Prince George Citizen April 26, 2019

Property tax rates on council agenda

Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff

mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca

City council is to set the rates

households and businesses will pay for property taxes this year at this Monday’s regular meeting.

Staff is recommending a rate of $7.34 per $1,000 for residential property. That’s down from $7.59 last year, but once the rise in assessed values is taken into account, the bill for the average home will rise by $43.30 to $1,050.30.

The increase reflects a 4.3-percent increase in the city’s total property tax levy after taking into consideration $1.7 million in new construction assessable taxes. The total levy stands at $109.9 million. If approved, residential property will account for 53.8 per cent of the revenue collected, down slightly from 54.1 last year.

Businesses would pay $17.17, major industry $53.32 and light industry would pay $27.62 with them accounting for 28.67, 2.82 and 13.2 per cent of the levy respectively.

Residential properties account for 67.3 per cent of the city’s total assessed value. Business makes up 26.6, major industry 2.46 and light industry 0.97 per cent. Also on the agenda:

• Council will consider charging $115 per hour for each RCMP officer attending special events to

recover the cost of overtime and administration.

• Public hearings will be held for two proposed developments: to build two 40-unit apartment buildings and six row house buildings at 4278-22nd Ave. and to build four 44-unit apartment buildings and seven townhouses at 6605 Southridge Ave.

• Coun. Kyle Sampson will provide a notice of motion to direct staff to draft lists of cityowned property that could be sold either to the current tenant or to someone interested in developing the sites.

He is calling for a list of 10 properties with buildings on them and a list of 10 undeveloped sites.

In the notice, Sampson said it has been noted that the city owns a number of high value properties, as well as a number that require a large amount of financial assistance which is not offset by the revenues of usage or tenancy.

“The sale of these properties can create a net positive impact to our overall budget, as well as increase available property for commercial and residential development and usage,” he said.

Notices of motion are typically dealt with at a subsequent council meeting.

• City council will take in presentations from the Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Prince George Air Improvement Roundtable and Coastal GasLink.

Wham! Pow! Ruff!

The Prince George Humane Society will come out the big winner when the 1989 Batman movie is screened at Northern FanCon. Proceeds raised during the event will go to the agency. What’s more, the movie’s executive producer Michael Uslan, will be on hand to introduce the movie, which starred Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson and Kim Basinger, and field questions afterwards.

Decked out in a Batman cape, Humane Society mascot Poppy was on hand to break the news during a media event on Thursday.

The movie will be shown on May 3 at CN Centre, 9 p.m. start. Admission will be by donation.

Snow expected tonight

Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff

A dousing of late-season snow is in the forecast for the city. It’s expected to start falling over Friday night and amount to about two cm by Saturday morning, Bobby Sekhon, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada said.

Other parts of B.C., including the Pine Pass and the Rockies, will also be affected as a low pressure system makes its way through the province.

Snow won’t be the only thing it

will deliver.

“It’s going to be quite an unsettled atmosphere,” Sekhon said. “So on Friday afternoon and into the evening there is a risk of thunderstorms as well. You might see a lightning strike here and there, so certainly a bit of excitement in the weather.”

All that should be preceded by showers late Friday morning.

It is not the first time snow has fallen on Prince George at this time of year. The record for April 26 is 5.8 cm, set in 1985.

“There’s been snow in the

Prince George area even into May,” Sekhon said.

“If you get a cold enough system coming through, it’s not impossible.

With highs expected to reach 8 C on Saturday, Sekhon said it’s doubtful the snow will last very long.

But driving the Pine Pass could be an adventure, particularly for those who decided to remove their snow tires before the provincially-mandated April 30 deadline. The latest road conditions can be found at drivebc.ca.

Northern BC Home & Garden Show opens today

Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca

The doors open today on a spring tradition with great structure. The 42nd Canadian Home Builders’ Northern BC Home & Garden Show happens at the Kin Centres and all around the grounds.

“Hundreds of vendors and visitors from all over northern B.C. flock to Exhibition Park in Prince George for the home show,” said Terri McConnachie, executive officer for the Prince George branch of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association.

— see ‘THE HOME, page 3

Society looking to save historic theatre

fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca

One of the region’s oldest movie theatres is clinging to life and a society of volunteers is administering structural first aid but they need an infusion of cash.

The Beacon Theatre is about 70 years old and still shows a regular menu of movies in Burns Lake. The only way it has been able to survive in the home entertainment era is because the building and its operations were taken over by a not-for-profit society.

The Lakes District Film Appreciation Society can do business like no profitdependent corporation can. What they cannot do, though, is reach into deep pockets for renovation money. They scrimped and saved for some small fixes, but as is often the case when an old structure’s walls are opened, more work was required than was anticipated.

“We had about $100,000 saved up to do repairs because we thought we had some rot in one of the walls,” said John Illes, one of the society members and a one-time town councillor.

“The good news was, we did not have the rot problem we thought we had,

but we discovered all kinds of other bad news when we got into the wall. We discovered a lot of work had to be done to update things to modern code.”

The engineer’s report gave the society a one-year timeline to do the repairs, so as to avoid any overload of snow. As it was, society members went up on the roof and shoveled off any significant snowfalls that came this past winter. Illes said it was thankfully a light year for snowfall in Burns Lake, but it wasn’t a sustainable plan going forward. Completing the repairs are the only viable solution.

That includes the option of a complete tear-down.

“For us, renovating is by far the cheaper way to go,” he said.

“We did look into that, and a complete replacement is far beyond the numbers we’re needing for a renovation – somewhere between five-to-seven million, which is just not viable – but a renovation is all that’s required, in truth. We discovered that the bones of this building are actually in excellent shape, but we have to do upgrading to all four walls and the roof.”

To complete the work, the society needs to gather somewhere in the neighbourhood of another $400,000. A

set of grant applications are in the works to acquire that funding, to minimize any call for public donations. That is not a step the society is taking, yet.

A profit-based business has a difficult time getting donations or grants, but societies are set up to draw in dollars in aid of doing a public service.

The Beacon Theatre has closed and been dormant at times, due to the business model realities of running a movie house. But the society model has allowed for up to seven staff and a steady stream of entertainment at the only theatre in the small town west of Prince George. They have hosted concerts there as well, from touring acts like The Mercy Brothers, The Kerplunks, and Ian Tyson, and also hosted the world premiere of the feature film Neutral Territory which writer-director Josias Tschanz set and shot in his hometown.

“We were not the first not-for-profit society to operate a movie theatre, we modelled ourselves on one in Revelstoke, and I think there is one more now that’s followed suit,” said Illes.

“It’s really the only way to make it work in a small community, and it works great most of the time, but when a big investment is required like this one, it has its challenges.”

The Parkhouse condominium development is a hub of activity, as work is underway again. The project, which includes a new city-owneed parkade, is being built beside City Hall at the end of George Street.

Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff

The community climbs for cancer on Saturday.

The most popular vertical walk of the year plods up the face of the cutbanks from 12-4 p.m. with Northern Lights Estate Winery as the home base. It’s the fourth annual Climb For Cancer.

“The money raised from this event will support the Kordyban Lodge,” said a statement from the Canadian Cancer Society. “People diagnosed with cancer face many challenges. Travelling to a distant location for treatment away from family and friends can be overwhelming. A stay at the Kordyban Lodge helps a person being treated for cancer feel supported, informed and empowered.”

The Lodge has a range of amenities, including private accommodations, three meals a day, WiFi connectivity, a wig and breast prosthesis bank for cancer patients, on-site staff around the clock, and many more services tailored for cancer patients and their families.

There is easy access at the lodge to information and referrals to Canadian Cancer Society support programs, such as CancerConnection.

Teams and individuals have been fundraising for this event in their own ways, but participants can join in for their own personal contribution. For more information visit the event’s link on the Canadian Cancer Society’s website, or the event’s Facebook page. You can also contact David Duck (david.duck@telus.net or 778-3494485) or Doug Bell (doug@northernlightswinery. ca or 250-981-3684).

Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff

Climb for Cancer this weekend

ACE marks 15 years of mental health support

Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff

mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca

A woman who has been diagnosed with the “full meal deal” of schizophrenia, depression and anxiety shared her story and provided some inspiration to those in a similar predicament when the Activity Centre for Empowerment celebrated its 15th anniversary on Wednesday.

Speaking to about three dozen people at the organization’s downtown office, Elizabeth Anderson gave an account of a 25-year struggle and the coping strategies she has developed over those years.

“I still have bad days,” she said.

“I want to put that out front.”

Now 54 years old, Anderson, who lives in Calgary, said her journey began as a teenager when she started to suffer bouts of depression so crippling she almost lost the will to live. At one point, she slashed her wrists and ended up in hospital for six weeks.

This was in 1979 and at that time treatment was not very good.

“There was no medication really for young adults and they didn’t want to diagnose me because they didn’t want to label me,” Anderson said.

“They sent me away with no aftercare, with no medication.”

Back at home, Anderson more or less continued on. She excelled in drama class while in high school but behind the scenes life was not going well. She ran away and ended up living with a friend of a friend. She graduated from high school on time but her willingness to succeed or set goals had stopped.

She bounced from job to job and at 19 years old, tried to commit suicide once again, this time by overdosing on painkillers.

Following her recovery, her parents talked her into enrolling in drama at university. But depression got in the way. “In acting you do a lot of group work. Nobody wanted to be my partner,”

Anderson said.

She dropped almost all of her courses and, unable to stick to anything and her marks sliding from among the top to the very bottom, she was twice kicked out of university. But on the very day she was expelled for a second time, Anderson met her future husband.

Two years later, in 1993, they married. Suffice to say, it was a wedding like few others.

“I had a meltdown in front of the caterer two days before the wedding and I was crying so hard and so long he thought we weren’t getting married,” Anderson said. “And so we arrived in the hall and there was no food for 120 people.”

Life did not get much better. Anderson became paranoid. Certain her possessions were being stolen, she began hiding them and then would forget where they were. In one year, they moved four times and she and her husband were fighting every day.

The turning point came in 1995 when a friend took one look at her and knew Anderson was suffering from psychosis. In what could only be described as an intervention, her friend and her husband used a bit of subterfuge to get her into the psych ward.

Anderson did not take it well but by then she was too emotionally drained to fight back.

“I was out of tears, I was out of wherewithal,” she said.

She was put on medication and started taking things one step at a time.

She began by setting three goals –make her bed, put away her dishes, and because she was paranoid about phones, call her mother.

Slowly but surely, she made progress.

Her goals became more ambitious. She joined the local chapter of the Schizophrenia Society where she worked on public speaking.

Eventually, she joined some others in giving presentations to schools.

From there, she went back to university and completed a bachelor’s degree in communication and culture and set goals of writing a book, setting up a website and make a living as a public speaker.

The results have included the book Being Mentally Healthy (In Spite of Mental Illness), beingmentallylheallthy.com and, of course, her appearance at ACE. Anderson put plenty of emphasis on setting goals, but topping her six-step recipe for success are a timely intervention and the right medication. She said it typically takes about two years to find the right ones and even then, Anderson said there can be difficult times and she needs to lay low, which is why she prefers to be self-employed.

