Prince George Citizen January 16, 2019

Blades in the mist

Pipeline would have minor impact, assessment found

Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca

The Coastal GasLink pipeline should generally have minor impacts on the area governed by the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs if it’s constructed, according to an environmental assessment office report on the project.

However, the report also says the hereditary chiefs, as represented by the Office of the Wet’suwet’en, oppose the project, saying it is in “deep conflict with core Wet’suwet’en laws and values.”

The matter came to a head last week when RCMP were called in to take down a blockade on the Morice River Forest Service Road south of Houston and arrested 14 people in the process.

The move was made after CGL secured an interim injunction prohibiting interference with pre-construction work along the route where it passes through that area.

The report, issued in October 2014, looks at the project’s effects on Aboriginal title, hunting, trapping, fishing, gathering and culturally important sites, trails and travelways.

On Aboriginal title, the report concluded the pipeline would have low to moderate impacts and they have been addressed by ensuring the Office of the Wet’suwet’en and other groups within the First Nation are “meaningfully consulted and accommodated around the potential effects of this proposed project.”

On hunting, the report found the project would have a moderate impact, saying the right to hunt in the area may be affected for a short time during the construction phase, when access may be restricted for safety reasons. It also proposed a condition allowing access to the area for traditional use activities once the project is completed.

On trapping, the Office of the Wet’suwet’en did not provide any information on any trap lines that may be held by its members, the report said, but added the work may require short- or long-term relocation of portions of traplines.

“However, the proposed pipeline corridor is narrow enough that the disruption to each trap line should not prevent a trap line holder from trapping in other parts of the trap line territory, and should therefore have a relatively small effect on overall access to trapping,” the report stated. As such, the project was expected to have minor impacts on members’ right to trap.

On fishing, a dozen fishing sites near the route were identified of which only one, on the Nadina River, is directly on the route.

The next closest is 2.8 kilometres to the

The majority of fish-bearing watercourse crossings would be constructed using an isolated trench method to avoid and minimize potential impact on fish and fish habitat.

— EAO report

north at Bulkley Lake.

However, the pipeline would also cross the Clore River, Gosnell Creek and Morice River.

“The majority of fish-bearing watercourse crossings would be constructed using an isolated trench method to avoid and minimize potential impact on fish and fish habitat,” the EAO says in the report. “Open cut trench method would be used only for non-fish bearing watercourse crossings, or where the channel is dry or frozen to the bottom.”

As well, hydrostatic testing would be planned for the summer or fall when the water supply is high and warming the water is not necessary. As well, no additives would be put in the water and CGL has assured the clean pipe used for the testing will be internally coated.

On gathering, the assessment found crossing Gosnell Creek would adversely affect wetlands in that area. In answer, the report proposed site-specific mitigation and monitoring.

Given the narrowness of the corridor, the report doubted access to sites to gather berries would be limited.

The assessment identified a number of cultural heritage sites – used mainly for hunting, trapping or fishing and some associated with cabins, within 2 1/2 kilometres of the pipeline, particularly along the Morice River valley area, as well as a number of trails crossing the pipeline route.

Requirements of the Heritage Conservation Act must be met prior to and during construction, the assessment noted, and rated the impact as minor.

About 180 kilometres of the 670-kilometre pipeline would pass through Wet’suwet’en traditional territory. While all five elected Wet’suwet’en band councils support the project and have entered benefit agreements with CGL, the hereditary chiefs maintain they have authority over all off-reserve territory.

The report was part of a provinciallymandated review of the project.

Cat rescued from Prince George landfill

Citizen staff

A man taking his garbage to the Foothills Boulevard Regional Landfill in Prince George made an alarming discovery last week.

Alerted by a loud mewing among the heaps of garbage, the Good Samaritan investigated the source of the sound and found a cat that had been abandoned and left to die inside a locked carrier.

He immediately rushed the cat to the BC SPCA’s North Cariboo Branch.

“It is appalling that someone would throw a beautiful and loving animal out like a piece of garbage,” Alex Schare, manager of animal centre services for the North Cariboo SPCA, said.

“The crate was filled with frozen urine and the poor cat was very cold, skinny and infested with fleas. There is no doubt she would have died if she had been left there much longer, trapped inside the cage.”

Staff estimate the short-haired white cat is about three years old.

SPCA staff have named the cat Gloria, after Gloria Gaynor, the singer of the 1970s song I Will Survive.

“There is no doubt that our furry little

GLORIA

Gloria is a survivor. She is very friendly and is going to make someone a wonderful pet,” Schare said. “We are treating her for fleas and building up her weight, but we’re confident she’ll make a full recovery.”

Once the mandatory stray-hold period is up, Gloria will be spayed and put up for adoption.

B.C. chiefs gather in Smithers to support Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs

Amy SMART Citizen news service

SMITHERS — Hereditary chiefs opposed to a natural gas pipeline in Wet’suwet’en territory in northern British Columbia are holding a gathering of solidarity today that is expected to attract Indigenous leaders from across British Columbia.

Chief Judy Wilson, secretary treasurer of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, said she was planning to attend the meeting and other members of the group had already flown to Smithers.

“I’m heading up there to support the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and the people, the clans, in their fight to protect their land,” Wilson said.

She said the difficulty that the hereditary chiefs have had in getting their authority recognized by industry and government is familiar. Elected band councils are based on a colonial model of governance, she said.

Under the tradition of her Secwepemc First Nation in the B.C. Interior, title belongs to all of the people within the nation.

“Collectively, people hold title for our nation,” she said.

Coastal GasLink says it has signed agreements with all 20 elected First Nations bands along the pipeline route to LNG Canada’s $40-billion export facility in Kitimat.

But the project has come until scrutiny because five hereditary clan chiefs within the Wet’suwet’en say the project has no authority without their consent.

While elected band councils are administrators of their reserves, the hereditary chiefs say they are in charge of the 22,000 square kilometres comprising Wet’suwet’en traditional territory, including land the pipeline would run through.

Members of the First Nation and supporters were arrested last week at a checkpoint erected to block the company from accessing a road it needs to do pre-construction work on the project, sparking protests Canada-wide.

On Thursday, the hereditary chiefs reached at deal with RCMP, agreeing that members would abide by a temporary court injunction by allowing the company and its contractors access across a bridge further down the road.

— see ‘THIS FIGHT, page 3

B.C. glaciers shrinking rapidly, UNBC researcher says

Citizen staff

A more southerly jet stream is behind an ongoing decline in the size of glaciers throughout western North America, a team of scientists led by a University of Northern British Columbia professor has concluded.

The outcome stems from the first comprehensive assessment of glaciers from California to the Yukon. Results from the study were published Tuesday in Geophysical Research Letters.

“Our work provides a (more) detailed picture of the current health of glaciers and ice outside of Alaska than what we’ve ever had before,” said UNBC geography professor Brian Menounos, the lead author of the paper and a Canada research chair in glacier change.

“We determined that mass loss dramatically increased in the last 10 years in British Columbia’s southern and central

Coast mountains, due in part to the position of the jet stream being located south of the U.S.-Canada border.”

The jet stream is an area of fast flowing upper winds that can steer weather systems over mountains and nourish glaciers with precipitation, mostly in the form of snow that builds up over time and later becomes ice.

The team used archives of high-resolution satellite imagery to create over 15,000 digital elevation models covering glaciers from California to the Yukon.

These models were then used to estimate total glacier mass change from 2000 to 2018, and found glaciers in western North America lost 117 gigatonnes of water or about 120 cubic kilometres – enough water to submerge an area the size of Toronto by 10 metres – each year.

Compared to the first decade of the 21st century, the rate of ice loss in-

creased fourfold over the last 10 years, the team also found.

Other UNBC scientists involved in the study were assistant geography professor Joseph Shea, and two PhD students, Ben Pelto and Christina Tennant.

The team also included scientists at the University of Washington, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Ohio State University and the Université de Toulouse in France.

“Frequent visitors to America’s glacierized national parks can attest to the ongoing glacier thinning and retreat in recent decades. We can now precisely measure that glacier loss, providing a better understanding of downstream impacts,” said co-author David Shean of the University of Washington.

“It’s also fascinating to see how the glaciers responded to different amounts of precipitation from one decade to the next, on top of the long-term loss.”

Ness Lake needs firefighters

Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca

Fires and other emergencies in Ness Lake need Ness Lake people to respond.

Chief Percy Dergez and Capt. Chris Dugdale of the Ness Lake Volunteer Fire Department are calling on their community to boost their numbers at the NLVFD.

We especially are looking for more people during the day to help with our daytime calls.

— Chief Percy Dergez, and Capt. Chris Dugdale

“Our community is fortunate to have a great firehall with current equipment, trained personnel and strong leadership,” they said. “We ask that community members consider joining our hall now. We need more members, ages 19-plus. Come and join yourself, bring a friend or spouse, bring a neighbour. We especially are looking for more people during the day to help with our daytime calls.”

Anyone interested can drop by the NLVFD firehall on Tuesday from 7-9 p.m. to meet the chief and other members of the crew, look over the trucks and other equipment, tour the facility, and ask questions about what it’s like to help defend your neighbourhood from emergencies. In areas outside the coverage of the Prince George Fire Rescue Service, if the neighbours don’t come, no one is coming when things go wrong.

“We provide fantastic training,” said Dergez and Dugdale. “Members say some of their favourite training has been ice driving, where you drive a loaded fire engine on ice roads at the airport with an expert instructor, ice rescue, airbrakes, first responders (medical) and structure fire practice at Live Fire (a facility where we learn to safely and efficiently extinguish a structure fire, with an 800 degree actual fire).”

