Home values are going up in northern B.C., and they are going up inside the City of Prince George.
According to BC Assessment, homeowners across the province can expect to receive their 2019 assessment notices in the mail in the next few days – more than 247,500 properties altogether.
“The majority of residential home owners within the region can expect a moderate increase compared to last year’s assessment,” said B.C.’s deputy assessor Jarret Krantz.
“There are some exceptions to this such as Kitimat where owners will see increases of 20 per cent or greater. Also, the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality where there have been decreases in the range of 20 per cent or more.”
The average assessment value for Prince George went up to $296,000, which was a 10 per cent increase over 2018.
An increase or decrease in the assessed value of any specific property does not directly impact the amount of tax the respective landowner must pay, although cumulative property values do have an impact on overall tax rates from town to town. Nor does assessed value guarantee that will be the sale price should a respective property be sold anytime soon.
An acreage at Moberly Lake near Dawson Creek topped the list of Northern B.C.’s most valuable residential properties with an assessed value of $3.07 million, followed by two homes in Prince George – 4205 Cowart Rd., assessed at $2.31 million, and 7765 St. Dennis Pl., assessed at $2.21 million. Looking at our most immediate neighbours, Quesnel’s average value went up eight per cent and Wells went up 11 per cent, to the south; Vanderhoof went up three per cent and Fraser Lake up 17, to the west; McBride dropped by one percent but Valemount jumped 18 per cent, looking east; while Mackenzie and Chetwynd both held even, to the north.
The average assessment value for Prince George went up to $296,000, which was a 10 per cent increase over 2018.
The community in northern B.C. with the lowest overall average home value was Granisle at $55,600 while the highest average assessed value was Fort St. John at $319,000.
Krantz said that the overall assessed value of northern B.C. property added up to about “$65.7 billion this year” which was a jump of more than $4 billion.
“A total of about $913 million of the region’s updated assessments is from new construction, subdivisions and rezoning of properties,” Krantz said. “The Northern B.C. region encompasses approximately 70 per cent of the province stretching east to the Alberta border, north to the Yukon border, west to Bella Coola including Haida Gwaii and to the south, just north of Clinton.”
The BC Assessment website has undergone some renovations so property owners have better tools for searching property information. Those who register for a free BC Assessment custom account have a range of tools to search for and compare property values and use the built-in interactive map.
“Property owners can find a lot of information on our website including answers to many assessment-related questions, but those who feel that their property assessment does not reflect market value as of July 1, 2018 or see incorrect information on their notice, should contact BC Assessment as indicated on their notice as soon as possible in January,” said Krantz.
Additionally, there is a process for filing a Notice of Complaint (Appeal) by Jan. 31
“for an independent review by a Property Assessment Review Panel,” added Krantz. — see related story, page 3
Snow and slush
ABOVE: A grader clears snow along 20th Avenue near Ellison Drive on Wednesday afternoon. LEFT: A car drives through a puddle on Fifth Avenue on Wednesday afternoon. Warm weather caused slushy streets and blocked storm drains, resulting in lots of standing water in the roadways.
Citizen staff
During the month of December, we conducted four online polls, asking readers to vote on what was the biggest local story of 2018, who the local artist of the year was, who the local athlete of the year was and who the local newsmaker of the year was.
For the biggest local story of 2018, the Central Interior wildfires and evacuees was the clear winner, taking 57 per cent and 304 votes.
A distant second was the City of Prince George managers’ wages and overtime policy, taking 30 per cent and 157 votes. The opioid, fentanyl crisis came in at eight per cent with 42 votes and last was the Prince George Spruce Kings banner and league final playoff run with five per cent and 28 votes.
The total number of votes cast by readers was 531. Jack Grinhaus and Lauren Brotman, the writer/director and actress of Theatre Northwest’s Hedda Noir, won the local artist of 2018 poll, taking 47 per cent and 195 votes. Shelby Meaney, the star of the Judy Russell productions Cabaret and Legally Blonde, took 32 per cent with 133 votes. Carla Joseph, for her Art Battle victory and her work with the Northern Indigenous Artist’s Collective, took 17 per cent and 70 votes, while Andrew Burton, a CBC Poetry Prize finalist, took five per cent with 19 votes. There was a total of 417 votes cast. For local athlete of the year, Sarah Beaudry, a Winter Olympics biathlete, squeaked out the win. — see CONNOLLY, page 3
CITIZEN
The City of Prince George Emergency Reception Centre welcomed thousands of evacuees in August. The Central Interior wildfires were the top story of 2018, according to The Citizen’s online poll.
Williams Lake RCMP make major drug bust
Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca
The region’s drug trafficking underworld was just dealt a blow by police Wednesday with a major bust in Williams Lake resulting in a number of charges.
“The Williams Lake RCMP have effectively disrupted and charged multiple individuals believed to be responsible for a multiple layered drug trafficking operation within the City of Williams Lake,” said RCMP Insp. Jeff Pelley, who added “a substantial seizure of cocaine and cash” came with the takedown.
An operation under the code name Project E-Pelargic has been underway for months, said Pelley, involving a number of police departments in the region, led by the Williams Lake RCMP General
Investigation team. The following individuals have been charged under the Criminal Code and Controlled Drugs and Substance Act as a result of the operation:
• Janine Emma Alphonse with two counts of trafficking a controlled substance identified as cocaine.
• Nolan Basil Harford with one count of trafficking a controlled substance identified as cocaine.
• Justin Kyle Williams with two counts of trafficking a controlled substance identified as cocaine.
• Tye Christopher Jeff with three counts of trafficking a controlled substance and one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking a controlled substance, all identified as cocaine.
• Brian Mathew Dorsey with one count of possession for the purpose of traffick-
ing a controlled substance identified as cocaine.
• Brandon Kyle Wijma with one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking a controlled substance identified as cocaine.
• Jeremy William Squires, of Port Coquitlam, with one count of possession of Canadian currency in excess of $5,000 knowing the property was obtained as proceeds of crime. These allegations are now before the courts.
“This investigation is a testament to the all the officers involved and their dedication focusing on community safety while targeting those believed to responsible from multiple communities,” said Pelley, who added that this operation’s disruptive effect will help the communities surrounding Williams Lake as well as that city.
New Year’s baby born to Bella Coola couple
Citizen staff
A Bella Coola family delivered the first baby of 2019 born in Prince George.
The city’s New Year’s baby, a girl, came into the world at 7:52 a.m. on Jan. 1, born at University Hospital of Northern B.C.
According to Northern Health spokesperson Eryn Collins, “Baby Nezaya Mack was born to parents Kim and Chris Mack – weighing in at seven pounds, 10 ounces.”
The new bundle of 2019 joy will join six older siblings in the Mack family.
“The first baby born in the Northern Health region was a boy, delivered at Bulkley Valley District Hospital in Smithers, at 1:01 a.m.,” said Collins.
“Baby William Ross was born to mom Nikki and dad Will of Stewart, B.C., weighing in at six pounds, 14 ounces. Baby William is also welcomed to the world by his big sister, two-and-ahalf-year-old Avery.”
Hart ski hill open
The Hart Highlands Winter Club was a busy Wednesday with skiers and snowboarders. It is open for the rest of the week from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Night operations will
Connolly second in two categories
— from page 1
Beaudry received 37 per cent and 130 votes over Stanley Cup winner Brett Connolly, with 36 per cent and 126 votes.
Slipping into the mix with 18 per cent and 64 votes was Jared Young, the Chicago Cubs minor league player of the year, while Ethan de Jong of the Prince George Spruce Kings took five per cent with 19 votes and Vasiliki Louka of the UNBC Timberwolves basketball team took four per cent and 15 votes.
There were a total of 354 votes.
Connolly lost another close race for newsmaker of the year, finishing second with 38 per cent and 154 votes.
Meany was the winner, hauling in 42 per cent and 171 votes. Kyle Sampson took eight per cent and 34 votes for his successful run for city council and his work for
PWB spearheading the first Cariboo Rocks
The North. Rounding out the newsmaker of the year category were Young (seven per cent, 29 votes) and Chief Dominic Frederick of the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation (five per cent, 20 votes). There were 408 votes cast.
Remember, none of these surveys were scientific polls.
The first online poll of the new year is what would you most like to see happen in 2019.
Choose from: Justin Trudeau wins reelection bid; Justin Trudeau loses re-election bid; Donald Trump removed from office; Donald Trump remains in office; John Horgan calls a provincial election; or John Horgan doesn’t call a provincial election.
To make your vote count visit www. pgcitizen.ca.
Icefields Parkway to close over avalanche concerns
Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff
fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca
Avalanche safety measures will mean the closure of the Icefields Parkway, the popular Rockies route between Jasper and Banff.
The Yellowhead Highway from Edmonton to Prince George will be open as usual, but Alberta Highway 93 from a point 11 km south of the Icefields Centre to Saskatchewan River Crossing (Alberta Highway 11) will be closed. According to Jasper National Park spokesperson Steve Young, the closure will start today at 7 a.m. and carry on until Friday evening.
“Significant snowfall is forecasted along the Icefields Parkway,” said Young. “The
Icefields Parkway will be closed for avalanche control work. Additional control work could be required on Saturday that may result in lengthy delays.”
This drive through the mountains is considered one of the most picturesque in the world for tourists but the vast majority of that traffic happens in summer. Nonetheless it is an important artery connecting the Central Interior to Southern Alberta. The threat of avalanche is a common factor each winter along that roadway.
To get the latest information on the safety precautions and the road closures they are invoking, log onto the Alberta driving conditions website at www.511. alberta.ca.
B.C. housing market shows signs of moderation: BC Assessment
VANCOUVER — A drop by up to 10 per cent on the estimated value of some homes in Metro Vancouver reflects a broad softening in a once hot market that is being affected by wider economic shifts, say two experts.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve had declining assessments,” said Tsur Somerville, an associate professor at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business.
Somerville said Wednesday the housing values released by BC Assessment, whose estimates are used to determine property taxes, show prices have softened more in the Lower Mainland than elsewhere in the province.
“It’s softening across the board actually,” he added.
BC Assessment says in other parts of the province, there have been five to 15 per cent increases in some property values.
The agency estimates a property’s market value on July 1 of each year and its physical condition on Oct. 31.
Assessor Tina Ireland said property values dipped on average “in the four per cent range” in Vancouver, Burnaby, the North Shore, Richmond and White Rock areas. But Surrey, Delta, Langley, Port Moody and Coquitlam saw increases of four to five per cent on an average.
“It’s a real mix in property value changes, but the market can best be summed up as showing signs of stability across most areas of the province,” Ireland said in a news release.
“Changes in property assessments really depend on where you live. For example, assessed values for detached single family homes in many areas of Metro Vancouver may see a softening in value, while other markets and areas of the province will see modest increases over last year’s values.”
The agency said condominium values increased in 11 urban municipalities it highlighted, with Whistler seeing a 23 per cent increase.
Andy Yan, the director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University, said the softening in the market reflects global changes coupled with tighter mortgage regulations and higher interest rates.
The increased value of some condos reflects their affordability compared to detached homes, he said.
“It was like, OK, fine, you can’t afford a single-family home. Fine, you’ll move over to condos,” he said.
Assessor Tina Ireland said property values dipped on average “in the four per cent range” in Vancouver, Burnaby, the North Shore, Richmond and White Rock areas.
The average assessed value of a singlefamily residential property in Vancouver was about $1.83 million on July 1, 2017, which dipped one year later by about four per cent to $1.76 million. In nearby Port Moody, the average assessed value jumped from $1.28 million to $1.34 million during the same period, representing a five per cent increase.
In 2016, the B.C. government introduced a foreign buyers tax in Metro Vancouver, which was expanded in February to other areas, including Victoria, the Fraser Valley and central Okanagan. Nationally, experts have said higher interest rates and a new mortgage stress test have also had an impact on property prices across the country.
Yan said the impact of these changes will take time to determine but it is “arguably” what’s behind the latest property values from BC Assessment.
Still, housing in the Vancouver area remains unaffordable, he said.
“The summary of these declines in single-family detached values is that we’re far from mission accomplished nor have we achieved affordability in our time.” Commercial and industrial properties saw an increase of between 10 and 20 per cent across most of the province, with some markets around Metro Vancouver increasing by up to 30 per cent.
Yan said the increase in commercial and industrial assessments is important because most businesses didn’t see similar increases in revenue.
“Now we’re touching upon the issue of jobs and economic development,” he said.
“So what is the downstream implications for businesses in terms of commercial and industrial properties going up?”
Deputy assessor Keith MacLean-Talbot says increases in 2019 property assessments do not automatically translate into a corresponding increase in property taxes.
Hina ALAM Citizen news service
Washington Capitals players Brett Connolly, right, and Lars Eller celebrate a goal against the Montreal Canadiens in Montreal on Nov. 1.
Recent storm ‘most damaging’ in BC Hydro history
Citizen news service
VANCOUVER — BC Hydro says December’s massive windstorm was the most damaging in its history and demonstrates improvements are needed in order to be ready for future outages.
A report from the Crown corporation says the Dec. 20 storm was unlike any previous weather event BC Hydro had encountered. The report boosts the total number of customers who lost power to 750,000, an increase of 50,000, as winds topping 100 kilometres per hour came from multiple directions.
It says more than 400,000 customers on the Lower Mainland, and nearly 350,000 or about 80 per cent of all customers on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands were in the dark, although everyone had their lights back on by Dec. 31.
In analyzing its response to the storm, Hydro says it is looking at ways it can provide more support to communities that experience outages for over 72 hours, including having a customer service representative available for face-to-face communication. It also says it will work with cities and municipalities to better map out major intersections and primary traffic routes so restoring electricity to those areas is a priority, avoiding traffic congestion and related safety issues.
A BC Hydro report issued in November warned that storms and extreme weather events are becoming more frequent across the province, and that the number of individual storm events the Crown utility has handled in the last five years has tripled.
“For example, this storm generated more than twice the number of storm-related outages than BC Hydro experienced in all of 2013,” the latest report says.
“The storm required BC Hydro’s single biggest mobilization of staff, contractors and resources,” says the report.
It notes the hurricane-force winds from the Dec. 20 storm were preceded by heavy downpours that destabilized trees, as some areas received more than 400 millimetres of rain, making shallow-rooted varieties such as Douglas fir and hemlock more vulnerable to the wind.
stringing 1,900 spans of lines, replacing 390 power poles and 230 transformers.
More than 900 field workers came in from as far away as Atlantic Canada and Alberta to assist.
The hundreds of outages required crews to repair each individually, including re-
Within the first 24 hours, BC Hydro says it had restored power to more than 550,000 customers and it says while it is pleased with how the crews responded and the quick restoration for many of its customers, improvements can be made.
“Some customers encountered challenges when trying to report downed lines because
Gender pay gap widest at top, report says
Jordan PRESS Citizen news service
OTTAWA — A new report on the country’s highest-paid CEOs is adding evidence to the argument that women face a “double-pane glass ceiling” at the top of Canada’s corporate ladder – first in getting to the executive suite and, once there, earning as much as their male counterparts.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives calculates that of the more than 1,200 named executive officers, or NEOs, at 249 publicly traded companies in Canada, women earn about 68 cents for every dollar made by their male counterparts.
The study says the gap closes to 86 cents when looking at the wages of women and men in senior manager roles, almost in line with the country’s overall pay gap of 87 cents based on Statistics Canada calculations made public in late November.
The gap at the top means that, on average, men earn about $950,000 more annually than women in similar executive positions.
The author of the report says the findings, while focused on the executive level where pay is already high, point to a larger equity issue.
“This is certainly about executives – that’s what we’re looking at – but I think it’s reflective of what’s happening throughout corporate Canada and the difficulties that women face in getting a fair shake even if they do have the qualifications,” said David Macdon-
ald, the centre’s senior economist.
An earlier analysis by The Canadian Press, cited in the centre’s report, found a similar gap among the country’s top 60 publicly traded companies. The review of records for 312 NEOs showed only 25 women and they earned an average of 64 cents for every dollar earned by male counterparts.
Interviews with about a dozen executives revealed a range of reasons.