Next up on her list is finding supportive people, followed by reason to hope, a reason to be well and something important to do round out her list. While the reason to be well was her husband, it can be anything, Anderson said, including being “well enough to feed the dog.” Anderson also talked extensively about the struggle to save her marriage. It was a five-year process that she said was “suspiciously like a grief cycle.” But like a “lightning bolt,” her husband realized one day that he no longer wanted to leave and they’ve been happy ever since. Anderson said she is a supporter of involuntary treatment when it’s necessary.

“I know there is a fine line because your rights are being taken away but there is an exception to every rule and this is one of them,” she said.

She also said parents and loved ones need to be kept in the loop and was critical of the lack of support her husband received while she was in care.

The ACE, which opened on April 22, 2004, provides social, recreational and therapeutic volunteer opportunities to adults living with mental illness and addictions. It currently provides these services to over 600 registered members, with over 1,000 visits each month.

‘The home show is one of my favourite events’

— from page 1

“The home show is one of my favourite events so this is like a dream job, to meet all these amazing business people and trades people and vendors who come together to show all of us homeowners and livers of life what there is out there to make our lives happier in our homes.”

McConnachie said that for the first time in the years she’s been involved in the organizing, the entire indoor floorspace is sold out for vendors, plus all the vendors who set up outside as well.

Exciting prizes and demonstrations and takeaway items are also part of the

fun, she said, and it’s eye-candy for the whole family.

There is a “crappy couch contest” at the home show, a Sunday pancake breakfast, birdhouse auction, and many other features. Not to mention, the whole purpose of the event is to showcase the tried and true and the latest and greatest in building new homes, renovating existing homes, sprucing up your rental, boosting value in your investment, achieving greater energy efficiency, or just having fun in your daily space.

“A myriad of vendors and resources are all brought together in one place for

visitors to learn tips and trade secrets to owning safe, healthy, maintained and enjoyable living spaces for all ages, life stages and lifestyles,” said McConnachie.

“The association has been hosting this event for 42 years. It kicks off spring as well as the busy construction season ahead. You know spring is really here when the home show opens.”

The hours today are 3-8 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Admission is $8 regular, $6 seniors/ disabilities/students, and free for children 12 and younger.

P.G. a great place to do business, city survey finds

Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff

The vast majority of local entrepreneurs who responded to a survey say Prince George is a “good or excellent place” to run a business, according to results released Thursday by the city.

In all, 87 per cent of the 47 businesses who participated gave the city that rating, prompting city economic development manager Melissa Barcellos to call the outcome a “strong endorsement for the local business climate.”

She also noted that 80 per cent said they thought the business climate was better today than five years ago, and 77 per cent said they believed the business climate would be even better five years from now, “which indicates confidence in the economy and market conditions.”

The findings are presented in the 2018 Business Insights Report.

“These surveys are conducted every two years and are a means to identify key indicators of the challenges and opportunities businesses are facing,” Barcellos said.

Access to qualified labour was identified as the biggest potential barrier to expansion with many saying that while the number of unfilled positions was stable, a significantly greater number in 2018 indicated they are having more trouble filling positions.

The businesses surveyed represent a diverse range of employment sectors and representing companies of all sizes, according to the city.

Other highlights of the report:

• More than half of companies interviewed indicated that they have increased employment levels over the past three years – 22 per cent higher than in 2016.

• Two-thirds of companies said they expect an increase in full-time staff over the next three years.

Nearly 60 per cent of companies reported that they have unfilled positions.

• Nearly two-thirds of companies said that they were aware of trends, technologies, or other changes in their industry that will require new skills. Examples of these skills include virtual reality, social media, artificial intelligence, robotics, and smart technologies.

• More than two-thirds of companies are anticipating their sales will increase over the next year.

• Three-quarters of companies said that the market for their product or service was increasing.

• Half of the companies identified growth in the local market, one third named the regional or BC market, while 10 per cent named opportunities in the Canadian or US market.

• Most companies (64 per cent) said that their market share was increasing – a marked difference from 2016 when only six per cent of companies indicated this.

• One-third of businesses are planning to expand in the next three years. All of those companies said that they would be expanding in Prince George, and most said that their current site was not adequate for expansion.

Stamp to honour JapaneseCanadian baseball team

The Canadian Press

BURNABY — A new Canada Post stamp honours an amateur Japanese-Canadian baseball team that used sport to battle racism and discrimination.

The Vancouver Asahi formed in 1914 and thrilled fans in the city until 1941 when it was disbanded during the Second World War as Canada interned more than 20,000 people, most of them Canadians of Japanese descent.

Canada Post says the stamp recognizes more than the well-known story of the Asahi players, who used a strategy they dubbed “brain ball” to beat bigger, more powerful teams by relying on bunts, base stealing and squeeze plays.

The stamp also honours the Asahi commitment to honourable, fair play to oppose overt racism and fear. Kaye Kaminishi – a third baseman and, at 97, the last surviving member of the Vancouver Asahi – helped unveil the stamp Wednesday night at a ceremony in Burnaby.

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

Elizabeth Anderson, an expert on recovery from schizophrenia and depression, was the guest speaker at the Prince George branch of the B.C. Schizophrenia Society during a celebration of the 15th anniversary of the Activity Centre for Empowerment.

Top Relay for Life fundraisers could win car

Citizen staff

Some extra incentive to raise money for this year’s Canadian Cancer Society Relay For Life is on the line.

The names of each of those who raise $500 or more will be put into a draw for a chance to win a 2019 Nissan Micra or a 2019 Hyundai Elantra. Each additional $500 will earn another entry into the draw.

The cars were donated Thursday by Northland Auto Group. Relay for Life is set for June 8-9 at Exhibition Park.

“This is one way that we can continue to encourage participants in their incredible efforts,” Northland Nissan dealer principal Peter Sia said.

It will be the second Relay for Life held at Exhibition Park and a change will see the site switch to a more traditional layout.

Specifically, the track will take participants on one big loop that will be easier to follow and, according to organizers, will enhance the feeling of community and connectedness that has been key to the event.

Online registration for the Prince George Relay For Life – still the only 24-hour Relay For Life in Canada – is open. To register, please visit convio.cancer.ca and follow the links. Registration can also be done in person at the local Canadian Cancer Society office, found at 1100 Alward Street.

Sustainable energy engineering building unveiled at SFU

SURREY — Simon Fraser University has unveiled a new building featuring state-of-the-art facilities for a sustainable energy engineering program aimed at clean-technology innovation.

Premier John Horgan told an audience at the official opening of the five-storey building that students will learn skills to help them contribute toward B.C.’s low-carbon economy.

The $126-million project received $45 million in funding from each of the provincial and federal governments as part of a program that is unique to Western Canada and will open to students in the fall.

Over 400 new full-time student spaces will be open as part of a program that will integrate

science, environmental and business courses to advance research in sectors such as cleaner power generation and sustainable food.

Treasury Board President Joyce Murray, who completed an executive MBA at the university, says SFU can now expand its research in energy, hydrogen, electricity and liquefied natural gas sectors in an effort to find sustainable energy solutions that would affect all countries.

Murray says Canada could be a leader in the global cleanenergy economy that is growing quickly to comply with climatechange issues.

The province’s Jobs and Technology Minister Bruce Ralston says that among the world’s top 100 clean-tech companies, 13 are Canadian and seven of those are based in British Columbia.

CNC design students holding showcase event

Citizen staff

CNC’s web and graphic design students are sharing two years of work with the community during a year-end showcase on Saturday.

The evening includes student work in graphic design, web design, animation, interactive digital media, illustration, and typography produced from both class assignments and practicum placements.

“The year-end showcase is a great opportunity for our secondyear students to share their hard work with friends, family, and potential employers,” said program coordinator and instructor Sean Siddals. “It’s also a chance for the community and prospective students to see what we do in the web and graphic design program.”

For the showcase, second year student Kyrsia Primus produced an original children’s book titled Armchair Adventures: Journey to Rufftonia.

Growing up, Primus was captivated by the stories her grandfather would tell her as a child. Keeping that tradition alive, she crafted stories to tell her nieces and nephews during weekly family dinners. From this, the Armchair Adventures was born.

“We were sitting in a big armchair one night so I made up a story about an armchair that

turned into a spaceship,” Primus said. “It took the kids off to have all these adventures.”

The project challenged her to use many of the skills learned in the program. The book’s illustrations were initially sketched by hand and painted in Adobe Photoshop. She used Adobe Illustrator to create the armchair’s dome, Adobe Character Animator and Adobe After Effects to create an Armchair Adventures animation, and Adobe InDesign to layout the book.

“Overall, it was a really good

learning experience,” she said. “I’m very excited to showcase it and put it out there to the world.”

The community is invited to attend the showcase, which features work from Harshpreet Kaur, Taylor Raymond, Primus, Chintan Gohil, Amber Boileau, Andrew Walker, Damon Robinson, Nitin Sarangal, Manjinder Dhaliwal, Jaymes Pattie and Kiana Fergusson.

The show takes place at the Elks Hall, 663 Douglas St., with a drop-in session from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. before the show’s main event at 7 p.m.

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

Peter Sia, Kyle Bachman and Jared Kubbernus from Northland Nissan, Northland Dodge and Northland Hyundai pose with the cars – a 2019 Nissan Micra or a 2019 Hyundai Elantra – that the winner of a draw during the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay For Life will get to choose from.

HANDOUT PHOTO

College of New Caledonia design student Kyrsia Primus wrote and illustrated a children’s book – Journey to Rufftonia – as her yearend project. Primus and her fellow students will showcase their work during an event on Saturday.

The Canadian Press

Connaught Hill open

Connaught Hill Park is

Prince Rupert container growth highest on West Coast

Cargo handled via Canada’s West Coast ports grew faster than it did through their American cousins between 2017 and 2018. Vancouver realized a three per cent increase in the number of 20-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) moved through its facilities in 2018: 3,396,449 compared with 3,252,220 in 2017. Total tonnage was up 3.5 per cent to 147 million metric tonnes (MMT) from 142 MMT. Between 2016 and 2017, TEUs rose 11 per cent and tonnage increased five per cent.

The biggest gain through Vancouver port facilities was in petroleum products, including aviation and jet fuel, crude petroleum, diesel and fuel oils and gas. Those rose to 8.44 MMT from 6.3, a gain of 33.3 per cent. The previous year there was a one per cent drop.

Other gains were modest. Fertilizers increased 16.1 per cent to 11.5 MMT from 9.9 compared with a seven per cent drop the year before; machinery, vehicles, construction and materials rose 5.6 per cent, to 6.3 MMT from 6 MMT, compared with a nine per cent increase between 2016 and 2017; coals rose 2.1 per cent to 37.6 MMT from 36.8 compared with a 12 per cent gain the year before; and consumer and related goods increased 1.9 per cent to 9.17 MMT from 9 MMT on top of the previous year’s eight per cent rise.

Animal products, dairy and produce posted a slight increase of 0.8 per cent to 1.59 MMT from 1.58, a drop from the seven per cent jump in 2016-17.

On the other side of the ledger, chemicals, basic metals and minerals declined four per cent, dropping to 36.8 MMT from 17.13.

