Closed to traffic
Winnipeg Street is now closed to traffic at Carney Street to allow work to be done to repair a large sink hole.
Motel’s business licence at stake in special meeting
Citizen staff
City council will hold a special meeting next week to decide whether to uphold a staff decision to revoke the business licence of Queensway Court Motel.
No further details were provided in a notice sent out Tuesday but the motel was the scene of a shooting earlier this year and licences have been pulled in the past for businesses RCMP have found to be magnets for crime.
That very thing happened to the Connaught Motor Inn in July 2016. In the 18 months prior to the move, RCMP had received more than 700 calls for service at the motel, most related to drugs, prostitution and theft.
A dramatic drop in crime was noticed in the aftermath.
The motel has since been reopened under new ownership and a different name. It also no longer allows month-long stays. In contrast, RCMP have described Queensway Court as a “rental motel.”
The special meeting is set for Sept. 5 start-
ing at 6 p.m. It’s open to the public and will be streamed live on the city hall website, princegeorge.ca. The motel’s ownership will have an opportunity to plead its case at the meeting.
Police investigating alleged drugging
Citizen
staff
Prince George RCMP are investigating a possible drugging at a nightspot in the city and are asking anyone else who may have been a victim to contact police.
Since Sunday, the detachment has received “more than one report from women who believe they may have been drugged while socializing at a local licenced establishment in our community.”
A Prince George man was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months probation for secretly video recording a woman through an apartment window. Kevin James Mortenson, 45, was arrested on the night of June 7, 2017 after a woman called Prince George RCMP to report a man in a pickup truck near the corner of 15th Avenue and Liard Drive with a camera pointed towards a nearby building.
An RCMP officer arrived to find a pickup truck matching her description with Mortenson sitting alone in the driver’s seat. When asked why he was there, Mortenson initially claimed he was waiting for a friend but was unable to provide any contact information. Meanwhile, a second officer had arrived on the scene and did a search for Mortenson on the RCMP’s database which revealed he had been the cause of a similar complaint in 2012.
A subsequent search of the truck uncovered a camera tucked in the flap behind the passenger seat, along with a pair of binoculars and a charger for the camera from the centre console.
As he was being arrested, Mortenson told police “there is stuff on there” and that he would be talking to a lawyer. When police contacted Mortenson’s subject, the woman said she was unaware she was being recorded and noted that at no point was she naked.
The woman was a “random person” he did not know, the court was told.
A number of other recordings were also found, including images of two females sitting on a cement barrier with close-ups of their genital areas.
Mortenson pleaded guilty to a count of secretly recording a person in a private place with a reasonable intent of recording nudity at the first opportunity.
As well, the court was told Mortenson made it clear he knows what he did was wrong but was unable to say why he did it and wants to get psychological counselling.
RCMP said they are also aware of recent social media posts indicating more people may have been targeted and are also asking them to come forward. The same goes for anyone who may have seen something suspicious.
They are also asking people to take precautions if they are out for the night.
Suggestions include always attending with a trusted friend, never leaving a friend behind, never leaving a drink unattended, never accepting a drink from someone you don’t know or trust, always arranging a safe ride home and letting those you know and trust of your plans.
“If you experience symptoms that leave you to believe that you may have been drugged, attend the hospital immediately,” RCMP said.
“Discuss with medical staff and, if warranted, call police.”
Reports can be made at the detachment, located at 455 Victoria Street, or by calling the non-emergency line at 250-561-3300.
Getting that counselling is among the terms and conditions Mortenson must live up to while on probation. He is also prohibited from possession of any cameras or video recording equipment outside his home with the exception of a smartphone – and no recordings can be found on it.
The probation order comes with a suspended sentence, so that if he violates the terms he could be brought back before a judge and ordered to spend the rest of the term in jail.
Donald Justin Johnny Baker, 23, remains in custody on eight charges including attempted murder with a firearm from the May 1 incident at the 1616 Queensway location.
CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN
CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN
The Queensway Court Motel is seen on Tuesday. Next week, city council will hold a special meeting to decide whether to revokes the motel’s business permit.
Staples, Salvation Army hosting school supply drive
Christine HINZMANN Citizen staff chinzmann@pgcitizen.ca
For most students going back to school is an exciting time filled with the knowledge that brand new school supplies will soon be in their hands.
For some less fortunate students this can be a stressful time as they arrive at school ill equipped for their educational opportunity.
To make sure as many children as possible are ready for class, the School Supply Drive takes place at Staples until Sept. 12.
Staples Canada has partnered with the Salvation Army to get the much-needed items to the children who need it most.
As part of the fundraising efforts Staples Canada tellers ask their patrons to donate to the cause and all money raised in Prince George stays in the community.
Staples has held the School Supply Drive for the last 13 years and has raised more than $14 million across the country. This year’s national goal is $1.7 million.
Two years ago more than $9,800 was raised
locally and last year about $7,300 was raised for local children.
Within the Staples store located at Parkwood Place, staff has held bake sales and made it a mission to ask all customers to donate to the cause.
Neil Hodgson, general manager, said he’s got one dedicated-to-the-cause staffer who raises about $100 a day by just being tenacious with her customers.
“If the staff didn’t do what they do, we wouldn’t get near as much,” Hodgson said.
“It’s really great to see. At the present time about $5,000 has been raised. The goal is to raise $10,000, so we’re halfway there.”
Other ways to contribute are to purchase a tote bag that says ‘We Care’ on it, lip balm and post-it notes.
“The tote bags are really popular,” Hodgson said.
There’s also a silent auction table featuring a variety of items at the front of the store where 100 per cent of the proceeds go to the local fundraising campaign.
“It’s a great campaign and customers are really receptive to it,” Hodgson said.
Along with the donations of supplies to the Salvation Army for the backpacks, the local Staples also donates to inner-city schools that have a higher population of children in need.
“I’ll deliver a box or two of assorted school supplies so they can use those as they want,” Hodgson said.
To get the school supplies into the children’s hands, it’s been a collaborative effort.
Telus has generously provided 400 backpacks filled with basic supplies, then the Salvation Army takes it to the next level and fills the backpacks with supplies provided by Staples according to the class lists that are specific to each grade’s needs. School District 57 then takes the backpacks to make sure those who need them, get them.
Those in need can call the Salvation Army to apply for a backpack or visit the Aboriginal Education Department at Suite 102, 155 McDermid Drive, or students can wait until school starts and ask the youth care worker or Aboriginal education worker at their school to get one. For more information call the Salvation Army at 250-564-4000.
Citizen staff
Prince George RCMP’s bike registration crew will be out once more giving cyclists a chance to register their rides with the 529 Garage reporting and recovery network. The crew will be at St. Mary’s School, located at 1088 Gillette St., today from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. and at the Hart Drugs/Home Hardware, located at 6707 Dagg Rd., from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Sept. 5.
Opportunities are also scheduled for the parking lot at the Otway recreational area on Sept. 8 from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and at the Guerilla Bike Fest downtown on Quebec Street, between Third and Fouth avenues, on Sept. 9 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The free registration process takes about five minutes and includes essential information such as the ownership details, serial number and photos of the bicycle. In the event of a theft, the information can be distributed to other registered riders through an alert feature on the smart phone app. The information can also be provided to both the police and insurance companies.
CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN
Bill Glasgow of the Salvation Army and Neil Hodgson of Staples hold bags filled with school supplies. Staples Canada’s annual School Supply Drive is officially underway. Staples in Prince George is raising money for the Salvation Army.
Heppner has show Among the Trees
Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca
As Randall Heppner’s solo art exhibition comes to a close, the Two Rivers Gallery is hosting a reception to thank him for his work and give the public one last chance to meet him before his paintings come down at their facility.
Heppner is the creator of the show Among the Trees on until Sept. 9 in the Rustad Galleria at the downtown display headquarters. The Two Rivers Gallery has been exhibiting the work since late July.
“Randall will be there in person to meet everyone and answer any questions people have,” said the show’s curator Meghan Hunter-Gauthier. “He is relatively unpublished. He is a very enthusiastic and dedicated artist, he is always working on more art, he is such a kind person, he comes by to check in on how the exhibition is going, and getting to know him has been a real pleasure so we are happy to have our facility be one way the community gets to know his work a bit more.”
He is known in other ways like through the greeting card series he has created, prints of select paintings, and at times he has been a popular artist for original work.
Topaz Bead Gallery is currently the only place with cards on sale, plus the paintings at the gallery.
Heppner prizes his privacy and has no online presence. He has a supportive friend, Chris Mikulasik, who acts as an art agent on his behalf. Mikulasik works at AiMHi and it was there that a collection of Heppner’s work was assembled for a private viewing for Hunter-Gauthier while she was considering him for a solo exhibition.
“His work is quite distinctive and very popular in the community. We have 20-year service awards at AiMHi and it is always a Randall Heppner print,” said Mikalasik.
Hunter-Gauthier concurred that an original Heppner painting was sold at the gallery’s last fundraiser auction, the bidding was strong. There is something compelling about his work, she said, that catches the interest of the viewer. He has
been making artwork since the 1980s, she said, and his images emerge right out of the local landscape.
