Ginger and radish
Megan McAvity Ludow, 8, shows the radish she picked Tuesday morning in the student garden at UNBC.
summer camps. The theme for this week’s camp is “explore your world.”
ERT improvements made, inquest told
Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff
mnielsen@pgictizen.ca
Changes have been made to the way emergency response teams are trained and equipped in the nearly five years since a man was shot to death in a standoff with RCMP at a remote cabin south of Valemount, a coroner’s inquest was told Tuesday.
John Robert Buehler, 51, was killed during the evening of Sept.
17, 2014, while his daughter, Shanna, was seriously wounded during a confrontation with RCMP after the two began squatting in a trapper’s cabin near Kinbasket Lake about 60 kilometres south of Valemount.
Among the changes, ERT members now train for 40 hours per month, up from two days per month at the time of Buehler’s death, Staff Sgt. Jamie McGowan, the RCMP’s ERT national coordi-
nator, told the inquest via a video feed to the Prince George courthouse from Ottawa. He also said the RCMP is working towards making ERTs a fulltime occupation. However, as far as he knows, McGowan said just two of the North District RCMP’s ERT are full-time while the rest are assigned to other duties when not training or on an ERT assignment.
Continuing the push to make
positions on all ERTs full-time would deliver the “greatest benefit,” McGowan said, when asked for suggestions on recommendations the inquest jury could make to prevent similar deaths in the future.
“Having them split two different duties, where they may be a general duty patrol officer one minute or a drug section member, and have to (change their) role I think is not doing a service to our mem-
bers or for the public just because we can’t spend enough time on the training the skills,” McGowan said. In terms of equipment, McGowan said so-called bean bag guns, which were used against Buehler but ineffective, have been replaced with ones that fire 40 mm impact munitions and have been used to “successfully resolve situations that could have resulted in lethal force otherwise.”
— See BETTER on page 3
Missing teens suspects in northern murders
The Canadian Press/Glacier Media
Two teenagers who were thought to be missing are now considered suspects in the deaths of three people in northern British Columbia, setting off a nationwide manhunt for the pair who are considered armed and dangerous.
RCMP said Tuesday Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, are suspects in the shooting deaths of Lucas Fowler of Sydney, Australia, his girlfriend Chynna Deese of Charlotte, N.C., and an unidentified man whose body was found a few kilometres from the teens’ burned-out vehicle. Later Tuesday, police said McLeod and
Schmegelsky may be in Manitoba after a reported sighting in the northern town of Gillam. They had also been seen earlier in northern Saskatchewan, driving a grey 2011 Toyota Rav 4, said Sgt. Janelle Shoihet.
She said anyone who spots the teens, both six-foot-4 inches tall and each weighing around 169 pounds, should not approach them but call 911.
Police initially thought the teenagers were missing but after making an appeal to the public on Monday, investigators received new information that led them to believe they are suspects in all three deaths, Shoihet said.
Shoihet said she could not release details
about how investigators determined McLeod and Schmegelsky were suspects. But she said police are taking the “unprecedented” step of urging anyone with information on their whereabouts to come forward.
RCMP also released new photographs of the teens taken recently in northern Saskatchewan. Mounties did not say where they were seen.
McLeod and Schmegelsky – best friends since elementary school – had left Port Alberni for Whitehorse July 12 to find work, Schmegelsky’s grandmother, Carol Starkey, said.
If they had taken the ferry to Prince Rupert, the route to Whitehorse is up Highway
37 through Dease Lake.
However, police had reports of them being seen travelling south from the Super A general store in Dease Lake at about 3:15 p.m. last Thursday.
Schmegelsky’s father, Alan Schmegelsky, said he received a message from Bryer July 12 saying he and McLeod were headed to Alberta and might be uncontactable.
Schmegelsky described his son as “a smart kid,” into computer games, curious about his ancestry and just starting to become less introverted.
Neither is violent or into drugs, he said. He said both enjoy games simulating war that involve hunting and camouflage.
Who ya gonna call?
Elysia Dempsey of the Canadian Red Cross and Mayor Lyn Hall announced a new partnership between the city and the Canadian Red Cross that will see the Red Cross serve as the lead organization delivering emergency support services in Prince George. The agreement is the result of ongoing efforts to enhance local emergency preparedness after wildfire evacuees flooded the city during the previous two summers. The transition will start in September. The Red Cross has similar arrangements with 11 other local governments in B.C., including the City of Victoria.
Teens might be in different vehicle
— from page 1
McLeod’s online presence indicates an interest in the Communist Party of Canada and the Young Communist League. His little-used Facebook page features a skull with geometric designs, one half in black, white and grey, the other in blazing colours. Another picture depicts a lion with a blazing rainbow of colour for a mane.
Shoihet said the teens might have changed their appearance and may be driving a different vehicle.
She said she could not disclose how the unidentified man found near their burned-out truck had died. Police have released a composite drawing of the heavy-set, middle-aged man with a beard and are still hoping he will be recognized.
RCMP has been in contact with both teens’ families to ask for help finding them, she said.
“I’m certain they’re being impacted by this news,” Shoihet said.
Claudia Bunce, owner of the Cassiar Mountain Jade Store in Jade City, B.C., said the pair stopped in last Thursday, the day
before their burned-out truck and the body of the unidentified man was found about 115 kilometres away near Dease Lake.
The staff member who saw the boys was too shaken to speak to a reporter, but Bunce said the boys arrived in the truck and visited the store for free coffee. She said they were on their own and she doesn’t believe they had a conversation with the employee.
“I don’t think they stood out any more than any other teenage boys who were just on the road,” she said. “We’re a very busy store.” She said the situation is very frightening for everyone who lives in the remote area.
“As you can imagine, the community is very upset about this,” Bunce said. “It’s very rural. We’re on a highway with no cell service. Most of us don’t have power. So it’s unnerving.”
RCMP were at the store on Tuesday gathering hours of surveillance footage and interviewing staff members. Bunce said she didn’t know exactly what time last Thursday the young men were in the store.
RCMP HANDOUT IMAGE RCMP issued this image of the two murder suspects Tuesday.
Missing Surrey men not linked to murders
The Canadian Press
RCMP in Surrey say an investigation into two missing men whose vehicle was found south of Kamloops is not linked to three slayings in northern British Columbia.
Cpl. Elenore Sturko says police still aren’t sure why 38-year-old Ryan Provencher and 37-year-old Richard Scurr, both of Surrey, went to the southern Interior.
The men were seen last week in Metro Vancouver, travelling in Provencher’s 2019 white Jeep Cherokee.
The vehicle was found a few days later near Logan Lake, between Kamloops and Merritt, but there has been no sign of the pair.
Police released information about the men on Monday, saying it is unusual for both to be out of contact with relatives for such an extended period.
Sturko confirms the case is unrelated to the northern B.C. homicides of two young tourists and an unidentified middle-aged man, as well as the search for two teenagers from Port Alberni who are now considered suspects in the murders.
CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN
Local choir wins national award
Nove Voce off to Sweden next month
Christine HINZMANN Citizen staff chinzmann@pgcitizen.ca
Nove Voce reached musical heights and hit the crescendo to achieve first place on a national scale.
The choral society has been awarded the top honour in the adult community choir category in the 2019 National Music Festival. Because the music festival organization understands gathering choirs together from across the country at one place at the same time could be prohibitive they invite choirs to record their performance at their local music festival, as an unaltered, live, one-off take and submit it for consideration to be recognized on a provincial level. That way all the choirs are on the same playing field.
“And that’s the beautiful thing about this competition,” Robin Norman, Nove Voce’s choir director, said.
Nove Voce won the provincial honour during the 2019 Performing Arts BC Festival and then their original recording was submitted to the national festival and they were once again recognized as the best.
When Nove Voce placed second at the nationals last year they were invited to apply to attend an international competition in Gothenburg, Sweden in August.
The INTERKULTUR Grand Prix of Nations and Fourth European Choir Games sees choirs from all over the world gather to compete, participate in mass choir performances and workshops, Norman said.
“We were one of two Canadian choirs accepted to go,” Norman said. “We are representing Canada and competing in two categories –folk song and chamber.”
Norman said she’s probably
most excited to compete in the folk song category because every single piece of music they will be performing is from a B.C. publisher called Cypress Choral Music and one of the pieces was written by Allison Girvan, who was born and raised in Prince George.
“So we really get to represent and then we’re closing with the Log Driver’s Waltz, which is
infinitely Canadian, so it feels like we’re representing Canada really well in that moment.”
Four of the five pieces of music Nove Voce will use has been created by women, which is part of the choir society’s mandate.
“The second category we’re competing in is chamber,” Norman explained. That category comes with more stipulations
which include using music composed before 1800 and songs in other languages, but Nove Voce has managed to use local composer Don MacDonald’s work as well as another Canadian piece.
It’s going to be a 12-day Swedish adventure for 21 of the 27-member choir, whose members were able to get sponsorship from the community to help offset costs of the trip.
“This wouldn’t be possible without the incredible dedication of the young women in the choir,” Norman said.