In addition to keeping your neighbours more safe, being a part of the NLVFD opens you up to meet other community members, do meaningful work on behalf of community, serve the public, and share great experiences and a lot of laughs with others doing the same. For more information call Dergez at 250-5520311 or Dugdale at 250-612-9489.

Evidence of recent glacier retreat can be seen in this aerial photo of the terminus of the Saskatchewan Glacier, in Jasper National Park.

TrueNorth business forum coming this month

Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca

For the past year, Todd Corrigall and his Chamber of Commerce team have been gathering true leaders to impart true economic wisdom for this area. It builds the TrueNorth Business Development Forum, a one-day power-talk about the opportunities coming this way and the ones already here. TrueNorth is always linked literally to the B.C. Natural Resources Forum. The massive resources convention runs Jan. 22-24 and the chamber event happens on Monday, leading into the forum.

“We don’t want to replicate,” said Corrigall, CEO of the Prince George Chamber of Commerce.

“There’s obviously a large number of delegates coming in from out of town, which helps local business in that literal way, but when Val Litwin (president of the B.C. Chamber of Commerce) and I start to sit down to discuss objectives for the event each year, we look to our mission statement and look to our feedback from our members. What are the business impacts coming on the horizon? What’s happening in the labour market? What businesses on the pe-

riphery of these big major projects can become more closely related to the opportunities ahead? How can we get in closer touch with people within government, within the procurement process of major proponents, so we can have those door-opening discussions for local business?”

The speakers this year are an all-star team of business voices.

Author and motivational speaker David Irvine will deliver the day’s first session entitled Authentic Leadership-Building Accountability In A Culture of Engagement.

Corrigall described it as an insight into learning “the difference between a boss and a leader and what it takes to earn the right to be called a leader. Discover the fundamentals of authentic leadership and what it means to build a leadership culture within your organization and beyond.”

In session two, Northern Development Initiative Trust CEO Joel McKay will look at what the core objectives of northern business look like, compared to the Lower Mainland, and how that can shape on-theground business choices here. A panel of local business leaders will join him on stage for that conversation.

The luncheon keynote address will be delivered by Susannah Pierce, the exter-

‘This fight is far from over’

— from page 1

Under the agreement, another anti-pipeline camp is allowed to remain intact.

Hereditary Chief Na’Moks told reporters that the chiefs reached the agreement to ensure the safety of those remaining at the Unist’ot’en camp, but remain “adamantly opposed” to the project.

The interim court injunction will be in place until the defendants, including residents and supporters of the Unist’ot’en camp, file a response in court Jan. 31.

A Facebook page for the Wet’suwet’en Access Point on Gidumt’en territory posted an alert on Sunday calling for rolling actions across the country.

Man gets

Citizen staff

It referred to the 1997 Delgamuuk’w case, fought by the Wet’suwet’en and the Gitsxan First Nations, in which the Supreme Court of Canada recognized that Aboriginal title constituted an ancestral right protected by the constitution.

“As the Unist’ot’en camp says, ‘This fight is far from over. We paved the way with the Delgamuuk’w court case and the time has come for Delgamuuk’w II,’” the statement says. The ruling in the Delgamuuk’w case had an impact on other court decisions, affecting Aboriginal rights and title, including the court’s recognition of the Tsilhqot’in nation’s aboriginal title lands.

time served for break out

One of four people arrested following an alleged home invasion was sentenced Monday to time served.

Alex Myles Hunter had been in custody since his arrest for the Jan. 7, 2018 incident, a total of 372 days. He was issued the term on a count of breaking out after entering to commit an offence. The culprits were rounded up after they had fled by smashing through the living room window of a Vine Street home, police said at the time. The home’s occupants received minor injuries and declined medical treatment.

Brandon Douglas Joseph Deeg, Cree Indyah Parenteau and Devin Albert Olson all remain in custody. Their next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 21.

nal affairs director for LNG Canada, the province’s leading proponent in the field of liquified natural gas.

The afternoon session will be hosted by FortisBC. It’s title is Energizing the North: What Does Clean BC Mean In the North.

TrueNorth also includes three break-out sessions and this year they are:

• Accessing Grants to Grow Your Business with NDIT

• Clean Tech and Innovation in a Natural Resource Based Economy

• Leadership – It’s About Presence, Not Position

The master of ceremonies for the day is Skeena MLA and veteran Aboriginal leader Ellis Ross of the Haisla Nation on the northern coast. Corrigall said it was important as an organizer to utilize every minute of the forum for economic knowledge, so even the choice of emcee hinged on getting someone who could impart empirical information, not just move the conversation along.

“The content we deliver year over year has to be tailored for our region,” Corrigall said. “Being the largest city and the largest Chamber outside the southern part of the province, we have the amenities to host something like this and there’s a responsibility that comes with that to provide

maximum value. The content is not about growth for growth’s sake, it is how do you viably build your business over a long term, looking at the likely happenings coming for our economy and looking at the realities of our region. We also want to use the forum as a way to send a strong signal that our local businesses are ready and 100 per cent capable to handle what’s coming, and in many cases have already gotten experience at handling large-scale projects of this sort.”

The chamber has the ability, through its membership communications, to survey local entrepreneurs and business managers about what topics they would like to see addressed in a forum such as this. Corrigall said the agenda was set by that year-round feedback.

There were still, as of Tuesday, a few seats left for TrueNorth. They can be booked online via the Prince George Chamber of Commerce website or at the door while supplies last.

The sequence of events takes place at the Marriott Hotel starting at 8 a.m. (doors at 7) on Monday and continues to 4 p.m. with informal free-range meetings expected to carry on into the night and carry over into the BC Natural Resources Forum that commences on Tuesday.

Missing Okanagan man has P.G. connections

Citizen staff

Vernon North Okanagan RCMP

are again asking for the public’s assistance in locating a missing Armstrong resident who has connections to Prince George.

Brian Kyme (pronounced ‘Kim’) Franklin, 41, was last seen on Jan. 3 and he may be driving a red 2005 Toyota Tundra pickup truck, with a Safety 1st logo on both driver and passenger doors and wrapped in graphics depicting Lego builders and construction equipment.

The B.C. licence plate number is MC2169 and it was truck No. 19 – a white number located on rear window behind driver’s seat.

Franklin is described as Caucasian, five-foot-11, 201 pounds and balding with dark brown hair and brown eyes.

The truck was last seen in Vernon on Jan. 5, but he is known to have family in Prince George and Victoria.

Anyone has any information about Franklin or the truck is asked to call the Vernon North Okanagan RCMP, Armstrong de-

tachment at 250-546-3028 and reference file #2019-754.

You may also remain anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477, or leaving a tip online at www.nokscrimestoppers.com

You do not have to reveal your identity to Crime Stoppers. If you provide information that leads to an arrest, you could be eligible for a cash reward.

City’s unemployment rate 5.8 per cent

Citizen staff

The city’s unemployment rate stood at 5.8 per cent in December, according to Statistics Canada labour market survey numbers.

That’s down marginally from 5.9 per cent for the same month in 2017, but underlying numbers show a less robust picture for the most recent month.

Specifically, the number of people working was 45,500 compared to 49,600 at the same point a year ago. As well, the number of people of working age in the city was 48,200, down from 52,700.

The number of people unemployed but seeking work was 2,800 as of December, down from 3,100, while the number

of working age not seeking work was 24,600, up from 19,800.

As a result, the employment rate was 62.4 per cent, down from 68.4 per cent.

For November 2018, the unemployment rate was 5.2 per cent with 46,100 working, 2,500 seeking work and 24,300 not participating.

The numbers are based on a three-month rolling average and do not separate part-time from full-time employment.

Accuracy of the December unemployment rate is plus or minus one percentage point, 68 per cent of the time.

For December 2017, it was plus or minus 0.8 percentage points, and for November 2018 it was plus or minus 0.9 percentage points.

Installing art

Jennifer Bowes installs her art piece They Made A Day – pages from her journals that she folded and attached together – in one of the galleries in Two Rivers Gallery on Tuesday. The exhibition titled Unbound also features work by Robert Chaplin, Adam David Brown, Angela Grauerholz and Guy Laramée. In the other gallery is Excerpts from a Retrospective by Gary Pearson. Pearson grew up in Prince George and is now based in Kelowna. Excerpts from a Retrospective brings together a selection of paintings produced between 2007 and 2018.

City welcoming applications for grants

Citizen staff

The City of Prince George is seeking applications for three grant programs that help to launch and sustain great ideas, events, and projects.

The Community Enhancement Grant, the myPG Community Grant, and the Celebrate Prince George Community Grant provide non-profit organizations with the financial support to get good, locally sourced ideas off the ground.

The deadline for applications is March 15 and the application form is found at www.princegeorge.ca under the “Grants and Financial Assistance” section.

Here’s a closer look:

• myPG Community Grant:

For non-profit organizations that work in the community, know its strengths and potential and have ideas on how to make the city a better place for everyone. They’re designed to help local organizations develop and implement innovative activities, which contribute to making Prince George a great community.

Contacts: Sarah Brown at 250-614-7897 or Sarah.Brown@ princegeorge.ca and Doug Hofstede at 250-561-7646 or Doug. Hofstede@princegeorge.ca

• Celebrate Prince George Grant: For non-profit organizations that offer community celebrations at any point in the year

could qualify to receive support through this City and Tourism PG partnership. The program aims to foster a celebratory atmosphere that will attract visitors to our community. Please note that this grant is for the 2020 event season. Contact: Jen Tkachuk at 250614-7880 or Jen.Tkachuk@princegeorge.ca

• Community Enhancement Grant: This grant program offers the community an opportunity to improve neighbourhoods and foster civic pride. These grants range from $200 to a maximum of $1,000.