That’s against an increase of seven per cent in 2016-17. Prince Rupert’s container cargo continues to grow. It jumped 12 per cent, four times Vancouver’s three per cent increase, to 1,036,009 TEUs last year from 926,539 in 2017. All other Prince Rupert terminals combined realized a 10 per cent increase, with 26.67 MMT moved compared with 24.17 MMT in 2017.

Prince Rupert Grain Ltd., which handles barley, canola, oats, soybeans and wheat, saw a six per cent cargo decline from 5.77 MMT in 2017 to 5.44 MMT in 2018. Coke and coal traffic jumped 21 per cent to 9.12 MMT from 7.56.

vessel-sharing agreement and added Prince Rupert to its North American trade loop.

Prince Rupert’s potential terminal traffic received a boost March 27 when the world’s 11th-largest container carrier, ZIM Integrated Shipping Services, (ZIM) announced it had partnered with the 2M Alliance vessel-sharing agreement and added Prince Rupert to its North American trade loop.

Prince Rupert plans to increase annual TEU throughput capacity to 1.8 million by 2022 from 1.3 million. The port moved past the one-million-container-per-year mark Dec. 18.

Prince Rupert’s potential terminal traffic received a boost March 27 when the world’s 11th-largest container carrier, ZIM Integrated Shipping Services, (ZIM) announced it had partnered with the 2M Alliance

Company looks to sell roadside cannabis test

The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — The company behind the second machine that could be approved for roadside drug tests in Canada says its product is faster and easier to use for police wary about the technology.

Six months after the federal government legalized cannabis for recreational use, officers have expressed wariness about the one testing machine currently approved, called the Drager DrugTest 5000, and how its results might hold up in court.

In an interview, two officials from the company Abbott say their testing device, the “SoToxa,” has shown it can accurately use a saliva sample to test for drugs in a person’s system within five minutes and works in cold weather.

The company stressed that the device is an optional tool for police forces to use if they want to test for tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, before officers go through additional steps required to charge someone under Canada’s drug-impaired driving law.

“This helps identify the presence of possibly THC and or other drugs and allows it as a presumptive test, an extra point for the officer to say, OK, now I’m going to take the next step and maybe go ahead and arrest the person and take a blood sample and do the normal procedure,” said Christine Moore, Abbott’s chief toxicologist.

The handheld device is now in a 30-day public review period

after the government posted its intention to allow police to use the device.

The notice went public on April 20 – the date when cannabis activists host 4-20 events – and says the SoToxa, its associated test cartridge and device for collecting oral fluid, when used together, would be considered “approved drug screening equipment” under Canadian law.

“An oral fluid sample that tests positive would presumptively confirm the presence of the drug,” the post said.

The Northwest Seaport Alliance (SeattleTacoma) realized marginal TEU growth of 2.5 per cent, increasing to 3,797,626 last year from 3,702,174 in 2017. That was also an increase compared with 3,615,752 TEUs in 2016. The port moved a total of 30.17 MMT in 2018, a 9.4 per cent increase from 27.57 in 2017. Break bulk increased 18.1 per cent to 248,933 from 210,725 metric tonnes, autos rose 1.4 per cent to 228,295 tonnes from 225,109 and container cargo was up 10.6 per cent to 28.87 MMT from 26.1 MMT. Log movement plummeted 58 per cent to 116,790 tonnes from 278,078 and petroleum fell seven per cent to 665,670 tonnes from 715,546.

The port increased its loading capacity early in 2018 with the addition of four post-Panamax cranes. Another four arrived in March, increasing the port’s handling capacity to two 18,000-TEU container ships at once.

And the port is set to boom as its board of directors on April 2 approved a US$500 million expansion of Terminal 5. The port said the project would give it the capacity

to handle seven million TEUs annually by 2050. Meanwhile, Oakland is set to increase its freight handling with the addition of three 300-foot-tall gantry cranes at the Oakland International Container Terminal in 2020. They will be capable of handling megaships up to 1,300 feet long and carrying nearly 23,000 cargo containers arranged in vertical stacks of 12 on the largest vessels. Oakland’s TEU movement continues to rise, to 2,546,351 in 2018 from 2,420,937 in 2017, an increase of five per cent compared with a rise of 2.1 per cent in 2016. While moving the West Coast’s largest amount of cargo, the Port of Los Angeles saw a TEU traffic increase of only 1.2 per cent. It moved 9,458,748 TEUs in 2018, 9,343,192 in 2017 and 8,856,782 in 2016. That, in part, reflects total tonnage of 194.5 million revenue tonnes, a drop from 198.1 million but still an increase over previous years. Los Angeles moved 156,091 vehicles in 2018, a drop of 34 per cent compared with 236,956 in 2017. The port handled 905,886 tonnes of scrap metal compared with 719,884 the year before, a 25.8 per cent increase; 2.1 MMT of steel, a 0.01 per cent increase from the 2.08 MMT of 2017; 90,624,559 barrels of liquid bulk, down 8.37 per cent from 98,908,750 barrels; and 80,892 tonnes of fruit, up 7.8 per cent from 75,038 tonnes. The adjacent Port of Long Beach saw TEU growth of 7.2 per cent with 8,091,023 TEUs moving in 2018 over 7,544,507 the previous year. That was up from 6,775,171 TEUs in 2016.

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

Jeremy HAINSWORTH

Glacier Media

Business report shows optimism

If there’s one consistent trend running through the City of Prince George’s 2018 Business Insights Report released Thursday, it’s a relentless can-do attitude, centred around a strong belief that the economy is generally good (could be better but could be much worse) and that future prospects for growth are also positive.

That’s both the blessing and the curse of a report that conducts an in-person detailed survey with the managers and/or owners of 47 local businesses. By their very nature, business people are cheerfully optimistic, even when facing significant downturns in revenue and customers that threaten the long-term viability of the business. Their faith in their hard work, drive, knowledge and ability to adapt to changing market conditions makes them resilient to pessimism. Like elite athletes, business operators are too busy competing today and planning for tomorrow to have much time to dwell about yesterday’s wins or losses.

Take the report’s questions regarding ownership change.

While 70 per cent have had the same owners/managers over the past five years, 30 per cent have seen a change. Of those 14 survey respondents who went through an ownership change, not a single one saw that change as negative, while 10 saw it as

positive, two were neutral and two didn’t respond.

In other words, if local business leaders have bad news to report about their own businesses, they say nothing, especially to someone conducting a survey.

Still, the business insights report offers some intriguing perspective on local trends.

Nearly two-thirds of the businesses surveyed (64 per cent) only have one location, “making them dependent on the local business environment,” the report states. Unfortunately, the report’s authors didn’t seem to ask follow up questions to see if their conclusion is really the case. In a global economy where goods, services and expertise is less and less dependent on location and more on unique specialization, it would be interesting to find out how many local businesses have little to no reliance on the regional market because the majority of their clients in Southern B.C., Alberta or even further afield.

On the flip side, the fact that more than one-third (36 per cent) of local businesses have other locations clearly shows diversification and broader market connections.

Those businesses have the luxury of developing internal best practices and being able to collaborate on bigger projects with their affiliates than the stand-alone operations.

Also on the positive side of the ledger, 90

per cent of respondents don’t foresee an

ownership change in the near future. While the report’s author were pleased with the “stability” this offers, that result speaks even louder about overall confidence in their business, as well as the prospect of these individuals remaining in Prince George and contributing to the community’s social, economic and cultural well-being.

The best news in the report regards employment.

More than half of the businesses surveyed (53 per cent) added staff over the past three years, a significant improvement over the 2016 response (31 per cent) and the 2014 response (29 per cent).

This result also lines up fairly well with the 69 per cent of respondents in 2016 who said they expected to increase the number of employees in their business over the next three years while also demonstrating the overconfidence and boundless optimism business leaders commonly possess and project.

One somewhat alarming but not that surprising finding was the difficulty local business leaders are having recruiting and retaining good, qualified employees.

Prince George’s unemployment rate has been low for years, which forces employers to offer as good or better pay and working conditions than their competitors or risk

YOUR LETTERS

Semantics

Canada’s condemnation of white supremacy at home and abroad has Canadian conservatives grumbling. Conservative punditry decries talk about white supremacists as unfairly targeting all whites and insists white nationalism is not white supremacy. This debate over semantics would seem silly if it were not for the fact that the conservative voting demographic is mostly older, white and brimming with antiimmigrant sentiment.

It should not surprise that tough-talking conservative Alberta is a stronghold of antisocial, anti-government, antiimmigrant far-right hate and terrorist activity, according to a study called Extremism and Hate Motivated Violence in Alberta. The 100-page report from the Organization for the Prevention of Violence in Alberta, which received a federal grant last year to study and help counter the upswing of hate-violence in Alberta after the increase of death threats against politicians following the 2015 election of Rachel Notley and Justin Trudeau.

Apparently, Alberta has a disproportionate number of far-right and hateful-ideological threats residing within its borders, including Al-Qaida affiliates and splinter groups. Twenty people

are believed to have travelled to Syria and Iraq from Calgary and also carried out a 2017 homegrown attack, still before the courts in Edmonton. Anti-authority extremists like the Freemen of the Land, who broadly assert that government is illegitimate, are mainly non-violent but police report a small number have demonstrated violent behaviour against authority.

Left-wing extremists, like anarchists and the Antifa group are not involved in terrorist acts, but mainly react with confrontation towards rightwing extremist groups. Patriot and militia groups, however, motivated by xenophobia and anti-government view, engage in survivalist and military-style training camps in rural Alberta and partake in street patrols in urban areas targeting visible minorities.

And white supremacy associated ideologies, though they have never carried out a terrorist attack in Alberta, are a constant threat to visible minorities in smaller communities.

In the 1930s, the Ku Klux Klan had 50 chapters in Alberta with 7,000 members. Today, KKK number about 100 active members, though white power groups are now sanitizing their identities to become white nationalists to attract new members. White nationalism is still white supremacy,

just with lipstick and heels. Jon Peter Christoff West Kelowna

Electricity option

After reading the article on BC Hydro having operational challenges in the past eight months, I have some serious questions for Premier Horgan and his sidekick Andrew Weaver.

Horgan and Weaver want to outlaw the sale of carbon fuel vehicles in B.C. by 2040, switch home heating to electricity and add another million or two people to the Lower Mainland.

B.C. just had a little hiccup in a pipeline explosion and BC Hydro had “challenges.”

Weaver did not want Site C. What are Horgan and Weaver thinking? I recently read that BC Hydro may supply 18 per cent of total B.C. energy demand. So B.C. may need to increase electrical generating capacity by a factor of five, six, seven or more times. What are Horgan and Weaver thinking? What is the price of electricity in 2040? Get ready to walk or bicycle. Where is the plan for the generating capacity, transmission line capacity and charging stations for total electrical society in B.C. by 2040? What are Horgan and Weaver smoking?

Wayne Martineau Fraser Lake

LETTERS WELCOME: The Prince George Citizen welcomes letters to the editor from our readers. Submissions should be sent by email to: letters@pgcitizen.ca. No attachments, please. They can also be faxed to 250-960-2766, or mailed to 201-1777 Third Ave., Prince George, B.C. V2L 3G7. Maximum length is 750 words and writers are limited to one submission every week. We will edit letters only to ensure clarity, good taste, for legal reasons, and occasionally for length. Although we will not include your address and telephone number in the paper, we need both for verification purposes. Unsigned or handwritten letters will not be published.

