Prince George Citizen March 30, 2019

Slick move

Feds showcase electric vehicle plan

Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff

Federal cabinet member Carolyn Bennett played up her government’s plan to put more zero-emission vehicles on the road when she was in Prince George on Friday. She outlined a two-pronged strategy beginning with a rebate of up to $5,000 to purchase a vehicle powered by an electric battery or hydrogen fuel cell and with a price up to $45,000. A total of $300 million over three years has been committed to that program.

Added to that, businesses who buy them will be eligible for a full write off on their capital cost allowance in the year of purchase, compared to 30 per cent per year allowed for gas-fueled vehicles. And the limit will be $55,000 plus sales tax, up from $30,000.

“This can become a hugely, hugely important incentive for fleets to change over to zero-emission vehicles,” Bennett said during a media event at UNBC.

In answer to a concern the $45,000 cap will limit the choice of vehicles people can purchase

and still get the incentive, Bennett said those looking at pricier vehicles, “probably don’t need the rebate to make that choice.”

However, she said it’s possible the made-in-Canada Chrysler Pacifica minivan could be included at a future date.

The incentive was included in the federal budget released earlier this month, as was a $130-million commitment over five years to establish more charging stations across the country. It comes on top of $182.5 million committed to that cause in previous budgets.

“We want to make it easier for Canadians to make greener choices by making it more convenient to use electric vehicles,” Bennett said, speaking from a podium placed between two electric-powered vehicles and in front of one of the two charging stations on the UNBC campus.

Suzanne Goldberg of ChargePoint, who also attended the event, said a target for the number of charging stations the $130 million should deliver has not yet been set but the previous com-

mitment of $182.5 million was to support about 900 of them.

The aim is to have all vehicles sold in Canada being zeroemission by 2040. In the lead up, gas-free vehicles would make up 10 per cent of market by 2025, and 30 per cent by 2030 under the strategy.

The transportation sector accounts for 25 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions and three-quarter of that come from trucks, cars and commercial vehicles, Bennett said.

On the controversy over former Justice Minister Jody WilsonRaybould’s claim she was unduly pressured to intervene in the criminal case of SNC-Lavalin, Bennett maintained it came down to a difference of opinion over two legal options.

“We’re sorry that she felt that she needed to resign from cabinet, it was an important voice at that table but all of the Indigenous caucus members are really important to how we go forward and we need that perspective and view,” she said.

Van driver found at fault in collision with cyclist

Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca

A B.C. Supreme Court Justice has found a driver completely at fault for a collision in which a bike rider ran into the side of his van as he was backing the vehicle out of a driveway and into an alley.

Counsel representing the driver, Anthony Gordon Fane, had argued an action brought by the rider, Sean Samuel Rainey, should be dismissed because he was the author of his own misfortune. At the most, the liability should be split 50-50, Fane’s counsel, David Bilkey, contended.

But Justice Dev Dley found otherwise saying Fane backed up into the lane despite being unable to see if there was other traffic in the pathway.

“In essence, he was blindly backing up into a roadway,” Dley said in a decision issued March 8.

Recounting testimony heard during a trial spread over six days, Dley said Rainey was riding his mountain bike down the middle of a well-maintained lane with a descending grade and a gradual curve to the right on the morning of Aug. 12, 2006.

Dley said a solid wooden fence ran adjacent to the lane and ended at the corner of Fane’s property, blocking the view into his driveway for anyone travelling on the path Rainey was taking. Similarly, Fane’s “view of a traveller coming down the lane would also be blocked by the same fence.”

Rainey testified the collision happened in “a blink of an eye,” with the van suddenly before him.

He told the court he struck the back door on the driver’s side, smashed through the window and was then flung backwards and ended up against a fence.

While Rainey was generally consistent in his version of events

Rainey testified the collision happened in “a blink of an eye,” with the van suddenly before him.

while under cross examination, Dley said there were two “glaring contradictions” between the testimony he gave at trial and during an examination for discovery.

The day before the collision, Rainey had been travelling back to Prince George from Saskatchewan. At trial he denied smoking marijuana because the driver’s child was with them, but at discovery Rainey said he had “smoked it all the way from Saskatchewan.”

And at trial, Rainey said his hands were on the handle bars as he coasted down the lane but during discovery, he said his hands were on top of the bike’s bull horns – extensions off the ends of the handle bars.

Dley accepted Rainey’s evidence from discovery – that he had been smoking and his hands were on the bull horns – over that given at trial, noting discovery took place in 2009 and so, his memory of the event would have been better at that time.

More important, Dley found the contradictions did not cause him to doubt Rainey’s reliability.

“Not every contradiction or difference in evidence from a discovery to trial necessarily results in the rejection of a witnesses’ testimony,” Dley wrote in his decision. “It is the significance of the contradictions within the context of the entire body of evidence that leads to the rejection, in whole or in part, of a witnesses’ testimony.”

— see RAINEY, page 3

of Crown-Indigenous Relations Carolyn Bennett spoke at UNBC Friday morning about the federal governments budget with regards to clean energy.

Special Olympic champion

Linda Renner, centre, holds up the three medals she won in singles and doubles 10 pin bowling at the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Abu Dhabi. With her are her sister Rose Renner, left, and Selen Alpay. Renner and Alpay travelled to Aub Dhabi to watch her compete. Team Canada took home 90 gold, 37 silver and 28 bronze medals for a total of 155 medals. A total of 7,500 athletes from 192 countries competed in 20 sports at the games.

New directors join chamber board

Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca

New grassroots leadership has been installed in the city’s premier business association.

At the annual general meeting of the Prince George Chamber of Commerce, held Wednesday at Trench Brewing and Distillery, a new executive and board was voted into place.

At the head of the board table, Lorna Wendling, partner with accounting firm Deloitte, will be returning for a second year as president.

“I am thrilled to be returning for a second term as president,” said Wendling.

“We aggressively pursued a number of initiatives this past year and continue to engage the membership on the issues that matter most to them. While we have maintained continuity with continuing members of the board, new members represent fresh ideas and perspectives that will facilitate new dialogue and opportunities, particularly as we implement the new five-year strategic plan.”

Leading the practicalities of day to day chamber activities is CEO Todd Corrigall, who welcomed the new board saying, “Through 2018, we implemented a tremendous amount of change and new opportunities for members. We continue to evolve our processes, developing greater alignment with the needs of businesses in Prince George at the forefront. The incoming board represents a strong diversity of business and verticals in our community, creating greater synergies.”

The 2018-2019 Chamber Board of Directors consists of:

Executive

• President: Lorna Wendling, partner, Deloitte (2nd term)

• Vice-President of Finance: Frankie Albano, partner, TBJ LLP (former VP, now VP finance)

• Vice-President: Kiel Giddens, Public Affairs BC, TransCanada (new VP)

• Vice-President: Peter Sia, dealer principle, Northland Nissan and Hyundai (returning)

• Past-President: Corey Naphtali, part-

ner, KPMG (continuing)

Directors (new)

• Stephanie Leong, lawyer, Heather Sadler Jenkins

• Matt Hutcheon, owner, Taxwerx Canada

• Scott Lunn, general manager, Vista Radio

• Dave Halley, leader, Mr. Mikes Steakhouse

Directors (continuing)

• Kara Biles, manager of talent acquisition and workforce planner, Canfor (re-elected)

• Cathy MacKay, COO, EDI Environmental Dynamics

• Mark McVey, owner, Team Powerhouse Realty

• Ray Noonan, branch manager, Scotiabank

• Cheryl Stewart, sales manager, Courtyard by Marriott

• Terry Thiara, president, Lithium One/ Rippl

Wildfire centre adding three extra crews

Alaska Highway News

The Prince George Fire Centre is being bolstered with three new initial attack crews ahead of this year’s wildfire season.

One crew will be stationed in Prince George, while two other para-attack crews will be stationed at bases in either Mackenzie or Fort St. John.

Each crew is comprised of three people, and the para-attack crews are especially critical to getting to remote fires that are difficult to access by vehicle.

Those crews are deployed to wherever they are needed in the province, and up to four crews can load onto a plane and jump into four different fires.

“The bottom line is there’s more support for para-attack,” said Amanda Reynolds, a fire information officer with the BC Wildfire Service.

“That’s so key for the more remote areas we can’t get to quickly with vehicles.”

The province increased its wildfire budget to $101 million this year to spend more on fire fighting and prevention.

There were 452 wildfires recorded last year in the Prince George Fire Centre, which includes Northeast B.C.

The fires burned nearly 157,000 hectares of land and forest in the region.

The fire season in the Northeast last year began in earnest at the start of May, when a fire started along the Peace River in the Site C construction zone.

It peaked later in the month when a pair of wildfires near Tommy Lakes combined and grew more than 20,000 hectares.

The Wildfire Service is monitoring for hot spots from “overwintering” fires that could reignite from last season with the warmer, dry weather, Reynolds said. Firefighter boot camps will run in April and May in Kamloops.

In the meantime, the public is being encouraged to prepare for wildfire season, in particular their homes. That includes moving fire fuels and other combustibles away from the house, and making sure to properly register any burning.

Fires don’t come through communities like a tsunami, but rather start from embers that are blowing in the wind and catch fire after landing on a fuel source, Reynolds said.

“We’re really trying to encourage the public they need to start thinking about that,” Reynolds said.

The weather for April is expected to be warm, with no significant rain yet in the forecast.

“People really need to start getting prepared,” Reynolds said. To report a wildfire, unattended campfire, or open burning violation, call 1-800-663-5555, or *5555 on a cellphone.

Moving forward with Indigenous forestry partnerships

SPECIAL TO THE CITIZEN

KATHY ABUSOW AND PAUL ROBITAILLE

As forest industry leaders meet in Vancouver this coming week for the annual conference of the Council of Forest Industries, we have a great deal to be proud of.

B.C.’s forest sector has accomplished much over the past decades, from pioneering world-leading sustainable forestry practices to building innovative partnerships with Indigenous communities.

Our sector respects the rights of Indigenous peoples, including self-determination. We understand the diversity of each community’s interests, and their unique relationships with their traditional territories. Sustainable Forest Initiative (SFI) certificate holders are leaders in building respectful relationships with Indigenous communities, co-developing local solutions that address communities’ current needs and providing tools to pursue and achieve their own aspirations in future.

It’s core to our mission that the SFI forest certification standard emphasizes respect for the rights and traditional knowledge of Indigenous communities, alongside other important future-focused values such as water quality, biodiversity and habitat protection. These standards are even more powerful because they were developed in collaboration with Indigenous communities, including nearly 40 that have successfully certified to the SFI standard on over four million hectares of land across North America.

Yet, until recently, small Indigenous communities faced barriers to affording the expertise to certify Indigenous community-managed forestlands. That’s why SFI developed our small-scale module for Indigenous peoples, families and communities. This approach allows Indigenous communities to combine resources, thereby increasing access to forest certification. Recently piloted in B.C. by an innovative partnership involving K’omoks and Qualicum First Nations and TimberWest, the module’s success paves the way for First Nations with smaller tenures across BC to access the benefits of forest certification.

With more than a hundred B.C. First Nations directly involved in forestry, SFI has removed a key barrier to entry and made certification workable for Indigenous Peoples.

As more Indigenous communities participate within the forest sector, the sector itself is enriched with new perspectives. Indigenous peoples view forests holistically, beyond simply a place to earn a living; they’re classrooms, grocery stores, pharmacies, places of healing and many other things. Through countless generations of relationship with forests, Indigenous peoples have come to possess unique and valuable place-based knowledge that has stood the test of time.