“They make this possible. When you look at how much we rehearse it’s a pretty big deal and all their hard work is paying off.”
For more information about the choir, visit www.novevoce.ca
Better equipment needed, RCMP say
— from page 1
RCMP have also awarded a contract to supply higher-quality night vision goggles. The version the ERT assigned to deal with Buehler were problematic, the inquest was told in earlier testimony, because they created a tunnel vision effect. In addition to them, McGowan said he would like to see thermal imaging devices more widespread and noted the use of drones has been on the rise. Trouble getting a view of the cabin where the Buehlers had holed up was a theme during testimony at the inquest.
Asked about the extent ERTs are trained to deal with situations in rural settings versus urban ones, McGowan said a section of the eight-week course new trainees go through focuses on rural options but noted most ERTs are based
in urban areas.
On whether a similar program is in place to develop negotiating skills, McGowan said ERT members take an online course on deescalation. He also noted that negotiators are taken to the scene via an armoured vehicle.
North District RCMP’s armoured vehicle was not deployed to the site because of the condition of the forest service road leading to the cabin combined with the fact it weighs 12 tons and is primarily an urban vehicle, the inquest heard in earlier testimony.
After receiving initial treatment for her wounds, Shanna Buehler was taken out of the scene on the back of a pickup truck because the road was too rough for an ambulance.
Using a helicopter to evacuate her was
Feds to connect remote areas with satellite technology
The Canadian Press
The federal government is making a big funding announcement Wednesday alongside a Canadian company that’s developing satellite technology to expand highspeed Internet access in rural and remote regions.
The head of Ottawa-based Telesat will join Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains for an event that appears to be part of the government’s commitment to invest $100 million over five years into a technology known as lowEarth-orbit satellites.
In its spring budget, the Liberal government said low-Earth-orbit satellite capacity would be part of its $1.7-billion vow to help rural and remote areas gain access to reliable, high-speed Internet.
Telesat has been developing a satellite constellation – a group of co-ordinated satellites it says will provide high-speed connectivity in rural and remote communities around the globe.
Company CEO Dan Goldberg will hold a news conference with Bains at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum following the announcement.
On its website, Telesat says its
state-of-the-art satellite constellation will involve launching highly advanced satellites into low Earth orbit, which is about 1,000 km from the surface of the planet – much closer than traditional satellites.
The satellites will “seamlessly integrate with terrestrial networks,” the company says.
In March, the federal government earmarked between $5 billion and $6 billion in new investments over the next decade for a plan to make sure 95 per cent of Canadian homes and businesses will have access to high-speed Internet by 2026. It also set a target of 100-per-cent connectivity throughout the country by 2030.
In addition to the development of low-orbit satellite technology, the government plan also includes investments aimed at encouraging more private-sector spending on rural high-speed Internet and better co-ordination among provinces and territories.
The budget also announced the federal infrastructure bank would seek to invest $1 billion over the next decade as a way to attract $2 billion in additional private investments towards expanding connectivity.
out of the question, particularly at night, because turbulence from the nearby mountains made flying hazardous, the inquest also heard.
With his daughter and a pack of German shepherd dogs in tow, Buehler had taken over the cabin and refused to leave when confronted by its owner. A man with a history of violence and mental health issues, Buehler came to see himself as a preacher from God and had began to stockpile belongings, including guns and ammunition, in preparation for a looming doomsday.
McGowan was the last of 28 witnesses to testify over the course of eight days. A six-person jury began deliberations late Tuesday morning on what recommendations could be made to prevent similar deaths in the future.
Nove Voce was named the top adult community choir in Canada at the 2019 National Music Festival. The women’s choir from Prince
George is heading to Sweden next month to take part in the INTERKULTUR Grand Prix of Nations and Fourth European Choir Games.
Johnson faces Brexit test as new UK PM
The Associated Press
Boris Johnson, Britain’s blustering Brexit campaigner, was chosen as the U.K.’s next prime minister on Tuesday, with a resounding mandate from the Conservative Party but conflicting demands from a politically divided country.
Johnson is set to become prime minister on Wednesday after winning an election to lead the governing Conservatives. He will have just over three months to make good on his promise to lead the U.K. out of the European Union by Oct. 31.
Famed for his bravado, quips in Latin and blond mop of hair, Johnson easily defeated Conservative rival Jeremy Hunt, winning two-thirds of the votes of about 160,000 party members across the U.K. He will become prime minister once Queen Elizabeth II formally asks him to form a government, replacing Theresa May.
The embattled May announced her resignation last month after Parliament repeatedly rejected the withdrawal agreement she struck with the 28-nation bloc, leaving Britain stranded in Brexit limbo.
The U.K.’s departure from the EU was delayed from its long scheduled exit in March.
Johnson radiated optimism in a brief victory speech to hundreds of party members and lawmakers, pledging to “deliver Brexit, unite the country and defeat Jeremy Corbyn,” leader of the opposition Labour Party.
“I say to all the doubters: ‘Dude, we are going to energize the country, we are going to get Brexit done,”’ said Johnson, a former London mayor and British foreign secretary.
In a sign he hopes to move beyond the largely white, male and affluent Conservative Party members who chose him as their leader, Johnson’s office said he will put together a “Cabinet for modern Britain,” with a record number of ethnic-minority lawmakers.
Hunt, a stolid politician compared to the flamboyant Johnson, said he was sure his rival would “do a great job.”
“He’s got optimism, enthusiasm, he puts a smile on people’s face and he has total, unshakable confidence in our amazing country,” said Hunt, who is likely to be removed as foreign secretary by the new prime minister.
Johnson wooed Conservatives by promising to succeed where May had failed and lead the U.K. out of the EU – with or without a divorce deal.
Johnson insists he can get the EU to renegotiate, something the bloc insists it won’t do. If not, he says Britain must leave the EU by the Oct. 31 deadline, “come what may.”
The EU is adamant that the deal
with May will stand, saying Britain has to take it or leave it.
Michel Barnier, the bloc’s chief Brexit negotiator, said he looked forward “to working constructively” with the new Conservative leader “to facilitate the ratification of the Withdrawal Agreement.” Economists warn that a nodeal Brexit would disrupt trade and plunge the U.K. into recession. Fears that Britain is inching closer to crashing out of the bloc weighed on the pound once again Tuesday. The currency was down another 0.3 per cent at $1.2450, nearly a two-year low.
Carolyn Fairbairn, director of the Confederation of British Industry, said businesses needed a withdrawal agreement with the EU to restore confidence that has been badly shaken by uncertainty
White House economic adviser
Larry Kudlow described Johnson as “a breath of fresh air. I think he’ll complete the Brexit process.”
More than three years after Britain narrowly voted to leave the EU, the country remains divided over whether to leave, and on what terms.
Johnson won the leadership contest by persuading Conservative members, who are strongly pro-Brexit, that Britain will leave the bloc “do or die.”
Opponents say Johnson is reckless on Brexit and unrepentant about offensive and racist comments, such as calling Papua New Guineans cannibals and comparing Muslim women who wear face-covering veils to “letter boxes.”
Opposition Liberal Democrat lawmaker Chuka Umunna tweeted: “I cannot think of a Tory leadership candidate more unfit to become the Prime Minister of this country than Boris Johnson,” adding that his election was “a dark and depressing time for the U.K.”
about the terms of Brexit.
“On Brexit, the new prime minister must not underestimate the benefits of a good deal,” she said. Johnson faces a host of other challenges, from dealing with Iran’s seizure of a British-flagged oil tanker to forging a relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump, but Brexit is his overriding problem.
Trump was scathing about May’s inability to achieve a Brexit deal and has said Johnson will do a better job.
On Tuesday he said Johnson “is going to do a good job” and “will get it done.”
“We have a really good man is going to be prime minister of the U.K. now, Boris Johnson,” Trump told a youth conference. “Good man. He’s tough and he’s smart.”
Tony Travers, professor of government at the London School of Economics, said Johnson might moderate his Brexit stance now that he has secured the premiership.
“I would expect once he’s in government to begin to nuance his position somewhat, because he’ll now be appealing to a different set of voters: that’s the U.K. electorate as a whole, not just the Conservative members, who are much more pro-Brexit.”
The first clues to Johnson’s plans are likely to come when he begins appointing his Cabinet on Wednesday and Thursday.
British lawmakers are due to start a six-week summer break on Friday. When they return in September, Johnson looks set for a fight with Parliament, where most members oppose leaving the EU without a deal, and where the Conservative Party lacks an overall majority.
— See guest editorial on page 6
Mueller testifying today on Trump report
The Associated Press
Democrats are pretty sure America didn’t read the Mueller report. Today, they’re hoping the nation will be glued to the TV version.
Former Trump-Russia special counsel Robert Mueller’s appearance before two House committees promises to be the TV event of the year in the U.S. House, where lawmakers will question him for roughly five hours about the book-length report he released in April.
