players, our group’s looking great and it’s going to be a fun year playing with these guys,” he said.
The Kings wrap up their brief preseason tonight in Merritt, a rematch of Tuesday night, where the Kings beat the Centennials 5-3 at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
Andreescu advances to third round at U.S. Open
Stephanie MYLES
The Canadian Press
NEW YORK — Add Kirsten Flipkens to the growing chorus of people who think Canadian Bianca Andreescu can win the 2019 U.S. Open. The 33-year-old Belgian said it before their second-round match Thursday.
And after Andreescu defeated her 6-3, 7-5 to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in her young career, the veteran even told her so at the net.
“I told her that it was a good match, and that I think she can win this tournament, so she should believe in her abilities,” Flipkens said. “It’s clear. If you win Indian Wells and Toronto, you’re a favourite. They’re tournaments with almost the same status as a Grand Slam.”
Denis Shapovalov, who followed Andreescu onto Court No. 5 and inherited a strong contingent of Canadian supporters, followed her lead and also advanced to the third round with a 6-4, 7-6 (2), 6-2 victory over Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland. Shapovalov will face No. 13 seed Gael Monfils on Saturday.
Andreescu played more con-
sistent tennis than she did in her first-round victory over American wild card Katie Volynets. And she needed to keep her cool, with Flipkens’s game style including changing the pace and depth of her shots to upset the opponent’s rhythm. Typically, Andreescu is the one trying to do that. But on this day, the tables were turned. “Flipkens is a tricky opponent to play. I’m just really happy with how I managed to deal with what she gave me and with my composure out there,” Andreescu said. “There aren’t many girls out there that like to come to the net as much as she does, so I tried my best to handle that as best as I could.”
MACK STEWART
MICHAEL STEWART
ANDREESCU
U.S. recession hinges on consumers
Heather LONG
The
Washington Post
The U.S. economy is in a confusing place. Jobs are plentiful, inflation is tame, wages are rising and the economy continues to grow a tad above two per cent, which most experts think is the Goldilocks pace.
Yet a lot of credible voices are warning that a recession could come by 2021, if not sooner.
They point out that the bond market is showing a big red flag (the inverted yield curve) and job openings are starting to fall, factors that normally signal downturns are coming. And they note that by just about every measure, the economy is slowing from a year ago, making it more vulnerable to a big shock like U.S. President Donald Trump’s escalating trade war.
Where things go from here largely hinges on a single factor: the almighty consumer.
Broadly speaking, economic growth in the United States is driven by three factors – spending by consumers, the government and businesses. At the moment, businesses have pulled back because of the trade war, and government spending is not expected to change much, especially with a two-year budget deal in place. That leaves the consumer as the most significant variable that can change the country’s fortunes.
In other words, the spending levels by ordinary Americans will decide whether a recession will come sooner rather than later. Their spending makes up about 70 per cent of economic activity, and they rely on their gut feeling about the economy when they decide whether to make big purchases such as cars, refrigerators or fancy birthday dinners.
The latest data on consumer confidence that came out this week caused a sigh of relief on Wall Street and in the White House. Americans think this is the best economy since 2000, the Conference Board reported, although expectations about the future fell a tad and more people think stock prices will decline in the next year.
Trump’s decision to raise tariffs on imports hasn’t discouraged people from visiting stores (or shopping online) yet, but his next round of tariffs is set to hit popular items such as shoes, phones and laptops, and business leaders are already on edge. U.S. companies have cut back spending sharply
because they don’t like investing in new factories or initiatives when the business environment is unstable. Right now, many executives can’t tell whether the trade war between the United States and China will get better or worse. Last Friday, Trump called Chinese President Xi Jinping an “enemy” and announced higher tariffs, but by Sunday he was praising China and expressing optimism about the trade talks.
The concern is that after businesses stop spending, they typically pare down hiring – or even start layoffs. That would be a devastating blow to those who lose their jobs, and it has wider psychological effects. Even for those who are still employed, negative headlines about market drops, mass layoffs and gloomy expectations can spook Americans into tightening their belts. Without optimistic consumers, this economy has a lot less chance of staving off a recession.
“The consumer has held up so far, but the consumer is always the last to go when there is a downturn,” said Michelle Meyer, chief U.S. economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Consider what happened when the markets plummeted in December, for instance. There isn’t a perfect correlation between market drops and consumer sentiment, but consumer confidence sank in January after the stock market was down nearly 20 per cent around Christmas. That happened even though the labour market and economic growth were still strong.
By comparison, Trump’s latest announcements of more tariffs on Chinese imports sent stocks down, but only about five per cent in the past month, a much more mild dip that has yet to significantly change consumer confidence.
Trump and his aides have lavished praise on the economy recently, an effort that is partly about touting Trump ahead of the
election but also about trying to prevent a sense of doom that can sink the consumer mind-set. The problem for some economists is that it can make the administration appear as if it is ignorant of the gathering storm.
“We are in a system in which things are getting worse day by day,” said Stanley Fischer, former vice chair of the Fed, who blamed Trump for the problems. “It’s not a service to anybody, at least privately, not to focus on what the key problems are. And that would be the behavior of the United States.”