We’re convinced Indigenous communities will continue to play a leading role in B.C.’s sustainable forestry sector. It’s why we’re making direct investments in diverse areas such as conservation, education and community engagement.

Since 2010, SFI and its partners have awarded conservation and community partnership grants to Indigenous community-focused projects totaling more than $2 million. These grants have supported youth and elder knowledge exchanges, culturally-significant species research, understanding the unique needs of Indigenous learners, and other Indigenous community-led initiatives.

Through our Project Learning Tree Canada initiative, we’ve supported the creation of outdoor green jobs for Indigenous students across Canada, including within Indigenous communities and communityowned businesses.

Last year, SFI helped place nearly 100 Indigenous students through PLT Canada’s Green Jobs in Green Spaces program. In 2019, that will grow to over 200, thanks in large part to a partnership between SFI and the Outland Youth Employment Program.

By building on our successes, B.C.’s sustainable forestry sector is well-positioned to unleash the power of partnerships with Indigenous peoples – built on respect, reciprocity and a shared desire to grow a brighter future for all.

– Kathy Abusow is president and CEO of SFI Inc., and Paul Robitaille is the manager, Indigenous and youth relations

Rainey was ‘catapulted through the window’

— from page 1

Fane also testified and while there were gaps in his memory and moments of uncertainty, Dley found his evidence did not differ much from Rainey’s.

He also found that while Rainey’s hands were on the bull horns, the brakes were within finger length, that he was coasting and attentive to his surroundings and noted he could not see ladder on top of the van because of the height of the fence.

Fane breached his relevant statutory duties in part by reversing the van “when the movement could not be made in safety.”

According to an ambulance crew report, Rainey had been riding at a high rate of speed, catapulted through the window upon hitting the van and then climbed out and made his way across the alley and collapsed in the tall grass.

Had Dley agreed, Rainey’s version could have been tainted but the judge found there was no evidence from witnesses who were there before the ambulance arrived to support that version

Rainey represented himself at trial. He had a lawyer when the action began in 2008 but they parted ways over differences. The same happened when Rainey took on a second lawyer and proceeded on his own behalf after that.

The trial began in February 2017 but was put on hold to give Rainey another chance to get counsel. When that failed, the trial was resumed in February 2019. While the injuries Rainey suffered appear to have been significant and permanent, Dley wants updated evidence before assessing damages.

The full decision is posted with this story at www. pgcitizen.ca.

Sun and fun

Man injured in home invasion

Citizen staff

Police are on the lookout for a suspect after a man was knocked out during a home invasion-style robbery of a Pineview home early Thursday evening.

The suspect is described as a First Nations man, six feet tall, 250 pounds with black messy hair with some facial hair. He was wearing black sunglasses, a dark hoody, cargo pants and a large

backpack. RCMP were called to the scene at 5:30 p.m. but due to the victim’s injury the call appears to have been made some time after the incident, police said.

“The victim was assessed by paramedics and declined transportation to hospital,” RCMP said.

“Although the motive for this incident is not yet known, it is possible that the suspect broke into the residence and was startled by the victim.”

Anyone with information on who the suspect may be is asked to call the Prince George RCMP at 250-561-3300 or anonymously contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at www. pgcrimestoppers.bc.ca (English only). You do not have to reveal your identity to Crime Stoppers. If you provide information that leads to an arrest, you could be eligible for a cash reward.

Wade Biasutti, a second year medical student at UNBC, enjoys the morning sunshine with a coffee and a game of frisbee next to the Dr. Donald Rix Northern Health Sciences Centre on the UNBC Prince George campus.

Boots making cross-country journey to honour 75th anniversary of D-Day

Amy SMART Citizen news service

VANCOUVER — George Chow says he was just shy of 19 and had no idea what he was getting into when he enlisted to serve in the Second World War.

He arrived at the Vancouver train station from his home in Victoria in 1941 and boarded the eastbound train for Halifax, with a stop for training in Windsor, Ont., before embarking for Europe.

“We weren’t being patriotic, we just joined for adventure,” he said.

“Out of the 250 people in my battery, I think there’s only one or two of us left now.”

Chow was among several veterans of the Second World War who gathered at the same Via Rail Canada train station Friday for a commemorative event honouring the 75th anniversary of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy.

A pair of combat boots was loaded on a train bound for Halifax and Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay said they will serve as a visual representation of the journey so many

Canadians made to serve.

“They traded their civilian shoes for military boots, they left their family and friends behind, and they headed halfway around the world to defend our freedom, our democracy and our peace,” MacAulay said.

The battles are among Canada’s most significant military engagements of the 20th century.

About 14,000 Canadians stormed Juno Beach in northern France on D-Day, June 6, 1944. It marked the beginning of the Battle of Normandy, in which 5,000 Canadians died and more than 13,000 were wounded.

Chow was among six veterans who served at D-Day and Normandy who were present for the commemoration. He was part of an artillery group that landed at Normandy before moving inland to Caen.

“I lost a lot of friends in Dieppe, I lost a lot of friends in Germany,” he said.

He also survived two “friendly fire” bombings, first by American troops then a BritishCanadian combined force.

“Those were the bad times,” he said.

Norm Kirby said there must have been some confusion when he enlisted from the Vancouver’s North Shore but was assigned to New Brunswick’s North Shore Regiment.

Although almost the entire regiment was francophone, he said they found ways to communicate.

“I’ve never met and never had such fine friends as those from New Brunswick. I’m sad to say there’s only two of us left,” Kirby said.

Kirby said on his way to the beach on D-Day, his landing craft hit a mine that almost tore off the bottom of the vessel.

“Luckily, I was one of the ones who was able to get to shore,” he said.

MacAulay said commemorative ceremonies will be held in nine communities across the country as the train makes its journey.

The federal government says it is also hosting several other remembrance events for the anniversary, including events at the Sailors’ Memorial and Citadel National Historic Site in Halifax and a candlelight ceremony in Victoria in the coming months.

Man, woman killed in hostage situation

Citizen news service

SURREY (CP) — British Columbia’s police watchdog is investigating the deaths of a man and a woman following an overnight hostage situation and a police-involved shooting in Metro Vancouver.

The RCMP said officers responded to a home in Surrey around 9:30 p.m. on Thursday after a report of a man with a gun and a possible hostage.

Officers evacuated nearby homes and properties, set up a containment area and activated the Lower Mainland Emergency Response Team, a specialized group of officers and technicians that responds to hostage situations.

“Multiple efforts were made throughout the night and into the morning to engage the barricaded male and a female hostage within the home in order to peacefully resolve the situation,” the Mounties said in a news release.

“At approximately 7:30 a.m. members of the

emergency response team entered the home and a confrontation with the barricaded male ensued.”

The man sustained a fatal gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene, and a female victim was also located within the home with serious injuries, and despite medical efforts was pronounced dead at hospital, the RCMP said.

Police said no officers nor any other members of the public were injured.

The Independent Investigations Office of British Columbia, which probes police-involved shootings, was deployed to the scene to take conduct of the investigation.

Chief civilian officer Ron MacDonald said police fired gunshots at the scene, but he could not confirm the cause of the man’s injuries.

The office will consider the possibility that police shot the man, he said.

“It could also be a situation where those injuries were caused by the man himself. We just

Canada won’t extend Mali mission

OTTAWA (CP) — Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland says the Trudeau government will not extend Canada’s peacekeeping mission in Mali despite a UN appeal for it to stay longer. The eight Canadian helicop-

ters and 250 military personnel in Mali are scheduled to cease operations on July 31. However their Romanian replacements won’t be ready until mid-October and the UN formally asked Canada to stay on.

Legal-aid deal reached in B.C.

VANCOUVER (CP) — The British Columbia government is to provide a one-time grant of $7.9 million to help develop a new approach to legal-aid funding, averting a withdrawal of the service on Monday.

The Association of Legal Aid Lawyers says an agreement it has reached with the province means members will not limit or suspend the work they do.

The province says the deal includes an increase in payments to legal-aid workers from April 28 until Oct. 31 while a long-term agreement is negotiated. The association says the agreement shows the government is taking legal-aid lawyers seriously.

Earlier this month, the association’s members voted to limit or suspend legal aid to back their demands for a funding increase to better pay lawyers.

The association says the only pay increase legal aid lawyers have received in 28 years was in 2006 when their hourly rate was boosted by 10 per cent. It argues the average spent per person on legal aid in 1993 was $25.22 and, accounting for inflation, should now amount to about $40.

Under the agreement, the province will provide $4 million and $3.9 million will come from the Legal Services Society, a non-profit organization that oversees legal aid.

“We recognize there is work to be done to improve the legalaid system both for British Columbians and the counsel that represent them in court,” said Attorney General David Eby. Tribunal to settle auto injury disputes

VANCOUVER (CP) — Injury claim disputes from motor vehicle accidents in British Columbia valued at $50,000 or less will be resolved through a tribunal starting Monday. The provincial government is expanding the services of the Civil Resolution Tribunal to resolve claim disputes with ICBC and other insurers.

Attorney General David Eby said under the current system people had to wait a long time to get a decision.

don’t know that at this point in time,” he said.

The office also does not yet know the details of the woman’s injuries or what caused them, he added.

MacDonald said it was his understanding that the female hostage was the woman who died and there was no one else inside the home.

The oversight agency will attempt to determine what caused the deaths, whether they’re linked to police actions and whether the actions of police were justified, said MacDonald. It will also explore the background of the relationship of the two dead individuals, he added.

“In any of these cases, we often want to try to determine what the background was, what brought these people to this situation,” MacDonald said. “It can sometimes explain their actions that they may have taken with respect to their interactions with police. In that sense, it’s quite relevant.”

Gov’t mulls aid for canola farmers

Mike BLANCHFIELD Citizen news service

OTTAWA — The federal government says it is considering subsidizing farmers hit by China’s $2-billion ban on Canadian canola imports, and is pushing the Chinese to prove recent shipments were in fact contaminated.

Two federal cabinet ministers and a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday the government is looking at financial options to help farmers.

“I am doing a review of the different tools we have in terms of financing support for our farmers,” Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said in Saskatchewan, where she joined International Trade Minister Jim Carr in meetings with canola industry representatives. Bibeau also said the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is having “ongoing conversations” with Chinese customs officials that are “based on science” in order to validate China’s claim it found hazardous organisms in the recent shipments of two major canola exporters, Richardson International Ltd. and Viterra, Inc.

“We are asking them to show us evidence of the pests that they said they have found in our shipments,” Bibeau said, adding that a second Canadian analysis of the returned samples came up empty.

“We still haven’t found any irregularities in these shipments, so we are asking for evidence.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said the cabinet is seized with helping canola farmers, and she’s had conversations with Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale of Saskatchewan, where half of Canada’s canola is produced.

Bibeau and Carr are leading the effort, she said, and “they have the very strong support of all of the cabinet in this, and are working on a broader plan to support our canola farmers.”

China’s decision to ban $2 billion worth of Canadian exports is widely seen as retaliation for the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of the founder of telecom giant Huawei, at the behest of the United States.

“To claim the canola sent to China didn’t meet quality standards is completely absurd,” said Tory MP Luc Berthold.

“People often had to wait two years or more to resolve their disputes with ICBC and sometimes just to get a trial date, never mind get a decision, and that has meant significant legal expenses along the way as well,” he said.

By handling these disputes the tribunal will free up resources in the court system to handle catastrophic injury claim cases, which will still go to the B.C. Supreme Court, he said.

The public auto insurer is expected to save about $1 billion a year as a result of Friday’s announcement, Eby said.

“It is not the whole solution,” he said, adding that more changes are coming in September.