Democrats hope that by putting Mueller on television and highlighting the parts of the report that they believe describe U.S. President Donald Trump’s most egregious behaviour, they will be able to ignite new outrage and renew public interest in their investigations.
But Republicans will be there, too, defending Trump and turning some of their fire on Mueller’s investigation, which the president condemns as a “witch hunt.”
Trump himself first said he wouldn’t be watching, then he conceded, probably “a little bit.”
Though he keeps talking about the probe, many Americans seem to have moved on. That’s why the Democrats hope a daylong presentation, with Mueller repeating out loud some of the findings that might have faded in print, will revive interest.
Whether they will be able to accomplish that is unclear. Congress will leave town two days after the hearings, possibly blunting any legislative or political momentum. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she will not pursue impeachment, for now, even as an increasing number of Democrats call for at least beginning the process.
The nation has heard the special counsel speak only once – for nine minutes at a press conference in May – since his appointment in May 2017. And he will do his best not to generate fireworks on Wednesday. He’s said his testimony will stick to what was in his 448-page report, giving Democrats few new avenues to gain attention. On Tuesday, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee granted his request to have his top aide in the investigation, Aaron Zebley, sit at the table with him. But Zebley is not expected to be sworn in for questioning.
Newly elected leader of the Conservative party Boris Johnson arrives at Conservative party HQ in London on Tuesday.
Tornado season twists into Alberta
The Canadian Press
Alberta storm chaser Chris Kiernan has hardly had a moment’s rest since the start of the tornado season last month.
“This season has been quite more active,” said Kiernan, who is based out of Beaumont, Alta., about 30 kilometres south of Edmonton.
“In the last two weeks, I have been out for the majority of the days and I have landed some pretty good storms.”
Kiernan said there are usually a lot of “bust days” with no storm activity in a target area, but so far that’s happened just a single time this year.
“To have it only once is something for me,” he said. “Usually, there is a 40 per cent bust rate.”
There have been 17 probable or confirmed tornadoes in the province so far, said Kyle Fougere, meteorologist for Environment and Climate Change Canada. That number surpasses Alberta’s 30year average of 12.
The agency reported earlier this week that there had been 18 tornadoes, but Fougere said Tuesday one of those had been downgraded.
“When we first get reports of a tornado, we’ll consider them a possible report and then we’ll either upgrade them to a probable tornado or even a confirmed tornado.”
The highest number of tornadoes in Alberta in the last 35 years has been 26 in 1988, Fourgere said.
Overall on the Prairies, there have been 34 twisters this year, he said, with several weeks left in the tornado season.
There have been 13 in Saskatchewan, which has an average of 18 a year. Manitoba, with an average of 10, has had four.
Alberta has been the hardest hit because of wet weather since midJune, Fougere said.
“When you have a trough of low pressure, you have colder air aloft and you tend to have very showery precipitation with a lot of thunderstorms,” he said. “Because we have had so many days with this thunderstorm activity, we’ve ended up with more tornadoes.”
A high-pressure system with more summerlike temperatures has moved through the area, but more tornadoes could still be on
the way, Fougere predicted.
“It’s certainly like we will see more,” he said. “We definitely have that pattern on the horizon.” Environment and Climate Change Canada rated a tornado that hit the southern Alberta community of Carmangay last week as an EF1, Fougere said, but it could be upgraded. A tornado is rated EF1 when it packs winds of 138 to 177 km/h and causes moderate damage. The highest rating is EF5.
“We are still investigating some of these tornadoes. A lot of times we do get information that comes in later and we do change some of the ratings.”
He added that the most significant tornado activity to happen this year was in central Alberta and western Saskatchewan between June 28 and 29. There were nine confirmed tornadoes in the area for those two days and there’s a possibility the weather agency will confirm more.
Bids sought for new fighter jets
The Canadian Press
Canada has formally asked four companies to submit bids to supply a new fleet of state-of-theart fighter jets, the latest step in the country’s almost decade-long quest to upgrade its air force.
The federal department responsible for procurement said Tuesday that Saab, Airbus, Lockheed Martin and Boeing have until next spring to present initial proposals to provide 88 advanced fighters for the Royal Canadian Air Force.
The jets – part of a procurement package worth about $19 billion –are to replace the country’s aging CF-18s, which have been in service for more than 35 years.
A winning bidder will be chosen in 2022, with the first plane scheduled to arrive “as early as 2025,” the government said.
“This is the most significant investment in the Royal Canadian Air Force in more than 30 years,” said a statement by Public Services and Procurement Canada. “With it, the government will deliver the aircraft that meet Canada’s needs, while ensuring good value for Canadians.”
Canada’s efforts to buy new fighter jets have crawled along for close to a decade.
The previous Conservative government announced in 2010 it would buy 65 F-35s, which are built by Lockheed Martin, without a competition, The first one was to be delivered in 2015.
The Conservatives later backed off their plan over concerns about the price and the Defence Department’s tactics in getting government approval for the deal.
During the 2015 federal election campaign, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals vowed to launch a competition immediately to replace the CF-18s – but not to buy the F-35.
The Trudeau government, which replaced the Conservatives in 2015, later said the Lockheed Martin would be allowed to compete for the contract with its F-35 after all.
The Liberals launched the current procurement in 2016 and have been working on the details ever since.
Until the new jets arrive, the Lib-
eral government has announced plans to upgrade Canada’s CF-18s. It has also signed a contract to buy 18 second-hand jets from Australia, a deal that officials have pegged at around $500 million.
Conservative MP James Bezan, the party’s critic for defence, criticized the Liberal government for delays in replacing the fighter jets. Other countries, he said in a statement Tuesday, chose their new jets in under two years.
“It is inexcusable that Justin Trudeau spent the past four years dithering on the fighter-jet file,” Bezan said.
He added, without providing details about how this would work, that if the Conservatives win October’s federal election they will “immediately select a new fighter jet through a fair and transparent competition.”
The F-35 will be up against Airbus’s Eurofighter Typhoon, Saab’s Gripen and Boeing’s Super
Hornet. French company Dassault pulled its Rafale from contention late last year.
The big-ticket purchase is expected to provide a boost to the country’s economy.
On Tuesday, the government said the investment will provide decades of support to Canada’s aerospace and defence industries.
The government points out the bidders will have to show they have plans to invest as much in economic benefits for Canada as the eventual contract is worth.
The proposals will be evaluated on technical merit (60 per cent), cost (20 per cent) and economic benefits (20 per cent), the statement said.
The suppliers have until this fall to demonstrate that they can meet requirements for security and interoperability with allied countries’ forces, and until spring 2020 to make what the government calls “initial proposals.”
There’s been activity further north too.
Fougere said there was an EF1 tornado on June 2 in the Fort Smith area of the Northwest Territories – the fourth tornado ever reported in the territory.
“A lot of these storms form over areas that do not have much population density, so we don’t get reports of it,” Fougere said. “It’s estimated that we get many more tornadoes than we actually have reported.”
Kiernan, who helps run the Alberta Storm Chasers Facebook page, said he has seen more interest in the hobby this year because of all the unsettled weather. He warns that novice storm chasers should know there are risks.
“Every once in a while they’ll land something they weren’t prepared to deal with and don’t have escape routes or anything, so it’s always important to do your research before you head out.”
A supercell is seen over an area east of Calgary on July 13.
CP FILE PHOTO
CF-18 Hornets fly in formation near Cold Lake, Alberta, in 2014.
Opinion
The jester takes the throne
Heavy is the head that wears the crown, to paraphrase Shakespeare. Heavy because power brings with it responsibilities that are not to be taken lightly – jaunty laughter, bluff and bluster will quickly fall upon the rocks of political reality. Britain is doomed. It has allowed the court jester to take the throne. Too harsh?
I think not.
Too partisan?
Not at all.
The tragedy of this tale is that the idea of Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition, walking into Number 10 also fills me with a sense of doom and gloom.
There is a common assumption that, one way or another, Boris Johnson’s promotion to prime minister will lead to an early general election, in which case the great British public will enjoy a simple choice – chaos with a blonde bouffant or disaster in cycling clips. Just mark your ballot with a grubby little pencil that’s tied to an even grubbier
piece of string. Why do I sense that large numbers of people won’t bother to engage with such a dismal decision?
Heavy are the heads of the party members who voted for the jester. Heavy because it is they who must take some responsibility. Charisma, celebrity stardust and Churchillian quips are not enough, and when all goes wrong (note “when,” not “if”) it will be to the Conservative party that the nation turns and asks: “What have you done?”
Can there ever have been a man more illsuited to high public office?
Take this insider verdict, for example: “That he’s a habitual liar, a cheat, a conspirator with a criminal pal to have an offending journalist’s ribs broken, a cruel betrayer of the women he seduces, a politician who connived in a bid for a court order to suppress mention of a daughter he fathered, a do-nothing mayor of London and the worst foreign secretary in living memory.”
Too harsh? I think not. Too partisan?
Not at all.
This is, in fact, the view of former Conservative MP Matthew Parris.
