Prince George Citizen July 31, 2019

All stitched up

Isobel Bourque, 12, works on a small bag sewing

every morning this week as well at

City looking to ban plastic bags

Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca

Using plastic bags to carry your purchases out of the store appears to be on its way to becoming a thing of the past in Prince George. City council voted unanimously on Monday night to direct staff to draft a report on how best to “regulate” single-use plastic bags, but in an interview Tuesday, Coun. Murry Krause, the motion’s main proponent, confirmed the intent is to impose a ban.

“It’s a bit of a national movement for local governments to be pushing for that just because of what’s happening – the litter around town, responding to the issue of plastics in our waterways and all of the plastics that are ending up our landfills.”

A similar attempt by Victoria council ran into a headwind this month when the B.C. Court of Appeal overturned that city’s bylaw in response to an appeal by the Canadian Plastic Bag Association, which represents manufacturers and distributors of plastic shopping bags.

The court found the bylaw’s primary purpose was to protect the natural environment rather than to regulate business. As such, the city should have sought provincial approval for the bylaw – something it did not do.

In that light, Krause said he wanted to make sure Prince George city council had its ducks in a row before proceeding.

“I really wanted to make sure that if we were going to put the effort into it and proceed with this, that we had a chance of success,” he said.

Both the provincial and federal

governments have moved towards bans on single-use plastics but neither level has made a full commitment, in Krause’s opinion.

“We’ve got to push to have this agenda moved forward,” he said.

“I think if we are just complacent, and just wait, it might not happen.”

— see ‘CHANGE NEVER, page 3

Women’s curling championship to be big draw, council told

Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff

Prince George will be front and centre – as in centre ice –when the Women’s World Curling Championships are held at CN Centre next year.

Curling Canada events manager Terry Morris was in city council chambers on Monday night to give a presentation on the benefits the event will bring to the city and among them is the number of times the City of Prince George logo will be shown on television.

“If you calculate that on each end, 16 rocks will pass over that logo with the camera following it, and within a 10-end game, that’s 160 views you’re going to get per game,” Morris commented.

Typically, the host city’s logo is placed near the centre of each of the four sheets put in place for the championships.

Set for March 14-22, TSN will provide 50 hours of live coverage over those nine days, while World Curling Television will be good for a further 75 hours.

If Canada makes it into the championship game, Morris said TSN’s coverage will draw about six million viewers. WCT, in turn, will reach out to 47 countries and about 86 million

As for attendance at the games themselves, Morris said 60,000 to 80,000 tickets will be scanned over the course of the tournament...

viewers, the majority of them in China.

As for attendance at the games themselves, Morris said 60,000 to 80,000 tickets will be scanned over the course of the tournament based on past experience. About 70 per cent of fans will be from the local area, a further 15 per cent from 100 to 200 kilometres away and the rest from out of country.

Fans, officials, players and sponsors will take up 2,500 to 3,000 hotel rooms, each of them spending upwards of $500 in the city, according to estimates derived from an economic impact study.

And he said Curling Canada will typically spends about $1 million locally to put on the event.

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

Councilor Murry Krause asked about banning the use of plastic bags in Prince George at a council meeting.

Alberta man accidentally helped fugitives

Adrian HUMPHREYS Postmedia

Two teen fugitives suspected in a killing spree in British Columbia looked like scared kids with “soft baby hands,” according to an Alberta man who helped free their SUV when it got stuck in the mud.

Tommy Ste-Croix, of Cold Lake in northeastern Alberta, said he realized only afterwards he had a potentially dangerous encounter when he unwittingly towed the SUV used by Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, out of the mud.

At the time, the pair was considered missing, not suspects or fugitives.

“Can’t see those kids killing anyone. Can’t even shake a hand properly, lol. Soft baby hands,” Ste-Croix said in Facebook posts to his friends about the incident, which was confirmed by the RCMP.

“My big heart could of got me killed,” he said.

A Toyota SUV was spotted stranded in mud behind Cold Lake hospital on Sunday. When told about it, he decided to head over to help the driver out.

He shook the two young men’s hands after pulling the Toyota RAV4 free and they even gave him their real names, he said. Only later were they identified publicly as murder suspects and he realized how differently the encounter could have ended.

“One shot to the back and that would of been it,” he said.

MCLEOD

He drove right up to their SUV without speaking to them first, Ste-Croix said.

“I did a U-turn and backed up to their SUV before even making any kind of interaction. So they knew I was there to help and not hunt them,” he said, theorizing on why they didn’t turn on him.

He spent a good 20 minutes with them, talking, pulling out their SUV with his truck and then saying goodbye.

SCHMEGELSKY

He said McLeod, with a “shaggy beard” was driving.

Schmegelsky, a “tall skinny fella,” wore a white shirt and camouflage army pants. They looked the same as in photos and video Ste-Croix later saw, which were taken by a security camera in a store in Meadow Lake, Sask., about 150 kilometres away.

By then, RCMP had announced they were

suspects in three murders and warned the public not to approach them but to call 911 or local police immediately.

“Wish I’d of known,” Ste-Croix said.

“Something wasn’t right with these guys.”

He described them as “kids” who looked “scared.”

Looking back, he said their status as fugitives explains something about the odd way they were acting.

“It all makes sense now on why they were eyeing me down so f—ing hard.”

He said they could have shot him and taken his truck instead of shaking his hand.

“Their vehicle was down and out. I show up with a fairly new truck, wallet with all my credit cards,” he told his friends.

“Someone was watching over me for sure.

“Blows my mind,” he said. “So surreal.”

At the urging of friends, he called police and gave the RCMP a video statement.

“It’s a wake up call. It is scary, hasn’t completely sunk in yet on how bad the situation could of gotten.”

McLeod and Schmegelsky continued their journey another 1,500 kilometres northeast.

The SUV that Ste-Croix had pulled out of the mud was found the next day burning in a ditch between Gillam, Man., and Fox Lake Cree Nation in northern Manitoba.

The pair apparently fled into the heavily forested, remote bush, likely on foot. A massive search has failed to find them.

Pair could stay on the run for months, expert says

Scott BILLECK Postmedia

A wilderness survival expert says how long two fugitives can survive outdoors in northern Manitoba will come down to their will and determination to stay alive and stay out of the hands of authorities.

Dave MacDonald, who runs the International Canadian School of Survival and served 19 years as a search and rescue technician with the Royal Canadian Air Force, says the length of time a person can survive comes down to the individual.

“It could be a long time, at least until the temperatures really drop below zero,” MacDonald said. “Then things start to go downhill quickly.”

Speaking to the Winnipeg Sun on Tuesday, MacDonald said there’s an abundance of food, including berries, fish, frogs and birds, and the ability to access drinking water in the area RCMP believe 19-year-old Kam McLeod and 18-year-old Bryer Schmegelsky are hiding.

MacDonald said the duo would be going through anywhere between 4,000-6,000 calories and between four to 10 litres of water per day if they were moving and working hard to evade authorities.

Providing the pair can find a way to purify the water, it takes away the risk of dehydration. The ability to make a fire is vital, he said, but could also give

It could be a long time, at least until the temperatures really drop below zero.

— Dave MacDonald

away their location. If they can make a stealth fire to minimize the smoke, they increase their chances of evasion.

That takes knowledge, he said. And there’s an element of luck, both to finding food and to evading police during the manhunt. MacDonald said hiding in that rugged terrain wouldn’t be that difficult at all with camouflaged clothing, but said it’s hard to not be detected if they come out to any type of civilization.

“They could hide for quite a while, but chances are they’re like most people, will take the path of least resistance, and will probably try to hole up in a cabin with some food stores,” MacDonald said. What will make it easier for both suspects is each other. MacDonald said one of the enemies of survival is loneliness and boredom.

“Having each other will make it so much easier,” he said. “Two people cuts the work in half. It doubles the odds of finding food. If one person is sick, you have someone to look after you.”

The second annual Prince George Victor Walk took place on Saturday afternoon with roughly 40 participants walking the one-kilometre route that started and finished at the courthouse.

The Victor Walk was started in 2013 by Theo Fleury to bring awareness to, and support for, adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

First Nations call on gov’t to require mines to insure clean up costs

Gordon HOEKSTRA Postmedia

The B.C. First Nations Energy and Mining Council is calling on the provincial government to close a policy gap that allows mining companies not to provide financial assurance to pay for the costs of a mine disaster. The call comes on the eve of the five-year anniversary of Imperial Metals’ catastrophic Mount Polley mine dam spill in the Interior –which has still resulted in no environmental charges – and as the council released a report it commissioned on reducing the risks of mining disasters in B.C.

In 2014, the province ordered Imperial Metals to clean up the massive spill, which the company did, but the council’s report notes that if a company went bankrupt, the public could be on the hook for costs.

The report, authored by consultant economist Jason Dion, recommends that B.C. introduce a tiered scheme of financial assurance, where mining companies would have to put up money, perhaps through a bond or third-party insurance, to pay for the costs of a disaster, combined with assistance from the mining sector as a whole, possibly through a pooled fund.

This type of financial assurance is already required in Canada for pipelines, tankers, offshore drilling, rail lines, and nuclear power plants, the report noted.

“B.C. has a polluter-pay policy under its

Environmental Management Act, but that’s not the reality on the ground,” said Allen Edzerza, the mining lead for the B.C. First Nations Energy Council.