“Having been employed in the logging industry for many years, Heppner spent a great amount of time in the wilderness,” she said.
“During this time, the forest that surrounded him served as a source of inspiration for drawings and paintings.”
Heppner’s work focuses on the natural world. His attention to detail results
in paintings that draw the viewer in for a closer look. Curled bark, crisp leaves, plump berries and snow-covered branches are all details that Heppner chooses to place importance on. In regarding his work we are reminded to take in and appreciate the subtleties in our surroundings.”
The public can be with Heppner and Among The Trees on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. for an admission-free reception at Two Rivers Gallery.
Artists to converge on Ancient Forest
Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mneilsen@pgcitizen.ca
Music, dancing, storytelling and acting will all be part of the fun when the beauty and diversity of B.C.’s newest park is showcased this Saturday at the Ancient Forest.
Indeed, it will be a full afternoon of the arts as well as a celebration of the park, with the festivities beginning at noon and continuing until 4 p.m.
The musical acts will include the Khast’an Drummers, Jane Houlden and Keith Berg, By Request, Jazz Hoetjes and Fiddlesticks, Clayton Gauthier and Larry Stamm.
The story tellers will be Jackie Baldwin, Norm Monroe, Katherine Clark, Donna Kane and Nowell Senior. Heidi Bernard, Malayna Castly and Amira Castly will provide the dancing and Bob Thompson, Monica Zieper and Harold Edwards will provide the acting.
And the works of 20 visual artists will be on display.
Also known as Chun T’oh Whujudut, (pronounced Chun Toe Wood-yu-jud), it’s located 115 kilometres east of the city. It covers 11,190-hectares and is home to an inland temperate rainforest made up of hemlock and western red cedar trees as old as 1,000 years and with trunks up to 16 metres around.
A centrepiece is a 500-metre wheelchair-friendly wooden boardwalk plus a further 2 1/2 kilometres of wood-planked walking trails built by volunteers.
In March 2016, then-Premier Christy Clark declared the Ancient Forest will be made a Class A provincial park and the legislation making it so was passed that same month.
The day will also feature appearances by Jerry the Moose, Gandalf and a group of forest fairies. And a character named Ivy Evergreen will provide guided walks at 12:30 and 2 p.m.
A taco lunch will be provided by the Dome Creek Community Association.
Event hosts include B.C. Parks, Lheidli T’enneh, University of Northern British Columbia, FraserFort George Regional District, City of Prince George, Village of McBride, Robson Valley Arts and Culture Council, Caledonia Ramblers hiking club, Diversified Transportaton and Save On Foods. A full schedule can be found online at bit. ly/2NmbWcQ.
RCMP officers bear
sprayed Holland running for school board
Citizen staff
Former District Parent Advisory Council chairperson Sarah Holland is running for school board.
“I am passionate about the importance of the public education system in a democratic society, and the role that our school system plays in helping all our children become educated and well adjusted citizens, able to participate in our community,” Holland said in a statement issued Tuesday.
“I bring with me years of knowledge as to how the school system works, a huge amount of respect for the many valuable employees in our district, financial and numeric literacy, a commitment to working with others with respect, and a commitment to transparency, communication, and planning.
“I would like to see a school district that serves the needs of all of our students and our community, and is an employer of choice.”
Holland said she had been volunteer-
Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff
The federal Conservatives’ Canada-U.S. relations critic was quick to criticize federal Liberal policy on the trade front during a visit to Prince George on Tuesday.
“Mexico’s done a deal with President Trump now, the EU is in the process of doing a deal with President Trump, Australia did a deal on steel with President Trump,” Randy Hoback said as he spoke to local media. “So it’s not that you can’t do a deal with President Trump, you just have to handle it properly.
“We knew we had some challenges when he decided to rip up and re-do NAFTA, we knew that they had some issues with NAFTA. In fact, a lot of the issues they had with NAFTA we also had – the dumping of Chinese steel, for example, environmental concerns in Mexico, for example.
“Those are things that we could’ve agreed on at day one and worked together with the Americans to solve.” Instead, Holback said the prime minister chose to take a different route and push for measures that historically have not belonged in trade agreements, referring to Justin Trudeau’s calls for gender equality, Indigenous rights and labour protections.
As a consequence, the MP for Prince Albert, Sask. said Canada has been left on the sidelines while Mexico and the U.S. work out a
ing at parent advisory councils since her first child started Kindergarten at Austin Road Elementary School and continued in that role at Heather Park Elementary
deal, “and now they’re giving the piece of paper over to the prime minister and saying ‘ok, now you’ve got a choice, you can sign it or not.”
“That is no way to be involved in a negotiation, that just shows the incompetence of this government.”
The Canadian Press reported Tuesday that Canada and the U.S. agreed that one of NAFTA’s most significant hurdles – defining the content rules of North American autos – may have been resolved by Monday’s side deal between the Trump administration and Mexico. However, serious differences remain on other issues, including agriculture, how to settle disputes, and a U.S. proposal for a sunset clause.
and Duchess Park Secondary School.
A married mother of two daughters who works as a financial planner, Holland said she became involved in DPAC when it was announced in 2010 that Austin Road would be closed. She’s served as treasurer, vice chairperson, and, four years as chairperson. Holland emphasized that experience.
“As a representative for DPAC, I have attended many school board and committee meetings over the years, and have both critiqued and congratulated the board and district many times on items such as catchment, capacity, projections, lunches, financial hardship, transparency, budgets, and following board policies, to name a few topics,” she said.
“I have also seen the importance of good working relationships with all of our partner groups.”
Also in the running are Betty Bekkering, who was a trustee during 2011-14 and Stephanie Mikalishen-Deol, a manager at the YMCA of Northern B.C. General election day is Oct. 20.
Citizen staff
On Friday at about 8:55 p.m. two off-duty police officers shopping at Walmart heard an employee yelling at a man stealing a television, who threatened to use bear spray against staff. Both officers chased the man through the parking lot heading towards Highway 97. When one officer caught the suspect and identified himself, the man dropped the TV and sprayed the officer in the face with bear spray at close range. The second officer was also hit with the spray and the suspect managed to escape. Police set up a containment area, said a news release, and the Police Dog Service attended from Prince George but the suspect escaped. It is believed he may have had an accomplice waiting for him in a vehicle. Both police officers have recovered from the bear spray incident.
HANDOUT IMAGE
Randall Heppner’s painting Autumn Joy is part of the show Among the Trees on until Sept. 9 in the Rustad Galleria.
HOLLAND
HOBACK
B.C. maintained surplus, despite increase in spending
Citizen news service
VICTORIA — British Columbia maintained its budget surplus in the last fiscal year even though it boosted spending on government programs by almost $3 billion and covered significant expenses from disastrous wildfires in 2017.
The 2017-18 public accounts released Tuesday by Finance Minister Carole James showed an operating surplus of $301 million for the year, which is $55 million higher than the surplus forecast in the budget update last fall.
She said the government reduced its debt and achieved a balanced budget despite historic losses at the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia.
“Our surplus is modest but also higher than anticipated in our last quarterly report,” she said. “We are maintaining reasonable surpluses throughout our fiscal plan despite the challenges that we have been left with.”
After assuming power from the B.C. Liberals last summer, the minority New Democrat government promised to help families and improve services while building a long-term sustainable economy.
“Unlike the previous government we’re not going to pretend that financial challenges don’t exist,” said James. “We don’t believe in passing problems on to future generations. We are tackling them.”
The Liberals, meanwhile, said the public accounts show the NDP continues to ride on the previous government’s economic record.
“It took 16 years of hard work to rebuild our province’s economy after the NDP’s disastrous term as government in the 1990s,” Liberal house leader Mary Polak said in a news release.
“What today’s numbers don’t show are the impacts of a pile of taxes the B.C. NDP have recently imposed on British Columbians. The NDP are using public accounts
JAMES
as a smokescreen to avoid tough questions about massive tax increases that will have a profound impact on our economy.”
James said overall, the province is seeing long-term economic growth.
Revenue was $571 million higher than the previous year, mostly due to increased federal transfers resulting from revised population estimates and higher taxation revenue.
She said the government is making an adjustment of $950 million in the public accounts to reduce BC Hydro’s deferral accounts. Through this adjustment and an ongoing review of the utility, she said the government is working on solutions that will keep rates affordable.
“People won’t see a change on their existing Hydro bill,” James said.
The government is also committed to addressing the housing crisis, she said. The government wants to see more affordability for families and individuals, and for the market to moderate, all of which are important for the economy to thrive.
“We need a long-term stable growth in B.C., not a speculative real estate market.”
More treatment options needed for alcoholics, study says
Camille BAINS Citizen news service
VANCOUVER — There’s an urgent need to improve the treatment of severe alcohol withdrawal because too many patients are being admitted to hospital when they could be managed through outpatient services or by family doctors, says the lead author of a new study.