SHAWN CORNELL DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING

losing them. So it shouldn’t be too startling to discover that 59 per cent of respondents said they had unfilled positions at their businesses. It’s better to leave positions unfilled until the right candidate comes along than to fill the post with someone whose lack of skills and training will be disruptive to the workforce and potentially turn away business. Followup questioning was needed here, as well, for more context. Are unfilled positions solely due to the inability to find the right workers or are there other reasons, such as internal restructuring, hiring a contractor to take on those duties, reducing the hours of that previously full-time position to part-time or a reluctance to fill the position due to market uncertainty?

Yes, the report has its obvious shortcomings, from a small sample size to the exclusion of the public sector and resource development industries, which together employ 34 per cent of the city’s labour force. Nevertheless, the report’s findings reveal most local business owners and operators are devoted to Prince George and region as a place to live and pursue their goals. It’s these individuals that form the bedrock of any community and carry it through thick and thin.

—

Editor-in-chief

Neil Godbout

Overdose epidemic prompts call to decriminalize personal drug use

Provincial health officer

Dr. Bonnie Henry’s call to decriminalize people who use illicit drugs isn’t quite as dramatic a change as some might picture.

It’s already the de facto approach some police forces in B.C. have taken, including Victoria’s.

It’s similar in some respects to a policy shift B.C. made several years ago about impaired driving, in which an administrative alternative to criminal proceedings was introduced. That approach was cited in one of the options Henry presented.

It’s already official policy in B.C. for police not to respond to illicitoverdose situations with arrests in mind. They attend 911 overdose calls only if police presence is requested, in order to allay fears of arrest and encourage people to call for help.

Decriminalization is also the next conceivable step after the legalization of cannabis, which seems to be progressing without any major crises.

The major problem with decriminalization is that if B.C. turns the corner and embraces such a change, any alternative approach still runs into a brick wall – the shortage of treatment regimes for addicts, regardless of whether they have criminal records.

It would take a huge public investment to deal with that void. Finding that kind of new money is unlikely.

It would have to come from savings generated by decriminalization and it’s not clear where those savings could be realized.

Police forces and the court system could reallocate resources after decriminalization, but they wouldn’t be laying off staff.

Victoria Police Chief Del Manak, on hand to support Henry’s call, outlined how a degree of decriminalization is virtually standard practice downtown by default.

“I dedicate zero resources to minor drug possession,” he said. The department instead targets dealers who use violence to prey on the vulnerable.

He said his force is on a firstname basis with most of the relatively small community of drug users. They have relationships with the vulnerable and victimized, and they know the predators.

Provincial figures show 50,000 simple-possession charges were laid over a recent nine-year period. But Manak said VicPD practice is to lay such charges strategically, where people in possession are found with weapons and are using

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violence to prey on users. People are not going to jail for simple possession, he said.

Henry’s call came near the third anniversary of the public-health emergency that was declared over the overdose epidemic. The trend line on the fatality rate has levelled off, but is still sky-high. She joined the consensus that the war on drugs is a lost cause. She called on the federal government to focus more on harm reduction, but Ottawa has no plans to change the legal footing for illegal drugs.

So provincial decriminalization would be a workaround. Henry framed it as an urgent recommendation to stem the unprecedented tide of deaths.

She presented two specific routes. The first would see the public safety ministry make harm reduction and decriminalization official policy, using authority already outlined in the Police Act. The second would be a new regulation that prevents any police officer from expending resources on enforcement of simple-possession offences.

That would be a more heavyhanded way to make the course change. It could also interfere with the strategic arrests that Manak described.

It was odd to see Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth balk at the concept just hours after it landed. He told reporters it’s not “appropriate” for him to direct police in that manner.

Regardless of his initial reaction, Henry’s report is weighty enough to prompt a lot of thought. Farnworth might find himself debating Health Minister Adrian Dix on how to respond.

A long list of other urgent measures over the past several years have only established a plateau for the mortality rate, they haven’t curtailed it.

Just So You Know: It takes a statistics buff to appreciate it, but Henry noted one marker of how bad the overdose fatality rate is. It’s contributing to a decline of a few months in the current provincial life-expectancy rate at birth. That’s a fundamental measure of health and wellness, and she said any decline is cause for serious concern.

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IN THE FAST LEYNE LES LEYNE

Sports

Bandits bringing their best to Doyle Cup Spruce Kings in Brooks for Game 1 tonight

Ted CLARKE Citizen staff

The Brooks Bandits had a junior A hockey national championship carrot to dangle in front of the eyes of the prized prospects they were trying to entice for the 201819 season. Knowing the team is hosting the nine-day event next month the southeastern Alberta city became a magnet for top-notch talent and the Bandits did their best to form a team that belongs skating with the best of the bunch. As a perennial contender in the Alberta Junior Hockey League they’ve been in that category nearly every year in the past decade and this season the Bandits took that to a new level.

In a 60-game season they shredded the Alberta Junior Hockey League record book, establishing new high-water marks for most wins (57), fewest loses (three) and points (114 out of a possible 120).

Not only that, the Bandits rewarded their fans at Centennial Regional Arena with a perfect season, going 30-0 in their home schedule.

That streak was finally snapped in the postseason but that didn’t deter the Bandits from winning their three playoff series convincingly with a 12-3 record that ended in the celebration last week of their fifth Inter Pipeline Cup championship in eight seasons.

“It’s been good,” said Bandits head coach and general manager Ryan Papaioannou. “The weird part of us is this is the one year we knew we didn’t have to win (because the national hosts are guaranteed a spot), so we always wondered about our team and what kind of efforts we’d get night after night and if we’d have a team that was hard to push just because of complacency.

“They all knew they would play on May 11th and it worked in the complete reverse. We had guys that came in every day and did the right things and get the results on the ice and we never felt we had that team that banked on the national championship.

“To this point it’s been all good, but I think we have a whole other animal in front of us here with the Spruce Kings.”

The Bandits will clash with the BCHL-champion Prince George Spruce Kings tonight in Brooks in

sweep of the AJHL final April 16 in Spruce Grove to claim the Inter Pipeline Cup. The Bandits will host the BCHL-champion Prince George

tonight in Brooks.

Game 1 of the best-of-seven Doyle Cup series. The series winner will claim the Pacific region slot at the national championship in Brooks.

The Spruce Kings went 16-1 in the playoffs and have won 25 of their last 27 games. Both teams expect the Doyle Cup will offer their toughest tests of the postseason.

“I think they’re real good, I’ve seen six full games and they’ve got a lot of things going on defensively where they play nice and tight as a pack of five and they don’t make a lot of errors,” said Papaioannou. “Lots of good back pressure, they’re hardworking that way and we know they’re going to finish checks. Offensively they have a lot of stuff going on, a lot of movement in the offensive zone and their power play’s been good in the playoffs. Up and down the roster they’ve got key guys in key roles doing a lot of good things and they’re obviously on a 16-1 stretch.”

AJHL scoring champion William Lemay (32g-58a-90pts) plays the left side on the Bandits’ top line centred by Simon Gravel with Randy Hernandez on the right side. Lemay led the playoffs in scoring with 11 goals and 23 points in 15 games. Arnaud Vachon provides a scoring threat through the middle, on a line with wingers Ryan Mashie and Ray Christy, and Brooks has been getting steady production from the fourth line – Tyler Campbell-Jacob

Lee-Simon Boyko. AJHL playoff MVP defenceman Brandon Scanlin (1-10-11) eats up major minutes on specialty teams and is tasked with shadowing opponents’ top players. Andrew Lucas (4-9-13) is a blueline springboard who jumpstarts the Bandits’ offence. Winger Nathan Plessis of Salmon Arm is in his third season at Brooks and wears the ‘C.’ He and backup goalie Tanner Marshall are the only B.C.-born Bandits. Marshall, a Kelowna native acquired in a trade in December from the Trail Smoke Eaters, went 12-0 in the regular season but Pierce Charleson of Aurora, Ont., who went 44-2 in the regular season, has played all 15 playoff games. Charleson, 19, sports a 1.46 goals-against average and .907 save percentage, as compared to Logan Neaton, the Kings go-to goalie, who has played all 17 playoff games, posting a 1.46 average and .940 save percentage.

Both teams possess NCAAcommitted forwards who made an impact in the junior playoffs as 15-year-olds. University of Wisconsin recruit Corson Ceulemans scored two goals in the Bandits 5-1 win over the Spruce Grove Saints in Game 3 of the AJHL final, while Kings centre Finn Williams University of Michigan) notched his first goal in Game 2 of the BCHL final, a 4-1 win over the Vernon Vipers.

“The way it’s trending now with

more higher-end kids looking at the NCAA option and we’re starting to see these kids jump in and make impacts at 15 or 16,” said Papaioannou.

“Probably no different for our guys or the Spruce Kings, a 15-year-old that can come in and score goals and play big minutes and you almost have to have him in the lineup.”

The current Brooks roster has 17 players committed to NCAA Division 1 schools. Former Bandit defenceman Cale Makar – the first player ever to repeat as national tournament MVP 0 – is the most prominent Brooks alumni. Picked fourth overall from the Bandits by the Colorado Avalanche in 2017, Makar went on to play two seasons at the University of Massachusetts–Amherst and made his NHL debut with the Avalanche two weeks ago in the playoffs against the Calgary. The 20-yearold scored his first goal in the Avs’ 3-2 overtime win in Game 2.

“You always knew after the draft that he would play in the NHL but for it to come around and see it happen, it’s pretty surreal to see the guys he’s on the ice with and who he’s working with on the power play,” said Papaioannou. “It’s unbelievable and good for him to take it in stride and do well.”

Papaioannou joined the Bandits as an assistant in 2008 and took over as head coach and GM the

Kodiaks sweep volleyball provincials

Ted CLARKE Citizen staff

In their last hurrah playing for provincial club volleyball bragging rights, the Prince George Kodiaks 17/18U boys were untouchable.

Competing for the B.C. crown in the oldest age group at the 12-team Tier 1 provincial championship last weekend in Richmond, the Kodiaks went undefeated in seven matches.

They did not lose a set.

The Kodiaks wrapped up the title Saturday, sweeping the defending-champion Seaside Six Pack of Surrey 25-22-25-19 in the gold medal match.

“I wasn’t really paying attention to how we were winning it, it just seemed to keep rolling,” said Kodiaks head coach Hans Minck. “This is the pinnacle of high school volleyball at the club level because after this everybody goes off to college and joins other teams and ends up all over the place. But as a group of kids who grew up in high school and played in high school and kind of made the all-star team, this provincial (title) is the pinnacle of all that.”

Prince George advanced to the final with a 25-21, 25-20 semifinal victory over Fraser

The

Valley Black of Langley. That came after consecutive playoff wins over Victoria Red (25-18, 25-14) and in the quarterfinals, Air

Attack Gold of Richmond (25-18, 25-21).