The tribunal is already used to settle small claims cases as well as strata and property disagreements without using lawyers. On ICBC disputes, the tribunal will determine based on evidence presented from both parties whether an injury is considered minor according to legislation, what entitlement there is to accident benefits and responsibility for a crash. The tribunal can make binding decisions that are enforceable as court orders.

Woman

stabbed NANAIMO (CP) — RCMP are investigating a stabbing near a crab dock in downtown Nanaimo that has put a woman in hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Police said in a release that emergency responders found the 30-year-old woman lying on the ground on Wednesday night. There was a 17-year-old man nearby being restrained by several bystanders, who was taken into custody.

Const. Gary O’Brien says in the statement that investigators have not identified a relationship between the victim and suspect. O’Brien said without the help of bystanders, the woman may not have survived.

CP PHOTO

Agnes Keegan, centre, who served in the British Army in the Second World War and now lives in Canada, and Canadian veterans George Chow, left, and Bill Cameron, right, who were part of the Battle of Normandy, salute while singing the national anthem during a departure ceremony in Vancouver on Friday for a pair of combat boots that will travel to Halifax on a VIA Rail train. The boots will travel across the country to symbolize those who travelled to Halifax during the Second World War before they embarked for Europe.

Wilson-Raybould recorded call with top official over SNC concerns

Joan BRYDEN Citizen news service

OTTAWA – Jody Wilson-Raybould says she took the “extraordinary and otherwise inappropriate step” of secretly recording a phone call with the country’s top public servant just before Christmas because she feared the conversation would cross ethical lines and she wanted an exact account of what transpired.

An audio recording and transcript of the call with Michael Wernick, then-clerk of the Privy Council, were released publicly Friday in a package of material Wilson-Raybould submitted to the House of Commons justice committee, which is studying whether there was any political interference in a prosecution of Montreal engineering firm SNCLavalin.

Wilson-Raybould resigned from cabinet Feb. 12 amid allegations that she felt she was placed under sustained pressure from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Wernick and other senior advisers in the Prime Minister’s Office after she decided last September not to intervene in the case.

The director of public prosecutions had decided to pursue a criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin for bribery and fraud related to its work in Libya, and Wilson-Raybould says she did not feel there was any need for her to use her power to step in and override that decision. The 17-minute long audio recording documents a call Wilson-Raybould placed to Wernick on Dec. 19, after he asked to speak with her.

The former minister has said she believes she was moved out of the prestigious justice portfolio to Veterans Affairs in a midJanuary cabinet shuffle because she refused to intervene in the case; she resigned from cabinet a month later. Wernick has denied threatening or improperly pressuring Wilson-Raybould.

In the written submission, which followed Liberal efforts to prevent her from testifying before the committee a second time, Wilson-Raybould says she normally would have had a staff member take notes during an important call. She was alone at home in Vancouver, she explains, and “anxious to ensure that I had an exact record of what was discussed, as I had reason to believe that it was likely to be an inappropriate conversation.”

“This is something that I have never done before this phone call and have not done since,” she says in her written statement.

The phone call came after what WilsonRaybould said was a sustained and repeated effort to get her to agree to negotiate an agreement with SNC, given Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s concern about the firm’s 9,000 Canadian jobs and the risk it might

pull up stakes and move if it couldn’t avoid prosecution.

The agreement would have resulted in fines and outside monitoring of the company, but would allow the company to avert a criminal conviction and a ban on bidding on federal contracts for up to 10 years.

The recorded phone call confirms WilsonRaybould’s account of the call that she delivered to the committee in person during four hours of testimony on Feb. 27, and confirms that she felt the attempts to get her to change her mind were “entirely inappropriate.”

During the call she told Wernick that if she stepped in to override the independent public prosecutor’s decision, there would be no other way to view it than as political interference, a perception from which she was trying to protect Trudeau.

“There is no way that anybody would interpret this other than interference, if I was to step in,” she says.

“I would be a mockery. And that is not the problem. The bigger problem is what it would look like down the road for the government.”

She told him several times she felt uncomfortable with the call, calling the government’s plan “political interference” and “dangerous ground,” adding she’s “100 per

Wernick to step down in April

Citizen news service

OTTAWA — Michael Wernick will officially step down as the country’s top bureaucrat in April, one month after he announced his planned resignation stemming from the SNC-Lavalin affair.

The federal government announced Friday that Ian Shugart will take over as clerk of the Privy Council on April 19, which also marks the last day of Wernick’s nearly 38-year career in the public service.

Opposition parties called for Wernick’s resignation after he vehemently rejected allegations that he and other senior government officials improperly pressured former attorney general Jody WilsonRaybould to halt a criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin.

Wernick’s combative testimony to the House of Commons justice committee was denounced as partisan and unbecoming of a senior bureaucrat who is supposed to be impartial.

In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on March 18, Wernick said he would retire before this fall’s federal election campaign kicks off, but didn’t provide a departure date.

He noted at the time that the clerk of the Privy Council is supposed to be “an impartial arbiter of whether serious foreign interference” occurs during the campaign as part of a new federal watchdog panel.

The clerk is also supposed to be ready to help whichever party is elected to form government, he said, adding that he did not believe he could fulfil either role.

cent confident I’m doing nothing inappropriate.”

Wernick can be heard saying he’s worried about a “collision” between Trudeau and his attorney general.

“It is not a good idea for the prime minister and his attorney general to be at loggerheads,” he said. “I am worried about a collision, then, because he is pretty firm about this ... I just saw him a few hours ago, and this is really important to him.”

He tells her Trudeau doesn’t want her to do something she is uncomfortable with or that is inappropriate, he just wants to make sure she is using all the tools she has available to her, including stepping to have a remediation agreement negotiated with SNC-Lavalin. She tells him she knows about the tools available, but that in this case it is not appropriate.

There appears to be some confusion as to whether Trudeau and his staff knew why the public prosecutor wasn’t going to negotiate an agreement with the company. Wernick said Trudeau would like to understand the reasoning; Wilson-Raybould says the written decision, known as a Section 13 report, had been sent to Trudeau’s office.

Wernick said he didn’t know that, and then later asks her to have her chief of staff send it again.

By the time he appeared for a second time at committee on March 6, Wernick appears to have learned that his Dec. 19 conversation had been recorded.

In response to questions about his recollections about the conversation, he snapped: “I did not wear a wire, record the conversation or take extemporaneous notes.”

Near the end of the call, Wilson-Raybould is heard to tell Wernick she’s waiting for “the other shoe to drop.”

“I am not under any illusion how the prime minister has and gets things that he wants... I am just stuck doing the best job that I can.”

The documents released Friday also include transcripts of text messages and notes on phone calls Wilson-Raybould or her chief of staff, Jessica Prince, had with various senior government staffers.

One of them is a phone call between Prince and Justin To, Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s deputy chief of staff, in which he says that there is a sense that WilsonRaybould didn’t want to use a remediation agreement, and “has a philosophical problem with it.

“That she hated it the whole time and wouldn’t even use it if we could.”

Prince told To that wasn’t true.

MP Jody Wilson-Raybould speaks with the media after appearing in front of the Justice committee in Ottawa on Feb. 27.

ICBC a ride-hailing roadblock

In the stubborn delays to ride hailing, the BC NDP government has consistently argued it is waiting for the Insurance Corp. of British Columbia (ICBC) to create a plan for ride-hailing services so they can be offered.

But sources say ICBC has had welldefined plans for two or three years now. The delay, they say, is clearly the government – and how it wishes to make the B.C. version of ride hailing far less attractive for the likes of Uber and Lyft.

Sources with knowledge of ICBC’s operations say the agency has been studying ride hailing almost since its inception a decade ago and has long been ready to insure drivers. It has had plans “in a binder on a shelf” since the BC Liberals reigned, one source told me.

Two weeks ago, Premier John Horgan said the remaining piece was ICBC’s plan, which he said was expected later this year to permit applications for ride hailing this fall.

But another source was blunt: “It is unfair to lay this at the feet of the corporation.”

The previous Liberal government directed

ICBC to create a level playing field with the taxi industry, and a plan was devised to do so.

What isn’t clear – because this government won’t say – is how, or even if, the current administration has given ICBC clear direction on what to create.

Neither ICBC nor the attorney general would agree to an interview to clarify the situation. Instead, each sent along an emailed statement, which is sadly becoming par for the course in this era of government relations with media.

In its email, ICBC is being courteous to its political master. Its spokeswoman, Joanna Linsangan, writes: “There remains additionally regulatory matters to be addressed by government prior to ICBC being in a position to offer an insurance framework” to ride-hailing operators. But she notes ICBC has been working with government to prepare this framework since 2016.

That work preceded BC Liberal promises to introduce ride hailing by the end of 2017 – a promise now considered politically costly in the last election campaign, particularly in two Surrey ridings with strong

connections to the taxi business. The NDP government has been shrewd in not rattling the cabbies’ cage.

Linsangan said ICBC is working with government to advance the regulations so it can apply to the BC Utilities Commission to then offer insurance to the industry. Between the lines of her statement – and based on what sources say – we can infer ICBC isn’t ragging the puck.

The attorney general’s ministry, for its part, says creating an appropriate insurance framework “is a complex task and we are taking the time to get it right.” It says it is working with other ministries and ICBC “to develop the right insurance product for this market,” but sheds some light by noting it “will be similar to what is offered in other jurisdictions, including those with private insurers” – a blanket certificate “that we anticipate will be usage-based.”

If it’s similar, one wonders why it is taking such time, unless it is to heavily influence the industry dynamic. Taking time, for instance, has permitted the taxi industry to partner with Surrey-based Kater Technologies Inc. to operate 140 app-hailing cabs

in a pilot project starting this week. Critics see this as conferring an unfair first-mover advantage that will make the province even less attractive to Lyft and Uber.

Indeed, the province has been ceaselessly creating criteria, last week snubbing a legislative committee recommendation and insisting that drivers will need more onerous Class 4 licences to be ride-hailed.

The regime it is devising will be one without any real price break in fares, of caps on the number of ride-hailing vehicles that can roam at any time and boundaries on where they can drive, and of expensive insurance that will avoid further subsidizing the business.

As anyone who has summoned a vehicle in another city this decade can tell you, the drivers tend to be on a day off or with a few hours to spare from another job – yet this doesn’t appear to be the made-in-B.C. ride hailing we can expect.

The province is bringing typewriters to the word-processing world, and ICBC seems to be waiting to be told which ribbons to install.

— Kirk LaPointe, Glacier Media

YOUR LETTERS

Taxpayers deserve better

Re: Neil Godbout editorial, Council mistakes piling up. I couldn’t agree more. When we, the taxpayers of Prince George, pay expert wages, we deserve expert work. In regards to the Willow Cale bridge, Coun. Frank Everitt’s comment “It just happened, its nobody’s fault” raises the question if he had a contractor build a house for him and after five months, the foundation started to sink would he be as casual and comfy saying “Oh its nobody’s fault, it just happened.” I bet it would be different not being able to just reach into the taxpayers’ pockets. This bridge cost twice as much as it should have and now the citizens of Prince George carry the burden of increased taxes and in-

terest on loans to fix the problem. City officials should have made sure the engineers and contractor were held liable and responsible before awarding the contract. You’re darn right someone should be held responsible for such incompetence. It is very disheartening to see the shoulder shrugs and oh, well attitude of this council, with the exception of Brian Skakun and Terri McConnachie. With this bridge fiasco and the city’s senior management unrealistic wage increases and this borrowing mentality, it is reckless and unsustainable. The taxpayers of Prince George deserve better management of our tax dollars. Paul Vassallo Prince George

LETTERS WELCOME: The Prince George Citizen welcomes letters to the editor from our readers. Submissions should be sent by email to: letters@pgcitizen.ca. No attachments, please. They can also be faxed to 250-960-2766, or mailed to 201-1777 Third Ave., Prince George, B.C. V2L 3G7. Maximum length is 750 words and writers are limited to one submission every week. We will edit letters only to ensure clarity, good taste, for legal reasons, and occasionally for length. Although we will not include your address and telephone number in the paper, we need both for verification purposes. Unsigned or handwritten letters will not be published. The Prince George Citizen is a member of the National Newsmedia Council, which is an independent organization established to deal with acceptable journalistic practices and ethical behaviour. If you have concerns about editorial content, please contact Neil Godbout (ngodbout@pgcitizen.ca or 250-960-2759). If you are not satisfied with the response and wish to file a formal complaint, visit the web site at mediacouncil.ca or call toll-free 1-844-877-1163 for additional information.