Dr. Evan Wood, executive director of the B.C. Centre on Substance Use, said family doctors and emergency departments could use a simple screening questionnaire to assess and diagnose patients before treatment is recommended.
The study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association reviewed 530 studies involving more than 71,000 patients.
Wood said St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver is the only hospital in Canada that uses the questionnaire, called the Prediction of Alcohol Withdrawal Severity Scale, resulting in improved patient care and cost savings to the health-care system.
The assessment tool involves a measurement of patients’ blood alcohol level and about 10 questions including whether they have previously experienced episodes of alcohol withdrawal; whether they have had seizures or blackouts and whether they have combined alcohol with any other substance of abuse in the last 90 days.
Wood said it’s time doctors were trained to use the simple questionnaire, which could allow patients to be prescribed one of several drugs that work to reduce cravings and binge drinking, an increasing problem around the world.
Cognitive behavioural therapy could also be used and is a proven intervention in alcohol addiction, he said.
“It should be a source of embarrassment that the system of care is not functioning at a modern level,” he said, adding evidencebased treatment is needed for patients who could otherwise experience life-threatening issues.
“That’s the motivation here, to seize the opportunity and finally bring addiction care into the list of things that family doctors know how to diagnose and treat and health authority programs adequately fund. Ultimately that will save a lot of costs and reduce a lot of suffering.”
Heavy drinkers who abruptly stop or seriously cut back on how much they consume could, in severe cases, experience symptoms such as delirium tremens, or the DTs, which may include hallucinations and delusions.
Three medications are currently approved in Canada to manage withdrawal, said Wood, adding the B.C. Centre on Substance Use is planning to release guidelines later this year for the treatment of alcohol use disorder, with an aim for all divisions of family practice, emergency rooms and health authorities in the province to implement them.
“There’s a host of reasons, including the
fact that until the opioid crisis, addiction care was an afterthought. We just have not put an emphasis on evidence-based addiction care.”
R-Jay Melnichuk, 28, twice sought help for severe alcohol withdrawal, the first time at age 21, when he lived in Calgary.
“I’d been drinking for a year straight, almost 26 ounces a day, and the only thing a doctor could tell me was to not stop drinking or ‘I could give you Valium,’” he said about his second attempt at getting help, at a walk-in clinic. He ended up detoxing on his own after that experience, but the withdrawal symptoms were harsh.
“I was hallucinating, I got the shakes, I couldn’t eat anything or drink anything for four days. It was quite terrifying,” he said of envisioning bats flying at him like darts after his mother drove through the night from Winnipeg to support him.
Melnichuk, who moved to Surrey in 2014, has advised emergency room doctors at Peace Arch Hospital and Surrey Memorial Hospital on how to recognize signs of alcoholism and severe alcohol withdrawal as part of the outreach he does with his Alcoholics Anonymous group.
The effects of alcoholism can go on for years and be so severe that doctors need to be trained to diagnose and treat patients with ongoing care, he said.
“It can be a lifelong burden on tons of families,” said Melnichuk, who now runs a transition home for men who have completed a substance use program he also attended on Vancouver Island.
Research by the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research and the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction says alcohol use costs Canadians an annual $14.6 billion in health care, lost production, criminal justice and other direct costs.
The Canadian Centre for Substance Use Research at the University of Victoria released a study last year that said British Columbia has the highest rate of hospitalizations in the country caused by alcohol.
Girl falls through blanket fort, paralyzed
Citizen news service
CALGARY — Two-year-old Jaclyn Derks was sleeping over at her grandparents’ home and had built a typical childhood fort by draping a blanket from a couch to a bed.
Then she tumbled though the top.
The toddler landed on a glass cup on the floor by the bed. The cup shattered and a shard the size of a quarter lodged in the back of her neck.
The injury severed her spinal cord and paralyzed her left side.
“It’s like one in a million... a freak accident,” said Jaclyn’s mother, Kayla Rudichuk, from Calgary. “I could fall on a glass and it probably wouldn’t break. It’s just so crazy how it happened.” Rudichuk, a 25-year-old mother of two,
had been out grocery shopping on the night of July 22 when family called to tell her about the accident. She rushed to the hospital and broke down into tears.
“My two-year-old daughter’s covered in blood, can’t move, has millions of doctors and nurses surrounding her. She’s strapped to a bed. They’re holding her neck. She’s terrified, has no idea what’s going on.”
Jaclyn underwent two blood transfusions before a scan revealed the glass piece was still lodged in her spine.
“We literally thought we were going to lose her that night.” After eight hours, doctors gave Rudichuk good news: they were able to remove the glass and Jaclyn was alive. But there was also bad news: she was partially paralyzed.
at Cariboo Rocks
North 2018. Left to right, Kyle Sampson (Pacific Western Brewing), Glen Mikkelsen (CN Centre), Stephanie MikalishenDeol (Family Y), Ken Ziemer (PG Return-it Centre) and Scott Dobie (Waste Management).
WOOD
Road construction
Work has started on the bypass between Fifth Avenue and Eighth Avenue. The work, which will include the installation of new off-ramps and on-ramps will continue until
Student-led mental health initiatives shifting how schools provide supports
Olivia BOWDEN Citizen news service
As Canadian universities and colleges face increasing pressure to provide better mental-health services on campus, students are looking to give schools fresh ideas on how to tackle the issue.
That’s how 24-year-old Ryan Golt became involved with working alongside Montreal’s McGill University to support students. But before he got there, he faced his own mental-health crisis.
After his first year of undergraduate studies, Golt says he began to feel lonely, isolated and irritable. The psychology student started to have issues with his interpersonal relationships, and ultimately, he says he couldn’t function.
“Eventually, it just became too much and the negative emotions started to overcome me,” said Golt. That was in 2014, when he experienced his first bout of depression. It’s a mental illness that impacts about 14 per cent of students at McGill, and close to 20 per cent of students nation wide, according to recent data from the National College Health Assessment, a survey that presents the health data of students so schools know where to target their services.
Golt spent six months after his diagnosis keeping to himself, and not sharing what had happened with anyone.
After reading other students’ posts on social media groups about their own challenges with mental illness, something switched in him, he said.
“For the first time, I felt like I wasn’t alone, like I was a part of a community,” he said. Sharing his personal story online led him to a community of young people who were talking about mental health, and supporting each other through recovery for mental illness.
Golt said the social aspect of his healing process inspired him to create several mental-health initiatives on the McGill campus, including his own blog called WellMTL. The blog features candid personal stories by students who share their full names, with some discussing anxiety attacks, family troubles, and past issues with suicidal ideation.
“The amount of passion from the students who want to support mental health is incredible, so right off the bat, the students really care,” he said.
Other initiatives the McGill administration introduced recently include an online therapist, which is an easier way to fit access to care into students’ schedules.
Golt said he’s also worked on a project with the school that is still under wraps but involves finding ways to reach students who are stuck on wait lists to see counsellors, he said.
Golt, who recently received a graduate degree from the school, said students across the country have been more vocal to combat stigma.
“If you’re not going to give us (support), then we’re going to go out and do it ourselves,” he said.
The lack of availability of full-time jobs after graduation, increased competition and the need to acquire multiple degrees has been tough on students, he said.
Although they face added pressures, the post-millennial generation – defined as iGen or Generation Z, born approximately between the mid-90s and lateaughts – feels more empowered to speak about their needs, said Dr. Joanna Henderson, executive director of Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario and director of the Margaret and Wallace McCain Centre for Child, Youth and Family Mental Health.
As a result, universities are being held to a higher standard when it comes to mental-health services, and they’re under a microscope from incoming students, she added.
“Young people see there’s more opportunity to be influential in the mental-health realm,” she said, adding that student-led organizations are vocal on social media, and students are connecting with each other about personal struggles with mental illness.
For some students, changes can’t come fast enough, with thousands of young people reporting that they are facing stress, anxiety and depression to a degree where their academic performance has suffered and getting through the day seems impossible.
In 2016, about 44,000 Canadian students across 41 post-secondary schools responded to a survey that found about a fifth were dealing with immense anxi-
ety, depression, and other mental-health illnesses, according to the National College Health Assessment.
Those figures saw an increase from the previous survey in 2013. Three to four per cent more students reported they’d experienced mental illness that’s impacted their performance at school.
The demand for counselling services and mentalhealth support at many post-secondary institutions has never been greater. A survey conducted by The Toronto Star and the Ryerson School of Journalism across 15 universities and colleges last year saw that almost all the schools had increased their mentalhealth budget by 35 per cent.
Late-night panic attacks used to plague Tina Chan, a recent graduate of the University of Waterloo, preventing her from sleeping.
That experience led Chan to create a mentalhealth support kit that will be given to each first-year student at the school this year. Called the PASS Kit, which stands for panic, anxiety and stress support, it contains flash cards with steps to take when experiencing anxiety, along with a squeezable stress star, ear plugs, sleeping mask, and a pack of gum. Every item is designed to bring a student down from a panic attack, said Chan.
“Students were saying that it helps them start a conversation around stress,” she said.
The university has purchased 7,100 of her kits, to be given to first-year students this fall.