Heavy are the heads that held their tongues and lined up behind the jester. “Ministerial-itis” – as Gerald Kaufman famously explained – is a particularly dangerous disease. The desire for advancement among backbenchers can corrupt even the most sensible member.
The ministerial ladder has always been smothered in grease – and it has generally been the prime minister doing the smothering. Ministerial wannabees suggest that the extra risk that comes with Johnson was “priced in” to their decision to support him.
Wake up, you fools, from your sleepy slumber!
Bargaining with Boris is a Faustian pact you can only ever lose.
Heavy are the heads that held the jester’s hand and led him to the throne. You held him back, shut his mouth and tamed his hair. You knew that the biggest threat to Boris was Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and you saved him from himself. He waved
Health scare offers clarity
This week I recalled, “there are no atheists in foxholes,” while journeying with an afflicted family member through our local healthcare system, from ambulance to emergency room and, finally, landing in the surgery ward (where I am typing now).
As a staunch advocate for more private medical options, a sense of my own disingenuousness struck me, as I came to the realization that, “there are no anti-socialized-medicine-cranks in the midst of a medical crisis.”
Praise is due before anything else.
The staff has been amazing with both the patient and our worried family.
The paramedics were calm and helpful.
YOUR LETTERS
Throwing shade
RIGHT OF CENTRE NATHAN GIEDE
The ER nurses and the attending physician were candid but gentle, visiting frequently, and the specialists have been conservative in their treatment, taking the proper time to ensure the right decision is made between those ancient rivals, medical or surgical. Thank you for your incredible professional and personal care.
My mea culpas will be brief.
If I have ever given the impression man can live on private healthcare alone, I apologize. And while I am almost certain I have never disparaged front-
I worked some years for an appliance wholesaler at a time when we sold major appliances to those wishing to “be in style” with colour fashions. We saw serviceable white appliances junked in favour of “avocado” ones. Those were followed in similar fashion by “harvest gold” models. Since then I have been out of touch with the market, but I see that chasing the latest shades has been parodied on the Citizen’s Saturday “Home” page. Where have I been all these years while this “easy-to-Iove” colour beckoned?
line staff of any level, ability or training, if my oblique comments about other aspects of the public sector could be construed as such, again I ask for forgiveness. That being said, I still remain a skeptic regarding the increase of managerial and non-clinical staff, as well as the hospital’s food.
I’ll leave more difficult questions alone, as these dire moments are not the time to debate every merit of our healthcare. But at some point, the fact that Canadians can’t fathom privatizing medical services while also spending $12 billion on straight teeth needs to be cross-examined.
Again, words cannot express our family’s gratitude for all those healing our ill relative, as well as those supporting us with visits, meals and prayers.
May God’s blessing be upon you all.
I did not realize that yellow, when applied around the home, was “upbeat and welcoming” with “peppy assertiveness” that will “enhance the mind and help creativity flow.” The article asserts that “Yellow’s the queen of accent colours”. I must get onto Amazon immediately to order those “kinky yellow” bath faucets from Vola. James Loughery, 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, which is an independent organization established to deal with acceptable journalistic practices and ethical behaviour. If you have concerns about editorial content, please contact Neil Godbout (ngodbout@pgcitizen. ca or 250-960-2759). If you are not satisfied with the response and wish to file a formal complaint, visit the web site at mediacouncil.ca or call toll-free 1-844-877-1163 for additional information.
a kipper as you sold a kipper; and it’s the British public who will now pay the price. Democratic politics really is the slow boring of hard wood. It is dull and exhausting, based on delegation and compromise. It is slow and steady, it’s about listening more than talking, it’s about emotional intelligence and a moral compass, and founded on trust, not humour. It’s not a joke, no laughing matter. It demands the conscientious absorption of detail.
Can you spot the problem?
The truth is that the jester has ridden on many backs on his way to the throne. But the ride is now over. He’s achieved his ambition. From now on he will live or die on the basis of his own political skill and cunning. The only good thing about prime minister Johnson is that he has nowhere to hide. The ice is very thin beneath the throne and leadership can be a very lonely business. — Matthew Flinders is the founding director of the Sir Bernard Crick Centre for the Public Understanding of Politics at the University of Sheffield. This article first appeared in The Conversation.
Voters divided heading to polls
In just over three months, Canadians will take part in a federal election with a very different landscape than in 2015.
While the prime minister is a familiar face, two leaders of well-established parties have not been tested in a countrywide campaign.
In addition, a new party was assembled by a former Conservative leadership hopeful and the added emphasis on environmental issues may help the longest-serving party leader in Canada.
The latest Research Co. survey of Canadians suggests that an election held now would probably not yield a majority government.
Among decided voters, the governing Liberal Party of Canada is the top choice with 34 per cent, followed closely by the Conservative Party of Canada at 31 per cent, the New Democratic Party (NDP) with 17 per cent and the Green Party of Canada with 10 per cent.
The Bloc Québécois and the People’s Party of Canada are in single digits (four per cent and three per cent, respectively).
The Liberals are leading in Atlantic Canada (36 per cent), Quebec (36 per cent) and Ontario (34 per cent) but lag behind in the Prairies.
In British Columbia, where the Liberals had their best result since 1968 in the last election, the race is close.
The Tories hold a two-point edge over the Grits (31 per cent to 29 per cent), with the NDP at 22 per cent and the Greens at 15 per cent.
There are currently five answers that reach double digits when Canadians are asked what the most important issue facing Canada today is: the economy and jobs (19 per cent), health care (also 19 per cent), the environment (16 per cent), housing, homelessness and poverty (13 per cent) and immigration (11 per cent).
Atlantic Canadians are more likely to point to health care as a concern (32 per cent), Albertans to the economy (35 per cent), Quebecers to the environment (23 per cent) and British Columbians to housing, homelessness and poverty (24 per cent).
In Ontario, the race focuses on health care (24 per cent) and the economy and jobs (20 per cent).
When voters are asked to select what will define their vote in the federal election, a similar narrative emerges.
One in four Canadians aged 55 and over (25 per cent) and onethird of Atlantic Canadians (34 per cent) say health care will be their main policy decider.
Housing is the key platform plank for voters aged 18 to 34 (14 per cent) and British Columbians (20 per cent).
This state of affairs brings challenges for all participants.
The approval rating for Justin Trudeau stands at 41 per cent across Canada and tops that in two provinces that matter greatly: Quebec (48 per cent) and British Columbia (43 per cent).
The national approval rating is five points lower (36 per cent) for Andrew Scheer.
The Conservative leader does well in the Tory strongholds of Alberta (54 per cent) and Saskatchewan and Manitoba (44 per cent), but his numbers in the two most populous provinces are not fantastic right now: 34 per cent in Ontario and 33 per cent in Quebec.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh holds similar numbers to Scheer (35 per cent) but remains a mystery for 23 per cent of Canadians. Singh’s complications are primarily generational.
He goes from an approval high of 46 per cent among Canadians aged 18 to 34 to 27 per cent among those aged 55 and over.
While 46 per cent of millennials currently approve of Singh, only 17 per cent of them are willing to give the NDP their vote right now.
Elizabeth May of the Greens has the highest approval rating in the country (42 per cent) and the lowest disapproval numbers (34 per cent).
For May, the challenge will lie in defining what type of campaign her party will run: seeking candidates in every riding or devoting resources to areas where the party can expect success.
Lastly, almost half of Canadians (48 per cent) disapprove of how Maxime Bernier of the People’s Party has handled his duties –including 56 per cent in his home province of Quebec.
The notion of a split in the centre-right vote that would benefit Liberals and New Democrats has not come to fruition.
Only three per cent of Canadians who voted for the Stephen Harper-led Conservatives in 2015 would cast a ballot for the People’s Party if a candidate runs in their riding. Results are based on an online study conducted from July 15 to July 17, 2019, among 1,000 adults in Canada. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region in Canada. The margin of error – which measures sample variability – is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
SHAWN CORNELL DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING
BY THE NUMBERS
MARIO CANSECO
When’s the best time to exercise?
Marlene Cimons
Special To The Washington Post
Some people are morning exercisers.
For them, an early run or swim is as much a part of their wake-up ritual as that first cup of coffee.
Others can’t abide the idea. They need a nighttime workout to rid themselves of the day’s stresses.
Does it make a difference?
Several recent studies suggest that it does. But it’s complicated.
One recent paper indicates that morning exercise may activate certain genes in the muscle cells, boosting their ability to metabolize sugar and fat.
While scientists say this finding requires further study, they think it ultimately might help those who are overweight or suffering from Type 2 diabetes.
An evening workout, on the other hand, uses less oxygen, making workouts more efficient and improving athletic performance, potentially a boon for serious competitors.
“Human exercise performance is better in the evening compared to the morning, as (athletes) consume less oxygen, that is, they use less energy, for the same intensity of exercise in the evening versus the morning,”
said Gad Asher, a researcher in the Weizmann Institute of Science’s department of biomolecular sciences, and author of one of the studies.