They told The Canadian Press about how companies rely on the “old boys’ club” for executive searches. They also spoke about how outdated – and unchallenged – corporate culture in some companies leave women out of top jobs or fail to provide workplace support. The executives also mentioned a lack of confidence and risk-taking among women, an issue highlighted in academic research on executive pay.
Macdonald’s report zeros in on three issues.
First, few women are CEOs – about four per cent of Canadian CEOs and 10 per cent of top executives are women – where pay is the highest.
Second, “performance pay” given to top executives – stock, stock options or cash rewards based on how a company performs – is predominantly higher for men than women. Eliminating bonus pay from the equation shrinks the gap to 82 cents, or almost the gap in the wider workforce.
Finally, companies that have more women in their executive ranks tend to be smaller or-
911 operators in certain areas were overwhelmed with calls. Safety is BC Hydro’s number one priority, and this is something it will take away to work on with community partners,” the report says. Preparing for storm season year-round remains a key focus and the Hydro report says it is using its smart metre network and introducing new technology to improve response times to outages.
ganizations, and therefore pay less than their larger counterparts, Macdonald said.
Federal legislation passed in the spring created a “comply or explain” model for diversity on corporate boards, rather than setting quotas for the number of women, for instance. Macdonald’s report, citing a decade of data from Norway where quotas have increased the number of women on boards, suggests quotas aren’t the answer to closing the pay gap. The findings are attached to the left-leaning centre’s annual report on the salaries of Canada’s highest-paid CEOs, who were estimated to earn what an average worker makes in a year by lunchtime Wednesday.
A review of corporate filings of publicly traded companies shows the top 100 CEOs earned an average of $10 million in 2017, the most recent year available, or about 197 times more than the average worker.
A counter-study to be released today will argue that compensation for chief executives isn’t as wide when looking beyond the top 100 companies. Looking at the salaries of almost 1,000 chief executives shows they earn 43 times the average worker’s annual salary, says the review from the right-leaning Fraser Institute. CEOs just outside the top 100 earn about 77 times the average worker, while executives at the companies at the bottom of the list earn roughly one-and-a-half times the average worker, the institute says.
No deal to end U.S. gov’t shutdown
Lisa MASCARO, Catherine LUCEY Citizen news service
WASHINGTON — No one budged at U.S. President Donald Trump’s closed-door meeting with congressional leaders Wednesday, so the partial government shutdown persisted through Day 12 over his demand for billions of dollars to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. They’ll all try again Friday.
In public, Trump renewed his dire warnings of rapists and others at the border. But when pressed in private by Democrats asking why he wouldn’t end the shutdown, he responded at one point, “I would look foolish if I did that.” A White House official, one of two people who described that exchange only on condition of anonymity, said the president had been trying to explain that it would be foolish not to pay for border security. In one big shift, the new Congress will convene today with Democrats taking majority control of the House, and Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said they’d quickly pass legislation to re-open the government – without funds for the border wall.
“Nothing for the wall,” Pelosi said in an interview with NBC’s Today. “We can go through the back and forth. No. How many more times can we say no?” But the White House has rejected the Democratic package, and Republicans who control the Senate are hesitant to take it up without Trump on board. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called it a “total nonstarter.” Trump said ahead of his White House session with the congressional leaders that the partial shutdown will last “as long as it takes” to get the funding he wants.
“Could be a long time or could be quickly,” Trump said during lengthy public comments
at a Cabinet meeting, his first public appearance of the new year. Meanwhile, the shutdown dragged through a second week, closing some parks and leaving hundreds of thousands of federal employees without pay.
Democrats said they asked Trump directly during Wednesday’s private meeting held in the Situation Room why he wouldn’t consider their package of bills. One measure would open most of the shuttered government departments at funding levels already agreed to by all sides. The other would provide temporary funding for Homeland Security, through Feb. 8, allowing talks to continue over border security.
“I said, Mr. President, Give me one good reason why you should continue your shutdown,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said afterward. “He could not give a good answer.”
Trump’s response about looking foolish was confirmed by a White House official and another person familiar with the exchange, neither of whom was authorized to describe the exchange by name. Trump had campaigned saying Mexico would pay for the wall, but Mexico has refused.
At another point Wednesday, Trump told Pelosi that, as a “good Catholic” she should support the wall because Vatican City has a wall, according to a congressional aide. Trump has mentioned the Vatican’s centuriesold fortifications before, including at the earlier Cabinet meeting. But Democrats have said they don’t want medieval barriers, and Pelosi has called Trump’s proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border immoral.
“I remain ready and willing to work with Democrats,” Trump tweeted after the meeting. “Let’s get it done!” House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said that there’s no need to prolong the shut-
down and that he was disappointed the talks did not produce a resolution. He complained that Democrats interrupted Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen as she was trying to describe a dreadful situation at the border.
Nielsen, participating in the meeting by teleconference, had data about unaccompanied minors crossing the border and a spike in illegal crossings, and she tried to make the case to the group that current funding levels won’t suffice, according to the White House.
“We were hopeful that we could get more of a negotiation,” said McCarthy.
He said the leaders plan to return to the White House Friday to continue negotiations. White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said on Fox that Pelosi will be “more able to negotiate” once she is elected speaker, as expected Thursday.
The two sides have traded offers, but their talks broke down ahead of the holidays. On Wednesday, Trump also rejected his own administration’s offer to accept $2.5 billion for the wall. That proposal was made when VicePresident Mike Pence and other top officials met at the start of the shutdown with Schumer, who left saying they remained far apart. On Wednesday Trump repeatedly pushed for the $5.6 billion he has demanded.
Making his case ahead of the private afternoon session, Trump said the current border is “like a sieve” and noted the tear gas “flying” overnight to deter arrivals.
“If they knew they couldn’t come through, they wouldn’t even start,” he said at the meeting, joined by Cabinet secretaries and top advisers, including Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.
With no negotiations over the holidays, Trump complained he had been “lonely ” at the White House, having skipped his getaway to Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
Fourth federal riding falls vacant as PM poised to call three byelections
Citizen news service
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is poised to call byelections in three federal ridings within days and now he has a fourth vacant riding he may choose to fill at the same time.
Sheila Malcolmson has officially resigned as the New Democrat MP for the British Columbia riding of Nanaimo-Ladysmith.
She is leaving the federal stage to run in a provincial byelection, called Wednesday by Premier John Horgan for Jan. 30.
Malcolmson says she sent a letter to House of Commons Speaker Geoff Regan on Nov. 27, informing him that her resignation would take effect on Jan. 2.
In addition to Nanaimo-Ladysmith, there are three other vacant ridings: the B.C. riding of Burnaby South, where NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is hoping to win a seat in the Commons, the Ontario riding of York-Simcoe, left open by the resignation of Conservative MP Peter Van Loan, and the Montreal riding of Outremont, where former NDP leader Tom Mulcair has resigned.
Trudeau’s office has confirmed the prime minister intends to call byelections in those three ridings early this month, with the votes taking place in early February.
He could now add NanaimoLadysmith to the roster, although he’s shown little inclination in the past to rush into byelections. Indeed, he faced criticism last October when he called a Dec. 3 byelection in a vacant eastern Ontario riding while leaving Burnaby South, York-Simcoe and Outremont to a later date.
Trudeau argued at the time that the other three ridings had been vacant for “mere weeks” and he pointed out that the prime minister is legally entitled to wait up to six months after a vacancy occurs before calling a byelection. However, the situation in Nanaimo-Ladysmith is somewhat different. If Trudeau does not call a byelection there quickly, it will remain without representation until the next general election on Oct. 21.
Under an omnibus bill reforming Canada’s election laws that went into effect just before Christmas, byelections can no longer be called within nine months of the day fixed for a general election. That makes Jan. 20 the last day Trudeau can schedule any byelections.
The new law means the Montreal riding of Saint-LeonardSaint-Michel, due to be vacated by Liberal MP Nicola Di Iorio on Jan. 22, will be left without an MP for nine months.
Boats are battered by waves at the end of the White Rock Pier that was severely damaged during a windstorm on Dec. 20.
Peace bond request withdrawn for B.C. couple in terrorism plot
Laura KANE Citizen news service
VANCOUVER — A British Columbia man and woman who were cleared of terror charges due to RCMP entrapment are allowed to live freely for the first time in years after prosecutors dropped a bid to restrict their movements, their lawyer says.
The federal Crown withdrew a peace bond application for John Nuttall and Amanda Korody last month, after the B.C. Court of Appeal panel unanimously upheld a trial judge’s ruling that the RCMP manipulated them into planting what they thought were explosives at the legislature.
The decision to drop the application means the couple no longer has to obey conditions such as having to stay away from the legislature, the Canadian Forces Base in Esquimalt and any synagogue or Jewish school, said their lawyer Scott Wright.
“As of right now, they’re not on any conditions,” he said. “There were 2 1/2 years that they were on conditions with no problem. They complied with them and did everything that was asked of them.”
Wright said prosecutors launched the peace bond application shortly after B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Bruce tossed out the guilty verdicts due to police entrapment in 2016.
The peace bond proceedings had been adjourned pending the B.C. Court of Appeal ruling, and the Crown dropped its application the same day the court released its decision, Wright said.
A peace bond hearing scheduled for Monday has been cancelled.
The Public Prosecution Service of Canada said in a statement that it still has 60 days from the Appeal Court ruling on Dec. 19 to decide whether to seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.
It added that it withdrew the peace bond
application on behalf of the Mounties.
The RCMP said it decided to withdraw the application following its continued review of the case after the Appeal Court decision.
Nuttall and Korody were arrested on Canada Day 2013 after planting what they thought were pressure-cooker bombs on the grounds of the legislature.
In June 2015, a jury found Nuttall and Korody guilty of conspiring to commit murder, possessing an explosive substance and placing an explosive in a public place on behalf of a terrorist group.
The convictions were put on hold until 2016 when Bruce ruled the naive and marginalized former heroin addicts had been entrapped by police, who she said used trickery, deceit and veiled threats to engineer the bomb plot.
In its appeal, the Crown argued that Nuttall and Korody were responsible for crafting and carrying out the plan and that an undercover RCMP operation did not qualify as either manipulative or an abuse of process.
Lawyers for Nuttall and Korody argued that the couple feared they would be killed by a shadowy terrorist group if they didn’t follow through with the bomb plot.
The defence also argued police provided Nuttall with improper spiritual advice that deflected his qualms about whether terrorism was compatible with his new faith after the couple converted to Islam.
The B.C. Court of Appeal ruling in December found that while the trial judge made some errors, she did not err in finding that Mounties manipulated Nuttall and Korody.
“I therefore agree with the trial judge that the overall conduct of this investigation was a travesty of justice,” Justice Elizabeth Bennett wrote on behalf of a three-judge panel.
The appeal court ordered a stay of proceedings.
B.C. prof hopes students’ ideas to retrofit clothing bins will prevent deaths
Camille BAINS Citizen news service
VANCOUVER — At least seven Canadians have died after getting stuck in clothing donation bins and the latest fatality has prompted an advocate to call for the “death traps” to be immediately fixed or removed.
A 34-year-old man was found lodged in a bin in West Vancouver on Sunday, the fifth person in the province to die the same way since 2015.
Last November, a 32-year-old man was discovered dead inside a donation box in Cambridge, Ont., and a man in his 20s died in a similar container in Calgary in July 2017.
Jeremy Hunka of Union Gospel Mission in Vancouver said the deaths of five people in British Columbia, four of which are still being investigated by the BC Coroners Service, are unacceptable.
“It’s unthinkable, and it’s time to deal with this problem,” he said Wednesday.
“Too many of our guests who would otherwise have a shot at turning their lives around are dying a horrible death inside or hanging out of a bin.”
Hunka said homeless people often try to get items out of bins or use them for shelter in cold weather without realizing the safety risks.
“People have died, and they have inadvertently become death traps,” he said.
“It boggles my mind that they’re still in operation.”
He said charitable organizations should come up with other ways to collect donations or stop using the bins.
Prof. Ray Taheri of the school of engineering at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus said removing an estimated 2,000 bins in the province may cost up to $1 million and would likely cause
storage problems.
He said the death of a woman in a bin at a Vancouver community centre last July prompted him to assign his first-year students a project to redesign the containers or come up with a way to retrofit existing ones, which appeared to be the better option.
One idea involved installing a mechanism that would lock the bins before anything over about nine kilograms was put inside while another required someone to press a button to get items inside a bin, Taheri said, adding that would prevent people leaning into it.
“There’s a sense of urgency involved,” he said of the student competition for a solution.
Various organizations in the Vancouver area use different types of bins and Taheri has looked at all of them.
“Definitely, the designs on all of the bins I’ve seen, they do not accommodate for ‘What if someone tries to get inside?’”
Fourth-year students would complete the winning project and companies that operate the bins would be provided with a kit including a manual allowing them to get parts manufactured so the containers are no longer a problem, Taheri said.
He said he contacted the Developmental Disabilities Association, which operates 400 bins, including one in which a woman died last summer, to try and prevent future problems.
Kevin Chan, spokesman for the association, said the clothes are sold to a popular thrift store, with proceeds going toward helping about 1,600 people in the Vancouver area.
The association also picks up clothing at homes but Chan said the profits are not as high using that method.
The Crown has withdrawn a peace bond application for John Nuttall and Amanda Korody – seen here in 2016 – whose guilty verdict for plotting to bomb the provincial legislature was tossed out of court.
How about that snow removal?
Late Wednesday morning, we asked Citizen readers on our website and Facebook page for their feedback on the snow removal on city streets over the weekend and through the New Year holiday.
Within a couple of hours, we were overwhelmed with the responses and they reflected what we had already been hearing from staff and delivery drivers –great job in some parts of the city, terrible job in other parts.
A common theme that came from both the positive and negative reviews was a criticism that city crews were clearing Priority 2 and Priority 3 streets before completing or – in some cases – starting work on Priority 1 streets.
The Citizen has filed an information request with the city for a breakdown of where the snow removal crews worked –both city and contractors – between noon Friday and 9 a.m. Wednesday morning in order to see if the city’s snow removal policy had been followed correctly.
While we await that data, here’s a sampling of some of the online reader response we received in the first two hours of our request for feedback.
Editor-in-chief Neil Godbout
• January 2 and my street has yet to be plowed for the first time this winter, but that’s because until recently, we hardly had any snow. Unplowed streets are a little rough, but that’s no problem. Some people
complain far too much over minor inconveniences. – artbetke
• Why were there so many plow trucks running up and down Malaspina when we had no snow doing nothing and now we have snow, they are running up and down Malaspina doing nothing? – Wain Geraldo
• Aside from not seeing any city or contract snow equipment either on Friday night or Saturday morning anywhere including the dreaded downtown core snow removal since then has been on par with what the city has laid out as their snow removal schedule. Despite many people who complain regardless of what the city does I feel they have performed adequately despite being caught with their pants around their ankles again during the initial snowfall. I would love to hear what the city has to say about lack of equipment on the roads Friday and Saturday. – Dearth
street. You guys do this to me every flipping year. I have nothing positive to say about the quality of work. – Megera
Our road is such a mess, we have several seniors that can’t access medical care cause their cars get stuck and taxis won’t come in.
— northweststar
• Not sure why it took so long to get to plowing Ferry Ave (on a bus route), it was a disaster. Even Jan 1, after it had been worked on (you can’t call that “done”), it was still a mess. When the crews stop leaving giant piles of compressed ice chunks behind my vehicle, I may have more positive things to say. Got a bad back and can’t shovel it away so now REALLY stuck. Life was better before plowing happened on my
• Well the money we paid for a snow removal consultant was a complete waste of money, because the city still has not done a sufficient job. Get the main arteries done first. Then move on to the side streets. Whoever’s coordinating this needs to be reprimanded. The city streets are still a mess after a week. I definitely feel like I’m not getting what I paid for and now you wanna raise our rates 5%. Work within the budget a prioritize what the people of PG need, not what the politicians want. –U make me laugh
• Just did my street this am... as a rule of thumb usually done a day or two before garbage pick up. Nice job! – Jack Jackson
• I have been very confused by the stated system of Priority 1, 2, 3. There were several Priority 3 streets done before Priority 1. Notably Massey was not done – even on January 1st, 4 days after the big snow fall.
