Prince George Citizen June 27, 2019

Council yanks rooming house’s business licence

Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca

City council voted unanimously Wednesday to pull the business licence for a downtown rooming house after hearing concerns about safety and crime at the building during a special meeting on the issue.

The suspension for the Lotus B&B Hotel at 197 Quebec St. will come into effect on Aug. 1 and last for six months but could be longer – or shorter – depending on how quickly owner David Parmar brings the building into compliance with various safety and crime prevention measures.

Since Parmar’s SPD Enterprises Ltd. took over ownership in May 2018, Prince George Fire Rescue and Prince George RCMP have responded to a significantly higher number of calls to the spot.

While all of PGFR’s calls turned out to be false alarms or minor incidents related to smoke alarms, evidence presented to council included a photo of a ground floor door chained and bolted shut from the inside.

Parmar said the move was made to keep out trouble makers and that he could open the door in less than 30 seconds. But PGFR fire prevention Lt. Ian Provan said that still falls well short of the fire code requirement that it can be opened immediately.

It was a particular point of concern for council members.

“You have to be able to push the door open in the case of a fire because people do not exit orderly in a fire, they will panic,” Coun. Murry Krause said.

Parmar said he has since removed the chain and has ordered new doors.

Prince George RCMP Insp. Shaun Wright said the site has become a “ground zero” gathering place for criminal activity.

City bylaw services manager Fred Crit-

tedon said it has become a “hot spot” for the downtown enforcement team and noted other run-ins with Parmar over the state of other properties he owns in the city.

Parmar asked council to limit the suspension to two months, saying he is in the process of bringing the building up to compliance with the aim of making it suitable for

Common tansy on city’s hit list

Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff

City council directed staff Monday to work with the Fraser-Fort George Regional District to have the common tansy designated a regional noxious weed under the Weed Control Act.

Doing so would give both bodies the authority to remove the plant from private property.

In a presentation to council, city environmental technician Claire Watkins outlined a host of reasons for making the move. Native to Europe and Asia, they have no natural predators.

“So once they establish in a community, they’ll overtake everything,” Watkins said.

“They crowd out everything. They crowd out native vegetation and nothing else will grow around them.”

Moreover, she said they can give people rashes, may be toxic to grazing animals, can make the milk from cows who eat them taste unpleasant and when they shed

their leaves for the winter, their stalks form a thicket of “skeletons” that are difficult to walk through.

However, they also have plenty of culinary and medicinal uses, “which can make it really difficult to convince people that we don’t want them here,” Watkins said.

A perennial, the plant can grow to nearly two metres tall and is distinguished by its divided and serrated leaves and flat topped clusters of yellow “button” flowers. Their seeds can remain viable for 25 years and they can also spread via fragments of their roots.

Small infestations can be hand pulled or dug up, bagged and taken to the landfill for burial. But large sites and clay soil are best treated with herbicides and even then may required repeated applications.

Sites where the plant has grown are never regarded as clean until they have been so for five consecutive years and after the plants have been removed, they should be

replanted with a more desirable species, Watkins said in a report to council.

Working with the Fraser-Fort George Regional District, staff have identified more than 900 sites within the regional district where the plant has been found, ranging from one plant to a field nearly eight hectares in size. Within the city, 270 sites have been found of which 140 are on private property and 130 are city owned.

“I’m really concerned about infestations that we’ve had down by Cottonwood Island Park,” Watkins told council.

“We’ve got a lot on the Heritage River Trail and they can infest roadsides, streambanks and pastures.”

The plant has been declared a noxious weed within the boundaries of five regional districts, including the Bulkley-Nechako Regional District. City staff will be working with the FFGRD to get the designation for the entire region.

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Council selects option for more bus service

Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff

After some initial hesitation, city council voted Monday night in favour of the costlier of two options for adding 4,000 hours to the city’s transit system. Three buses will be added to the fleet and additional hours will be devoted to peak times to provide express service from downtown to UNBC and CNC for $265,881. The alternative was to add one bus and split the extra hours evenly between peak and off-peak hours at a cost of $190,851. Both options are expected to generate $71,136 in extra revenue, which would go to the city.

Council members balked at the price tag when the proposal was first presented on June 10. But staff subsequently met with the finance and audit committee to provide more detail about the benefits.

Development of the new student housing project next to the Courtyard by Marriott was an influence on council’s decision.

During the same meeting, council also approved a variance to decrease the number of park-

ing spaces required on the site.

“There is an additional cost but it gets us more transport and with the increasing hub in downtown and with the increase in bus capacity that we get... it’s just a far superior choice and the business case makes more sense,” said Coun. Garth Frizzell, who chairs the finance and audit committee.

Pending final approval from the provincial government, the boost will come into effect in September 2020.

In all, it will cost $533,614 with BC Transit covering $267,733 of the bill.

Another 5,000 hours of service is in the works, starting in September 2022, which would cost the city a further $290,947 but remains subject to council approval at a later date.

Council also agreed to extend the operating hours provide by the custom or HandyDART service to match those of the conventional service for $28,760. The municipality funds 53.31 per cent of the conventional system and 33.31 per cent of the custom system costs and retains all of the revenue.

Bus rides a dollar on Canada Day

Citizen staff

Bus fare on the city’s transit system will be just $1 per trip on Canada Day. The discount rate is being offered to encourage everyone to take the bus to Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park for the community celebration, which runs from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and avoid the hassle of finding a parking spot and contending with the traffic.

Customers are encouraged to use route 46 Queensway. Bus routes will be running on a Sunday schedule for the holiday.

For more information about schedules, routes and service changes in Prince George, visit bctransit.com/prince-george • Connaught Hill Park will be closed for Canada Day to make way for the fireworks, which start at 11 p.m.

international students

September. The comment raised alarm bells for city lawyer Troy De Souza. — see COUNCIL, page 3

WIKIPEDIA COMMONS FILE PHOTO

The common tansy has been designated a noxious weed by the City of Prince George.

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

City council voted to revoke the business licence of the Lotus B&B Hotel , located at 197 Quebec St., during a special council meeting on Wednesday.

NEWS IN BRIEF

Human remains found in city outskirts

Prince George RCMP are investigating after human remains were found on the outskirts of the city.

A member of the public reported the discovery on Monday. Police did not provide the exact location.

The person’s identity and gender have not yet been confirmed and investigators are reviewing missing persons reports from Prince George and surrounding areas.

“Although cause of death is not yet known, foul play and other causes of death have not yet been ruled out,” RCMP said.

“The investigation is in the beginning stages and further details will be released

as the investigation progresses.” — Citizen staff

Building permit value reaches $55.2 million

The city has fallen slightly off last year’s record-setting pace when it comes to building permits.

As of the end of May, 181 permits for $55.2 million worth of work have been taken out so far this year, just $525,658 below the level reached by the same point last year when 216 permits were issued. During May, 56 permits for $11.6 million were issued, compared to 44 permits for $15.4 million for the same month in 2019. Most of the difference is related singlefamily homes. Nine permits for $5.6 million were issued for that category last month, down from 17 for $9.1 million during May 2019. Significant projects for which permits

were issued last month include one for an industrial building, worth $1.75 million, and three for commercial building alterations, adding up to $1.8 million. — Citizen staff

Council endorses resolutions for UBCM

City council will bring resolutions on proceeds of crime and clean up of needles to the Union of British Columbia Municipalities convention in September. Both were approved on Monday. On proceeds of crime, council will be calling for the provincial government to share the value of seized proceeds with municipalities to help offset their policing costs. Prince George RCMP’s seizure of $550,000 cash in April inspired Coun. Kyle Sampson to bring the resolution forward. He said the city’s resources were used to make the seizure, yet Prince George will reap none

of the benefit. Council also endorsed a resolution from Coun. Brian Skakun calling for ongoing funding from the provincial government to pay for the cost of cleaning up needles and drug paraphernalia from city streets. A similar resolution was taken to the UBCM a few years ago, Skakun noted, but with a new government in place he said it’s worthwhile to raise the issue once again.

— Citizen staff

Man killed in Vancouver VANCOUVER (CP) — A man in his 30s is dead in what Vancouver police say is the city’s fifth homicide this year. Police say they were called Tuesday night to reports of a shooting in an apartment building near Main Street. Officers entered a home and found an adult male dead from a gunshot wound. A 30-year-old Vancouver man has been arrested in connection with the offence.

Council spares license for second rooming house

— from page 1

“If council were to grant a two-month suspension, and you start getting international students coming in September to his property, it will be an international black eye,” he said.

Council, meanwhile, entertained doubling the suspension to one year but eventually backed away out of a concern for low income people in need of housing.

Parmar said as many as 30 people lived in the building but it has since declined to 17 or 18 since he issued 30 days notice to have everyone out by the end of June.

However, it appeared Parmar failed to follow the process correctly and so council agreed to delay the suspension by another 30 days, so notice can be provided in a proper manner.

Also on Wednesday, council agreed to back away from suspending the business licence for a rooming house at 2108 Tamarack St. after the owner, Premier Choice Investments Ltd. took immediate steps to meet conditions imposed by the city and RCMP.

They include having round-the-clock security and a security camera system with at least 30 days storage.

Premier Choice also provided a business plan detailing staffing and operational changes.

A six month suspension had been issued in late April in answer to a continual rise in the number of calls to the location for the RCMP. But since the steps were taken, RCMP attendance has declined significantly, council was told.

The location remains subject to reviews

Metalocalypstick Festival returns to Lone Butte

Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca

The female influence is about to be felt like a thunderbolt in apocalyptic stormy skies.

The annual Metalocalypstick Festival will power-surge across the region when it comes to life this Saturday and Sunday in Lone Butte, the small Cariboo town just outside of 100 Mile House.

The event’s founder, former Prince George/Robson Valley rock diva Kaija Kinney of Vancouver metal band Anarcheon, says the fourth edition of the femalefocused metal event is loaded in talent. The reputation of the show earned them an unprecedented number of applications from bands.

“I am really impressed with the submissions,” Kinney told The Citizen. “I’m so excited about the Australian band (Interitum) coming here. They already landed in Canada, they’ve done a couple of shows, and they’ll be at my house tomorrow night. Then we have the Mexican band (Lost Nebula) as well, and some bands from out east. It’s a great set of bands from top to bottom.”

Some of the other acts include Massive Scar Era, Subterranea, Kosm, Orchestry, Siren’s Rain, the Vth Circle, Violent Betty, Obsidian, The Shit Talkers, Ophelia Falling and more.

It was so dense that she opted not to book her own band this year, so there was more time for others. Anarcheon is breaking in a new guitar player, so it was a good time to take a break while he gets integrated into the band’s work and they complete the writing of new material they are working on together.

Kinney will still get some stage time, though. She was a guest artist on a song by Vth Circle so she’ll be called out on stage when they perform that number.

Supercar impounded minutes after bought

VANCOUVER (CP) — West

Vancouver police say a supercar was impounded last week just moments after the owner picked it up from a dealership.

Police say in a news release that a traffic officer saw a 2019 McLaren 600L-T supercar travelling on June 17. The release says the vehicle’s speed was measured at approximately 161 km/h in a 90 km/h zone.

The traffic officer safely stopped the vehicle on the highway, where the owner said they just left the dealership after purchasing the vehicle 10 minutes earlier.

The supercar was towed from the scene and impounded for seven days for excessive speeding and the driver, a 39-year-old man, was served a $368 violation ticket.

Kinney has also added a couple of special events to the weekend which she acknowledges are “random, but they work, they make so much sense when you actually get involved,” like a human foosball tournament and a hot sauce challenge in partnership with Pepper Palace Hot Shop.

This was another year of organizing the festival heavily on her own, but a team of organizers has already confirmed they will be joining her for the 2020 edition, with this weekend as a final research project for those incoming volunteers.

“I definitely have the flow of it, but it never seems to get too much easier,” said Kinney, admittedly tired from all the work involved and in some ways looking forward to the end of the show to get a bit of rest.

It is well worth all the efforts, she said. When the festival started, it was her response to all too much male domination of

the metal music industry. She knew there was substantial female talent out there, so she organized Metalocalypstick to showcase women, inspire girls, and integrate men in a productive way.

“I really think there is an effect happening from the festival, especially on the west coast, people who have actually been to the festival,” she said.

“As a women, being at that fest, everyone respects you and it’s just a given that all the females at the fest are super talented people. It’s a changing mindset. I’ve even seen a few mini-fests popping up too, with that focused female inclusion. It’s having a ripple effect. We are also getting support from other bands but not in my usual friend group. They reach out and want to help, so that’s really cool.”

The festival has gotten prime media attention as well, from the likes of Billboard

Magazine and Metal Hammer Magazine, to name a few.

This year is especially important in Kinney’s view, because her hometown just lost its metal music festival, Metallion, and she spoke with deep respect of how valued that event was to all of metal. Now it is on Metalocalypstick to provide that avenue of entertainment for the Central Interior.

“Metal is getting a lot bigger now,” she said. “People are realizing it’s not all rawaaaaaaa. But that’s OK too, different strokes for different folks. People are becoming less ignorant to what’s actually out there under that metal name, there are so many different types, so many super beautiful voices out there, so metal is not just one thing, there’s some metal for everyone.”

The Metalocalypstick 2019 edition happens at the Lone Butte Community Hall. Single day passes are about $51 and two-day passes are about $91 available online via the Metalocalypstick Fest page on Facebook.

Metalocalypstick 2019 full lineup: Attack The Fire (Vancouver) Call Of The Siren (Edmonton) Chaos Century (Vancouver) Crimson Caliber (Medicine Hat) Fallen Stars (Vancouver) Forsaken Rite (Edmonton) Interitum (Launceston, Tasmania) Kayas (Vancouver)

Kelevra (Regina) Kosm (Vancouver) Lost Nebula (Hermosillo, Mexico) Massive Scar Era (Vancouver/ Cairo, Egypt) Obsidian (Vancouver)

Ophelia Falling (Vancouver) Orchestry (BC)

Sins Of Sorrow (Edmonton)

Siren’s Rain (Puget Sound, USA)

Subterranea (Toronto)

Sugar Wash (Edmonton) The Shit Talkers (Vancouver) Violent Betty (Saskatoon) The Vth Circle (Vancouver)

services and the RCMP every six months for two years starting in January

2020. Premier Choice must also provide annual reports regarding the success of the business plan, where improvements can be made and outlining any changes.

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

City council decided against stripping the business licence from a boarding house at 2108 Tamarack St., owned by Premier Choice Investments Ltd.

HANDOUT PHOTO BY ANARCHEON

Prince George’s Kaija Kinney is the lead singer of Vancouver metal band Anarcheon and the founder of the annual Metalocalypstick Festival happening in Lone Butte.

Son slipped between health-care cracks, father says

Dirk MEISSNER The Canadian Press

VICTORIA — The parents of a Victoriaarea teen who died of a drug overdose say they don’t want other families to experience the trauma of having a child slip through their caring hands.

Rachel Staples and Brock Eurchuk made the comments Wednesday at the conclusion of a British Columbia coroner’s inquest into the overdose death last year of 16-year-old Elliot Eurchuk. The jury was scheduled to begin deliberations Thursday.

“We don’t want other children to navigate our community in a very difficult, vulnerable state and fall through the cracks like Elliot did,” said Brock Eurchuk outside of the inquest. “I’ll be dealing with my failures as Elliot’s father for the rest of my life.”

Eurchuk was found unresponsive in his bedroom on April 20, 2018. He died of an illicit drug overdose.

The BC Coroners Service called the inquest saying the public has an interest in hearing the circumstances of the teen’s death, and that a jury would have the opportunity to make recommendations to prevent similar deaths.

Eurchuk’s parents testified about their willingness to do whatever it took to help their son, but said privacy laws restricted them from receiving medical information to address his addiction troubles.

Rachel Staples told the inquest about efforts to help their son recover from serious sports injuries that resulted in him becoming addicted to pain medications and eventually street drugs.

Staples, a dentist, said the family was prepared to spend “a million dollars,” but the inquest heard from doctors that the teen initially denied abusing drugs.

It wasn’t until February 2018 when he revived from an overdose of street drugs while in hospital that Eurchuk started speaking more openly with doctors about drug use, but he didn’t want his parents to know, the inquest heard.