“We served great, we passed well, really we did nothing wrong, it was hard to be-

following season. He led the team to AJHL championships in 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017 and this season. The Bandits won the RBC Cup as national champions in 2013 in Summerside, P.E.I., and came within an overtime loss of duplicating the feat in 2016 when hey lost an overtime final to the host Cobourg Cougars.

Brooks will host the first two games of the series tonight and Saturday. If one team wins both games then Game 3 will be played Tuesday night at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena. If the teams split the first two games, Game 3 would be played Sunday in Brooks. In either scenario, Prince George will host Game 4 on Wednesday, with all subsequent games in Prince George. If there is a split, Game 5 would be played Thursday, if necessary, with Game 6 and 7 set for the following Saturday and Sunday. If there is a sweep the first two games, the ‘if necessary’ games would be played the following Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Despite the fact both teams will advance to the six-team national tournament, May 11-19, the Bandits coach says his team won’t be lacking for motivation over the next week.

“A lot of the games we’ve played this year have had very little meaning to them, said Papaioannou. “I wouldn’t call them meaningless games but you go through the regular season and playoffs knowing you’ll play in May so I think our guys are used to this kind of hockey where you’re playing for bragging rights and to get better and learn about yourselves and the other team

“I think it’s exciting for us to play a new opponent, somebody we know we’ll be playing in two weeks at the most important time of the year.”

Papaioannou played in the WHL as a goalie for Calgary, Lethbridge and Seattle and visited Prince George a few times during his junior career, which wrapped up in 2003-04 when he played in the QMJHL for the Moncton Wildcats.

“I’ve been there a few times to play some Western League games and always enjoyed it, it was always a nice ride up,” he said. “One thing I’ve already told our guys is the highway from Banff all the way through to P.G. is something they should probably stay wake for, it’s pretty darn nice.”

lieve actually,” said Minck.

The Kodiaks started the tournament in the B Pool and they cruised to three match wins. Pre-tournament seedings were based on results earlier in the season in Super Series tournaments in Kelowna and Langley. The shortstaffed Kodiaks finished fifth in Kelowna on Feb. 24 and were bronze medalists in Langley April 7. Due to travel logistics they didn’t go to the Super Series tournament in Victoria, which dropped their provincial points ranking to fifth.

“We didn’t get into the power pool of four and we were in the second pool and the topranked team, which in some ways benefitted us because the four top teams beat the hell out of each other in the round-robin,” said Minck, who split the coaching duties with Prince George Youth Volleyball Club president Dan Drezet.

“We skated through our round-robin without any problem and played our bench a lot and kids that don’t normally play a lot did play a lot. The downside of that is the top four go to the quarterfinals and we had to play a crossover game (against Victoria) to get to the quarterfinals.

— see ON A ROLL, page 10

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE BROOKS BANDITS

The Brooks Bandits celebrate their 2-0 win over the Spruce Grove Saints which gave them a fourgame

Spruce Kings in Game 1 of the Doyle Cup championship

PRINCE GEORGE YOUTH VOLLEYBALL CLUB PHOTO

Prince George 18U Kodiaks Red romped all the way to gold in the B.C. provincial club volleyball championship last weekend in Richmond. The team will represent the Prince George Youth Volleyball Club at the national championship in Toronto, May 7-12.

Bruins win over Columbus 3-2 OT

Jimmy GOLEN

The Associated Press

BOSTON — Charlie Coyle tied it in the final five minutes of regulation and scored again with 5:15 gone in overtime on Thursday night to lead the Boston Bruins to a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Tuukka Rask stopped 20 shots for Boston, which took a 1-0 lead on Noel Acciari’s short-handed goal in the first period, but then fell behind in the third after Brandon Dubinsky and PierreLuc Dubois scored in a span of 13 seconds.

Coyle tied it when he one-timed a backhanded centring pass from Marcus Johansson into the net with 4:35 left to force overtime. He ended it in the extra period by deflecting a shot from Johansson into the net.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 34 saves for the Blue Jackets, who swept the Presidents Trophy-winning Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round. Game 2 is Saturday night in Boston before the best-of-seven series moves to Columbus for Games 3 and 4.

The Blue Jackets were the last team to qualify for the NHL playoffs, then they knocked out the Lightning in four games for their first-ever playoff series victory. While Columbus waited more than a week for an opponent, Boston tangled with Toronto for seven games before finally advancing on Tuesday night.

But the Bruins didn’t seem tired, outshooting Columbus 12-1 early in the game and scoring short-

handed midway through the first after Coyle was sent off for hooking. Acciari brought the puck into the zone with Joakim Nordstrom waiting for the centring pass, but

Acciari snapped off a wrist shot that beat Bobrovsky on the stick side. It remained 1-0 until Nash forced Coyle’s turnover at the

blue line and then deflected a shot from Seth Jones into Dubinsky and past Rask to tie the score with 12:21 left in regulation. The Blue Jackets were right back at it after

Table tennis tourney set for Saturday

Ted CLARKE Citizen staff

Is ping pong an exercise in handeye co-ordination that’s good for your brain?

Can table tennis delay or even prevent the onset of dementia?

Whichever way you slice it, the name of the game is fun and millions of Canadians know that for a fact.

This Saturday at Duchess Park Secondary School, the Prince George Table Tennis Club plans to amp up the competitive factor at its third annual Spring Fever tournament. About 20 players are entered.

The tournament is one of the legacies of the 2015 Canada Winter Games, which gave the city eight competition-calibre DoubleFish tables.

Eight of the tables are stored at Kelly Road Secondary School, where tournament organizer/ club president Wayne Yule teaches English, while four make their home at Duchess Park.

“I created the club so that we would have a place to put those tables,” said Yule. “They were definitely going to send the tables to the next place, Red Deer or something like that.”

For the first time in the tourna-

ment’s short history, there will be a high school champion determined in a competition separate from the adult event. All of the students entered Saturday either attend Duchess Park or Kelly Road, and all are male.

“We don’t have any females who are interested,” said Yule. “We’ve had a few females come out (to play in club matches) but they don’t stick around.

“Almost every country in the world is much more interested in table tennis than North America. The real advantage to table tennis is you can have (adults) like me and have high school students

and we can play at the same level, whereas if I was to take on high school student at hockey or basketball, even if I was good at those sports, it wouldn’t be much of a competition.” Yule likes the all-ages turnouts and the multicultural mix table tennis events in Prince George do attract. He referenced a Passionate Eye documentary, How to Stay Young – Table Tennis vs. Walking. broadcast on the CBC network a few months ago which followed a group of seniors to determine the benefits of table tennis in improving brain functions.

“It said that for elderly people table tennis was the best thing they could do if they wanted to increase their complex thinking and to increase brain density and reverse the shrinking,” said Yule.

“The main thing is we want people to have fun.”

The club meets for games four days per week from 7-9 p.m. on alternate nights at the two schools in a season that runs from September to May.

Coaching is available on club nights.

Warmups start Saturday at 8:15 a.m. and the tournament gets underway at 9:15.

On a roll, Kodiaks head to 18U volleyball nationals

—from page 9

We really got a warmup game in the morning and got to the quarterfinals against a (Air Attack) team that got to the gym cold. We started rolling and kind of put the boots to everybody we played.”

The core of the team has played together four of five years but none of them had ever won a provincial club title.

“We’ve tried, at U15 we finished with the silver medal at provincials, at U16 we finished bronze and at U17 they lost a game they shouldn’t have and finished fifth,” said Minck.

“To make it all happen last weekend is kind of surreal. I really knew going in we were going to be very competitive when it started.”

Kodiak power hitters Nolan Minck and

Matt Shand, the provincial tournament MVP, both attend College Heights secondary school and both are committed to Douglas College in Victoria for next season.

Middle blockers Kyle McKee (Duchess Park) and Cole Johnston (D.P. Todd) have been recruited to Thompson River University, while middle Dayton O’Neill (College Heights) is close to an agreement with Camosun College.

Ryan Hampe (Duchess Park) played in U Sports this past season for Thompson Rivers and his December birthday meant he could still play club volleyball with the Kodiaks. He didn’t practice with the team but played in the tournaments.

Kodiaks setter Zach Ohori (College Heights) turned in a stellar performance at the provincial tournament but coach

Minck said his five-foot-five stature hurts his chances of attracting a post-secondary athletic scholarship.

“He was the best setter by far in the province and we’re actively trying to get him recruited as a libero because he’s a good passer,” said Minck.

Minck laments the fact there is no university volleyball program at UNBC. The city’s high school rank steadily produce players ready to make the step to the college and university level but they are forced to leave Prince George to continue their volleyball careers.

“We pump out a lot of good athletes,” Minck said.

The Kodiaks roster also includes middle blocker Rafael Rodrigues (College Heights), power hitter Logan Hladchuck (PGSS),

libero/right-side hitter Matthew Graham (D.P. Todd) and libero Colby Graham (D.P. Todd). Graham is one of Canada’s top young snowboard cross racers and captured the silver medal at the Canada Winter Games in March in Red Deer. Of the 11 Kodiak players, all are in the 18U age category except Colby Graham (D.P. Todd), who still has one year of club eligibility left.

The Kodiaks are entered in the national club championship in Toronto, May 7-12. Two other PGYVC teams played at provincial in Richmond. The Kodiak Black 18U team coached by Linden Smith and Jacob Tiani finished with a 1-4 record. In the 18U girls Tier 1 division, the Kodiaks Red team coached by Allan Tong and Roland Rempel ended up 0-6.

Gauthier, Team Canada take on Latvia

Citizen staff

Prince George Cougars goalie

Taylor Gauthier made 38 saves in the Team Canada nets and Peyton Krebs scored two goals in a 3-1 quarterfinal victory over Latvia Thursday at the IIHF world under-18 hockey championship in Umea, Sweden. Krebs (Winnipeg Ice) was credited with the only goal of the second period, an own-goal that was put in by a Latvian defender. Defenceman Braden Schneider (Brandon Wheat Kings) opened the scoring

13:48 into the game.

A power-play goal from Harijs Brants cut Canada’s lead in half 10 minutes into the third period, but Krebs ended the suspense in the final minute with an empty-netter for his second of the game.

It was Gauthier’s third win of the tournament and he was at his best in the third period in which the Latvians outshot Canada 16-13.

The 18-year-old from Calgary backstopped Canada to a 5-3 win over Finland in the tournament opener and was also in goal for a 7-4 win over Switzerland a week

ago Friday. Canada will play Sweden in a semifinal matchup Saturday (10:30 a.m. PT) in Ornskoldsvik. Sweden eliminated Cougars centre Matej Toman and the Czech Republic with a 4-2 quarterfinal playoff win Thursday.

The United States, 6-0 winners Thursday over the defending champion Finland, will face Russia in the other semifinal.

The Russians beat Belarus 6-0 to advance.

The final will be played Sunday at 10:30 a.m. PT.

CFL, CFL Players Association to resume collective bargaining talks next week

The Canadian Press TORONTO — Talks between the CFL and its players on a new collective bargaining agreement will resume next Monday.

Both the league and CFL Players’ Association confirmed they’ll meet Monday and Tuesday in Toronto. They last met April 9 in Vancouver to conclude two days of talks.