I just don’t understand why a bus route and a major artery was not done within 48 hours. We live on a priority 2 street, right beside a school with buses and we have not seen a plow at all. We are often forgotten for some reason (a problem from last year).
YOUR LETTERS
UN protesters off base
After reading your paper on Dec. 27 and seeing some strident opposition to the newly agreed to UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, I thought it would be a good idea to inform myself on what exactly this compact was.
I first looked at what exactly the United Nations is and why it’s there.
The UN Charter outlines four main purposes for its existence. Number 3 states, “Fostering cooperation between nations in order to solve economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian international problems.”
I then looked at the compact in question to see what it said, exactly.
The UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration is a rather lengthy document but there are salient points. The preamble of the compact states that “this global compact rests on the purposes and principles of the
The UN has no authority to compel countries to do anything, so please explain how it’s being tyrannical.
charter of the United Nations.” Item 4 states that “refugees and migrants are entitled to the same universal human rights and fundamental freedoms, which must be respected, protected and fulfilled at all times. Item 7 states that “this Global Compact presents a non-legally binding, cooperative framework that builds on the commitments agreed upon by Member States...”
In the section titled “Our Vision and Guiding Principles,” Item 12 states “the Global Compact aims to mitigate the adverse drivers and structural factors that hinder people from building and maintaining sustainable livelihoods in their countries of origin, and so compel them to seek their futures elsewhere.”
There is much, much more about migrant treatment and cross border policies, but what struck me about what was said at the protest is that there appeared to be no understanding of the compact at all. The UN has no authority to compel countries to do anything, so please explain how it’s being tyrannical. The compact is also completely in line with the actual purpose of the UN itself so it’s globalist only in the fact that all but three countries of the world are members of the UN. The pact also seeks to improve the lives of people in their own countries before they are driven to live elsewhere.
I realize that hysteria created south of our border around immigration has spawned fear of “caravans of illegals and really bad people” and “open borders.” This compact allows none of that. It is a humanitarian document that seeks to treat people humanely during times of personal and familial upheaval.
Allan Sahlen Prince George
LETTERS WELCOME: The Prince George Citizen welcomes letters to the editor from our readers. Submissions should be sent by email to: letters@pgcitizen.ca. No attachments, please. They can also be faxed to 250-960-2766, or mailed to 201-1777 Third Ave., Prince George, B.C. V2L 3G7. Maximum length is 750 words and writers are limited to one submission every week. We will edit letters only to ensure clarity, good taste, for legal reasons, and occasionally for length. Although we will not include your address and telephone number in the paper, we need both for verification purposes. Unsigned or handwritten letters will not be published. The Prince George Citizen is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
Subscribe to The Citizen and get the best in local news, sports, arts and more delivered to your door five days a week Call 250-562-3301 to subscribe today
SHAWN CORNELL DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING
They did a priority 3 street last night up the road from us...but not our road. I think it’s a delegation problem, not the workers themselves. They are doing a great job once they show up. Whoever initiates the orders needs to re-look at what priority they are being done in. – Rachelle Munchinsky
• We live on Norwood St. in between 20th and 17th and our street is a mess. Our street is in between the 2 streets that are on the bus route and we seem to be forgotten almost all the time. – Debbie Barks
• The snow removal system needs a complete overhaul. Parking lots should not be a priority over roads. Our road is a complete mess and so is the bus route roads beside us but don’t worry, parking lots are completely clear. Cities that are two or three times the size of our city have snow cleared on all roads within 48 hours of snowfall and all parking lots are cleared afterwards and only after all businesses have closed for the day. Take a look at the other cities and their success rate of proper snow removal and fix this broken system. – Shalix K
• We had a grader come down our street the night before the big snowfall when the road was bare except for a little buildup on the sides from the previous snowfall in November. Our road is such a mess, we have several seniors that can’t access medical care cause their cars get stuck and taxis won’t come in. Only people with big trucks or SUV’s are manouevering and even a couple of them have been stuck, we live in a crescent off Limestone. – northweststar
Why smart people may be more likely to fall for fake news
One might suspect scientists of belaboring the obvious with the recent study called Belief in Fake News Is Associated With Delusionality, Dogmatism, Religious Fundamentalism and Reduced Analytical Thinking. The conclusion that some people are more gullible than others is the understanding in popular culture – but in the scientific world it’s pitted against another widely believed paradigm, shaped by several counterintuitive studies that indicate we’re all equally biased, irrational and likely to fall for propaganda, sales pitches and general nonsense.
Experts have told us that consistent irrationality is a universal human trait. Jonathan Haidt has written and lectured extensively about how bad humans are at evidence-based reasoning. The classic 2013 book Thinking, Fast and Slow by Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman described how we’re ruled more by tribes, affiliations and instincts than by evidence. But isn’t it possible this applies to some people more than others? Is it reasonable to believe that we are all equally bad at reasoning? Luckily some scientists seem to think that they are capable of evidence-based reasoning and they have investigated the questions.
Canadian psychologist Gordon Pennycook, an author on the delusionality paper and a leader in the camp promoting the idea that some are more gullible than others, concedes that it is a little weird that one can get published demonstrating that “smarter people are better at not believing stupid things.” That’s essentially the conclusion in a newer paper not yet officially published, Rethinking the Link Between Cognitive Sophistication and IdentityProtective Bias in Political Belief Formation, which he co-wrote with Ben Tappan and David Rand.
They question the idea that smarter people are, if anything, more likely to believe false things, because their mental agility helps them rationalize. It’s a school of thought that became popular partly because it is a bit loopy, and partly because views that lump us all together have a ring of political correctness.
The roots of it trace back, in part, to Yale researcher Dan Kahan, who has done some widely respected experiments showing that peoples’ views on technical subjects such as climate change
Mailing address: 201-1777 Third Ave. Prince George, B.C. V2L 3G7
Office hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday
General switchboard: 250-562-2441 info@pgcitizen.ca
and nuclear power depended almost entirely on political affiliation.
I wrote about Kahan’s work, citing a study that “showed that the better people are at math and reasoning, the more likely they are to align their views with ideology, even if those views included creationism or other unscientific stances.”
Pennycook said he agrees with Kahan on this to an extent; it’s not incompatible with his findings, but it applies only in special cases, such as climate change, where the subject matter is technical and complex. On television, complete charlatans who know the right buzzwords can sound as erudite to the lay public as the world’s true experts would.
But Pennycook and his colleagues questioned whether this counterintuitive finding applied more generally. To put it to the test, they showed subjects a mix of fake and real news stories and asked them to rate their plausibility. They found some people were bad at this and some were good, and that the best predictor of news discernment was something called the Cognitive Reflection Test. Low scores are correlated with religious dogmatism, superstition and belief in conspiracy theories as well as a type of fake aphorism that Pennycook called “pseudoprofound.”
This is not to say that people who are good at picking out fake news and score well on the Cognitive Reflection Test are smarter than other people in other ways. As Michael Shermer argued long ago in his classic Why People Believe Weird Things, very creative people – even famous scientists – can be subject to delusions and occasionally believe in astrology or conspiracy theories.
Pennycook agreed this is not just a cognitive issue but could encompass elements of personality and mental health. Just as Shermer showed there creative delusional people, there also are those smart but narcissistic types – the people who insist all climate scientists are idiots, for example. Faye Flam is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. She has a degree in geophysics from the California Institute of Technology.
Shawn Cornell, director of advertising: 250-960-2757 scornell@pgcitizen.ca
Reader sales and services: 250-562-3301 rss@pgcitizen.ca Letters to the editor: letters@pgcitizen.ca
Website: www.pgcitizen.ca
Website feedback: digital@glaciermedia.ca
Member of the National Newsmedia Council A division of Glacier Media
FAYE FLAM Bloomberg
Guest Column
NASA releases images of Ultima Thule
Sarah KAPLAN Citizen news service
The most distant object ever explored by spacecraft is a reddish, snowman-shape rock 6.4 billion kilometres from Earth.
The object, nicknamed Ultima Thule, was photographed by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft during a late-night rendezvous on the first day of 2019. It is the first inhabitant of the Kuiper belt – the ring of rocky relics that surrounds the outer solar system –that scientists have seen up close.
Its odd shape, which scientists term a “contact binary,” indicates that it formed as two spherical rocks slowly fused together in the early days of the solar system. This finding lends support to a theory of planet formation that suggests worlds are born from slow accumulation, rather than catastrophic collisions, researchers said.
“This is exactly what we need to move the modeling work on planetary formation forward,” said Cathy Olkin, the mission’s deputy project scientist.
“Ultima is telling us about our evolutionary history.”
New Horizons’s encounter with Ultima Thule happened so far away that it took six hours for signals traveling at the speed of light to reach Earth. Scientists didn’t receive confirmation that the spacecraft survived until Tuesday morning, and the first scientific results didn’t start streaming in until that night.
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., where New Horizons is operated, were up late, working to transform those bits of data into the first high-resolution image of a Kuiper belt object.
The black-and-white photo was taken from about 48,000 km away, as New Horizons sped toward its target at nearly 51,500 km/h.
“Spectacular,” principal investigator Alan Stern said at a Wednesday news conference at which he displayed the early images from the flyby. He described watching his colleagues jump out of their seats and embrace one another upon seeing the compelling, crystal clear image.
“That’s elation,” he said. “And it’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
Scientists had suspected that Ultima Thule would not be perfectly round since the summer of 2017, when a global network of observers found the rock passing in front of a distant star. But the Kuiper belt object is so distant and so dim that even the most powerful telescopes saw it only as a flicker of light in the sky. Even as New Horizons sped toward its target, in the hours before closest approach, Ultima Thule resembled little more than a blurry bowling pin.
But now “it’s a world,” Stern said – with shape, character and implications for our understand-
ing of planetary science.
Jeff Moore, New Horizons geology team lead, said Ultima Thule likely formed in the first few million years of the solar system from a swirl of smaller objects. Over time, dust and pebbles clumped together to form the object’s two lobes, which eventually combined to form a single body. The lack of evidence for damage at the sight of the collision suggests that the joining was probably gentle, like tapping someone’s bumper as you fit into a tight parking space, Moore said.
“You don’t need to fill out any paperwork.”
This would make Ultima Thule a lot like the early planetesimals from which larger worlds – including our own – ultimately formed. But unlike the planets, which have undergone dramatic geologic change, and comets, which are heated and transformed by the sun, the Kuiper belt object has existed in a “deep freeze” since it
first formed, 4.6 billion years ago.
“What we think we’re looking at is the end product of a process that took place at the very beginning of the formation of the solar system,” Moore said. He called New Horizons “a time machine,” capable of taking scientists back to the moment of our origins.
Colour images from New Horizons reveal that, like other Kuiper belt objects, it has a dark reddish hue.
This is something of a mystery, because Ultima Thule is thought to be made mostly of ice. But researchers think radiation in this dark and distant part of the solar system could interact with contaminants in the ice, changing their colour. Early observations about its chemical composition are expected to arrive today, and they may help explain the phenomenon more.
And there are many more oddities to be explored, scientists said.
With the change in calendar, it seems appropriate to look both at the year that was and the year that will be.
From a scientific perspective, 2018 was a bit apocalyptic. Consider the article The Biomass Distribution on Earth published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. This comprehensive study addresses the impact of humans on global biodiversity. By any measure, it would appear we are responsible for wiping out much of the life on this planet.
In sheer mass, humans represent about 300 million tonnes. Domesticated animals are close to 700 million tonnes while wild animals over two kilograms in size are down to just 100 million tonnes. To put that in perspective, humans and their food supply have a 10:1 ratio relative to the rest of the large animals on the planet. A thousand years ago, the numbers were reversed.
Other articles on the bleaching of coral reefs, the proliferation of plastics into the water columns in the oceans leading to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and the effects of alterations in the distribution of heat on climatic events paint a less than rosy picture about the future of our ecosystems. And if degradation of the planet inspires you to drink, an epidemiological report on the consumption of alcohol makes the claim there is no safe amount. Even traces of alcohol in our food is not good for long term health. This, by the way, should not be confused with claims about the virtues of red wine. It is not the alcohol in the wine which is thought to promote health but the other compounds such as the polyphenols. Wine without alcohol would be much healthier. But perhaps my favourite paper from the past year confirms what the internet and social
media has demonstrated over and over – lies spread much faster than truth.
Anyone who has read U.S. President Donald Trump’s Twitter feed knows this. However, MIT scientists were actually able to demonstrate just how effective lies were in the social universe.
For Washington Post columnist Max Boot, two of his articles were hacked so as to make it seem he was contradicting himself. His social media lit up accusing him of hypocrisy. Even when the truth was discovered, many critics refused to believe and stood by the false tweets.
In a world where reading-is-believing, social media seems to be an open ticket to recreating reality to fit a particular narrative.
So, will 2019 be much better? Hopefully. And I should point there were many positive breakthroughs in 2018 such as increased capacity for rechargeable lithium batteries and potential new antibiotics which might help to control some of the more virulent drug-resistant superbugs.
One of the more interesting prospects for this year will be learning what New Horizons’ flyby of Ultima Thule has to say about the chemistry of the early solar system (see story, above).
While we have a general model for putting planets together, more data will help to answer some of the outstanding questions.
Similarly, the successful landing of Insight on Mars will allow for deeper exploration. It is set to drill deep into the surface searching for minerals and possible signs of life along with seismic activity.
Humans have not set foot on Mars, but we
PHOTO Fish swim over a patch of bleached coral in Kaneohe Bay off the island of Oahu in Hawaii in 2015. Articles released in 2018 on coral bleaching and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch raised questions about the health of the ocean ecosystem.
are exploring the planet remotely.
Closer to home, an ambitious five-year mission will see scientists from the U.S. and U.K. descending on Antarctica to understand whether the Thwaites Glacier will collapse within the next decade. It will involve the use of underwater drones and surface drilling to study ocean conditions near the Florida-sized ice sheet. The scientists are teaming up with an unlikely group of colleagues as they will be fitting elephant seals with sensors to gather oceanographic data.
And as carbon emissions continue to rise, 2019 could see significant advances in experiments to sequester carbon or cool the planet through geo-engineering. For example, plans are underway to spray plumes of chalk into the stratosphere to determine if the particles will reflect sunlight. Of course, geo-engineering is not without its sceptics as such efforts may have unexpected consequences.
The delicate balance which exists for the entire planet could be thrown further out of whack by mass geo-engineering. There are too many variables involved and not enough is known about the effects involved. Further, the promise of geo-engineering may lead to a decrease in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
One source of carbon emissions which will likely increase over the next year is the combustion of cannabis.
As Canada is the second country in the world to legalize smoking marijuana, researchers are benefiting from a boost in funding to study its effects. The University of Guelph hopes to launch Canada’s first academic centre dedicated to cannabis research.
So while 2018 might have shown us the cost of alcohol consumption, maybe 2019 will demonstrate the benefits of weed.
Happy New Year!
Olkin pointed out dramatic variations in brightness that speckle the object. Moore noted that the early images did not show any solid evidence of impact craters; additional images may reveal whether Ultima Thule has been struck in the past or is worn smooth.
It will take as long as 20 months for scientists to download and process all the data collected during their brief encounter with Ultima Thule, scientists said. That includes a brief delay next week, when the sun comes between the Earth and the spacecraft, blocking all transmissions.
And New Horizons’ mission isn’t over, Stern said. The spacecraft’s subsystems are healthy, and it has sufficient fuel to operate for another 15 to 20 years. He and his colleagues plan to apply for NASA approval to extend their mission, either to conduct another Kuiper belt object flyby or explore other aspects of the outer solar system.
Norway embracing electric cars
Niclas ROLANDER Citizen new service
Almost one-third of all new cars sold in Norway last year ran on batteries, reinforcing the Nordic country’s reputation as the world’s best market for electric vehicles.
Oil-rich Norway aims to eliminate all emissions from new cars by 2025, and offers generous subsidies for buyers who opt to go electric. Other countries, including China, plan to follow suit later. In 2018, all-electric cars made up 31.2 percent of the Norwegian market, an improvement of more than 10 percentage points from the previous year, the Norwegian Road Federation said on Monday.
Three of the five most popular models were electric, with the Leaf from Nissan Motor Co. claiming the top spot, ahead of BMW’s i3 and Tesla’s Model X.