HANDOUT PHOTO BY BRIAN TRAN VIA CP
Ryan Golt, 24 poses at the McGill University campus in Montreal in this undated handout photo. Golt began multiple mental health initiatives at the university after he was diagnosed with depression in 2014.
U.S.-Mexico trade deal could have been worse
Announcing a new trade agreement with Mexico on Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump hailed the deal as a huge improvement over the North American Free Trade Agreement and floated the idea of scrapping the old NAFTA name in favor of something like “the United States-Mexico Trade Agreement.”
In addition to reinforcing his threat to leave Canada out of the emerging deal (about which more in a moment), Trump’s proposal to drop the word “free” as a modifier for “trade” represented a rare victory for candor in his administration: whatever else it may accomplish, his proposed pact with Mexico will impose new and costly regulations on the flow of goods back and forth across the southern border of the United States. These, in turn, will create winners (protected firms and their workers, probably) and losers (consumers obliged to pay higher prices).
At the heart of the new U.S.-Mexico agreement is a series of measures the Trump administration intends to slow the relocation of automotive production to lower-wage factories in Mexico and beyond.
Specifically, these will raise the minimum “local” North American content needed for a vehicle to enter the U.S. market tariff free, from 62.5 per cent to 75 per cent, and require that between 40 and 45 per cent be produced by workers earning at least $16
per hour. The former responds to the reality of increased leakage of Chinese parts into the Mexican end of the North American supply chain; the latter constitutes what may be the first-ever industry-specific
international minimum-wage agreement. The actual impact is difficult to foresee, but the spirit of these measures is clear enough: they express a zero-sum, “managed trade” mind-set, not a genuine commitment to an
Trump seeks to prevent accountability
Political Twitter is having fun this morning with U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest conspiracy theory: Google is rigging its results, so when you search “Trump news,” only “fake news” critical of Trump pops up, while conservative media are getting suppressed.
As The Week put it, Trump “is rage-googling himself, and he doesn’t like what he finds.”
Trump’s claim is, of course, absurd: as Daniel Dale pointed out, all it means is that when you Google about Trump, you are likely to initially see stories from major news organizations that are legitimately reporting aggressively on Trump, rather than from conservative opinion sites that are putting out propaganda on his behalf.
But while this might seem like typical Trumpian buffoonery, at its core is some deadly serious business. These attacks on the media – which are now spreading to extensive conspiracy-mongering about social media’s role in spreading information – form one part of an interlocking two piece Trumpian strategy (whether by instinct or design is unclear) that serves to underscore the urgency of this fall’s midterm elections. Trump is unleashing endless lies and attacks directed at the mechanisms of accountability that actually are functioning right now – the media, law enforcement and special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation – to persuade his supporters not only that they shouldn’t believe anything they hear from these sources, but also to energize them and get them to vote, to protect him from those institutions’ alleged conspiracy against him.
At the same time, that campaign of lies is designed to get Republican voters out for the purpose of keeping in place the mechanism of accountability that is not functioning right now – the GOP Congress – prevent-
ing a Democratic takeover of the House, which would impose genuine accountability.
To varying degrees, Republicans are now openly campaigning on this idea – that if Republican voters don’t show up to keep the GOP in charge of Congress, a Democratic House will exercise real oversight on Trump.
Earlier this week, Axios reported on a memo circulating among alarmed House Republicans, who laid out a list of investigations Democrats might undertake with control of the House. Among them: getting access to Trump’s tax returns; trying to force more transparency around Trump’s business holdings, to determine whether or to what extent revenues going into his pockets violate the Emoluments Clause; and examining the process leading up to the thinly-veiled Muslim ban and the enactment of Trump’s family separations.
The implicit argument this memo’s existence makes is striking. The fact that Trump’s combined self-dealing and lack of transparency create extensive possibilities for corruption, and the fact that Trump’s financial dealings with Russia and possible conspiracy with Russian sabotage of the U.S. election could subject him to blackmail, should ideally suggest to those tasked with oversight that they should, you know, exercise more oversight.
Instead, as Jonathan Chait points out, Republicans have converted all this into a rationale not to exercise oversight – and into a reason to keep Republicans in control of the House to keep this status quo undisturbed. Notes Chait: “Republicans have so internalized their subordination to Trump that they are now leaning into the cover-up as a case for
maintaining their power.”
It’s also worth noting that Republicans have made this argument explicit. Remember, on leaked audio, House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes flatly stated that if Attorney General Jeff Sessions won’t rein in Mueller’s probe, House Republicans are Trump’s last line of protection.
“If Sessions won’t unrecuse and Mueller won’t clear the president, we’re the only ones,” Nunes said.
“We have to keep the majority.”
We are now getting a look at what reversing this state of affairs might look like. In interviews with Michelle Goldberg, Democrats who would head House investigative committees vow a range of probes mostly focused on matters involving Trump’s financial dealings, including with Russia, with an eye towards restoring confidence in functional oversight and democracy.
Of course, this is also an unsettling reminder – should Republicans keep the House – of what will be lost.
The argument that Republicans must be elected to defend Trump literally no matter what he does may be working on GOP voters.
Today in Florida, Trumpist Ron DeSantis is expected to prevail in the Florida GOP gubernatorial primary. DeSantis attacked his Republican opponent for criticizing Trump over the Access Hollywood tape. Trump just rewarded him with a mighty get-out-thevote tweet.
Which brings us back to Trump’s rage-googling. No matter how absurd the details get in any given case, the story he tells Republican voters is always pretty much the same: the mechanisms of accountability are really functioning as an illegitimate plot against him – against them – so they must get out to vote, to keep Congress in Republican hands, to act as a shield against that plot.
If Republicans keep the House, all those lies will have worked.
Mailing address: 201-1777 Third Ave. Prince George, B.C. V2L
increasingly free flow of goods and services, which the original NAFTA embodied.
In that sense, the other major change Trump’s team negotiated, a 16-year life span for the deal, reviewable and extendable by the parties every six years, represents a possible saving grace. It allows for a future administration to re-liberate trade if so minded. For now, the challenge is to get Canada, the third member of NAFTA, to sign on, so as to minimize the disruption to regional supply chains. On the whole, Canada has little to fear from the new auto rules, given that it is already a high-wage producer. By giving Canada a Friday deadline to decide and threatening auto tariffs if it says no, Trump has made it hard for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to participate without enduring a gratuitous humiliation.
In the end, Trudeau may well swallow his pride and his misgivings, because the U.S. market is simply too crucial to the Canadian economy. Then it will be up to Congress to approve or disapprove Trump’s handiwork – including all the details still to be ironed out among the parties. When lawmakers face that task, they should do so bearing in mind that this proposed deal represents ambiguous improvement over the economic status quo and constitutes a victory for free trade only in a relative sense – compared with the far more radical and costly protectionist policies Trump threatened.
— Washington Post
Keep the faith, even when others
My houses of belief took big hits this week.
The Conservative Party of Canada’s loose coalition was strained almost to the breaking point by the exit of Maxime Bernier, the runner-up in the leadership race that saw Andrew Sheer win last year. And in matters divine, the Roman Catholic Church has been rocked by another sexual abuse scandal, the knowledge and suppression of which reaches all the way to the Vatican and Pope Francis according to sources. The nature of belonging to any congregation or standing for any idea invites a testing of our fidelity; the most basic proof of this is our closest relationships, often tested by our own or another’s behavior, and even the beliefs people hold dear.
Nonetheless, to my fellow Tories and Papists, I fully admit that these latest volleys of awful news and their repercussions are cause for even the most stalwart to doubt, let alone falter in their duties to, church and state.
betray it
The old joke about the church is that it must be protected by God given how long its lasted while being run by the worst kinds of people; much of the same can be said for political regimes or philosophical ideals. Of course it must be stated without caveat that no amount of tragedy and loss can be taken as an excuse to be overzealous to the point of becoming idealogues or resigning to a life of despair – which far too often resembles puerile complacency.
What keeps the lights on are precisely the actions by people who, despite their own failings and frustrations, continue to keep their promises to one another.
I’m not interested in discussing the narratives or comparing the evidence – we live in an age where we have unlimited access to all knowledge: go form your own opinion (then preach it on Youtube and see if you can earn ad revenue). But I will, as I am wont, preempt the typical actions that follow these events, and give hardy warnings to those who have ears to hear.
For the “cleanse the temple” types, it must be admitted that this strategy invariably fails: people forget that the moneychangers came back the very next day, even after Our Lord’s harsh rebuke, just as Israel repeatedly left God for idols, and every civilization drifts from ascendancy towards decline.
I am not saying there is no point in punishment – unlike the Pope, I support the death penalty – but no amount of chasing out the snakes beats sound walls and vigilance.
To the “doomsayers,” while I deeply sympathize with you on several counts, the fact of the matter is that life goes on: every age has its scandals and crises, yet people who wish to survive do find a way to continue and most institutions are indeed preserved.
Life is tragic, but that is not an invitation to embrace nihilism, nor the inauguration of my own crusade for paradise on earth. I would be remiss if I didn’t point out these options are both idolatry: of myself or of my creation. Is there a right course of action?