“By accepting our recommendations, the government would not only ensure that polluters pay when there are disasters, it would also reduce the risk of another Mount Polley by giving mining companies a financial incentive to reduce risk in their operations,” said Edzerza, a member of the Thaltan First Nation.

The B.C. Ministry of Energy and Mines did not immediately have a response to the First Nations’ mining council report. However, last month, B.C. Minister of Energy and Mines Minister Michelle Mungall announced the creation of a standing code review committee to ensure the province has strong protections for health, safety and the environment at mine sites. In B.C., mining companies must provide financial assurances for the environmental remediation or clean-up of mines once they are closed, through a number of methods, including posting bonds.

There is no such requirement for potential mine disasters, which seems to have flown under the radar, said Dion.

“It’s a pretty serious gap that needs to be closed,” he said.

The collapse of the Mount Polley gold and copper mine’s earth-and-rock waste dam on Aug. 4, 2014 released 24 million cubic metres

of water and tailings containing potentially toxic metals, enough water and material to fill nearly 9,800 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

The release dumped millions of cubic metres of tailings into Quesnel Lake after scouring nine kilometres of Hazeltine Creek, where trout and coho salmon spawned.

Imperial Metals has spent millions of dollars to rehabilitate Hazeltine Creek.

The tailings dumped into Quesnel Lake remain at the bottom of the lake. Studies on the effect of the spill are expected to continue for years.

One of the largest mining-dam failures in the world in the past 50 years, the dam collapse shook the industry and caused concern among the public, First Nations and environmental groups that aquatic life would be harmed, particularly salmon that use the Quesnel Lake system to spawn.

In another brewing controversy, Imperial Metals is facing resistance from a wide range of opponents including First Nations, environmentalists and U.S. senators for an exploration project in an area dubbed the “donut hole,” sandwiched between the Skagit Valley and Manning provincial parks in southern B.C., just north of the Canada-U.S. border.

Imperial Metals has applied to the B.C. mines ministry for a five-year exploration permit to dig trenches and drill to determine mineralization on its tenures in the area. There is no timeline on a decision.

The Treasure Cove Casino brought in $50.8 million during the 2018-19 fiscal year, up from $50.7 million in 2017-18.

Treasure Cove revenue up slightly

Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff

mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca

Treasure Cove Casino brought in $50.8 million in revenue during the 2018-19 fiscal year, according to a B.C. Lottery Corp. report released this week. The amount was up slightly from $50.7 taken in the previous year.

Slot machines brought in $45.5 million, up by about $83,000 from the previous year, while the tables accounted for $2.1 million, down $59,000. At $3.25 million, Treasure Cove remained the top earner among the 25 venues in the province offering bingo. Next highest was Chances Kelowna at $2.93 million followed by Planet Bingo in Vancouver at $2.91 million.

(In the 2017-18 report, revenue from bingo was listed at $9.9 million but a spokesperson said BCLC has since adopted new accounting standards that now reports revenue net of prize money paid out.)

On the casino side, Treasure Cove remained the 10th-highest earner among 17 venues. River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond topped the list at $323.7 million. Billy Barker Casino in Quesnel was at the bottom at $8.9 million.

In all, the activity earned Treasure Cove $14.2 million in operator commission, up by $269,000 over 2017-18. According to the report, service providers receive 25 per cent of the net win from slots, 42.5 per cent

of the net win from tables, 77.5 per cent of the poker rake and 62.5 per cent of low limit blackjack (defined as tables with minimum bets of $5 and a maximum bet limit of $50 per hand).

As for bingo, they get 90 per cent of sales on the first $10,000 per week and 45 per cent of weekly revenue above that figure after prizes have been paid out. The full report is posted with this story at www. pgcitizen.ca.

‘Change never happens easily’

— from page 1

Noting the amount of Canadian garbage that has been shipped overseas, Krause questioned the extent to which plastic bags are being recycled and suggested cloth bags and paper bags as alternatives.

Krause agreed that a ban may not go over well in some circles.

“Change never happens easily, (but) as a society, we have to start moving forward on some of these issues and around the world people are starting to be concerned about the amount of plastic that we’re producing, especially single-use plastics,” he said. Even with the ban, Krause said plenty of plastic will still be produced.

“All you need to look around you,” he said.

Meanwhile, the province is seeking feedback on how best to ban, reduce and recycle plastics and is encouraging B.C. residents to fill out an online survey.

It plans to consult in four areas:

• Bans on single-use packaging: determining which types of plastic packaging to phase out altogether, as well as any necessary exemptions.

• Requiring producers to take responsibility for more plastic products, ensuring more singleuse items such as sandwich bags, straws and cutlery get recycled to reduce single-use plastics in landfills and waterways.

• Expanding the deposit-refund system to cover all beverage containers – including milk and milk-substitutes – with a 10-cent refundable deposit.

• Supporting ways to prevent plastic waste in the first place and making sure recycled plastic is reused effectively.

The federal government has also announced it is planning a national ban on single-use plastic bags, but that’s not expected to happen until 2021.

with

—

files from Bill Cleverly, Victoria Times-Colonist

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

CITIZEN PHOTO BY JAMES DOYLE

Victor Walk

B.C. not protecting drinking water enough, report says

Dirk MEISSNER

The Canadian Press

VICTORIA — The system of accountability to monitor protection of drinking water in British Columbia is of grave concern and doesn’t appear to be a Ministry of Health priority, says the province’s auditor general.

Carol Bellringer says in an audit report released Tuesday that the health ministry and the provincial health officer are not sufficiently ensuring the safety of drinking water for the people in B.C., and she recommends a leadership overhaul and development of a strategic protection plan. Her report says there hasn’t been a known outbreak of water borne illness since 2004, but one contamination event can harm many people.

“Overall, (the) Health (Ministry) and the provincial health officer’s accountability to ensure drinking water was protected is of grave concern,” the report says. “We’re making eight recommendations. Five are to the Health (Ministry) and include providing leadership to co-ordinate the ministries,

undertaking a legislative review, identifying risks and developing a strategic plan, and reporting out to the public.”

The report recommended the provincial health officer improve oversight and monitoring of drinking water safety.

Almost 20 years ago, in the rural community of Walkerton, Ont., more than 2,300 people were sickened from E. coli contaminated drinking water and seven people died.

An inquiry later produced recommendations that influenced drinking water policy across Canada, Bellringer’s report says.

One recommendation calls for universal adoption of the multibarrier approach to safe drinking water, which reduces contamination risks, says the report.

Bellringer said climate change, industrial activity and population growth are all having impacts on B.C.’s drinking water, but the government has not been keeping up.

“We found the Ministry of Health has not been as vigilant about protecting our drinking water as it has in the past,” said Bellringer in a telephone news conference.

The ministry was meant to provide leadership and co-ordination but over time that leadership has waned, she said.

The report says it found no reporting on outcomes of actions the health ministry had taken to protect drinking water from 20162018.

“This may be because health had not identified drinking water as a priority area,” says the report.

The Ministry of Health said in response to the audit that it accepts a government-wide commitment to a drinking water strategy will increase protection.

The ministry said it is developing a water system risk management plan focused on “watershed to tap; sink to watershed.”

The audit cites several B.C. drinking water issues that surfaced from insufficient monitoring and leadership.

The report says the Hullcar Valley area of the North Okanagan had been on a water advisory notice since 2014 due to elevated levels of nitrate concentration in the drinking water. Confusion among various government ministries resulted in poorly coordinated responses to the water

issue, says the report.

The report also notes unresolved concerns about drinking water protection in the Comox Valley that date back to 1963. It also points out a lack of government guidance on water protection issues connected to a landfill operation in the Shawnigan Lake watershed on Vancouver Island.

Cowichan Valley Green MLA

Sonia Furstenau, who represents Shawnigan Lake constituents, said in a statement that Bellringer’s report reiterated concerns of many communities that the government is not doing enough to protect drinking water.

“When it comes to watersheds, the province and governmental agencies are failing to fulfil their responsibilities,” said Furstenau.

“In an era of climate change, protecting water becomes even more important.”

Bellringer’s report says contamination risks are intensified in B.C.’s small water systems where government oversight has been limited.

The report says of B.C.’s estimated 4,800 water systems, 90 per cent are small and serve about 480,000 people.

Fake doctor jailed for administering Botox

The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER — The regulatory body that governs all British Columbia doctors said a woman who once advertised herself as “Dr. LipJob” is now serving consecutive 30-day sentences for defying a court order prohibiting her from injecting Botox and dermal fillers.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. said in a news release that Abbotsford resident Rajdeep Kaur Khakh was handed the two sentences when she appeared in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver earlier this month.

In January, Khakh was found in contempt for violating an earlier injunction ordering her not to use the term doctor and not to practice medicine by administering injectables.

That 30-day sentence was suspended on the condition she abide by the ruling, but the college said a month later it learned Khakh had again injected Botox and it sought an order of civil contempt.

In a July 12 ruling, Justice Nitya Iyer lifted the earlier suspension, ordered a 30-day sentence to be followed by a second 30-day term

and also imposed fines of $7,500, on top of a $5,300 fine set during the court appearance in January.

Graeme Keirstead, the lawyer who represented the college, said the regulatory body hopes the sentence and fines will send a strong message.

“For Ms. Khakh to have disobeyed a court order not once but twice is extraordinary,”

Keirstead said in the release.

“It appears clear that her ladyship found this level of contempt to be worthy of significant punishment.”

Khakh was taken into custody at the conclusion of the July 12 hearing and is serving her sentence at Alouette Correctional Centre for Women in Maple Ridge.