“In 2018, alternative-fuel cars consolidated their strong position in the market,” the federation’s director, Oyvind Solberg Thorsen, said. Norway, a country of 5.3 million, has long been a world leader in sales of electric vehicles. It wasn’t until the first quarter of last year that it was surpassed by Germany, Europe’s biggest car market. The incentives that propped up the Norwegian market include exemption from sales taxes and road tolls.
Solberg Thorsen said he expects an even bigger share of battery-powered cars going forward, as there is still an untapped demand for more family-friendly electric vehicles, with longer range at reasonable prices.
This composite image of Ultima Thule made available by NASA on Wednesday shows images with separate colour and detail information. The New Horizons spacecraft flew past the object in the Kuiper belt on Tuesday.
Apple losing some bite
Michael LIEDTKE Citizen news service
SAN FRANCISCO — Apple acknowledged that demand for iPhones is waning, confirming investor fears that the company’s most profitable product has lost some of its lustre.
The reckoning came in a letter from Apple CEO Tim Cook to the company’s shareholders released after the stock market closed Wednesday.
Cook said Apple’s revenue for the OctoberDecember quarter – including the crucial holiday shopping season – will fall well below the company’s earlier projections and those of analysts, whose estimates sway the stock market.
Apple now expects revenue of $84 billion for the period. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected Apple’s revenue to be about nine per cent higher – $91.3 billion. The official results are scheduled to be released Jan. 29. Cook traced most of the revenue drop to China, where the economy has been slowing and Apple has faced tougher competition from home-team smartphone makers such as Huawei and Xiaomi. U.S. President Donald Trump has also raised new tensions between the U.S. and China by imposing tariffs on more than $200 billion in goods, although so far the iPhone hasn’t been affected directly. China’s “economy began to slow there for the second half,” Cook said during an interview with CNBC on Wednesday afternoon. “The trade tensions between the United States and China put additional pressure on their economy.”
Cook also acknowledged that consumers in other markets aren’t buying as many of the latest iPhones, released last fall, as Apple had anticipated – a factor that could stem from a starting price of $1,000 for Apple’s top-of-theline iPhones.
Apple’s stock plunged seven per cent to $146.40 in Wednesday’s extended trading. The shares had already fallen 32 per cent from their peak in early October when investors still had high hopes for the new iPhone models. Apple’s troubles may have ripple effects on other technology companies, given investors have been bailing on the industry in recent months. The tech-driven Nasdaq composite index now stands 18 per cent down from its record closing high reached in August. Now, Apple must try to find a way to win back Wall Street’s confidence and reverse a steep decline that has erased $350 billion in
Citizen news service
Nordstrom dies at 58
shareholder wealth in just three months.
“This is Apple’s darkest day during the Cook era,” Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives said. “No one expected China to just fall off a cliff like this.”
While Trump’s trade war with China isn’t helping Apple and other U.S. technology companies, Ives believes Apple miscalculated by continuing to roll out high-priced phones in China, creating an opening for rivals with less costly alternatives that still worked well.
The price gap is one reason Huawei surpassed Apple in smartphone sales from April through September last year to seize the No. 2 spot behind industry leader Samsung, according to the research firm International Data Corp.
“The question now is will Apple change its strategy or stick to its hubris,” Ives said.
To help boost iPhone sales, Cook said Apple will expand its financing plans and build upon
NEW YORK — Blake Nordstrom, who led the upscale department store chain Nordstrom as co-president with his brothers Erik and Peter, has died. He was 58. The Seattle-based company did not disclose the cause of death, saying Nordstrom passed away unexpectedly
its recent efforts to make it easier to trade in older models at its stores.
But outsiders will find it harder to see how that’s working out. In November, Apple unexpectedly announced that it would no longer disclose how many iPhones it ships each quarter, ending a long-running practice. Wall Street immediately interpreted the move as an attempt to mask a slow but steady downturn in sales.
Apple said at the time that it wanted to reduce investor focus on its iPhone division and instead highlight other promising areas of its business, including its services division that sells subscriptions for music streaming, collects app-related commissions and repairs malfunctioning devices.
But the company now expects its annual revenue to fall five per cent from the previous year’s level. That reversal of fortune could reinforce fears of a global economic slowdown.
early Wednesday. Last month, Nordstrom said he had been diagnosed with lymphoma, but that his cancer was treatable.
Nordstrom Inc. said in a statement its executive leadership will continue under Erik and Peter Nordstrom. The company is publicly traded, but family members still own about 30 per cent of its shares. The family group had hoped
to take the company private last year, but a special committee for its board rejected the offer as too low.
Blake Nordstrom had worked at the chain for more than 40 years. He was the great-grandson of company founder John W. Nordstrom, a Swedish immigrant who opened a Seattle shoe store in 1901 that eventually became a national department store chain.
the key energy sector get a boost from rising oil prices. The S&P/TSX composite index sank to a intra-day low of 14,112.84 soon after opening but rebounded to close up 24.30 points at 14,347.16.
North American investors were initially jittery after China released purchasing managers’ index (PMI) numbers that showed the first contraction of the country’s manufacturing sector in 18 months. The number is viewed as a good leading economic indicator, adding to nervousness about economic growth in China and globally.
“So I think the market started worrying about the general backdrop,” said Giles Marshall, vicepresident and portfolio manager at Fiduciary Trust Canada. Canada’s PMI number released Wednesday showed that the country’s manufacturing growth slowed to a two-year low in December, while the U.S. index hit a 15-month low.
Markets turned around after oil prices got a boost from a preliminary report showing tanker volumes out of Saudi Arabia were cut by 500,000 barrels per day ahead of the January start of a deal by OPEC and non-OPEC countries to cut production by 1.2 million barrels a day. “It lent support to that actually coming through,” Marshall said.
The February crude contract was up US$1.13 at US$46.54 per barrel and the February natural gas contract was up 1.8 cents at US$2.96 per mmBTU.
That sent the energy sector on the TSX up nearly two per cent as stocks like NuVista Energy Ltd. gained 6.1 per cent on the day.
The health-care sector rose 5.8 per cent, led by Bausch Health Companies Inc., which gained 8.8 per cent on an upgrade from a Piper Jaffray analyst who said that the worst earnings challenges are behind the Quebec-based drug maker previously called Valeant, even though it remains highly leveraged.
The Canadian dollar traded at an average of 73.50 cents US compared with an average of 73.30 cents US on Monday to close 2018. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average ended the day up 18.78 points at 23,346.24. The S&P 500 index was up 3.18 points at 2,510.03,
AP FILE PHOTO
This Oct. 22, 2018 photo shows, from left, the iPhone XS, iPhone XR and the iPhone XS Max.
COOK
Creating traffic
Sven Baertschi of the Vancouver Canucks screens Ottawa Senators goaltender Marcus Hogberg during the second period of Wednesday night’s game in Ottawa. The Canucks won 4-3 in overtime. See page 10 for coverage
Tired of travel
Cougars nearing end of challenging part of schedule
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff tclarke@pgcitizen.ca
You’ve got to feel a bit sorry for the Prince George Cougars. Already one of the most geographicallychallenged teams in the Western Hockey League, the Cougars became even more isolated as a result of a wonky December schedule that sent them packing after they beat the fur off the Victoria Royals in their (Un) Teddy Bear Toss encounter Dec. 2. During that eight-game, fiveweek stretch, which included a week off at Christmas, the Cougars lost seven times and briefly dropped into the Western Conference cellar. A one-goal victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds last weekend in Kent, Wash., moved the Cats back into ninth place in the 10-team West.
As if losing 11 of their last 13 games wasn’t enough to deal with in Cougarville, now injuries are starting to creep into the equation. Cole Moberg, their top-scoring defenceman and second-leading point-producer, went down with a leg injury in Saturday’s 6-1 loss in Everett. The following day in Kamloops, centre Ilijah Colina suffered an upper-body injury and had to leave in the first period. In that same game, which ended in a 2-1 loss to the Blazers, dehydration forced starting goalie
Citizen staff
B.C. Cup lures Paralympian to Otway
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff
While drivers and pedestrians have been cursing the huge dumps of snow that blanketed the city over the past week and made movement difficult, biathletes are in their glory. All that white stuff came just in time to make this weekend’s B.C. Cup No. 2 biathlon races at Otway Nordic Centre a possibility.
The two-day event Saturday and Sunday at the home of the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club is expected to attract 85 competitors, including three-time Paralympian Mark Arendz of Hartsville, P.E.I.
The Caledonia club has seven biathletes entered in the races, including Nicholas Veeken, Damian Georgyev, Quinn Neil, Brynn Witwicki, Lia Huggett, Alison Joyce, Liam Connon and Danika Fiala.
For the older competitors the two races will count as qualifying events to determine who will represent B.C. at the Canadian biathlon championships in Whistler, March 26 to April 1. Saturday’s races start at 11 a.m., with Sunday’s scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.
The 28-year-old Arendz was a six-time Paralympic medalist in 2018 in Pyongchang, South Korea, where he won one gold, two silver and three bronze in cross-country skiing. His outstanding performance at the Games led to Arendz being picked as Canada’s torchbearer for the closing ceremony. At the 2014 Paralympics in Sochi, Russia, Arendz competed in five events (two in crosscountry and three in biathlon) and captured two biathlon medals – silver in the 7.5-kilometre standing (Canada’s best-ever Paralympics biathlon result) and bronze in the 12.5 km standing event.
Arendz also competed in the 2010 Paralympics in Vancouver-Whistler.
Taylor Gauthier to take a seat on the bench for the third period.
The Cougars started that week with defenceman Tyson Phare still out with a lower-body injury and winger Reid Perepeluk in sick bay.
As the losses mount and injuries take their toll, the Cougars are certainly not out of the woods with three more road games on the horizon – Friday in Kelowna, Tuesday in Tri-City, Wednesday in Spokane – before they come back for a six-game homestand. They’ll play their first home game in 40 days, Jan. 11 against Kelowna.
“The road trip from hell is almost over,” said Cougars head coach Richard Matvichuk, who led his troops through a practice session Wednesday at CN Centre
Lorelei Guidos and her Prince George Golf and Curling Club rink finished fourth out of eight teams at the B.C. junior women’s provincial curling championship in Vernon. Guidos, the Prince George skip and north central zone champion, combined with third Bailey Eberherr, second Jordan Henson and lead Hannah Lindner to finish the five-day tournament with a 4-3 record. Coached by Doug Dalziel, the Guidos team finished up round-robin play Monday with a 9-6 win over Heather Drexel of Delta. Guidos also defeated Jensen Taylor of New Westminster (12-5) Megan McGillivray of Vernon (8-6) and Kayla Wilson of Victoria (7-6). Guidos lost 8-4 to eventual champion Sarah Daniels in the opening draw Thursday and was
Regardless of the results, our compete level and our systems play has been really good.
— Richard Matvichuk
in anticipation of another bus ride out of town this morning.
“We probably deserved a better fate in Kamloops, we outchanced them and outshot them. We played three guys short and we lost Colina three minutes into the first, but I was happy the way our guys didn’t quit. They kept competing (outshooting the Blazers 19-4 in the third period.)
“Regardless of the results, our compete level and our systems play has been really good. The one thing we’re struggling with is trying to put the puck into the net (they rank last in the WHL with 79 goals in 36 games, a 2.19 average). It kind of gets frustrating at times but we are getting chances, which is completely different than if you weren’t getting chances.”
Moberg will make the trip and might play Friday but Matvichuk says Colina’s injury appears to be serious enough to keep him sidelined long term. Phare hasn’t played since Nov. 18. He skated in Wednesday’s practice but the Cougars’ top pick (18th overall) in
also defeated by Taylor Reese-Hansen of Victoria (10-3) and Holy Hafeli of Kamloops (7-6).
In the championship game Monday, Daniels triumphed over Reese-Hansen 10-4.
In the junior men’s final, also played Monday in Vernon, Tyler Tardi of Langley topped Erik Colwell of Vernon 9-2.
Daniels is among four rinks entered this weekend for the women’s open No. 2 playdowns in Kamloops. Brette Richards of Prince George will skip one of those teams with her sister Blaine de Jager playing third. Steph Jackson-Baier of Victoria is the second and Heather Tyre of Kelowna will throw lead rocks for the Richards team. Also entered are Karla Thompson of Kamloops and Nicole Backe of Victoria. Richards will face Daniels in the opening draw Saturday at 10 a.m., while Thompson
2017 won’t likely play on this trip.
The Cougars have 32 games left (17 at home, 15 on the road) in a 68-game season and are just four points behind Kamloops for the eighth and final playoff position.
A B.C. Division playoff spot is also within reach if they can figure out a winning formula. Second-place Victoria and third-place Kelowna are just 10 points ahead of the Cougars.
The Jan. 10 roster deadline is looming but don’t expect the Cougars to do much on the trading front. They haven’t shown they’re capable of winning with any consistency all season and it would come as a huge surprise if general manager Mark Lamb pulls the trigger on any blockbuster deals to make the team better in the short term and risk the potential rewards of sticking with his rather young roster.
“It’s always a tough time for everybody,” said Matvichuk. “All our older guys have value to a certain extent and it’s just a matter what we’re going to do.
“Mark and I discuss players every day within our team, within our league and we have full trust that Mark will do the right thing. If something happens to make this team better I think that’s what we have to do.”
They Cougars will be even younger Friday night in Kelowna with 15-year-old forward Craig Armstrong in to replace Colina.
— see BEAMIN, page 10
and Backe meet at the same time. The two opening-draw winners meet in the A-qualifier to determine who will advance to the eightteam Scotties B.C. women’s championship in Quesnel, Jan. 29 to Feb. 3.
The loser of the A-final will drop down to the B-final Sunday at 10 a.m. against the winner of Saturday’s 3 p.m. playoff between the two losers of the opening draw.
Quesnel will also host the B.C. men’s championship at the new West Fraser Centre on the same dates as the women’s tournament. Brady Waffle will represent Quesnel at the men’s tournament. Waffle defeated James Blanchett and his Prince George crew – third Rob Lovely, second Carl Haugland and lead Lyle Hensrud – 8-6 and 9-7 in a two-game playoff for the northern zone title, Dec. 15-16 in Quesnel.
He won five medals at the 2017 Para Nordic World Championships in Finsterau, Germany. Three of those were in biathlon – gold in the 12.5 km and 7.5 km standing and silver in the 15 km. He also found the cross-country podium winning bronze in the 10 km and 4x2.5 km relay.
Arendz will be among an expected 120 athletes coming to Prince George for the 2019 World Para Nordic Championships at Otway, Feb. 15-24.
• Volunteers are needed for the World Para Nordic event to help with the biathlon events, ceremonies, security and transportation. For more information contact Elisabeth Veeken, Caledonia’s biathlon coach and World Para Nordic volunteer coordinator, at (250) 564-3809.
• Otway was to be the site of the Teck B.C. Cup No. 1 and Canada Winter Games crosscountry ski trials last weekend but the late arrival of snow forced organizers to move those events to Penticton.
Four P.G. judokas going to Elite 8
Citizen staff
Only the cream of the crop makes it to the Judo Canada Elite 8 championships next week in Montreal and four of those outstanding judokas are from Prince George.
Asher Young (under-50 kilograms), Koen Heitman (under-66 kg) and Lochlan Young (under-73 kg), all of the Hart Judo Academy, will join Tami Goto (under-48 kg) of the Prince George Judo Club at the seven-day tournament, which starts Friday and continues through Jan. 14. All four are ranked in the top eight in their respective under-18 weight categories. For Young, the Elite 8 will be a final tuneup before he competes for B.C. at the Canada Winter Games in Red Deer. Goto achieved her Judo Canada G standard earlier this season while Heitman has climbed to H standard. Both are qualified to attend the European Tour in March with Team Canada.
Goto has already qualified for World Cadet Championships Aug. 7-11 at a site yet to be determined and Heitman could end up on that list if he does well next week in Montreal.
Woe Canada
World junior team ousted by Finland in overtime
Gemma KARSTENS-SMITH Citizen news service
VANCOUVER — It wasn’t just Canada’s junior hockey team that was devastated Wednesday night – it was the entire country, said defenceman Ian Mitchell.