Contact: Marta Gregor at 250561-7798 or Marta.Gregor@ princegeorge.ca.

Extra show added

Citizen staff

Menopause: The Musical hasn’t even opened yet in Prince George and it is already being held over.

A second show has now been added, a matinee, for the May 4 date on the popular play’s schedule.

Organizers said the extension was due to “an overwhelming response” by the local public to see this hilarious celebration of women and “the change.”

The additional show will be performed that day at 4 p.m. The event happens at Vanier Hall. Ticket prices range from $65-$55 (plus service charges and taxes). They are available via the TicketsNorth platforms.

Menopause: The Musical is now in its 17th year of production.

It is recognized as the longest-running scripted production in Las Vegas. This original Off-Broadway musical comedy is set in a department store where four women meet by chance while shopping for a black lace bra.

After noticing unmistakable similarities with one another, the all-female, all-star Canadian cast joke about their woeful hot flashes, mood swings, wrinkles, weight gain, memory loss, too much sex, not enough sex and more.

These women form a sisterhood and a unique bond with the audience as they rejoice in celebrating that menopause is not “The Silent Passage” anymore.

The laugh out loud, 90-minute production, gets audiences out of their seats and singing along to brilliant parodies from 25 classic hit songs from the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s.

The hilarious musical has been seen by millions and entertained audiences across the world.

The show plays to consistently sold-out crowds from coast to coast, receiving standing ovations every night.

FRANKLIN

Normal levels of contaminants found in Fort Mac homes

Liam CASEY Citizen news service

TORONTO — A new study indicates dust from homes in Fort McMurray, Alta., had normal levels of indoor contaminants a year after a devastating forest fire hit the city, suggesting residents did not face an elevated health risk in the aftermath of the blaze.

Arthur Chan, a chemical engineering professor at the University of Toronto, said pollutants in house dust his team analyzed actually contained fewer toxins than homes in many other Canadian cities.

“We don’t see any cause for alarm,” Chan said.

“We found that the levels are below what the guidelines considered as risky.”

The results were published last week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Chan said he and two other researchers spent three weeks going house to house in July 2017, about 14 months after the blaze, sucking up dust from bedrooms and living rooms – areas with the highest exposurewith commercial grade vacuums. They later analyzed what they collected in a lab.

The team went through more than 60 houses for the study.

The researchers were driven to perform their work after residents raised safety concerns in wake of the massive wildfire that forced 88,000 people from their homes. Chan said the research was believed to be the first to look for the retention of “fire-

derived pollutants” indoors.

“That’s partly because these kinds of fires are rare and it’s hard to mobilize quickly to go into the community to do the study,”

Chan said.

The research team was examining the house dust for the levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are found in high concentrations in burned forests, and heavy metals that are found in high concentrations in ashes from burned buildings.

They found trace elements of the heavy metal arsenic in house dust in neighbourhoods that were heavily damaged by fire compared to non-damaged neighbourhoods, but the levels weren’t above Alberta’s health guidelines, Chan explained. The researchers found no evidence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Fort McMurray house dust.

“We still don’t know why, but we think maybe people did a very good job cleaning or maybe from this event there isn’t that much of an impact indoors,” Chan said.

“Whatever it is, it is minimizing the health risk.”

He said he hopes his results informs rebuilding and recovery efforts after wildfires.

“We expect this will be an important set of results for the future because there are likely going to be more wildfires because of climate change and difference in land uses,” he said. Chan and his team are working on several other related studies.

Birchleg ski and snowshoe on Sunday

Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca

Both a commemoration of a turning point in Nordic history and a fun, familyoriented gathering, the 46th annual Birchleg cross country ski and snowshoe is set to take to the trails at the Tabor Mountain Recreation Area on Sunday.

In 1206, as civil war raged in Norway, two warriors known as Birkbeiners because they wrapped their legs in birchbark, rescued the infant prince and heir to the throne, carrying him by ski for 55 kilometres and over two mountain ranges in the dead of winter to a place of safety.

It has since become the subject of an iconic painting and a reason not only in Norway but across North America to hold a skiing race or event in honour of the dramatic flight every winter.

Don’t worry, though – Prince George’s version will be over a much shorter distance.

In the lead-up, members of Hickory Wing Ski Touring Club will have set out a 10-kilometre track starting at the boxcar parking lot five kilometres east of the Tabour Mountain downhill ski area. Look for the balloons marking the turn off.

It all starts at 10 a.m. and the route typically takes 2 1/2 hours to cover, although there will be a cutoff that lowers the distance to six kilometres for those who want a shorter trip. The trail is suitable for classic technique only.

In 1206, as civil war raged in Norway, two warriors known as Birkbeiners because they wrapped their legs in birchbark, rescued the infant prince and heir to the throne, carrying him by ski for 55 kilometres and over two mountain ranges in the dead of winter to a place of safety.

Coinciding with the ski, the Caledonia Ramblers will be hosting a snowshoe starting from the wildlife viewing area about four kilometres east of the boxcar, although the length of the walk will be somewhat longer.

To participate in that part of the day, meet at the city hall parking lot at 9 a.m. The carpool fee is $3.

Chili and drinks will be available by donation at the boxcar. The entire event will wrap up by 3 p.m.

For more information on the ski, call Norm at 250-963-7417 or Val at 250-5648293. For more information on the snowshoe, call Maggie at 250-963-7497.

Driver killed in collision east of Vanderhoof

Citizen staff

One person is dead following a fourvehicle collision on Highway 16 near Vanderhoof.

RCMP were called to the scene near Shanley Road, about 10 kilometres east of the community, at about 6 p.m. Monday.

Upon arrival, they determined that an eastbound SUV crossed the centre line and collided head-on with a westbound loaded fuel tanker truck and two other vehicles following behind the tanker truck.

The SUV’s female driver died at the

scene while everyone else involved suffered only minor injuries. Her name was not provided. RCMP said the road surface was slippery and foggy at the time of the collision and the temperature was below freezing. There was no fuel spillage from the tanker truck. The stretch was reopened to traffic shortly before 5 a.m.

Anyone with information regarding this collision is asked to call Prince George Regional Traffic Services (Vanderhoof) at 250-567-2222 and quote file 2019-134.

CP FILE PHOTO

Builders work on a new home in the Beacon Hills area after wildfires destroyed most of the neighbourhood in Fort McMurray, Alta., on April 21, 2017.

Everything is automatic

Maybe it was the Jetsons. Or maybe it was Blade Runner.

There are no flying family cars and that seems as far off in the future as it did watching Saturday morning cartoons in the 1970s.

There are no robots so clever as being human that they can run away from their slave work and hide amongst the human population, as a 1982 sci-fi movie starring Harrison Ford predicted would be the case... in 2019.

That being said, the degree automation has transformed the world has been remarkable, revolutionizing everything from manufacturing and communications to transportation and finance. Strangely, however, so many people will look up from their phones after having scheduled bill payments and answered the doorbell at their home while at work to insist that driverless cars will never come to Prince George and that robots will never take their jobs.

The world’s major automakers, along with Google, Apple and other technology companies with deep pockets and big ideas, aren’t spending billions of dollars every year just for the fun of seeing whether driverless

The world’s major automakers, along with Google, Apple and other technology companies with deep pockets and big ideas, aren’t spending billions of dollars every year just for the fun of seeing whether driverless cars are possible.

cars are possible. Much of the technology already exists and is in use, from mass transit trains and auto-pilot on planes, including both landing and takeoff, to cars that can park themselves, alert drivers to danger and automatically brake to prevent accidents.

Driverless cars and other forms of automation are going to become an increasing part of our lives. That will spark some interesting (and stressful) changes to society and the economy but the real lifestyle transformation will be for seniors, those with physical challenges and the people with chronic health conditions.

Those born before the moon landing have quickly separated the mostly useless technology (social media, gaming) from the mostly useful tools that connect them to their loved ones and offer real-time information on the weather, the road conditions, their social schedule, their bank account balance, their investment portfolios and breaking news. For able-bodied individuals, streaming

movies and TV shows at home is a convenience. For those with physical handicaps or illness that makes it difficult to leave home, especially during winter, Netflix and Crave are lifesavers. But that’s just the beginning. Home assistant devices like Google Home and Amazon Echo are in the process of expanding the independence of the elderly and anyone who requires active full or parttime resident care, from reminding people to take their meds to calling 911 when the assistant asks the homeowner repeatedly to respond and he or she doesn’t answer. Combine that with programmable thermostats, floor cleaning robots and fridges that know when they’re empty and will either alert the homeowner or place a delivery order to the grocery store.

Again, that’s already existing tech.

And that’s just at home.

Driverless cars represent the true breakthrough for seniors, the blind and those who require significant special alterations to the automobile before they can drive.

Cabinet shuffle malodorous

As pre-election cabinet shuffles go, Justin Trudeau’s was a weird one.

The demotion – and that is the most polite word one can use – of Vancouver’s Jody Wilson-Raybould from the politically vital justice portfolio to the political graveyard of veterans affairs is an acutely awkward message at an extraordinarily pivotal time.

It reinforces the cliché that this is a government willing to eschew operational competence for the vortex of optics, and that it has no long-term stomach to deal with slow-moving issues like First Nations reconciliation. Behind the scenes there may be an entirely different story, but the public appearance is punitive of accomplishment and rewarding of personal friendship.

It is fair to say that WilsonRaybould, the most senior Indigenous minister in history, is by almost anyone’s account difficult to deal with.