“It was clear Elliot was incapable of making a healthy decision,” his father said. “The information we needed to catch Elliot as he was falling was not provided to us. Those are all the pieces to the puzzle in Elliot’s death, who was a beautiful boy.”

Staples said she’s received countless messages from people across Canada concerned that parents are prevented

from helping children in the deepest hour of need due to privacy laws.

“They’re horrified that a child can block information,” she said outside the inquest.

The inquest heard Wednesday from a Kelowna pediatrician who treats children and youth struggling with substance abuse issues. Dr. Tom Warshawski said he supports placing young people in treatment facilities against their will if they’ve suffered an overdose.

He described an overdose as a life-anddeath situation where a young person’s brain and actions are being controlled by the potentially deadly drugs.

Warshawski said that committing young people to secure treatment facilities under B.C.’s Mental Health Act, where they can’t leave for a time period of about one week, allows doctors to help clean the drugs out of their systems and open their minds to the possibility of future treatment.

“It’s not a panacea,” he said. “It’s not a guarantee of success. I think it’s an important tool that needs to be looked at. The choice is involuntary (treatment) versus continued life-threatening behaviour.”

Eurchuk died about two months after he was forcefully admitted under the Mental Health Act to a Victoria youth treatment ward for a week-long stay.

Dr. Perry Kendall, B.C.’s former provincial health officer, said he is not

a supporter of involuntary care for youths with drug issues. Kendall told the inquest Wednesday that he prefers voluntary programs that include follow-up counselling after youths are discharged.

He said there is not enough evidence available showing that involuntary treatment programs work.

“I really sympathize with the parents,” said Kendall. “I fully understand the desire to help rescue children. But the worst case is you are incarcerating someone who doesn’t want treatment. At some point you have to let them go.”

The inquest heard Eurchuk’s parents placed their son in secure care when he overdosed on illicit drugs at the hospital. At the time, he was undergoing treatment for a blood infection that is common to intravenous drug users.

Staples said the move only further alienated their son from the parents because he felt they betrayed him.

Warshawski said patient confidentiality is an important issue, but when it involves young people and it is lifethreatening, parents should know.

“Opioid overdose is at the extreme end of risk of death, and certainly we would disclose,” he said.

Warshawski called the acceptance of voluntary youth drug treatment the “best possible situation.” But he said current waits times of up to twelve weeks for treatment beds for youth in B.C. is “scandalous.”

Sex trafficking victim calls for more safe houses

Stephanie TAYLOR The Canadian Press REGINA — For years, Beatrice Wallace blamed herself.

Not only did she feel shame and guilt, but the 46-year-old Regina mother kept it hidden.

Her “dirty little secret,” as she calls it, was working the streets – first forced there by men when she was 14.

“I had seen girls on the streets and... they were hookers. That’s what we called them then,” Wallace says.

“When it happened to me, I was a hooker. And a hooker was dirty.”

Human trafficking and sexual exploitation are getting renewed attention in Canada following the release of the final report from the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. It calls for an effective response to deal with human trafficking and details how Indigenous women are targets, often coming from vulnerable situations such as growing up in foster care. That was the case for Wallace, who is Indigenous and the daughter of a residential school survivor. Adopted into a middle-class home when she was four, she says there was abuse.

“From a young age, I just assumed it was OK for men to be abusive.”

She was kicked out at 13 and moved to a girls home in Regina’s north-central neighbourhood, but often ran away. At the first place she fled to, she injected drugs and was sexually abused.

“That started my journey of just going downhill,” she says.

She suggests more safe houses are needed where victims can go to escape.

“There were many times when I wish I had somewhere to go.”

Cops, Pops and Pizza raising funds for Special Olympics today

Citizen staff

Prince George RCMP will be out in force at local Boston Pizza restaurants on Thursday raising funds for the Special Olympics.

Dubbed Cops, Pops and Pizza, regular and auxiliary members, along with local Special Olympics athletes, will be serving customers at the Spruceland Mall and Brookwood Plaza locations from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

“This is the second year that our detachment has participated in this event,” said Prince George RCMP spokesman Cpl. Craig Douglass. “It is fantastic to watch the athletes describing their experiences competing in Special Olympics events to patrons. It comes full circle because events like this one make those experiences possible.”

RACHEL STAPLES HANDOUT PHOTO

Elliot Eurchuk poses in this undated family handout photo.

B.C. has 10-year road map to guide seamless mental health, addiction care, Darcy

The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER — The British Columbia government is rolling out what it says will be a “seamless system” to help those with mental health or addiction challenges.

Judy Darcy, minister of mental health and addictions, says A Pathway to Hope is a 10-year vision for care aimed at quickly assisting and supporting those in need. Darcy and Premier John Horgan made the announcement at Mountainside Secondary School in North Vancouver, saying four priorities highlight the first three years of the program.

The priorities include a focus on the wellness of children, youth and young adults, supporting Indigenous-led solutions and improving the quality of care while removing barriers, such as the cost of long-term counselling.

Darcy says the fourth priority will establish improved systems of addictions care, building on work done already to address the overdose crisis.

The minister says the NDP government has already committed $2.5-billion for mental health and substance abuse services.

She says funding for the newly announced initiatives is in addition to previous commitments and includes $10 million in grants to non-profits offering affordable counselling.

“We are not cutting the overall budget, we are adding to it,” she said. Programs due over the next three years include more access to affordable counselling and support, integrated teams bringing mental health services to locations where young patients feel safest, and more centres offering health and wellness resources and supports directly to 11- to 19-year-olds.

Two new intensive day programs will be available for children and youth with severe mental health or substance use challenges who are leaving hospital care, and the Ministry says 20 new family care home spaces will be developed as an alternative to hospitalization.

Some of the programs can be launched very quickly, and proposals would be issued immediately seeking agencies ready to offer affordable counselling, Darcy says.

“So that’s going to go out right away, with a very short timeline for people to get in their applications, and then the

Right-wing extremist groups added to terrorist list

Jim BRONSKILL

The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — For the first time, Canada has placed right-wing extremist groups on the national list of terrorist organizations.

Blood & Honour, an international neo-Nazi network, and its armed branch, Combat 18, have been added to the roster, opening the door to stiff criminal sanctions.

They join more than 50 other organizations on the list including al-Qaida, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Boko Haram and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

A group on Canada’s terrorist list may have their assets seized, and there are serious criminal penalties for helping listed organizations carry out extremist activities.

Blood & Honour, founded in Britain in 1987, has established branches throughout Europe, executing violent attacks there and in North America.

In its listing notice, Public Safety Canada says members of Blood & Honour and Combat 18 firebombed a building occupied mostly by Romani families, including children, in the Czech Republic in 2012.

In addition, four Blood & Honour members in Tampa, Fla., were convicted in 2012 of the 1998 murder of two homeless men who were killed because the group considered them “inferior,” the department says.

The listings are recognition of the growing concern about the presence and influence of farright groups in Canada.

In its latest public report, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service said it is increasingly preoccupied by the violent

Canadian trash from Philippines to arrive in Vancouver Saturday

OTTAWA (CP) — Containers of Canadian trash that festered in the Philippines for years are set to arrive home just in time to celebrate the country’s 152nd birthday. The Anna Maersk is scheduled to dock at the Port of Vancouver, with the containers aboard, on Saturday at 10 a.m.

The arrival will bring nearly to a close the garbage saga that led to a diplomatic dispute with the Philippines and drew attention to the growing global problem of plastic waste.

One hundred and three containers of garbage from Canada arrived in the Philippines falsely labelled as plastics for recycling in 2013 and 2014. President Rodrigo Duterte recalled the Philippine ambassador and consuls general last month after Canada missed his deadline to take back the garbage by May 15.

The 69 containers that are left of the original shipment eventually left the Philippines on June 1.

B.C. Mounties warn against misinformed vigilantism

FORT ST. JOHN (CP) — Mounties in northeastern British Columbia are warning against misinformed vigilantism stemming from the case of a starving old dog that needed to be put down earlier this month.

It all began when Fort St. John RCMP say they got a call about the 16-year-old malnourished dog. Officers had the dog examined by a veterinarian, who determined the most compassionate thing to do was put the animal down.

says

money would flow very quickly.”

Horgan said too little attention has been paid to mental health and substance use care by previous governments.

“A Pathway to Hope lays out our plan to help people now and improve the health and wellness of all British Columbians in the long term,” he said.

“We’re taking a provincewide approach to build a system of care where services are always within reach and people have the supports and opportunities they need.”

The B.C. division of the Canadian Mental Health Association said the government’s move to focus on prevention and early intervention is a great start.

Division CEO Jonny Morris said future funding to the system and community, a focused look on workforce needs and an implementation plan and targets will help make the plan a reality.

“We know that the system needs to move from responding to crises towards supporting people early in illness, before things get worse. We need to work proactively so people stay healthy in the first place. That is no small shift, but it is imperative we get there, and this plan is a great beginning point.”

Police then learned that the dog’s owner had been admitted to hospital two months earlier and the dog had been left in the care of others on short notice. That fact, however, apparently wasn’t known to some in the community. RCMP say officers received a report of vandalism at the owner’s home that was apparently motivated by a perceived lack of care for the dog. In a news release, police say that two wrongs don’t make a right and finding the truth is a better response than seeking retaliation or revenge. Mounties say vigilante justice is not acceptable and, depending on the actions taken, could be prosecuted as a crime.

Rock slide in Fraser River may hinder salmon passage

VANCOUVER (CP) — The Department of Fisheries and Oceans says it is aware of a “significant” rock slide that occurred in the Fraser River in British Columbia, which could possibly hinder the passage of returning salmon.

Rancher Tom Hancock says the slide happened Tuesday morning north of the Big Bar Ferry, causing a disturbance in the river.

In a statement, the fisheries department says it is aware that the slide occurred in a narrow portion of the Fraser River. The department says it has conducted an aerial survey of the site.

It says it will be sending another crew of engineers and habitat specialists into the remote area on Wednesday to determine the extent of the blockage. It says it will be working with the province and local First Nations on next steps.

threat posed by those looking to support or engage in violence that is racially motivated, ethnonationalist, anti-government or misogynist in nature.

The Liberal government also added three organizations aligned with the Iranian regime – Al-Ashtar Brigades, Fatemiyoun Division and Harakat alSabireen – to the terrorist roster.

“Whatever the source or the orientation of violent extremism, it is all the product of the same depraved mentality,”

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said in Regina.

Goodale announced up to $1 million in federal funding to create a digital repository meant to help smaller online companies prevent dissemination of extremist content.

Terrorists and other extremists are misusing cyberspace for their causes, he said.

“They are exploiting social media and other online platforms to spread dangerous propaganda, recruit new members, and promote and incite violence and hatred,” Goodale said.

“More and more on the internet, toxic rhetoric is breaking into the mainstream. It’s open and it’s brazen.”

Canada will also support a youth summit on countering violent online activity.

The event will bring young people together to learn about violent extremism and terrorism online, and develop tools to push back against this content and discourage its sharing, Public Safety Canada said. Representatives from technology companies, including Twitter, Facebook, Microsoft and Google, will help shape the event and work directly with young people to develop ideas.

Judy Darcy, British Columbia Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, responds to a reporter’s question in Winnipeg on June 29, 2018.

City takes lax approach to staff spending

The 2018 Statements of Financial Information released by the City of Prince George last week didn’t just reveal an 8.2 per cent increase in base pay in one year for the city manager. The statement of remuneration (fancy government word for income) and expenses paid makes it clear that the City of Prince George is making no effort whatsoever to control employee spending, starting with the city manager and senior bureaucrats.

In the real world (that is, the private sector and most of the public sector), management and union-exempt staff operate under a “use it or lose it” policy when it comes to vacation time.

If such an employee has 25 days (five weeks) of holiday time but only uses 10 days (two weeks), that employee doesn’t get to roll that holiday time forward into the next year and certainly doesn’t get paid out for holiday time not taken.

Still in the real world, management overseeing unionized employees is encouraged to stay on top of overtime while also making sure those workers take their full allotment of holiday time.

Besides the obvious benefits to health, morale and productivity when staff use the vacation time they’ve earned, the employer isn’t stuck with the unexpected expense of vacation time payouts at the end of the year.

As has been clearly established in this space over the past year, however, when reporting both the 2017 and 2018 SOFIs, the real world does not intrude upon the cozy confines of the fifth floor at Prince George

City Hall, particularly when it comes to annual pay increases for senior managers (significantly higher than the unionized staff they oversee) and overtime pay (double time, compared to time-and-a-half for unionized city workers).

Never mind that the vast majority of managers and union-exempt supervisors employed in the real world don’t receive overtime (manage your time, they’re told), don’t receive vacation payouts for unused holiday days (manage your vacation time, they’re told) and face a reprimand or worse if their staff are continuously running up overtime and unused vacation time (manage your department and your employees, they’re told).

The City of Prince George paid out just over $3 million in overtime to its employees in 2018, along with nearly $900,000 in vacation payouts.

Most of that overtime was clearly warranted when linking the payments to the job position. Much of it went to firefighters.

Other overtime can be clearly tied to accommodating the 2018 wildfire evacuees and/ or fighting the sinkhole that wouldn’t die at Winnipeg and Carney.

The vacation payouts, however, show a disregard for basic management of staff hours and time, along with the corresponding costs.

Issues come up from time to time, of course, that may require a handful of employees to receive compensation for unused vacation at the end of the year but that’s not the case at the City of Prince George, where a majority of the employees received a vacation payout at the end of 2018.

So it should come as no surprise that all of the city’s senior management team received a vacation payout in 2018 and six of them also received overtime income.

• City manager: $256,930.39 base pay, $0 overtime, $6,276.72 vacation payout.

• General manager, administrative services: $197,997.44 base pay, $883.63 overtime, $27,343.63 vacation payout.

• General manager, planning and development: $195,333.62 base pay, $1,521.79 overtime, $15,041.24 vacation payout.

• General manager, community services: $193,671.04 base pay, $2,159.96 overtime, $4,848.30 vacation payout.

• General manager, Engineering and Public Works: $198,433.77 base pay, $0 overtime, $1,835.43 vacation payout.

• Director of finance: $179,020.68 base pay, $0 overtime, $2,442.89 vacation payout.

• Director of human resources: $179,470.66 base pay, $4,818.23 overtime, $4,562.17 vacation payout.

• Director of public works: $184,532.48 base pay, $5,181.87 overtime, $2,167.38 vacation payout.

• Director of external relations: $179,470.65 base pay, $1,727.29 overtime, $1,665.15 vacation payout.

• Director of engineering: $169,190.66 base pay, $0 overtime, $2,626.10 vacation payout.

The overtime income doesn’t come close to matching the 2017 numbers for these positions but that’s because the number of wildfire evacuees in Prince George didn’t come close to matching the number of folks who fled to Prince George in 2017.

Why Trump should be afraid by Mueller’s testimony

On Tuesday evening, the chairmen of the U.S. House Judiciary and Intelligence committees announced that former special counsel Robert Mueller would, pursuant to a subpoena, testify in a public session on July 17.

This may be the most watched congressional testimony in history. U.S. President Donald Trump and his legal team have struggled mightily, even raising entirely spurious claims of “absolute immunity,” to prevent live testimony of any witness who might be able to elucidate the findings in the Mueller report, which the vast number of Americans have not read and do not fully comprehend.”

The Mueller testimony has enormous ramifications for at least four reasons.

First, this is possibly the only way to dispel the notion that Mueller found “no collusion, no obstruction.” In fact, he didn’t look for “collusion,” which is not a crime, but came up short finding a criminal conspiracy. Nevertheless, he found that the president and his campaign welcomed Russian interference and thought it would help Trump win. Hearing that directly

from Mueller will be a powerful and complete contradiction of Trump’s and Attorney General William Barr’s public statements. As to obstruction, listen to Mueller lay out the conduct for which he found elements of obstruction of justice. Finally, Mueller can explain that because of an Office of Legal Counsel memo, he didn’t decide to opine on obstruction because that is Congress’s job in the context of impeachment. Certainly, what he says likely won’t go beyond the report, but for most of the country this will be the first time they will hear what he found.