The defending champions were ousted from the world junior championship after a dramatic 2-1 overtime loss to Finland. It marks the first time Canada will not win a medal when hosting the tournament and only the second time in 21 years that Canada will not play for a medal at the world juniors.
“It’s heartbreaking for all of us and the whole country too,” Mitchell said after the loss. “You just wish that at the end of the day we are putting on the gold medal but we weren’t able to do that.”
Vancouver Canucks prospect Toni Utunen scored 5:17 into the extra period.
“I am just starting to realize what I just did,” said Utunen. “It felt amazing. It was my first goal this season, a huge goal for me and even bigger for our team.”
Canada was up 1-0 with less than a minute to go in regulation, thanks to Mitchell’s second-period goal.
Finland forced overtime at 19:13 of the third period after Canadian defenceman Ty Smith fell in the corner, allowing Eeli Tolvanen to put a shot off the outside netting of Canada’s goal. It rebounded back to him and Tolvanen’s second shot bounced off Aleksi Heponiemi’s ankle and squeaked past Canadian goalie Michael DiPietro and into the net.
“It’s a goal from below the goal-line, from behind the net. It doesn’t happen really often in hockey,” said Maxime Comtois, Canada’s captain and the only player returning player from last year’s gold-medal winning team.
“Canada is never expected to go that early,” said Comtois. “But it was a good battle out there. This tournament is about a fine line between winning and losing. Sometimes a game is all about inches and we got our chances and they found a way to get that one.”
Canada was last ousted from the tournament’s quarterfinals in 2016 in Helsinki, also by Finland, which went on to win the gold medal that year.
Defenceman Noah Dobson had a wide open net in front of him in overtime but his stick snapped in half as he tried to one-time Cody Glass’s pass. Within seconds Utunen had scored the gamewinning goal.
“That’s hockey, little bounces and plays that sometimes don’t go your way and other times they do,” said Mitchell.
“It’s cliche but it’s a game of inches, if the stick doesn’t break we win the game, just tough to have that happen to eliminate you from this kind of tournament.”
Comtois, an Anaheim Ducks prospect, had Canada’s best chance in overtime with a penalty shot after defenceman Evan Bouchard was hauled down. The shot smashed into the pads of Finnish goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
“I was going with my move and trying to shoot,” said Comtois. “It’s not the first one that I missed and it’s not going to be the last one. It has to hurt, but if I get one more chance later in my career, I have to be ready and dig in to get it in.”
Luukkonen made 23 saves for Finland (2-1-0-2).
DiPietro stopped 32 of 34 shots in net and was named the player of the game for Canada (3-0-1-1). The Vancouver Canucks prospect said hearing the crowd of 17,047 break into chants of “Dee-pee-et-ro!” multiple times was special.
“But at the end of the day, winning’s more important and we didn’t do that today,” he said. “The only thing that
mattered to me was winning and we came up short.”
After the game, Canadian coach Tim Hunter told his team that he was proud of how they played.
“They came together, played, competed as hard as they did. That was a hell of a hockey game,” he said. “It’s a tough pill to swallow but you just reflect on what you feel you could have done better as a player or a coach, what you felt you did well as a player or a coach. That’s how you get better.”
Finnish coach Jussi Ahokas said winning in Vancouver in front of a crowd packed with Canadian fans was extra special.
“As a coach there is no better situation in the world, to play against Canada and (beat) them in their home soil,” he said, adding that the game kept everyone on the edge of their seats. “Everything, a (penalty shot) in overtime and then you win yourself. You can’t really write better drama than that.”
Finland will now face Switzerland in the semifinals after the Swiss upset Sweden 2-0 earlier Wednesday.
Beamin also gets call from Cougars
— from page 9
Armstrong, the Cougars’ first-round bantam pick (ninth overall) in 2018, was called up from the Edge School Mountaineers, a Calgary-based midget prep team in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League. In 23 games Armstrong has 11 goals and 12 assists for 23 points. He played bantam hockey last season for the Alberta major bantam-champion Airdrie Xtreme and led the team in scoring with 23 goals and 54 points in 34 games.
With Moberg and Phare unavailable the Cougars have called up 17-year-old Cole Beamin to fill in on the blueline. The six-foot-four, 209-pound Beamin has been playing in the SJHL with the Nipawin Hawks and in 28 games has two goals and an assist, with 64 penalty minutes. Beamin, drafted by the Cats in the second round, 32nd overall in 2016, played triple-A midget hockey last year for the Saskatoon
Petterson hat trick propels Canucks past Senators
Lisa WALLACE Citizen news service
OTTAWA — Elias Pettersson thought this was a pretty good day.
The Vancouver Canucks rookie scored his third goal of the night in overtime to lead the Canucks to a 4-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday after learning earlier in the day that he would represent the Pacific Division at the upcoming NHL all-star game.
“I heard before the game,” said Pettersson. “I’m very happy with that. The stars of the NHL are there, the players I watched growing up, and now I’m going to be at the all-star game.”
Pettersson’s success comes as no surprise to his coaches and teammates.
“He’s had so many chances to get a hat trick so far this year so to finally see him get that third one is a special moment for him,” said Brock Boeser. “It’s not surprising though because he’s going to have a lot more hat tricks.”
Canucks head coach Travis Green has been impressed by his young rookie and is pleased to see him enjoy the success.
“He was on (Wednesday),” said Green. “What are you going to say? Big day for him. He gets a hat trick, all-star selection, he was dialled in.
“He’s just getting better.”
Sven Baertschi also scored for the Canucks (20-194), who were playing the fourth of a six-game road trip. Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots for the win.
Matt Duchene, Christian Wolanin and Mark Stone scored for the Senators (15-21-5), who are now mired in a six-game losing streak. Marcus Hogberg, making his third straight start, made 41 saves.
Leading 2-1, the Canucks kept the pressure right from the start of the third.
Hogberg made a great stick save on Boeser, but couldn’t stop Pettersson as he scored his second on the power play at the five-minute mark.
“He’s really good,” said Hogberg of Pettersson. “He was good out there and he’s an amazing player.”
Ottawa made it a one-goal game midway through the period as Wolanin scored his first of the season. The Senators pressed for the equalizer and scored in the final minute of regulation as Stone scored from in close to set up Petterson’s overtime heroics.
The second period was much like the first as Hogberg was kept busy, but the Canucks were finally able to solve the young netminder with a power-play goal. Hogberg stopped Alexander Edler’s point shot, but Baertschi was left alone in front to put in the rebound.
Ottawa tied the game at the 12-minute mark as Duchene jumped on a Bobby Ryan rebound, but three minutes later the Canucks regained the lead. Pettersson started the sequence with a drop pass and took a great feed from Boeser to finish it with his team-leading 20th of the season.
A scoreless first period saw the Canucks outshoot the Senators 17-5.
“The first period was unacceptable,” said Ottawa’s Mark Borowiecki. “We addressed it after the first as players. None of us were good enough, myself included, with the exception of Hogberg, he held us in there.”
NOTES: Earlier in the day the Senators and Canucks made a trade as Ottawa sent goalie Mike McKenna, forward Tom Pyatt and Ottawa’s sixth round pick in 2019 in exchange for goalie Anders Nilsson and forward Darren Archibald.
Contacts. In 30 games he scored twice and finished with seven points.
“He’s a big body and after speaking with his coach in the SJHL he’s made great strides since the start of the year and now he’ll get a chance to play here,” said Matvichuk.
Gauthier, the first star in the win in Seattle, will start in goal Friday. The 17-year-old will represent the Cougars at the NHL/CHL Top Prospects Game in Red Deer, Jan. 24.
“He was really good in Seattle, he did exactly what he had to, stayed within his comfort zone, and he was the same way through two periods in Kamloops,” said Matvichuk. “He’s played really well since the break. He had some ups and downs going in but since he’s been back he’s been really good.”
LOOSE PUCKS: Cougars associate coach Steve O’Rourke is the head coach of the B.C. hockey team for the Canada Winter Games in Red Deer. The male tournament runs from Feb. 16-22.
CP PHOTO
Canadians Ty Smith and Evan Bouchard stand on the blueline following the team’s overtime loss to Finland on Wednesday in Vancouver.
at the Los
on June 27, 2018. The
Comedian behind Super Dave
dies
at age 76
Lynn ELBER Citizen news service
LOS ANGELES — Bob Einstein, the veteran comedy writer and performer known for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, Curb Your Enthusiasm and his spoof daredevil character Super Dave Osborne, has died, according to his brother, filmmaker Albert Brooks. Einstein was 76. Einstein will be “missed forever,” Brooks said in a post Wednesday on his verified Twitter account.
“R.I.P. My dear brother Bob Einstein. A great brother, father and husband. A brilliantly funny man,” tweeted Brooks, 71.
A&E IN BRIEF
Dr. Hook vocalist dies at 81
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Guitarist and vocalist Ray Sawyer of the rock band Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show has died at the age of 81.
Wearing a black eyepatch, Sawyer was the face of the band as they produced several hits in the 1970s.
His agent, Mark Lyman, said Sawyer died in his sleep Monday in Daytona Beach, Fla., after a brief illness. Lyman declined to give a cause of death Wednesday out of respect for his family’s privacy. Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show’s hits included Sylvia’s Mother, When You’re in Love with a Beautiful Woman, and The Cover of Rolling Stone. Sawyer wore a patch over his right eye after suffering an injury from a car accident as a young man. Lyman says Sawyer toured up until two years ago.
‘Captain’ dead at 76
NEW YORK (AP) — Daryl Dragon, the cap-wearing Captain of The Captain and Tennille who teamed with then-wife Toni Tennille on such easy listening hits as Love Will Keep Us Together
Details of Einstein’s death were not immediately available. Representatives for him and Brooks did not immediately respond to calls or emails.
Einstein was scheduled to be part of the 10th season of Curb Your Enthusiasm but his health barred him from filming, HBO said.
On the comedy, Einstein played annoying pal Marty Funkhouser to Larry David’s equally off-putting character. In a statement, David said he’d never seen an actor enjoy a role more than Einstein did playing Marty.
“It was an amazing, unforgettable experience knowing and
and Muskrat Love, died Wednesday at age 76.
Dragon died of renal failure at a hospice in Prescott, Ariz., according to spokesman Harlan Boll.
Tennille was by his side.
“He was a brilliant musician with many friends who loved him greatly. I was at my most creative in my life, when I was with him,” Tennille said in a statement.
Dragon and Tennille divorced in 2014 after nearly 40 years of marriage, but they remained close and Tennille had moved back to Arizona to help care for him.
Dragon and Tennille met in the early 1970s and soon began performing together, with Tennille singing and Dragon on keyboards. (He would later serve as The Captain and Tennille’s producer). Their breakthrough came in 1975 when they covered the Neil Sedaka-Howard Greenfield song Love Will Keep Us Together, which Sedaka himself recorded in 1973 and had been released as a single in Europe.
The Captain and Tennille version topped the charts – and acknowledged Sedaka’s authorship by singing “Sedaka’s back” at the end of the song – and won a Grammy for record of the year. They followed with a mix of covers such as Muskrat Love and Shop Around and original songs, including Tennille’s Do That to Me One More Time, which hit
Netflix criticized for pulling episode in Saudi Arabia
Citizen news service
NEW YORK — Netflix faced criticism Wednesday from human rights groups for pulling an episode in Saudi Arabia of comedian Hasan Minhaj’s Patriot Act series that criticized the kingdom’s powerful crown prince.
The American comedian used his second episode, released Oct. 28, to criticize Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the killing of writer Jamal Khashoggi and the Saudi-led coalition at war in Yemen.
Human rights group Amnesty International said Saudi Arabia’s censorship of Netflix is “further proof of a relentless crackdown on freedom of expression.” Netflix said it was simply complying with a local law.
Khashoggi, who wrote critically of the crown prince in columns for the newspaper, was killed and dismembered by Saudi agents inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last year. The U.S. Senate has said it believes the crown prince is responsible for the grisly killing, despite insistence by the kingdom that he had no knowledge of the operation.
working with him. There was no one like him, as he told us again and again,” David said Wednesday. “We’re all in a state of shock.” Einstein created and played Super Dave, a stuntman far more ambitious than he was agile. The character appeared on comedyvariety specials and series, most recently Super Dave’s Spike Tacular in 2009.
He won an Emmy for writing on the 1960s series The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, on which he also played opposite brothers Tom and Dick Smothers, and a second Emmy in 1976 for Dick Van Dyke’s Van Dyke and Company variety series.
No. 1 in 1980. They also briefly starred in their own television variety show.
A Los Angeles native, Dragon was the son of Oscar-winning composer Carmen Dragon and singer Eloise Dragon and was himself a classically trained musician. Before he was with Tennille, he played keyboards for the Beach Boys and was dubbed The Captain by singer Mike Love, who noted Dragon’s fondness for sailor’s caps.
‘Mean
Gene’ Okerlund gone at 76
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Eugene “Mean Gene” Okerlund, whose deadpan interviews of pro wrestling superstars like Macho Man Randy Savage, The Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan made him a ringside fixture in his own right, has died. He was 76.
World Wrestling Entertainment announced Okerlund’s death on its website Wednesday. Okerlund’s son, Tor Okerlund, told The Associated Press that his father died early Wednesday at a hospital in Sarasota, Fla., near his home in Osprey, Fla., with his wife, Jeanne, by his side. Tor Okerlund said his father, who had received three kidney transplants, fell a few weeks ago “and it just kind of went from bad to worse.”
“It blows my mind that it took the killing of a Washington Post journalist for everyone to go: ‘Oh I guess he’s not really a reformer,”’ Minhaj said in the episode. Netflix, in a statement Wednesday, said the episode was removed from the kingdom as a result of a legal request from authorities and not due to its content.
“We strongly support artistic freedom worldwide and removed this episode only in Saudi Arabia after we had received a valid legal demand from the government – and to comply with local law,” the streaming giant said.
Minhaj, a former correspondent with The Daily Show on Comedy Central, told The Associated Press this summer that his Netflix show would fuse his personal narrative as a firstgeneration Indian-American with the current political and social backdrop to examine deep issues confronting the world.
In the roughly 18-minute nowcensored Patriot Act monologue, Minhaj also mentions the ruling Al Saud family and its vast wealth, saying: “Saudi Arabia is crazy. One giant family controls everything.”
In a tweet, Minhaj mocked the censorship attempt, pointing out that the episode banned from the kingdom is available elsewhere online.
“Clearly, the best way to stop people from watching something is to ban it, make it trend online, and then leave it up on YouTube,” he tweeted.
The Saudi-led coalition’s airstrikes in Yemen have also come under intense scrutiny since Khashoggi’s killing. The war, which began in March 2015, has killed thousands of civilians and pushed millions to the brink of famine.
Bob Einstein arrives
Angeles premiere of Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind at the TCL Chinese Theatre
comedy veteran has died at age 76.
SAWYER
Adult & Youth Newspaper Carriers Needed in the Following areas:
• Hart Area
• Queensway • Lakewood
• Lower College Heights
• Central
• Pineview • Domano
Glenis Burke September 12 1946December 21 2018
It is with great sadness we announce that Glenis Anne Burke passed away on December 21st, 2018 at the age of 72. She was happy to spend her final days surrounded by loving family, her dog, and the caring staff of the PG Rotary Hospice House. Glenis loved to spend time with her children and grandchildren and could often be found in one of the local parks enjoying nature with her dog, Maggie. Her fighting spirit, sense of humor, generosity, and loving nature remained until the end. Glenis’ death was preceded by her parents Kathleen and Pieter Mostert, her brother Peter Mostert and her nephew Brian Spencer. She is survived by her children, Stacey (Josh) and Jason (Nadia), sister Marie (David) and niece Robyn (Dave). We would like to send a heartfelt thank you to Dr Tsang, Dr Carter, the staff of the PG Rotary Hospice House, and many other caregivers for their quality care and compassion. There is no date set for the celebration of life at this time. In lieu of flowers, please be so kind as to donate to the Kidney Foundation or Prince George Hospice Society.