So what?

The same can be said of many top performers across all walks of life.

In three short years in a portfolio historically molasses-slow, she legalized medically assisted death, did the same with cannabis, defined the government’s First Nations principles and retooled the judiciary. Trudeau’s own father, no slouch in that same portfolio, would have been dazzled. She did not misspeak, mislead or mishandle a single file.

She had many opportunities to distance and detach from government fumbles on issues near and dear, but she stood solidly. In those regards alone, she deserved to stay in the role until at least the autumn election.

In symbolic terms – and this is a government all about symbols – she was a signal accomplishment in Trudeau’s oft-stated priority of demonstrating the importance of Indigeneity in our institutions.

Today it is harder to believe this is his most important relationship.

It is no knock on her successor, David Lametti, an accomplished legal scholar from Quebec, where the Liberals must dominate in the fall. But the message to take away is that Trudeau was more than delighted to get the photo opportunity for the initial appointment in 2015 but did not see her as the same crucial election asset in October that a Quebec MP might be.

In cutting her down to a lesser role and sending the signal of her declining importance, he has also exposed her to unnecessary electoral vulnerability. The Liberals are going to pay some sort of price in Vancouver for their fight to build the Trans Mountain pipeline. Wilson-Raybould, publicly supportive of the project, now finds herself in greater political jeopardy today than at

any time. It was, one supposes, in keeping with her style that she wrote a rather tart and unorthodox departure note, highlighting the enormity of the task of reconciliation and sending a clear message that more policies and laws are needed from her government to fulfil this mission. I cannot imagine she would be pleased about two other things: first, the appointment of former broadcaster Seamus O’Regan, a close friend of Trudeau, as the minister for Indigenous services, a natural home for her to further her delivery of social and economic justice. It must be doubly galling, too, that she replaces him in veterans affairs, where the consensus was he did not fare well. (Full disclosure: O’Regan worked for me at CTV.) Her note on the shuffle touts the work done to date but makes clear we are far from a breakthrough in the necessary cooperation and collaboration with First Nations on the daunting files “to reset the new foundations.” An elementary interpretation of her note is that she is too far from and O’Regan too close to this giant task. What she did to deserve this at this critical juncture, no one can say. We are thus left to criticize a government that has been exceedingly mindful of appearance and gesture for its coarse and uncouth treatment of an important figure in its success.

Kirk LaPointe is editor-inchief of Business in Vancouver and vice-president, editorial, of Glacier Media

Driverless cars can take them where they want to go and when.

While many people will moan about the loss of independence driverless cars will bring, what they’ll be really complaining about is not being able to speed, tailgate and drive like a jerk. Meanwhile, others will gain so much more control of their movements away from home. Gone will be the days of waiting for the bus or calling a cab.

Gone will be the days of seizing the driver’s licence of 85-year-olds and stripping them of their dignity and self-reliance at the same time.

The demands of the baby boomer generation have driven so many technological advances in the past 50 years in a neverending pursuit to satisfy their never-ending demands. As they move into their 70s and 80s, they will lead the demand for driverless cars and the rest of the world will follow along. From there, the same technology will take over short and long-haul trucking, as the retail and commercial sector are always on the lookout for the opportunity to reduce costs and boost profit margins.

Teenagers of today, don’t get too excited about getting your driver’s licenses. Before you know it, those cards will be as obsolete as Ataris.

—

Editor-in-chief

Neil Godbout

Internal struggle, external impact

There are few problems that appear more intractable for Canada than the question of Aboriginal rights and title. As protests to the west by Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs prove, we still don’t know who is in charge of a given nation or tribe, let alone how long consent for any project will last. Add to this the incentive for everything from blockades to legal battles, and First Nations issues seem to be an ever tighter and more complicated Gordian Knot.

Once again, much of this is due to the courts.

In the landmark case of Delgamuukw, which featured the same native groups as these current protests, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that oral history was legitimate evidence in deciding Aboriginal title and that said title could not be extinguished by fiat: rather, governments, as well as private firms, had a duty to consult with First Nations and negotiate for the privilege to access or utilize ancestral lands.

Revolution, often yielding terrible results but in our age of “checking one’s privilege,” how can the divine right of chiefs be defended? Canadians still argue about our British Crown versus the possibility of a Republic.

No author of that document ever intended for veto power to be accorded to we, the First Peoples of Canada, and the acrimony it earned us is clear.

I remain convinced that it was a mistake to include Aboriginal rights in the Constitution Act of 1982. No author of that document ever intended for veto power to be accorded to we, the First Peoples of Canada, and the acrimony it earned us is clear. Also, our restless house of non-status versus status, West versus East versus North, treatied versus non-treatied, and reserve versus non-reserve Indians, Metis, and Inuit is a constant distraction from the many issues we face.

Now the question of bands and council in conflict with their own hereditary chiefs, the former recognized by the Indian Act as the latter is not, threatens the largest private investment in Canada as well as the consensus that guided these negotiations. But these are symptoms of a larger issue, one that our own Crown and mother of all parliaments disputed over, sometimes violently, for centuries: who should rule – those elected by the people or those selected by birth?

Such a question is not easily answered in Aboriginal circles: after all, the status of every Indian is a mixture of rights by blood and by law. To ignore ancient traditions has been in vogue since the French

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Maybe all our differences are not really so great.

Of course, there are dozens of malicious motives that may be reasonably guessed at upon hearing about yet another protest over yet another pipeline. And, as I’m wont to do, I will sternly warn any and all First Peoples that the NIMBY lobbyists and lawyers, no matter how well heeled, are not our friends. Our people and culture will not be preserved by dependency that the lack of job opportunities brings. Truly, self-reliance from generating real wealth is our only hope. Furthermore, unless we are determined to return to a precontact state of life, a level of compromise must be accepted. Yes, the devil is in the details and certainly what any individual, private firm or government will try to get away with when dealing with Aboriginals must be carefully watched. Yet to put it bluntly, I’m writing this in the “colonizer’s tongue,” and no sane opponent is going to attempt to rebut me in anything else if he cares to be taken seriously.

Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs may well have legitimate claims, but not against the white man: the issue of democracy versus aristocracy can only be solved internally by the people group in question. Indeed, the first lesson of self-governance is that properly functioning nations have a single state apparatus from which legal authority stems in a given territory. Otherwise the nation state divides into conflict with itself, making it an easy target for exploitation by foreigners.

This internal struggle on display to the west might well be the new norm. One can only hope that we, the First Peoples of Canada, resolve these in less time than it took the Old World.

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Right of Centre

KIRK LAPOINTE Glacier Media

Guest Column

Freeland, McCallum decry

Canadian’s death sentence

Mike BLANCHFIELD, Giuseppe VALIANTE Citizen news service

Canada shot back at China on Tuesday, branding the death sentence imposed on a British Columbia man as inhumane and flaunting the support of its allies in trying to win the release of two other imprisoned Canadians.

The two countries toughened their respective travel advisories, making a mockery of a last year’s bilateral feel-good initiative to boost tourism between them.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Canada has asked China to spare the life of Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, who was originally sentenced in 2016 to a 15-year term for drug smuggling. On Monday, after a new trial, he was sentenced to die.

“We believe it is inhumane and inappropriate, and wherever the death penalty is considered with regard to a Canadian we speak out against it,” Freeland said in SaintHyacinthe, Que.

Freeland also trumpeted a long list of allies that Canada has courted in its efforts to free Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, two other Canadians imprisoned last month after Canada arrested a Chinese executive at the request of the United States.

“So much of the world is speaking with one voice on this matter and I think that is certainly a good start. But the people (Kovrig and Spavor) are not yet free, and there is still more work to be done,” Canada’s ambassador to China, John McCallum, said in an exclusive interview in Montreal.

“I think that’s very important, and I think the prime minister and foreign-affairs minister have done a great job in getting all those major countries to come out publicly in support of Canada.”

Freeland said she wanted to “emphasize” how glad Canada is that “a large and growing, group of our allies has stood with Canada.”

She rhymed off a list of countries – Germany, France, the Netherlands, the European Union, the United States, Britain, Australia, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia – for “publicly coming out and speaking against these arbitrary detentions. And that is very important.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also courted the leaders of Argentina and New Zealand in separate telephone calls on Monday. The international outreach has sparked Chinese ire, including a scathing attack from Beijing’s envoy in Ottawa that it smacks of “Western egotism and white supremacy.”

SCHELLENBERG

Freeland and McCallum spoke after China’s foreign ministry blasted Trudeau earlier on Tuesday, expressing “strong dissatisfaction” with his criticism of the death sentence for Schellenberg.

Trudeau said Monday he was very concerned to see China “acting arbitrarily.”

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying upbraided Trudeau on Tuesday, saying he should “respect the rule of law, respect China’s judicial sovereignty, correct mistakes and stop making irresponsible remarks.”

Hua told reporters in Beijing that China expresses “our strong dissatisfaction with this” and is cautioning its citizens about travelling to Canada. It urged Chinese citizens to consider their personal circumstances and “fully assess the risks of going to Canada for tourism.”

The Chinese foreign ministry’s consularaffairs office also published a notice Tuesday saying that Canada has recently “arbitrarily detained” a Chinese national – a reference to Canada’s arrest of Chinese telecommunications executive Meng Wanzhou. The notice mirrored Canada’s revision of its own travel advisory Monday that warned of the “risk of arbitrary enforcement of local laws” in China.

McCallum, a former cabinet minister who was a vocal booster of Sino-Canadian tourism, said his top priority “is to do everything I can to get the two Michaels” released as quickly as possible.