Khakh first drew the college’s attention in March 2015 when it said it learned a woman was calling herself a doctor and was injecting Botox or dermal fillers at a spa in Delta.

During the investigation that followed, the college said it confirmed Khakh was using an altered photocopy of a College Certificate of Licensure to convince spas and medical sup-

NEWS IN BRIEF

Police investigating Richmond shooting

RICHMOND (CP) — Police in Vancouver are working with RCMP as the fallout from a latenight shooting in Richmond appears to have stretched across city boundaries.

Mounties are investigating what they said is a targeted shooting that happened just after 10 p.m. Monday, injuring a 35-year-old man outside a Richmond shopping mall. Police said the victim, who is known to them, is being treated in hospital for serious but not life-threatening injuries. Witnesses report the shots were fired from a passing twodoor, silver sedan that sped away. A vehicle matching that description was found burning in south Vancouver about an hour later.

The RCMP news release said detectives from their detachment are working closely with officers in Vancouver to determine possible links.

RCMP Insp. Keith Bramhill is urging anyone who may have seen the shooting or has dash-cam video to contact the Richmond detachment.

“We understand this is unsettling for the entire community and want to assure our residents that at this time, our investigators have reason to believe that the victim, who is known to us, was targeted,” Bramhill said in the release.

Feds

pliers that she had a medical licence and was certified to practice in British Columbia.

Despite numerous phone, email and mail contacts with Khakh from early 2015 to mid2016 – plus her signature on two, separate undertakings pledging not to practice medicine or administer Botox or fillers – the college said it received further complaints about her in 2017.

“The College is advised that ‘Dr. Rajji’ markets herself on social media as ‘Dr. LipJob.’ It is determined that ‘Dr. Rajji’ is in fact Ms. Khakh,” said a college release dated June 14, 2017.

The tips prompted a two-month investigation and in October 2017, the college filed its first application in B.C. Supreme Court for a permanent injunction to halt Khakh’s activities.

Only health professionals who are licensed and registered, and eligible under their scope of practice, are authorized to inject Botox and dermal fillers, said the college. It “strongly advises” anyone who has received Botox or dermal filler injections by an unlicensed practitioner to speak with their doctor and review the treatment to ensure there are no complications.

VANCOUVER (CP) — A Vancouver-based technology company says it will apply to take part in traditional riding-hailing in British Columbia as soon as provincial regulations take effect this fall.

Kater Technologies Inc. currently offers what it describes as a hybrid service in Metro Vancouver, combining a ride-hailing app with a fleet of vehicles that carry taxi licences and are governed by taxi regulations, such as mandatory Class 4 commercial licences for drivers.

The hybrid service will continue but Kater intends to add traditional ride-hailing across the region by this fall and says it will launch the service throughout the province’s

major cities by the end of the year.

The company says the addition of ride-hailing marks the start of its move toward a fully-integrated system where transportation options from ride-hailing to bike or car shares, buses, ferries and even planes are connected through one digital platform.

Kater CEO Scott Larsen says its ride-hail drivers will use their own vehicles and carry Class 4 licences, differing from the current Kater Car program where drivers rely on a company owned fleet.

Larsen says the number of Kater’s ride-hailing vehicles, rates and driver incentives will all be finalized once provincial regulations are released.

spent $17.7M on advertising in lead up

to election

OTTAWA (CP) — Newly-released figures show the federal government set aside nearly $17.7 million on public awareness campaigns between April and June. The spending through the first three months of the federal fiscal year marks an increase of nearly 21 per cent compared to the same stretch in 2018 to pay for various government advertising. The federal government had until June 30 to get any ad buys out of the way under new rules the Liberals introduced to create a moratorium on government advertising in the months leading up to the election.

At first glance, that could suggest the Liberals ramped up awareness campaigns in an election year, making sure Canadians know about everything from tax credits to services available to seniors. But a spokesman for Treasury Board president Joyce Murray says the dollars money is less than the $56.2 million the Conservatives allocated for the same time period ahead of the 2015 election.

In the end, though, the outgoing Conservative government and the incoming Liberal government spent a total $42.2 million in the 2015-2016 fiscal year on advertising.

Stats Can takes second look at ethnicity question

OTTAWA (CP) — Statistics Canada officials estimate the number of people identifying as Jewish in the 2016 census could have been double what it was if not for a small change on the questionnaire. The number of people identifying themselves as ethnically Jewish on the census has been on a decline since 2001, but the drop between 2011 and 2016 far outpaced the declines between previous census cycles. A newly released review by Statistics Canada said the census could have identified between 270,000 and 298,000 Jews in Canada in 2016 if response patterns remained steady, instead of the almost 144,000 captured in the population count.

The review said the decline is most likely linked to the removal of Jewish from a list of examples that goes along with the question about ethnic and cultural origins. But the reviewers also note that dropping the examples entirely could cause additional problems, such as respondents not understanding the question or affecting the results in different ways.

The national statistics agency is now testing a new way to ask people about their ethnic origins.

B.C. Auditor General Carol Bellringer released

New species found in Burgess Shale fossils

Colette DERWORIZ The Canadian Press

Researchers at the Royal Ontario Museum and University of Toronto have uncovered fossils of a large predatory species in 506 million-year-old rocks in the Canadian Rockies in British Columbia.

The species, described in a study published Tuesday in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, is named Cambroraster Falcatus.

“This animal has this really unique looking frontal carapace, or shield-like structure, covering its head,” said Joseph Moysiuk, a PhD student at the University of Toronto and lead author of the study.

“It’s like nothing we had seen before. But we actually nicknamed it in the field: The Spaceship.”

The species, which is the earliest relative of insects, crabs and spiders, was found at the Burgess Shale site near Marble Canyon in Kootenay National Park.

“What makes this finding remarkable is that we found hundreds of specimens, including all of the different parts of its body, so we are able to piece back together this organism in pretty remarkable detail,” Moysiuk said.

His supervisor, Jean-Bernard Caron, said it took some time to put all the pieces together.

“It was like a jigsaw puzzle or a Lego box, but you don’t have the instructions,” said Caron, who’s a curator at the Royal Ontario Museum and an assistant professor at University of Toronto.

In addition to its large head, the animal has a small body with flaps on the sides.

“It looks a bit ridiculous in some ways,” Caron said.

Researchers believe large claws on the front of its body, which look like rakes, were used to feed on everything from worms to small larvae living between sediment grains in the mud.

Caron said they expect the animal was living at the bottom of the sea.

“They are predators but they are also prey

for something larger,” he said. “It’s adding more complexity to the Burgess Shale. It’s a level of predation that we had not encountered before.”

Moysiuk called the Cambroraster Falcatus a “fearsome-looking animal.”

Most animals at the time were smaller than a couple centimetres, but he said the new species was up to 30 centimetres long.

“This is a super exciting finding for us,” Moysiuk said. “Because it’s such an abundant organism, we know it was important in the Burgess Shale community at the time.”

No decision on Huawei, 5G before election, Goodale says

Mike BLANCHFIELD The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — Canadians will have to wait until after this fall’s federal election to find out whether Chinese tech giant Huawei can provide equipment for the country’s nextgeneration 5G wireless network.

Canada needs more information from the United States about the nature of the potential security threat the U.S. believes the state-owned company poses, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale told The Canadian Press, and it likely won’t come before campaigning begins for the Oct. 21 election sometime in early September.

“I think at this stage, with the amount of time that’s left between now and the issuing of a writ, that it is unlikely for that decision to be taken before an election,” Goodale said Tuesday from London after a major meeting between Canada and its Five Eyes intelligence allies – the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

The meeting began with divisions over whether to let Huawei supply the equipment for the 5G system. The U.S. and Australia have banned Huawei, citing concerns that it is an organ of Chinese military intelligence – a charge the company denies.

Meanwhile, Goodale said Canada will continue a vigorous and ongoing review of which company is best suited to provide the equipment for the country’s powerful new 5G technology, widely seen as the necessary backbone for the coming wave of transformative artificial intelligence.

Canada’s eventual decision is entwined with a broader political dispute with China that has seen the People’s Republic imprison two Canadian men following the RCMP’s decision to arrest Huawei senior executive Meng Wanzhou on an American extradition warrant.

Goodale said he was pressed on the issue by his American and Australian counterparts, noting that Canada’s federal election is looming.

“I think the process is going to take longer than that,” Goodale said.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer reiterated his view that Huawei should be banned from participating in Canada’s new 5G network. But he said if the Liberals disagree, they should make that decision now and be prepared to defend it during the election.

Goodale said Canada, like Britain, is “seeking clarity” on the specific nature of the security threat that the U.S. sees in Huawei’s technology. He hinted that the American concerns might be linked to the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China.

“You do have, from time to time, senior American officials commenting to the effect that this may be resolved in the context of trade negotiations,” Goodale said. “So my request to the United States, once again, is we need clarity with respect to the United States’ position.”

Until Canada has a clearer view of the U.S. position, “we have concluded that it would be wrong to make specific decisions in relation to Huawei.”

The Five Eyes also sharpened their focus on protecting children from online sexual predators, giving more attention to the subject than ever, Goodale said.

The meeting was hosted by British Home Secretary Priti Patel, who assumed her new cabinet post last week when Boris Johnson became prime minister.

Patel said prior to the summit that Britain is a global leader on national security and child protection and remains committed to working with its close partners to confront the challenges.