Second, while truth-telling is a benefit unto itself, Mueller’s testimony has the potential to move public sentiment. No matter what he says, he will not sway hardcore Trump supporters. However, it is not hard to imagine him shifting public opinion in the way that the Watergate hearings shifted public sentiment in favour of impeachment. That in turn would make it more uncomfortable for Repub-

licans to defend him and more politically feasible for Democrats in the House to act – and then excoriate the Senate for not fulfilling its constitutional duty to remove him.

Third, Mueller’s testimony may both alleviate and increase pressure on Pelosi to begin impeachment hearings. On one hand, she buys a bit of time to allow Mueller to testify, for public reaction to take it in and perhaps for other witnesses to step forward. Fourth, while Mueller is unlikely to discuss his conversations with Barr, committee members and/or counsel can read portions of Barr’s original summary, testimony and news conference to Mueller and ask if the statements are true. True or false – you left it to Mr. Barr to decide on obstruction?

True or false – President Trump did not “completely cooperate” insofar as he refused to be interviewed and tried to sway the testimony of others?

Barr is unlikely to come off as a straight shooter after Mueller lays out the facts discussed in the report, facts that contradict Barr’s spin. Americans are about to learn a whole bunch about Trump’s conduct – which is precisely why it could be so devastating for him.

SHAWN CORNELL DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING

Two numbers, however, jump out –the vacation payouts of $27,343.63 and $15,041.24 awarded to the general manager of administrative services and general manager of planning and development. Seen one way, those payouts reflect hardworking managers who would rather work than take their allotted 30 days (six weeks) of holiday time. Seen another way, those payouts reveal managers unable to organize their departments to operate without them for a week or two at a time. And seen from a dollars and cents perspective, these two managers handed their employer an unanticipated bill for a combined $42,000.

In the real world, their boss would have probably laughed at both of them and said it looks to me like you two gentlemen have 27,000 and 15,000 reasons, respectively, to better manage your time and your departments next year so you can properly use your allotted vacation time.

Of course, it never should have got that far. Their boss, the city manager, should have kept better track of the unused vacation time of her two hardworking lieutenants, thanked them for their commitment, scolded them for their poor time management and kicked them out of their offices for the month of December if necessary. Instead, it’s just another bill passed down the line, with what appears to be little consideration for the people ultimately on the hook for the bill.

Something to think about for everyone set to pay their city taxes next week.

— Neil Godbout, editor in

chief

Free-trade deal with U.S. and Mexico divides regions

On the final day of November 2018, the heads of government of Canada, the United States and Mexico signed a new free-trade deal, known in this country as the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

The ceremony, which took place in South America, was rushed for various reasons, including the fact that Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto had just a few hours left in his tenure.

How do Canadians feel about what free trade has done for the country?

A recent Research Co. survey found that only one in five Canadians (20 per cent) believes Canada has benefited the most from the original North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) since it was signed in 1994. More Canadians believe Mexico (26 per cent) and the United States (35 per cent) are the “winners” in the free-trade deal, while 19 per cent are undecided.

There are some staggering differences when the views of specific demographics are gauged. Men are significantly more likely than women to say Mexico “won” NAFTA (34 pert cent to 18 per cent), and Canadians aged 55 and over are significantly less likely to think Canada is the victor (15 per cent) than their counterparts aged 35 to 54 (22 per cent) and aged 18 to 34 (25 per cent).

On a regional basis, the three areas that are the least likely to believe that Canada has “defeated” the other North American countries on free trade are Alberta (six per cent), British Columbia (11 per cent) and Atlantic Canada (16 per cent).

The negotiations that led to NAFTA’s death and CUSMA’s birth were precipitated by Trump’s administration. The legislation that is required to ratify CUSMA is in second reading in the House of Commons. If the new deal is not ratified before the October federal election, it may not stay in place afterward.

There is no clear timetable for Canada’s legislature, but Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland has said the country intends to move “in tandem” with the United States to ratify the deal.

This might prove problematic.

The Republican party no longer holds a majority in the House of Representatives, so ratification in the United States may not be

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as smooth as once envisioned. In addition, the start of the longest presidential primary season in history may play a role in the immediate future of CUSMA.

For many longtime observers of Mexican politics, the sight of the current government giving in to the wishes of the United States was not astonishing. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador – as well as Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard – paid US$4.3 million to a firm headed by Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani for advice to deal with security concerns when both served in Mexico City’s government. López Obrador raucously claimed during his campaign that he would put Trump “in his place” once he became Mexico’s president. The Mexican government’s actions suggest that the “place” López Obrador alluded to is a throne.

Setting aside Mexico’s current foibles, almost half of Canadians (48 per cent) want to see CUSMA ratified, while just over a third (36 per cent) believe the deal should be rejected. Liberal party voters in the 2015 election (56 per cent), men (53 per cent), Canadians aged 18 to 34 (57 per cent) and British Columbians (51 per cent) are more likely to believe that it is better to just say yes to the deal now.

In any case, Liberal Party of Canada supporters can take solace in the fact that negotiations towards the new free-trade deal have not been particularly detrimental. Just over three in five Canadians (63 per cent) express confidence that the federal government will do what’s best for Canada when it comes to international trade.

The regional breakdowns are also important for Justin Trudeau’s political future. Majorities of British Columbians (63 per cent), Ontarians (60 per cent) and Quebecers (56 per cent) express confidence in the government, while the results are more restrained in Alberta (50 per cent), Atlantic Canada (also 50 per cent), and Manitoba and Saskatchewan (49 per cent). The seats that may enable Trudeau to remain in government are in the provinces where, on the free-trade front, the government’s actions are welcomed.

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BY THE NUMBERS

MARIO CANSECO

AP PHOTO Ryan Zeigler, Apollo sample curator, stands next to a nitrogenfilled case displaying various lunar samples collected during Apollo missions 15, 16 and 17, inside the lunar lab at the NASA Johnson Space Center on June 17, 2019, in Houston.

NASA opening moon rocks sealed since Apollo

Marcia DUNN

The Associated Press

HOUSTON — Inside a locked vault at Johnson Space Center is treasure few have seen and fewer have touched.

The restricted lab is home to hundreds of pounds of moon rocks collected by Apollo astronauts close to a half-century ago. And for the first time in decades, NASA is about to open some of the pristine samples and let geologists take a crack at them with 21st-century technology.

What better way to mark this summer’s 50th anniversary of humanity’s first footsteps on the moon than by sharing a bit of the lunar loot.

“It’s sort of a coincidence that we’re opening them in the year of the anniversary,” explained NASA’s Apollo sample curator Ryan Zeigler, covered head to toe in a white protective suit with matching fabric boots, gloves and hat.

“But certainly the anniversary increased the awareness and the fact that we’re going back to the moon.”

With the golden anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s feat fast approaching – their lunar module Eagle landed July 20, 1969, on the Sea of Tranquility –the moon is red-hot again.

After decades of flip-flopping between the moon and Mars as the next big astronaut destination, NASA aims to put astronauts on the lunar surface again by 2024 at the White House’s direction. U.S. President Donald Trump prefers talking up Mars. But the consensus is that the moon is a crucial

proving ground given its relative proximity to home – 386,000 kilometres or two to three days away.

Zeigler’s job is to preserve what the 12 moonwalkers brought back from 1969 through 1972 – lunar samples totalling 382 kilograms –and ensure scientists get the best possible samples for study.

Some of the soil and bits of rock were vacuum-packed on the moon – and never exposed to Earth’s atmosphere – or frozen or stored in gaseous helium following splashdown and then left untouched.

The lab’s staff is now trying to figure out how best to remove the samples from their tubes and other containers without contaminating or spoiling anything. They’re practicing with mock-up equipment and pretend lunar dirt.

Compared with Apollo-era tech, today’s science instruments are much more sensitive, Zeigler noted.

“We can do more with a milligram than we could do with a gram back then. So it was really good planning on their part to wait,” he said.

The lunar sample lab has two side-by-side vaults: one for rocks still in straight-from-the-moon condition and a smaller vault for samples previously loaned out for study. About 70 per cent of the original haul is in the pristine sample vault, which has two combinations and takes two people to unlock. About 15 per cent is in safekeeping at White Sands in New Mexico. The rest is used for research or display.

Of the six manned moon landings, Apollo 11 yielded the fewest lunar samples: 22 kg. It was the

first landing by astronauts and NASA wanted to minimize their on-the-moon time and risk.

What’s left from this mission –about three-quarters after scientific study, public displays and goodwill gifts to all countries and U.S. states in 1969 – is kept mostly here at room temperature.

Armstrong was the primary rock collector and photographer.

Aldrin gathered two core samples just beneath the surface during the 2 1/2-hour moonwalk. All five subsequent Apollo moon landings had longer stays. The last three – Apollo 15, 16 and 17 – had rovers that significantly upped the sample collection and coverage area.

“Fifty years later, we’re still learning new things... incredible,” said the lab’s Charis Krysher, holding a clear acrylic marble embedded with chips of Apollo 11 moon rock in her gloved hand.

By studying the Apollo moon rocks, Zeigler said, scientists have determined the ages of the surfaces of Mars and Mercury, and established that Jupiter and the solar system’s other big outer planets likely formed closer to the sun and later migrated outward.

“So sample return from outer space is really powerful about learning about the whole solar system,” he said.

Andrea Mosie, who’s worked with the Apollo moon rocks for 44 years and was a high school intern at Johnson Space Center in July 1969, remembers the Polaroid photos and handwritten notes once accompanying each sample.

She sometimes gets emotional when talking to children about

the moonshots and does her best to dispel any notion that the rocks aren’t from the moon and the lunar landings never happened.

“The samples are right here and they’re still in a pristine state,” she assures young skeptics.

Most of the samples to be doled out over the next year were collected in 1972 during Apollo 17, the final moonshot and the only one to include a geologist, Harrison Schmitt. He occasionally visits the lunar sample lab and plans to help open the fresh specimens.

The nine U.S. research teams selected by NASA will receive varying amounts.

“Everything from the weight of a paperclip, down to basically so little mass you can barely measure it,” Zeigler said. Especially tricky will be extracting the gases that were trapped in the vacuum-sealed sample tubes. The lab hasn’t opened one since the 1970s.

“If you goof that part up, the gas is gone. You only get one shot,” Zeigler said.

The lab’s collection is divided by mission, with each lunar landing getting its own cabinet with builtin gloves and stacks of stainless steel bins filled with pieces of the moon.

Apollo 16 and 17, responsible for half the lunar haul, get two cabinets apiece.

The total Apollo inventory now exceeds 100,000 samples; some of the original 2,200 were broken into smaller pieces for study.

Sample processor Jeremy Kent is hopeful that “we will get some more samples here in the lab to work on.”

Organic chemistry of hydrocarbons highly complex, variable

Following on from last week’s introduction to hydrocarbons, there is a great deal more complexity to organic compounds.

If all organic chemistry came down to simply adding one more carbon to a chain, it would be both easy and boring. Ask any student who has taken an organic chemistry course and they will tell you it is not easy. First of all, there is branching. At four carbons in length, a hydrocarbon can be simple normal butane (C-C-C-C) but it is also possible to add a fourth carbon to the middle of a three carbon chain, resulting in a “Y” structure. This compound is called methyl-propane where methyl refers to a CH3 group and propane to the three carbon chain. With five carbons, there are three possible arrangements or isomers (normal pentane, methyl-butane, and dimethylpropane). The number of possibilities quickly escalates. For eight carbons, there are 18 possible isomers. For 20 carbons, there are 366,319 possible isomers. And for 30 carbons, there are 4,111,846,763 possible isomers.

The number of possible ways of arranging carbon and hydrogen into hydrocarbon compounds is astronomical – particularly considering polymeric chains such as polyethylene or polypropylene can contain hundreds of thousands of carbon atoms. By themselves, carbon and hydrogen can lead to even more possible compounds. Instead of a simple covalent bond linking to carbon atoms together via the sharing of a single pair of electrons, it is possible for carbons to share two pairs resulting in a double bond (C=C instead of C-C).

Double bonds are rigid whereas single bonds are not. If you have ever danced a jive, you know you can easily spin a partner when holding only one hand but add the second one and the exercise becomes much more complicated. Both partners have to flip their bodies in unison and in the end you have the same orientation as you started with.

RELATIVITY

TODD WHITCOMBE

The same is true at a molecular level. Carbon-carbon bonds can spin around a single bond producing all sorts of wiggly configurations, but add a double bond and the spinning stops. The result is one of two locked-in possibilities – either cis or trans. This is where the term trans-fat comes from as the fatty acids have trans double bonds in their chains.

Hydrocarbons can have more than one double bond in a particular chain. They can also form triple bonds where the carbons share three pairs of electrons. They can even form rings which might multiple double bonds leading to compounds like benzene, toluene and xylene.

If the number of simple saturated hydrocarbons possible is astronomical, then the number of all possible hydrocarbons is astronomical raised to the power of astronomical. It is a very large and complex set of compounds.

Of course, organic chemical compounds can also incorporate other elements such as oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, chlorine, bromine, iodine and fluorine.

Almost every one of the myriad of hydrocarbons could have any or all of its hydrogen atoms replaced by any and all combinations of these elements.

There are also functional groups such as acids, esters, ketones, aldehydes, amides and alcohols.

Organic chemistry is not easy.

With respect to petroleum in all its forms, from sweet crude to bitumen, there are a large number of different chemical compounds present. Typically, these are simple hydrocarbons mixed with benzene and toluene compounds and the occasional oxygen or nitrogen containing species.

This chemical soup might contain upwards of 1,000 compounds but not anywhere near as many as are actually

possible. To be useable for most applications, all petroleum must be refined. The processes involved adjust the balance between long chain and short chain molecules.

For example, gasolines typically have molecules in the five to 10 carbon categories. Long chain molecules with, say, 20 carbon atoms can be cracked giving molecules more suitable for gasoline. Similarly, a butane and a methyl-propane can be joined together to give an eight carbon species.

Manipulating the length of carbon chains, the number of double bonds, the types of side chains, and such is what petroleum chemistry and engineering is all about. The idea is to modify crude oil to get a mixture which meets market demands.

Bitumen happens to be a version of petroleum with a lot more long chain compounds than short. This is why it presents as a tar or thick, viscous liquid. Converting the tar to shorter chain molecules can lead to everything from gasoline and jet fuel to lighter fluid and polyethylene. Diluting the long chains with shorter chains creates a thinner liquid capable of flowing through pipelines But if a spill does occur, the lighter fractions will evaporate leaving the heavy tar which is dense enough to sink to the bottom of a waterway. While dilbit really isn’t any different from other crude oil, it is the potential to return to an organic tar which leaves open questions about its safety.

Fossil fuel industry undermining climate talks

Luke McGRATH Bloomberg

Fossil fuel industry giants such as ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell are maintaining an outsized presence at global climate discussions, working to undermine scientific consensus and slow policy progress, according to findings released Wednesday by an environmental monitoring organization.

The Climate Investigations Center (CIC) report claims that fossil fuel trade associations have sent more than 6,400 delegates to climate talks since 1995, including delegates from Shell, BP and ExxonMobil.

ExxonMobil declined to comment.

Royal Dutch Shell and BP did not respond to requests for comment.

The CIC’s findings add to an April report that accused the Global Climate Coalition, a fossil fuel-funded industry group, of working to discredit the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and derail the Kyoto Protocol.

Though the GCC disbanded in 2001, its members have continued to attend events representing different organizations, CIC data showed. Former GCC members have attended events representing organizations that include the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (Wbscd).

Since 2002, the two groups alone have combined to send 2,673 delegates, according to CIC data. ExxonMobil, Shell and BP all belong to at least one of the groups, according to the trade groups’ websites. The companies have collectively contributed 5.2 per cent of global industrial greenhouse gasses from 1988-2015, according to the CDP’s Carbon Majors Database.

“While the GCC is gone, its influence may not be,” said Jesse Bragg, media director at Corporate Accountability, a global activist organization. The new report “connects the dots and bolsters the case for why governments need to actually take a look at the influence of fossil fuel trade associations at the international level,” he said.

OTTAWA

Chinese crackdown on Hong Kong worrying

The

markets today

TORONTO (CP) — Canada’s main stock index closed

The S&P/TSX composite index was down 59.06 points at 16,312.22 after hitting an intraday high of 16,393.92. Nine of the 11 major sectors were down, led by real estate, industrials and consumer staples. Energy rose 1.6 per cent, followed by health care.