The following day, CFLPA executive director Brian Ramsay told

reporters the CFL had unilaterally decided to delay negotiations until Monday, at the earliest. Ramsay said the CFLPA was told the league had “other priorities” to take care of before it could resume negotiations.

The current collective bargaining agreement expires May 18, with training camps scheduled to open the following day. Rookies and quarterbacks are scheduled to report May 15.

Following the delay in contract talks, the CFLPA recommended to its players they forego reporting to training camp if a new collective bargaining agreement hasn’t been reached by then.

The two sides continue to negotiate non-monetary items. Talks formally began March 1112 in Toronto. The CFL and CFLPA had met twice a week over a five-week span before the delay.

the faceoff, bringing the puck the length of the ice from behind their own net before Artemi Panarin’s slap shot deflected off the back of Dubois’ leg and into the net.

AP PHOTO

Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) makes a save on a shot by Boston Bruins left winger Brad Marchand during the second period of Game 1 of an NHL hockey second-round playoff series on Thursday in Boston.

Top-ranked prospect set for much-anticipated Blue Jays debut

Gregory STRONG

The Canadian Press

TORONTO — It’s rare for a late April baseball game to have an electric buzz with a you’ve-got-tobe-there feeling.

Welcome to the Vladdy Show, Blue Jays fans.

Major League Baseball’s top prospect will make his longawaited debut Friday night at the Rogers Centre as Toronto takes on the Oakland Athletics.

It has been almost four years since then-general manager Alex Anthopoulos signed Guerrero as a 16-year-old for US$3.9 million. The youngster went on to tear through the minor leagues to add even more weight to his can’t-miss status.

Toronto fans have been salivating for the last year, anxiously awaiting word on when the Blue Jays would make their move. They got their answer Wednesday evening when the team announced his promotion, creating an unmitigated ray of sunshine for a club immersed in a deep rebuild.

The hype machine found another gear once confirmation arrived. Social media went into overdrive and radio shows devoted hours to the subject.

The MLB Network added the game to its schedule and later unveiled a 3 1/2-minute video –complete with Drake soundtrack – featuring the young slugger.

The Blue Jays also posted video of Guerrero’s arrival at the Rogers Centre on Thursday.

Guerrero’s smiling face was on the cover of the Toronto Star on Thursday beside a headline that read: Future is Now. The Toronto Sun went with At Last in big block letters on the front of its sports section.

Home attendance has been sluggish for the 11-14 team this season

but a solid crowd was expected for Guerrero’s debut. Gates will open earlier than usual so fans can watch batting practice.

“We’re hopeful that Vlad is going to make a lasting impact on the team and that his presence is going to help create special memories for fans at Rogers Centre,” said Andrew Miller, the team’s executive vice-president of business operations. “So it’s been an exciting 24 hours.”

His callup was also good timing for a city fanbase looking to move on from the NHL’s Maple Leafs’ first-round playoff exit and with

time to kill before the NBA’s Raptors begin second-round play on Saturday night.

Guerrero suffered an oblique injury last month in spring training and impressed upon his return, posting a .367 batting average during a two-week run with the triple-A Buffalo Bisons.

“He doesn’t swing at many pitches and he makes pitchers work,” Bisons broadcaster Pat Malacaro said from Syracuse, N.Y.

“Usually, it’s the pitcher working over the batter. In Vladdy’s case, it’s the batter working over the pitcher.”

Guerrero played at four minor-

league levels last year, spending most of the season at double-A New Hampshire. He feasted at the plate, posting a .381 overall batting average and a 1.073 OPS (on-base plus slugging).

He hit .336 with a .978 OPS in 30 games with the Bisons in 2018. Guerrero had three homers and eight RBIs in eight triple-A games this spring.

“A lot of guys were in awe,” Malacaro said. “Last year, we saw that guys didn’t want to challenge him at the plate. They didn’t want to throw him good pitches because they didn’t want to be the guy who

Raptors hosting Philadelphia to open second-round series

Dan RALPH The Canadian Press TORONTO — Once again, Marc Gasol can expect to be a key figure for the Toronto Raptors in the second round of the NBA playoffs.

The seven-foot-one centre played a big role in Toronto’s Round 1 victory over Orlando, holding Magic all-star centre Nikola Vucevic to an average of 11.2 points (and 36.2 per cent shooting) in the five-game victory. Gasol will be front and centre Saturday night when the secondseeded Raptors host Philadelphia to open their second-round series at Scotiabank Arena, lining up against 76ers star Joel Embiid.

The seven-foot Embiid averaged 27.5 points and 13.6 rebounds in helping the 76ers (51-31) finish third in the Eastern Conference this season. He then guided Philadelphia to a 4-1 playoff series win over the Brooklyn Nets, averaging 24.8 points and 13.5 rebounds. “Prepare for a great player,” Gasol said Thursday about facing Embiid. “Just like any great player, you try to make everything as uncomfortable as possible, be as physical as they allow you.

“Same kind of mindset that we had with Nik.” Toronto dominated the season series with Philadelphia, winning three of four games. That was despite solid numbers from Embiid, who averaged 26.3 points, 11.8 rebounds, three assists and 1.8 blocks.

Although Gasol hasn’t faced Embiid since joining the Raptors, he’s had decent success against the 76ers star. The two have squared off five times, with Embiid averaging 14.0 points (on 34.4 per cent shooting) and 12.4 rebounds as well as 4.4 turnovers per game.

During Gasol’s time in Memphis, the club was 3-2 versus Philadelphia. During Toronto’s series versus Orlando, Magic coach Steve Clifford said Gasol’s impact with Toronto has been noticeable.

“But what Marc Gasol has brought to me – I think they were top-10 in three-point shooting before the trade and now they’re first,” he said. “The difference is simple: It’s spacing.

“They’re five-out. They have five guys outside of the (three-point line). It’s like playing Milwaukee, except the difference with him is like

us with Vuc. There are only three or four guys that can shoot threes and throw penetrating passes.”

Raptors forward Pascal Siakam is also looking forward to facing Embiid. While both are from Cameroon, they come from different cities (Douala for Siakam, Yaounde for Embiid).

“That’s always been this little rivalry between Douala, where I’m from, and Yaounde, where he’s from,” Siakam said. “So it’s definitely a little fun playing against him. I think it’ll be a big deal (for fans in Cameroon) for sure.”

The 76ers have also had no answer this season for Raptors star forward Kawhi Leonard, who averaged 30.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, four steals and 2.7 assists over the three wins. The only game Philadelphia won was a 126-101 decision at Wells Fargo Centre on Dec. 22 that Leonard didn’t play in.

In fact, Leonard, who came to Toronto last summer in a blockbuster deal that sent DeMar DeRozan to the San Antonio Spurs, has never lost to the 76ers. He’ll carry a 13-game win streak against Philadelphia into the series opener.

The two teams haven’t met

since Toronto’s 119-107 road win Feb. 5. Both made deals prior to the Feb. 7 trade deadline with the Raptors acquiring Gasol from Memphis and Philadelphia picking up Tobias Harris in a deal with the L.A. Clippers.

But the 76ers have dropped 13 straight games at Scotiabank Arena – their last road win in Toronto came in November 2012. Toronto is 34-10 at home, including playoffs, this season and has won 21 of its last 24 games versus Philadelphia.

Although Toronto hasn’t faced Philadelphia in over two months, Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said there’s much he can glean from the regular-season matchups and incorporate into his series preparation.

“You go in with some ideas going into Game 1 but you get a much clearer picture, obviously, after the first game,” he said.

“There’s lot of really good players (on) their team and their starters in particular.

“I wouldn’t sit here and say there’s a great comparison there (regular-season contests), but there’s a lot of stuff because you

gave up a 500-foot home run to Vladdy. This year, the opposing teams challenged him and we saw it three times.”

The MLB Network video included a clip of Guerrero going deep in a pre-season game last year in Montreal, where his father was a star with the Expos during his Hall of Fame career.

Former Blue Jays great Joe Carter narrated the piece, and noted that Guerrero often creates a unique sound when his bat connects with the ball.

“Vladimir Guerrero Junior is one of those gifted noisemakers,” Carter said in the video. “A oneman percussion band in spikes. Just 20 years old, he ranks with Ken Griffey Junior, Alex Rodriguez and Bryce Harper, among the most anticipated rookie hitters in the past four decades.”

No pressure, kid.

There will be growing pains along the way. Guerrero, who turned 20 last month, has strides to make with his defensive play at third base and his speed could be improved. But he appears to have all the makings of a generational talent in the batter’s box. In a homerfriendly stadium like the Rogers Centre, Guerrero could do some serious damage.

“It’s the plate discipline, it’s the IQ at the plate,” Malacaro said. “It’s something that I think separates him from most players. That’s something you either have or you don’t.”

Guerrero will be formally introduced Friday afternoon at a news conference with GM Ross Atkins. In the evening, it will be showtime.

“Just sit back and enjoy,” Malacaro said. “You don’t get many talents this good within your organization. You just have to enjoy how special this moment is really going to be.”

saw some matchups. How will the matchups look and you have to go back and review that stuff again and see what looks good and what doesn’t look so good, what can be improved. Yeah, there’s some stuff there for sure.”

This marks the second playoff meeting between Toronto and Philadelphia, but first since 2001 when the 76ers defeated the Raptors in seven games in the Eastern Conference semifinal.

Nurse said he’s confident heading into the series that Gasol can successfully defend against Embiid, but added that others will help.

“I would imagine they are going to test him, I’d imagine we are going to test him out as well,” Nurse said. “It’s at least a two-man job, (Gasol) and Serge (Ibaka).

“And then it becomes a team job as well.”

Gasol agreed.

“It’s how can we adjust a little bit and see what they’re trying to do?” he said. “We’ll see how they want to play us pretty soon.

“We can’t kind of script the whole thing yet. You can be prepared for a lot of things, and whatever they give you, be able to take it.”

In this file photo from March Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. watches during the second inning of a spring training baseball game in Florida.

Privacy watchdog takes Facebook to court

Jim BRONSKILL The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — Canada’s privacy czar is taking

Facebook to court after finding the socialmedia giant’s lax practices allowed personal information to be used for political purposes.

A long-awaited joint report from privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien and his British Columbia counterpart, Michael McEvoy, uncovered major shortcomings in Facebook’s procedures and called for stronger laws to protect Canadians.

The commissioners expressed dismay Thursday that Facebook had rebuffed their findings and recommendations.

“It is completely unacceptable,” Therrien told a news conference, lamenting his office’s lack of enforcement powers. “I cannot, as a regulator, insist that they act responsibly.”

Facebook insisted Thursday that it took the investigation seriously, engaging in months of good-faith co-operation and lengthy negotiations, as well as offering to enter into a compliance agreement with Therrien’s office.

The probe followed reports that Facebook let an outside organization use an app to access users’ personal information, and that some of the data was then passed to others. Recipients of the information included the firm Cambridge Analytica, which was involved in U.S. political campaigns.

The app, at one point known as This is Your Digital Life, encouraged users to complete a personality quiz but collected much more information about the people who installed the app as well as data about their Facebook

friends, the commissioners said.