The group also met with the major online corporations – Facebook, Google and Microsoft – to discuss how to prevent child abuse. The companies immediately adopted a set or rules proposed by the governments to more speedily remove child porn from the web, but they still need to do more, said Goodale.

“There are so many children that are victimized for years and years and years into their adulthood when those images remain lingering on the internet,” he said. “While we appreciate the progress that’s been made, the effort has to be accelerated.”

Goodale and his fellow ministers proposed a set of principles for countering offensive material that they want to see up and running by the end of the year. Goodale and his counterparts have pressed the internet companies to better police their content, they have often met with resistance.

“We thought there would be some argument or some pushback from the companies. We were pleasantly surprised that there was none.”

The Marble Canyon fossil site, home to more than a dozen new species, was found by researchers in 2012 as they worked at the nearby Stanley Glacier.

Researchers have said the area and its fossils are furthering the understanding of animal life during the Cambrian Period, when most major groups of animals appear on the fossil record.

The Marble Canyon site is about 40 kilometres south of the original Burgess Shale in Yoho National Park, which was discovered 110 years ago.

Officials with Parks Canada said the areas are magical places for fossil discoveries.

“They are static and they are in the mountains and they are not moving, but that doesn’t necessarily mean there aren’t new stories to be told,” said Alex Kolesch, senior adviser for Yoho and Kootenay national parks. “These fossils are a really neat way to demonstrate what Parks Canada does and what our role is here. By virtue of these sites being in national parks, we protect them and it’s also really important for us to share the stories of national parks.”

Three rescued in float plane crash

Amy SMART The Canadian Press

SECHELT — Sunshine Coast resident

Ian Bolden said he was out paddling on Davis Bay Tuesday when he watched a float plane circle in the sky, dip low toward the water, turn into the wind and disappear in a big splash.

Bolden hustled back to shore to report the crash and said by the time he was done, rescue crews were already circling the area.

Officials say three people were aboard the plane when it went down Tuesday afternoon and all were taken to hospital with minor injuries. Bolden said he watched a tug boat hauling gravel near the crash assist in the rescue.

“It cut its barge free and blasted out to where the crash site was and picked up the people, who were then transferred to the coast guard hovercraft, which brought them to shore just down the beach from us,” he said. “They appeared to be in reasonably good condition.”

They were walking with the support of rescuers, he added.

It’s a high-traffic area for sea planes and Bolden said he has seen a few scary landings, including one where a plane appeared to lose its engine power and glide safely down to the water.

He could not tell if the aircraft that

crashed Tuesday was commercial or private and officials could not confirm that immediately either. The plane’s occupants were taken to shore in Sechelt, where Emergency Health Services staged three paramedic ground units. RCMP Const. Karen Whitby said they appeared to have only “bumps and bruises,” but were taken to the local hospital for further assessment. Emergency Health Services confirmed their injuries were “minor.”

The Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre said several rescuers responded to the incident, including crews from the Navy, Transport Canada, Canadian Coast Guard and Vancouver Fire Rescue.

It said the aircraft has sunk.

The case is being handed to the Transportation Safety Board for possible investigation, Whitby said. In a separate incident on Friday, rescue crews found four people dead and five injured after a float plane crashed on a remote island on B.C.’s central coast. The BC Coroners Service issued a release Tuesday saying the three passengers killed were visiting B.C.

The men, ranging in age from their 40s to their 70s, were from South Carolina, Washington state and Germany.

The pilot, Al McBain of Vancouver, was identified by a family member.

Professors Jean-Bernard Caron and Maydianne Andrade discuss newly-revealed fossils in this handout image.

AP FILE PHOTO

Visitors walk past a sign advertising 5G services near the Huawei pavilion at the Mobile World Congress in Shanghai in June.

Office climate change

’m cold!”

“ITeenager puts down Xbox controller, gets up and walks towards the home thermostat.

“Touch that dial and you can kiss that modem and your dreams of making money playing Fortnite goodbye!” barks the father who never imagined he would one day sound like his own father. “Put on a sweater and stop complaining unless you want to pay the gas bill!”

Teenager grumbles, puts on a hoodie and dreams of the day when there is there is no Nazi in the house obsessed with indoor temperature and leaving lights on.

The same men used to go to the office in the Mad Men era, dressed in a jacket, a vest, a shirt and tie, along with long pants. In the modern era, the vest and tie are mostly out but there’s still a long-sleeved shirt and a jacket. If they are wearing jeans with that, it’s Mike Morris formal.

Women, meanwhile, have worn less clothes than men – then and now – particularly in the workplace. In the office, women are more likely to bare their arms and frequently bare their legs, an absolute no-no

to this day for men. In that previous era, women had to grin and bear it when men wearing three layers of clothes and who were almost always the boss would turn down the thermostat or crank up the air conditioner. For shivering women, the only recourse was a light open jacket, something nowhere near as practical as a Mr. Rogers sweater.

Flash forward to 2019, with more women in offices and more women in managerial roles and suddenly the workplace temperature, once as exclusive the domain of men as the boardroom, is now in play.

Last week’s release by B.C. Hydro of a study showing the heated battle happening between the sexes over office temperature settings, regardless of the season, comes as no surprise, at least to women. Men are still surprised to learn that so much of the world has been designed for their convenience, not just office temperature but the design of desks and office chairs, as well as further out in the world at large.

Caroline Criado Perez explores all of those areas in detail in her book Invisible Women: Data Bias In A World Designed For Men. Even snow removal on streets and

sidewalks falls under Perez’s gaze. If city manager Kathleen Soltis thought bringing retired roads director Frank Blues back on retainer earlier this year to get Prince George’s snow removal back on track after the fiasco of the last week of December and first week of January last winter would fix all the problems, she might want to read the very first chapter of Perez’s book.

Snow removal, as Perez explains with the data to support her case, is decided by men and conducted by men heavy equipment operators with men as the standard for the “normal” commuter, ignoring how women as a group are far different local transportation users than men. Women use public transit more often than men, they use sidewalks far more than men and they are far more likely than men to make multiple stops during their daily commute – both on their way to work and their way home – for child care, elder care, picking up groceries and ferrying children to and from school and appointments.

Are those additional uses of public roadways by women factored when men sit around and put together a snow removal plan?

The realignment will be televised

With Boris Johnson now Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and U.S.

President Donald Trump’s tweets goading his innumerable enemies towards tactical missteps that will certainly hand the Donald four more years at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., many have asked me how we got here and where it is all going.

“Tis no sin for man to labour in his vocation,” as Falstaff reminds us; ergo a history lesson, as well as brief exercises in being a Cassandra, are now quite overdue.

In 2008, large U.S. banks involved in subprime mortgages began to default. The ensuing market panic was so severe, it caused a decade of anemic growth and crippled the currency of an entirely separate continent. Then commodities dived in 2014, adding to the slowdown. By spring 2016, America’s deficit had doubled, Europeans had tired of Brussels, and the PostWar Order had been treated with open contempt from Benghazi to Tehran, from Kiev to Pyongyang.

In the West, a therapeutic and managerial state, along with neoliberal-Keynesian policies, staved off the conditions which once led to the Second World War. But that was cold comfort to civilians in North Africa, the Levant, the Steppes, the Gobi Desert, or the Burma Highlands, as non-state actors, and emboldened regimes, began to commit acts of genocide and terror. Our democracies were

RIGHT OF CENTRE

impotent spectators, drawing red lines but not enforcing them when crossed.

A migrant crisis ensued, with stagnant wages, the continued Xeroxing of musculature labour, a glass ceiling for newcomers to the job or housing markets, and wars that had not been won after decades, combining to create the precise conditions for a perfect storm: populism.

There were birth pains for years. While the Arab Spring was not successful, defaulting Eurozone countries have continued to spurn the EU with populist parties, left and right. New strongmen have appeared in Turkey, China, India, and even Japan in response to instability. By the time the Anglosphere joined in with the vote to leave Europe, and the 2016 presidential race, it was clear the paradigm had shifted, fueled by citizens and factions against the status quo.

The reaction to this in the West has been extraordinary: bureaucrats, commissioners, elected officials, media personalities, and movie stars have unapologetically attempted to stymie the change voters demanded by disregarding the electoral process, or fighting rearguard actions designed to exhaust their opponents into submission. What the “elites” don’t seem to realize is that this

provides more resources and people for those insurgent pugilists leading the charge. Outside the West, conditions have gotten worse, as formerly moderate but undemocratic countries have become even more tyrannical, or descended into bloody civil wars. Third World citizens today have only two choices in life – is Interwar Soviet Russia or Spain more tolerable? What about the future and is there any hope?

A realignment in coalitions and national borders is all but inevitable: see Crimea, or recall Middle Eastern lines were drawn in a colonial office circa 1919.

Samuel P. Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations clarifies these issues well.

As to Trump, BoJo, and the West, 150 years of centralizing power will have to reverse or be greatly relaxed in order for old nations to survive. Populism, regardless of ideological colour, is a symptom of no longer believing the government listens. It has become endemic throughout liberal-democracies as unaccountable rulers with quasi-judicial powers gain ever more control of daily life, all while infrastructure or institutions rot, and costs rise steeply for the average family. To be clear, there are moderate ways forward if the people are made the first priority. But until elites and radicals stop advocating issues or defending stances that have less than 51 per cent support, populism and strongmen tactics will continue to be a winning strategy across the globe.

Perez’s answer is an emphatic no.