Allen Gregory Chow Jan 6th 1956 - Dec 22 2018
It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Allen Gregory Chow. Allen passed away peacefully on Saturday, December 22nd 2018 in Vanderhoof, BC after a brave battle with cancer. He was born to Carol & Glen Chow in Quesnel, BC. The Chow family moved to Vanderhoof and Allen grew up and worked in the community that he loved eventually taking over the family business. Glen’s Motor Hotel was a landmark where people gathered for a hot cup of coffee, delicious food, or a cold beer after a long day’s work. Allen’s hobbies included riding his Harley’s, fly fishing and playing guitars with his bandmates and others who shared his love of music. He was a very talented musician and craftsman. He will be lovingly remembered for his friendly smile, his laugh, his loyalty, kindness, and generous personality, along with many other wonderful traits. Allen will be greatly missed by his family and friends. He is survived by his Mother Carol Chow, Sister Leanne Kranenburg and family, Son Ryan Chow and Family, and Daughter Darrien Minnie and Family. Allen will now be reunited with his Father who predeceased him. “Your life was a blessing, your memory a treasure, you are loved beyond words and missed beyond measure.” A Celebration of Life for Allen will be held on Saturday, January 5th 2019 at 1:00pm at the Nechako Senior Citizens Friendship Center 219 Victoria Street East, Vanderhoof, BC. Memorial donations in lieu of flowers may be made to the Canadian Cancer Society. www.cancer.ca
Full Time and Temporary Routes Available. Contact for Details 250-562-3301 or rss@pgcitizen.ca
BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY
Established Franchise Photography Business Serving Northern B.C for over 35 years
Gross Revenues of $150.000 plus annually from seasonal work
Lots of opportunity to expand the business.
Transition support available to the right buyer
Serious Enquiries Only Office 250-596-9199 Cell 250-981-1472
BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY
Established Franchise Tax Preparation BusinessMackenzieservicing and McLeod Lake area for over 30 years.
Gross Revenues of $85,000 to $90,000
Annually and Potential to expand revenues in a growing economy. Transition support available for the right buyer.
Serious Inquires Only Office (250)997-9003 Home (250)997-5538 Cell (250)990-0152
Jennifer passed away suddenly December 23rd, 2018 at the age of 42. Daughter of James Zurch and Marlene Monk, son Jeffery and daughter Andrea. With many aunts and uncles. She was thoughtful and kind person who respected her elders. Jennifer will be deeply missed by all. Service to be held at Assmans Funeral Chapel, Saturday January 5th at 1pm
Evelyn Malgunas Oct 18, 1944 to Dec 27, 2018. It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Evelyn Elizabeth Malgunas. Evelyn will be lovingly remembered by her devoted husband of 52 years Vern, her sons Stewart (Sheryl) Malgunas, and Kevin Malgunas (Cori), grandchildren Jayden, Cassidy, Brennan and Taylor. We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Doctors Sidorov and Smith; as well as the staff at the Hospice House. Evelyn is blessed with many great friends and family and we will be holding a Celebration of Life in the next few weeks with details to follow. In lieu of flowers donations to the Rotary Hospice House would be greatly appreciated.
After growing up in the Cariboo looking at the night sky, Jason Kalirai is now an astrophysicist at a top U.S. university
Christine
HINZMANN Citizen staff chinzmann@pgcitizen.ca
Star gazing in Quesnel is a big part of fond childhood memories for a Cariboo astrophysicist who now works at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory between Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
“As a young kid one of the beautiful things about living in Quesnel is that it’s very isolated and it’s very dark, it’s very quiet and so we lived in a normal house but we had a nice backyard,” Jason Kalirai said. “I remember as a young kid looking up at the night sky in the backyard and just kind of wondering what I was seeing out there. What more was out there? And just having these basic questions that I think a lot of kids do at a young age.”
Kalirai said that as he would read books about astrophysics - the study of the physical nature of stars and other celestial bodies - he would always get pulled in deeper.
“Because the universe is so complex that you realize that ‘oh, wow, the things that I’m seeing are just kind of like the houses on my street, compared to the city that I live in or the province that we’re in or the country that we’re inthere’s just so much more out there’ and that was with me all through elementary school and high school and then the real turning point for me happened in Grade 11 when I started taking physics.”
At that point, he fell in love with the scientific discipline that seeks to explain the behaviour of the universe, both at the very small and the very large level. His now-retired teacher, Ray Blais, was actually an astronomer and he incorporated astronomy concepts about gravity and how stars work into his physics curriculum.
“And that’s what got me hooked,” Kalirai said. “I remember I had a conversation with him where I realized that you could actually do this for a living and they’ll pay you for it. There’s an actual job of being an astrophysicist and from there I never looked back.”
Kalirai, who graduated high school in Quesnel in 1999, earned three degrees at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, including his BSc, honours physics and astronomy, MSc, astrophysics, and PhD, astrophysics.
Kalirai has a deeper connection to this area. Kalirai’s wife was born in Prince George.
At a young age Mandeep (better known as Mandy) moved with her family to Vancouver. Kalirai met Mandy at UBC while they both studied science.
After attending UBC, Kalirai went to the University of California at Santa Cruz as a Hubble Postdoctoral Fellow.
“Coming up through the system doing the degrees and doing research I was always most excited about advancing on the understanding of something,” Kalirai said. “The primary research field I work on is the life cycles of stars, how stars change over time, and how they evolve, how they’re eventually going to die, how they impact the planets that are orbiting
Jason Kalirai, who grew up in Quesnel, is an astrophysicist working at Johns hopkins University in Maryland. Behind him is an image of the James Webb Space telescope, which is scheduled to launch in 2021, after more than a decade of work by numerous partnering countries, including the U.S. and Canada.
them and how they influence the galaxies in which they live - stuff like that.”
That was always his biggest passion, he added.
“But about five or six years ago it changed,” Kalirai said. “And it changed when I began to understand how the system here in the United States, where I’m at now, supports science and all the different ways scientists can get involved
in helping shape future priorities for astrophysics.”
Kalirai said he spends a lot of time coming up with ideas for future space science projects.
“And not just for astrophysics but also planetary science and helio physics, which is the study of the sun, as well as Earth science programs,” he said. “So now I get a lot of satisfaction in being a
part of the process through which strategic priorities are decided for NASA and the United States to go after and often in these projects they are actually international partnerships. Sometimes it’s very rewarding to see - sometimes the U.S. is leading a project that Canada is a partner on or sometimes Canada is leading a project and the U.S. is a partner.” — See ‘I THINK’ on page 3
Plant-based eating more than a trend
Food for Thought
With 2019 almost upon us, many people will be crafting new year’s resolutions centred on diet and lifestyle. For some this will mean a focus on veganism or vegetarianism, but plant-based is now becoming a more popular option for many.
Although a plant-based diet has not been well-defined, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) has comeup with a generally well-accepted definition. DGAC defines plant-based as a diet that “emphasizes vegetables, cooked dry beans and peas, fruits, whole grains, nuts, and seeds” and limits animal food sources. Keep in mind that diet only refers to the food an individual eats in a day and does not refer to a weight loss plan.
Sarah Anstey is a tegistered dietitian with an interest in plant-based eating.
Sarah has an Instagram account (@plantbasedpg) with a growing following who are interested in plant-based options at Prince George restaurants.
Sarah sat down to answer a few of my questions on her interest in plant-based eating and what plant-based means to her.
1. What made you decide to create Plant-Based PG?
– A few years ago when I started eating a plant-based diet, I realized options were limited at most of my favourite restaurants.
The Prince George restaurant scene tends to be very meatfocussed and I saw this reflected in most menus.
The vegetarian options that were available were lacking in the flavour, variety, and innovation that I was seeing offered at restaurants in bigger cities like Vancouver.
I created Plant-Based PG as a resource to highlight some of the best plant-based meals in Prince George.
2. What does plant-based mean to you?
– To me, a plant-based diet is one that features mostly plants, most of the time.
Typical meals feature a combination of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes.
I like the term plant-based rather than vegan because it takes away some of the all-ornothing thinking that most people associate with a vegan diet.
Telling someone that you eat a plant-based diet can remove some of the shame, judgment, and questioning that a person
might experience when they stray from the typical rules of veganism.
3. What sources of protein would you recommend for an individual on a plant-based diet?
– There is sometimes an assumption that it is difficult to consume enough protein on a plant-based diet, but this is not true!
The main sources of plantbased proteins are nuts and seeds, legumes such as black beans, chickpeas, and lentils, and soy-based proteins like tofu or tempeh.
All of these items are widely available in Prince George. The trick is learning how to cook with them.
4. What are the benefits of plant-based eating?
– There is a lot of evidence to suggest eating plant-based is better for your health and the health of the environment.
However, in order to reap these benefits, it’s important to focus on a diet rich in whole foods, like those mentioned above.
It’s very easy to swap out burgers, chicken nuggets and ground beef for vegan versions from the frozen food section of the store that may be higher in salt and other additives.
5. Are there any negative aspects to a plant-based diet?
– I think the transition can
sometimes be difficult if a person has been eating a certain way their whole life and is trying to make some changes.
It can be difficult to know what types of recipes to make and how to cook with new ingredients.
My advice is to start with one or two meals per week and go from there.
There are plenty of plantbased cookbooks at the Prince George Public Library.
Some popular books at the moment are Vegan Comfort Classics: 101 recipes to feed your face, the Thug Kitchen series, and Vegan For Everybody: foolproof plant-based recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and in-between. Also, the internet is full of delicious recipes and it’s a great way to get inspiration for free.
6. Are there any restaurants in Prince George you would recommend for their plant-based options?
Unfortunately, in Prince George we don’t have any vegetarian restaurants.
Most restaurants only offer a few plant-based options on their menu, but I think this is slowly changing.
Make sure you check out @plantbasedpg on Instagram to see some of the items available and tag #plantbasedpg to show us what you’ve tried!
‘I think we’ll discover that life is not special’
— from page 1
Kalirai said the United States collaborates with many other countries on a variety of projects, including telescopes and probes that are being built.
“And that’s when we’re really at our best,” he said.
“When we’re leveraging the collective expertise and talent from many different nations.” Through much study of astrophysics in the last decade or so, Kalirai said there is one thing that has become apparent.
“Planets are not special,” he said. “There’s nothing unique about planets. They’re just the debris laying around when a star forms. There’s gas and dust laying around and it forms planets and if you look at the history of astronomy it teaches that nothing is special. Our galaxy is not special. There are billions of galaxies like it in the universe. Our stars and the sun is not special. There are billions of stars like it in our galaxy and now we know planets are not special. If you just think about the future I think we’ll discover that life is not special. I think we’ll find evidence of life within our own solar system and I think we’ll
find life on other planets that are orbiting other stars because there are billions times billions of stars in the universe. I hope understanding that will give people here on Earth a sense of togetherness, a sense of closeness.”
Kalirai can’t stress enough the importance of youth pursuing their science interests. He said he knows making the study of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) easily accessible is key to the future population of scientists, whose curious minds may answer future questions about the universe.
“I have found it to be very rewarding to be a scientist and to help solve some of the big problems, the big questions that face us about the universe but all science is like that,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be astrophysics but if you want to feel that way, if you’re passionate about it, it’s important to be curious. It’s important to try to figure out why things work the way they do and how things work. Ask questions and then go and find the answers and if it’s truly for you – it’s your passion – like what happened to me - you’ll never look back.”
Avocado, Toasted Squash and Black Bean Tacos
Serves 4
These tacos are high in protein and fibre and will help keep you fuller for longer.
Black beans are also a good source of potassium and iron and an excellent replacement for ground beef.
Ingredients
- 1 butternut squash, approx. 1.3kg
- 2 tbsp olive oil, divided
- tsp salt
- Fresh ground pepper
- 2 tsp sumac (or paprika)
- 1 garlic clove, finely minced
- 1 can (540ml) black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1.2 tsp chili powder
- 8-10 corn tortillas
- 1 avocado, diced
- 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
- Fresh cilantro, hot sauce and lime quarters, to serve Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 425F. Peel the squash and cut it in two.
Remove the seeds and stringy fibres, and dice the squash.
2. Arrange the squash pieces on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Drizzle with 2 tbsp olive
oil, add salt and pepper, and sprinkle with sumac or paprika.
Roast for 25 minutes.
3. In a small saucepan, sauté tbsp. olive oil and the minced garlic over low to medium heat. Add the black beans, ground cumin, chili powder, salt and cup of water.
Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for approximately 5 minutes or until the beans are well heated and soft (but not dry).
4. In a hot pan, heat the tortillas for a few minutes, or microwave them for 20 seconds.
Cover with a clean cloth to prevent them from drying out.
5. Top the tortillas with roasted squash, black beans, avocado and feta. Serve with fresh cilantro, hot sauce and lime quarters.
This recipe can be found on Cookspiration.com , a free app from Dietitians of Canada, and was provided by Avocados from Mexico.
Kelsey Leckovic is a registered dietitian with Northern Health working in chronic disease management.
Citizen news serviCe photo
this Jan 9, 2018, photo shows the impossible Burger at Stella’s, in Bellevue, neb., which is a burger is made from plant protein.
Kelsey lecKovic
It’s A Wonderful Life all year
Celebrated American filmmaker Steven Spielberg said, “It’s a Wonderful Life shows that every human being on this Earth matters – and that’s a very powerful message.”
Released in December 1946 (the same month Spielberg was born), and set in the first half of the 20th century, this film has been a Christmas favourite for generations.
George Bailey, the main character, is a talented and ambitious man who, as a result of circumstance, ends up running his family’s business, a small building and loan company in fictitious Bedford Falls, New York. Though he skillfully navigates through the Great Depression, contributes significantly to the prosperity of the middle class in his community, constantly fends off a greedy investor who wants
Lessons in Learning
Gerry ChidiaC
to take control of the town and is in the process of bringing up a beautiful family, he feels his life has been unimportant. When a banking error results in the threat of criminal charges for misappropriation of funds, he is ready to give up hope.
Just as he is preparing to jump off a bridge, hoping his life insurance will solve his financial problems, an angel appears and offers to show him what the world would be like had he never been born.
Through this experience, Bailey finally becomes aware of the incredible contributions he’s made in the lives of everyone he knows and is overwhelmed
with a sense of gratitude for a life well lived, despite the fact that he knows he could still end up in jail.
In the end, Bailey’s friends come through for him and disaster is averted. Because the story takes place at Christmas time, the film concludes with George Bailey gathered together with his family and friends around a Christmas tree singing Auld Lang Syne. He then receives a gift from his angel with the statement, “remember no man is a failure who has friends.”
Perhaps the reason we love this film is that we can all see ourselves in George Bailey. We have all faced frustrations and have doubted decisions we made. We all, from time to time, have faced despair and asked if the world would be different without us. When George receives his answer, we contemplate our own.
Though it sounds morbid, this
is a very life-giving activity. Stephen Covey, in guiding people to make mission statements, will ask them to imagine their own funerals. What do friends, family members and co-workers say about us? What does that tell us about the kind of life we are living and the legacy we hope to leave behind? If we can answer these questions honestly, we are able to reach the core of our essence and purpose, and write it on paper.
I recently attended the funeral of a man whom I would honestly call a mentor. He lived a simple life, being best known for running a summer camp together with his family for many years. Though my interactions with him had been fewer in recent years, the lessons I learned were never forgotten. Most importantly, he taught me how to live a life of faith and dedication to my own family. As I listened at the funeral and
talked to people at the crowded reception, it was very clear that this wonderful, sometimes gruff and opinionated, man had touched the lives of thousands.
The message of It’s a Wonderful Life rings true so many years after it was made because it speaks of powerful universal truths which will never change. We have no idea how the smallest act of kindness impacts the lives of others.
We are each born with a purpose, and so was every other person who walks this beautiful planet with us.
The more we draw out our own good, the more we draw out the good in others, and the better the world becomes. It really is a wonderful life.
Gerry Chidiac is a champion for social enlightenment, inspiring others to find their greatness in making the world a better place. For more of his writings, go to www.gerrychidiac.com.
Purcell’s hit novel getting lots of love
This Is Not A Love Letter named to NPR’s list of great reads for 2018
Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff
fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca
A Prince George writer telling a Prince George story has been listed as one of the best books of 2018 for the adolescent audience.
The annual NPR (National Public Radio) Book Consierge publishes a list of 300 top titles that were released in the past year. Kim Purcell’s novel This Is Not A Love Letter was on that exclusive list of 2018’s Great Reads.