Uncensored thoughts about bad manners

The notion of Canadians being extremely polite has been around for decades. It is often based on a comparison with other cultures, most notably our neighbours to the south, as well as the expectation that the way people interact in our country is less formal and more jovial.

This month, Research Co. decided to ask Canadians about manners. The results outline a society where citizens are reporting some undesirable actions, with some intriguing differences according to gender, age and region.

By far, the biggest difficulty identified in the survey is related to language. Over the past few decades, certain words that once were bleeped or edited out on television have become far less frequently censored. This is happening on both sides of the 49th Parallel and may be playing a role in the fact that some terms that once were not used commonly are making their way into our daily conversations.

Almost two-thirds of Canadians say they witnessed a person swearing in public over the course of the past month. Women (68 per cent) are more likely than men (60 per cent) to recall off-colour words being uttered in public.

Albertans are definitely more likely to report that they witnessed someone swearing (71 per cent) than residents of any other region of Canada. Atlantic Canadians come

BY THE NUMBERS

MARIO CANSECO

close (67 per cent), but, perhaps unexpectedly, Quebecers are the least likely to say they noticed (51 per cent).

This finding raises an important issue. Maybe swears are so much different in Quebec that they have become part of the regular language. Or maybe Quebecers are actually paying close attention what they say and hear.

In addition, one third of Canadians (33 per cent) witnessed a person making an obscene gesture over the past month, including 43 per cent of Albertans. The survey would suggest that Alberta is the place where you are more likely to be insulted by mouth or hand, or at least to remember that either happened.

More than half of Canadians (56 per cent) say they witnessed children behaving badly in public while their parents looked the other way. It is no surprise to see a huge gender gap on this particular behaviour, with 50 per cent of men saying they noticed it compared to 62 per cent of women.

There is also a generational divide, with a large majority of Canadians aged 55 and over (63 per cent) saying they saw children

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misbehave over the past month as their parents looked on. The proportion is lower among those aged 18 to 34 (49 per cent) and those aged 35-to-54 (51 per cent). This may be a case of baby boomers noticing this behaviour more, or generation X and millennials having different concepts of child rearing.

Another item on the list is littering. Half of Canadians (49 per cent) say they saw someone leaving trash behind in a public place – a proportion that regrettably jumps to 54 per cent in British Columbia.

Many discussions on social media have focused on what municipalities should do about litter. Still, many of us have driven into parking lots where bags with the remnants of fast-food meals are carelessly left on the ground. The problem begins and ends with us, not with endless studies about the correct placement of bins.

There are other issues that, while not as prevalent as swearing, unruly children or trash, were still reported by sizable proportions of Canadians. More than two in five respondents to the survey saw someone checking their phone or texting during a meeting or social event (45 per cent), experienced rude customer service at a store (43 oer cent) or saw someone spitting in public (also 43 per cent).

British Columbia’s retailers can take solace in the fact that the province did better than the national average on experiencing rude customer service (“only” 36 per cent).

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However, B.C. was the worst performer on spitting in public (50 per cent). Other behaviours that Canadians reported witnessing over the past month included someone cutting in to the line at a store or counter (39 per cent, with women more likely than men to remember), someone chewing with their mouth open (also 39 per cent) and someone using a cellphone during a performance or movie (34 per cent).

Regardless of what kind of bad manners they see, many Canadians who appear to regret that these practices are still present in our daily lives. Still, in this sea of bad behaviour, we also see some good deeds.

More than three in five Canadians (63 per cent) said they saw someone holding a door open for a stranger, and 27 per cent witnessed a person giving their seat for someone who was disabled, pregnant or elderly – including 32 per cent in British Columbia, the highest in the country. These findings are the silver lining of the survey. We usually are quicker to remember the things that bothered us, but there are still some moments where our fellow citizens made us feel better.

Results are based on an online study conducted from March 22–24, 2019, among 1,000 adults in Canada. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region in Canada. The margin of error, which measures sample variability, is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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How to make the best batch of biscuits

Citizen news service

The biscuit matrix covers fluffy and tender to flaky and sturdy enough for a sandwich. You might want them tall, maybe a little tangy or decadently buttery. You could go the drop-biscuit route, bust out the rolling pin or practice your folding skills. Here’s everything you need to consider.

Flour

Cookbook author and Southern food ambassador Nathalie Dupree swears by White Lily Flour so much that she brought her own bag to our Food Lab.

Cooks like Dupree treasure self-rising White Lily (it has salt and leavening in it already) for its fine-milled texture and lowprotein content (eight to 10 per cent), which lead to especially tender biscuits. Flour with lower protein forms less gluten when it comes into contact with liquid in the form of the water in butter, or your dairy of choice. More protein means more gluten, which means a chewier texture.

Ayeshah Abuelhiga advocates a middle-of-the-road approach with all-purpose flour (10 to 12 per cent protein). The founder and CEO of Washington’s Mason Dixie Biscuit says her team started testing recipes with pastry and cake flour, which have even less protein than White Lily, but the crew found the results too inconsistent and caky, and too weak for a sandwich.

Bread flour’s high protein content makes it a no-go for biscuits.

Liquid

This is where the other part of the gluten equation comes into play; just like flour, liquid will help determine tenderness.

Up to a certain extent, more water means more gluten. If you’re working with all-purpose flour, use less liquid. (A wetter dough is more suited to fluffy drop biscuits, which we’ll get to later.) When selecting and working with your liquid, keep these tips in mind:

• Rise. Buttermilk’s tangy flavor and thick texture are enough to recommend it, but its acidity also gives the baking soda and/or pow-

der something to react with, Philip says. A more vigorous reaction means a higher rise. (Remember those vinegar-and-baking-soda volcanoes in school?) If you’re using milk, lemon juice can help create a similar reaction.

• Richness. Using buttermilk or cream results in an especially tender biscuit.

• The right mix. For tender results, use a wide bowl and stir the liquid in until it’s just incorporated.

You may need to dial back the liquid if you’re in a warm, humid environment or add a bit when it’s cool or dry.

Fat

A buttery biscuit owes its meltin-your mouth texture to fat, which tenderizes the dough by interfering with the formation of gluten.

“What I hate is a doughy biscuit that doesn’t have enough butter in it,” says Tom Douglas, the chef-restaurateur behind Seattle’s Serious Biscuits.

Shortening has no water, which is key for producing the steam that helps lift the biscuits. Butter, by contrast, has almost 20 per cent water.

Lard, like shortening, is 100 per cent fat. Erika Council, a food writer who runs the Bomb Biscuits pop-up in Atlanta, says her best biscuits are made with lard, “hands down.”

They’re especially tender in the middle while still managing to hold together. The key, however, is finding good lard, which Council can do because she sources hers from her best friend’s barbecue spot. If you’re struggling to get a tender biscuit, the answer is almost always more fat and less moisture. For a last touch of richness and flavor, consider brushing melted butter onto your biscuits. Brushing before baking gives a darker color and crisper texture on top. A coating of melted butter as soon as the biscuits come out of the oven works. Salted butter gives it extra pop.

Temperature

As with all baking, management of temperature is key. right from the beginning.

• Cool ingredients. If the butter starts to melt as you’re mixing the dough, water moves into the flour, forming gluten. The goal is to keep the butter as cold as possible before the dough goes into the oven, so try refrigerating your dry ingredients and butter.

When the butter melts in the oven, it gives off steam that creates flake and lift.

• Chill the dough. Chef Marjorie Meek-Bradley of Washington tavern St. Anselm has earned a cult following for her tall, flaky biscuits. She refrigerates her dough –which is made with frozen, grated butter.

• Hot oven. With a relatively short bake time, a hot oven gives you an initial blast that activates the leavener (double-acting baking powder starts working when

exposed to liquid and heat) and quickly melts the butter to create steam.

• Even out the heat. Avoid scorching the bottoms of the biscuits by baking on a lined sheet in the upper third of the oven. Knowing whether your oven has hot or cool spots is helpful, but you can make up for them by rotating the sheet from front to back during baking. And use the convection feature if you have one. The fan circulates hot air, helping you achieve an even bake.

• Know when the biscuits are done. Look at the colour. You want to see a golden top, and signs of browning on the bottom and sides of the biscuits. Browning means better flavor.

Technique and tips

How you form and arrange your biscuits has as much impact as what you put in them.

• Flaky or fluffy? If your goal is flaky, then folding your dough, as you would in puff pastry, is the way to go. Try cutting your dough square into thirds so you can stack it and create immediate layers. If you prefer a fluffy, craggy biscuit that you can tear apart and treat more like a dinner roll, try a drop biscuit.

• Building height. In addition to folded layers and a hot oven, baking the biscuits closer together can make them taller, because as they share heat, it enhances the steam effect.

The tradeoff: less browning on the edges and a texture that’s more steamed than flaky.

• Clean cuts. The sharp edges of your chef’s knife, bench scraper or biscuit cutter and a straight-down (no twisting!) cutting motion contribute to tall biscuits.

•Follow a recipe first. People who have been making biscuits for decades have the knowledge and muscle memory to literally pour out flour and cream without measuring exact amounts and end up with a beautiful result. The rest of us at least need to start with known quantities (preferably measured by weight) and some guidance.

No matter how you get there, everyone agrees: biscuits are best eaten warm out of the oven.

CITIZEN NEWS SERVICE PHOTO

When brushed on right after baking, melted butter soaks into biscuits for an especially rich texture.

Dive into Thailand’s Andaman Sea

Erin E. WILLIAMS Citizen news service

Bobbing in the inky Andaman Sea miles from the Thai shoreline, I watched a crescent moon emerge as twilight deepened. I turned on my flashlight, peered at my husband, Andrew, and made the most appropriate statement for such circumstances:

“Big white rabbits are fluffy.”

No bunnies were floating with us; this ridiculous phrase is a crucial mnemonic for the five steps of a dive buddy safety check.

Satisfied with each other’s buoyancy, weight, releases and air, we gave each other the final OK and descended into the void beneath our fins. The moon disappeared, then the lights from the boat faded as we dropped into a world where darkness swallows the coral, fish and sea outside flashlight beams.

The Similan Islands are one of the world’s most famous diving destinations. The protected waters, in the Andaman Sea about 65 km from Thailand’s west coast, contain abundant marine life including vibrant reefs and larger pelagic animals that live in the open sea, and we had two days to explore it all.

The overnighter was part of an independent trip to the Andaman, where we used our advanced scuba certification to dive 11 times in three national parks: Mu Ko Lanta, Hat Chao Mai and Mu Ko Similan, the last lying west of resort villages ravaged by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

On a drizzly November morning, Andrew and I departed on a speedboat from a dive shop on Ko Lanta, an Andaman island about 75 km southeast of Phuket.