As for office temperature, not only do women wear less clothes and thinner fabrics than men, Perez points out that women literally have thinner skin than men. She makes the same point the B.C. Hydro report does - to this day, office ventilation systems are designed as they were in the 1960s Mad Men era, suited to the metabolism, fashion and preferences of men.

“The modern workplace does not work for women,” she writes.

“From its location, to its hours, to its regulatory standards, it has been designed around the lives of men and it is no longer fit for its purpose.”

Turns out changing the climate in offices isn’t just about getting men to stop with the locker room talk, the sexist jokes and the unwanted attention. It’s also about getting the physical temperature right, too.

The unhappy teenager at home doesn’t have much recourse against grumpy dad but women are equal partners in the modern economy. Creating accommodating workplaces for everyone is not only the right thing to do, it’s simply good business.

— Editor-in-chief

Neil Godbout

Green plan could help out Liberals

As the federal election draws near, political platforms will inevitably focus – at least for a few days – on environmental policies.

Previous electoral campaigns have been dominated by one or two prominent issues, such as the economy and jobs in 2008. This year, as was outlined in a recent Research Co. survey, the preoccupations of Canadians are dissimilar from sea to sea to sea.

About one in six Canadians (16 per cent) told us the environment is the most important issue facing Canada today – a smaller proportion than those who selected the economy and jobs (19 per cent) and health care (also 19 per cent), but higher than housing, homelessness and poverty (13 per cent) and immigration (11 per cent).

When voters were asked which issue would define their vote in this year’s federal election, the environment climbed to 18 per cent. It will be the top motivator for Canadians aged 18 to 34 (20 per cent) and Quebecers (28 per cent). The criticism toward the federal government on issues related to the environment has been harsh in B.C., particularly after approval of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

In 2015, many voters who could have supported federal candidates representing the NDP and the Greens went under the Liberal Party of Canada’s tent for various reasons, including promises of electoral reform and tougher environmental regulations, as well as a desire for change in Ottawa.

It is difficult to figure out where these “borrowed” Liberal voters from 2015 will go in 2019. The Liberals received 35 per cent of the vote in British Columbia four years ago, their best total since the first “Trudeaumania” in 1968 and an astonishing increase from the paltry 13 per cent the party garnered under Michael Ignatieff in 2011.

Environmental policies may indeed help the Liberal party reconnect with voters in British Columbia. When candidates knock on the doors of residents, they must be prepared to justify the Trans Mountain decision. But they will also likely mention the difficulties that other progressive parties could face in forming the government, as well as caution about a Conservative administration coming back to Ottawa just four years after the last one. When it comes to environmental policy, one of the topics that has gained prominence in media coverage is the Pact for a Green New Deal. The Canadian version is calling for the country to move away from fossil fuels, cut carbon emissions in half by 2030, protect jobs,

Mailing address: 505 Fourth Ave. Prince George, B.C. V2L 3H2 Office hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday

promote green transportation and deal with economic inequality. Canadians have been exposed to the American Green New Deal, which was tabled as a stimulus package by Democrats. As expected, it was mocked by U.S. President Donald Trump as a “killer” of millions of jobs.

When Research Co. asked Canadians about the Pact for a Green New Deal, only 30 per cent said they were “very” or “moderately” familiar with it. Quebecers (34 per cent) and Albertans (32 per cent) were more likely to know something about the policy proposal – and for very different reasons. In B.C., awareness stands at 24 per cent. In spite of these numbers, some ideas are supported by majorities of Canadians, particularly a desire to move the national economy away from oil and gas (62 per cent) and a disagreement with inaction on climate change unless other countries with higher carbon emissions take major steps as well (59 per cent).

However, on the issue of carbon taxes, there is a deep regional divide. More than half of Canadians (54 per cent) agree that putting a price on carbon emissions is a sensible policy. Environmentally friendly Quebec leads the way (66 per cent), followed by British Columbia (56 per cent) – a jurisdiction that has had a carbon tax for more than a decade.

Agreement with carbon taxes is lowest in regions governed by Conservative premiers who have come out against the federal levy: 48 per cent in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, 47 per cent in Ontario and 36 per cent in Alberta. At this stage, no political party holds an edge on being better positioned to implement the pact. The Liberals, with the advantages of incumbency and experience in government, are barely ahead of the Green party on this question (26 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively). The Conservatives are third with 19 per cent and the New Democrats – who presented their “Vision for the Environment and Economy” in June – are a distant fourth (11 per cent). The next few weeks will be crucial for the viability of the policy proposal. Parties will probably steer clear of outright endorsements, but certain planks are popular, and environmentally conscious voters – about 18 per cent of the Canadian electorate right now – may still be wondering who to cast a ballot for.

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

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NATHAN GIEDE

BY THE NUMBERS

MARIO CANSECO

Technology, globalization fuels music theft

Ted ANTHONY

The Associated Press

At my son’s fourth birthday party, a classmate presented him with a toy recycling truck.

Atop it was a button that, when pushed, uncorked a familiar tune with the words: “To the dump, to the dump, to the dump dump dump!”

An adult nearby heard the melody and said, “Hey – that’s the Lone Ranger theme song.”

Well, yes and no.

It is indeed the fanfare to the famed 1950s TV series.

But before that it was something even more venerable – the William Tell Overture, by a 19th-century Italian composer named Gioachino Rossini.

So goes the story of modern music.

A century of near-continuous recording, packaging, repackaging, riffing and, more recently, the technical ability for anyone to create cultural collage and sample all facets of creative expression, has turned our musical reservoir into a collection of quotations.

Millions of snippets, words and music sit at the ready, waiting to be recruited into the service of something new.

Or, occasionally, retooled into something legally actionable.

On Monday, a federal jury decided unanimously that pop star Katy Perry and her record label had, with her song Dark Horse, copied a 2009 Christian rap song called Joyful Noise released by an artist named Marcus Gray.

Perry’s lawyer, Christine Lepera, had taken issue with this line of thinking, saying that “they’re trying to own basic building blocks of music, the alphabet of music that should be available to everyone.”

Legal arguments aside, those basic building blocks – the “alphabet of music” – are responsible for producing huge chunks of the American songbook in ways far more fundamental than most listeners realize.

The likes of Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones built their repertoires by plundering traditional Delta Blues.

Bob Dylan made his name remixing the folk canon in innovative ways.

A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall, for instance, is a direct descendant of a centuries-old British ballad called Lord Randall.

Simon and Garfunkel’s Scarborough Fair, with its “parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,” traces back straight through American mountain folklore to British tradition.

Think you’re familiar with the 1970 Steve Miller Band classic The Joker and its lyrics, “You’re the cutest thing that I ever did see/I really love your peaches, wanna shake your tree”?

North Carolinian Charlie Poole, one of America’s seminal early country musicians, recorded a jaunty song in 1930 called If the River Was Whiskey, which included this line:

“I was born in Alabama, raised in Tennessee, if you don’t like my peaches, don’t shake on my tree.“

This stuff can be revelatory for so many music listeners because it operates under the radar.

It’s our own musical history, hiding in plain sight, an ocean of raw material awaiting some fresh genius glue to bind it into something new.

This was true at least as far back as the second half of the 19th century.

By then, according to the eccentric roots-music pioneer Harry Smith, enough folk lyrics were kicking around the republic, crosspollinating between black and white musicians, to provide fodder for thousands of still-to-be-written songs – what the critic Greil Marcus calls “an almost infinite repertory of performances.”

So many tales of American experience emerged from that era and its critical mass of storytelling fragments.

Now, the fragmentation has gone global.

The character of this new disapora, though, is different.

It now includes high-powered marketing, mass intellectual-property theft and economic forces that dwarf – sometimes steamroll – the local and regional traditions that spread folk music around in the 1800s.

Today, the practice of harvesting musical and lyrical snippets is flourishing – most creatively, perhaps, in hip-hop and dance music, where readily accessible technology encourages sampling for remixes, remakes, dance mixes and party mixes.

But what to one artist is a nod or tribute can, to another, be theft.

And when lyricists and musicians begin drawing not from tradition but from fellow modern, revenueconscious entertainers, the results get more contentious.

In 1976, former Beatle George Harrison was ordered to pay damages of nearly $1.6 million after a court ruled that his song My Sweet Lord had copied musical pieces of the Chiffons’ 1963 hit He’s So Fine, written by Ronnie Mack.

The battle went on for years and the damages were later reduced.

In 2015, songwriter Sam Smith agreed to share the royalties for his song Stay With Me with Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne, whose 1989 hit I Won’t Back Down had melodies similar enough to also give Petty and Lynne co-writing credits.

The list of disputes based on musical similarity goes on: Radiohead (Creep, 1992) and Lana Del Ray (Get Free, 2017); Huey Lewis and the News (I Want a New Drug, 1984) and Ray Parker Jr. (Ghostbusters, 1984).

And many more.

Advertisers recognize the power of the American songbook, too. Bonaparte’s Retreat, appropriated by Aaron Copland after being recorded in the field by musicologist Alan Lomax through the fiddler W.H. Stepp, showed up in a recent ad from the National

Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

The old tune Turkey in the Straw was used in the 1970s and 1980s as an ad for Murphy’s Oil Soap.

And several Decembers ago, when I sang Jingle Bells, my young son objected.

“That’s not a Christmas song,” he said indignantly.

“That’s Elmo’s song from the end of his show.”

And so it was.

Who’s to say I’m any more right than he is?

The wholesale expropriation of music on such a large scale is unprecedented and can be roundly blamed on – or credited to – two things: technology and globalization.