“I also agree with the prime minister, who referred to the arbitrary death penalty,” said McCallum, who is expected to brief Trudeau’s cabinet at a retreat this week in Sherbrooke, Que.

Bus safety improvements needed, TSB says

Teresa WRIGHT Citizen news service

OTTAWA — The head of the Transportation Safety Board says Canada needs to move fast on better national “crashworthiness” standards for buses and other commercial passenger vehicles in light of two deadly bus collisions over the last year.

Last week’s double-decker transit bus crash in Ottawa that killed three people and injured 23 others, as well as the Humboldt hockey-team bus collision that killed 16 and injured 13 last April, highlight the need for passenger buses to meet stricter safety guidelines, TSB chair Kathy Fox said in an interview.

“We know that these buses don’t have to meet the same standards that our cars have to meet or that school buses have to meet, and we think that needs to change because in some types of collisions, they don’t necessarily have the kind of protection that passengers should be able to expect when they’re travelling on public transport,” Fox said. “This is a Canadian issue, it’s not just an issue in Ottawa.”

Calls have been made for the federal agency to lead the investigation into the

Ottawa bus crash, as it did when another double-decker OC Transpo bus collided with a moving passenger train in 2013, killing six people. The involvement of the train in that case allowed the TSB to head the investigation, with authority to compel evidence and provide national recommendations.

The more recent Ottawa and Humboldt crashes did not fall within the federal agency’s jurisdiction because they only involved road vehicles. The National Transportation Safety Board in the U.S., meanwhile, does have the authority to conduct accident probes involving commercial vehicles such as trucks and buses.

Fox said the TSB has a particular interest in the Ottawa crash because of key findings from the 2013 OC Transpo collision investigation. It found large vehicles over 26,000 pounds in Canada are not required to meet the same standards as smaller passenger vehicles or school buses when it comes to front-impact, side-impact, rollover or crush protection.

In Friday’s crash, the upper deck of the city bus hit a shelter, and the roof cut through several rows of seats. Many of the people injured required amputations.

OTTAWA

The markets today

TORONTO (CP) — Major North American indices rose Tuesday, propped up by climbing oil prices and positive tech news. While Britain faces a political crisis after lawmakers rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal by a wide margin Tuesday, the expected move didn’t rattle North American investors.

“North American markets seem to be brushing that off,” said Craig Jerusalim, portfolio manager at CIBC Asset Management.

The “recurring nightmare that never ends” could, however, still result in higher risks for the market, he said.

“It’s just more uncertainty coming from that part of the world.”

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 70.75 points at 15,046.28, helped especially by the energy index which rose 1.88 per cent.

Energy stocks rose as the February crude contract closed up US$1.60 at US$52.11 per barrel. The energy situation is even more positive for Canada as the differentials between Canadian and international oil prices, which had widened considerably last fall, are now looking much healthier, said Jerusalim.

“More importantly for Canada, WCS, or Western Canadian Select, is back to its five-year average. And that’s before you factor in heavy differentials which are now all of a sudden the tightest they’ve been in a number of years.”

The widened differentials prompted Alberta Premier Rachel Notley to make the drastic move towards restricting oil production because the lack of export capacity was pushing down Canadian prices. Differentials narrowed Tuesday as reports said the U.S. may impose an embargo on Venezuela after the government took direct control of the state oil producer, whose heavy oil production competes with Canada’s.

The latest developments play into efforts already underway by Notley, said Jerusalim.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average ended up 155.75 points at 24,065.59. The S&P 500 index was up 27.69 points at 2,601.30, while the Nasdaq composite was up 117.92 points at 7,023.83.

The Nasdaq was boosted by Netflix Inc., which rose 6.52 per cent after it said it would increase subscription prices in the U.S. market. The company said last November it was raising prices in Canada.

Marty the grocery-bot coming to U.S. stores

Matt O’BRIEN Citizen news service

SEEKONK, Mass. — A wheeled robot named Marty is rolling into nearly 500 grocery stores to alert employees if it encounters spilled granola, squashed tomatoes or a broken jar of mayonnaise.

But there could be a human watching from behind its cartoonish googly eyes.

Badger Technologies CEO Tim Rowland says its camera-equipped robots stop after detecting a potential spill. But to make sure, humans working in a control centre in the Philippines review the imagery before triggering a cleanup message over the loudspeaker.

Rowland says 25 of the robots are now operating at certain Giant, Martin’s and Stop & Shop stores, with 30 more arriving each week.

Carlisle, Penn.-based Giant says it has two robots now working at stores in the state, and plans to expand to all 172 Giant stores by the middle of this year.

The chains are all part of Dutch parent company Ahold Delhaize.

The robots move around using laser-based “lidar” sensors and pause when shoppers and their carts veer into their path.

The googly eyes are fake, but each robot has eight cameras – some directed down at the floor and others that can see shelves. Rowland said the robots can eventually be repurposed to help monitor a store’s inventory.

A robot observed Tuesday at a Stop & Shop store in Seekonk, Mass., alerted store associates to a price tag that had fallen in one aisle, and a tiny sprig of herbs in another. After

moving along for a few minutes, it returned to the scene of each spill and waited until an employee pushed a button to acknowledge that the debris was picked up.

It’s not the only robot that U.S. shoppers might spot this year. Walmart and Midwestern supermarket chain Schnucks have deployed robots that help monitor inventory.

A union that represents Giant and Stop & Shop workers says it’s keeping an eye on Marty. It remains to be seen what the groceries will ultimately use the technology for. UFCW president Marc Perrone said in an emailed statement that the “aggressive expansion of automation in grocery and retail stores is a direct threat to the millions of American workers who power these industries and the customers they serve.”

Brexit deal quashed, May loses confidence vote

Jill LAWLESS, Danica KIRKA and Gregory KATZ

Citizen news service

LONDON — British lawmakers on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s divorce deal with the European Union, plunging the Brexit process into chaos and leading to a no-confidence vote in her government.

Moments after the vote, May said it was only right to test whether the government still had lawmakers’ support to carry on. Lawmakers will vote today in a no-confidence motion from opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn that could trigger a national election.

The House of Commons’ 432-202 vote against May’s plan was widely expected, but it was still devastating for her fragile leadership.

It came after more than two years of political upheaval – and was the biggest defeat for a government in the House of Commons in more than a century.

The vote means further turmoil for British politics only 10 weeks before the country is due to leave the EU on March 29. It is not clear if it will push the government toward an abrupt “no-deal” break with the EU, nudge it toward a softer departure, trigger a new election or pave the way for a second referendum that could reverse Britain’s decision to leave.

May, who leads a fragile Conservative minority government, has made delivering Brexit her main task since taking office in 2016 after the country’s decision to leave the EU.

“This is the most significant vote that any of us will ever be part of in our political careers,” she told lawmakers as debate ended. “The time has now come for all of is in this House to make a decision... a decision that each of us

will have to justify and live with for many years to come.”

But the deal was doomed by deep opposition from both sides of the divide over U.K.’s place in the bloc. Pro-Brexit lawmakers say the deal will leave Britain bound indefinitely to EU rules, while pro-EU politicians favour an even closer economic relationship with Europe.

The government and opposition parties ordered lawmakers to cancel all other plans to be on hand for the crucial vote. Labour legislator Tulip Siddiq delayed the scheduled cesarean birth of her son so she could attend, arriving in a wheelchair.

As lawmakers debated in the chamber, there was a cacophony of chants, drums and music from rival bands of pro-EU and pro-Brexit protesters outside. One group waved blue-andyellow EU flags, the other brandished “Leave Means Leave” placards.

May postponed a vote on the deal in December to avoid certain defeat, and there were few signs in recent days that sentiment had changed significantly.

The most contentious section of the deal was an insurance policy known as the “backstop” designed to prevent the reintroduction of border controls between the U.K.’s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.

Assurances from EU leaders that the backstop is intended as a temporary measure of last resort completely failed to win over many British skeptics, and the EU is adamant that it will not renegotiate the 585-page withdrawal agreement.

Arlene Foster, who leads Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party – May’s parliamentary ally – said her party voted against the deal because of the backstop.

“We want the PM to go back to the EU and

say ‘the backstop must go,”’ Foster said. Parliament has given May until Monday to come up with a new proposal. So far, May has refused publicly to speculate on a possible “Plan B.”

Some Conservatives expect her to seek further talks with EU leaders on changes before bringing a tweaked version of the bill back to Parliament, even though EU leaders insist the agreement cannot be renegotiated.

European Commission president JeanClaude Juncker returned Tuesday to Brussels to deal with Brexit issues arising from the vote, amid signals May might be heading back to EU headquarters on Wednesday.

An EU official, who asked not to be identified because of the developing situation, said that it was “Important that he is available and working in Brussels during the coming hours.” May had argued that rejecting the agreement would lead either to a reversal of Brexit – overturning voters’ decision in the 2016 referendum – or to Britain leaving the bloc without a deal. Economists warn that an abrupt break from the EU could batter the British economy and bring chaotic scenes at borders, ports and airports.

Business groups had appealed for lawmakers to back the deal to provide certainty about the future.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said parliamentarians “hold the future of the British automotive industry – and the hundreds and thousands of jobs it supports – in their hands.”

“Brexit is already causing us damage in output, costs and jobs, but this does not compare with the catastrophic consequences of being cut adrift from our biggest trading partner overnight,” he said.

“Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.”

AP PHOTO

William Rucker and his grandson Justice, 4, say hello to a robot named Marty as it cleans the floors at a Giant grocery store in Harrisburg, Pa., on Tuesday. The new robotic assistants will be arriving at all 172 Giant stores by the middle of this year.