About 300,000 Facebook users worldwide added the app, leading to the potential disclosure of the personal information of approximately 87 million others, including more than 600,000 Canadians, the report said.

The commissioners concluded that Facebook broke Canada’s privacy law governing companies by failing to obtain valid and meaningful consent of installing users and their friends, and that it had “inadequate safeguards” to protect user information.

Despite its public acknowledgment of a “major breach of trust” in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook disputes the report’s find-

Feds ban oil, gas, mining from marine conservation areas

Mia RABSON The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — The oil-and-gas industry has worn out its welcome in Canadian marine conservation areas, and Canada’s environmentalists are overjoyed.

Fisheries Minister Jonathan Wilkinson unveiled new standards for marine protected areas in Canada on Thursday, fully prohibiting oil-andgas activity, as well as mining, waste-dumping and bottom-trawling. The change implements recommendations made to the government last year by an advisory panel, and brings Canada up to international standards set by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

“The new standards that I’m announcing today will help to ensure that we will be able to provide an environmental inheritance to our children and our grandchildren that includes healthy, sustainable and productive oceans,” said Wilkinson. The new standards will apply only in federally protected areas. Up until now industrial activities have been allowed or restricted on a case-by-case basis. It will be up to provinces to determine the standards for marine areas protected by provincial legislation.

ings and refuses to implement recommendations, the commissioners said.

“Facebook’s refusal to act responsibly is deeply troubling given the vast amount of sensitive information people have entrusted to this company,” Therrien said. “The company’s privacy framework was empty.”

McEvoy said Facebook has often expressed a commitment to protecting personal information, but when it comes to taking concrete actions to fix transgressions, “they demonstrate disregard.”

The stark contradiction between Facebook’s public promises to mend its ways on privacy and its refusal to address the deficiencies – or even acknowledge that it broke the law – is extremely concerning, Therrien said.

“Facebook should not get to decide what Canadian privacy law does or does not require.”

Therrien’s office plans to ask the Federal Court to force Facebook to take action.

Therrien reiterated his long-standing call for the federal government to give him authority to issue binding orders to companies and levy fines for non-compliance with the law. In addition, he wants powers to inspect the practices of organizations.

Erin Taylor, communications manager for Facebook Canada, said the company was disappointed Therrien considers the issues from the probe unresolved.

“There’s no evidence that Canadians’ data was shared with Cambridge Analytica, and we’ve made dramatic improvements to our platform to protect people’s personal information,” Taylor said.

Creating the hundred-year business

Recently a business in my community celebrated 100 years of operations. There was a party, celebrations and even recognition from politicians for their years of service to the community. I honestly don’t know much about the business except for the great service I have experienced as a patron over the years.

What I do know however from my own decades in business is that there needs to be a lot more than great customer service happening behind the scenes for any operation to survive for a century.

Every business has a lifecycle

A business usually begins with an idea and a struggle. In this stage, the business owners are trying to generate enough sales to get to break even. They are doing everything they can to find a business model that will work, they must find a workable business model, look for profitable products or services that will put money in the bank and ensure that they have a cash flow in order to pay their suppliers and their lenders. Most businesses fail to get past this stage.

If you are lucky enough to get through the early days which typically takes about three years, there is the thrill of watching your business grow and flourish.

While you might not be making much money, you can see the fruits of your early labours generating results. Customers are starting to come to you and while you might be still working 12 or 14 hour days as an entrepreneur, you can see some light at the end of the tunnel. You probably love what you are doing.

Then come the good times. You have figured it out and your business is generating some cash for the lean years you have gone through. You are happy to be employing some good people and making a difference in your community.

You decide to expand your operations or start another business. You might run for your city council or try to make the world better because you think you are set and need a new challenge.

But wait. As you become distracted, your business starts to struggle.

Key people retire or move on, a recession hits, or because you aren’t paying attention, some key customers leave.

One day you wake to the fact that you need a business that is sustainable through good times and bad, which can operate when you are not paying attention.

At this time we tend to diversify our revenue streams, implement systems, and have procedures in place to ensure we hire great people to manage our business. If we are

BUSINESS COACH DAVE FULLER

lucky, our business gets back on track.

For years we might enjoy that thriving business, until one day, it seems that our business becomes monotonous. We are just doing the same thing over and over. It doesn’t generate the thrill it once did for us, our employees and even our customers.

If we aren’t careful at this point, competition can swoop in and take away our competitive advantage because we have become complacent. Yes, we reassure ourselves that we are still growing because the population is changing. However, at some point, things will change, the economy will turn, and we will realize that our business is suffering.

If we are fortunate we can recreate a vision that will revitalize our business, reenergize our employees and thrill our customers again. This will take different forms for every business, but it might mean that we will need to replace out-dated strategies with new, more relevant concepts.

Many businesses never get beyond this stage in their history and begin the long decline into oblivion.

For a business to survive 100 years, there is a history of challenges that have been overcome. Hardships that their customers have never seen. Experiments that have failed and strategies that have been doomed.

Yes, perhaps fortunes were made but also many grateful households and communities have benefited from years of employment and stability.

Could you enable your business to survive 100 years? If so, you will need to create the foundation now, to ensure that management has the tools to communicate challenges and the ability to make decisions that will allow it to thrive into the future. You will also need to craft systems that ensure the generational transfer of knowledge from leader to leader. Finally, you will have to be content in knowing that how your business looks and operates today will inevitably evolve and change to adapt to advancing technology 80 years from now.

One hundred years in business is indeed something to celebrate and admire, but especially when you consider what the owners of that business have gone through in the past and what its future may entail.

Dave Fuller, MBA, is an award-winning business coach and the author of the book Profit Yourself Healthy.

While not 100 years old, Fuller still does like to hear your comments email dave@profityourselfhealthy.com.

key industrials sector. The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 10.42 points at 16,576.10 as shares of Bombardier lost 15.1 per cent on heavy trading.

The Montreal-based transportation company warned Thursday that its full-year revenues will be about US$1 billion lower than originally anticipated, mainly due to ongoing production problems at its train-making unit. Seven of the market’s 11 major sectors were up slightly, but were offset by losses in consumer discretionary along with influential materials and energy sectors and real estate. “It’s just sort of a flattish day, even the ones that are down aren’t down a ton,” said Anish Chopra, managing director with Portfolio Management Corp.

The Canadian dollar traded at an average of 74.11 cents US compared with an average of 74.21 cents US on Wednesday. The loonie fell again to its lowest level since early January after the Bank of Canada released a more dovish outlook and dropped any mention of future rate hikes.

The June crude contract was down 68 cents at US$65.21 per barrel and the June natural gas contract was up 4.8 cents at US$2.55 per mmBTU.

The June gold contract was up 30 cents at US$1,279.70 an ounce and the May copper contract was down 4.85 cents at US$2.86 a pound.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 134.97 points at 26,462.08. The S&P 500 index was down 1.08 points at 2,926.17, while the Nasdaq composite was up 16.67 points at 8,118.68. Nasdaq rose on solid tech sector results, including from Microsoft and Facebook.

But the Dow fell on weak results from companies including UPS and 3M. The Scotch tape maker’s shares plummeted nearly 13 per cent after quarterly earnings missed expectations, slashed its 2019 outlook and announced plans to cut 2,000 jobs worldwide. “Certainly what’s come out between last night and today is generally been on the more negative side,” he said. First-quarter results up until Thursday have generally been better than the pessimistic forecasts of analysts.

THERRIEN

Dam at risk of failure in Quebec

The Canadian Press

MONTREAL — Quebec public security officials called for the immediate evacuation of an area along the Rouge River downstream of Chute Bell on Thursday because of a risk of dam failure.

The largely rural section of river affected is in Quebec’s Lower Laurentians region, stretching about 18 kilometres south to the Ottawa River.

An alert was issued at 3:36 p.m. Thursday calling on people in the area to avoid river valleys and low-lying areas.

Quebec provincial police tweeted they were helping about 250 people get clear of the affected area as a preventive measure.

Hydro-Quebec added through social media that its Chute Bell dam had reached its maximum level and the utility recommended that public security officials evacuate about 50 residences in the area.

The public utility said that after joining up with the Ottawa River, the flow would have minimal impact on locations downstream.

The dam failure alert will be maintained until 11:45 p.m. Thursday, according to the Quebec public security website.

Quebec Premier Francois Legault tweeted those at risk had been advised and provincial authorities are keeping close tabs on the situation in a tweet.

The warning comes as many parts of Quebec have been hit by flooding. Officials say the flood risk remains high because of a combination of precipitation in the forecast and melting snow to the north.

On Thursday, Public Security Minister Genevieve Guilbault toured the Lachute area, northwest of Montreal, where

flood waters on the Riviere du Nord have risen in recent days.

She said she was impressed with the level of preparation in smaller communities and was satisfied that the number of people on the ground working on flood relief – which includes nearly 1,000 Canadian soldiers – was sufficient.

Guilbault added she wouldn’t hesitate to ask for more help if necessary.

Quebec public security officials said more than 2,500 homes were flooded and more than 2,100 were isolated Thursday, meaning they were considered cut off due to washed out roads or landslides.

Authorities also warned specifically against landslides reported in various parts of the province.

One person has died since widespread flooding began in the province.

In Montreal, officials raised the security level and increased the number of teams on the ground amid fears flooding could get worse in the coming days but stressed the situation was under control.

“You’re going to see more firefighters, you’re going to see more police officers and more municipal workers to help for floods that could come this weekend,” said Martin Guilbault, operations chief of the Montreal fire department.

Roughly one per cent of deaths medically-assisted, Health Canada says

The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — Almost 7,000 Canadians have received medical help to end their lives since Canada legalized assisted dying three years ago.

According to the latest interim report compiled by Health Canada, 6,749 people have received medically assisted deaths. That amounts to roughly one per cent of all deaths in Canada.

Health Canada says assisted deaths were provided primarily by physicians, with less than 10 per cent provided by nurse practitioners.

Only six people have opted to selfadminister drugs to end their lives.

The setting for assisted deaths has

been divided primarily between hospitals and patients’ homes, with cancerrelated illness the most frequently cited reason for seeking the service.

The report does not include any country-wide statistics on how many Canadians have been denied medical assistance in dying because only a handful of provinces report that information. However, the report says the most commonly cited reasons for denying a request for assisted death were “loss of competency” and that the patient’s natural death was not “reasonably foreseeable,” as required by law.

The law requires a person to prove mental competency when they first request an assisted death and again just

before it is administered.

The federal government has come under pressure to drop the second competency requirement, which has resulted in some people, who’d previously been approved for assisted death, ultimately being denied the service because they lost the ability to give last-minute consent as their conditions worsened.

This is the fourth and final interim report to be issued by Health Canada, which has been compiling available data provided by provincial governments. As of last November, a mandatory national reporting system went into effect, which is expected to provide more detailed and reliable statistics in future.

NEWS IN BRIEF

Vancouver man charged with human trafficking

VANCOUVER (CP) — A 19-year-old Vancouver man is facing a slew of charges following a human trafficking investigation by RCMP. Mounties in Surrey say the investigation began on Jan. 6 after a 16-year-old girl was reported missing. They say it evolved into a broader investigation after they heard the girl was allegedly being held in Vancouver. The girl was found with support from Vancouver police but the suspect was not present during the rescue. RCMP issued an arrest warrant for Raimon Geday on April 5 and he was arrested four days later.