Four dive staffers and nine other divers joined us on the hour-long ride to Ko Rok Nok, one of Thailand’s top dive sites. The island and its sister isle, Ko Rok Nai, reside within the 132 square-kilometres Mu Ko Lanta National Park. Except for the rangers who stay on Ko Rok Nai, the two islands are uninhabited.

From the back of the boat, I watched Ko Lanta’s jungle-clad hills disappear. Flying fish leaped from our wake and crashed back into the water.

“Don’t forget to look into the deep blue,” our guide Non said as we pulled on our wet suits, reminding us to watch for the occasional Manta Ray and whale shark. “And if you look into a barrel sponge, you might see a surprise,” he added cryptically. I had last scuba dived more than a year before, so plunging underwater felt a bit unfamiliar. But on our first dive, I lasted about an hour; because of the warm water and gentle current, I didn’t consume much air. I lazily drifted past colourful sea slugs clinging to rocks, clownfish nestled in anemones and lionfish patrolling their territories with spikes sticking out like porcupines.

“The water was so clear, I felt like I was flying,” Andrew said as we floated on the surface.

For lunch, we disembarked on a powdery white beach at the narrow channel that runs between Ko Rok Nok and Ko Rok Nai. We ate green curry where hermit crabs left crisscrossed tracks in the sand. Back under on our second dive, I scanned the open water abutting the reef. A faint shape emerged, growing more distinct as it approached. A sea turtle – one that swam so close that I saw each of the scales on its face. From a coral similar to a barrel sponge, with a three-foot opening, my surprise glared at me indignantly: a huge moray curled up like a snake. Our next Mu Ko Lanta National Park excursion was land-based. Andrew and I rented a motorized scooter to reach park headquarters at the southern tip of Ko Lanta. Leaving behind the controlled street chaos of beachy tourist areas, we puttered along the increasingly jungled roads near the park. Dipping down a precipitous hill, we swerved around monkeys that refused to move from the center of the road.

Three days later, Andrew and I boarded a speedboat to Ko

CITIZEN NEWS SERVICE PHOTOS

Ko Kradan, above, a remote island in Thailand’s Andaman Sea, is home to a handful of small resorts. Right, a dive boat floats under Ko Waen’s jungleclad cliffs. A reef and marine caves lie underwater.

Kradan, a serene, jungled island that houses a half-dozen small, off-the-grid resorts.

A long-tail boat carrying our guide Note, the captain and three divers from Italy and Germany picked us up from the beach in front of our resort. The group made room for us in the traditional Southeast Asian vessel that resembles a wide gondola with a long, propeller-tipped shaft.

I counted three dozen islands dotting the horizon on our way to Ko Waen, a nearby islet that is part of Hat Chao Mai National Park, which encompasses nearly 90 square miles in Thailand’s southwestern corner.

During our pre-dive briefing, Note pointed out a first-aid kit –“in case you get bitten by a shark,” he joked – before warning everyone that touching any marine life is dangerous for both divers and the fragile ecosystem.

We stopped under Ko Waen’s rocky cliffs that shot straight up from the sea. I sat on the side of the boat and somersaulted backward into the water. There were no sharks, but I found a (nearly) perfectly camouflaged pink stonefish resting on the coral. It had a comically grouchy face, but stonefish – the world’s most venomous – are no joke.

Back aboard, we ate lunch and took turns cannonballing off the side of the boat.

As I descended for the second dive, supersized schools of fish parted like a river running around rocks. We swam single-file through a cave, our flashlights illuminating rocky outcroppings.

I squeezed through the exit and looked up along a wall of coral that rose 40 feet to the surface.

Animals inhabited every nook and cranny.

The night before departing for our Similan Islands stay, Andrew and I slept in Khao Lak, a coastal resort village about 75 km north of Phuket. Many of the hotels, restaurants and shops are new, built during the area’s recovery from the tsunami’s devastation. Several sobering reminders include a police boat that washed up far inland, a memorial and a few museums.

The next morning, we boarded a motorboat at a marina near Khao Lak and rode 90 minutes to Mu Ko Similan National Park, where we transferred to our dive boat, the South Siam 3. Established in 1982, the park encompasses 140 square kilometres, including the Similan

archipelago and more than 25 dive sites. Phuket and Khao Lak scuba shops offer day trips and longer liveaboards to beginning and advanced divers.

Our 100-foot boat slept 28 people, but only 12 guests joined the mostly Thai crew.

We were seven overnighters and five day-trippers who would head back to shore after the first two dives.

Our daybook was packed with four dives with our German guide Martina. The following day, we would dive three more times before returning to the mainland.

We entered the water at Ko Bangu (also called Island 9), the main archipelago’s northern point. As we dropped into the water, the reef below became perfectly clear, an oasis in a sea of sand.

Hundreds of garden eels rose

like reeds from the sea floor, snapping backward into their burrows as I passed. A foot-long, Technicolor mantis shrimp waved its claws on a coral pinnacle. An octopus changed colors as I approached, perhaps annoyed that its hidyhole beneath a rock wasn’t fooling anybody.

For the rest of our day, we settled into a typical dive-boat rhythm: dive, eat, repeat, with an occasional snooze on the top deck when I tore myself away from the curry and infinite view of island, sea and sky. Our night dive began at sunset. Andrew and I completed our safety check and dove 15 metres down.

Near the bottom, the darkness was total. I swept my flashlight around, illuminating eerie coral and ghostly creatures that stared

at me incredulously before darting away. Huge tuna flashed in and out of my beam. A sleeping boxfish draped like a noodle over a coral branch. A hovering cuttlefish jetted away when I pointed it out to my divemates.

We turned off our flashlights, suspended in complete darkness. I wiggled my hands in front of my face. Tiny silver explosions trailed my fingers: sparkling phytoplankton. I heard a loud grinding as boulders jostled each other in the underwater current.

“Watch for orange reflections,” Martina had said during our briefing. I trained my light on the reef. Dozens of lights – eye shine from shrimp and lobsters – winked at me. Behind my face mask, I winked back.

Sports

What’s new with the Cougars? Get the latest on trades, injuries, post-game analysis and more in The Citizen

Spruce Kings put bite on Grizzlies

Ted CLARKE Citizen staff

tclarke@pgcitizen.ca

The Coquitlam Express felt the sting first. Then it was the Chilliwack Chiefs’ turn. And in the opener of the B.C. Hockey League Coastal Conference championship Friday night at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena, the Victoria Grizzlies got their first taste of how hard it’s going to be beat the Prince George Spruce Kings out of the playoffs.

They lost 4-2 to the Kings in Game 1 of the best-of-seven series and were left wondering how to defuse a withering attack their opponents sustained over large stretches of the game.

Dylan Anhorn, Patrick Cozzi, Ben Poisson and Corey Cunningham staked the Spruce Kings to a 4-0 lead and they survived a brief comeback attempt from the Grizzlies to win their 14th straight game on home ice, much to the delight of a near-sellout crowd of 2,067.

“I think we played well at the start of every period and the way we were able to capitalize on our opportunities early in that second period was certainly the difference in the game,” said Kings general manager Mike Hawes.

“That’s how we’ve won games all year long and through the playoffs is (scoring) by committee and we saw that in fine form tonight.”

Already leading 1-0 on a goal from Anhorn, the Spruce Kings did most of the damage in a three-goal second period, scoring on their first two shots of the period. Just 10 seconds into the period, Cozzi caught up to a dump-in from Jay Keranen that bounced off the end boards and backhanded in a shot from close range.

On the ensuing face-off, the Kings chipped the puck deep into Grizzly territory and Chong Min Lee fed a pass out to the captain, Poisson, who tapped it in for his team-leading ninth of the playoffs.

The Kings added to the total at the 6:51 mark for a 4-0 lead. Lucas Vanroboys sprung linemate Cunningham with a breakaway chip pass and the 17-year-old Prince George minor hockey product finished with a wide deke for his second postseason goal.

The Grizzlies rediscovered their skating legs and cut the lead in half with two quick goals in the latter half of the second period.

Alex Newhook won a face-off in the Kings’ end and caught up to the puck behind the goal line and fed a pass to Alexander Campbell, whose high backhander sailed in over Logan Neaton’s shoulder with 10 minutes gone in the period. Then at 14:18, Cameron Thompson got his own rebound just outside the crease and lifted the puck in under the

crossbar over a fallen Neaton. Neaton had to come up with a few more quality saves to keep the two-goal lead intact but the Kings ended the period with sustained pressure in the offensive zone. The shots were 30-19 Prince George after two periods and ended up 40-27 in the game. The Kings dominated a scoreless third period but the Grizzlies came close to making it a one-goal game with about five minutes left when Newhook let go a ripper from the slot but Neaton was ready for it and stuck out his glove to deflect it away, In a frenzied opening period the ice was tilted and Spruce Kings seemed to mesmerize their opponents with quick feet and an aggressive forecheck that produced plenty of close calls. They outshot the Grizzlies 19-7 in the opening 20 minutes and forced goalie Kurtis Chapman to make at least seven quality saves. The one puck that did get through Chapman’s armour came with just 50 seconds left in the period. Cunningham started the play with some relentless

work behind the net and the puck came out to Cozzi, who made a back-door pass to pointman Anhorn. Anhorn didn’t get a lot on his low shot but it had enough steam to find the net just inside the post.

“When we get close to 2,100 people and the building’s rocking our players feed off of it and with how hard they work they get that extra energy from the crowd,” said Hawes.

“Prince George is great the way they support this team and it was certainly nice to see the building full tonight.”

The game marked the BCHL debut of Spruce King centre Finn Williams and on his first shift, five minutes in, the 15-year-old from North Vancouver just about scored. He broke into the Victoria zone and came out from behind the net and with Chapman out of position fired a shot that beat the Grizzlies goalie and was going in until defenceman Carter Berger swatted it away with the palm of his glove.

Williams is yet another product of the Burnaby Winter Club the Spruce Kings have

latched onto. He played this season in the Canadian Sports School Hockey League for the BWC midget prep team and was also part of Team B.C. at the Canada Winter Games in Red Deer. He’s been practicing with the Kings for two weeks. Williams, who turns 16 on April 22 is already committed to the University of Michigan starting in 2022. The series resumes with Game 2 tonight (7 p.m.) at RMCA. A sellout crowd is expected. Victoria will host Game 3 and 4 Monday and Tuesday. If Game 5 is needed that would be played Thursday in Prince George, with if necessary games to follow Saturday in Victoria and Monday, April 8 in Prince George.

LOOSE PUCKS: The Interior Conference semifinal between the Wenatchee Wild and Vernon Vipers opens tonight in Wenatchee... The Surrey Eagles have hired Cam Keith as their new head coach ad associate general manager. Keith was the associate coach and associate general manager of the Chilliwack Chiefs this season.

Rowell races to silver at world jr. championship

Ted CLARKE Citizen staff

Gavin Rowell just wants his folks back home in Prince George to know all they money they’ve spent financing his racing career over the years did not go to waste.

That love and support paid off in a big way Thursday in Reiteralm, Austria, where Rowell won the silver medal in the men’s FIS freestyle ski cross world junior championship

“The Europa Cup races in Rieteralm helped me get ready for this event, (and I arrived feeling) well prepared for this level of competition,” said Rowell, quoted on the Alpine Canada website.

“The heats today were extremely tight, and it was important to use every piece of terrain on the course. I was very happy that I could execute some passes in the big final and bring it home.” Rowell, a member of the Prince George Ski Club, won his four-skier race in the eights and finished second in his quarterfinal and semifinal heats, and was second in the big final.