“We should be benefiting a bit more because the energy stuff but we’re getting bogged down by some other things,” said Michael Greenberg, portfolio manager, Franklin Templeton Multi-Asset Solutions. In particular, he said defensive sectors like real estate and utilities were hit because they tend to trade inversely to bond yields, which were up on the day. Higher crude prices helped the energy sector, led by Crescent Point Energy and Encana Corp., which were up 5.4 and 4.6 per cent respectively. The August crude contract was up US$1.55 at US$59.38 per barrel and the August natural gas contract was down 1.8 cents at US$2.27 per mmBTU. West-Texas Intermediate prices climbed after the U.S. government data indicated that crude inventories fell more than expected as they dropped by 12.8 million barrels last week. The Canadian dollar traded for an average of 76.16 cents US compared with an average of 75.91 cents US on Tuesday.

At its peak, the communist movement held sway in every populous continent, as dozens of countries embraced the dream. But its underdog proletariat heroes quickly felt its betrayal, lorded over jealously by inexperienced, doctrinally rigid party men. The dogma’s only enduring warmth was a perpetual blanket of working class corpses.

Not that the party officials were inherently evil. They were just so married to the creed that they stomped on the higher principles of fairness, and compassion in the piety of their fixation. This is not a minor flaw.

And then, after several decades, while the Wealth of Nations under Lenin’s lemon lamented, some bright young mind in an inner sanctum of macroeconomics sparked a plan.

What if, as a temporary measure, we allow a little enterprise to prevail? Just to see what happens.

Warily at first, and then hungrily, prosperity went on to flourish like a kingfisher at a salmon hatchery. Soon Russia had unabashedly embraced capitalist methods. China became communist in name only.

According to the South China Morning Post, the top one per cent of Chinese overlords owned fully one-third of the country’s total wealth in 2016, worse than the much-lamented disparity in the U.S.

Still, according to the World Bank, the number of Chinese residents living below the International Poverty Line, (a much lower standard than North American measures) fell from over 1.1 billion in 1990 to less than a million today.

The World Bank also notes that, despite the embarrassing one per cent data noted above, China’s “…growth has brought fast welfare gains… to all members of society and particularly to those at the bottom 40 per cent of the distribution.”

In the financial world, “spread” often refers to the interest rate demanded by a lender over and above the U.S. T-bill rate. In addition to private agencies, the OECD ranks countries on a scale of one to seven to assist institutions and wealthy nations in evaluating the credit risk of lending to countries. Former communist nations have seen a sharp uptick in credit worthiness as they reacquaint themselves with free markets.

IT’S ONLY MONEY

MARK RYAN

But some countries cling to Marxist rule like grandma to a bag of moldy prunes. Of the nations who are still diehard communists, (Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea) all are ranked a seven, which, roughly translated, means: “Not a chance.”

In 1997, when the lease ran up on the U.K.’s claim over Hong Kong, the world watched as China wrestled with its dilemma. Should they enforce the Holy Order of Abject Poverty on the tiny island and make fools of themselves before the world (again) or find another solution? From this angst, two policies were born:

• Policy 1: Special Administrative Regions (SAR). Hong Kong being the special-est SAR, wherein free enterprise was allowed to flourish. Roughly translated it meant: “Communist bureaucrats, keep your clumsy paws off.”

• Policy 2: One Country, Two Systems, meaning basically the same thing.

In a feat of circus magic, the last 22 years has seen China split the economic atom, using capitalism as its financial launching pad, while remaining welded to the iron fist of one-party control. And now, with the juice that combination gives them, here we are.

Over the past few weeks, Hong Kong’s citizens took to the streets fighting changes to formerly exempt extradition arrangements with China. This has resulted in some of the worst violence that Hong Kong has seen since the 1997 handover to Chinese rule.

While the Hong Kong government has shelved the legislation “indefinitely,” protests continue,and critics worry Chinese authorities would use the laws to target people who have angered the Chinese government.

The democratic process has come under progressively more strain in the last few years as China exerts its control. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam is supported by a majority pro-Beijing Legislative Council. Beijing holds veto power over legislation.

Since taking office in 2017, Lam has been clear that she will support Beijing on “political issues,” a frightening prospect. The Chinese government intervenes increasingly in areas such as academia, freedom of the media and civil society.

China is also accused of engineering cyberinterference, launching a massive hack on the demonstrators’ organizational software. The protester’s encrypted messaging app Telegram, was banned in Iran last month, just a month after Russia blocked the service. Bedfellows in mind-control.

All of this has caused a spike in political risk through the erosion of personal freedom and decline in the respect for the rule of law. Consequently, some agencies have placed Hong Kong on a negative outlook watch-list with the possibility of a credit downgrade in the coming weeks or months as events unfold.

Mark Ryan is an investment advisor with RBC Dominion Securities Inc. (Member – Canadian Investor Protection Fund), and these are his views, and not those of RBC Dominion Securities. This article is for information purposes only. Please consult with a professional advisor before taking any action based on information in this article. See his website at: http://dir.rbcinvestments.com/mark.ryan.

Protesters gather near a British flag outside the police headquarters in Hong Kong on Wednesday, as they demand

an

inquiry into a heavy-handed police crackdown at a protest earlier this month.

Sports

Kershaw making waves in body building world

Ted CLARKE Citizen staff tclarke@pgcitizen.ca

Kendall Kershaw knows anabolic steroids are prevalent on the body-building stage.

The temptation is always there but the 22-year-old from Prince George has resisted using drugs to tone her body and build muscle mass.

She prefers to do it the hard way, watching what she eats and working out to the edge of exhaustion in the gym, and she’s seeing the rewards.

On June 2, Kershaw took a major step toward achieving her pro card when she won a silver medal in the bikini category at the Toronto Pro Super show, an International Federation of Body Building and Fitness (IFBB) pro qualifier.

There was no cash prize for her silver finish but her success in Toronto led to new connections in the body building world, which will put Kershaw in line for modeling photo shoots and lucrative sponsorships.

“It helps me establish myself as a professional in the body building industry and puts my name out there a little bit,” she said.

“I’m actually a natural athlete, which isn’t very common at the level that I’m at. I don’t take anything fancy, protein powders, multivitamins, stuff like that. I like to make sure I’m taking stuff to grow and gain without have to take that extra step (and use steroids).

“I was told at one point to quit, that I would never succeed if I didn’t go down that route, and I found myself some new friend groups that didn’t have that opinion and we’ve been golden ever since. I’m really grateful for the people that did support my decision to stay natural. At the level I’m at, a lot of people are running different things, mostly fat-burners for women, but it’s still the same concept.”

The nerves before she walks on stage are hard to shake but Kershaw has been part of enough body-building competitions to know that disappears when it’s her turn to pose, even with 1,500 sets of eyes watching her every move.

“It’s incredible – it’s terrifying and you do shake a little bit,” she said.

“It’s six months of work for 10 seconds on stage and people think that’s ludicrous but at the end of the day that 10 seconds feels so wicked.

“I do a lot of meditation and just getting my head in the right place before I go on because at that point you’ve already put in the work. You see so many people kind of

the open bikini division at the Toronto Pro Supershow body building competition on June 2. The 22-year-old from Prince George won a silver medal.

squandering the day by being too nervous to enjoy it.” Kershaw competes in the bikini division, rather than the body-building classes, because she has less muscle mass compared to

women who don’t shy away from steroids.

“I always joke and say it’s baby body building,” laughed Kershaw.

“We tend to have a little but less muscle.

For the last few years the judges have been

Gun club hosting national silhouette rifle shoot

Citizen staff

The Prince George Rod and Gun Club is planning an event that’s sure to bring out the fun in marksmanship.

Sharpshooters from Western Canada and the United States will gather at the club’s 100-metre range just west of the city (9444 Hartman Rd.) and the Blackwater range (31755 Blackwater Rd.) for the week-long Canadian Rifle Silhouette Championships, which starts on Sunday.

The arcade-style metal cutouts in the shape of chickens, pigs, turkeys and sheep pop up in random order at four distances on the range to test the reactions and accuracy of the participants. Each target is

Tim REYNOLDS The Associated Press

SUNRISE, Fla. — Florida goalie Roberto Luongo has decided to retire after 19 seasons.

The 40-year-old Luongo made the announcement Wednesday on his Twitter account. His 489 career victories are third in NHL history behind only Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy, and Brodeur is the only goalie to have appeared in more games or made more saves than Luongo.

He was the fourth overall pick in the 1997 draft by the New York Islanders, with whom he made his NHL debut on Nov. 28, 1999.

The Montreal native then spent five years with Florida, the next eight with Vancouver and returned to the Panthers on March 14, 2014.

“This is one of the toughest decisions I’ve faced in my life and it took me a long time to make it,” Luongo wrote in an open letter to fans.

a group of five animals and shooters are required to hit them from right to left while in a standing unsupported position. If one target is missed, the shooter has to aim at the next target.

Competitors will be separated into five classes from beginner to master.

The Hartman range will host the .22 calibre rimfire event from Sunday to Tuesday, then the scene switches to the Blackwater range for the high-power silhouette shoot next Thursday through Saturday.

The host club is expecting about 45 competitors.

Spectators are welcome.

For more information go to the club website at pgrgclub.ca or email infor@pgrgclub.ca.

saying I would be better-suited in a category that was a bit more muscular. But this year, the way I carved out my physique, they said I was perfect for the bikini division. I’m just going to keep trying to compete in this division to see if I can get that pro card.”

Kershaw’s love for the sport began four years ago in her Grade 11 year at Prince George Secondary School. She’d hit the weight room for workouts before school and right away saw the results.

“I started going at five o’clock in the morning and just fell in love with it,” she said.

“I knew I wanted to have something to really show what I’ve been working for. I actually left school early because I knew I wanted to pursue body building as a fulltime thing, so I ended up graduating early. Once I started I knew this is where I was supposed to be.”

She started her own business three years ago as a weigh loss and wellness coach and now operates The Little Fit Company, preferring to work with clients who have experienced sudden weight gain due to medical issues and are looking for direction to get their bodies back to where there were.

“I was able to move to it full time right after starting, which is quite exciting,” she said.

Kershaw competed in Prince George at the Iron Ore Classic in 2016 and won the overall women’s title but said she would lose her semipro status if she competed in her hometown show event again because it is not sanctioned by the IFBB.

Kershaw, who finished fourth in her group in the Maxim Canada cover girl contest, has been invited to Joe Weider’s Olympia Fitness and Performance show in Las Vegas, where she will be the subject of a magazine photo shoot Sept. 11 sponsored by Magnum Neutraceuticals of Surrey, one of her major sponsors along with the John Brink Group of Companies and Reflex Prince George.

“The Toronto pro show is the biggest in Canada, whereas the Olympia is the biggest one (in the world), which is really exciting,” she said.

“The nice thing with the Olympia is I’m not competing. I’m just going down and getting a bunch of pictures taken and making a lot of connections with professionals in the industry.

“I would absolutely love to get into modeling. It’s one of those things, I didn’t know I could do it until I got older and it seems like it complements everything else I’ve got going on now.”

P.G. judokas compete in Canada Cup

Citizen staff

Montreal is the home of the judo’s national team program and this holiday weekend four Prince George judokas will be there vying for titles at the Canada Cup competition.

The Hart Judo Academy, coached by Bruce Kamstra, is sending three club members – Brooke Corbett (Under-21, – 48 kilograms), Kimiko Kamstra (U-21, – 48 kg) and Koen Heitman (U-18 and U-21, – 73 kg)

The Prince George Judo Club coach Aline Strasdin will have one of her athletes there – Tami Goto (U-18 and U-21, – 48 kg).

The competition starts Saturday and runs through Monday.

Heitman will travel to Cali, Colombia, to compete in the Pan American Judo Championships on July 20.

“After thinking about it a lot over the past two months and listening to my body, I made up my mind. It just feels like the right time for me to step away from the game. I love the game so much, but the commitment I required to prepare, to keep my body ready, has become overwhelming.” Luongo had been slowed by hip problems in recent years, and the off-ice work just to make it through practices and games took

general manager Dale Tallon said last week that Luongo’s career had been “illustrious” and that the franchise was giving its most beloved player all the time he needed to make his decision.

“The impact that he has had on the developing core of our

its culture and our community are undeniable,” Tallon said.

“He has always approached everything with a determination and level of class that was second to none. He leaves not only a legacy in South Florida, but a legacy in the

Florida

Kendall Kershaw competes in

Montreal group supports idea of sharing Rays with Tampa Bay

Sean FARRELL

The Associated Press

MONTREAL — The son of former Montreal Expos owner Charles Bronfman believes the predominantly French-speaking city is ready and willing to support – and share – the Tampa Bay Rays.

Private equity investor Stephen Bronfman leads a group working on bringing baseball back to Montreal and said Wednesday the city can embrace the sport again. He called the idea of one team in two cities groundbreaking.

Commissioner Rob Manfred said last week the Rays have “broad permission to explore what’s available.”

Tampa Bay is averaging 14,546 fans a game, lowest in the American League and well below the MLB average of 27,360. Only the Miami Marlins draw smaller crowds, averaging 9,378.

On Tuesday, Rays principal owner Stu Sternberg said it’s unrealistic for his team to play full time in the Tampa Bay area, and said a shared season with Montreal is the best option.

Montreal has been without a big-league team since the Expos left after the 2004 season for Washington and became the Nationals.

“We have always said we have a two-track approach,” Bronfman said.

“There has always been the pos-

sibility of a team being relocated, and then there is expansion. We don’t know if expansion is in the cards in the decade to come, if at all. We have this possibility now to begin the work of having Major League Baseball here with

an existing team that is really professional. It’s not like starting from scratch. This is a team that is playing nearly .600 baseball.”

An agreement between the Rays and St. Petersburg for Tropicana Field runs through 2027. St. Pe-

tersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman has said the city will not fund a new stadium for a part-time team.

“We’re in a different world,” Bronfman said.

“Hats off to Major League Baseball for being so innovative in their

thinking and their progressive nature of even considering a concept like this. It’s very groundbreaking when you talk about sport.”

Sternberg envisions open-air stadiums in both cities but noted there are no plans to pay for them. He said an ideal target date would have everything in place for the 2024 season.

Bronfman said he has no say in the timetable but hopes a deal can be reached soon, pointing out that his father, the original Expos owner, is 88 years old.

“We have an incredible city,” Bronfman said.

“We have a strong economy, we can support baseball and now we have a chance to support it in partnership with Tampa Bay. I think it’s a very, very good opportunity for us and I think Major League Baseball believes this opportunity exists in Montreal and they are giving their support to our city. So for me that’s a strong start and we will see how things develop.”

The Rays have played at Tropicana Field since their inception in 1998 and drew their smallestever home crowd of 5,786 against Toronto last month.

Sternberg said this week it’s possible the Bronfman group could join the current Rays’ ownership if the sister-city plans succeed, but he will keep controlling interest.

“I think even in a split scenario, it’s a return of baseball permanently to Montreal,” Bronfman said.

Challenges prepare Canucks prospect DiPietro for leap to pros

VANCOUVER — It wasn’t the start he hoped for, but Vancouver Canucks prospect Michael DiPietro doesn’t have any regrets about his NHL debut.

After all, the tough lessons he’s learned this season will only help the goalie as he works toward his next objective – officially turning pro.

DiPietro was just 19 when the Canucks called him up from the Ontario Hockey League’s Ottawa 67’s on an emergency basis earlier this year.

He wasn’t supposed to see any game action but when “lower body stiffness” kept No. 1 Jacob Markstrom sidelined against the San Jose Sharks in February, the teen got the start.

Though he stopped 17 shots, Vancouver was trounced 7-2.

“It was definitely a big eyeopener, something that I can take from,” DiPietro, now 20, said at the Canucks’ development camp this week.

“It’s kind of crazy to say but I’m kind of happy with the way it happened. It’s something I can learn from and just to make sure I’m fully ready and all areas of my game can progress in the right direction.”

The world junior hockey championship in Vancouver was another tough learning experience for the young netminder.

He excelled in goal for Team Canada throughout the preliminary round, but the squad lost in overtime against Finland in the quarterfinals.

“I think any time you play on a big

stage or in a big game, you can definitely learn from it,” DiPietro said.