For now, consumers continue to buy back-to-school gear, yoga classes and vacations. They have been buoyed by gains of about six million jobs in the past three years, wages that are rising well above the cost of living and tax cuts for most households.
Economists say what would really tip consumer confidence is if businesses pull back hiring. And there are early signs that might be starting to happen.
While the economy continues to add jobs at a healthy rate, the pace has slowed from 223,000 job gains a month last year to 165,000 this year. Job openings have also declined in the past several months as some executives say they are in wait-and-see mode because of the U.S.-China trade war.
Industries most directly affected so far by the trade war are already in trouble. Manufacturing, while a small part of the U.S. economy, is in a recession, defined as two quarters of shrinking output.
In the agricultural sector, farm bankruptcies have jumped 13 per cent nationwide and 50 per cent in the Northwest over the past year, according to the American Farm Bureau. States that are more dependent on these struggling industries also are showing early indications of pain. While unemployment claims are down nationwide, they have jumped noticeably in Iowa and surrounding farm states.
The optimistic case is that consumers will continue to spend, ignoring the mayhem between China and the United States and the recent gyrations of the markets. The pessimistic case is that these latest blows between the United States and China will add up to a psychological blow that will persuade even healthy businesses to stop hiring and consumers to limit their spending. So far, however, that hasn’t happened.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 326.15 points, or 1.25 per cent, at 26,362.25. The S&P 500 index was up 36.64 points, or 1.27 per cent, at 2,924.58, while the Nasdaq composite was up 116.51 points, or 1.48 per cent, at 7,973.39.
Andrew John Haan
April 11, 1963August 20, 2019
Andrew passed away peacefully at the Prince George Hospice House on August 20, 2019. He was taken from us far too soon after a six year battle with cancer. Throughout his fight he never lost his sense of humour, even when the cancer took away so much of what he loved to do including hiking with his dogs, golfing, photography and being a professional driver. Andrew is survived by his beloved wife and best friend Trina, fur babies Max and Smokey and his birds. He is also survived by his mother Elizabeth, sisters Sarah (Rob), Jane and their families. Andrew will also be dearly missed by his in-laws Judy, Larry and Trish, all of his extended family and a huge group of friends. He was predeceased by his father John and all of his aunts, uncles, and grandparents. He was also predeceased by his fur babies Gizmo, Goofy, Maggie, Molly, Monty, Bandit and Murphy. Andrew had a twenty day stay at the Hospice House and the staff and volunteers ensured our entire family had the opportunity to make important memories in such a loving atmosphere. Thank you to everyone who had a chance to visit us all there. You all helped make such a scary time so much easier. Throughout Andrew’s journey he met many health professionals and we would like to thank them all for their compassion and care.
A special thank you to Dr. Kathleen O’Malley for always making sure we had everything we needed. Also a huge thank you to Dr Kraima, Tracy and Marilyn for making sure Andrew’s last eight months were as pain free as possible. You allowed him a quality of life that we did not believe was possible. Andrew will forever be remembered for his big heart and his quick wit. His laugh lit up the room and he will be missed by everyone who had the pleasure of meeting him. We know he is now pain free and playing golf and hiking with his fur kids. He was also looking forward to a brand new Freightliner to drive. A service to celebrate Andrew’s life will be held at the Grace Anglican Church on Saturday September 7, 2019 at 11:30AM with a tea to follow downstairs at the church. In lieu of flowers we will have donation boxes at the church for the Prince George Hospice Society and the Prince George SPCA.
MATTHEW WOZNEY
March 1929August 2019
On Friday, August 23rd, Matthew Wozney joined his beloved wife Emily. His sudden passing has left a huge void in the world of family and friends. Matthew always had a passion for helping others; from cutting the lawns and snow blowing the yards of his neighbours, to offering a ride and small change to a stranger in need. Even as a young man, he is remembered for collecting broken bikes and fixing them to give to children of lesser means. Despite the challenges sent his way, Matthew took them in stride and adapted his lifestyle to meet his needs. In doing so, he was able to spend his summers in his greenhouse, riding his scooter wherever he had to go, and feed the birds and animals that paid him visits throughout the day.
Matthew was a patient man, who lived a fulfilling 90 years and enjoyed teaching the many people who were willing to learn how to construct various things within his shop. He was a vivid storyteller, who captivated those with the events of his early days, helping build both Highways 16 and 97, to his days as a rancher and heavy-duty equipment operator. Having grown up at the Aleza Lake Station, Matthew developed a passion for trains and was known for his vast collection of unique train memorabilia. In recent years, he had many visitors to his shop, looking for advice, just a coffee or a Friday afternoon beer. If there wasn’t a project on the go, he and whoever came by that day would find one to keep them busy. Matthew was that person that everyone looked up to, as his calm and steady presence was the foundation of many people’s world. Left to fathom this loss are his daughter Deborah Kulchiski, son Peter Wozney (Kristine), his cherished grandchildren, Corbin and Kendra (Kulchiski) and Michael, Karlie and Morgin (Wozney). He is sadly missed by his sister Vera (Lupul) and brother Walter. Matthew was predeceased by his sisters Elsie (Purdue), Staff (Motiuk) and brother John (Wozney) and was the “favorite” uncle of many nieces and nephews. There is comfort in knowing that he is together with his Emily, who predeceased him just 3 months ago. There will be a Celebration of Life for both Matthew and Emily later this year.