Of course there is, but as always, it is by the narrow door and the widow’s mite – it’s subtle. What sowed the seeds that eventually grew into the twisted brambles of the current crises?
Unfaithfulness – to the creed, to one’s vows, to the rules of the game, to the cardinal virtues, to the basic notions of morality. Life, eternal and temporal, is a matter of becoming unto Heaven or unto Hell – we are our thoughts, words, then actions.
When others break their faith, oaths and commitment, all we can do is keep ours – and perhaps be smarter about who we do business with next. Vengeance sought in earnest brings us into a Hobbesian state of nature, just as resignation simply turns us into hollow men muttering to ourselves, drifting through life. What keeps the lights on are precisely the actions by people who, despite their own failings and frustrations, continue to keep their promises to one another.
In the end, keeping the faith and praying for our enemies is the correct response to these issues. Partly, it keeps us from falling into viciousness ourselves; but it also reminds us we are often another’s enemy.
AP PHOTO
U.S. President Donald Trump arrives for a phone call with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto in the Oval Office of the White House on Monday.
CARTOON BY SAMANTHA YOUNG-FINCH
NATHAN GIEDE
Right of Centre
GREG SARGENT Washington Post
Guest Column
Google searches biased, Trump says
White House considers regulating search engines
Darlene
SUPERVILLE, Barbara ORTUTAY Citizen news service
WASHINGTON — U.S. Presi-
dent Donald Trump on Tuesday accused Google and other U.S. tech companies of rigging search results about him “so that almost all stories & news is BAD.” He offered no evidence of bias, but a top adviser said the White House is “taking a look” at whether Google should face federal regulation.
Google pushed back sharply, saying Trump’s claim simply wasn’t so: “We never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment.”
The president’s tweets echoed his familiar attacks on the news media – and a conservative talking point that California-based tech companies run by CEOs with liberal leanings don’t give equal weight to opposing political viewpoints. They also revealed anew his deepseated frustration he doesn’t get the credit he believes he deserves.
The president, who has said he runs on little sleep, jumped onto Twitter before dawn Tuesday to rehash his recent complaints about alleged suppression of conservative voices and positive news about him.
He followed that up with vague threats in Oval Office comments.
“I think Google has really taken advantage of a lot of people, and I think that’s a very serious thing. That’s a very serious charge,” Trump said, adding that Google, Twitter, Facebook and others “better be careful, because you can’t do that to people.”
Trump claimed that “we have literally thousands and thousands of complaints coming in... So I think that Google and Twitter and Facebook, they’re really treading on very, very troubled territory and they have to be careful.”
Larry Kudlow, the president’s top economic adviser, told reporters later that the White House is “taking a look” at whether Google searches should be subject to some government regulation. That would be a noteworthy development since Trump often points proudly to his cutting of government regulations as a spur for economic gains.
In his tweets, Trump said –
without offering evidence – that “Google search results for ‘Trump News’ shows only the viewing/ reporting of Fake New Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal?” He added, again with no evidence, that “96% of results on ‘Trump News’ are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous.”
A search query Tuesday morning, several hours after the president tweeted, showed stories from CNN, ABC News, Fox News and the MarketWatch business site, among others.
A similar search later in the day for “Trump” had Fox News, the president’s favoured cable network, among the top results. Google, based in Mountain View, Calif., said its aim is to make sure its search engine users quickly get the most relevant answers.
“Search is not used to set a political agenda and we don’t bias our results toward any political ideology,” the company said in a statement. “Every year, we issue hundreds of improvements to our algorithms to ensure they surface high-quality content in response to users’ queries. We continually work to improve Google Search
Polar bear kills hunter
Citizen news service
IQALUIT — Nunavut officials
are investigating a polar bear attack that killed an Inuit hunter and injured two others, the second fatal attack this summer.
“It’s been a tough day,” Rob Hedley, administrator of the hamlet of Naujaat, where the hunting party set off from, said Tuesday.
Hedley said they were found by search parties on Lyon Inlet, a common place to hunt, about 100 kilometres east of Naujaat.
The hunters left the community, which is on the northernmost shore of Hudson Bay, on Aug. 21 to hunt narwhal and caribou. The three were expected home on Thursday.
“They’re young, but experienced hunters,” Hedley said.
Police say they were notified when the trio hadn’t shown up by Sunday. Search efforts by the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre, the Nunavut Emergency Management office and a local search team began Monday.
Resources included a Hercules airplane and boats from the Naujaat search-and-rescue team. The boats weren’t able to reach the spot the hunters were believed to be when sea ice blocked the way.
A second Hercules as well as a helicopter-equipped icebreaker joined the search on Tuesday. The hunters were spotted from the helicopter and were flown to Naujaat on Tuesday morning.
The survivors weren’t badly injured, Hedley said.
“They’re fine. They’re home.”
The bear was shot and killed.
He said many of the details were still being pieced together.
Naujaat, which is home to about 1,000 people, is taking the news hard, said Hedley.
“The majority of people are very sad. A lot of people are a little bit angry, too, just the fact that it happened.”
RCMP continued to investigate the death. A team from the Nunavut Environment Department was also on site to examine the bear.
Department spokesman Dan Pimentel said a report should be available in the next few days.
It’s Nunavut’s second fatal polar bear attack this summer.
In early July, a man from Arviat was killed when a bear appeared during a family outing on an island near the community.
Aaron Gibbons, 31, died after he placed himself between the bear and his children, who were able to run to safety.
and we never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment.”
Experts suggested that Trump’s comments showed a misunderstanding of how search engines work.
Google searches aim to surface the most relevant pages in response to a user’s query, even before he or she finishes typing.
The answers that appear first are the ones Google’s formulas, with some help from human content reviewers, deem to be the most authoritative, informative and relevant. Many factors help decide the initial results, including how much time people spend on a page, how many other pages link to it, how well it’s designed and more.
Trump and some supporters have long accused Silicon Valley companies of being biased against them. While some company executives may lean liberal, they have long asserted that their products are without political bias.
Media analyst Ken Doctor said it doesn’t make sense for mass-market businesses like Google to lean either way politically. He characterized the complaints as a “sign of our times,” adding that, years ago, if the head of General Electric was supporting a Republican candidate, people who disagreed wouldn’t then go out and boycott
GE products.
“The temperature has risen on this,” Doctor said.
Steven Andres, who teaches about management information systems at San Diego State University, said people often assume that if you give a computer the same inputs no matter where you are that you “get the same outputs.”
But it doesn’t work that way, he said.
“You’re seeing different things every moment of the day and the algorithms are always trying to change the results.”
Trump didn’t say what he based his tweets on. But conservative activist Paula Boylard had said in a weekend blog post that she found “blatant prioritization of left-leaning and anti-Trump media outlets” in search results.
Boylard based her judgments on the political leanings of media outlets on a list by Sharyl Attkisson, host of Sinclair Television’s Full Measure and author of The Smear: How Shady Political Operatives and Fake News Control What You See, Think, and How You Vote.
Sinclair is a significant outlet for conservative views.
Trump began complaining about the issue earlier this month as social media companies moved to ban right-wing Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
Pecker leaves Postmedia board
Citizen news service
Donald Trump insider David Pecker is stepping down from the board of Canadian media giant Postmedia Network Canada Corp.
The company that owns several of Canada’s biggest daily newspapers says Pecker tendered his resignation so that he can better focus on his other business interests.
The CEO of American Media Inc., publisher of the National Enquirer, was reported last week to have been granted immunity by U.S. federal prosecutors in return for information in their probe of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.
“David noted that it is important for him to focus his efforts on ensuring that his businesses are best positioned for continued growth,” said Postmedia lead director Peter Sharpe in a news release.
Postmedia CEO Paul Godfrey thanked Pecker for his service since being appointed in October, 2016.
According to a company regulatory filing, Pecker earned fees of $117,500 for about 11 months of service in the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2017, and had perfect attendance for nine meetings of Postmedia’s board and five meetings of its compensation and pension committee.
The Associated Press has reported the Enquirer kept a safe containing documents about hush-money payments and damaging stories it killed as part of its cozy relationship with Trump leading up to 2016 presidential election.
AP PHOTO
U.S. President Donald Trump listens to a question during a meeting with FIFA president Gianni
Infantino and United States Soccer Federation president Carlos Cordeiro in the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday.
Canada Post set for labour storm
Terry PEDWELL Citizen news service
Canada’s postal service built a massive loss into its books Tuesday in anticipation of the potential cost of settling a pay equity dispute with its biggest union.
Canada Post said it recorded a second quarter loss before taxes of $242 million, a dramatic drop from the $27 million profit it made during the same period in 2017. But it left the door open to a large revision of those numbers, depending on the outcome of talks underway with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers aimed at reaching a pay equity settlement.
“A mediation process is under way to reach a negotiated settlement,” the Crown agency noted in a statement posted on its website.
“Once the process is completed, the Corporation will be in a position to disclose the financial impact of the settlement, which may differ significantly from the estimates recognized in this quarter.”