“Pressure’s what you make of it. If you let it consume you, you can’t really perform to the best of your abilities. And that’s something that I really and truly do mean. And hopefully the experiences in those big games will translate well.”

Canada’s captain Maxime Comtois was stymied on a penalty shot in the loss and after the game he received a barrage of hateful messages online.

The vitriol spurred DiPietro

to shutter his own social media accounts.

“I really don’t need to read the positive things or the negative things. A lot of rumours bounce around there too so you can really have a clouded head space. At the end of the day, I’d rather be focusing on Michael DiPietro the goalie and the person,” he said.

“You’ve got to live life. You can’t live life through a phone or through technology.”

The decision has helped eliminate distractions and given the burgeon-

ing netminder more free time.

“I think it’s a mature step for me to take,” DiPietro said.

“I’m not saying everybody has to, but it’s something I decided to do and it’s really paying off.”

DiPietro seemed to be on the verge of ending his junior hockey career in fine fashion this spring, helping the 67’s win a league-record 14 consecutive playoff games with a 2.35 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage.

He’d been traded to Ottawa from the Windsor Spitfires earlier

in the season to help the 67’s prepare for a post-season push.

However, a high-ankle sprain took DiPietro out in Game 2 of the OHL final, however, and he watched from the sidelines as the Guelph Storm thundered back to win the series and advance to the Memorial Cup. Nevertheless, the playoff run was a highlight of the goalie’s time in Ottawa.

“I think that’s where I caught my stride and really had a lot of fun. And I think everyone else in the locker room did (too),” he said.

“Unfortunately it didn’t end the way we wanted it to. But I look back with a lot of fond memories not just in Ottawa but of my entire four years in junior.”

The injury has since healed, DiPietro said, and he’s now looking toward the future, starting with taking some pucks at the Canucks’ development camp this week.

Soon, DiPietro will return home to Amherstburg, Ont., to spend some time with his family and get ready to play pro hockey this fall.

He wants to “tidy up” different skills, like puck tracking and being bigger in net.

“When you’re taking each step, you’ve got to find ways to elevate your game and make sure that you can play at this level,” he said.

DiPietro knows that the leap from junior hockey is a big one, full of more challenges and learning experiences.

“There’s probably going to be things that don’t go my way right away,” he said. “And that’s something I’ll have to get through, make sure my mental toughness is there and be open to change, be open to new things.”

Montreal Expos baseball caps are seen at the Jannat Souvenir shop last December in Montreal.

Gemma KARSTENS-SMITH

The Canadian Press

San Jose Sharks’ Marcus Sorensen (20) reaches for the puck in front of Vancouver Canucks goalie Michael DiPietro (75) as Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson (40) watches during an NHL hockey game in Vancouver on February 11, 2019. After a whirlwind year, Vancouver Canucks goalie Michael DiPietro is once again bracing for change.

Bounty Hunter Beth Chapman dead at 51

Jennifer SINCO KELLEHER

The Associated Press

HONOLULU — Beth Chapman, who co-starred with her husband on the Dog the Bounty Hunter reality TV show and later spoke out against some bail reform measures as a leader of a national bail agents’ organization, has died.

Chapman died early Wednesday at Queen’s Medical Center after an almost two-year battle with cancer, Mona Wood-Sword, a family spokeswoman, said in a statement. She was 51.

Chapman was diagnosed with throat cancer in September 2017 after getting a nagging cough checked out. A tumour was removed, and she was declared cancer-free. But in November 2018, she was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer.

“This is the time she would wake up to go hike Koko Head mountain,” her husband, Duane “Dog” Chapman, posted on Twitter early Wednesday.

“Only today, she hiked the stairway to heaven. We all love you, Beth. See you on the other side.”

Celebrities also took to Twitter to express their condolences.

Jeanine Pirro, the host of Fox News’ Justice with Judge Jeanine posted two photos of her with Beth Chapman and one with the couple on Twitter. Pirro added: “Rest in peace Beth Chapman. a good lady and a great American.”

Actor Scott Baio tweeted: “RIP Sweet @MrsdogC. Sending our deepest sympathy and prayers to @DogBountyHunter and his family.”

Inside Edition special correspondent Rita Crosby tweeted, “No words to describe this huge loss of my heroic and dear friend #BethChapman. Prayers needed for @ DogBountyHunter and all of us who loved Beth so very much and her indomitable spirit.”

On Friday, Chapman had difficulty breathing and passed out momentarily, Wood-Sword said. She was taken to a hospital, and doctors put her in a medically induced coma to spare her pain while treating her, the spokeswoman said.

Born Alice Elizabeth Smith in Denver, Chapman had lived in Honolulu since 1989. In 2006, she and Duane Chapman, the selfproclaimed world’s best bounty

hunter, married during a sunset ceremony at a Big Island resort after being together for 16 years.

“I’ve already been cuffed and shackled by Beth anyway,” he told The Associated Press at the time.

The wedding took place a day after the death of Duane Chapman’s 23-year-old daughter, Barbara Katy Chapman, who was killed in a car accident near her home in Fairbanks, Alaska, Wood-Sword recalled. The couple decided to go forward with the wedding to celebrate her life.

The wedding was featured in an episode of the A&E series Dog the Bounty Hunter, which followed the duo’s exploits in apprehending people who have avoided arrest warrants.

Bryan Adams dismayed by loss of work in fire

TORONTO — Bryan Adams is among several Canadian acts who believe the original masters of their biggest hits likely perished in a 2008 fire at Universal Studios Hollywood, a blaze for which the extent of the damage has only recently come to light.

The Kingston, Ont.-born singer-songwriter said he only learned of the impact when he started planning a 30th anniversary reissue of his album Reckless, which includes the massive hits Summer of ’69 and Heaven. Upon contacting the archival department of Universal Music Group, he was told they couldn’t locate his master tapes, artwork and videos.

“No one there knew where anything was,” Adams said in an email correspondence through his management team.

“If you were doing an archeological dig there, you would have concluded that it was almost as if none of it had ever happened.”

Adams is among countless musicians who are struggling to comprehend new information on the massive Universal fire recently outlined in The New York Times. The report detailed how more than 100,000 masters – an estimated 500,000 songs –were engulfed in the flames, while Universal framed the destruction as being contained to mostly duplicate copies of films and a number of iconic movie sets.

But the Times uncovered details which showed an extensive database of master recordings stretching from the 1940s to the 2000s were also lost, including original tapes of Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Elton John and Janet Jackson.

On Tuesday, the news outlet went a step further and published a longer list of artists it says Universal leadership believes might’ve been affected.

Among the names are numerous Canadian acts, including Joni Mitchell, the Tragically Hip, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Nelly Furtado, Paul Anka and Rufus Wainwright.

A representative for Sainte-Marie declined to address the status of her masters, while the Hip’s manager said the band “is taking stock of all their assets and tapes” before making any further comment.

Universal says the Times “overstated” the losses in their report, but the label’s CEO followed with a statement saying he owes artists “transparency” and “answers” on the damage to their master recordings.

Master tapes are the original analog copies of musicians working in the studio, recorded with equipment that is levels above the consumer playback technology that exists today.

That makes them an invaluable resource for future restoration projects, album reissues and historical documents of artistic creation. The tapes often include unreleased material that turns up on re-releases and box sets decades after an artist has died.

“The reason these tapes are so important is you can’t remaster recordings that have already been digitally mastered,” Adams explained.

The couple met when he posted her bond for a shoplifting arrest, she told Rosie O’Donnell on The Rosie Show.

“He came walking out there, I said: ‘Oh yes he will be mine,’ ” Chapman said.

There are 12 children between the couple. They had 15 grandchildren and one great-grandchild, Wood-Sword said.

In 2007, Hawaii lawmakers honoured the couple for their work capturing criminals.

“It’s kind of extraordinary to be called a crime fighter,” she said at the time.

“I’ll have to go home and get my Wonder Woman outfit.”

Duane Chapman gained fame after he nabbed serial rapist and

Max Factor heir Andrew Luster in Mexico in 2003.

Dog the Bounty Hunter was cancelled in 2012. The show was pulled in 2007 following a racial outburst by Duane Chapman and then returned to the air in 2008. He was heard in a taped phone conversation using a racial slur in reference to his son’s black girlfriend. He apologized and said he received counselling.

They later starred in Country Music Television’s Dog & Beth: On the Hunt.

WGN America is in production on Dog’s Most Wanted. A trailer for the show was released earlier this month. Chapman was elected president of the Professional Bail Agents of

the United States and opposed some bail reform measures nationwide. She opposed eliminating the cash bail system, saying it would put the public at risk.

“People are not in jail because they are poor,” she said in 2017.

“They’re in jail because they broke the law.”

She boasted of being the youngest ever to receive a bail license in Colorado at 29. That record was beat by her stepdaughter Lyssa Chapman who became licensed at age 19, she said.

Funeral services are expected to be held in Honolulu and Colorado, Wood-Sword said.

Associated Press journalist Mark Thiessen contributed to this report from Anchorage, Alaska.

Beth Chapman and Duane Chapman arrive at the CMT Music Awards at Bridgestone Arena, in Nashville, Tenn., in 2014. Beth died Sunday at age 51.

David FRIEND The Canadian Press

It is with profound sadness I share the news that Kay Horrocks - Mom, Grandma Kay, Auntie Kay departed this world on June 16, 2019. Kay was a devoted mother, grandmother, great grandmother and friend to all whose lives she touched. She struggled stoically with the anguish of losing her eyesight, yet was blessedly taken before blindness triumphed.

Kay did not wish to have a service. A donation to C.N.I.B. would be appreciated.

Kay will be remembered by her extensive legacy, family - far too many to be mentioned here - you know who you are, friends, companions and colleagues.

All My Love, Lori

Eva Marie St Pierre September 5, 1919June 17, 2019

Passed away peacefully at her home at Rainbow Lodge surrounded by family. She leaves to join her husband Rigo (1975) and son Dominic (2015). Survived by her children Louise (Ron) Kohinski, Marius (Heather) St Pierre and Rachelle (Randy) Poznikoff, 10 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren, brother Luc (Lise) and sister Rachel. Memorial mass to be held at Sacred Heart Cathedral on June 29, 2019 at 11:00am. Celebration of Life to be held at Rainbow Lodge Day Centre, 1000 Liard Drive, Sunday June 30, 2019 1:00 - 4:00pm. Special thank you to Drs. Powell, McCoy, King and the staff at Rainbow Lodge for their wonderful care and dedication to Eva’s best care. In lieu of flowers, in memory of Eva, donations to the Salvation Army or St. Vincent de Paul would be greatly appreciated. Grace Memorial Funeral Chapel in care of arrangements.

Emma Bulmer October 23, 1936June 19, 2019

It is with incredible sadness that we are announcing the sudden passing of Emma Bulmer. Up until her death, Emma was in terrific health at the age of 82. Emma had an amazing work ethic as was demonstrated in her work as a Teacher’s Aide with the Prince George School District for 30 years, supporting children with special needs. She took great pride in her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was a phenomenal cook, an enthusiastic bowler, a talented musician, and a caring member of her church. Emma loved the Toronto Blue Jays dearly -- never missing a game. She was a resilient woman who approached challenges with strength and Faith.

Emma was predeceased by her loving husband Cliff, parents, and some siblings. Emma is survived by her loving children, along with their respective spouses, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, brothers, sisters, and all of the friends who loved her. Please join us in honoring her at a celebration of her life held at St. Mary’s Catholic Church on Saturday, June 29, 2019 at 2:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to St. Vincent de Paul.

The Citizen Office will be closed Friday, June 28, 2019 as we prepare to relocate to our new office.

Please be aware that the deadline for ALL Classified Ads, including Obituaries, for both June 29 and July 2 will be 10:00am June 28 - no exceptions. We are sorry for the inconvenience and look forward to serving you at

A Celebration of life Will be held on August 31, 2019 to remember the lives of Nancy “Carole” Stooksberry and Russell (Rusty) Samuel Stooksberry. The celebration will be held between the hours of 12:00pm and 3:00pm in a backyard setting at the residence of Guy & Leanne Stooksberry located at 3554 Rosia Rd. Prince George. Burgers and beverages

Italo Maletta

With sadness we announce the passing of Italo Maletta, born February 2, 1932, devoted husband, father, nonno, uncle and brother.

He passed away peacefully on June 21, 2019, with his family at his side. Italo is survived by his loving wife, Pierina (Pellegrino) and children: Nino (Lindsey), Rosa (Marcel) and Valeria (Randy). Predeceased by his parents and loving sister Eva (Vince Fuoco), survived by his loving sister Maria (James Denicola) brother Armando (Josephine).

Nonno was blessed with 5 grandsons and 2 granddaughters. Along with numerous nieces and nephews.

Nonno received all the love, respect and honour, which he was so deserving of, from all of his grandchildren, children and wife.

Italo retired at the age of 57 from CNR where he worked hard to provide for his family.

During his retirement, he took pride in his gardening and wine making, sharing his bounty with all his friends. He always gave more than he received in life.

Nonno found true joy in life with his grandchildren. His love and devotion were shared with the family, who are grateful for all the years they were able to spend with him.

Italo received amazing medical support throughout his fight from Dr. Asquith, Dr. Carter, Dr. Powell and the staff at both the cancer clinic and Hospice House. Service will be held Friday June 28th, 2019 at 11:00 am at St. Mary’s Parish. In lieu of flowers, a donation to the Prince George Hospice Society in Italo’s name would be greatly appreciated. 3089 Clapperton Street, Prince George, BC V2L 5N4.

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BCAssessmentisnowhiringforone(1)permanent AppraiserinourNorthernBCoffices(PrinceGeorge, Terrace,DawsonCreek).

Toapply,pleasevisitourwebsiteat: info.bcassessment.ca/Careers

THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2019

Page 7 Summer is for Shakespeare

Prince George classical music stars are coming home next year.

The PGSO has announced its new season, and the emphasis is squarely on homegrown talent.

The band plays its first show of the 201920 campaign starting Sept. 8 when they host the annual and ever-popular Pops In The Park afternoon event at the bandshell in Lheidi T’enneh Memorial Park.

Twenty days later at Vanier Hall, one of this city’s most noted piano products comes back to showcase his international reputation. David Louie will be in the solo spotlight that night.

“We begin our season with Carl Maria von Weber’s beautiful Der Freischutz and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and are proud to present Mozart’s Piano Concerto in D Minor, featuring Prince George native David Louie as our guest pianist,” said the orchestra’s artistic direction team led by conductor Michael Hall. “David began studying piano at the age of five with Loretta Zral and continued his studies with Linda Stobbe. He first performed with the PGSO at the age of 13. David is currently on the faculty of the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto where he is piano department coordinator.”

Their second date with a big Prince George circle around it is Nov. 2 at Vanier Hall when a vocal star of local extraction comes back to sing. That show’s title is We Remember as it falls in the lead-up to Remembrance Day.

“Canadian composer Glen Buhr’s 1989 composition Akasha (Sky) starts off this unique program followed by Jean Sebelius’ Pelleas and Melisande,” said Hall. “After intermission, the beautiful sound of John Rutter’s Requiem will pay tribute to those who have lost their lives fighting for our country. Performing with us will be a select mixed choir prepared by Lyn Vernon and soprano soloist Dr. Veera Khare-Asher. Prince George born and raised Veera Khare-Asher began her vocal training under Kay Lim whom she continues to hold as her mentor today. Veera holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in voice performance from the University of Nevada.”

The third prominent guest from Prince George now out wowing the world is a violin star. The title of this concert is simply Jonathan Crow Comes Home, happening Feb. 29 at Vanier Hall.

“This concert begins with award winning Canadian composer Marjan Mozetich’s Postcards from the Sky, followed by two pieces by Franz Schubert: Symphony No. 8 Unfinished and Entr’acte from Rosamunde,” Hall said. “The highlight of the evening will no doubt be Jonathan Crow’s performance of Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26. Born and raised in Prince George, Jonathan Crow is a product of School District 57’s String Program and the Prince George Music School. Jonathan is currently Associate Professor of Violin at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Music. He has been concertmaster of the Toronto

There are many more highlights to the upcoming season, spread across 16 major

performances.