Sports

Managing editor Neil Godbout puts the news in perspective every day, only in The Citizen

Test against the best

Cougars hosting top-ranked team in CHL

Ted CLARKE Citizen staff

tclarke@pgcitizen.ca

If the Prince George Cougars are looking for a measuring stick to find out how they stack up against the best of their peers the Prince Albert Raiders are it.

The Raiders (37-5-0-1) are heading into their 15th week as the top-ranked major junior team in Canada and they continue to set the bar in the Western Hockey League.

The good news for Cougars fans is they get to see firsthand what makes the Raiders tick. This season, all East Division teams make the trek to B.C. and the Raiders are in Prince George to take on the Cougars tonight at CN Centre (7 p.m. start).

The Raiders’ roster includes two members of Canada’s world junior team – goalie Ian Scott and right winger Brett Leason. Scott is a fourth-round pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2017 whose 1.78 goals-against average and .937 save percentage leads the league. Leason joined the Raiders over the summer in a trade from Tri-City and he’s having a career year with 30 goals and 39 assists for 69 points in 36 games – fourth in the WHL scoring race.

Leason has had plenty of offensive support from the likes of C Noah Gregor (26-33-59), LW Cole Forstad (16-28-44) and C Kelly Parker (20-21-41). Gregor was a fourth-round draft pick of the San Jose Sharks in 2016, Parker is an Ottawa Senators prospect, and Forstad was picked in the fifth round in 2018 by the Montreal Canadiens. The Raiders just acquired C Dante Hannoun (20-20-40) in a trade from the Victoria Royals.

On the Prince Albert defence, one player to watch is 16-year-old Kaiden Guhle, the first-overall pick in the 2017 WHL bantam draft. Guhle is the younger brother of former Cougars defenceman Brendan Guhle, who now plays in the AHL for the Rochester Americans. In 40 games as a WHL rookie the younger Guhle has a goal and 10 assists.

Marc Habscheid’s Raiders have

scored more goals (198) than any other WHL team and their 95 goals allowed ranks third in the league. For perspective, the Cougars have scored just 95 goals (second-lowest in the WHL) and have allowed 130 (seventh stingiest in the league).

But the Raiders are not unbeatable, as the lowly Swift Current Broncos proved Dec. 4 in Swift Current when they beat Prince Albert 3-2 in a shootout.

The Raiders are just beginning a trip that will take them to all six B.C. stops in the WHL. The Cougars (16-22-1-2) are catching the Raiders at a time when the Cats are playing their best hockey of the season, coming off 7-2 and 4-0 wins at home against the Kelowna Rockets. In their past six games combined the Cougars have allowed just nine goals, an average 1.5 per game.

“Since Christmas time we’ve been playing unbelievably defensively, (goalie Taylor) Gauthier’s been outstanding for us,” said Cougars winger Josh Maser, a fourth-round Raider pick in the

2014 WHL bantam draft. (The Raiders traded him to Prince George in October 2016 for forward Adam Kadlec.)

“We’ve been scoring when we need to score and blocking shots and doing all the small things right and just bearing down.”

Two other Cougars, defence-

men, Austin Crossley and Rhett Rhinehart, came over from the Raiders in the January 2018 deal that sent winger Kody McDonald to Prince Albert. McDonald was traded to Victoria along with C Carson Miller last week in the Hannoun deal.

“Me, Crossley and Rhinehart all used to play on the Raiders and we know quite a few of their players but that’s not going to change anything,” said Maser. “We know they’re first place in the league

but every team can get beaten. We know Seattle went into Prince Albert (last Wednesday) and they beat them 4-1.

“We just have to go out there and work hard. They’re obviously a very skilled team, an older team, and everyone has to play their role and block shots, get pucks to the net, go out and hit, crash the net and I think we can beat them.”

The Cats are 4-1 in the new year. Their two weekend wins moved them into the second Western Conference wild-card spot and left them just three points behind Kelowna for the third and final B.C. Division playoff spot.

“Since the break we’ve been real good and give the guys credit, they’re enjoying buying into a system,” said head coach Richard Matvichuk. “Our goal was to play like this right from the beginning and it’s paying off. We’re practicing a lot harder and doing the right things on and off the ice.”

The Cougars host the Kamloops Blazers Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.

Gauthier picked as WHL goaltender of week

Citizen staff

Taylor Gauthier was selected on Monday as goaltender of the week in the Western Hockey League. The 17-year-old stopper for the Prince George Cougars was recognized for his stellar play for the week ending Jan. 13.

The WHL award had Gauthier in the running for the Canadian Hockey League goaltender of the week honour but that nod went Tuesday to Kevin Mandolese of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.

In four games in the designated time period,

Gauthier posted a 3-1-0-0 record (two of the wins by shutout) with a 1.26 goals-againstaverage. He stopped 97 of 102 shots for a .951 save percentage.

Gauthier started his week with a 1-0 blanking of the host Tri-City Americans, a Jan. 8 game in which he stopped 36 shots. He was named first star of the contest and first star of the night in the WHL for his efforts.

After turning aside 23 of 26 shots in a 4-2 road loss to the Spokane Chiefs the next night, Gauthier returned home with the Cougars for a pair of weekend games against the Kelowna

Canucks’ playoff pursuit perfect preparation for roster youth

Ben KUZMA Vancouver Sun

What does Bo Horvat think when he watches the wacky Western Conference wild-card playoff chase?

A lot. And for good reason. He advanced to the NHL post-season as a wide-eyed rookie in 2015 – the last time the Vancouver Canucks played beyond mid-April – and knows he’s a better player today from what he learned and endured. It’s why being in the hunt for a post-season berth in 2019 means everything to every player.

“It’s going to be huge for us to have meaningful games the entire course of the year,” stressed Horvat. “The last couple of years, we’ve kind of been out of it basically by February. And it hasn’t be fun. This year, we have a chance to do something special and be in the wild card, and everybody in the room realizes that.” That could have sounded like hopeful training-camp rhetoric. However, it’s a mid-January realization that a team can be in transition and in pursuit of the

post-season by playing games that matter in February and March. The Canucks might not get there in April, but have laid the foundation to make the trek more memorable than forgettable. Elias Pettersson could make it quite the spring fling. He has turned the Canucks from blue collar to nightly red-light potential. The electric rookie centre may return tonight after missing three games with a mild MCL (medial collateral ligament) sprain of his right

knee. The Calder Trophy front-runner has a team-leading 42 points (22-20) in 38 games and changes the evenstrength and power-play dynamic, which is good because the Canucks are in an 0-for-12 slump over the last four games. He also leads the club with six man-advantage goals and seven gamewinners.

“He obviously creates a ton of offence and adds that scoring and play-making ability to our lineup that we need,” said Horvat. “He’s a huge part of our team so far.”

And for a 20-year-old who relishes playing against the game’s greats, maybe his two-way presence can rub of on Nikolay Goldobin. The mercurial winger hasn’t scored in 13 games, has one goal in his last 20 and took a lazy hooking minor Thursday that resulted in just two third-period shifts. If a Canucks’ run to a wild-card spot doesn’t inspire Goldobin to be better without the puck – he’s still fourth in club scoring with 23 points (5-18) – then what?

— see MEANINGFUL, page 10

Rockets. In the first game, played Friday night, he stopped 18 of 20 shots in a 7-2 victory. In the second half of the doubleheader, Gauthier recorded a 20-save shutout in a 4-0 win against Kelowna.

Gauthier, from Calgary, is in his second season with the Cougars. So far in 2018-19, he sports a 12-15-1-1 record with a 2.94 goals-against average, a .905 save percentage and three shutouts. The Cougars chose Gauthier in the first round (ninth overall) of the 2016 WHL bantam draft. He is listed by NHL Central Scouting as a ‘B’ prospect for the 2019 draft.

Special Olympians take strides in snowshoes

Citizen staff

Local Special Olympians tromped to some fun and fast times during a weekend snowshoe competition in Burns Lake.

For some of the athletes, the event served as a warm-up for the Special Olympics B.C. Winter Games, Feb. 22-23 in Vernon. Results were as follows: David Dunn: three first-place finishes; Chase Caron: two first-place finishes, two second-place finishes; Marinka VanHage: two firstplace finishes, two second-place finishes; Tegan Raines: one first-place finish, three second-place finishes; Adrian Rosen: one first-place finish, two third-place finishes, one fourth-place finish; Jennifer Germann: one second-place finish, three third-place finishes; Brandon Meise: one second-place finish, three third-place finishes; Shannon Raczki: two second-place finishes, two third-place finishes; Michael Harris: one thirdplace finish, one fourth-place finish, two fifthplace finishes; Josiah Lecher: three third-place finishes, one fifth-place finish; Gwang Yeon Lee: two fourth-place finishes; Spencer Rourke: two third-place finishes, one fourth-place finish, one sixth-place finish. Special Olympians from Smithers and the host Burns Lake organization were also in attendance.

Prince George Cougars defenceman Jack Sander battles for a loose puck with Leif Mattson of the Kelowna Rockets on Saturday night at CN Centre. The Cougars will be back on home ice tonight to take on the highly-touted Prince Albert Raiders.

GAUTHIER

Meaningful games will make team better: Horvat

from page 9

The other side of all this is imagine where Adam Gaudette could take his game if he’s in the roster mix down the stretch. Like Horvat, the rookie has diligently worked at his defensive game and has an offensive upside.

“He’s got a chance to be a really good player and I like his speed down the middle and his tenacity,” coach Travis Green said of Gaudette, who was reassigned to the Utica Comets to make roster room for Josh Leivo. “I think he’s improving and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see him back here.”