Canada Post and CUPW jointly agreed to mediated talks in early June with the aim of reaching an agreement by the end of August on how suburban and rural carriers are paid.
Those talks are ongoing, but arbitrator Maureen Flynn has warned that she will impose a final outcome if the two sides can’t come to a deal by Aug. 31.
The complicated dispute is rooted in perceived pay inequities between mostly male urban carriers and their majority female rural and suburban counterparts.
The union contends that the roughly 8,000 rural workers employed by the postal service earn at least 25 per cent less than the 42,000 carriers who deliver to urban addresses.
The agency’s Q2 loss covers a “one-time payment” it will have to make to bring it in step
with the law, said CUPW national president Mike Palecek.
“For decades Canada Post has treated rural and suburban mail carriers as second-class workers,” he said.
“Finally, justice is on the horizon for these workers. Canada Post can’t run and hide from pay equity anymore.”
CUPW and the agency are also currently in negotiations for a new collective agreement.
The previous one lapsed in December 2017 and the union has asked its members to vote on job action by Sept. 9.
Canada Post also reported Tuesday that it suffered an overall, before-tax loss in the first half of 2018 of $172 million, compared with a profit of $77 million for the same period last year.
The corporation said the losses came despite a nearly 20 per cent increase in second quarter
parcel revenues over the same three-month segment in 2017.
The carrier’s parcel service has been growing steadily over the past few years, thanks to the popularity of online shopping.
Some industry observers have predicted parcel revenues could grow even further, especially if talks to update the North American Free Trade Agreement result in an increase in the amount of goods Canadians can have shipped from the United States without having to pay duties. In a tentative deal announced Monday, the U.S. said Mexico agreed to raise its duty-free level from US$50 to US$100.
Canada’s duty-free level currently stands at $20 while the United States allows its consumers to buy US$800 worth of goods online before duties are applied – a discrepancy that has upset the United States.
Trudeau hails progress on NAFTA front
Peter RAKOBOWCHUK Citizen news service
LONGUEUIL, Que. — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he has been encouraged by what he calls the progress made by Canada’s NAFTA partners, especially on automobiles.
“This was an important step to moving forward on renegotiating and improving NAFTA,” Trudeau said on Tuesday, a day after the United States and Mexico announced a deal that would replace the North America Free Trade Agreement.
“Our team is right now in Washington digging into the progress made and looking at what the next steps are.”
The White House wants Canada to endorse what U.S. President Donald Trump has described as NAFTA’s replacement, by the end
of the week. If Canada declines, Trump has threatened to hit his northern neighbour with automotive tariffs that would cause considerable damage to both economies.
“There’s a lot of documents and a lot of texts to dig into in terms of what has been worked on by Mexico and the United States,” Trudeau told reporters in Montreal-area Longueuil.
“There has been some very positive progress, particularly on autos.”
Trudeau also said he would continue to defend supply management.
That comment came shortly after U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Larry Kudlow, the director of the president’s National Economic Council, said in separate interviews that concessions from Canada on dairy are es-
Freeland
sential to getting a three-way deal by Friday.
During a brief luncheon speech before a group of insurance representatives, Trudeau focused on the future impact of a new trade agreement on Canadians.
“We’re pushing hard to conclude an agreement that is win, win, win – a modern and progressive agreement that is in line with our values and our ambitions and that will benefit not only Canadian businesses but all Canadians,” he said.
“If we want to create long-term growth, we can’t allow ourselves to neglect or minimize the impact of this type of agreement on Canadian families.”
The prime minister said Canada is “determined to conclude an agreement that’s equitable for all the concerned parties.”
optimistic on trade with U.S.
Luis ALONSO LUGO Citizen news service
WASHINGTON — Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said her meeting Tuesday with United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer was “a very good, constructive conversation” about how to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Freeland told reporters after the meeting she and her team plan to work this week in “a full-steam effort” and said both parties will start diving into specific issues this morning.
Freeland hurried to Washington a day after the Trump administration reached a preliminary deal Monday with Mexico to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement. She doesn’t have much time, because Lighthizer intends to formally notify Congress of the deal with Mexico on Friday.
Freeland said both parties “are set for an important and constructive week” but also warned that “we are prepared for all scenarios.”
She said significant concessions from Mexico in the areas of labour and rules of origin on cars “really paved the way for what Canada believes will be a good week.”
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said Mexico had agreed to ensure that 75 per cent of automotive content be
produced within the trade bloc (up from a current 62.5 per cent) to receive duty-free benefits and that 40 per cent to 45 per cent be made by workers earning at least $16 an hour. Those changes are meant to encourage more auto production in the United States.
Tuesday’s meeting was the first time Freeland had met with her U.S. counterparts in Washington since May.
Tuesday and caused bond yields to rise. The Canadian dollar traded up at 77.42 cents US compared with an average of 77.01 cents US on Monday.
That’s the highest level since early June.
The currency’s movement came a day after North American markets rose on the announcement of a preliminary trade accord between the U.S. and Mexico.
“You had the equity reaction yesterday, you have a kind of continuation on the currency and bond reaction today,” said Patrick Bernes of CIBC Asset Management.
He said markets are anticipating that NAFTA negotiations will move to the final phase where Canada and the U.S. would settle bilateral issues and then all three countries would resolve multilateral items.
The U.S. backed off in the Mexican deal on a key sticking point for Canada – a five-year sunset clause – by agreeing to a 16-year deal with the possibility of occasional updates. U.S. President Donald Trump also put pressure on Canada by threatening to slap 25 per cent tariffs on automobile imports.
“But this just looks to me like negotiations tactics to pressure the Canadians and the reaction in currency markets both yesterday and today indicate to me that the market sees the process nearing completion and uncertainty is diminishing on the hopes of a multilateral deal,” Bernes said in an interview.
The positive tone of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s comments Tuesday despite his defiance on dairy supply management suggests that Canada will ultimately provide the Americans with the same cut of the Canadian dairy market as it agreed to in the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, he said. The agreement gives TPP countries access to 3.25 per cent annually of Canada’s dairy market. Dairy producers in the Pacific Rim pact would displace the U.S. after it withdrew from the agreement.
FREELAND
CP FILE PHOTO
The Canada Post logo is seen on the outside of the company’s Pacific Processing Centre in Richmond.
Elevating his game
Ever-improving Lakusta getting exposure to NHL teams
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff tclarke@pgcitizen.ca
When the Prince George Cougars traded stud defenceman Dennis Cholowski in January they needed someone to take over as the point guard – the guy who drives the offence from the back end.
The departure of Cholowski, an NHL-drafted first rounder, left big skates to fill but Joel Lakusta seamlessly stepped into the role. He showed he’s adept at clearing opponents away from his own net and introducing them to the boards with his body and also has the ability to feather crisp breakaway passes to the forwards and sidestep checks at the far blueline to keep teams under pressure on power plays.
Tasked with additional responsibility as the go-to guy on a young defence, Lakusta’s confidence soared and it was no coincidence he turned in his best hockey season. He played 70 games of the 72-game schedule and collected nine goals and 33 assists for 42 points. During the four months the Cougars had Cholowski around, Lakusta had a front-row seat to see what he brought to the table and it left a lasting effect.
“Dennis is just an awesome guy, on and off the ice, and what he does on the ice speaks for itself,” said Lakusta. “He’s a quiet guy off the ice, but just the most respectful guy and he kind of shows you how to hold yourself for the next level. On the ice, he’s so smooth and confident out there and it’s overwhelming at times to see the stuff he pulls off and you can pick up a lot just watching the guy.
“The main thing is he always has his head up and that’s something I picked up on. In every situation you’ve got to be aware what’s going on, especially at the next level where guys are running you and its much faster.”
Lakusta is getting a taste of the next level this summer. His usual routine in the off-season of playing lots of golf (he lives on a golf course) and being a gym rat in Sherwood Park, Alta., included
Defenceman
a trip to Calgary as an invited participant in the Calgary Flames’ summer camp.
“It was tiring, every day you’re just going and going and you don’t get a break, pretty much,” said Lakusta, who grew up an Edmonton Oilers’ fan. “It was fun, especially meeting guys who play in the league. You get to notice them away from the rink, not just hating them on the ice. I’m loyal to the Oil, but Calgary’s a great organization and I can’t thank them enough.”
Cougars associate coach Steve O’Rourke knows St. Louis Blues
head scout Bill Armstrong and that connection led to Lakusta getting invited to the Blues’ rookie camp. He’ll leave Sept. 5 for Traverse City, Mich., where the Blues will be playing their rookie tournament.
“It’s going to be a good experience for me and it’s exciting, especially with the d-corps they have, some of the big names,” said Lakusta. “They know how to treat defencemen. I like to think that last year could have been my last year in Prince George, you just never know.”
Lakusta, along with Cam MacPhee, is working on his fourth
WHL season, and along with third-year Ryan Schoettler they are the only seasoned veterans on the Cougars’ blueline in training camp. If he doesn’t make it on a pro team this season, Lakusta will be back for his last year of junior as one of the Cougars’ 20-year-olds and he might even be wearing the captain’s C on his jersey.