“It was out of the blue for me, so very exciting,” said Purcell, who grew up in Prince George and now lives in the Los Angeles area. “Being on the list of their top books brings it to national audiences everywhere. Having that reach for NPR will be huge for it.”
A lot of other “best of” book lists take the suggestions of the NPR list, so Purcell is now bracing for more positive feedback.
The story is fiction. It tells the tale of a popular young black man who goes suddenly and mysteriously missing while out for a jog.
The circumstances of the disappearance and the search for him both serve to uncover streaks of prejudice and bias in the young man’s community, and cause his girlfriend to realize for the first time what schisms and weaknesses existed unseen under her white blanket.
“A fast-paced and heartbreaking story about racial tension, depression and loss in a small town in the Pacific Northwest,” said NPR’s book critic Amal El-Mohtar. “Jessie is writing letters to her boyfriend Chris, with whom she recently broke up – just before he vanished. Chris is one of very few black people in a mostly white town, and Jessie grows increasingly afraid that he’s been murdered. The firstperson narration is relentless and raw, as Jessie confesses things to the absence of Chris that she never was able to say to him in person.”
The story drew strongly from Purcell’s own experiences when one of her closest friends in high school, Al Rivas, really did go missing on a jog along the Prince George riverside trails in 1989.
“It is really neat to see it in Canadian bookstores, and I’ve done quite a few school visits in British Columbia. There’s something super special about that,” said Purcell, describing how her secretly
Although there are many benefits to having Christmas be over, there are things that I will miss in the chaos leading up to the 25th of December. I will miss having the option to call Santa Claus when the kids are being naughty. It has been handy these past few weeks being able to pick up the phone and start dialling only to have the children (who were actively yelling and trying to strangle each other) freeze and stare in horror. Then there are one
Former prince george resident Kim purcell reads a passage from her book this is not a Love Letter in February at Books and company. the Los angeles-based author’s hit novel was named to the national public Radio’s list of great reads for 2018.
Canadian story was spread first across the U.S. by her American publisher, then repatriated in a subliminal way back to Canada when a distribution deal got it into the marketplace in this country.
“What I experienced, and a lot of our friends experienced when Al went missing, was total shock,” she said. “The next step was to explore what could have possibly happened? This incredible person who really did make a giant positive difference in a lot of people’s lives - it was unimaginable. He was a straight-A student, amazing athlete, super kind, personable. How on earth could he possibly be missing? We had to look at was it possible that a hate crime may have been committed?”
Then his loved ones had to ask if the
thousand “I’m sorry’s” and they remember that they love each other. For fifteen minutes, there was peace.
Now, it is back to the old tried-and-true methods of parenting, including such classics as, silently-whispered-threatsin-the-grocery-store-of-retribution-when-we-get-home, and taking-away-all-your-new-toys-
search effort was as fulsome as had the victim been blonde-haired and blueeyed.
The first motivational rule of any writer is “write what you know” so this was a natural subject for Purcell to work with anyway, but she was extra compelled to shine this light because of the common traits across North America when the central protagonist is a visible minority.
“We need to be uplifting voices of colour, writers of colour should be published much more widely than they currently are, in Canada the voices of Aboriginal writers must be heard more, and as a white woman writer I felt it was important to talk about white bias and white privilege and how our experience of whiteness is so impactful from the
because-you-are-fighting-andwe-are-tired-of-the-noise, and finally, the old-standby classic parenting trick of giving-upand-letting-them-run-wild-likeferal-children-until-you-remember-that-they-are-old-enoughto-be-kicked-outside-and-youdon’t-really-have-to-supervise. The kids are becoming old enough that they can play pretend and organize elaborate scenarios with each other and do not need us as much to get things started. I love watching them play and listening to the stories and games that they are making up.
time of birth onward,” she said.
Her own “best of” recommendation was for people to read the book White Like Me by author Tim Wise and, as she did, let it squeeze open the windows of consciousness about your own natural and inevitable biases.
“This particular book opened my eyes to how much racism hurts everybody,” Purcell said. “We all know that racism hurts people of colour and homophobia hurts people who are homosexuals, but that hatred and that judgment spreads to everybody.”
This Is Not A Love Letter will soon be released on paperback, and new books by Purcell are in the works, again with subject matter scratched from the scenes of her Prince George.
One of their favourite games to play is “Home,” or otherwise known as, “Megan and Will.” They run around pretending to be my husband and I, greeting each other as we come home. The only things that “Megan and Will” talk about is what to make for dinner and putting the kids to bed.
It is a bit humbling watching yourself as a caricature, acted out by a smaller version of yourself. As long as they are getting along, I am willing to suffer a small amount of existential shame in the hopes that I do not
have to entertain them 24 hours a day. My hope for the New Year is to finish my thesis, go on a vacation and for everyone in my family to be healthy and have good things happen to them in 2019. I may have to grab the Easter Bunny’s number for the next few months to hold us over until next Christmas is close enough again. I am looking forward to the new year and I hope that good things happen to all of you as well. Happy New Year from my family to yours!
Parents struggle with screen time limits for kids
Ana HOMAYOUN
Special to The Citizen Extra
“Is it true that Silicon Valley tech executives don’t let their kids use screens?” I was on the East Coast speaking with parents and once again was asked the question I can’t seem to escape.
I’ve observed with curiosity the ongoing buzz about how Silicon Valley parents – particularly those who are technology executives and investors – keep their children off screens. These stories tend to create low-grade anxiety as well as a parentshaming aimed at those who let their kids use screens.
Over the past 15 years, I’ve worked as an educational consultant focused on executivefunctioning issues with tweens and teens in an office about 10 km from Google’s, Facebook’s and Apple’s main campuses.
More than a thousand middle school and high school students have walked into my office over the years – including those whose parents are technology CEOs, executives, venture capitalists and other investors – to discuss their work habits, distractions and the effects of everyday technology in their lives.
It’s no secret that social media and technology use have become a hot topic – especially because there has been little research into the relationship between teens’ technology and social media use and long-term brain development and mental wellness.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently announced the launch of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, which will track more than 11,000 teens to investigate factors that influence young people, including the impact of screen use on brain development. Research has linked digital media use to poorer sleep quality and duration, which, as sleep researcher Matthew Walker notes in his book Why We Sleep, can easily affect focus, concentration, mood and mental well-being.
After spending the past year traveling to more than 35 cities consulting with schools on social media, technology and student wellness issues, as well as visiting many of the schools in Silicon Valley, I’ve found it’s a fallacy that most parents working in technology want their kids to live completely screenfree lives. It certainly may be easier to keep younger children from using screens, but all the Silicon Valley parents I interviewed agreed it isn’t realistic once children are school-aged. Instead, they are focused on finding ways to make sure their kids have healthy experiences online and in real life - and in some ways are further along than other parents in doing so. Take, for example, Loren Cheng, director of product management for Facebook Messenger Kids and father of a preschooler, a second-grader and a fifth-grader. He lets his children use technology to promote creation, collaboration or communication. His second-grader loves Minecraft and recently used online video tutorials to build an elaborate castle with underground traps. His fifth-grader messages him in the afternoon when he is still at work, conversations he’s not sure they would have otherwise. These activities point to an important and often overlooked distinction in how and when technology is used. For instance, a child passively staring at a screen is different from one who is actively communicating with a grandparent via FaceTime or using online tools to develop creative projects, say, to create animation or to edit videos. For younger kids, strict guidelines can be critical. But as children get older, it’s important for parents to have conversations with them and to establish times for them to be offline. Monitoring apps such as Bark or OurPact work best in concert with conversations around use, not in lieu of them. Of course, what works for one family might not work for another. But as a rule, it is often more effective to put rules in place proactively rather than to try
to cut back on screen time once a child has already developed screen habits. Another good option is to provide natural steps for incremental usage - say, starting with a flip phone and then moving to a smartphone, or creating an environment in which access to a smartphone or screen is the exception rather than the default.
“The only thing that works [for us] is very rigid rules,” says Mike Popek, who worked at Google for nearly 14 years in different management roles – and went to junior high and high school with me. He and his wife have three children, ages nine, seven and three, and live in Palo Alto.
His older children are each allowed an hour of screen time per night at the computer in the living room – but only after homework is done and dinner has been served.
The family makes no distinction between educational videos and interactive experiences and scrolling through information online during that hour. So even though his kids use screens on a regular basis, he admits that “we’re probably stricter than most.”
“There’s no way you can just say no to screens. It’s not possible,” says Popek. “They’ll be at a huge disadvantage in their lives if they have no experience with this type of technology.”
Some area parents may disagree with him, such as those whose children attend the Waldorf School of the Peninsula, which is often cited as the screen-free zone where technology executives send their kids. The Waldorf community is tiny, though, serving fewer than 400 kids in an area with more than 15,000 students. And even Waldorf uses computers as teaching tools in high school classrooms.
Melanie Wendt, a school therapist at a public middle school in Silicon Valley, deals with these issues both at work and at home. The students she sees –some of whom have parents in tech – spend much of their time on their phones and playing video games. She and her husband established boundaries for their own boys, ages eight and 10. Her older son has an iPad, which he uses one to two hours a week, and the boys have an Xbox. But they are not allowed to play shooting video games, instead spending time on FIFA and other sports games. She feels the single most important strategy to promote healthy online and real-life experiences is to be consistent. Wendt has found that her sons are more aware of their own screen use and the use of others. They’ll notice when they are out eating dinner and everyone at a table near them is engrossed in their phones. “I feel like I’ve raised awareness,” she says. She thinks it doesn’t make sense to take a draconian approach to limiting technology use. “By cutting something out of their life, it makes it more interesting. That’s why we decided not to completely take it away.”
Dan Zigmond, director of analytics at Instagram, has two daughters, ages 16 and 18, both
of whom have smartphones and regularly spend time online and using different apps. For him, “it’s less about having strict rules and more about just having lots of conversations about it.” His children will call him out if they think he is on his phone too much, and as a family they don’t have screens at mealtimes. They will “sometimes take vacations where we’re completely off the grid.”
Helping children and teens create consistent, compartmentalized time offline is key, though what that looks like can differ depending on children’s ages and their susceptibility to overusing technology. Keeping phones out of the bedroom at night and tracking, monitoring and shutting down usage with tools such as Apple’s Screen Time or Google’s Family Link can create consistent structure and conversations around awareness.
I occasionally meet parents
who try to shield their kids from technology, and that can quickly become counterproductive, given that so many kids communicate using devices. A few years ago, a ninth-grade girl and her mother came into my office because the daughter was miserable at her new school and wanted to transfer. Within a few minutes, I discovered that the mother refused to give her daughter a phone, reasoning that her daughter’s new classmates “could call our house if they wanted to make plans.” But most of her daughter’s classmates were texting or messaging - and her daughter felt alone and ostracized.
That ninth-grader’s experience relates to a recent Pew Research Center report, Teens’ Social Media Habits and Experiences, which found that 81 percent of teens feel more connected to their friends using social media and that 69 percent feel as though social media helps
them interact with a more diverse set of people. At the same time, teens still struggle with information overload and what I call the all-about-the-likes personal values development, in which likes, loves, comments and followers have become the new barometers of popularity.
Katy Roybal is director of education technology at a Silicon Valley independent school with an iPad program. She is also the mother of three boys (a college freshman, a high school junior and a second-grader). She stresses that kids should recognize the importance of controlling their own device and what they put online.
To help tweens and teens become more aware, I recommend parents require kids to do a little research before downloading any new apps or opening new online accounts. Who founded and created the app? Have there been any recent related scandals in the news? Can they find out anything about the app’s data privacy and cybersecurity issues? This process of investigation can help kids actively reflect on how and where they should spend time online. And, I should add, it’s no less applicable for apps that are marketed as educational, as the FBI recently warned.
In the end, as Instagram’s Zigmond puts it, “the basic issues around parenting and helping to set boundaries and helping kids make healthy choices around all kinds of things are kind of the same, no matter what.” Parents around the country are more in line with Silicon Valley parents than they might believe: We’re all trying to figure it out in an ever-changing digital world. It’s a good idea to keep up the pressure on companies to protect children. And less shaming and more proactive solutions will go a long way in creating a safer, happier, healthier world for kids online and in real life.
Ana Homayoun is an author of three books, including Social Media Wellness: Helping Tweens and Teens Thrive in an Unbalanced Digital World.
a nine-year-old boy spends time on his ipad.
Seniors’ Scene names from 2018
Seniors’ Scene
Part two of a two-part series of 2018 in review, recapping the names and a bit of each of the already brief histories of the many interesting people from my column throughout 2018.
• Delbert and Dorothy Wood: Delbert was born in 1926 in Edmonton and grew up learning how to skillfully operate a cat and other heavy machinery. He worked as a bush supervisor for the Clandonald Logging Company, for La Pas Lumber as the cut line seismographer, for Norm Avison clearing bush and building roads and contract work for Louis Matte putting in roads in the development of the Beaverly subdivision.
He met Dorothy McDermid at a dance in 1946; they got married in 1947.
Dorothy was born in 1929 and raised on a small farm in Wildwood, Alta. She was a stay at home mom and later worked at a fast food restaurant for eight years followed by 12 years at the Pine Valley Golf Centre.
When I asked Delbert about his retirement, he merely said that he was only 91 and that he was still waiting for the right time to retire.
• Marion (Sauser) Van Caeseele was born in 1933 in Churchbridge, Sask. She met Maurice Van Caeseele at a wedding dance in 1951 and five years later they got married.
Maurice, born in 1924 in Langenburg, Sask. was a Second World War veteran and served in Great Britain. He moved to Prince George in 1956 and first worked for Dezell Construction, then Northern Forest Products which later became Domtar Chemicals and retired after 33 years of service.
Marion received the Canadian Red Cross award for her 25 years of volunteer service at the Prince George blood donor clinic and she is a 60-year charter member of the Catholic Women’s League at St Mary’s Parish. She is now mostly confined to a wheel chair and lives at the Parkside Care Facility and says the staff at the facility are wonderful.
• Dr. Carolyn McGhee and the late Dr. Jack (John James) McGhee left England in 1965 and arrived in Prince George in 1966.
Carolyn (Meetham) McGhee, was born in 1938 in Leicester, England. In 1963 Carolyn was working as a house surgeon in the general hospital in Nottingham when she met Jack who was a surgical resident and her immediate superior. They were married one year later.
They first lived in Vancouver where Jack studied to take his College of Physicians and Surgeons Canadian Certification. Carolyn worked as an assistant resident in pediatrics at the Health Centre for Children. She was the bread winner for a period of one year.
Dr. Jack McGhee was inducted into the Northern Medical Hall of Fame by the Northern Medical Society in 2007.
When they arrived in Prince George Carolyn was the only female family physician in the city at the time. She worked for the Child Development Centre for 25 years and retired in 1992.
She is a volunteer musician in the Prince George Symphony Orchestra and studies the viola with concertmaster José Delgado-Guevara.
• Adrien and Dolly Girard: Adrien was born in 1929 in Normandin, Que. and retired in 1991 as the general maintenance service manager for Northwood Pulp and Paper.
At the age of 19, Adrien left his home town to work for the Foundation Company of Canada. He advanced and worked for 13 years in a supervisory position on many interesting projects. He first worked at the Chalk River atom factory. During that time, he met Dolly Denault; a beautiful girl who was working in the office for a catering company that prepared the meals for the Chalk River plant construction crew. They got married in 1953. His pulp mill maintenance
experience started with the construction of a chlorine plant for a pulp and paper mill in Northern Ontario. The company moved them to India for two years and Adrien worked on the CANDU nuclear reactor in India.
Dolly was born in 1934 in Waltham, Que. She taught kindergarten at St Mary’s school on Gillett Street for 14 years and retired in 1991.
• Floyd and Hilary Crowley: Hilary (Forrester) Crowley born in 1944 in Grimsby, England graduated from high school and worked for a year in South Africa and then immigrated to Canada in 1970.