Three of those shows are at the Ramada Hotel Ballroom and represent a new series entitled Light Classics On A Friday Evening. It is billed as “easy listening in a casual setting - a perfect date night” with chamber ensembles comprised of PGSO’s professional talent.

Three of those shows are, like the last few seasons have provided, especially for children. The popular Kinderconcerts will be back at the P.G. Playhouse.

Four of those shows represent major special events.

One is the aforementioned Pops In The Park concert that always kicks off the PGSO year. One is entitled Chamber, Baroque & Tea scheduled for Nov. 17 at the Ramada.

One is the Jan. 25 annual fundraiser that brings out plaid tidings in us all, the Scottish flourish of Robbie Burns Night gala dinner and auction, with some music provided by the professional PGSO core of musicians.

And one is not actually one at all. It is an event in five sittings as the PGSO takes up its biennial position as the live orchestra for Judy Russell’s presentation of The Nutcracker. On Dec. 20-22, the city’s ballet appetite gets whetted by this traditional delight.

“Once again, the PGSO and Judy Russell’s Enchainement Dance Centre team up to present this holiday classic - a favorite of one and all, year after year,” Hall said.

Tickets can be purchased a number of ways: mainstage series, light classical series, kinderconcerts, flex pass, individual shows, etc.

There are price points for adults, for seniors, and free for students, youth and children.

To get in on subscriptions, or for any information, log onto the PGSO website where you can also make online purchases exactly to your classical music desires. That can also be done in person at the PGSO office (2880 15th Ave.) or by phone at 250-562-0800.

97/16 file photo Conductor MIchael Hall leads the Prince George Symphony Orchestra as they perform Franz Lehar’s Merry

PLANT-BASED OPTIONS NOT ALWAYS BEST

OFOOD FOR THOUGHT KELSEY LECKOVIC

n May 2, Beyond Meat Inc. went public on the stock market at $25 per share. The price per share quickly multiplied, closing at $65.75 at end of day. The initial public offering came at an opportune time with growing public interest in plant-based foods and their perceived health and environmental benefits.

Approximately one week earlier, Beyond Meat Inc. announced their Beyond Burger would be stocked in the meat cases of Canadian grocery stores nationwide, including Co-op Food Stores, Fresh Street Market, IGA, Loblaws, Save-On-Foods and Whole Foods Market. The company advocates for, and heavily promotes, the inclusion of their products in the meat case alongside beef burgers to allow shoppers to more easily compare the two choices and hopefully attract new customers. While it is a vegan product, the Beyond Burger is designed to appeal to meat eaters, with the company emphasizing how the burger looks, tastes and “bleeds” like real meat.

On June 12, the company announced that more than 4,000 Tim Hortons locations would start offering breakfast sandwiches made with Beyond Meat patties. Last summer, A&W was the first quick-service chain in Canada to offer the product and, as demand outpaced supply, the product quickly began to sellout nationwide.

With a long line of celebrity investors and a growing list of Canadian retailers offering the Beyond Meat products, it’s worth taking a look at the nutritional value of their most popular product –Beyond Burger patties – to see if the hype is justified.

For context, I’ll also compare them to fresh beef patties, which is something the company encourages the consumer to do. To make a fair comparison, I’ve chosen to use the only fresh beef burger patty option available in a local supermarket, which also sells the Beyond Burger. I’m also comparing both in the same portion size: 113 grams per serving.

First, the ingredients. A 113 g Beyond Burger patty contains 21 ingredients, predominately pea protein isolate, canola oil, coconut oil and water. A number of other ingredients are added to improve colour and flavour and to act as binding agents, bulking agents and preservatives. Ingredients are added for seemingly the sole purpose of recreating the structure and taste

of a beef burger, without the beef. In comparison, a 113 g extra lean ground beef patty contains one ingredient: ground sirloin beef.

A single Beyond Burger patty has 290 calories and 22 g of total fat, while the extra lean beef patties contain 179 calories and 9 g of fat. Keep in mind, I’m comparing the same serving size of each. In all fairness, I’m also comparing an extra lean variety of beef. Lean ground beef burgers would have a higher fat and calorie content, although still lower than the Beyond Burger.

One reason plant-based options are promoted as a healthy alternative to red meat is because they’re often lower in both total and saturated fat. This is one example when the plant-based option is higher in both.

Looking at protein content, the Beyond Burger contains 20 g, while the beef patty contains 24 g, making them fairly comparable. Since meat does not contain fibre, the Beyond Burger wins out in this category with 3 g of fibre per serving. In terms of sodium content, the Beyond Burger is much higher than the beef, as many veggie burgers can be, with 450 mg per patty or 19 per cent of your daily value. The beef burger patty contains 64 mg of sodium,

One reason plant-based options are promoted as a healthy alternative to red meat is because they’re often lower in both total and saturated fat. This is one example when the plant-based option is higher in both.

with no added sodium. Both patties contain zero sugar.

Nutrition facts aside, price is often the deciding factor to purchase for many. The Beyond Burger costs $4 per patty, while the extra lean beef costs $2.50 per patty.

While all I’ve done is compare ingredients, nutrition facts panels and price, I should mention that there can be ethical, religious, environmental and other reasons why an individual would choose a plant-based alternative to beef, and health and expense aren’t always the strongest considerations. As with any food or diet, it’s up

to an individual to decide what’s best for them. The strongly-opinionated voices of a few, including plant-based food companies, restaurant chains, celebrities and “health influencers” are not the experts on what’s best for the consumer.

I haven’t compared the Beyond Burger to a beef burger to say that red meat is healthier but to show that plant-based options are not automatically the most nutritious choice, just because they don’t contain meat. Plantbased foods can be ultra processed, high in total fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt and contain a never-ending list of ingredients. They can also be expensive and cost-prohibitive for many.

Having more plant-based, meat alternatives seems like it can only be a positive change, unless the marketing of these products and growing abundance of choice only serve to confuse the consumer into believing they need to eat these options to be healthy. Ultimately, no two people are the same and no two people have exactly the same needs when it comes to diet and nutrition.

— Kelsey Leckovic is a registered dietitian with Northern Health working in chronic disease management.

CP file photo Ethan Brown, centre, CEO of Beyond Meat, attends the opening bell ceremony with guests to celebrate the company’s IPO at Nasdaq on May 2 in New York.

‘I

HELP OUT AS MUCH AS I CAN’

LSENIORS’ SCENE

KATHY NADALIN

ongtime volunteer Janet (Parrish) Dahlberg, one of four children, was born in 1938 in Grande Prairie, Alta. She was raised and schooled in Bezanson, Alta. She grew up on a farm and it was her job to look after the farm animals, help with milking the cows and help during the haying season.

After high school, she moved to Nelson in 1955 and worked in a housekeeping position.

She moved to Prince George in 1956 and that is where she met her future husband Ralph Dahlberg. She met him at a dance; they became friends and got married one year later and, as they say, the rest is history.

Ralph, an only child, was born in Port Arthur, Ont. in 1934. He went to school in Ontario until he was 14 and then his family moved to Prince George in 1948 for work in the lumber industry.

Ralph started working at the age of 16. His first job was working for Evanson Sawmill.

He worked as a jail guard for 10 years and decided that this was not an ideal job and not his type of work. Ralph moved his family to Nanaimo where he worked in a lumber yard. Ten years later, they moved back to Prince George for a better job and he went back to the bush. working for logging contractors.

When the children started to arrive, Janet became a stay-at-home mom. When they were in school, she worked at the ski hill at Ferndale for nearly four years, waxing skies and fitting customers with the right skies they would need for their day on the hill.

Time went by and she took up the responsibility of looking after Ralph’s aged parents until they passed away.

Janet said, “We were married for 54 years when sadly Ralph passed away in 2011. We had our ups and downs like any other married couple but we always worked our way through it. Ralph was a people person. He was always interested in the history of Prince George and loved to relate that history as a topic of conversation.

“When I came to Prince George in 1957, there were no highways into town and the streets were not anything like they are now. It was a time when a handshake meant something and no one needed lawyers. I have always liked Prince George; we made a good life here and as we raised our children. We made sure that they learned good life lessons.

“Ralph retired in 2006 and started a small stump grinding business. It was hard work but it was also satisfying because I

At 81, Janet Dahlberg continues being an active volunteer in the community and values the friendships she has formed in the process.

was able to help out by cleaning up and hauling away all the shavings. We enjoyed working together and at the end of the day we were pleased with all of our work.

“We first met at a dance and we continued dancing together until health issues took over and put an end to our dancing.”

They had three children; Susan, Wanda and Duane (deceased January 2019).

Janet was proud to say that she has three grandchildren and one great grandchild.

Janet was always willing to give back to her community. When the children were growing up, she volunteered with anything to do with their activities and kept a big garden at the same time. She played baseball in her younger years and enjoyed being on a softball team with her daughters.

Over the years, Janet and Ralph volunteered together at the Hart Pioneer Centre selling raffle tickets and working at their dances. Janet served on the board and is a past president. She used to knit items for their craft cabinet, worked in catering, helped out with bingo and was available to help out as needed.

She still helps out in catering and at the

dances and said, “I am now 81 and I help out as much as I can. I still take time out to play cards, read, and do my carpet bowling at the Tenth Avenue and Fourth Avenue senior centres. We have a lot of fun carpet bowling and the teams travel out of town together to participate in carpet bowling tournaments.

“I highly recommend belonging to senior centres. They have so much to offer and they are a great place to meet people and make new friends.

“I have always enjoyed my volunteer work over the years because it made me feel good about myself. The best part of it was that I met a lot of people and made some great long-lasting friendships.”

June birthdays that I know about: Matt Pauley, Marlene Ongman, Egil Lindquist, June Chamberland, Linda Earles, Clarence Switzer, Diane Sultano, Ivor Buchi, Louise Bundock, Jean Liversidge, Gladys Thorp, Francine Bussieres, Ethel Rhodes, Carol Bailey, Linda Wenzel, Adele Mingay, Pauline Anderson, Lee Abra, Pam Meyer, Hilda Lipke, Otto Arndt, Connie Buchanan,

Robert Reid, Mary Kirby, Lois Bittner, Frank Mauro, Helen Checkley, Gladys Goyer, Euclide Goyer, Dody Morehouse, John Wemyss, Heather Carter, Don Carpenter, Keith McLachlan, Rod Holmes, Skip Cleave, Margaret Girling, Margaret McConaghy, Marlene Pauls, Joyce Antonation, Judy Green, Elaine Lamb, Louise Little, Marilyn Rayner, Lena Rossi, Susan Schaefer, Erwin Stoll, Doreen Gray, Linda Parkinson, Dave Erickson, Dave Stolar, Joan Griffiths, June Mackay, Ed Seidlitz, Terry Roy, Gena Fournier, Keith Anderson, Kay Wendland, Janice Burt, Gwen Tindill, Roberta Case, Ann Hiebert, Nancy Nieson, Shelley Major, Debbie Bisson and Colleen Lemon.

***

Wedding Anniversaries: 65 years for Mike and Louise Bundock, 63 years for Walter and Marilyn Shelest, 58 years for Otto and Janice Arndt, 54 years for Stan and Margaret Smith, 53 years for Dennis and Sandy Houston, 51 years for Otto and Lynn Kedl, 50 years for Terry and Heather Carter, 49 years for Tony and Dodie Bond, and four years for Mike and Helen Green.

FAMILY MEMORIES IN STORAGE

Ever since the basement flooded a few summers ago, the contents of my basement have been packed in boxes stacked in the middle of what should be a family room.

Everything is on an orange tarp, in boxes, in the way. The job is overwhelming and I have a lot of other things on my plate so I have been ignoring it for years. Like other people who have hoarding and guilt issues, if you glaze your eyes over the piled up boxes and “things” you have to go through, you don’t actually have to deal with it. If, however, you happen to make eye contact with the mess, then it starts to haunt you like a poltergeist. Boxes topple over, toys fling themselves across the floor and you run away from the tower of shame, taking refuge in your tidy-in-comparison upstairs. But you know that it is there – mocking

you. The box of cross-stitch supplies that you got from your grandma because she asked you if you liked crafts. The box with the random collection of “keepsakes” from grade school that you feel weird about throwing out. Eighteen boxes of assorted wires and cables that you feel compelled to keep. The boxes of clothes that the kids have outgrown and I couldn’t immediately part with. The unfinished projects… oh dear lord, the unfinished scrapbooks and photos to print and abandoned knitting projects. It is a lot to tackle in one go. So

mostly, I haven’t touched it. Except I have been feeling rather springcleany and in an effort to avoid being overwhelmed, I have been trying to deal with one box at a time. I had an extra fake Christmas tree that I donated to the Salvation Army. I sold or threw out some of the larger kids toys and, little by little, the basement floor is being revealed.

The indoor trampoline is gone and so is the slot car race track that never worked right. I packed up Thomas the Train and his little friends, along with the assorted tracks and I smiled, remembering how much our son loved them. I couldn’t quite part with the trains so I boxed them up and put them under the stairs to be dealt with another time. Around four or five boxes of kids clothes have been donated and I hope that they bring another family joy.

I was the lucky recipient of a lot of handme-downs and although it is awesome, sometimes the volume can get rapidly out of hand. As the kids grow through things so quickly, it feels like you are running around behind them picking up socks and pants and shirts that used to fit five minutes ago. Seventy-six per cent of parenting is sorting out clothes.

There is still a long way to go in the basement. At some point, we’ll have to move all the book boxes and paint the room and install flooring but I am hopeful that we will make this a useable space eventually. In the meantime, one box at a time, I am letting things go. Even some of the unfinished projects.

I am still hopeful that I will print photos of my kids.

Some day.

ARTS CENTRE SEEKS NEW ARTISTS

Aspiring artists have a special frame in which to show their talents this summer.

Omineca Arts Centre is hosting a group exhibition in July called Unfold. All the artists in this show will be emerging artists who “must be beginning their artist career” and no prior gallery or exhibition experience is required, said organizers.

“We want to support emerging artists by providing them with the opportunity to gain exposure, build on experience through the group gallery exhibition, add to their CV (curriculum vitae) and

network, as well as encourage them to continue their practice and get paid for their work,” said arts centre chair Jennifer Pighin.

Artists of any genre or working with any medium are encouraged to apply for the show. It was also pointed out that an artist can be starting out in thier creative pursuits but be of any age as well.

“Submissions will be vetted to ensure the artists are in the early stages of their career and that the content meets our vision of ‘a safe place for creativity to flourish,’” Pighin said. “At the same time, we encourage artists not to hold back, as often times art

can spark the challenging conversations that need to be had to reach the safe space in society.”

The application deadline is the end of June but organizers were confident that participation would be robust since, by definition, emerging artists were just learning their way through their processes and would have artwork at the ready.

“Unfolding ourselves through art can be scary, challenging, stressful, but most of all fulfilling,” said Pighin, touching on the title of the show. “We are excited to see this exhibition and emerging artists in our community Unfold. To Unfold is to

open up, unravel, expose and reveal while at the same time the audience gets the opportunity to receive and explore. We want it to be open ended so that each artist can express themselves freely. We hope that our audience and community will untangle their own understandings from each piece between the spaces of their lived experience and the intent of the work by the artist.”

To apply, please send an email to info@ ominecaartscentre.com. The email must contain contact details for the artist, a short artist bio, a short artist statement and up to five images of proposed art.

THE CHOICE EVERY ADDICT HAS

Iam grateful today for your comments, the silence and for this wonderful opportunity to write. These three things allow me to reflect, analyze and critique my own thinking. I get to question my words and my way of being. As an academic and scholar, I wish to engage in debate. To clarify my thoughts, I need to hear different opinions. You give me this opportunity and for that I am grateful. In that process I get to learn, I get to know me and in that, I reveal myself to me. It is truly a gift.

Addiction is cunning, baffling and powerful. It is both a choice and it is not. I choose to pick up, but did not choose the genetic and biological reaction I have when taking that drug/drink. I react differently than you. Most people become sleepy or nauseated when they drink too much or take narcotic drugs. Me? I become energized and happy, I feel extremely good and happy in my skin. Something wonderful and powerful happens to me when I imbibe in all that. Take another example, which bears repeating. Biochemically I am different than you when I swallow the antibiotic Sulpha. For years, I took this drug without any adverse reaction. When first prescribed, this medication targeted only the infection. I did not react negatively or break out in a rash. After time though, with repeated exposure, I suddenly and without explanation, developed an allergy to it. I broke out in hives, I became itchy and red. The same medication no longer targeted just the bacteria, it now attacked me. Something changed within me to make my body react differently to the very same drug. I

once consumed it without any trouble or annoyance but now, with continued exposure combined with my unique biological makeup, I am allergic to it and can no longer safely consume it.