“It means, for example, if a person needs to go for a run, he will reach exhaustion earlier in the morning compared to the evening,” Asher said. “In other words, he will be able to run for a longer duration in the evening compared to the morning under the same running conditions.”
Asher’s group put mice on treadmills at different times of day and studied their exercise capacity at different intensities and regimens.
They found that overall exercise performance was vastly better – about 50 per cent on average – during the “mouse evening,” compared to the morning hours.
They also studied 12 humans and saw similar results.
Overall, the human subjects consumed less oxygen while exercising in the evening, compared with morning.
A second group led by Paolo Sassone-Corsi, director of the Center for Epigenetics and Metabolism at the University of California at Irvine, also put mice on treadmills, but took a different approach.
The researchers looked at the changes in muscle tissues after morning workouts, specifically the glucose breakdown and fat burning.
In analyzing the tissue, they found that exercise seemed to provide the most beneficial effects on metabolism during the mouse equivalent of what would be late morning for humans.
“We identified that time of exercise is critical in order for exercise to be beneficial in metabolizing sugar and fat, SassoneCorsi said.
Sassone-Corsi believes this is controlled by a process that relies on a specific protein, HIF1-alpha, which directly regulates the body’s circadian clock, the internal mechanism that influences human cycles of sleep, awakening and eating, among other things.
“Circadian rhythms dominate everything we do,” Sassone-Corsi said. “At least 50 per cent of our metabolism is circadian, and 50 per cent of the metabolites in our body oscillate based on the circadian cycle. It
Ontario sees spike in alcohol-related
emergency visits
The Canadian Press
Alcohol-related health problems are posing a growing burden on Ontario emergency rooms, including a disproportionate spike in visits by women and young people, a new study suggests.
Experts say the findings signal that the harms of alcohol use are not only on the rise, but becoming more widespread across the population.
The study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal on Monday, looked at patterns in alcohol-related ER visits in Ontario between 2003 and 2016.
Researchers with the University of Ottawa, Ottawa Hospital, the Bruyere Research Institute and ICES – formerly known as the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences – examined several databases of provincial records containing medical and demographic information for more than 15 million Ontario residents aged 10 to 105.
Using diagnostic codes, they found conditions caused by alcohol use – including acute intoxication, alcohol dependence and withdrawal and alcoholic liver disease – were listed as a main or contributing factor in 765,346 ER visits.
The number of alcohol-related ER visits climbed by an annual average of seven per cent over the 14-year period, increasing at 4.4 times the rate of ER visits overall, the study suggests.
makes sense that exercise would be one of the things that’s affected.
“There is a time for exercise, resting or food intake,” he adds. “The metabolic cycles are not adapted to respond to external stimuli the same way at day or night. “
So which is the better time to exercise –morning or evening?
It depends on your goals.
Elite and otherwise serious athletes –marathon runners, basketball and soccer players seeking a competitive edge, for example – might choose evenings to train or compete.
Similarly, those who schedule important sports events might consider holding them at night to ensure optimal performances. (Not to mention that this also would probably be more compatible for TV coverage.)
“If you wish to break the world record, or your personal time, I assume (evenings would be better),” Asher says.
Those who worry more about their weight and controlling their blood sugar
– and less about shaving a minute or two from their marathon time – might go for mornings, when post-workout cell responses that influence metabolism are much stronger.
Jonas Thue Treebak, associate professor at the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s Center for Basic Metabolic Research at the University of Copenhagen and co-author of a thirdstudy, agrees.
“At this point, we can only conclude that the effects of the two appear to differ, and we certainly have to do more work,” he says. Moreover, there are other things beyond performance and weight loss to take into account.
“Exercising late at night may interfere with sleep as it tends to energize you and enhance alertness, although some people like to exercise at the end of the day to help relieve the stresses of the day and prepare for evening activities, which is fine,” says Edward R. Laskowski, co-director of the Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine and professor
in the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation. “Morning exercise has the advantage that no matter what else happens during the day, you have incorporated your physical activity. It also increases alertness and helps cognitive functioning.”
His Mayo Clinic colleague Michael Joyner, who studies how humans respond to different physical stresses, including exercise, agrees.
The research “tends to suggest that morning exercising before eating is helpful in terms of ensuring or maximizing some of the positives effects of exercise on metabolism,” he says. “To me, the other positive of exercising first thing is that you get it done before the day catches up with you.”
But the most important thing – as a wellknown athletic shoe company used to say in its advertising – is to just do it, regardless of when.
“The ‘do something’ message is far more important than the ‘do something at a specific time of the day’ message,’ “ Joyner says.
Margaret Tayti, left, gets help from Shannon Johnson from the Northern B.C. YMCA in the exercise room at the Activity Centre for Empowerment on Sixth Avenue in this 2015 file photo.
George Takei’s extraordinary trek
The Washington Post
As a child, he believed the camp to be a magical oasis, where mythical dinosaurs prowled the woods at night. A native of Los Angeles, he marveled at the “flying exotica” of dragonflies, the treasures of rural life and, that first winter, the “pure magic” of snow.
George Takei spent ages five to almost nine imprisoned by the U.S. government in Japanese American internment camps. A relentless optimist, he believed the shameful legacy of incarcerating an estimated 120,000 Americans during World War II would never be forgotten or duplicated.
At 82, Takei came to understand that he may be mistaken on both counts.
Stories fell into the sinkhole of history, given the omission of the camps from many textbooks and the shame felt by former internees, many of whom remained silent about their experiences, even to descendants. Takei takes no refuge in silence.
The Star Trek actor has lived long enough to see thousands of immigrant children jailed near the border. On Twitter, to his 2.9 million followers, he wrote, “This nation has a long and tragic history of separating children from their parents, ever since the days of slavery.”
The activist for gay rights and social justice calls his government’s actions “an endless cycle of inhumanity, cruelty and injustice repeated generation after generation” and says “it’s got to stop.” Takei was fortunate. He and his two younger siblings were never separated from their parents, who bore the brunt of fear and degradation in the swamps of Arkansas and the high desert of Northern California. They shielded their children, creating a Life Is Beautiful experience often filled with wonder. His father told him they were going for “a long vacation in the country.” Their first stop, of all places, was the Santa Anita Racetrack, where the family was assigned to sleep in the stalls. “We get to sleep where the horsies slept! Fun!” he thought.
Takei had little understanding of his family abandoning their belongings, the government questioning their patriotism and their return to Los Angeles with nothing, starting over on Skid Row. As a teenager, he came to understand the toll.
“The resonance of my childhood in prison is so loud,” says the actor, who still lives in L.A. This summer, Takei is accelerating his mission to make Americans remember. Almost three-quarters of a century after his release, he feels the crush of time: “I have to tell this story before there’s no one left to tell it.”
He has a new graphic memoir, They Called Us Enemy, intended to reach all generations but especially the young, by the publisher of the best-selling March trilogy by Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga.
In August, Takei appears in AMC’s 10-episode The Terror: Infamy, a horror saga partially set in an internment camp. Four years ago, he starred in the Broadway musical Allegiance, inspired by his personal history.
It’s possible those years in the camps subconsciously nudged Takei toward acting. “To me, the theater was life, its artists, the chroniclers of human history,” he
writes in his 1994 autobiography, To the Stars. He would star as Hikaru Sulu in a short-lived sci-fi series that would, improbably, spawn more movie and television iterations than furry Tribbles.
In turn, that success created a springboard for social activism.
He became “a social media megapower” – his website’s phrasing, as he has 10 million followers each on two Facebook pages – fueled by a six-member influencer agency, which he calls “Team Takei.”
That influence, to a doting and ever-expanding audience, might ensure his experience in the camps matters.
Takei frequently refers to his life as “an American story.” It is also a singular, improbable one. Who else enjoys continued success through the curious alchemy of Star Trek, coming out at age 68 and regular appearances on The Howard Stern Show?
After enrolling as an architecture student at the University of California at Berkeley, Takei transferred to UCLA to pursue acting at a time when there was almost no work for Asian Americans except dubbing Japanese monster movies like Rodan into English and portraying crass caricatures in the Jerry Lewis vehicles The Big Mouth (1967) and Which Way to the Front? (1970).
Takei accepted the jobs, the Lewis ones to his everlasting chagrin: “I shouldn’t have done it.” But he learned. Never again. Fortunately, he landed Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry’s utopian
vision of space pioneers from varied backgrounds working together in harmony and oddly cropped slacks. Two decades after the Second World War, it showed an Asian American in a positive role.
Jay Kuo, who co-wrote Allegiance, grew up in a household where television was largely forbidden. Not Star Trek. Kuo’s Chinese American parents knew “we needed to see ourselves represented. We were invisible. George was the only Asian sex symbol. That shirtless sword scene was groundbreaking,” he says of the scene in which Sulu believes he’s an 18th-century swashbuckler after the crew is infected by a virus.
The Starship Enterprise was tasked with a five-year mission. Five? The original Star Trek, the mother ship of Trekiana, didn’t make it past three, running for just 79 episodes. The final show aired a half-century ago this year.