Which would be good because meaningless games in March can be like a death march. There’s nothing worse than a sixweek slog to end the regular season without a legitimate playoff shot. Say what you will about prospects getting a chance to dip their toes into the NHL water, it’s just not the same. The games don’t have the proper pace, mistakes become more frequent and personal statistics don’t carry the same weight. Simply stated, they’re hard games to play.

“They are,” agreed Horvat. “You get into the playoffs and anything can happen. For us to have meaningful games, it’s going to make the team – and especially the young guys – a lot better in the long run. Those games are the best to play in and the most fun time of year.

“You get up for those games and you learn so much from playoff hockey. And if you can’t get up for that kind of stuff – that’s what you play the game for – I don’t know because you want to be in those situations.”

In 2015, the Canucks lost a physical firstround series to the Calgary Flames in six games. Despite finishing the regular-season on a three-game win streak to place second in the Pacific Division with 101 points, they blew the opening game on home ice. They couldn’t win in the Saddledome, couldn’t win the psychological battles and were physically outmatched.

“A heck of a series physically and emo-

Stephens wins battle of ‘Frenemies’

MELBOURNE (AP) — Sloane Stephens advanced at the Australian Open at the expense of her former doubles partner Timea Babos in a second-round match the women’s tour billed as a battle of the so-called “frenemies.”

Fifth-seeded Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion, dominated the Rod Laver Arena opener 6-3, 6-1 on Wednesday but Babos kept her working by saving 18 of the 23 break points she faced.

This is the first time since 2014 that Stephens has put back-toback wins together at Melbourne Park. She reached the fourth round in 2014, a year after making a run to the semifinals. She puts the improvement down to feeling more relaxed.

“Yeah, considering I haven’t won a match here in I don’t know how long,” she said. “I’m kind of conquering all the places where I’ve been terrible. So Asia, I’ve won a few matches there, and here. I know haven’t done well here the last few years (so) putting the emphasis on trying to start the year on a good foot.”

Elias Pettersson of the Vancouver

makes a move against Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price during a Jan. 3

Montreal,

tionally – (Michael) Ferland and (Kevin) Bieksa and you name it – and a lot of fun to be a part of and I want to get back there,” said Horvat.

All that expectation allowed the centre to grow his game after 25 points (13-12) in 68 regular-season games as a first-year, fourthline grinder.

forward suffered a knee injury.

may be back in the lineup tonight when the Canucks host the Edmonton Oilers.

Then-coach Willie Desjardins was somewhat reluctant to immerse a raw 20-yearold centre in the post-season pressure cooker, but Horvat didn’t disappoint. On a wrecking-ball line with Ronalds Kenins and Jannik Hansen, he scored his first career playoff goal in his first game and would set up Kenins for a goal in his second.

Four points in six playoff games and 1213 minutes per outing – including a faceoff percentage that got better as the series evolved with 30, 67, 78, 58, 50 and 79-percent efficiency ratings – proved Horvat belonged. He would become a trade-talk untouchable and probably the Canucks’ captain next season.

Brossoit sets franchise record in Winnipeg win

Judy OWEN Citizen news service

WINNIPEG — Laurent Brossoit didn’t mind facing a barrage of pucks. He quite enjoyed it, actually.

The Jets backup goalie stopped a franchise-record 26 shots in the second period and made a seasonhigh 43 saves in Winnipeg’s 4-1 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday.

“You know what, I like periods like that,” said Brossoit, who’s started 11 games this season (10-01) and has seven consecutive wins.

“I like games like that where I’m tested early and often. The second period was definitely one of those and it got me into the game. There’s not a lot of rest in between. I like that.”

Vegas outshot the Jets 10-9 in the first period and 26-7 in the second. The old franchise record for saves in a period was 25 by former netminder Ondrej Pavelec in January 2017.

Kyle Connor scored a short-handed goal and put one into the empty net for Winnipeg, which won every game in a three-game homestand and is 5-0-1 in its past six games. Connor also added an assist.

Mathieu Perreault scored at even strength and Mark Scheifele also had an empty-net goal for Winnipeg (30-14-2). Scheifele added an assist and Blake Wheeler contributed a pair.

Brandon Pirri scored and MarcAndre Fleury made 22 saves for Vegas (28-17-4), which is 8-1-1 in its last 10 games.

Fleury acknowledged Brossoit’s solid performance.

“He played good. He had a lot of shots,” Fleury said. “It happens, I think, at this level. The goalie’s good and they all can give a chance to their team to win games and that’s what he did tonight.” Wheeler said Brossoit has been

“outstanding” ever since the former Edmonton Oilers netminder signed with the Jets in the summer.

“You can tell he came into camp with a chip on his shoulder. Something to prove,” Wheeler said.

“Got an opportunity here and boy has he been a difference-maker for our team.

“He’s one of those guys that’s a driver every day. In practice, and in games. You can tell. His performance, when he’s in the net, he’s been great this year.”

Winnipeg led 2-0 after the second period and Pirri cut the lead 63 seconds into the third.

It was the first meeting between the teams since Vegas beat the Jets in five games in last season’s Western Conference final.

After a scoreless first period, Winnipeg got goals from Connor and Perreault in the middle period that was slanted toward the visitors.

“We kept playing, we had lots of shots and lots of chances and their goalie was outstanding. That was the difference,” Vegas head coach Gerard Gallant said.

At one point in the second period, Vegas was outshooting Winnipeg 17-2, but Connor scored

his 17th goal of the season on a breakaway while the Jets were shorthanded at 5:45.

Jets centre Bryan Little, playing in his 800th NHL career game, assisted to extend his point streak to six games with four goals and four assists.

Perreault scored an unassisted goal at 16:23 after he got a loose puck and skated across the front of Fleury, sending a backhand shot over his glove. The goal drew jeering chants from the crowd of “Fleury, Fleury.”

“We had some power plays, some chances but just wish I could have made one of those breakaway saves to keep us in there,” Fleury said.

Winnipeg’s lead was also surprising considering the Golden Knights were carrying over their sixth power play of the game into the third period.

Connor scored into the empty net at 18:47 and Scheifele added his with six seconds remaining. Scheifele has three goals and six assists in a six-game point streak.

The Jets finished 0-for-2 on the power play and the Golden Knights 0-for-6.

Canucks

game in

the same night the Vancouver

Pettersson

Farewell, Dolly

Mark KENNEDY Citizen news service

Tributes from stars like Kristin Chenoweth and Bette Midler poured in to honour the life and career of Carol Channing, the three-time Tony Award-winning musical comedy star who delighted American audiences with more than 5,000 performances as the scheming Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly! on Broadway and beyond. She died Tuesday at 97.

Publicist B. Harlan Boll said Channing died of natural causes at 12:31 a.m. Tuesday in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Boll says she had twice suffered strokes in the last year.

Besides Hello, Dolly!, Channing starred in other Broadway shows, but none with equal magnetism. She often appeared on television and in nightclubs, for a time partnering with George Burns in Las Vegas and a national tour.

“Channing was one of the few who paved the path for so many women in theatre and beyond,” Chenoweth wrote on Twitter. “I will forever admire and look up to you, Carol.” Midler called Channing “a complete original” and “a legend.” Playwright Paul Rudnick called Channing “the delirious soul of musical theatre.”

Channing’s outsized personality seemed too much for the screen, and she made only a few movies, notably The First Traveling Saleslady with Ginger Rogers and Thoroughly Modern Millie with Julie Andrews.

Over the years, Channing continued as Dolly in national tours, the last in 1996, when she was in her 70s. Tom Shales of The Washington Post called her “the ninth wonder of the world.”

Messages of love and appreciation came quickly, with the League of Professional Theatre Women saying Channing “was a gift of inspiration to so many.” Veteran actress Bernadette Peters said Channing “was show business and love personified” and Margaret Cho said “you will forever be missed.” Viola Davis mourned: “You had a great run! Rest well.”

Channing was not the immediate choice to play Dolly, a matchmaker who receives her toughest challenge yet when a rich grump

A&E IN BRIEF Springsteen surprises pub patrons

BOSTON (AP) — Bruce Springsteen made an unexpected visit to a Boston pub last week.

Tommy McCarthy, owner of The Bebop, said Springsteen walked into the bar with his wife and another woman to spend some time listening to a local performer playing Friday evening. McCarthy told The Boston Globe Springsteen enjoyed the music and had a few drinks before he went on his way.

McCarthy said The Boss told him he’d like to stop by again sometime.

It was unclear why Springsteen was in Boston, although his son once attended Boston College.

The Bebop is close to Berklee College of Music and McCarthy said Springsteen’s visit was “pretty amazing.”

Rihanna sues father

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rihanna is suing her father over his use of their last name for a business.

In the lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in Los Angeles, Rihanna, whose full name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty, says her father, Ronald Fenty, and his partner have violated her trademark and falsely suggested their business, Fenty Entertainment, is affiliated with her.

The 30-year-old singer said in the lawsuit she has used the name for her cosmetics brand and other businesses since 2012. Fenty Entertainment, which advertises itself as a talent and production company, was founded in 2017.

The lawsuit asks the court to order Ronald Fenty to stop using the brand name, and it seeks damages to be determined later.

Stage icon Carol Channing dies at age 97

Carol Channing performs during her one-woman show, The First 80

cabaret Feinstein’s at the Regency in New York in October 2005. She was a Dolly for the ages, and a true icon of the American theatre.

seeks a suitable wife. The show, which features a rousing score by Jerry Herman that’s bursting with joy and tunes like Put On Your Sunday Clothes, Before the Parade Passes By and It Only Takes a Moment, is a musical version of Thornton Wilder’s play The Matchmaker.