Had I continued taking this medication, I might have died. This “disease” (i.e., allergy) might have progressed. All diseases and substances act like this. My biological genetic makeup determines how I react when specific substances enter my system. Some people do not react adversely when penicillin is given. Others can take it for years before an allergy develops. Some have an immediate life-threatening, anaphylactic reaction while others do not. That is the same for substance abuse. Brain scans reveal that something changes within addicts/alcoholics when they take their substance of choice. It is here that I am not responsible. I am not responsible for my biological, genetic makeup. I am not responsible for the hives, the itchiness, the biochemical differences within me, but I am responsible if I choose to pick up. Hope this helps to clarify. It has certainly for me.

– Questions for Ann? Send your submissions (anonymously, if you choose) to columns@pgcitizen.ca and we’ll pass them along.

SHAKESPEARE CAMPS TO BEGIN ANON

97/16 STAFF

Shakespeare shakes the summer once again.

The spring could hardly change over without the casting call for young actors interested in the most classic of stage experiences. Classes by Shooting Stars Theatre, under the leadership of acting coach and director Melissa Glover, have become as regular as the seasons.

“This is a great opportunity for those interested in learning the play process and honing acting skills and making lifelong friendships in the process,” said Glover.

The deadline to register for the Shakespeare camp is July 6. It then starts on July 8 with day camps from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. initially, switching on July 22 to evening dress rehearsals and performances through to the 26th.

“This intensive will focus on putting on an abridged Shakespeare play,” Glover said.

All the Shooting Stars activities happen at the Theatre NorthWest facility, giving the kids a taste of real, professional pro-

duction spaces and tools.

Glover is raising the curtain on more than just the great bard’s work. A modern drama class is also set for local youth.

“(We are) offering two summer performance intensives this year at Theatre NorthWest,” Glover said.

The second intensive will take place July 22 to Aug. 2 from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, working towards two public performances on Aug. (2 and 7:30 p.m.).

“This intensive will focus on presenting a modern play,” said Glover.

The deadline to register for the modern theatre program is July 20.

“These intensives are a great experience for young actors, aged 8 to 18, who are interested in learning about all the aspects that go into making a play, the rehearsal process, and developing and perfecting their acting skills,” said Glover, who is in her seventh year of operating these summertime experiences.

The cost for each intensive is $405.

Registration can be done via the Theatre NorthWest website or email Glover at shootingstarstheatre@gmail.com.

LIMELIGHT QUEST SEEKS NEWEST STAR

FRANK PEEBLES

97/16 staff

The pursuit of the limelight is back for another summer.

This all-local singing competition builds the Prince George region’s music scene, creates a tight network of singing friends, and floats on the fun of a competitive format.

Limelight Quest 2019 registration is now open, with a maximum of 32 competitors at the start. Entry fee is $35.

“Last year, there was a waiting list, so singers should sign up early to avoid disappointment,” said the event’s founder, Dawn Boudreau.

“We are now in our ninth year, having begun as Prince George Idol in 2011,” said Boudreau, the event’s director and herself a recording artist and concert singer. “We are always excited to meet the new, up and coming singers of PG. There’s always some lovely surprises discovering new talent.”

As each round of the competition takes place, Boudreau and special guests take

these aspiring singers under their wing, learning stage presence and musical techniques as they go.

“It’s really all about self-improvement as an artist, and I look forward to personally helping each contestant through the process so that they can deliver their very best performances,” she said.

This competition is for solo singers only, aged 13 or older (no maximum age).

Singers may have an accompanist on stage with them, use an instrument for selfaccompaniment, or they can sing with a recorded instrumental track (like a karaoke background) as long as no lyrics are in front of them.

The competitors will be divided into four preliminary events spaced between July 28-31. A shortlist from each of the preliminary rounds will move on to a pair of semi-final events (one Aug. 6 and one Aug. 7). These events take place at the Cowboy Ranch starting at 7 p.m. each time (all ages are welcome to attend, $10 cover fee at the door).

Limelight Looks Back

Eight past winners of the Limelight Quest competition will join for a one-nightonly showcase concert to kick off the summer singing competition. Come out to enjoy the prize-winning talents of  Mesa Passey, Grace Hoksbergen, Kiziah Arias, Chris Potts, Arilynne Barks, Jaymie Walker, Fizza Rashid, Trisha McCreery, and supporting musicians who will combine for a night of celebration and inspiration.

This showcase will remind the public what talent lies within the community of Prince George and what stars the Limelight Quest competition has found over the years. They get to relive the excitement without the pressure of competition.

Limelight Quest Stars ‘19 happens July 12 at 7 p.m. at the Northwood Plaza Banquet Hall (2280 John Hart Hwy). Tickets are $12 and available in advance only via the Eventbrite website.

For more information, or to reserve tables of eight (purchase tickets first, then request grouping), please email limelightquest@gmail.com.

“Eight finalists, decided via a carefully honed points system through audience voting, will sing at the BCNE on Friday, August 16th for the final level of the competition, and this is where the amazing prize packages will be awarded,” said Boudreau.

Prize packages include performance opportunities, photo shoots, recording sessions, cash and more. Full prize lists can be seen at the Limelight Quest website.

“There are no auditions for this competition. If you think you have what it takes, you sign up,” Boudreau said.

97/16 file photo

Katriel Hrankowski as Olivia and Olivia White as Viola rehearse Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night during Shooting Stars, the annual Shakespeare camp for kids at Theatre NorthWest, last summer.

LESSONS FROM THE RAPTORS RUN

In our age of enormous salaries for professional athletes and overpriced tickets to sporting events, there are many reasons why the Toronto Raptors winning the National Basketball League championship is worth celebrating.

Behind all of the hype, the team succeeded because they were built on the solid principles.

First and foremost, the Raptors won with tremendous class. It was quite clear that the two teams in the final series had great respect for each other. Before answering questions about his team’s loss, Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr said, “they’re a fantastic basketball team. Great defensively, share the ball, play a beautiful style…. Congrats to Toronto, to their organization, to their fans, they are a worthy champion.”

Golden State lost some key players as the series went on, but Toronto players made it clear that they were never happy to see an exceptional opponent hobbling off the court. When Kevin Durant reinjured his leg in game 5, Serge Ibaka and Kyle Lowry not only walked with him, they motioned to the crowd to stop cheering. The hometown fans relented and even showed remorse, with one setting up a Go Fund Me campaign for The KD Charity Foundation.

From a basketball point of view, I cannot remember a time when I have seen the sport played at such an exceptional level. Yes, there were great individual players, but here we had two extremely well coached teams each playing as one unit on both the offensive and defensive ends of the court. I do not believe it would be an exaggeration to say that sport was elevated to the level of

an art form.

LESSONS IN LEARNING

GERRY CHIDIAC

The Raptors, however, not only impacted the world of basketball, they inspired an entire country. Despite the fact that basketball was invented by a Canadian, Toronto is traditionally a hockey city and Canada is a hockey country. Yet this year, viewership for the NBA finals far exceeded interest in the Stanley Cup.

Perhaps this is because the Raptors, the most ethnically diverse team ever to win an NBA championship, were a reflection of Toronto and of Canada. Players were from six different countries and the team president represented a seventh.

The fans were just as diverse as the Raptors. This could be seen as millions lined the streets of Toronto for the team’s victory parade, joined the crowds that cheered for the team at various Jurassic Parks around the country and even travelled to California to cheer on their team when they were in Oakland. Indeed, the team’s superfan, Nav Bhatia, who has been to every home game for the last 24 years and can always be seen in seat A12, is a Sikh immigrant to Canada.

As the Raptors party winds down, we can reflect on how basketball and the world are changing. Africa, in particular, is strongly represented in the Raptors organization. Veteran player Serge Ibaka, the pride of Brazzaville, won his first NBA title, as did

Pascal Siakam of Cameroon. The entire team was put together by Raptors president Masai Ujiri, who is from Nigeria. He has also been instrumental in providing opportunities for African youth to develop their basketball skills and stands behind the Basketball Africa League, which begins play in 2020, becoming the first NBA sponsored league outside of North America.

I absolutely treasured the Raptors’ championship run, not only because I love basketball and I am from Toronto, but because the team represents so much of what I believe in. Diversity is strength and

diversity is to be celebrated. Work hard to be your best, but commend others and thus create synergy. Honour your opponent and remember that true competition does not mean to win – it means to strive to be better together.

These are all lessons of far greater value than even the richest NBA contract.

Thank you, Raptors! — Gerry Chidiac is a champion for social enlightenment, inspiring others to find their greatness in making the world a better place. For more of his writings, go to www.gerrychidiac.com.

RADIO STATION

HOSTING YOUTH

ACADEMY

97/16 STAFF

Prince George youth can get on the live media wavelength.

CFUR 88.7 FM has opened a channel to the broadcasting industry, offering kids aged 14-18 their annual youth academy.

“Following up on three successful years, CFUR is very excited to once again offer this ever improving camp,” said station manager Ian Gregg. “This camp is a great opportunity for young people to get a head start at a career in media, or just have fun making radio. CFURadio Youth Academy is a 10-day radio camp. Participating youth will be encouraged to learn the art of radio-based entertainment, podcasts, and reporting. They will also learn technical skills relating to production and editing. By the end of the two weeks, each camper will create their very own hour-long program to be broadcasted on the radio.”

The camp also gives participants a working knowledge of the university’s layout. CFUR is the campus station for UNBC and is situated at room 6-354 in the Student Centre.

There are three timing options to choose from for those interested in signing up. The first of these windows starts July 2 and the last one ends on Aug. 23.

“Youth, everywhere, have a voice,” said Gregg. “We show them how to turn their volume up. In this ever changing media landscape it is important for those who are interested in pursuing a future in this discipline to accumulate as many skills as possible and mentorship is key. Everybody has a passion. It might be bugs, track and field, drawing, hockey, stringtheory, mountaineering, or it might be radio. You’ll never know unless you’re allowed to try.”

The added benefit of learning media skills is how transferable those are to any other interest or career you might pursue later. Media provides built-in marketing and messaging techniques.

“Payment for the camp works on a sliding scale, ranging from $40 to $400 depending on the campers’ financial situation,” said Gregg.

If you are interested in learning more about this summer’s academy, please visit www.cfur.ca/radio-camp/ for the registration form, day plans, cool videos, past photos, and more.

Those interested are invited to reach out to Gregg (stationmanager@cfur.ca) or community outreach coordinator Kate Partridge (cfur_hello@cfur.ca) for additional information.

CP photo

Toronto Raptors centre Serge Ibaka, left, and Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam celebrate after defeating the Golden State Warriors.

In which province or territory can you visit the attractions below?

A. Skate on the longest skating rink in the world: The RideAu CAnAl

B. Go on a cruise on The Bluenose ii, the ship made famous on our dime.

C. Marvel at one of the northernmost sand dunes in the world: AThABAsCA sAnd dunes

d. Sleep in the northernmost lodge in the world: The ARCTiC WATCh lodge

e. Watch the sun rise at CApe speAR, the easternmost point of North America.

F. Go Heli-hiking in The BugABoos

g. Climb Canada’s highest peak: MounT logAn

h Come visit the largest collection of marine reptile fossils in Canada at The CAnAdiAn Fossil disCoveRy CenTRe

i. Discover pRovinCe house, where Canada was born.

J. Wander through The WRiTing-on-sTone pRovinCiAl pARk and discover pictograph rock art.

k. Walk the ocean floor at hopeWell RoCks

l. Stun your eyes with The AuRoRA BoReAlis

M. Sleep in an iCe hoTel

Match the attraction with the province or territory.

1. neWFoundlAnd:

2. novA sCoTiA

3. pRinCe edWARd islAnd:

4. neW BRunsWiCk:

5. QueBeC:

6. onTARio:

BRiTish ColuMBiA:

noRThWesT TeRRiToRies:

GAME FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN A BIG HIT

FRANK PEEBLES

A local tabletop game designer-author has gotten his latest project kick-started by Kickstarter.

Chris Dias is a veteran of the fantasy gaming world, with several designs and books to his credit. His latest project is called Ultramodern5. The public got on board and infused the business case with $83,000, which was more than quintuple the original goal.

“This campaign, like my first (for his Amethyst game/book project), is centered around a role-playing game, specifically the popular Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) rule-set,” Dias said. “D&D permits third-party publishers to publish using their rules, so it’s a popular option for writers that wish to avoid writing their rules from scratch. And thankfully, Kickstarter is welcoming to tabletop games, one of the most successful genres on the

platform. Gaming earned over $1-billion last year, and tabletop made up 69 per cent of that, so it’s perfect for projects like mine. It also helps that by the time I started my crowdfunding, I had been a publisher for 10 years and amassed a mailing list of nearly 4,000 people.”

The original stated hope for the Kickstarter campaign was to crowd-source about $15,000. It raked in $10,000 in its first day, passed its intended goal within 38 hours and and kept surging. Dias called the final total “shocking” and to his knowledge qualifies him for the highest total ever achieved on the Kickstarter platform for a Prince George concept.

He once held that record when he raised money for Amethyst, but that was surpassed by the $45,000 collected by local film The Doctor’s Case which, by coincidence, Dias was also a co-producer of.

“Now I’m back on top,” he said.

Dias said he did not leave the Kickstart-

GUITAR AUCTION RAISES MONEY FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

David Gilmour performs in July 2016 at the ancient Roman amphitheatre at the Pompeii archeological site in Italy. An auction of more than 120 guitars owned by the Pink Floyd guitarist, singer and songwriter raised $21.5 million for a nonprofit group fighting climate change.

NEW YORK - An auction of David Gilmour’s guitars has raised a lot of “Money” - to combat climate change.

Christie’s auction house says it raised $21.5 million Thursday, selling off more than 120 guitars owned by the Pink Floyd guitarist, singer and songwriter. Proceeds went to ClientEarth, a non-profit fighting climate change.

The items included guitars by Fender, Rickenbacker, Ovation, Gibson, C.F.

er process to chance. He invested about $7,000 in pre-campaign promotion.

“If you want to win at Kickstarter, one must be prepared to market,” he said. “I was also lucky in that I had worked with the same artist for all the time, and he was able to create a lot of cool visuals for the page. That and voice actor Mark Meer, who provided the narration for my trailer.”

Dias has to invest that Ultramodern5 windfall in the human resources he has tapped into to advance the project, and Kickstarter gets its hosting fee. Paying the creation bills - artists, web designers, etc. - is exactly what such campaigns for for.

“What’s left goes into production, shipping, and distribution with enough left over for me,” said Dias.

It is possible some other elements of the Ultramodern5 creation might need additional crowd-sourcing of funds. Dias

set modest goals, but the expected total production investment is still more than what he took in with this Kickstarter injection.

“What I didn’t realize when I started the project was how much the campaign possesses you,” he said. “I’d check the campaign every 10 minutes. I’d wake up early to check it. I kept track with Excel so I could measure how successful certain marketing campaigns were. I couldn’t focus on really anything else until the campaign’s conclusion. Now that’s it’s over, we’re still handling post campaign admin until the pledge-manager goes up. Then it will be hardcore writing and production design.”

Dias said the game has a time target as well.

“We plan on a November release for the digital book with the physical printing coming shortly after,” he said.

ABOUT US

• Colleen Sparrow, publisher and GM

• Neil Godbout, editor-in-chief

• Shawn Cornell, director of advertising

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• Visit https://bit.ly/2S9W4zW to find the location nearest you to pick up extra copies of 97/16.

Martin and Gretsch, including guitar cases, a banjo and amps.

A black Stratocaster - dubbed the “Black Strat” - was the top item and was snatched up for $3,975,000, a new world record for a guitar at auction.

Gilmour tweeted: “We need a civilized world that goes on for all our grandchildren and beyond in which these guitars can be played and songs can be sung.”

n July 16, 1969, three astronauts and two spacecraft were launched into space to do things man had never done before. They would hear and see things no man or woman had ever seen or heard. They were the first humans to land a man on the moon!