It has produced some genuinely odd mashups.

I have found Edelweiss, a show tune, cast as a cowboy song; Wham’s elegiac Careless Whisper branded as perfect driving music; and Scott Joplin’s 1902 ragtime classic The Entertainer pressed into service as a cell-phone ringtone in Islamabad, Pakistan, by a man who didn’t know it but liked it better than the built-in ring. If the recent past is any hint, cultural context will matter less and less.

Consider what happened to my wife in China a few years back.

She was driving around Beijing with a twentysomething Chinese real-estate agent named Kimberly Teng when they passed a certain roast-chicken restaurant named after a certain white-bearded Southern singer known for certain pop-country standards such as The Gambler and Coward of the County.

“Do you know of Kenny Rogers?” Teng asked reverently.

Then an earnest, serious look came over her face.

“He sings many ancient and beautiful love songs.”

A good chunk of our global culture – misquoted, revered, decontextualized and misquoted again, then served up for an entirely new audience is, for better or worse, now in the hands of a generation of Kimberly Tengs in many lands. Movies, video games and music are their currency, streamed into the devices in their pockets, purses and packs.

It can bind itself to local traditions and flourish, growing into something fresh and exciting.

Or, commoditized to the nth degree, it could become the equivalent of putting Careless Whisper on a road-trip playlist – something decontextualized and irrelevant to anyone’s life experience anywhere.

To the dump indeed.

AP FILE PHOTO

This April 27 file photo shows Katy Perry at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans. The penalty phase in a copyright infringement trial began Tuesday in Los Angeles and will determine how much Perry and other creators of her hit song Dark Horse will owe for improperly copying elements of a 2009 Christian rap song.

Suicide survivors ‘coming out’ to fight crisis

The Washington Post

For many years, Gregg Loomis hid the attempts from others. He worried about the effect on his insurance business. He had seen people’s view of him change once they found out. He had lost friends that way.

So two days before his trip to Capitol Hill, Loomis sat in his office in a New York City suburb, agonizing over what he might say. How do you explain to total strangers the most painful, private moments of your life – the moments you tried to end it.

A suicide prevention group had sent notes to him and other volunteers to prepare for the trip. He wouldn’t be talking with actual lawmakers, but with their legislative aides. He’d have 10 minutes, 15 at most, to tell his story and plead for funding and legislation.

“That’s not a lot of time,” a worried Loomis, 61, said as he went over the notes.

Until recently, the suicide prevention movement has been driven largely by family and friends of those who died. But in recent years – as suicide rates have climbed to historic levels –survivors of suicide attempts have been “coming out,” determined to combat the problem even if it means speaking out about their own, often-hidden pasts. Their emergence in unprecedented numbers in the past five years has transformed the suicide prevention world. Clinicians who once hid their own attempts for fear of having their objectivity and work questioned have started revealing their history to peers. Researchers trying to understand suicide, who previously focused on post-mortem data and environmental factors, are starting to embrace the relatively new idea of reaching out to people who experienced it directly. And advocates are harnessing those voices to raise awareness of suicide as a public health issue and win sorely needed funding and attention.

The new momentum comes at a time when suicides in the U.S. have hit their highest levels since the Second World War.

Since 1999, suicide rates have climbed 33 per cent. Roughly 130 Americans now die by suicide each day, making it the country’s 10th leading cause of death. And yet, government funding for research and prevention has lagged far behind all other leading causes of deaths. Funding for it is regularly dwarfed by ailments with only a fraction of the death toll regularly – despite the profound trauma and costs of suicide, including more than $50 billion lost in work productivity each year.

“We are where cancer was in the 1960s, or AIDS was in the 1970s, or Alzheimer’s 10 years ago. We haven’t pierced the national consciousness,” said John Madigan, head of public policy at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. “We haven’t put a face

on the problem.”

As he packed for Washington, Loomis thought about the darkness he felt the first time he had tried to kill himself, while in college – the all-consuming pain and his desperation to escape it. He thought about his last attempt, in 2008, when the hospital forced him to leave after five days, while he was still mentally fragile, because that’s all his insurance would pay for.

He thought about the first time he talked about any of it publicly at a suicide awareness event four years ago, and how he had teared up and had to pause to gather himself.

“It’s not like this is some badge of honour you want to wear in public,” he said. “It’s not something I’m proud of. But if there’s something I can do to help.”

The field of suicide research and prevention is only four to five decades old. For most of that span, those who survived suicides were

swering calls on prevention lines, or working as clinicians.”

That began to change in 2011, when Marsha Linehan – a towering figure in the field who developed a treatment called dialectical behavior therapy that can be effective on illnesses such as borderline personality disorder – revealed publicly that she struggled with suicide throughout her life.

Others soon followed suit.

“Once you see someone telling their story, it’s less hard to tell your own,” Whiteside said. In 2017, more than 47,000 Americans died by suicide, but the number who attempted it was almost 30 times that – meaning 1.4 million survived such incidents, according to federal statistics.

Suicide experts now use the term “lived experience” to describe what such survivors offer their field.

Their insights have led to new lines of research and pilot programs deploying survivors to counsel other patients at risk.

considered too ill or too disturbed to contribute.

“Survivors were seen as people to be studied, rather than partnered with,” said Ursula Whiteside, a researcher with the University of Washington. “It was an ‘us and them’ approach. The ‘us’ were people helping and the ‘them’ were people who needed help.”

Implied was the concern anything could send such people over the edge. Until recently, for example, clinical drug trials for mental illnesses routinely removed all patients with any suicidal thoughts. As a result, researchers note, little is known today about what medicines might reduce suicidal thoughts and impulses.

“Even among suicide researchers, when someone comes out, there’s a fear people will start questioning their competency and work,” said DeQuincy Lezine, a researcher who is open about his suicidal past. “You hear questions about whether they should be an-

After refining his story all weekend, Loomis reduced it to a single short sentence, introducing himself as “an attempt survivor and someone living with bipolar illness.”

He explained his careful word choice in a meeting with a staff member for Rep. Nita M. Lowey, D-N.Y.

“I don’t say, ‘I’m bipolar.’ I say, ‘I have an illness,’ because that’s what it is, like cancer or any other illness,” Loomis told the staff member. “The stigma around suicide is huge. We say someone ‘committed suicide’ because it used to be considered a crime and sin. Churches wouldn’t even let people who did it be buried in their cemeteries.”

The idea seemed to resonate with the aide, who jotted notes as Loomis explained the need to enforce laws requiring insurers to provide people with mental ailments the same resources they give to those with conditions like heart disease.

Fitness trackers are fantastic but 10,000 steps is overrated

The Washington Post

When Sonia Anderson got her first Fitbit step tracker, her poor pooch, Bronx, had no idea of all the steps that were coming. The device – which counts every step Anderson takes and displays those steps on an app –was a Christmas gift from her daughters. At the time, Bronx, a Yorkshire terrier, was younger and could still manage the additional walks up and down trails.

More recently, as Bronx hit age 13, the dog started coming to dead stops during these long treks as if to ask: What’s going on here? Like many other folks 50 and older, the 63-year-old Anderson has been commandeered by the step-tracker craze that began about a decade ago.

Anderson has bought into the $26 billion global step tracker industry. It might also help her live longer, according to a recent Harvard University study. The study concluded that among older women, as few as 4,400 steps per day helped to lower mortality rates. With more steps per day, mortality rates decreased before leveling off at 7,500 steps, the study found.

In other words, the magic marketing number of 10,000 daily steps embraced by so many wearers of these devices – from Fitbits to Garmins to Samsungs to Apple Watches – may be about 2,500 steps more than necessary.

Truth be told, even the woman behind the study – who concedes that she, too, is enamored of her step tracker – can’t say how many steps are the right number for each walker.

“No one size fits all,” said I-Min Lee, an associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and a professor at Harvard Medical School.

But no matter how many steps you take, merely wearing and using a fitness tracker – particularly for older women, older men and other people who tend to be somewhat inactive – “can be beneficial not only to your health but to your quality of life,” Lee said.

Of course, some folks go over the top with their trackers – and proudly post their more unusual stats on social media sites such as Reddit.

Like the vegan fitness buff who posted a video about logging 50,000 steps a day for five days. And the warehouse stocker who said that he slogged 20,000 steps a day on the job.

And there’s also the guy who credits his Fitbit for helping him slim his 40-inch waist to a svelte 34 inches.

Lee said she first got interested in wearable devices five years ago during a workplace program that promoted healthy lifestyles for doctors.

Lee received a free device and was asked to form a team of walkers.

Lee, 59, is hesitant to discuss her step count because she believes the sheer act of regularly exercising is far more important than the sum total of steps.

But after some cajoling she said she averages about 15,000 steps per day.

Studies show that 150 minutes of moderate activity, such as walking, can lower the risk of heart disease and stroke, improve sleep, help reduce weight gain and improve bone health.

WASHINGTON POST PHOTO

Gregg Loomis, centre, and members of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, gather for a group picture before heading to Congress for a day of lobbying surrounding suicide prevention in Washington in June.

A day at the races

ABOVE: Kelsey Dufresne does a burnout to warm up his tires on Sunday afternoon at NITRO Motorsports Park during the Big Bux Shootout drag races.

LEFT: Junior drag racers speed down the Rolling Mix Concrete Raceway on Sunday.

BELOW: Dawn Henderson speeds down the Rolling Mix Concrete Raceway on Sunday.