CAROLINE BURKHARDT
June 19, 1922 - August 12, 2019
Last surviving child of Fredrich and Magadelena Schneider Predeceased by husbands: Edward Burkhardt, Edward Whitty, Harold Edward Allshire, sons: Harvey Burkhardt & Barry Burkhardt. Survived by: daughter Sharon Ann Stene, 6 grandchildren, numerous great grandchildren, numerous nieces and nephews. A private family graveside service to be held at a later date.
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Arleen Carole Meroniuk (nee Ashe) on the 7th of August 2019. Mom was predeceased by her mother, Carrie Velma Ashe (nee Jensen), her father, James Weldon Ashe, and her son Lorne Steve Meroniuk. She leaves behind sons, Jim, Darrin, and Douglas as well as numerous grandsons, granddaughters, and great grandchildren. There will be a celebration of life for Arleen on Sunday, September 1, 2019 from 1-3 pm at 8233 Flamingo Road.
Ellen Gene McGregor (Dos Santos, Nee: Westle)
Ellen was born 07 April 1948 in Smithers, B.C. to Dorothy and James Westle and passed away peacefully on 22 September 2018 in Prince George, B.C., following a brief illness.
Ellen was raised in Prince George and at various times in her life lived in Surrey, Kelowna and for the last 18 years she lived in Calgary, AB, where she was an active advocate for the elderly and disabled.
She is predeceased by her Mom and Dad, her husband Joquim “Jack” Dos Santos and Brother-in-Law, Ellis Kachanoski. She is survived by brother Henry (Ruth) Westle, sister Rosemary Kachanoski, beloved nephews and nieces and, grand nephews and nieces, many cousins and friends.
Ellen’s ashes will be laid to rest on Tuesday, 03 September 2019. We will be gathering at Cottonwood Island Park parking lot at 2:00 PM.
Bob Phillips January 2, 1953 to August 27, 2019
We are sad to announce that Bob died suddenly from complications of Parkinson’s disease. Bob was born in Chilliwack, raised in Prince George, then spent 25 years in Vancouver and on the Island. For the last 20 years, Bob again made his home in Prince George. Bob is survived by Glenda, Ron & Mary, Jana and Kim and their families, who all loved him dearly. Bob was smart and funny, and in any situation he was that guy that everybody liked. He had a gentle nature and sweet heart and although he struggled with depression, his innate goodness was never lost.
Please join us on September 14, at the Prince George Golf Club, from 3-5 for a celebration and remembrance of Bob’s life. If you wish to remember him with a donation, please consider Rotary Hospice House. He was surrounded by love in his final hours and was not alone.
KINNEAR,JamesA. December1,1929-August23,2019
Kinnear,JamesAlexander(Jim) JimpassedawaypeacefullyatMariposaGardensin Osoyoos. JimwasbornandraisedinEdmonton,Alberta.He metJean,hiswifeof55years,whileworkingforthe CNRinVancouver.TheymovedtoTerraceandthen PrinceGeorgebeforeretiringin1989.Hespenthis retirementyearsathiscabinonFraserLakeandin ArizonaandOsoyoos.Hewasapassionatebridge playerandstillplayeduntilthreeweeksbeforehis passing. Heissurvivedbyhisdaughter,Shari(Mike);and sons,Don(Sandy),Jack(Lisa),andBarry(Genoa); granddaughters,JessicaandMelissa;grandsons, Jamie,Brenten(Scarlett),Ben(Nicole),andSam; great-granddaughters,Neve,IoneandHolly;and great-grandsons,RylanandNoah. ThankstothestaffatMariposaGardens,Dr.Tarrand Dr.DeVriesfortheirgenuinecareforhim. ByJim’srequest,therewillbenoservice.(Overand out).
• Hart Area
Driftwood Rd, Dawson Rd, Seton Cres, • Austin Rd.
College Heights: Needed for Sept 1, 2019 O’Grady Rd and Park, Brock, Selkirk,
• Oxford, Cowart, Simon Fraser, Trent, Domano, Guelph, St Lawrence, Hartford, Harvard, Imperial, Jean De Brefeuf Cres, Loyola, Latrobe, Leicester Pl, Malaspina, Princeton, Newcastle, Prince Edward, Melbourne, Guerrier, Loedel, Sarah, Lancaster, Lemoyne, Leyden,St Anne, St Bernadette Pl, Southridge, Bernard Rd, St Clare, Creekside, Stillwater, Avison, Davis, Capella, Speca, Starlane, Bona Dea, Charella, Davis, Polaris, Starlane, Vega.
• • Needed for Aug 1, 2019
• • Moncton, Queens, Peidmont, Rochester, Renison, McMaster, Osgood, Marionopolis.
• Quinson Area
• Lyon, Moffat, Ogilvie, Patterson, Kelly, Hammond, Ruggles, Nicholson
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