David Mobaerg of Sweden won gold and Douglas Crawford of Australia was the bronze medalist.

It was a great day for Canada on the Austrian slopes. Zoe Chore of Cranbrook won gold in the women’s race. Chore has had a

dominant season in junior international events, wining seven NorAm and Europa Cup medals this season, five of them gold.

“Having a strong group of teammates this year has pushed me to become better, stronger, faster,” said Chore, who was eighth in a

Europa Cup race last weekend on the Reiteralm course. “I had a solid qualifying run, and could build on my performance from last week. Good starts and a strong tactical plan were very important for me in both the semifinal and final rounds. Everything came together today.”

Talina Gantenbein of Switzerland and Celia Funkler of Germany won silver and bronze respectively.

Carson Cook of Edmonton and Sarah Clarke of Calgary each posted top-10 finishes. Cook was third in the small final and finished seventh overall, while Clarke ended up ninth.

In other Canadian results, Mara Bishop of Calgary was 14th, Callum McEwen of Sturgeon County, Alta., was 23rd), Kiersten Vincett of Galahad, Alta., was 25th and Phil Tremblay of Calgary was 43rd.

The NextGen team will gather at Sunshine Village near Banff for the last two NorAm races of the season, which will serve as the Canadian ski cross championship, April 13-14.

Tiana Gairns of Prince George a member of Alpine Canada’s national B team, had shoulder surgery in the fall which scuttled her season.

Gavin Rowell, second from left, won the silver medal in the men’s FIS freestyle ski cross world junior championship in Reiteralm, Austria on Thursday.

CITIZEN PHOTO BY JAMES DOYLE

Prince George Spruce Kings forward Patrick Cozzi tries to stickhandle the puck around the check of a pair of Victoria Grizzlies defenders on Friday night at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.

Show me the money

While a small group of elite

Citizen news service

Even with huge new contracts for Bryce Harper, Manny Machado and Nolan Arenado, Major League Baseball’s average salary is on track to drop on opening day for an unprecedented second straight season, according to projections by The Associated Press.

The 872 players on rosters and injured lists on Monday evening averaged $4.36 million, down from $4.41 million at the start of last season and $4.45 million on opening day in 2017, according to AP studies.

Back-to-back drops follow consecutive slow free-agent markets that saw salaries slashed for many veterans, and top pitchers Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel remain unsigned as openers approached.

This year’s exact figure could rise or fall as the regular season enters its first weekend. The number will be impacted by how many players go on the injured list and how many lower-priced replacements are put on active rosters. In 2018, the average dropped slightly at the start when late-signing free agents Jake Arrieta of Philadelphia and Alex Cobb of Baltimore started the season in the minor leagues.

Last season’s opening-day drop was only the second since the end of the 1994-95 strike, according to AP calculations, after a 2.7 per cent decrease in 2004. The union determined its final average as $4,095,686, down $1,436 from 2017, while MLB’s figure was $4,007,987, up from $3,955,920 in 2017.

The union includes option buyouts in its average calculation while MLB does not.

Overall spending on big league payrolls fell last season for the first time since 2010, according to calculations by the commissioner’s office, an $18 million decrease to $4.23 billion attributable to drug and domestic violence suspensions and a player retiring at midseason. The only previous drops since 2002 were by $3 million in 2010 and by $32 million in 2004.

Pitchers are the five highest-paid players, led by Washington’s Max Scherzer at $37.4 million and Arizona’s Zack Greinke at $32.4 million.

Boston is set to lead the major leagues in payroll for the second straight year, followed by the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees. For Scherzer and Greinke, deferred money is discounted to present-day value.

Stagnant-to-down salaries might not change in the next year. The 2019-20 free-agent class lost many of its most attractive players when Chris Sale, Justin Verlander, Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt agreed to new contracts during spring training. That left Gerrit Cole, Madison Bumgarner, Khris Davis, Xander Bogaerts, Didi Gregorius and Anthony Rendon to top the group for now.

The players’ association is angry over the marketplace and is embarking with management on an unprecedented early start to labour negotiations that could lead to major economic changes.

“Free agency is part of what drives baseball’s economic system and it needs to remain a meaningful option for players going forward,” union head Tony Clark said in a statement to the AP.

Scott Boras, an agent who prefers players to become free agents, advocates MLB and the union should adopt a “franchise player.”

“Every club needs to allow designation of a luxury tax exception, and that is they get a player that they can sign who is not included in their luxury tax computation,” he said Monday. “That way we’re

assured the teams can have a franchise player and many good players because every sports league should have Goliaths and every sports league should have Davids.”

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout was signed for two more years at $66.5 million. Rather than wait, he agreed to a new $426.5 million, 12-year deal last week, a record for total and average at just over $35.5 million but a deal that actually lowered his 2019 figure from $34.3 million to $18.5 million.

As a free agent, the south New Jersey native likely could have averaged far more.

“I know there was a lot of talk about going back East and back to Philly, but I enjoy every minute being here,” he said Sunday outside the Angels’ ballpark in Anaheim. “I was going to be an Angel for life, for sure... I think spending your whole career with one team, I think it’s pretty cool.”

Staying with one team for his career also was a factor for Arenado, who agreed to a $260 million, eight-year contract with the Colorado Rockies.

“The grass isn’t always greener on the other side,” he said. “I wasn’t afraid of free agency. I didn’t base my decision off that. I based my decision off of me wanting to be here.”

Sale, the left-handed ace who helped Boston win its fourth title in 15 seasons, has been with the Red Sox for two seasons following his trade from the Chicago White Sox.

A key for Sale was staying with a team that holds spring training in Fort Myers, Fla., where he lives in the off-season.

Already guaranteed $15 million in the final year of his previous contract, he agreed to a new contract for an additional $145 million from 2020-24.

A left-hander who turns 30 next

weekend, Sale was bothered by left shoulder inflammation last season. This locks in likely the biggest contract of his life.

“For me, the best possible deal wasn’t the most money, right? And that is for some people, and I respect it,” he said. “And I actually would tell people to do that: Hey, go to free agency, maximize your opportunity, get everything you can. We have a very small window as athletes in any sport to maximize our opportunity, because we can’t do this for 30 years. But for me, living at my house for two extra months, picking my son up from school – I’ve made it to all of his practices for Little League. He’s has 14 games, I’ve been able to see six of them.”

Verlander, a 36-year-old righthander, found similar happiness in Houston after spending 11-plus seasons with Detroit. He was acquired in August 2017 and helped the Astros win their first World Series title. Already signed for $28 million this season, he agreed to a new three-year deal, adding $66 million in guaranteed money.

“I can’t see a better situation, so that’s for me why this situation was a perfect marriage,” he said. He claims “I wasn’t scared of free agency” but thinks the market is broken.

“At the top of the food chain, those guys are always going to get their contracts,” he said. “Teams are understanding the situation that they’re in when they have the player in house. There’s a mutual leverage there for both sides to get something done. And I think that’s why you’re seeing a lot of this happen right now.”

Goldschmidt, a first baseman acquired by St. Louis from Arizona in December, had a $14.5 million salary this season. He agreed to a deal with the Cardinals that guarantees an additional $130 million from 2020-24. He emulated the decisions of Mark McGwire, Jim Edmonds and Matt Holliday,

Washington Nationals starting pitcher Max Scherzer delivers a pitch during the first inning of a game against the New York Mets on Thursday

CITIZEN NEWS SERVICE PHOTO

Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Trout hits a three-run home run against the Chicago White Sox in the first inning of a spring training baseball game on Friday, March 22.

Indy 500 racer to be inducted into Sports Hall of Fame

Ted CLARKE Citizen staff

tclarke@pgcitizen.ca

Cliff Hucul’s adrenaline rush as he gripped the steering wheel as he made the turn towards the main grandstand at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was off the charts.

But once that checkered flag dropped to begin his 500-mile journey there was no time for the Prince George driver to feel nervous. Not when you’re traveling 230 miles an hour racing in your first Indianapolis 500.

For Hucul, his first of three consecutive appearances in the grandaddy of all openwheel races was a long and labourious process just to get to the stage. It started a month earlier when he first arrived at the 2.5-mile track for his rookie driver’s test, after a week of practice. Then came two days of qualifying and another week of practice followed by a another qualifying session. Hucul emerged from a field of 120 wannabe qualifiers and made the 33-driver grid for that first race in 1977 but not without having to endure the anguish and expense of two broken motors that put a serious dent into his $100,000 budget.

“The first one was pretty huge, we were there for 30 days in May and that will stretch you out,” said Hucul, who will be inducted tonight into the Prince George Sports Hall of Fame, along with track and field coach/builder Brian Martinson and wheelchair basketball player Elisha Williams.

“The unknown is what you’re concerned about because you’ve never done it before, never run that fast before with that many cars and that many drivers and of course the adrenaline is there but you don’t think about it. A lot of stuff you block so you can focus on the situation. It was an incredible thing to try to get into it because there were a lot of people involved in trying to make that race there. They were all running good speeds and you had to be able to out-qualify them.”

Driving a car he’d purchased from racing legend Johnny Rutherford, Hucul did some soul-searching when his motor blew in a practice lap. He phoned home to his mom in Prince George and she volunteered to remortgage her house to give him the money for a new motor so he could stay in the game. When that one broke, he turned to engine-builder A.J. Watson who pieced the broken parts together and made his car race-ready again.

“Rutherford helped me,” Hucul said, “because he’d run the car the year before for McLaren and when I went to qualify he took me aside before I got into the car and he said, ‘When you go into Turn 1, don’t lift (off the accelerator).’

“So I had to talk myself into that bigtime and took the turn a bit low just in case the car pushed to much coming off and into the wall and went through that turn flat-out and came out of that corner and it was stuck, and I just breathed a little sigh and had a couple words with Jesus as I went into the back straightaway. It was hard-core stuff.”

Hucul started 27th and worked his way up to 12th place by the 72nd lap but had problems with his gear box which forced him to retire from the race. But he made enough prize money to pay back his mom’s

bank loan.

“The guy that finished fifth, I’d lapped him twice by the 72nd lap, so if we had finished the (200-lap) race we’d have been pretty dialed in,” said Hucul, who raced all those three seasons on the IndyCar circuit.

In 1979, he was second in points by the halfway mark of the season, trailing only A.J. Foyt, when Hucul ran into more engine trouble that broke the bank.

For the millions of racing fans who tuned in the broadcasts of those three races, Hucul put Prince George on the map. He was small-town driver from northern British Columbia who learned the ropes of racing stock cars and modified sprint cars in the Prince George Auto Racing Association on the high-banked oval track at PGARA Speedway who took it all the way to the top.

In a coaching career that spanned three decades with the Prince George Track and Field Club, Martinson, a teacher with School District 57, was instrumental in developing a long line of track and cross country runners, including his son Geoff, who went on to become a national-team mid-distance specialist who made it to the world championships. Always an organizer whose attention to detail made events like the 2012 provincial cross country champi-

x-Wenatchee at Vernon, 7 p.m. TUESDAY, APR. 9 x-Vernon at Wenatchee, 7 p.m. x - played only if necessary. FRIDAY’S RESULTS

GRIZZLIES 2 AT SPRUCE KINGS 4

Game 1 Prince George Spruce Kings vs. Victoria Grizzlies (Spruce Kings lead best-of-seven series 1-0) First Period 1. Prince George, Anhorn 3 (Cozzi, Cunningham) 19:10 Penalty – Hughes Vic (hooking) 14:15. Second Period 2. Prince George, Cozzi 1 (Keranen) 0:10 3. Prince George, B.Poisson 9 (Lee, Watson-Brawn) 0:21 4. Prince George, Cunningham 2 (Vanroboys, WatsonBrawn) 6:51 Penalties – Berger Vic (cross-checking) 1:38, B.Poisson PG (slashing) 10:44. Third Period No scoring Penalties – None. Shots on goal by Victoria 7 12 7 -27 Prince George 19 11 10 -40 Goal – Victoria, Chapman (L,8-4); Prince George, Neaton (W,9-1). Power plays – Vic: 0-1; PG: 0-2. Referees

onships memorable occasions, Martinson extended his volunteer commitments into the community as president and race director of the Prince George Road Runners club.