She worked as a physiotherapist for the Canadian Arthritis and Rheumatism Society in Vancouver and moved north in 1973 for a full-time job as the first physiotherapist in Vanderhoof. It was during this time that Hilary met Floyd Crowley at a rodeo. He invited her to the rodeo dance that night; they got married in 1975 and they have been dancing together ever since. Floyd Crowley was born on a farm in Christopher Lake, Sask. in 1938. He graduated from high school in 1956, moved to Fort St John and worked for Westcoast Transmission for the next 38 years and retired in 1995. Hilary worked at the Prince George Regional Hospital for 30 years as a parttime physiotherapist.
• Howard and Marg Lloyd: retired former Social Credit MLA and former City of Prince George Alderman Howard Lloyd was born in Turtleford, Sask. in 1930. His parents moved the family to Prince George when he grew up and started skidding logs with a team of horses and later worked with a D4 Cat building roads and skidding logs to the mill. In 1951, Howard
and his three brothers bought a small sawmill in the Sweden Creek area and started Lloyd Bros. Lumber Company. He sold his shares in the company in 1957, started contract logging and in 1960 started Howard Lloyd Logging.
In 1970, Howard and five other logging contractors started the North Central Plywood Veneer Mill; he sold his shares in NCP in 1978. He served as an alderman for three one-year terms from 1972-75 and was elected the Social Credit MLA from 1975-79 for what was then called the Fort George Riding.
In 1980, Howard married Marg Pilon. Marg was born in Maple Creek, Sask. in 1932. Her family moved to Victoria and in 1972 she earned her teaching degree and taught school for 13 years in Victoria until she retired.
• Egil Lindquist: was born in 1930 in Halden, Norway. He learned his fathers trade as a stone mason and then built his own home in Norway. Egil met and married Bjorg Thokle in 1955. He immigrated to Canada in 1957 and Bjorg followed in 1958. Bjorg was born in Isfjorden, Norway. When she arrived in Edmonton she was in for a shock when she realized that she had left her family and the beautiful Norwegian fjords of Norway for the barren flatlands of the northern city of Edmonton. Egil’s good friend Erling Skuggedal owned Norsemen Construction in Edmonton. He invested in companies in Prince George and started Viking Construction. They moved to Prince George and Egil worked for Viking Construction for the next 13 years as superintendent of job sites. He started his own company Lindquist Masonry and retired 12 years later in
the first time in our lives. There was so much of it and the cold was something we had never experienced.”
She attended CNC, earned her Early Childhood Care and Learning Certificate and got a job at the day care centre. She worked there from 1974-2001 and walked 12 blocks to and from work for many years. She retired in 2001.
• June (Anderson) Chamberland was born in Winnipeg, Man. in 1932. The family moved to Prince George in 1955 with the promise of a job.
June married Paul Chamberland in 1978. He worked as a cat operator until he retired at the age of 64. She became a certified timber scaler in 1980 and retired at the age of 70. Now she volunteers at the Huble Homestead /Giscome Portage Heritage Society and has served on their board of directors in various positions since 1986. It was her affiliation with the society that sparked her interest in the history of old buildings and prompted her to write her book called From Broad Axe to Clay Chinking: stories about pioneers in and around the Prince George area. Her book won the coveted Jeanne Clarke Memorial Local History Award in 2007.
• Rosanna (Sawatzky/Dyck) Konrad was born in 1932 in Grande Prairie, Alta. She moved to Vancouver in 1954 to train as a teacher.
A mutual friend introduced her to Daniel Benjamin Konrad, a second-year medical student at the University of British Columbia. She married Dan two months later.
Dan was born in 1930 in LaGlace, Alta. He graduated from UBC in 1958 as a general practitioner, interned for one year at the Vancouver General Hospital and did one year of surgical residency at the Shaughnessy & Grace Hospital in Vancouver. In 1960 they moved to Prince George and Dr. Dan Konrad formed a medical clinic with Drs. Dennis Clark and John Willms. In 1973 he set up his own ophthalmology clinic in Prince George and retired from his medical surgery practice in 1996.
Dr. Daniel Konrad was inducted into the Northern Health Medical Hall of Fame in 2014 in recognition of 54 years of outstanding medical service to the community and the hospital of Prince George.
1995 at the age of 65.
• Don and Joyce Grantham: Don was born in 1941 in Gladstone, Man. After high school he took his electronics training at the Manitoba Technical Institute in Winnipeg and got a job on the Mid-Canada Line in Dawson Creek. Don met Joyce Sexton at the curling rink in Dawson creek. They got married in 1962. He worked for CN Telecommunications and in 1966 he hired on with BC Tel. In 1972 he was transferred to Vanderhoof as the district supervisor and retired from the company in 1995.
He served as the mayor of the Village of Vanderhoof from 1976-1981 and a Prince George city councillor from 1993-2002. Joyce was born in Beaver Lodge, Alta in 1941. She was diagnosed with a condition called viral cardiomyopathy and told that she desperately needed a heart transplant. She was given a second chance at life in 1999 when she received the heart transplant and was able to come back to Prince George and watch their grandchildren grow up, go to university and get married.
• Doris (Logisse) Da’Silva was born in Meru, Kenya in East Africa. She spoke the Creole language until she went to a Catholic school for her primary education and then it was strictly English.
The politics of Africa changed and for political reasons the Da’Silvas applied for refugee status with the Canadian government. They were approved in 1972 and given their travel documents. Doris said, “We were blessed to have this opportunity and I believe it was fate. We had no idea what Canada was about. We were shocked when we saw snow for
• Bill and Joey Lloyd: Bill was born in Viscount, Sask. in 1928. His family moved to Prince George in 1940. In 1951 Bill and his brothers Merle, Ben and Howard purchased a bush mill and started Lloyd Bros. Lumber Company Ltd. and operated sawmills at Swede Creek, Cluculz Lake and Isle Pierre until 1969 and then sold the business to Canadian Forest Products.
Bill met Joey (Josephine) Lybeck in 1953; they married in 1955. Joey was born in Prince Albert, Sask. in 1934. Her family moved to New Westminster in 1943, after high school she went to Normal School, graduated in 1953 and taught school in New Westminster. She moved to Prince George and taught at the Connaught elementary school. She was a member of the board of directors who got together to build the local YMCA. Bill has been a member of the Kinsmen Club since the age of 30; he is now part of the senators club. • Fred Schlitt was born in Regina, Sask. in 1930; his family moved to Prince George in 1945. His grandparents Emil and Lena Schlitt were living in Prince George and owned 160 acres out at Tabor Creek. By the time he was 20, he did jobs including millwright, edger man, trimmer and the sawyer’s job. Fred met and married Edith Paula Dekany in 1953; she passed away in 2010.
Fred and his brothers Joe, Herb and Danny formed their own company and took over Lars Strome’s sawmill at George Creek near Willow River and eventually sold it when the pulp mills came to town. Fred landed a great job at Netherlands Overseas Mills and worked there for the next 26 years until he retired at the age of 62 because of health issues. — See MANY on page 7
Kathy NadaliN
carolyn Mcghee, above, seen in her backyard in June, and Doris Da’Silva, below, with her buddies Mitzy, left, and zoe in august, were two of the Seniors’ Scene profiles in 2018.
Many interesting seniors profiled
— from page 6
• Donald and Jo-Ann Pickering: the Pickering family has been in Prince George as far back as the early 1900s. Don was born in 1943 in Hilversum, in the province of North Holland, Netherlands; he came to Canada in 1947. After high school he attended Prince George Vocational Training School, apprenticed as an auto mechanic and started his own mechanics shop in 1972. In 1997, he went into trucking and started Frontier Contracting with a fleet of five trucks.
Don married Jo-Ann Spiers Pawlachuck in 1983. Jo-Ann was born in Winnipeg, Man. in 1942, moved to Prince George in the early 1980s and went to work for the Insurance Corporation of BC as a switchboard operator. Later she worked for Dick Harris in his constituency office until her retirement in 2005.
In her retirement Jo-Ann volunteered for Habitat for Humanity Canada, started the Habitat for Humanity ReStore and was involved in the start and the completion of seven homes which included the landscaping and the occupancy of the new families.
• Dave and Faye Croft: Dave was born in Luscar, Alta in 1941. The family moved to Vancouver and then to Prince George in 1951. His father partnered with John Bailey and Dave Thomas and they built the original McDonald Hotel. His father also purchased the Corning Hotel and changed the name to the Croft Hotel. Years later he partnered with Don Gillis and Dave Thomas in the National Hotel which is now known as the Alibis Show-Lounge and it is owned by Dave’s son-in-law Peter Wise.
After his service in the navy Dave purchased Handlen Transfer. He married Faye Herrington in 1965. Faye was born in Tisdale, Sask. in 1946. Her family moved to Willow River in 1954 and she just happened to be working for A&B Answering Service taking messages for Handlen Transfer when she met Dave.
Dave started working as a letter carrier at the post office and retired in 2002.
Faye worked as an office manager for Northern Lights Wood Working and later for the Prince George Art Gallery which is now the Two Rivers Art Gallery.
• Bob and Marvina Nikkel: Bob was born in Winnipeg, Man. in 1932. He met and married Marvina Senft in 1953; the young couple moved to Prince George in 1965. Two years later they established NR Motors Ltd. which is now the oldest recreational vehicle dealership in Prince George.
Bob said, “We came to Prince George with the intention of staying for the long term and ended up going into business for ourselves.
“We took over the old Pacific 66 Truck stop at 1877 First Ave. complete with the restaurant and started NR Motors. In 1986 we moved to our current location which used to be the old Highways Department building situated on four acres at 805 First Ave.
“We deal in dreams and sold everything that people did not need. We changed to a total recreational facility and a full service and parts department to support their dreams and our company can look after most recreational needs.”
• Bud and Muriel Whitwham: retired pharmacist Bud and his wife Muriel have been a huge part of the City of Prince George for the past 56 years. Bud was born in 1930 in Vancouver, grew up in Burnaby, attended the University of B.C. and graduated with a Bachelor of Science from pharmacy school in 1954.
They moved to Prince George in 1959 and took over the Fifth Avenue Pharmacy from 19621970 and then moved to the Victoria Medical Building.
Bud met Muriel Spurr in 1948 at a dance at the Hollywood Bowl in New Westminster; they married in 1952. Muriel was born in Rocanville, Sask. in 1929. She graduated from Trapp Tech high school and worked for the Unemployment
Insurance Office for many years.
When they became empty nesters, Muriel took up golf.
Bud said, “Over the years she successfully competed in the BC Senior Games. She taught me how to golf but she must have kept some secrets because she can still beat me on the golf course. I am actually pretty proud of her for that.”
• George Weinand and Sandra Rees: George was born in 1939 near Tisdale, Sask. He is a well-known and respected commercial realtor with Royal LePage. Prior to his real estate career George worked for the Bank of Nova Scotia for 17 years and then the Bank of BC.
He married longtime friend Sandra Rees in 1995. Sandra was born in Wales and the family emigrated to Canada. She moved to Calgary in the early 1970s and enrolled in the University of Calgary and received her BA/Commerce Degree in 1989. She worked for the human resources department of the Alberta Central Credit Union.
In 1993 she moved to Prince George and accepted the position of senior manager in the human resources department with Prince George Savings which is now the Integris Credit Union.
In 2009 she earned her Executive Coaching Certificate and worked as an independent coach and human resources consultant for the next seven years.
• Nell (Dafoe) Glass is the proud matriarch of five generations all of which live here in Prince George. She was born in 1920 in Hanna, Alta, grew up on a farm and moved to Port Coquitlam
She met Andrew Glass, an Air Force airman, in Lethbridge, Alta. They were married for 15 years when sadly Andrew passed away as the result of the Asiatic Flu during the Asian Flu Pandemic of 1957.
Nell worked at Woodward’s in downtown Vancouver for 15 years, moved to Port Coquitlam and bought into a laundromat and dry-cleaning business for the next 12 years and retired at the age of 60 to spend winters in Arizona.
At the age of 98 she moved into the River Bend complex and decided this would be her permanent residence.
• Roland and Edna Rouleau: Edna, of Norwegian and Swedish descent was born in Prince George in 1943, graduated in 1961, attended hair dressing
school and then went to work for BC Tel in 1963. Edna met Roland in 1967 at an adult iceskating event at the Coliseum. She said, “Roland chased me around the skating rink until I caught him.” Roland Rouleau was born in Sault St. Marie, Ont. in 1943, graduated from high school and joined the Air Force.
He first worked for Modern Electric in Quesnel, moved to Prince George in 1965 and worked for S. Herbert and Son contracting wiring the Inn of the North during its initial construction. He saved his money, went to Vancouver and successfully got his commercial pilot’s license.
He formed a partnership and started ACRO Electric in 1980 and in 1983 he formed Edland Enterprise Services, a company that he still owns and operates today.
• Leonard and Bev Paquette: retired welder and long-time truck driver Leonard Paquette was born in Slave Lake, Alta in 1941. He is the eldest of the 18 children of Frank and Marie Adele Paquette.
The family moved from Slave Lake to Tete Jaune in 1946. His father cleared the land with an axe, everyone worked together and everyone knew every family in the area.
They moved to Prince George in 1957, he got his welding ticket and learned to drive a truck and found work driving logging trucks for various companies.
Leonard met Beverly Martin when he was working as a part time bouncer at the MacDonald Hotel. Bev, one of 16 children, was born in Flin Flon, Man. She worked as a bookkeeper in the office at Centa Services, for three Métis Associations and later worked for City Furniture doing their books until she retired.
• Carl Mitchell is a long-time member of the American Contract Bridge League and to his knowledge he is the only Gold Life Master of the ACBL with 2,500 sanctioned masterpoints here in Prince George. He has been playing the game since the age of 20 and to make a long story short it took him 15 years to reach his status of a Gold Life Master.
Carl was born in 1933 in Galahad, Alta. His family moved to Crescent Spur with a promise of a job at the Leboe Lumber Company. He started a log scaling job in Crescent Spur and eventually transferred into Prince George for a log scaling
Larry Breckon both ended up splitting the locum and both ended up with a permanent medical practice in Prince George.
George is an accomplished fur trapper, woodworker and a blacksmith.
George’s wife Liz (Cocozza) was born in Scotland in 1953. She studied and received her BA in English but her real career goal was to be a stay at home mom and raise children.
George said, “It all really started 43 years ago when I married Liz and we moved to Prince George. We have lived our dreams and we are still doing it. Now that we are here and I look back it wouldn’t take me two seconds to decide to come here all over again.”
• Larry and Phyllis Anderson have been in Prince George since 1958. Larry was born in Winnipeg, Man. in 1938, his parents moved here in 1956.
Larry worked as the parts manager for BC Equipment. Over the next 35 years the company was sold several times over and became Vulcan Machinery. When the company closed, he went to work at NR Motors and retired in 2001.
Larry met Phyllis Favelle in 1958, she was born in Gypsumville, Man. in 1937.
Phyllis said, “In 1958 I traveled to Prince George to visit my sister, I met Larry when I was doing the books for his company. We dated, got married in 1962 and the rest is history.”
• Gerry and Jewel Bates recently celebrated 60 years of marriage. Gerry was born in Kipling, Sask. in 1936. The economic crash after the war created hard times for the Sask. farmers.
supervisory position at Northwood in 1972. He retired in 2001 at the age of 68.
He has been a member of the Knights of Columbus for the past 46 years.
• Dr. George and Liz Haley are both retired and have been quietly living their dreams.
George was born in Santa Monica, California in 1943. He received his medical degree in 1973 from Dalhousie Medical School in Nova Scotia.
In 1975, while still in Southern California, he received a medical school alumni letter where former classmate Dr. Laurie Cook posted that he needed a locum for his practice in Prince George.
George and fellow classmate
His father decided to take advantage of a government relocation offer to pay the CN Rail Freight charge to ship their cattle by rail to their new home in Telkwa, B.C.
He started his electrical apprenticeship in 1957 and married Jewel Schurman in 1958. They moved to Prince George in 1978 and he worked in supervisory positions for electrical contractors until he retired in 2011 at the age of 75.
Jewel Schurman, was born in Vancouver in 1939. After high school she worked for the provincial government in the Old Age Security office from 1954 to 1960.
Over the years she worked as the office secretary for Wayne Watson Construction and Houle Electric.
Citizen file photos
george weinand and Sandra Rees, above, and Bob and Marvina nikkel, below, were profile in the Seniors’ Scene column in October.