“I just have a different level of confidence going into the season,” Lakusta said. “After last season, having a good second half, and then going to a (pro) camp, it gives you that confidence just to
Cougars secure Brennan, Armstrong
Citizen staff
The Prince George Cougars have signed their two first-round picks from the 2018 Western Hockey League bantam draft to standard WHL player agreements.
The Cats inked goaltender Tyler Brennan on Tuesday, one day after they got forward Craig Armstrong’s name on the dotted line.
Brennan, selected 21st overall by the Cougars in the draft, played last season for the Winnipeg-based Rink Hockey Academy, part of the Canadian Sports School Bantam Hockey League. In 16 games, he
posted an 11-3-1 record with a league-best five shutouts and a goals-against average of 1.53. Brennan stands six-foot-three and weighs 178 pounds.
“We’re thrilled to add a goaltender of Brennan’s size and ability to our organization,” said general manager Mark Lamb in a media release. “He’s got the tools to be a very good goalie at this level and we look forward to watching him progress over the next year.”
Armstrong, meanwhile, was the ninthoverall pick in the draft. The Airdrie, Alta., product has high-end offensive skill. Last year with the Airdrie Xtreme in
the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League he had a team-high 23 goals and 54 points in 34 regular-season games. In the playoffs – won by the Xtreme – he again led his club with 14 goals and 24 points in 13 contests.
Armstrong later skated with Airdrie in the Western Canadian bantam championship and notched three goals and four assists in five games. He helped get the Xtreme into the championship game, where they fell 2-1 in double overtime to the Seafair Islanders. This spring, Armstrong competed in the Alberta Cup and was on the gold-medal-winning team.
come out here and not only be a leader.
“My goal is to be the best player on the team and I think that should be everyone’s goal. If we all have that mentality we’re going to go pretty far.
“We’ve changed this organization completely around with a new GM (Mark Lamb) and it’s exciting to see what we’ve got going. We have so many prospects here too, and you don’t know what to expect coming into the year. We have a competitive camp and it’s exciting to see what it’s going to lead to.”
Against the elite players in his age group, he put up four goals and 11 points in five outings.
“It’s exciting for our organization to have our top pick sign,” Lamb said. “Craig has a very bright future ahead. He’s a player with a high skill set that’s complemented by an excellent work ethic.”
Brennan and Armstrong will both play midget hockey this season. They are also permitted, as underagers, to play in a maximum of five games for the Cougars.
Cougars’ training camp continues today with the Black vs. White game, set for 6 p.m. at CN Centre.
Lalor, Asay leading Canada at baseball’s World Cup
Melissa COUTO Citizen news service
Kelsey Lalor wasn’t thrilled to open the women’s baseball World Cup with a 0-for-2 day in Canada’s first game of the tournament last week.
So the outfielder made some adjustments and shook off some nerves. And she hasn’t looked back since.
Lalor had two hits and a stolen base and drove in her seventh run of the tournament on Tuesday, helping Canada to a 5-0 win over Venezuela in the super-round opener for both teams. Batting .529 (9-for-17) through six games with a home run and eight runs scored, Lalor has been one of the most productive players at the World Cup.
“I didn’t start off that well in our first game, but I think when you come into a World Cup you’re always a little bit anxious and you’re just trying to get that first hit,” Lalor said from Viera, Fla., where the biennial event is being held this year. “Once I got that first one things started to get going.
“I’ve kind of settled into a groove now and I’m hoping I can stay nice and smooth at the plate and just stay within myself as a player and do everything I can to get the job done.” At 20 years old, Lalor is one of the
or younger.
with a loss to No. 1-ranked Japan. She also has another silver medal from the Pan Am Games in Toronto in 2015, when the team lost to the United States.
“I feel as though I understand my role on the team and just having that experience, knowing what you’re getting into before getting there, it’s really helpful in your preparation and your training and the mental side of things,” Lalor said. “It makes a big difference when you’re prepared for what you’re going to see versus when you’re going in blindside.
“So it’s definitely a different feeling coming in to this World Cup now as a veteran on the team. There’s more expectations but I’m also ready for what’s going to be thrown at me.”
—
Joel Lakusta moves the puck during a Prince George Cougars training camp game on Tuesday at CN Centre.
veterans on Canada’s 20-woman team, which features seven players who are 18
The Red Deer, Alta., native has played in two previous World Cups, including the last one in 2016 when Canada took silver
Right-hander Amanda Asay of Prince George allowed one hit through seven shutout innings against Venezuela on Tuesday afternoon – recovering nicely from hitting six batters – and veteran Kate Psota of Burlington, Ont., playing in her eighth World Cup since the tournament started in 2004, drove in a pair of runs.
Daphnee Gelinas of Repentigny, Que., and Niki Boyd of Surrey also had RBIs.
see CANADIANS, page 10
BASEBALL CANADA PHOTO
Prince George’s Amanda Asay pitches for Team Canada at the World Cup in Viera, Fla. Asay tossed a one-hitter against Venezuela on Tuesday.
Mighty cut
A batsman tries to make contact with the ball on Sunday afternoon at the PGSS fields during a cricket tournament hosted by the Prince
Djokovic survives steamy day at U.S. Open
NEW YORK — His cheeks red, hair matted with sweat, Novak Djokovic appeared to be in such distress as he trudged to a changeover on a steamy U.S. Open afternoon that someone suggested it would be a good idea to have a trash can at the ready, just in case he lost his lunch.
Djokovic sat down and removed his shirt. He guzzled water from a plastic bottle. He placed one cold towel around his neck, a second across his lap and a third between his bare upper back and the seat. He was not even 1 1/2 hours into his first match at Flushing Meadows in two years, and while Djokovic eventually would get past Marton Fucsovics 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 Tuesday, it was a bit of an ordeal.
“Survival mode,” Djokovic called it. With the temperature topping 33 C and the humidity approaching 50 per cent – and that combination making it feel more like
Seahawks get Baldwin back
40 C – nearly everything became a struggle for every player across the grounds on Day 2 of the U.S. Open, so much so that no fewer than six quit their matches, with five citing cramps or heat exhaustion.
About two hours into the day’s schedule, the U.S. Tennis Association decided to do something it never had at this tournament: offer men the chance to take a 10-minute break before the fourth set if a match went that far. That is similar to the existing rule for women, which allows for 10 minutes of rest before a third set when there is excessive heat.
The whole thing raised several questions: Should the genders have the same rules moving forward? Should the U.S. Open avoid having matches during the hottest part of the day, not just for the players’ sake but also to help spectators? Should the men play best-of-three-set matches at majors, instead of best-of-five? Should the 25-second serve clock, making its Grand Slam debut
RENTON, Wash. (AP) — For most of the past month, Doug Baldwin has been a spectator as he dealt with a sore left knee that kept him from participating in Seattle Seahawks practices.
It may be how Baldwin and the Seahawks end up managing most of the upcoming season for Seattle’s No. 1 wide receiver.
“I’m probably about 80-85 per cent right now and the truth of the matter is it won’t be
here, be shut off to let players have more time to recover between points?
“At the end of the day, the ATP or a lot of the supervisors, they’re kind of sitting in their offices, where (there’s) an A.C. system on, where it’s cool. And we have to be out there. They tell us it’s fine; they’re not the ones playing,” said No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev, who won in straight sets in the early evening, when it was far less harsh.
“For sure, the rule should be more strict. There should be a certain temperature, certain conditions where we shouldn’t be playing.”
How bad was it out there at its worst Tuesday?
“Bloody hot,” said two-time major semifinalist Johanna Konta, who lost 6-2, 6-2 to No. 6 Caroline Garcia.
“Brutal,” said 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic, who advanced when his opponent retired in the third set.
“Really not easy,” said three-time Grand
100 per cent,” Baldwin said. “It’s something I’ve got to deal with for the rest of the season.”
At least Baldwin is back on the field and showing signs of progress. He won’t play in the preseason finale Thursday against Oakland, but the expectation is that he will be ready for the regular-season opener Sept. 9 at Denver. The month of waiting to get back into practice has been difficult for Baldwin to handle.
“To be out this long... it was hard. It was
Slam title winner Angelique Kerber, who defeated Margarita Gasparyan 7-6 (5), 6-3. “Terrible. It’s awful out there,” said Tennys Sandgren, an American who won in straight sets and will face Djokovic in the second round. “I don’t know how guys are hanging in there. I was thinking in the third set, like, ‘It’s getting really bad. I just don’t know how long I have to play out there.’ And I think everybody kind of feels similarly.”
Also in women’s play, Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard won a match at the U.S. Open for the first time since 2015, the year she withdrew from the tournament after a fall left her with a concussion.
Bouchard had to go through qualifying to reach the main draw and moved into the second round by beating Harmony Tan of France 6-3, 6-1. Bouchard was the 2014 Wimbledon runner-up and reached No. 5 in the rankings. She’s now 137th.
hard emotionally. It was good to be back out there,” he said.