Ellie Black wins gold, bronze for Canada

The Canadian Press

LIMA, Peru — Ellie Black became Canada’s most decorated Pan American gymnast on Tuesday after winning gold in the women’s vault competition and following with a bronze in uneven bars.

The results gave the Halifax native nine medals (five gold, two silver, two bronze) over her career, eclipsing the previous Canadian record of eight held by Willie Weiler. The five gold medals are also a Canadian Pan Am record. Black has three medals in Lima after she successfully defended her women’s all-around Pan Am title on Monday. She has a chance to add to her haul today in the beam and floor competitions. Black won gold in both events at the 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games.

“Today was awesome. I was really happy to be out there with my team-mates Shallon (Olsen) on vault and Brooklyn (Moors) on uneven bars,” Black said. “We wanted to deliver some strong performances and we were able to do that. It is awesome to bring some more medals home for Canada.”

On Tuesday, Black scored 14.450 points on the vault to finish ahead of Cuba’s Yesenia Ferrera (14.391). Olsen of Surrey was third with 14.183.

“It was great standing up there with Ellie. She is more than a teammate. She is a role model to me,” Olsen said. “She has really had a great impact on me at these Games.”

Riley McCusker won the women’s uneven bars with 14.533 points, ahead of fellow American Leanne Wong (14.300) and Black (14.000). Moors, of Cambridge, Ont., was sixth.

Zachary Clay of Chilliwack and Justin Karstadt of Toronto were sixth and seventh in the men’s pommel horse, while Rene Cournoyer of Repentigny, Que., was sixth in the men’s rings. Meanwhile, Canadian kayakers also had a big day with two gold medals and a silver.

Andreanne Langlois of Lac-Beauport, Que., and Alana Bray-Lougheed of Oakville, Ont., combined for gold in the women’s K-2 500-metres while Dominik Crete of Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Que., won the men’s K-1 200 metres. Langlois added a silver in the K-1 1200m. Canada finished with 10 medals (three gold, five silver, two bronze) in the canoe and kayak events in Lima.

Langlois leaves South America with four medals (two gold, two silver).

“I’m really happy with a lot of my races,” she said. “It was a really big challenge to do as many races as that, but that was the challenge that I wanted to make so it was good to try. I learned a lot. Even if I’ve been paddling for 20 years, I still learn.”

With a gold medal at his first Pam Am Games under his belt, Crete was turning his focus to the Tokyo Olympics.

“I’ve only been paddling since 2015 so it’s only my fourth year paddling. For sure it will help me to keep on focusing on Tokyo 2020,” he said. “Having won the continental (championship) gives us a good idea of how strong we are going to be for next year.”

Anna Roy-Cyr of Lac-Beauport finished fifth in the women’s C1 200m

Water skiing

Dorien Llewellyn of Innisfail, Alta., won gold in the men’s overall event with a total score of 2,885.50 points.

Whitney McClintock-Rini of Cambridge, Ont., took silver in the women’s overall event, while Paige Rini of Kingston, Ont., was fourth.

Beach volleyball

Argentina defeated Aaron Nusbaum of Aurora, Ont., and Michael Plantinga of Langley, B.C., 2-0 in the men’s bronze-medal match.

Badminton

Michelle Li of Markham, Ont., advanced to the women’s quarterfinals with a 2-0 (21-7, 21-13) win over Costa Rica’s Lauren Villalobos and Rachel Honderich of Toronto also moved on with a 2-0 (21-11, 21-10) win over Nairoby Jiminez of the Dominican Republic.

Jason Ho-Shue of Markham is through to the men’s quarterfinals with a 2-0 (21-12, 21-9) win over Brazil’s Farias Francielton, as is Toronto’s Brian Yang of after a 2-0 (21-11, 21-10) win over Andres Lopez of Mexico.

Two Canadian teams advanced to the quarterfinals in mixed doubles.

Nyl Yakura of Pickering, Ont., and Kristen Tsai of Surrey posted a 2-0 (21-11, 21-10) victory over Brazil and Joshua Hurlburt-Yu of Toronto and Josephine Wu of Edmonton beat

Ecuador 2-0 (21-9, 21-8).

Field hockey

Canada defeated Mexico 5-1 in men’s competition. Toronto’s Oliver Scholfield and Mark Pearson of Tsawwassen led the way with two goals each while Vancouver’s David Carter posted a shutout. Canada’s next match is Thursday against the United States.

Tennis

Carolina Alves of Brazil defeated Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in women’s firstround play, while Peru’s Dana Guzman and Dominique Schaefer beat Toronto’s Jada Bui and Vancouver’s Alexandra Vagramov 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of women’s doubles.

Squash

Hollie Naughton of Mississauga, Ont., Samantha Cornett of Deep River, Ont., and Danielle Letourneau of Calgary beat Chile 3-0 to advance to a semifinal matchup against Colombia on Wednesday.

Shooting

Matthew Van Haaren of Milgrove, Ont., was sixth in men’s trap.

Handball

Canada beat Peru 31-12 in the seventh-place game.

Blue Jays deal Phelps to Cubs, get Hatch

The Associated Press

CHICAGO — The Cubs added bullpen depth by acquiring right-hander David Phelps from Toronto for minor league righty Thomas Hatch.

As part of the trade announced Tuesday, the Blue Jays agreed to send cash to Chicago to offset some of Phelps’ contract, which includes a $2.5 million base salary for this year, a $1 million club option for 2020 and numerous performance bonuses.

Phelps will cost Chicago a maximum of $1.25 million. The Cubs are responsible for the $819,892 remaining of his 2019 salary and the first $430,108 of the performance bonuses Phelps earns.

The 32-year-old tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow on March 17, 2017, during his final pitch in a spring training outing against the Los Angeles Angels, had surgery March 26 and did not return to the major leagues until this June 17. He had a 3.63 ERA in 17 relief appearances with the Blue Jays, going 0 for 2 in save chances.

He is 30-33 with a 3.88 ERA over 245 games in seven seasons with the New York Yankees (2012-14), Miami (2015-17), Seattle (2017) and Toronto.

To open a 40-man roster spot for Phelps, the Cubs moved left-hander Xavier Cedeno to the 60-day injured list.

Phelps is the third player in three days traded by the rebuilding Blue Jays after right-hander Marcus Stroman was sent to the New York Mets and utilityman Eric Sogard to Tampa Bay. Hatch, 24, was 4-10 with a 4.59 ERA this season at Double-A Tennessee. Selected by Chicago on the third round of the 2016 amateur draft with the 104th pick, Hatch signed for a $573,900 bonus. He is 17-27 with a 4.10 ERA in 73 starts over three minor league seasons.

Svitolina ready for Rogers Cup

Melissa COUTO The Canadian Press

Elina Svitolina has a renewed sense of confidence heading into this year’s Rogers Cup in Toronto.

And for the first time this season, the Ukrainian tennis star is feeling well rested too.

Svitolina, the world No. 7-ranked player on the WTA, took some time away from the court following her first career Grand Slam semifinal appearance at Wimbledon earlier this month to go back to her hometown with boyfriend and No. 19 men’s player Gael Monfils.

The two spent time with Svitolina’s family, sunbathed on a yacht on the Black Sea, attended the Odesa Film Festival, and –most importantly – relaxed.

“I don’t (usually) have a lot of time and when I go there it’s always hectic. But this time I cancelled almost all my media so I could enjoy my time with family,” Svitolina said of the welcome break in her schedule.

“I don’t really get much opportunity to do that. I go (home) maybe twice a year for five days maximum. But it was my first time bringing Gael to Ukraine so we really enjoyed it.”

Svitolina is back in action this week as the top seed at the Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif., where she’ll face unseeded Daria Kasatkina of Russia in second-round action on Wednesday.

Then it’s back to familiar territory for the 24-year-old, who will compete at Aviva Centre in Toronto next week for the first time since winning the Rogers Cup women’s title there in 2017.

Svitolina, then just 22, defeated former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki to capture the Rogers Cup while running on fumes after rain forced her to play three matches in two days.

That victory was her third straight Premier-5 level win of the 2017 season, and the circumstances behind it – the late start times, the weather delays, the level of competition she had to claw through just to make the final – gives a little extra weight to that title.

“I think it was a very, very tough tournament for me from the first match,” said Svitolina, who also defeated ninth-ranked Venus Williams, fourth-ranked Garbine Muguruza and second-ranked Simona Halep en route to that championship.

“It was a very tough draw for me and in the end I went through.

“I played two matches in one day, finished one really late, all this stuff happened. So to come through with a title, it’s something I was very proud of and it gave me a boost of confidence. I’ll definitely remember that title for a long time.”

Svitolina continued her success after the 2017 Rogers Cup, reaching a career-high No. 3 ranking a couple weeks later. She won four titles the following year, including the season-ending WTA Finals, but has yet to win a tournament in 2019. A knee injury suffered at the Premier tournament in Dubai in February hasn’t helped her cause. While the knee has yet to fully heal, Svitolina felt her season start to turn with her Wimbledon semifinal appearance on July 11 (she lost to eventual champion

Simona Halep).

“I think it was a good boost for my confidence coming from the injury, and to have such a good result at Wimbledon was something that I worked really hard for,”

Svitolina said. “It was a good sign for me that I’m moving in the right direction and I’m feeling better and confident physically as well.”

Svitolina said doctors had advised her to take some time off to let the knee recover, but she brushed the injury aside as something she could play through. In her ninth season on the WTA Tour, Svitolina said she’s still learning her body’s limits.