Geday is facing 14 charges relating to human trafficking, child pornography and the possession of firearms and drugs.

Struggling B.C. adoption agency staying open, for now

VICTORIA (CP) — A Vancouver Island adoption agency that is struggling with a decline in foreign adoptions has been saved from closure.

Supporters of Choices Adoption and Pregnancy Counselling in Victoria gathered at a special meeting last night where a new board was elected. Board member Victoria Mitchell said all eight members support keeping Choices open and a motion was passed unanimously to reverse the closure. She said the new board is committed to fundraising activities and bringing on local sponsors, and there is also a growing community of supporters who want to help.

The previous board announced on April 3 that Choices would close as of May 31, due to changes in international policies that have resulted in fewer children being available for adoption. The closure would have left British Columbia with only two private adoption agencies.

BC SPCA searches for person who left kittens in dumpster

VANCOUVER (CP) — Two day-old kittens have died in Vancouver and the BC SPCA hopes someone can identify the person who placed them in a plastic bag and threw it into a dumpster. The society’s senior animal protection officer, Eileen Drever, said the kittens were discovered Friday in a dumpster inside a secured parking area of a building in the city’s West End. She said a passerby heard sounds coming from the receptacle and found the newborn animals. The dehydrated and hypothermic kittens were rushed to an emergency clinic for treatment, but both have since died. Drever said the case is heartbreaking and urges anyone with information about the case to contact the society. “We urge anyone who cannot take care of an animal to reach out to their local SPCA or rescue group for help,” Drever said. “There is always support available.”

CP PHOTO

Canadian Forces personnel sandbag a house against the floodwaters in Laval, Que. on Thursday.

Simpsons writer talks about Sunday’s Canuck-themed show

TORONTO — The Simpsons consulting producer Tim Long grew up in Ontario and has always sensed something secretly Canadian about Lisa, the middle child and most critically-minded member of the enduring American animated family.

“She’s the one who’s had the most barbed critiques of the

United States,” Long, a writerproducer who was raised in Exeter, Ont., said in a recent phone interview.

“I thought Bart was sort of like America: brash, unreflective, much more sure of himself. And Lisa was sort of the intellectual, quiet, thoughtful, rational one. And I’ve always felt like that was sort of the relationship between America and Canada, too.”

So when it came to this Sunday’s Canadian-themed episode, it felt natural to make Lisa the one who spends time on this side of the border, said Long, who has won five Emmy Awards.

It happens when the Simpsons visit Niagara Falls and, through a series of wacky mishaps, Lisa goes over the powerful flow of water that separates Ontario and New York. She lands on the Canadian side and is admitted to hospital, where she realizes Canada is the place for her.

The episode, D’Oh Canada, airs

on Citytv and Fox.

“She is not unscathed, but because of Canada’s incredibly generous health-care system, she ends up just fine,” said Long, who co-wrote the episode with his wife, screenwriter Miranda Thompson.

“The Simpsons, when they see her in the hospital, are fully prepared to go bankrupt, because that’s what would happen to them in America. But they’re stunned and amazed and delighted to find the health-care system takes care of them.”

Yes, much of the Simpsons clan also visits Canada in the episode, which Long said has “a shocking number of Canadian things” that “95 per cent of the American audience won’t get.”

“They’re briefly there but then Homer gets belligerent and they’re asked to leave, except for Lisa. Then much of the rest of the show features the Simpsons plotting to get her back and trying to convince Lisa that she should come back, because she’s at least

initially very happy.”

Earlier this week, Toronto journalist Lucas Meyer revealed he voices Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the episode.

While Meyer recorded his role in September, Long said they write episodes “until the very last second,” leaving room for current references.

One of those references on Sunday might be the SNC-Lavalin controversy, Long suggested when he said “there may be mention of a current scandal that” Trudeau is in.

“Compared to putting immigrant children in cages, this scandal feels a little bit like small beer to me,” said Long, referencing 2018 footage of migrant children housed in fenced-off cages at U.S. border facilities.

“But I know also that it’s serious and maybe not everyone has been forthcoming about what happened. I understand he’s behind in the polls, which I think would shock most Americans.”

Long was born in Brandon, Man., and moved to Exeter with his family when he was four. He got his big break as head writer of Late Show with David Letterman and joined The Simpsons in 1998.

He lives in Los Angeles but has found himself back on home soil lately, in Almonte, Ont., shooting the film The Exchange.

Long wrote the comedy, which is set in Canada and loosely based on his experience with an exchange student as a teen.

On The Simpsons, he’s one of three Canadian writers, the others being Joel H. Cohen and Jeff Westbrook.

“Canada is always in the air” in the writers’ room, said Long.

“I remember the day when we taught them that the Canadian one-dollar coin was called a loonie and the two-dollar coin was called a toonie. Oh, that shut down work for several hours, because nobody could believe it.”

The show has referenced Canada before, including an episode where Homer and Grandpa Simpson smuggle prescription drugs from here.

“With the Canadian references, my instinct when I first started was not to make too many of them, because I wanted to fit in,” said Long. “But I find that the kind of American who writes for The Simpsons is fascinated by it.

“So you’ll often find that the references on the show to Canada haven’t been written by Canadians, but they’ve been written by Americans looking across the table at a Canadian and thinking, ‘What the hell is with that guy?”’

Victoria AHEARN

The Canadian Press

CP PHOTO

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be portrayed in Sunday’s Canadian-themed episode of The Simpsons, which is titled D’Oh Canada.

Geraldine E. Penhale

Jun 11, 1945 to Apr 15, 2019

It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of Geraldine affectionately known as Deany by so many people. She is lovingly remembered as beautiful loving and caring by her husband Fred, her son’s Rob (Shelley) Kelly, and by her 8 grandchildren, her 8 great grandchildren, sisters Carol, Shirley (Don), sister in law Marilyn, brother in law Doug (Carol). Friends Jerry & Don, Larry & Claudette, Marg & Frank and numerous nieces and nephews. Deany loved the outdoors, canoeing and camping on the many lakes around Prince George with her husband Fred of 52 years. Deany worked in Real Estate sales for 10 years in Prince George and finished working the last 20 years for Cariboo Action Training Society before retiring in 2013.No service by her request. There will be a family Celebration of Life at a later date this summer. Any donations can be made to Canadian Cancer Society or Hospice House in Deanys memory.

Kunka,Rosanna April14,2019

BornApril11,1957,inSclater,Manitoba,Rosanna Kunkapassedawaypeacefully,surroundedbyloved ones.Sheispre-deceasedbyhermother,Mary Lylyk;father,NickKunka;brothers,Eddie,Casmer, andOrest;andsister,Christine.Rosannaissurvived byherlovingchildren,Melanie(Adam)andKyle (Adrianne);wonderfulgrandchildren,Keeganand Abbygale;formercompanion,BruceLangstaff;her sisters,JeanandKatie;andbrothers,Melvin,Nester, andMetro.

Rosanna’spassionwasspendingtimewithfamily andfriends.Shelovedbringingpeopletogetherfor chatsandlaughs.Rosannaspentmuchofhertimeat theUkrainiandancehall,baseballfields,andschool, supportingandcheeringonhergrandchildrenin whateverventuretheyweredoingthatday.Rosanna lovedcookinglargefamilymealsandvolunteering hertimepinchingperogiesandwrappingcabbage rollswithherUkrainianfriends. Rosannawillbesadlymissedbyallthatknewher. PleasejoinustoCelebratetheLifeofRosannaon May11attheYalenkaCommunityHall,933Patricia Boulevard,between3pm-5pm.

WALFORD, Alma:

Peacefully passed away April 18, 2019 at the age of 85. Dear Mum, you will be greatly missed. Widow of John, survived by loving daughters Christine (David) and Claire (Barry); nephew Christopher, and nieces Katie, Becca and Helen. Alma was born and grew up in England. Emigrated to Canada in 1966 and came to Prince George in 1972. Enjoyed gardening, movies, books and travelling. Was very fond of animals, particularly cats. Funeral service Thursday, April 25 at 3:30 PM, Lakewood Funeral Home, 1055 South Ospika Boulevard, Prince George. In lieu of flowers, please donate to SPCA, 4011 Lansdowne Road, Prince George, BC, V2N 2S6; (250) 561-5511; https://spca.bc.ca/locations/north-cariboo/ scroll down and click on red ‘Donate to this Location’ button.

BOWES,Glenn

October14,1960-April15,2019

Withdeepsorrowweannouncethatlovinghusband, father,brotherandfriend,GlennBowes,haspassed. Hetouchedmanypeople’sliveswithhishumourand kindness.Hewassuperfunnyandfulloflife.He foughtillnesswithdignity,thinkingofhisfamilyright totheend.Amemorialwillbeheldlaterinthe summer.Ifyousowish,pleasedonatetothePrince GeorgeHospiceHouseinGlenn’sname.Ridingwith theangelsnow.

Vernon Wayne Christy

Sept 19, 1961 to Apr 17, 2019

It is of great sadness we announce the sudden passing of Vern Christy. Vern will be remembered as always being there for all family and friends in need of help. Predeceased by his father Albert, brother Al, sister Jean. Vern is survived by his mother Sylvia (Lou), sister Kathy (Bill), brother Robert (MaryEllen), brother in law Allen, sister in law Donna, brother Les, nephews Brodie (Tara), Zack, Shaun, nieces Tina (Alex), Brooke, Nicole, his great nieces and nephews Dallas, Clayton, Cassidy, Fallon, Navaeh, Lauren, countless family and friends, second mother Shirley. Celebration of Life will be held at the Hart Pioneer Centre, 1-5pm Sunday April 28, 2019

Heather Isabel Corbett October 1, 1933 April 22, 2019

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our Mother and Grandmother Heather Isabel Corbett. She is survived by her three sons Lawrence (Edna), John, and Ron (Lurana), and by her two beloved granddaughters Christina and Madison.

Heather is predeceased by her husband “Bill” William John Corbett, sister Peggy Howlett, and her parents Reginald and Isabel Johnson. A funeral service will be held on Friday May 3, 2019 at 2:00pm at Assman’s Funeral Chapel, 1908 Queensway St, Prince George, BC. Open house to follow at Ron and Lurana’s.

Heather is in the comfort of the Lord, sitting and holding hands with her husband Bill Corbett

Pilot, Limestone, Mica, Nelson, Selwyn, Valley, Urquhart, Quartz, Azure, Elkhorn Pl & Cres, Ochakwin, Bowren, Chingee Ave, Dome Ave, Cascade Ave, Delta Pl, Jackpine, Quentin Ave.

• • Lower College Heights • O’Grady Rd and Park, Brock, Selkirk, Oxford, Simon Fraser,Trent,

Hough Pl, Guerrier Pl, Sarah Pl, Lancaster, Lemoyne, • • Upper College Heights • St Barbara, St Bernadette, Southridge, St Anne Ave, Bernard, St Clare St, St Gerald Pl, Creekside, Stillwater.

• • KGV

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