Takei felt blessed to land the role of the master helmsman. When the show was canceled – “I knew it would be. Good shows were always getting canceled” – Takei was despondent that he would never work again.
Fortunately, what the network taketh away, the Trekkies giveth.
Takei jumped on the convention train, across the United States, Canada, Britain, Germany and Japan, signing autographs and posing for photo ops for up to eight hours, his lustrous baritone growing hoarse.
“Star Trek has been enormously bountiful to us,” Takei says. “We
had no idea that this phenomenon of Star Trek conventions would follow.”
Now, Takei is one of only four original cast members still alive, along with William Shatner (Capt. James T. Kirk), Nichelle Nichols (communications officer Lt. Uhura) and Walter Koenig (navigator Pavel Chekov).
His professional life flourished, riding the wave of nostalgia and outsize fandom. His personal life, particularly for someone who has always been political and outspoken, was more complicated. Friends and associates long knew Takei was gay. He met Brad Altman, then a journalist, through a gay running club. They started dating in 1987. Brad took George’s last name in 2011.
Takei worried that coming out publicly would deep-six his acting career. So he waited and waited, an eternity, three-and-a-half decades.
“The government imprisoned me for four years for my race. I imprisoned myself about my sexuality for decades,” Kuo recalls Takei telling him. “You can’t imagine what kind of sentry towers you can build around your heart.”
Takei came out in 2005 as a statement, after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in California. Quickly, he moved from the closet to the front of the pride parade.
“I was prepared that I wasn’t going to have an acting career,” he says.
Uh, no.
“The opposite happened, and I was more in demand,” Takei says, almost in song. “They love gay George Takei!”
Takei was hired as much for his droll persona – his catch phrase, “Oh myyy!” – as his talent. Work was constant: he had appearances on the sitcoms The Big Bang Theory and Will and Grace, and in Archie Comics (as hero to gay character Kevin Keller), plus that surprising gig on Stern’s show.
The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 formally apologized to former Japanese American internees. Takei received a reparation check for $20,000. He donated it to the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, which he helped found and for which he serves as a trustee.
Takei was in New York recently for Pride Month, attending the Stonewall anniversary concert and City Hall ceremony. The events are as vital to his identity as acting.
“I was active in almost every other social justice cause as well as political candidates,” he says. “But I was silent about the issue that was most personal to me, most organic to who I am, because I wanted my career.”
Time was generous. He began life in internment camps and came out in his late 60s. At 82, he’s flourishing in a field that had little use for him when he started.
But time can punish memory. Takei wants to ensure we know the story of what happened to his family, in his country.
Above, George Takei today at age 82. Top right, the only surviving photograph of George Takei while he was in the Rohwer Japanese American Relocation Camp in Rohwer, Ark., in 1942 and 1943. Middle right, George Takei, far right, with his sister Nancy Reiko Takei, brother Henry Takei, mother Fumiko Emily Takei and father Takekuma Norman Takei, circa 1947-1948. The cover of They Called Us Enemy, a new graphic memoir by George Takei.
Sports
Devilish three-peat
For the third consecutive season, the Westwood Pub Devils hoisted the Dale Rolufs Memorial Trophy as Prince George Senior Lacrosse champions. The Devils swept the Northland Nissan Assault three games to none in their best-of-five championship series with scores of 21-6, 10-5, and 12-9. Westwood Pub Devils goaltender Patrick Bayliss named the most valuable player of the playoffs.
‘It
was pretty special’
Departing coach grateful for role in historic Spruce Kings run
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff tclarke@pgcitizen.ca
Adam Maglio wasn’t hunting for a new job when the Spokane Chiefs asked him if he’d like to join the WHL team as an associate coach.
Until then, he was quite content to come back to Prince George and fulfill the new two-year BCHL contract he signed with the Spruce Kings this summer. But the lure of moving up to a junior hockey league that’s well established as a pipeline to the pros proved irresistible for the 33-year-old.
“I don’t want this move to undervalue what Prince George provided me for four years but I am very excited to move up here and also work with Manny (head coach Viveiros), that was a big selling feature,” said Maglio, reached in Calgary where he’s coaching at Hockey Canada’s under-17 development camp.
“He has a very diverse resume and has won multiple championships and I think he’s going to be a great mentor to help grow myself. (The WHL) is one of the best development leagues for players and coaches and that played a big part, too. Certainly I’m starting in a good spot as an associate coach on a team that’s supposed to do quite well, so there’s some pressure there. But at the same time I’ve jumped up a little bit quicker than I expected.”
After getting the Spruce Kings to their first-ever trip to the BCHL final two seasons ago, Maglio continued on the fast track this past season when they won the Fred Page Cup championship, followed by a Doyle Cup Pacific regional title and a berth in the final at the national championship in Brooks, Alta.
He was all set to return for his third season as head coach when Chiefs’ general manager Scott Carter called him up. It wasn’t totally out of the blue. Carter, a former executive and managing partner of the Penticton Vees, has been monitoring the Spruce Kings’ rise into a BCHL powerhouse the past two seasons under Maglio and assistant coach Alex Evin, who on Friday was promoted to head coach of the Kings. Carter helped revive the Penticton BCHL franchise and was the Vees’ GM in 2007-08 when Evin was the starting goalie for the team’s BCHL championship season.
The Spokane coaching shuffle became a necessity when Dan Lambert was hired by the Nashville Predators and assistant Scott Burt was let go. When Lambert’s replacement Viveiros and Carter got down to discussions on candidates for an assistant, Maglio’s name came up.
“They approached me, to be honest I didn’t send one resume out, and I wasn’t actively looking to move,” said Maglio. “I thought the body of work from the last two years and the success we had might find me something.
“I know Scott (Carter) respected what we did in Prince George because he knew the landscape of the league a little bit and we did have some mutual connections with NHL scouts and I think he was getting feedback from those guys. I want to learn the league and it’s important to get in a good spot to learn, to set myself up for those opportunities. I still want to be a head coach
again, but it’s time. Time and experience in the league are going to add currency.”
It was no secret to the Spruce Kings’ organization Maglio had ambitions to move up the hockey ladder. In the heat of a magical 16-1 playoff run to their first BCHL championship in April, he went through the interview process with Hockey Canada and had to cram for a test while in the midst of trying to get his players ready for their next game. He must have aced it because it led to Maglio’s inclusion on the staff at the weeklong U-17 development camp, which started Friday. Maglio’s unrelenting work habits and progressive teaching tactics he showed in two seasons as the Kings assistant made him an obvious choice for Kings GM Mike Hawes, who promoted him as Chad Van Diemen’s replacement in 2016.
Twenty-eight WHL players, including seven first-rounders, were picked last month in the NHL draft.
Eight BCHL players were chosen and Maglio had a hand in developing two of them – defenceman Layton Ahac, picked in the third round, 86th overall by the Vegas Golden Knights, and goalie Logan Neaton, the Winnipeg Jets fourth-round choice, 144th overall.
While it’s becoming more common for junior A players to get drafted, leagues like the BCHL are looked upon more as the breeding ground for college hockey.
That’s an adjustment Maglio will have to make.
“We had two NHL draft picks and in the Western League you’re not far off that, maybe a couple more, so I have experience
with that those types of players, which will be helpful,” Maglio said. “It’s a business, for sure. The players are going on that pathway as the quickest way to pro, so there’s pressure on their end as well from an early age to succeed and reach their goal and they’re trying to do it younger.
“We were in a league where guys wanted to develop in junior but in the back of their minds they knew they had four years of college. This pathway is a lot quicker, your development happens from 16 to 19.”
Coming off a 40-25-2-1 season that ended with a third-round playoff defeat by the Vancouver Giants, the Chiefs could be one of the stronger WHL teams this year. The fact they’re part of the U.S. Division makes the deal even sweeter for Maglio, who will be getting paid in U.S. dollars while based in Spokane, a city just two-and-a-half hours south of his Nelson hometown, which will make it a lot easier for his parents to visit during the season. His girlfriend, Laluca Bumbac, will have to make a two-stop flight from Vancouver, a six-and-a-half hour drive away.
“The U.S. Division is certainly one that I targeted as one of the spots I’d want to be,” said Maglio. “Spokane was third in attendance in the league (averaging 5,959 per game), they have a phenomenal facility, and the travel is significantly less.”
That wouldn’t be hard, considering the Spruce Kings’ closest opponents are in Merritt, seven hours away.
Despite that splendid isolation, Maglio loved his four-year stint in Prince George and was appreciative of the opportunity to work with Hawes and Evin and the rabid
support Kings’ fans provided.
“I can’t thank the organization enough, they provided us as coaches with everything we could want, the players were treated very well and everything they do is first class,” said Maglio. “I got to work with Alex and Mike, high-character people, and I’ll miss the relationships and the city of Prince George. That playoff run with the sold-out crowds and the fans, it was unbelievable. It was pretty special.”
He says the Kings are in fantastic hands with his good friend Evin taking over the team.