In 2009 he took the reins from Tom Masich as president of the Prince George Track and Field Club and for 15 years was a key organizer behind the North Central Zone track and field meet.

He also never stopped running. Winner of the original Prince George Iceman in 1988, he was a multi-medalist as provincial level masters running events. He finished fourth in the 3,000m steeplechase and fifth in the 8,000m race at the 2005 World Masters Games and in 2009 won a bronze medal in the 1,500m race Canadian Masters track and field championships.

Williams was a high school basketball star with the Duchess Park Condorettes, helping the team win provincial championships in 1995 and 1996. That led to a full-ride scholarship at San Jose State University where she sustained knee injuries that cut short her career in stand-up basketball.

At the suggestion of Pat Harris, who helped pioneer wheelchair basketball at the club and provincial levels in Prince George, Williams started playing the game in 2007 and thrived at it. She made rapid progress from club-level teams to the Canadian

Women’s Espoir program which got her involved in international tournaments. She was selected an alternate on national team at the 2007 Parapan American Games which won the silver medal in Rio de Janeiro and continued to play for the nats from 2007-13, helping Canada to seven medals in international events. Williams competed in the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, helping Canada to a sixth-place finish. The podium finishes continued for Williams in 2010 – bronze at the world championships in Birmingham, England, gold at the Paralympic World Cup in Manchester, England and bronze at the Osaka Cup in Japan. The hall of fame ceremony starts tonight at 6:45 p.m. at the Hart Community Centre. The society will also salute the contributions of a group of young athletes selected for the Youth Excellence Award. That list of winners includes: Colburn Pearce (basketball); Kimiko Kamstra (judo); Jonah Brittons (motocross); Ben Hendrickson (five-pin bowling); Natasha Kozlowski (golf); Anna MacDonald (trampoline); Eric Orlowsky (speed skating); Derian Potskin (baseball and fastball); Ainslee Rushton (lacrosse); Matthew Shand (volleyball); Zenze Stanley-Jones (wrestling); and Jordan Vertue (swimming).

Former Indy 500 racer Cliff Hucul is seen in a 2010 photo.

Shazam! takes superheroes down a size

Citizen news service

Shazam! is one of those movies with a perfect elevator pitch. Everywhere along its path to production, the same phrase guided its makers: Big meets Superman. As a tale about a 14-yearold boy who finds that he can transform into a powerful adult superhero version of himself with a simple command (Shazam!), Penny Marshall’s classic 1988 comedy was an obvious touchstone for both its body-changing plot and its sweet sense of humour. If you didn’t sense the connection immediately in Shazam! you will by the time a giant floor piano makes a cameo.

“One of the beautiful things about this movie is you can pitch it in three words,” says Zachary Levi, who stars as the supersized version of Billy Batson, played by Asher Angel as a kid.

Shazam!, which opens April 5, is the latest superhero movie to look further afield than comic book mythology for inspiration. Just as the gritty Wolverine thriller Logan drew from Westerns like Shane, and Black Panther was built as a Bond-like spy movie, the PG-13-rated Shazam! has its DNA rooted in 1980s adventure-comedies, especially the Amblin Entertainment variety like Goonies and Gremlins.

The superhero is, increasingly, a Trojan Horse in spandex.

“People are understanding that you can tell a lot of different types of stories under the superhero banner,” says Shazam! producer Peter Safran, who also produced Aquaman and who manages Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn. “They don’t all have to be world-ending, epic spectacles. You can tell great family stories. It can be a heist movie. It can be a horror movie, which I believe something like (Aquaman spinoff) The Trench could be.”

By going small, the happily quirky Shazam! (made for a relatively modest $100 million) is poised to be one the biggest successes in Warner Bros.’ DC Comics films. This decade, the only DC release with equal acclaim (Shazam! is 93 per cent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) is 2017’s Wonder Woman – and it’s not like the much-derided, much bulkier, much more expensive Justice League or Suicide Squad are even close.

Box-office expectations have been ratcheted up. At the kidfriendly caper’s Hollywood premiere Thursday, Warner Bros. erected a Ferris wheel as a nod to both the movie’s carnival climax and fun-loving spirit.

For the makers of Shazam! the film has a kind of elemental

superhero appeal based on the dream of becoming a superhero. Where other comic-book movies are otherworldly, Shazam! and its hero are gleefully goofy.

“I feel bad for a lot of other actors who end up being superheroes,” says Levi, whose breakthrough series, the spy comedy Chuck, had some of the same flavour. “Most other superheroes are cool and collected and brooding. They’re saving the world. Billy Batson is one of very few who gets to be very stoked. It’s not like a responsibility; it’s crazy cool.”

The ironic thing is that Shazam! dates back to the early days of comics. It was created in 1939, a year after Superman, and very much conceived as a knockoff of the Man of Steel. Then, the hero was called Captain Marvel (nickname: the Big Red Cheese) and at times, he even outsold Superman in the 1940s. A 1941 black-andwhite Captain Marvel serial was one of the very first comic book adaptions.

But by the early ‘50s, a copyright infringement lawsuit from DC Comics finally caught up to Captain Marvel’s publisher, Fawcett Comics, shutting the character down. A strange afterlife followed. In 1967, Marvel’s own Captain Marvel – same name, different hero – debuted. By 1972, the original Captain Marvel was reintroduced as Shazam.

It’s a head-spinning twist of fate that all these decades later, both Captain Marvels are arriving in theatres almost simultaneously.

“For them to come out basically in the same month is insane,” says Safran. “We never really worried about it because it’s such a different type of movie. It’s such a different tone of movie.”

The big-screen debut of Shazam! took so long not just because of legal tangles but because of the film’s unique tone. Soon after development at New Line first began in the 2000s, dark and brooding were in, thanks largely to The Dark Knight. A number of writers took a crack at it in, including William Goldman (All the President’s Men), in a string of stalled iterations.

But as the possibilities for superhero films expanded, led

by Marvel’s Guardians, Shazam! found its way through just as DC’s Superman and Batman revivals were sputtering. Initially, plans centred on a combo of Shazam and supervillain Black Adam, with Dwayne Johnson signed up as Black Adam. That character is expected to instead get his own movie.

“There was no mandate to try to tie Shazam into the larger DC universe or do anything with Black

Adam,” says Safran. “It was just: This guy deserves the real estate to go tell a stand-alone origin story.”

An unlikely team assembled around Henry Gayden’s screenplay. Swedish filmmaker David F. Sandberg, who helmed Warner Bros.’ lucrative Conjuring prequel, Annabelle: Creation, came aboard to direct. And it took a long time – Sandberg says more than 100 auditions – for them to find their Shazam.

“He was an unknown to me. I had never seen Chuck,” says Sandberg of Levi. “It was a long process of doing lots and lots of auditions with very different people to try to find the right person. That was our stipulation: You have to audition. We have to make sure you can play a child, which is something most adults never do. It’s not like you have references in other movies.”

The 38-year-old Levi (Tangled, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) initially turned down the audition, skeptical anything would come of it.

“I asked my agent, ‘Aren’t they looking for huge jacked dudes or at very least very famous ones?”’ says Levi. “I was like: This feels like I’m going to be wasting everybody’s time.”

But Levi later sent in an audition tape from his phone for another part. That night, Sandberg and Safran called him to say he was right for Shazam. “Zach is basically a big kid,” says Sandberg. “He has an excitement that kids have about everything.”

“I was flabbergasted,” says Levi. “I’ve always been a bit of a Peter Pan-syndromed person. I hope in the best of ways.”

Within a week, he was cast, and Levi, a lifelong Tom Hanks fan, found himself realizing a fantasy he never expected to fulfil.

“I always wanted to do something like Big but you don’t want to remake something that’s never been touched,” says Levi. “So when would I ever do Big?”

CITIZEN NEWS SERVICE PHOTO

This image released by Warner Bros. shows Zachary Levi in a scene from Shazam!

Graphic novel explores postpartum depression

On social media, the early days of motherhood might seem like a time of uninterrupted bliss. Many posts show photos of women swaddling infants in their arms, beaming with parental pride, as if caring for a newborn were the most natural thing in the world.

Calgary-based writer Teresa Wong paints a starkly different picture of this milestone in her new graphic novel, Dear Scarlet, about her struggle with postpartum depression.

“I think there’s a lot of pressure on mothers to put out an image of motherhood that is all joyful and kind of slick,” Wong said in a phone interview. “A lot of mothers who don’t feel that way, who don’t really love taking care of a small baby, or even feel a little bit of regret at what has happened in their life, you feel like you need to hide that.

“I think it might be helpful to those mothers who don’t love it right off the bat, for women to see kind of all types of images around having a baby and becoming a mother. It can look different for everyone.”

Wong said the idea for the story came to her as she lay awake in bed while carrying her third child, dreading the darkness that had followed her previous pregnancies, particularly her first.

Images came flooding back to her. The vivid nature of her memories lent itself to a graphic memoir, said Wong. Having never drawn professionally, she intended to team up with an illustrator, and decided to sketch out her vision for the project as a starting point.

She drew the pitch black of the hospital room after she passed out from blood loss after the birth of her eldest child, Scarlet; the clock ticking as she tried to bounce the baby to sleep on an exercise ball, waiting for her husband’s return to relieve her loneliness; her dreams of climbing into a bin at the grocery store and being smothered by a sea of apples, the prospect of never-ending sleep seeming like the only escape from her sadness.

After looking at her panels, friends with artistic backgrounds told Wong that the story would be more personal if both the words and drawings were her own. The shaky lines conveyed her character’s vulnerability, and the dark cloud of depression that permeates the book seemed to resonate with people.

In Dear Scarlet, Wong shows how she fumbled her way through her postpartum fog by relying on a variety of supports – seeing a psychiatrist, taking medication, exercising regularly and getting a doula to help her navigate the challenges of childcare.

Wong also followed the Chinese tradition of staying home for a month after the baby was born, which she said in some ways contributed to her isolation, but also gave her the time and space she needed to heal.

When Wong’s postpartum depression returned after the birth of her second child, she already had systems in place to steer her towards the other side. Despite her fears, when her third child came, Wong said she stroked her son’s tiny head while he nursed, and finally experienced the overwhelming happiness those other mothers talked about.

Wong said she wrote her novel as a letter to her daughter because she wanted Scarlet to know that motherhood doesn’t always bring immediate joy, but through seeking help and hard work, there are ways to find it.

“Motherhood is a truly life-changing experience, and with that can come really intense feelings that can turn negative pretty easily,” said Wong. “I think if you’re aware and you’re not caught off guard, then it takes away some of that shame and loneliness around it.”

Dear Scarlet hits bookstores on April 1.

CITIZEN

Calgary writer Teresa Wong portrays postpartum fog in her graphic novel Dear Scarlet.

Calgary’s Teresa Wong is releasing her graphic novel, Dear Scarlet, on April 1.