“It does play into experience,” Svitolina said of her decision to keep playing.

“This is one of my biggest setbacks that

I’ve had and it was really tough to come back and to feel good again.

“It was a tough time mentally more than physically... I probably should have taken more time.”

Svitolina said the knee is recovering quicker and better after each tournament now and she feels good otherwise heading into Toronto. She also doesn’t think there’s any pressure on her as the last woman to win the Rogers Cup at Aviva Centre.

“That was two years back,” said Svitolina, who lost in the semis of the Rogers Cup in Montreal last August.

“(Toronto) is a place where I really love to play... and I’m looking forward to it. It’s more exciting than stressful.”

Guerrero grand slam helps Jays rout Royals

Dave SKRETTA

Associated Press

The

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a grand slam in the ninth inning to give him a career-high five RBIs, Sean ReidFoley tossed five innings of fourhit ball, and the Toronto Blue Jays pounded the Kansas City Royals 9-2 on Tuesday night.

Freddy Galvis drove in a pair of runs with a broken-bat single, and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. also had an RBI for the Blue Jays, who clinched their first winning series at Kauffman Stadium since April 2013. Meanwhile, the Royals stranded 14 while going 2 for 14 with runners in scoring position.

Reid-Foley (1-1), making just

his third start of the season, dominated the Royals much as he did in late June.

The 23-year-old right-hander allowed four hits and walked four while striking out four, and if not for a pitch count that had already reached 92, he might have gone farther.

No problem. The Blue Jays’ bullpen – and Guerrero’s big blow – took any drama out of things.

The Royals’ Mike Montgomery (1-4) failed to build off a solid start against Cleveland his last time out, getting tagged for two runs in the first and never getting in a groove. The recently acquired left-hander allowed four runs on seven hits and a walk while failing to escape the fifth.

His trouble began with the very

first batter, Bo Bichette, who ripped a clean single. Four of the first five Toronto batters wound up reaching base, putting the Royals in a 2-0 hole. Montgomery dodged more trouble in the third before Galvis, scratched from the series opener with back tightness, cracked his bat while dumping a pitch into left field for a two-run single in the fifth.

The Royals would have loved such timely hitting. They left the bags loaded in the first when Cheslor Cuthbert flied out, then stranded runners each of the next five frames.

And when Hunter Dozier led off the seventh with a single, Jorge Soler popped out and Ryan O’Hearn grounded into a double

play – so at least they didn’t strand anyone.

Blue Jays moves

The Blue Jays traded righthander David Phelps to the Cubs along with cash to offset a portion of the reliever’s salary. They got Double-A pitcher Thomas Hatch in return. ... Outfielder Dalton Pompey, who was designated for assignment, cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Buffalo.

Trainer’s room

Blue closer Ken Giles, the subject of rampant trade speculation, got a cortisone shot in his right elbow to treat what the club called

mild inflammation. Head trainer Nikki Huffman said an MRI exam showed no structural problems, and Giles is expected to begin throwing in a couple days.

Royals shortstop Adalberto Mondesi (left shoulder subluxation) continues to take groundballs and took 40 swings each way off the tee. “We go day to day,” manager Ned Yost said. “Making progress.”

Up next

The Royals send right-hander Jakob Junis (6-9, 5.03) to the mound to cap their miserable homestand Wednesday afternoon. Jacob Waguespack (1-1, 5.63) is getting the ball for the Blue Jays.

Elina Svitolina celebrates winning a point against Karolina Muchova during a women’s quarterfinal match during the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London on July 9.

Capital One data breach exposes six million Canadians

The Canadian Press

A massive data hack at credit card giant Capital One Financial has compromised the personal data of roughly six million Canadians and exposed one million social insurance numbers – making it one of the largest security breaches in Canadian history.

The incident, which affected about 106 million North American credit card holders, was announced by Capital One Financial late Monday after the alleged hacker, Paige A. Thompson, was charged with computer fraud and abuse in Seattle.

Canada’s Office of the Privacy Commissioner said Capital One has been in contact about the incident and the two are “engaging” but did not say whether it would launch an investigation.

“Given the number of people impacted and the nature of the incident, it certainly raises significant privacy concerns,” spokeswoman Anne-Marie Cenaiko said in an emailed statement. In Canada, where Capital One provides Mastercard credit cards for Costco Wholesale’s Canadian retail network and the Hudson’s Bay Company, Capital One said approximately one million social insurance numbers were compromised.

Capital One credit card applications include the option for consumers to provide their social insurance number, but only some applicants choose to provide it.

The incident also exposed the data of roughly 100 million U.S. clients, including about 140,000 Social Security numbers and 80,000 linked bank account numbers.

Most of the information obtained was on consumers and small businesses who applied for a credit card from 2005 through early 2019 and included names, addresses, postal codes, phone numbers, dates of birth and income.

Capital One said affected individuals will be notified through a “variety of channels.” Impacted Canadians will also receive free credit monitoring and identity theft insurance.

“Based on the current information provided by Capital One Financial, there is no indication at this time that this issue impacts any of our businesses’ credit cards or card applications,” said a spokeswoman for HBC, in an email.

A spokesman for Costco Canada directed all

questions from The Canadian Press to Capital One.

The Capital One compromise is one of the biggest-ever breaches to impact Canadians – six million is a large chunk of the country’s population, said David Masson, director of enterprise security for cybersecurity firm Darktrace.

“These were economically active members of the Canadian population. So if you strip out young people, those who have retired, this ... figure becomes even more statistically significant.”

Finance Minister Bill Morneau said he has asked the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, to investigate the breach and ensure that “appropriate steps” are taken to protect Canadians.

“We are deeply concerned by the unacceptable breach at Capital One... Affected Canadians should contact Capital One immediately. We are working on this vigilantly,” he said on Twitter on Tuesday.

He added that Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale is also in touch with his counterparts in the U.S. about the matter.

The financial services regulator is “monitoring the situation closely,” said OSFI spokesman Colin Palmer.

“When incidents like this occur, OSFI stays in close contact with the financial institution to ensure everything is being done to address the situation as quickly as possible,” he said in a emailed statement.

At this time, the Capital One data breach is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States and we would refer you to that agency for comment.

A spokeswoman for the RCMP said the breach is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States, and that Canada’s federal police force is “prepared to assist upon request.”

Capital One said that it was unlikely that the information was used for fraud, but Masson said that once data has left secure channels, there is always the possibility of compromise.

“If that information has gone somewhere else, it is now possible for somebody else to use the exact same information to obtain a credit card, bank account, a loan, a mortgage, a financial instrument,” he said.

“That’s why it’s so serious. In the modern

world, that kind of data is almost effectively currency that can be bought and sold, particularly on the dark web.”

In addition to credit card application data such as phone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth and self-reported income, the hacker was also able to access credit scores, credit limits and balances, as well as fragments of transaction information from a total of 23 days in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

“While I am grateful that the perpetrator has been caught, I am deeply sorry for what has happened,” said Capital One CEO Richard Fairbank in a news release. “I sincerely apologize for the understandable worry this incident must be causing those affected and I am committed to making it right.”

Capital One said it could not provide information on several questions posed by The Canadian Press, including how many and which branded credit cards were affected and how many of those had their SIN compromised.

The company said it was in the process of notifying impacted customers, but would not elaborate on how or when it would contact consumers. Under new federal privacy rules that came into force in November, organizations are obligated to report a breach involving personal information under its control if there is a “real risk of significant harm” to an individual. Organizations must also notify the persons impacted and detail, among other things, the circumstances, the personal information compromised and steps the firm has taken to reduce harm.

The security breach is just the latest in a string of data hacks that have affected Canadians in recent years, including at U.S. companies such as Uber and Equifax.

In Canada, Desjardins Group revealed a data breach in June that saw the leak of names, addresses, birthdates, social insurance numbers and other private information from roughly 2.7 million people and 173,000 businesses.

In May, Freedom Mobile confirmed that it had been the victim of a security breach, but said the number of customers potentially exposed to the breach numbered 15,000.

Researchers at vpnMentor, who discovered the breach and alerted the company, claimed that up to 1.5 million customers had been potentially affected.

President Donald Trump warned the Chinese not to wait out his first term in office to finalize a new trade deal. Trump’s comments came as U.S. negotiators resumed talks in Shanghai. The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 26.12 points at 16,466.05 despite gains by the energy and materials sectors. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 23.33 points at 27,198.02. The S&P 500 index was down 7.79 points at 3,013.18, while the Nasdaq composite was down 19.71 points at 8,273.61. Nine of the 11 major sectors of the TSX were lower, led by consumer discretionary and telecommunication sectors, along with the heavyweight financials sector. Energy gained 2.29 per cent as Encana Corp. rose 6.1 per cent, following by Baytex Energy Corp. and Crescent Point Energy Corp., on higher crude prices. The September crude contract was up US$1.18 at US$58.05 per barrel and the September natural gas contract was up 3.1 cents at US$2.14 per mmBTU. Crude rose on expectations that Wednesday’s U.S. stockpile report will show sharp declines in inventories. Materials was also higher as in addition, gold prices rose on anticipation that the U.S. central bank would cut interest rates for the first time since 2008. The December gold contract was up $8.50 at US$1,441.80 an ounce and the September copper contract was down 3.9 cents at US$2.68 a pound.

CP PHOTO

A man walks across the street from a Capital One location in San Francisco on July 16.