“I think the players we recruited this coming year are great, high-character kids and good players and I was looking forward to working with them,” he said. “Obviously with Alex going in there now, in my opinion, they’re going to continue to have equal success.
“He probably won’t change too, too much. He was a big part in our success too. A lot of his strengths played on my weaknesses. He’s poised and calm and he’s really organized. It seems like there’s no task too big for him, he just plugs away and gets stuff done. He’s got a lot of ties and he’s a very good recruiter.”
Maglio, a former junior B defenceman who went on to play for New York State University and UBC, will have jurisdiction over the Chiefs defencemen and the penalty kill, similar to his teaching role in Kings practices.
The Chiefs will be in Prince George to face the Cougars, Oct. 18 and 19 at CN Centre, the only trip for Maglio back to his stomping grounds during the season.
CITIZEN PHOTO BY JAMES DOYLE
CITIZEN PHOTO BY JAMES DOYLE
Prince George Spruce Kings head coach Adam Maglio addresses the fans in attendance at the Prince George Civic Centre during an event May 21 to celebrate the Spruce Kings’ success this past hockey season.
Masse swims to second gold at worlds
The Canadian Press
Don’t ask Kylie Masse to single out her favourite swim in world aquatic championships history.
The 23-year-old from LaSalle, Ont., is now part of an exclusive Canadian club with two golden moments.
Masse became just the second Canadian swimmer to win two world championship gold medals when she defended her title in the women’s 100 metre backstroke on Tuesday. The late Victor Davis of Guelph, Ont., also won twice at the worlds.
“I think it’s comparable,” said Masse, who also captured gold at the most recent world championships with a then-world record time of 58.10 seconds in Hungary in 2017. “To be a gold medallist is a dream come true. They both have their own feelings to them and they both feel great.”
The University of Toronto student was fourth at the turn, but charged home to win in 58.60 seconds, 0.25 seconds ahead of Minna Atherton of Australia. Olivia Smoliga of the United States took bronze.
Taylor Ruck of Kelowna finished fourth, just 0.05 seconds behind Smoliga.
Masse was well aware there was a different challenge as defending champ.
“It’s definitely something I’ve been working on,” said Masse, who won bronze in the same event at the 2016 Rio Olympics and also took gold in the 100 backstroke at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific Championships.
“I’ve been focusing on myself and not letting the pressure or expectations get to me.”
Swimming Canada high performance director and national coach John Atkinson was impressed.
“When you come into any major championships and Games as defending champion, there’s a whole different level of expectation on the athlete that wasn’t there beforehand,” Atkinson said. “I think that Kylie handled herself tremendously. To come back, get a gold medal, get her hand on the wall first, her experience came through over that second 50, and she is a true champion.”
It marked Canada’s second gold in as many days. Maggie MacNeil won the women’s 100 metre butterfly, while Sydney Pickrem copped bronze in the women’s 200 metre individual medley with Masse in the facility on Monday.
“It was pretty incredible,” Masse said. “They definitely gave me motivation and inspiration to
swim fast.”
After the world championships wrap up on the weekend, Masse will go home for a few weeks of rest before resuming training at
school. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics, of course, are just a year away.
“I want to continue to improve,” Masse said. “I would love to be better with my time and that’s my
goal. But right now I’m over the moon to win here again.” Meanwhile, quadruple Olympic medallist Penny Oleksiak of Toronto advanced to the women’s
Above, Canada’s Kylie Masse poses with her gold medal after winning the women’s 100m backstroke final at the World Swimming Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, Tuesday. Left, Masse is congratulated by compatriot Taylor Ruck of Kelowna after winning the women’s 100m backstroke final.
200 metre freestyle final on Wednesday by finishing seventh in the semis in a personal best 1:56.41.
“I felt really good going out but I let it get a little bit away from me,” said Oleksiak, who led the first 150 metres of her semifinal. “I’ve been trying to work on the front half of all of my races. I just need to get more confident with that.” Mack Darragh of Oakville, Ont., finished 14th in the men’s 200 metre semis and did not advance. Canada now has two gold, two silver and three bronze medals at the 17-day event, which features swimming, artistic swimming, diving and water polo.
Humboldt survivor plans tryout with Broncos
The Canadian Press
A former Humboldt Broncos player whose back was broken when the team’s bus crashed last year says he’ll return to Humboldt to battle for a spot on the team.
Graysen Cameron’s training regimen has included spending copious amounts of time with the trainers of the Calgary Flames. He feels by the time the junior hockey team’s camp starts in late August, he’ll be in the best shape of his life.
The 2018 crash between a bus carrying the Broncos and a semi claimed 16 lives and injured 13 others.
Cameron, who is 20 and is from Olds, Alta., took an assistant coaching role last year with the Red Deer Midget AAA Optimist Chiefs, his former team in the Alberta Midget Hockey League, before he joined the Broncos. He says he knows that trying out for the Broncos isn’t going to be easy, and that there’s going to be a lot of eyes expecting him to play well.
“My only focus is getting to Humboldt and being able to perform there. I don’t want to show up and be average, I want to make a name for myself in the league, and do whatever it takes to try and get a championship there,” Cameron said.
Cameron said he keeps in touch will all of his former teammates who survived the crash, and recently spent time with some of them in Kelowna. The others, he said, will be in his heart forever.
“They’re always there (on my mind), and I think I’m not going back for them, I’m going back for me,” he said. “But I’m playing for them. I’ll always play for them.”
Mike Moller, assistant coach for the Optimist Chiefs, said he was inspired by Cameron’s demeanour this past season.
“His maturity level, having gone through some adversity, really had a way of coming across to our players to appreciate every day, every practice, every game, and that it can be taken away,” Moller said.
“He was a great liaison, because of the age difference between us coaches and the players. His being able to communicate and understand a little bit more what they’re going through was invaluable,” he continued.
“Here we were thinking this would be good for Graysen. Graysen was really good for us.”
CP FILE PHOTO
Survivors Graysen Cameron, right, and Derek Patter watch a tribute during the funeral of Humboldt Broncos player Evan Thomas in Saskatoon last April.
AP PHOTOS
Meat sector has beef with Weather Network
The Canadian Press
A meat industry association has demanded the Weather Network remove a video from its website that urges Canadians to consume less red meat, the latest front in the farmers’ fight against negative publicity for animal products amid a consumer push toward plantbased protein alternatives.
The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association met with the network’s executives Monday night to address concerns about the video’s message, primarily claims that cows require more resources than other, smaller animals and produce 20 times more greenhouse gas than certain plants.
The Weather Network-produced video, which suggests people should cut back by about 1.5 burgers a week, highlights a recent report from the World Resources Institute, the United Nations and other partners on how the world can prepare to feed a 10-billion population by 2050.
The video “doesn’t reflect the true story,” Jill Harvie, public and stakeholder engagement manager with The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA), said in an interview.
The group disputes the video’s suggestion that cutting back on meat consumption could help save the planet, saying beef production in Canada makes a positive contribution to the environment through maintaining grassland and sequestering carbon.
The Canadian beef industry’s greenhouse gas emissions are among the lowest in the world, she added.
“We’d hoped that the video would come down and would be essentially replaced with something that was more reflective of the Canadian context.”
Estimates that suggest beef production is only a small contributor to emissions tend to leave out the impact of cutting down forests and other land use, according to the WRI website. It does note that the emission intensity of Canada’s beef production is lower than in much of South America, Africa and Asia, according to 2013 figures.
The two parties agreed to engage in sharing information, said Harvie, adding the network appeared open to future collaboration.
However, the video remained posted on the website as of Tuesday. It did not appear to have any changes made to it.
The Weather Network, which is owned by Pelmorex Corp., declined an interview request and did not answer questions over email, but sent a prepared statement that said it “will not actively advise people on their food consumption choices.”
It also appeared to acknowledge the video may have missed the mark.
“The purpose of this article was merely to focus on sustainability and upon further review, we de-
termined that our video and post did not reflect our intention,” the network’s statement read.
The video’s narrative plays into an ongoing push by policy-makers and plant protein producers to sell consumers on the environmental and health benefits of swapping steaks for soybeans.
Cattle producers earlier this year took on plant-based protein giant and stock-market darling Beyond Meat, which makes the popular Beyond Meat burgers that have been added to restaurant menus across Canada in recent months.
The Quebec Cattle Producers Federation filed a complaint with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency saying the Californiabased company’s advertising is misleading and contravenes Canadian rules, arguing it shouldn’t be allowed to use the word “meat” for its vegan products.
Meanwhile, the animal products industry is also facing pressure from health officials amid new dietary trends.
In January, Health Canada unveiled a new food guide – the first overhaul in a decade – and encouraged plant-based food consumption over meat and dairy products. It suggests people choose proteins that come from plants, like beans, more often, and to make water their drink of choice – to the chagrin of the politically active dairy industry.
Conservative leader Andrew Scheer jumped in to defend the dietary importance of milk earlier
this month at the annual meeting of the Dairy Farmers of Canada, promising the farmers that, if elected prime minister, he would “review” the food guide.