Theater producer David Merrick told her: “I don’t want that silly grin with all those teeth that go back to your ears.” Even though director Gower Champion had worked on her first Broadway hit, Lend an Ear, he had doubts about Channing’s casting.

She wowed them in an audition and was hired on the spot. At opening night on Jan. 16, 1964, when Channing appeared at the top of the stairs in a red gown with feathers in her hair and walked down the red carpet to the Harmonia Gardens restaurant, the New York audience went crazy. The critics followed suit. Hello, Dolly! collected 10 Tony Awards, including one for Channing as best actress in a musical. She would later win a special Tony in 1968 and a Tony for Lifetime Achievement in 1995.

“Carol Channing was one of the great icons of the American

— Statement from current tour of Hello, Dolly!

theatre, and a beloved ambassador for this art form. She possessed a quality so unique and so special that she became her own archetype,” said Heather Hitchens, president and CEO of the American Theatre Wing. Broadway will pause tonight to honour Channing by dimming all theatre marquees for a minute at 7:45 p.m.

Channing was born Jan. 31, 1921, in Seattle, where her father, George Channing, was a newspaper editor. When his only child was three months old, he moved to San Francisco and worked as a writer for The Christian Science Monitor and as a lecturer. He later became editor-in-chief of Christian

Netflix renews Grace and Frankie ahead of Season 5 debut

Lynn ELBER Citizen news service

LOS ANGELES — As the fifth-

season adventures of Grace and Frankie begin, viewers can rest assured there’s more to come.

Series creator Marta Kauffman and Netflix said Tuesday the series starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin has been renewed for Season 6, due in 2020.

Kauffman said she was hopeful the comedy would keep going, given that “we certainly feel the love” from streaming service Netflix.

But the decision announced before Friday’s Season 5 release “is greatly appreciated,” she said. “I don’t take it for granted.”

When last seen, Grace and Frankie were fleeing a retirement community in a golf cart to resume life in their oceanfront home – only to find a “sold” sign in front of it.

What’s in store for the mismatched pals, who were thrown together when their respective husbands Robert and Sol (Martin Sheen, Sam Waterson) declared they were longtime lovers and moved in together?

“Everybody said, ‘Oh, that was a real cliffhanger when you lost the house last season,”’ Tomlin, who plays Frankie, said. “Well, wait until you see this season.”

Kauffman also weighed in, carefully, on how Grace and Frankie will fare in the upcoming 13 episodes.

“Without spoilers, they’re going to spend a great deal of time trying to figure out how to get their house back,” she said. “But honestly, what they get to very quickly about life at that age is the idea you can finally just say

TOMLIN

(expletive) it.”

Friends creator Kauffman had such an epiphany of her own two years ago, at age 60, that she describes as a “startling discovery.” It spoke volumes.

“I don’t have to finish every book I start,” she said. “There are too many books in the world. I mean that’s a very small piece of it. But that is my version of it. ... I am at a certain age and I don’t have to put up with anybody’s (expletive).”

She was mum on how that plays out on the series, sharing only that romance may lie ahead for the women and the men will have experiences separate from the world of their exes.

For Tomlin, happiness is a given.

“I’m always excited for the show. Because I love Jane, I love playing with her. We have a great family on the set,” she said.

Science publications.

At the age of seven, Channing decided she wanted to become an entertainer. She credited her father with encouraging her: “He told me you can dedicate your life at seven or 97. And the people who do that are happier people.”

While majoring in drama and dance at Bennington College in Vermont, she was sent off to get experience in her chosen field. She found a job in a New York revue.

The show lasted only two weeks, but a New Yorker magazine critic commented, “You will hear more about a satiric chanteuse named Carol Channing.” She said later: “That was it. I said goodbye to trigonometry, zoology and English literature.”

For several years she worked as an understudy, bit player and nightclub impressionist, taking jobs as a model, receptionist and sales clerk during lean times. Landing in Los Angeles, she auditioned for Marge Champion, wife and dance partner of Gower Champion who was putting together a revue, Lend an Ear. Marge Champion recalled: “She certainly was awkward and odd-looking, but her warmth and

wholesomeness came through.” Channing was the hit of Lend an Ear in a small Hollywood theatre, and she captivated audiences and critics when the show moved to New York. As the innocent gold digger in the musical Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, her stardom was assured. One reviewer reported she “hurls across the footlights in broad strokes of pantomime and bold, certain, exquisitely comical gestures.” The show’s hit song, Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend, became her signature number. Over and over again she returned to the surefire Hello, Dolly!, which earned her $5 million on one tour. She considered Dolly Levi “a role as deep as Lady Macbeth,” but added that “the essence of her character was her unquenchable thirst for life.” That description fit Channing, who attributed her sunny optimism to her lifelong faith in Christian Science. Others who have played the role include Pearl Bailey, Phyllis Diller, Betty Grable, Ethel Merman, Martha Raye, Ginger Rogers and Barbra Streisand, who played Dolly in a 1969 film version directed by Gene Kelly. Bette Midler won a Tony Award in the role in 2017 and a current national tour stars Betty Buckley.

The tour of Hello, Dolly! said Tuesday it would honour Channing at its current stop in California. “We are deeply saddened by the passing of the one and only Carol Channing. She was a Dolly for the ages, and a true icon of the American theatre.”

AP PHOTO

Carol Channing, star of the original Hello, Dolly!, is shown on March 2, 1978 in New York.

AP FILE PHOTO

Years are the Hardest, at the

Brian Michael Stoppler

Brian Michael Stoppler died unexpectedly and peacefully, of natural causes, at his home on January 13, 2019 at the age of 66.

Brian is survived by his mother Mrs. Alma Stoppler; his wife of 46 years, Lynda; their children, Ashley (Travis Stewart) Prince George, Adam (Karri) Grande Prairie, and two grandsons Landon Stoppler and Spencer Stewart. He is also survived by his brothers Richard (Lois), Allan (Vickie) and their respective families. Brian leaves behind his “brother in fishing” Doug McCumsey, and his canine companion, Bella. He will be missed by his nieces and nephews. Brian was preceded in death by his father, Frank Stoppler, and his canine companions Springer and Bentley.

Brian was born March 1, 1952 in Gravelbourgh, Sk. As the son of a railroader he lived in many different small Saskatchewan towns and played hockey and baseball in most of them. He and Lynda married in 1972 and lived in Burnaby until January 1, 1974 when they moved to Prince George where Brian continued to work for CN Rail. Later he was in charge of Landtran Logistics and, hired not only his own children at various times but also some of their friends as they worked their way through university. Brian retired thirteen years ago and during that time he watched a lot of baseball, the Seattle Seahawks (until they would lose and then he’d throw his Seahawks hat out the door), curling, and most recently, he was an avid viewer of MSNBC keeping up on the Trump debacle.

Brian was very proud of his children and all that they have accomplished - at one point when they were both working for him he said “you can say what you want about having your kids work for you; those two ding dongs have just done a great job”. He recognized the happiness that Karri brought to Adam, and that Travis brought to Ashley and was totally taken with his two grandsons. He was able to have his mother, his children, their spouses, and grandchildren with him at Christmas. Brian was an insulin dependent Type 1 diabetic from the age of 17. That he lived as long as he did is a tribute to his physiological make-up and the skills of the medical practitioners in Prince George. Surprisingly he had very few complications from his diabetes - and it wasn’t due to good management on his part. He had the utmost respect for Dr. Donald MacRitchie (not that he always did what Dr. MacRitchie recommended but…) and appreciated the people at the Diabetic Clinic, the Burn and Wound Clinic (which he called the Hoof and Wound Clinic), Davinder, the Pharmacist at Save-On Foods, Joanne, the footcare provider, Dr. Kjorven and her dental team, and Dr. Dergousoff, Optometrist, and Dr. Lukaris, Opthamologist. Brian marched to the beat of his own drumhe was incredibly stubborn and opinionatedbut also very willing to help those with less than he had. He loved telling stories, embellishing details - he never let the truth get in the way of a good story - what he didn’t know he made up - and he could make you believe him.

A Celebration of Life will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, January 18th at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club. In lieu of flowers there will be an opportunity to make a donation to the Quinson Elementary School Breakfast Fund. Lynda and family extend their thanks to the paramedics, the firefighters, the Victim Services team, the Coroner, and the RCMP for their assistance.

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With great sadness we announce the sudden passing at home of Syl Meise, a loving family man and generous friend to all, who struggled with congestive heart failure and COPD for several years. He is survived by his heartbroken family, wife of 51 years Linda Christine, son Scott, daughter Leah, granddaughter Donna, step-grandson Trevor, great grandchildren Ariya, Kayleen and Logan, brother Dave (Marie), sister Beverlie Flegel (John), sisters-in-law Barbara and Pat and many cousins, nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his parents Franz & Helena, brothers John, Henry, Lud, Ernie, Bill, Pete, Fred & George and sisters Frieda, Josephine and Isabel. Syl was an unforgettable man with a big heart, a positive attitude, an endless supply of stories and jokes and a desire to make everyone smile. To his family he was loving and full of fun, to his friends and community he was selfless and generous, as a professional driver during his work years he was skilled and conscientious. He loved life and never hesitated to try something new whether it was skiing, golfing, acting, curling, loggers sports, racing & training horses, coaching and playing baseball & bowling just to name a few. He will be missed by so many.

A celebration of life will be held at First Baptist Church 483 Gillette Street at 11:00 am Saturday, January 19 with a tea to follow at Pineview Hall. In lieu of flowers donations could be made to the Prince George Hospice House.