The team has offered few specifics about Baldwin’s knee. Coach Pete Carroll simply called it a sore knee. Baldwin was coy when asked if he’s undergone surgery, saying, “It depends on your definition of surgery.”
Whatever the extent, the issue is something Seattle will have to manage with rest if it expects to have Baldwin for the entire season.
Canadians going to bat against United States today
— from page 9
Canada, ranked No. 2 in the world, plays the No. 3 Americans today.
The Canadians finished the first round of the tournament in second place in Group B with a 4-1 record. Their only loss was a 2-1 defeat against Japan, a team that’s won 26 straight World Cup games en route to five consecutive championships.
Canada is 2-1 in the super round, where teams carry their records against other
second-round squads into the crossover phase of the tournament. They also won’t square off against teams they already faced in Round 1. Lalor, who also plays basketball at the University of Saskatchewan where she’s completing a kinesiology degree, was instrumental for Canada through most of the first round, including a significant 9-6 win over No. 4 Australia when she went 2-for-5 with an RBI and made an impressive diving catch in left field.
The video of the play – Lalor sprinting in and diving to the turf to make the catch –had more than 5,000 views and over 100 likes on the World Baseball and Softball Confederation’s Twitter page as of Tuesday morning.
She laughed at the notion that she’s gained any notoriety from the clip. But she hopes it can help showcase women’s baseball on a larger scale.
“There have been a ton of highlights –stuff from Japan, the U.S., Australia, the Dominican, Puerto Rico, Canada – big hits and big plays and I think social media can be a very good thing when trying to expose our game,” Lalor said.
“The WBSC and Baseball Canada have done a very good job, I think, of showing the world what women’s baseball is all about.
“Like, this is what women can do.”
Fans mourn Franklin at public viewing
KAROUB Citizen news service
Jeff
DETROIT — The regal presence Aretha Franklin exuded in life was captured at her viewing on Tuesday, with the late Queen of Soul in a gold-plated casket dressed completely in red, including highheeled pumps, proving, as one person put it, that she was a “diva to the end.”
As Franklin’s powerful vocals from classic gospel performances were piped through the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer looked as if she was preparing for one more performance. She wore earrings, red lipstick and red nail polish, and her hair was cut short. Her dress – with its ornamental elements and sheer netting fabric – was reminiscent of an outfit she would wear onstage and “something she would have selected for herself,” her niece, Sabrina Owens, told The Associated Press.
and the city of Detroit loved her.”
The roses that surround the casket, Owens said, reflected her love for the flower and her propensity to send arrangements “in grand fashion.”
Franklin was dressed in red symbolic of her membership in the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. The service organization of predominantly black women planned a private ceremony Tuesday night in the museum in honour of Franklin.
The setting for the viewings could not be more fitting, according to Paula Marie Seniors, an associate professor of Africana studies at Virginia Tech.
She feels like she could be a sister or an aunt to me. She’s always been here.
— Cheryl Matthews
Mourners poured into the museum to pay their final respects to Franklin, who died Aug. 16 of pancreatic cancer at the age of 76. The two-day viewing was part of a week of commemorations for the legend, who will be laid to rest on Friday.
The Wright Museum is a cultural landmark in Detroit, where Franklin grew up and spent most of her life. Museum board member Kelly Major Green said the goal was to create a dignified and respectful environment akin to a church, the place where Franklin got her start.
“What we wanted to do is be reflective of the Queen,” Green said. “It’s beautiful. She’s beautiful.” Green said Franklin’s attire and pose communicated both power and comfort, as she did in life. The shoes, in particular, show “The Queen of Soul is diva to the end,” Green said.
Fans strolled by the casket, some in tears; one woman blew a kiss to Franklin, who was surrounded by massive arrangements of roses of different hues.
Tammy Gibson, 49, of Chicago said she arrived about 5:30 a.m. She came alone but made fast friends with others who sang and reminisced.
Growing up, Gibson said she heard Franklin’s music “playing all the time” by her parents, who “told me to go to bed – it’s an adult party.”
Outside the museum, she said: “I know people are sad, but it’s just celebrating – people dancing and singing her music.” Indeed, a group of women were singing her hit Freeway of Love.
Franklin had been a constant in Gibson’s life.
“I saw the gold-plated casket – it dawned on me: She’s gone, but her legacy and her music will live on forever.”
Owens said she began planning for this week’s festivities earlier this year.
“After all she gave to the world, I felt we needed to give her an appropriate send-off that would match her legacy,” she said. “She loved the city of Detroit
“I think it’s incredibly significant –she is being honoured almost like a queen at one of the most important black museums in the United States,” said Seniors.
The Queen of Soul, Seniors said, was “a singer of the universe.” Yet she added that Franklin also was “so unapologetically black – she was so proud of being a black woman.”
Owens said the museum has held services for many dignitaries, most famously Rosa Parks: “It was important that Aretha take her place next to them and lie in state there.”
For all the formality, however, Owens said the viewings are intended to be welcoming and accessible for her legions of fans.
“She respected them – she understood that if it were not for them, she wouldn’t be who she is,” she said.
The museum also plans to stage an exhibition honouring Franklin. Titled Think, it is billed as “a tribute to the Queen of Soul,” and is scheduled to run from Sept. 21 to Jan. 21, 2019.
Franklin had strong loyalty to her family and fans to her last days.
“What you see with her is what you get,” Owens said. “She was a fighter – she fought this disease hard, all the way to the end.”
One of those fans, Cheryl Matthews, never met Franklin but felt close – and hurt by the loss.
“She feels like she could be a sister or an aunt to me,” said Matthews, a 64-year-old Detroiter who attended the viewing. “She’s always been here.”
Linda Swanson, whose funeral home is handling services for Franklin, said the singer had covered the funeral expenses of many needy families over the years.
“It was nothing for Miss Franklin to call us,” she said. “She would take care of the expenses – and usually in full without being asked or prompted to do so. Many of the people you see are here because they were blessed by her big heart and her desire to reach beyond the boundaries of her own success and touch others.”
Owens stressed that the viewing and other events could not happen without a group she calls “Aretha’s angels.” Franklin never spoke about her wishes, Owens said, but she hopes the services are what “she would have wanted and that she would have been proud of.”
A&E IN BRIEF
Louis C.K. gets back on stage
NEW YORK (AP) — Comedian Louis C.K. has returned to the stage for apparently the first time after he admitted to engaging in sexual misconduct. He made an unannounced appearance Sunday night at the Comedy Cellar in New York City’s Greenwich Village.
The club’s owner, Noam Dworman, told the New York Times he watched a video of the appearance. He says the 50-year-old was “very relaxed” and was greeted by an ovation from the audience.
Five women last November accused the comedian of inappropriate behaviour. He released a statement in which he said the stories were true and he expressed remorse for his actions. The actions resulted in the end of a production deal with FX Networks and the cancellation of a movie release.
Rotten Tomatoes diversifying
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Film re-
view aggregator Rotten Tomatoes is attempting to diversify its film critic pool after a recent study found the site’s reviews of top-grossing movies were heavily male-dominated. The company says Tuesday it’s expanding criteria to be a “Tomatometer-approved critic” and giving $100,000 to non-profit organizations to help offset the cost of attending film festivals.
An Annenberg Inclusion Initiative survey of Rotten Tomatoescomplied reviews for last year’s top box-office hits found that nearly 80 per cent of critics were male.
Stapleton leads CMA nominee list
NASHVILLE (AP) — Chris Stapleton topped the list of finalists Tuesday with five nominations for the 52nd annual Country Music Association Awards. Stapleton is vying for entertainer of the year, male vocalist of the year, single of the year for Broken Halos, album of the year for From A Room: Volume 2 and song of the year for Broken Halos. It was his third nomination for entertainer of the year and fourth consecutive for male vocalist.
Rochelle Hampton, left, of Warren, Mich., and Imogen King-Dugan, of Farmington Hills, Mich., dance along to Freeway of Love, being played from a cell phone after a 1956 pink Cadillac pulled up to Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit during the public viewing for legendary singer Aretha Franklin on Tuesday.
demandskillsandknowledgeyou’lllearncanopendoors torealjobopportunities.
Gordon Mooney
March 28, 1936 - August 26, 2018
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Gordon Mooney. He passed away peacefully in his own home surrounded by his entire family. He will be missed by so many. Gordon is survived by his wife of 59 years Margaret, his daughter Cheryl (Bud), and son Brad. He is also survived by two granddaughters Robynne (Adam) and Rachelle (Levi) and their sons Hayden, Linden, Tyson and Rowan. Gordon also leaves behind brothers Glen (Lilian) and Wayne as well as many other extended family members and friends. He was predeceased by his mother Ruby, his father Harold, as well as his brother Russell.
A celebration of life and luncheon will be held at the Hart Pioneer Center (6986 Hart Hwy) at 11:00 AM on Saturday September 1st. The family would like to thank all of his care givers as well as the Kidney Foundation. In lieu of flowers, donations to the kidney Foundation will be greatly appreciated.