The crew was in this command module for lifto and again for splashdown.

The lunar module, the spacecraft that would land on the moon, was carried into space here. The lower sections of the rocket lifted the crew into space, but after fuel was used up they were released to fall back to Earth.

Ready for Lifto

Why two spacecrafts?

Kid

Walking on the Moon

On July 20, 1969 the Eagle left the safety of the Columbia and headed to the moon. For a nerve-wracking period of time the astronauts looked for a level place to land before they ran out of fuel. With only seconds to go, they found a level spot in an area named the Sea of Tranquility.

The men and the two small spacecraft sat attached to the top of a powerful rocket called a Saturn (Saturn Five – V is the Roman numeral for the number

The Columbia took the three astronauts to the moon. The other smaller spacecraft, the Eagle, took two of the astronauts to the moon and back to the Columbia.

One of these astronauts had to stay back on the Columbia to fly it and be ready for the Eagle to return with the other two.

The Eagle (Lunar Module)

Slowly the astronauts landed and Neil Armstrong uttered the famous words, “The Eagle has landed.”

Back on Earth, people all over the world had been sitting on the edge of their seats as they watched and waited to know if the spacecraft was safe. They held their breath as it became apparent that fuel was running low.

When these famous words came

To nd the missing words from the sentences below, read today’s page. Fill in the missing words, then use the letters to nd the answer to the Mystery Question.

What did Neil Armstrong say as he stepped onto the moon?

was the astronaut who piloted the Columbia.

The name of the

_ that powered the trip to the moon was

Another name for the lunar

The

_ is the

would stay in the dust on the moon for

to come.

Spacey Math

Find three 3-digit numbers and add them up. Find three more 3-digit numbers and add them up. Do that one more time. Which set of three added up to the largest number?

With exquisite paintings and beautifully-crafted writing, you will feel like you were part of the first moon walk. You will feel like you too left footprints on that distant, dusty surface. The moment when Armstrong takes that first step onto the moon is full of excitement.

To discover the name of this book, find the letter on the outer ring, then replace it with the letter below it on the inner ring.

H F T A B P F D

V T P L

goal of sending a

Replace the missing words to read President Kennedy’s

“We choose to go to the ______ in this decade and do other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and __________ the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to ________, one we are unwilling to ________ and one which we intend to _______, and the others, too.”

What’s the moon made of? There’s an old saying that the moon is made out of green cheese. Come up with an imaginative description of what forms the moon.

© 2019 by Vicki Whiting, Editor Jeff Schinkel, Graphics Vol. 35, No. 29

Use the

Scoop Secret Decoder Ring to discover the name of this book by Robert Burleigh, paintings by Mike Wimmer, which is available at the library.

The

person to the moon was launched in a now famous speech by President Kennedy in 1961. In 1969, the first men walked on the moon.

famous speech.

PEOPLE WHO SPEND MORE TIME OUTSIDE LEAD MORE FULFILLING LIVES, STUDY SHOWS

THE WASHINGTON POST

It’s been established that people who spend more time in parks and other natural settings tend to report higher levels of health and happiness, but new research shows there’s actually a magic number for it.

According to a study published last week in the journal Nature Scientific Reports, spending 120 minutes a week strolling a tree-lined street or sitting by a lake can greatly enhance a person’s overall sense of well-being. Less time didn’t yield any significant benefit, the research showed.

Those who got in two to three hours in nature were about 20% more likely to report high overall satisfaction with their lives than those who spent no time outdoors at all. The benefits to physical health were even greater, with those who met the outdoors benchmark being 60% more likely to report being in good health than their cooped-in counterparts.

The figures were adjusted for a number of characteristics known to influence health and happiness, including socioeconomic factors, neighborhood characteristics and general demographics.

People who already spend a lot of time outdoors aren’t likely to find these results surprising: There’s already a substantial body of work linking green spaces to lower risks of heart disease, diabetes, obesity, asthma, mental health problems and overall mortality; and to greater rates of health, happiness, and cognitive development in children.

But most of these studies simply measured the physical characteristics of neighborhood environments. They didn’t actually ask people how often they experience the natural world to create a gauge of nature exposure at the individual level.

SOLUTION TO: BACK IN TOWN

Each theme answer contains a U.S. city spelled backward. The cities’ first letters spell AHA MOMENT, which contains OMAHA backward

That’s exactly what the current research does, using a nationally representative sample of 20,000 people living in England. The authors note their approach is similar to what governments have used in the past to develop physical activity guidelines for adults and children. They envision the creation of similar guidelines around exposure to nature.

Overall, they found, two hours or more of nature exposure had a significant impact: Its positive effect on an individual’s health and well-being was comparable to getting recommended amounts of exercise or of living in a high socioeconomic status area versus a low-status one.

They stress, however, that the effect is not necessarily a causal one. Though researchers controlled for a wide range of variables known to affect health and happiness, the study’s design didn’t allow them to completely rule out other factors that could result in higher health and happiness for nature lovers.

It may be the case, for instance, that people who are more inclined to be physically active and have a positive outlook on life are more likely to seek recreation opportunities outdoors. It may also be the case that being outside in nature, which typically involves a lot of moving around, may serve as a proxy for physical activity overall.

However, the authors note that other studies have demonstrated the benefits of being outside even in the absence of physical activity. Research in Japan, for instance, found that simply sitting passively in a natural environment can confer benefits to physical and mental health. Other research has shown that exercising outdoors provides a boost to mental health above and beyond what you’d get from doing the same exercise inside.

AROUND TOWN

Launching Romance

June 28

Romance novelist Brenda Margriet will be in person at Books & Company to meet readers, unveil her latest book, and celebrate past works. Come get a signature, talk with the author about favourite characters, and find out more about her Bendixon Sisters series set in Prince George. It’s free of charge to attend. Margriet will be there from 11-2.

Rock Hat-trick

June 28

Three bands are revving up the Omineca Arts Centre. Chiliocosm is the headliner, Cvstles is the support show, and local band The Handlebars is the opener. Chiliocosm from Grande Prairie is described as “combining soothing alternative grooves with energetic melodic punk rock creating a unique blend of emotional fueled fire.”

Sherwood Park’s Cvstles is called “pop punk as interpreted by four metalheads and one sadboi.”

The Handlebars will bring the “PG mayhem” based on “their own brand of rock/punk. The Handlebars bring you high energy, juicy riffage.”

Tickets are $10 at the door. Showtime is 8 p.m. for this licensed all-ages show.

Drum Circle

June 30

To promote cultural understanding, improve knowledge of Dakelh language and customs, and bring everyone together for primal fun, come to the Omineca Arts Centre Drum Circle from 2-4 p.m. Free to attend, all welcome, no experience necessary.

Canada Day

July 1

Canada Day In The Park is the city’s beloved annual birthday bash for Canada. Live music, dancing, ethnic costume, a cultural food festival, community booths, kids’ activities and much more come to vivid life at Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park and it finishes with a fireworks display at 11 p.m. – all for families, all for free.

Dominion Day

July 1

Take a trip to the past and celebrate Canada’s birthday the old-fashioned way at Huble Homestead, the city’s living museum with pioneer farmhouse, barns, general store, post office blacksmith shop, fish drying camp, and much more.

The Little Prince steam engine makes its way around the tracks during 2018 Canada Day celebrations at Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park.

Enjoy heritage demonstrations and music throughout the day, and take part in the Dominion Day festivities by joining in pioneer games and races, eating contests, a special Canadian treasure hunt, and crafts! Join the parade across the site and afterwards enjoy a free piece of birthday cake, then kick back and relax with a hot meal from the BBQ.

Admission by donation (recommended $10 for this event).

Sewing Camps

Starts July 2

Registration is now open for Sewing For Young Children and for Sewing Camps-Beginners, a pair of fiber art summer programs for youngsters being offered by the costume department at Theatre NorthWest. The Sewing For Young Children classes run July 2-5 with options for morning (9 a.m. start) or afternoon (1:30 p.m. start). This class is designed for young children with an interest in learning to sew, ideal ages 8-10 years old. The class consists of 3 hours per day for 4 days.

The Sewing Camps-Beginners program runs July 22-26 afternoons only starting each day at 1:30. The ideal ages are 1015 years (as young as 8 for experienced kids) with no experience necessary. It runs three hours per day, producing a

project each day.

Sign up at the Theatre NorthWest website.

Art Monkeys

July 3

From now to August 21, kids can take part in the Art Monkeys Summer Camp at Studio 2880. Cost is $45 from 9-11:30 a.m. for children 6-11 years. Please bring a light snack. Call 250-563-2880 or email arts@studio2880.com to register, or do so online at www.studio2880.com.

Petunia’s Vipers

July 5

Enigmatic but beloved band Petunia & The Vipers comes to Prince George for a rare concert appearance. Their last four consecutive albums have gone to No. 1 on the Canadian Folk/Blues/Americana charts. Petunia and his snaky road crew perform a wide hybrid of musical sounds dating back to the 1920s but all the way up to ‘70s radio gold, including in the mix elements of country, blues, swing, alt-country-rock, Mexicana, French cabaret, Romanian, ragtime, jazz, punk and folk. In addition to frontman Petunia, the group also includes acclaimed players Stephen Nikleva on electric guitar and

Jimmy Roy on the lap steel guitar. Others have been known to join. Catch them at The Legion. Doors at 8:30, showtime 9:30. Cover is $15.

Homemade Funny

July 5

Prince George’s Funniest Person With A Day-Job comes back to the Sonar Comedy & Nightclub stage. If you have the material, come out for the big reveal. Limited number of spots available. Contact Sonar to sign up.

KidzArt Dayz

July 5 & 6

A big happy mess gets made downtown each summer. It’s time again for BMO KidzArt Dayz on inside and out front of the Two Rivers Gallery. This creative blast brings art, music, movement and family fellowship into Canada Games Plaza where everything is hands on and high fun, all for free. It runs 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. both days, and gallery memberships will be for sale for half-price to get families connected to year-round creativity at the region’s top visual arts facility.

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97/16 file photo

AROUND TOWN

Continued from page 17

Fraser Opera

July 5-7

The opera classic La Boheme is presented live at Theatre NorthWest for three days only. Fraser Lyric Opera presents Giacomo Puccini’s beloved opera La Bohème, the story of four starving artists living in a garret apartment in Paris and their passion and fight for art and love. It is a universal story interlaced with powerful music that audiences cannot help but feel drawn into.

Shows at 7 p.m. on July 5 and 6, or 2 p.m. on July 7. Get tickets online at the TNW website, at the Books & Company desk, or at the door while supplies last.

Pride Parade

July 6

One of the city’s favourite downtown events unfurls its rainbow flag and multicoloured personality. The Pride Parade is a flamboyant statement made on behalf of welcoming, embracing and celebrating diversity or all kinds, and standing up for safety of person and discussion. It is led by sexuality and gender equality but applies to all facets of Prince George culture and society. It starts at 11 a.m., moves through the downtown, and finishes with an afternoon festival at City Hall until 3 p.m. It is free to attend. To join the parade, contact the PG Pride Society.

Monster Trucks

July 6-7

The PGARA Speedway is truly the playground of power. The Malicious Monster Truck Insanity Tour comes to Prince George for a pair of shows (6 p.m.

Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday) with a wild herd of mega-machines, unique vehicle entertainment, and a pit party. Get tickets at all TicketsNorth platforms.

Fishing Education

July 6

Learn to fish at West Lake Provincial Park from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. It’s free, no registration required, all ages welcome. Presented through Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC, this introductory program is appropriate for kids 5-15 and their families. The half-day course will teach you the basics of how, when and where to catch fish in fresh water. Instructors will touch on identifying kinds of fish, rods and reels, casting, fishing ethics, and more.

Beastly Beauty

July 11-27

Judy Russell Presents brings incredibly popular musical theatre show Beauty & The Beast to the Prince George Playhouse stage for 15 shows. See the best of the city’s homegrown stage talent and the storytelling power of Disney in a live summer blockbuster. Get tickets at all Central Interior Tickets platforms.

Alive On Arrival

July 12

DOA is returning to Prince George. The iconic punk band, a natural treasure of Canadian counterculture, will be at The Legion along with local openers Children Of The Wave. Tickets are $15 in advance (at Handsome Cabin Boy Tattoo) or $20 at the door, while supplies last.

97/16 file photo

Kennedy Clement, left, and Shannon Fairservice play game of graces at Huble Homestead’s annual Spring on the Homestead event this past Victoria Day long weekend. Huble will be hosting Dominion Day special events on Monday.

AROUND TOWN

CrossRoads Music

July 13

The Chris Buck Band is the headliner, with opening acts Bralorne, SubTotal at the July edition of the CrossRoads Street Festival Series. These fun and safe adultoriented evenings will feature local craft beer, street food, outdoor party games and live music. This is a ticketed event for those 19+. The daytime all-ages street recreation event goes 10-3 for free, with a focus on the themes of motorsports, motocross and jetboating. Contact CrossRoads for more info. It’s all at 5th and George.

Downtown Summerfest

July 14

Downtown Prince George’s signature event in the summertime is a celebration of food, entertainment and activities for the whole family. Live music, merchant booths, arts and culture displays and much more make this a day to circle on the calendar, headlined by the popular food pavilion. The extravaganza runs 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Canada Games Plaza.

Writer’s Workshop

July 18

Internationally renowned Canadian writer George Elliott Clarke will teach the writing craft at Island Mountain Arts in Wells. He’s calling his seminar Rooting Deep And Branching Out: Seeding The Poetic Imagination. Class size is limited to 10 seats for the four days.

Live Stagg

July 24

Popular local painter Erin Stagg will set up her easel at Café Voltaire from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for a live painting demonstration that is part instructive and part entertaining. “Come watch Erin bop to tunes and create a painting start to finish. It’s magical,” said organizers. “Erin Stagg is best known for her diverse range of colourful acrylic and oil paintings. Her style ranges from thoughtful, such as her Flora and Fauna collection to light-hearted and comical, like her Yoga animal collection.” Free to attend. Enjoy the food and browse the shelves at Books & Company.

Red Green

Sept. 26

He’s colourful in name and deed. Red Green is the bumbling but pleasantly practical TV fix-it man, the clown prince of duct tape, the sage of the man-shed. This Canadian comedy icon is coming to Vanier Hall on his Red Green-This Could Be It Tour. His PG shows are always a sell-out. Get tickets at the TicketsNorth website/box office.

Patrick, Scott & Tessa

Oct. 12

During last year’s sold out Thank You Canada tour, it was clear to figure skating superstars, Tessa Virtue, Scott Moir and Patrick Chan, that they were far from done creating and developing a new style of skating entertainment. They and some special guest performers come back to CN Centre to show the Prince George fans what they’ve come up with next. Rock The Rink is the first edition of an annual tour that focuses on being more than a figure skating show. Combining the highest level of on-ice superstar talent with an ever-evolving touring production, Rock The Rink will produce the highest value of entertainment in the figure skating realm. This year – along with upgrades to lighting, video and interactive technology – live music will be introduced to the show, with featured special musical guest, Birds of Bellwoods.

Burton, Live

Oct. 18

Canada’s piano man, the Guess Who’s epic vocalist, the only artist inducted into the nation’s music Hall of Fame for both his band and his solo career, the incomparable Burton Cummings is coming to PG. He was the power voice propelling American Woman, These Eyes, No Time, Clap For The Wolfman and many other hits of the groundbreaking band The Guess Who, but then when he went solo he continued the multi-platinum success with I Will Sing A Rhapsody, Stand Tall, My Own Way To Rock, Fine State Of Affairs, You Saved My Soul, Break It To Them Gently, and more besides. Cummings will be solo at the piano at Vanier Hall. Tickets are on sale now through all TicketsNorth platforms.

World Curling

March 14 start

Don’t let the date fool you. The event may be in 2020 but the plans are underway now and the tickets are on sale for this Prince George groundbreaker. P.G. goes global as the host of the World Women’s Curling Championships starting. Get your tickets

now, and spread the word to friends and family everywhere that this is the time to come spend some Prince George time, and get a close, personal view of the world-class action the rest of the winter sports community will only get to see on TV. Oh yeah, and there’s also the great social side of curling – there’ll be no bigger party in Canada. Contact Tickets North for tickets and info.