In the wake of the new guidelines, the animal products industry is fighting hard to defend its turf.
In the lead up to the food guide’s release, meat and dairy lobby groups attempted to sell the public on the merits of the food they produce. A Dairy Farmers of Canada spokeswoman said “it would be a disservice to the Canadian population” to eliminate the food guide’s milk and alternative product’s category, while the Canadian Meat Council said proposed recommendations won’t help consumers because they’re too general.
The Turkey Farmers of Canada launched a national five-year, $25-million marketing campaign in May – its first since 2004. The campaign had been in the works for about two years, when the association noted turkey sales had plateaued.
But the release of the new food guide has protein producers competing even more aggressively for their share of Canadians’ plates.
The CCA’s Harvie, meanwhile, recognizes that beef producers needs to keep Canadians abreast of what’s happening in the industry and on its farms as the sociopolitical winds shift away from meat.
“It is really important to share the story behind our food, and more and more we’re going to have to do that.”
Coke shares bubble up to record high
The Associated Press
Coca-Cola shares hit a record high after the company upped its full-year revenue expectations and said it’s winning customers with new drinks like low-sugar sodas and iced coffees. Shares of Coca-Cola Co. rose six per cent to close at $54.33 Tuesday. Coke’s shares first rose above $50 in early June.
Chairman and CEO James Quincey said product innovation is helping the company gain global market share. New and reformulated products – like Coca-Cola Plus Coffee and lower-calorie Simply juices – now account for 25 per cent of the company’s revenue, up from 15 per cent two years ago, Quincey said. The world’s largest drink company also sees plenty of room for growth. Quincey said 80 per cent of the world’s population lives in developing markets like Africa, India and China, where commercial beverages make up just onequarter of drink consumption. In developed markets, commercial beverages account for three-quarters of consumption.
“That’s a huge opportunity in front of us,” Quincey said. “We’re seeing good growth this quarter and have been seeing it for a while.” Coke posted second quarter earnings of $2.61 billion, or 61 cents. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to 63 cents per share, which is a penny better than expected, according to analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research. Revenue was $10 billion, also beating expectations. The Atlanta company projected organic revenue growth of five per cent for the year.
That’s equal to its growth in 2018 and better than the four per cent organic revenue growth the company initially forecast in January.
Coke said its first energy drink, Coca-Cola Energy, launched in Europe during the quarter
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average advanced 177.29 points to 27,349.19. The S&P 500 index gained 20.44 points to 3,005.47, while the Nasdaq composite moved up 47.27 points to 8,251.40.
“The tone in the markets is fairly positive today,” said Natalie Taylor, a portfolio manager with CIBC. That boils down to two highlevel, macro headlines in recent days that are supportive for the market, she said.
First, the White House and Congress reached a budget agreement that spared the economy from deep spending cuts and increased spending by US$320 billion over two years.
The agreement also raises the debt ceiling or the limit on the government’s borrowing authority for two years.
That news has put concerns over the debt ceiling to rest, said Taylor.
Second, it appears China and the U.S. will resume trade negotiations, she said.
“I think it’s just the continued optimism building around that,” said Taylor, adding the news has been supportive to the market over the past few days.
Additionally, the markets are in the swing of earnings season now, she said, and the tone has been quite positive in the U.S. and in Canada, where the season is starting.
In currencies, the Canadian dollar traded at 76.09 cents US, down from an average of 76.32 cents US on Monday.
The September crude contract gained 55 cents to US$56.77 per barrel and the September natural gas contract shed about two cents to about US$2.28 per mmBTU.
The August gold contract dropped US$5.20 to US$1,421.70 an ounce and the September copper contract fell about two cents to US$2.70 a pound.
this ad right now.
Beef cuts are shown at a grocery store in Toronto in May 2018.
BLOOMBERG PHOTO
It is with a heavy heart we announce Ray’s passing on July 15, 2019, just past his 84th birthday. He leaves behind his wife of 61 years, Alice, also daughter, Corey (Ian), son, Terry (Helene), son David, daughter, Caron (Corey), brother Earl (Tracy), furbaby Puddin’, his grandchildren, Matt, Luke, Ryan, Greg, Zachary, and Jennifer, as well as many relatives and friends. Ray lived in many locations as his father worked for the CN. Ray took up with the railway in 1951 switching over to the telegraphs in 1959. He spent 3 years in the Royal Cdn. Armed Forces and in April of 1958, he met Alice and they were married 3 months later. They moved around a bit but in 1976, they settled in Miworth where they lived for 42 years. In 2018, they moved to town because of poor health.
A celebration of life will be held Sunday, July 28th at 1:30 pm at the Miworth Community Hall on Flint Road. Ray will be cremated and taken home to Miworth. In lieu of flowers, donations to the PG Hospice House or the SPCA would be greatly appreciated.
William Pitt Alsip July 19th, 1947July 17th, 2019
Our beloved Bill passed away of complications from ALS on the 17th of July. He is survived by his life partner of 30 years Adrian Wilson and his sisters, Marilyn Cooper (husband Terry) of Ottawa and Dr. Janet Alsip of Winnipeg as well as his brothers, Jack Campbell Alsip (wife Janet Ingersoll) of Winnipeg and Stephen Douglas Alsip (wife Dominique Strachan) of Nassau, Bahamas and Richard Andrew Alsip (wife Elizabeth/ Betty) of Winnipeg. He enjoyed eight loving nephews and nieces, namely Dr. Jehn Mihill (Michael Wright) of North Bay, ON and Kathy Mihill of Ottawa, Adam Lamari and Louise Lamari of Winnipeg, Lisa Alsip of Eugene, Oregon and Alarey Alsip (husband Gillett Bradley) of Chicago, and Stephen Alsip and Laura Alsip of Winnipeg.
Bill was also survived by Adrian’s children Brendan (Linda) of Terrace B.C., Scott (Rosie) of 100 Mile House B.C. and Adrian’s grandchildren: Ethan and Natalie both of Terrace B.C., and Miguel of the Philippines; all of whom he loved dearly. Bill was a gifted student and won the Gold Medal in Engineering (Electrical Science) in 1969 and obtained a Masters degree in 1972 both from the University of Manitoba. His proud mother Mary Louise (née Trewhitt) wore his Gold Medal for many years. He was extremely close to his dad, William Pitt Alsip Sr. and they all enjoyed hunting fowl and deer in Manitoba and B.C. for many seasons. The family enjoyed a ski chalet at LaRiviere and Bill enjoyed a lifetime of skiing including heli-skiing at which he became expert. He also enjoyed deep sea diving and hiking in the mountains. In the last 20 years of his life Bill became more of a wildlife photographer and conservationist of wildlife and gave up hunting. After obtaining his Masters Bill decided to forego his Ph.D. in favour of a non-academic life and worked for McMillan Bloedel for his entire career designing the operating systems for their billion dollar pulp mills. A wise investor Adrian and he eventually moved to Prince George in 2003 into a beautiful home on the Nechako River. Adrian and he had purchased a large acreage in Vanderhoof on the BC plateau in 1993 and developed same into a farm. Like his pioneering father Alpine at LaRiviere, Bill was among the first to build at Whistler way back in the day so he could ski through the powder in the trees and enjoy his prowess. Bill also relished introducing family and friends to wilderness adventures both on the ocean and in the mountains. In his youth, Bill and his brothers Jack and Steve curled together as Granite juniors and were particularly proud of curling for Dr. McTavish V.C. in the 75th and 76th MCA. Bill and Dick (Richard) were both very able mechanics and loved to bring machines, mostly cars but anything with a motor would do, back to life. A private family service will be held in Winnipeg at a later date. No flowers please. Instead, the family encourages donations to ALS Research. Adrian and the family would like to thank his doctors as well as the nurses and staff at the Prince George Hospital for their kind and professional care in very difficult circumstances.
TIDSBURY,LORI
December9,2018
Pleasejoinusinremembranceofoursparkling angel,LoriTidsbury.Acelebrationofherlifewillbe heldonSaturday,August3,2019,from2:30pm5:00pm,attheCourtyardMarriot,900Brunswick StreetintheGreatNorthernBallroom.
Wilson,YvonneM.
December28,1935-July11,2019
Ingreatsadness,weannouncethepassingofour lovingmother,grandmother,andgreatgrandmother, YvonneMatildaWilson.Yvonnewasbornin SaskatchewanonDecember28th,1935.Shepassed awayat83inPrinceGeorgeHospiceHouse surroundedbyfamilyonJuly11. Shewaspredeceasedbyherlovinghusbandof47 years,Aubrey,anddaughter,Brenda.Yvonneis survivedbyherdaughter,Audrey(Ross); granddaughters,Lindsey(Curt),Jamie(Brad),and Amanda;andgreat-grandchildren,Emery,Perrin, Gradie,andAubrey.Shealsoleavesonesister, Gladys.
ThecelebrationoflifewillbeheldonJuly31stat 1:00PMattheFirstBaptistChurchon5thAvenue, PrinceGeorge.
Ray Thomas Miller