Englander dazzles with latest novel

Citizen news service

Philip Roth died just 10 months ago, and now his friend Nathan Englander has published a book called kaddish.com. That’s not coincidental. There’s nothing derivative about this clever novel, but its tragicomic treatment of death, guilt and Jewish orthodoxy surely pays homage to the late great writer. May his memory be a blessing.

Kaddish.com is a novel, but its first part serves as another reminder of Englander’s extraordinary skill as a short story writer. Set 20 years before the rest of the book, it describes a contentious family gathering following a patriarch’s death. Larry – the black sheep – has come from Brooklyn to stay with his Orthodox sister in Memphis as they sit shiva. Despite hearing the “quiet, muttering stream of well-wishers,” he feels harshly appraised. “I want them not to judge me just because I left their stupid world,” he hisses at his sister in the kitchen. These two siblings lash out at each other with words sharpened by grief. Larry insists he be allowed to mourn in his own way. His sister upbraids him for thoughtlessly ignoring their traditions. “It’s no reason to treat me like a freak,” he cries. “They’re just stupid rules.”

But of course, they’re not just stupid rules – not to his sister and not even to Larry. One of the fascinating points Englander explores in kaddish.com is the way ardent followers and angry apostates both regard religious tradition with awe – but from different sides. “Sometimes the rejection is a way to let people know that the thing we reject truly matters,” Larry says much later. “It is its own kind of faith, even if it’s the opposite of faith.”

Larry and his sister may lose control, but Englander never does. Their vicious argument, made all the more injurious because they love each other, articulates the confusing interplay of grief, affection and self-righteousness that only death can provoke. As Emerson wrote, “Sorrow makes us all children again.”

Before he returns home, Larry endures one last confrontation with his sister about his ongoing obligation to recite the Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead, for their beloved father. “I’m asking about the torch you must carry for this family – our family – for the next eleven months. Tell me you get that the Kaddish is on you,” she insists. “You know you can’t miss. Not once. Not a single service.”

Larry knows he won’t perform that duty, but then, after scanning the internet for porn, he accidentally discovers there’s an app for that – or at least a website: kaddish.com. “JDate for the dead,” he thinks. For a price, deeply committed students in Jerusalem will say the Mourner’s Prayer for Larry’s father for the next eleven months. What could be more convenient? As soon as he’s typed in his credit card number, secular Larry has passed off his duty to a devout Jew “eager to do the job.”

The cringe factor of this transaction is high – raised higher by a Rothian description of Larry pleasuring himself – but Englander has a way of wedding sharp comedy to anguished solemnity. After all, if Larry were as secular as he claims, he wouldn’t bother with this secret plan to simultaneously shirk and fulfill his duty. His confidence that a website can carry out his familial and spiritual obligation is a brilliant satire of our mania for replacing actual human attention with slick, virtual solutions.

When the main part of the novel picks up 20 years later, Englander keeps pushing on these issues with the same fertile wit and tender compassion. Larry, now married with two children and working in a Jewish school, has flipped back to orthodoxy. Using his Hebrew name, Shaul, he’s returned to the fold and frequently recites the tale of his rebirth for any gathering of Jews. “I do not share the story to brag, or show off, or even to make excuses for all the years of lost time,” he sighs. “I only share it to say, it’s never too late to live one’s true life.” Larry makes that sound like the happy end of his story, but it’s effectively the beginning of Englander’s. Unsettled by a seventh-grade boy who refuses to observe his own father’s death, Larry finds himself discombobulated. The memory of that web transaction he made so many years ago returns to trouble him in fresh ways, drawing him down a tortuous path of esoteric concerns that even his most orthodox friends can’t follow. But the heart of his dilemma is universal: if, as he’s claimed, “it’s never too late to live one’s true life,” what exactly is his true life?

That quest will take him far from home and shatter the contented equilibrium of his life, which provides an element of comic mystery to this plot. It also offers Englander a chance to explore the tension between naivete and faith. Larry’s fanatical devotion and his anxiety about fulfilling it might look ridiculous to those who don’t feel the vitality of tradition, but the humor of kaddish.com is infused with delight rather than mockery.

What a rare blessing to find a smart and witty novel about the unexpected ways religious commitment can fracture a life – and restore it.

CITIZEN NEWS SERVICE HANDOUT IMAGE

There’s an app for honouring the dead in Nathan Englander’s clever new book kaddish.com.

How one woman made it to the top

Lisa Wardell went from selling sneakers to running a $3 billion company

Thomas HEATH Citizen news service

A spirit for business and entrepreneurism springs from many sources. Lisa Wardell dared to take risks, meet people from diverse backgrounds and put herself into uncomfortable situations. She learned from that discomfort.

“Your life, and the challenges you are overcoming, are assets in your life,” Wardell said in a recent speech to a group of young people. At a time when executive women, especially women of colour, are making strides but remain underrepresented in Corporate America, Wardell stands out. She is chief executive officer of Chicago-based Adtalem Global Education, a $3 billion for-profit education business.

Wardell runs the largest public U.S. company with an African American female CEO. She is a capitalist who has been rewarded

($11.7 million in compensation – salary, cash and equity – in the past fiscal year, according to Equilar) for doubling Adtalem’s shares in her three years there. She sits on the board of directors at home improvement giant Lowes. She gave $1 million to the Chicago-based After School Matters charity.

How did this latchkey kid get to the top of Corporate America?

(I interviewed Wardell several times for this column – including one phone call on her way from her children’s Ash Wednesday religious service. I also borrowed from a speech she recently delivered to a group called Summer Search, which mentors young people to get ahead.)

Here’s an instructive anecdote from her freshman year at Vassar College, the elite liberal arts school to which she applied because a high school teacher offered extra credit.

“I didn’t know what Vassar was,” she said.

“I remember one of my English assignments after Christmas break freshman year was an in-class essay about ‘what you did over

break’ We then had to read our responses to the class. We were sitting in a classroom with the chairs in a circle, and people were going around talking. I sat there anxiously, then in dread, waiting for my turn, as I heard about skiing in Europe and Colorado, warm-weather vacations in the Caribbean, holidays upstate at the weekend home.

“I was intimidated. I didn’t have a ski vacation. I hadn’t thought fast enough to embellish my essay. I had no choice but to read what I had written, which was about working at Macy’s for the holiday rush.

“When I read my essay to the class, nobody laughed at me or made me feel embarrassed or ashamed. They found the essay interesting. I belonged in that English class just as much as they did.” Wardell’s Vassar class told her that difference and diversity matter.

“Rather than dwell on the fact that I was uncomfortable, I dwelled on the response and the interest in who I am, and that I had a different experience,” Wardell said. “That notion is expected from our young people today. They are just open-minded. They have a broader perspective, whether it’s race relations or politics. They are just in tune with difference and diversity.”

I am a 63-year-old white guy who grew up among Caucasian Catholics with little exposure to other races and cultures. I wanted to know more.

“You need diversity in business because you have two sets of stakeholders,” Wardell told me.

“One is the customer. You need to be able to serve that market to do well. The second set of stakeholders is your employees. Folks want to be around people who think and look and act like them every day. As importantly, they also want to be around people who don’t think and look like them. You need that in your workforce, as well.”

Wardell said she was toughened by growing up a middle-class African American near Washington. Each challenge notched another building block in her character, making her more aware of herself and introducing her to the halls where she would walk: Stanford Law School, Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, RLJ Companies, the diversified investment group run

by BET co-founder Bob Johnson.

She learned how to negotiate, how to treat people with respect, how to multitask and learn quickly, and pivot from one stage to the next.

Wardell recalled another learning experience: when she was 13, her father, a baggage handler at Dulles International Airport, was unable to work for some time. The family needed money for rent. Her mother was a night nurse, but that wasn’t enough. Wardell got a job selling sneakers at Athlete’s Foot at age 13. She worked there for all of her high school years.

“A new drug epidemic, specifically crack cocaine, had just hit the D.C. area, and as a result, the manager of my store became a user and was unable to function or manage the store. I have vivid memories of him climbing up into the ceiling looking for cameras because he was convinced the store was bugged. The drug trade was booming, so lots of our transactions were for very large amounts of cash, with dealers buying 15 to 20 pairs of shoes at a time.

“One of those customers showed me how to count out thousands of dollars quickly, so as not to hold up the cashier line, and calculate sales tax in my head when the system was down.”

An overnight cleaning woman taught her how to store inventory and avoid shrinkage, which is a fancy word for theft.

“These experiences allowed me to realize, over time, that my background is an advantage, not a disadvantage,” Wardell said. The cleaning lady knew the retail sports shoe business because she was there every day.

Fast-forward to present day: “When I visit Adtalem Education locations now, I always get up early, go running, and get a download from the gardeners and janitors, the people who care for our facilities, about what’s really going on.” She apparently knows what is going on.

She remembers one formative meeting between herself, Johnson and a host of bankers when she was chief operating officer for RLJ. “I walk into the room, and there are 14 bankers there, including the managing partner, all white men, and Bob. And now me. No fancy pens. Bob says exactly one sentence the entire meeting: ‘It is absolutely amazing to me that you came to meet with the only black billionaire in American business, and you don’t have one diverse person on your team. You didn’t even bring that analyst you guys keep in the backroom.’”

The room fell into an awkward silence, and Bob turned to Wardell: “Lisa?”

After a 90-minute presentation by Wardell, she turned to Johnson and asked why he put her on the spot to do all the talking.

“Because I want you to understand,” Johnson said, “that until you believe that you belong in the room, you don’t belong in the room.”

Lisa Wardell, president and chief executive of Adtalem Global Education, at her company’s new headquarters in Chicago.

At Home

Tools of the trade

With gardening season not too far away, it’s time to look at the right equipment for the job

Lindsey M. ROBERTS

Citizen news service

Kelly Smith Trimble, editorial director of HGTV.com and author of Vegetable Gardening Wisdom: Daily Advice and Inspiration for Getting the Most from Your Garden, has a shed full of her favorite gardening tools.

If she had to pick only five to recommend, she would start with a quality hose, a watering can, ratcheting hand pruners, a hori-hori garden knife and an expandable trellis (with a tiller and gardening overalls as a close six and seven).

Whether you’re a beginner starting out with a container of herbs or an expert, every gardener needs a good tool kit. We asked Trimble and four other experts for their top tools.

Trimble has found both basic hoses that kink and special “kinkless” hoses maddening, she says. Last year, she finally settled on her hose of choice: the Dramm ColorStorm Premium Rubber Hose. It resists kinking and coils up nicely, she says, plus it comes in “really bright, fun colours like purple, yellow and red” that match the colors of Dramm’s watering wands, hose adapters and sprayers. “Quality watering tools can make the difference between watering feeling like a chore and watering feeling a bit like meditation,” she says.

“I have my Fiskars Multipurpose Garden Snips on me at all times, so no matter what task comes up when I’m gardening, I have a tool that will work,” says Chris Lambton, the host of DIY Network shows Lawn and Order and Yard Crashers.

The stainless steel blades cut all the way to the tip, plus the tool

has a serrated edge for sawing, a straight edge for boxes, a wire cutter, a sheath and a belt loop.

“If my garden shed burned down, what would I miss the most?” asks Susan Appleget Hurst, editor of Country Gardens magazine. “I’d have to say I’d probably rush out and replace my longhandle garden tools.”

She has owned the D-Handle Digging Shovel for at least 12 years, and it is still “in great

shape and a pleasure to use.” She explains that the foot platform is wide and comfortable, the blade is powder-coated for resisting rust and dirt, the handles are long, and the D-handle is comfortable for two-handed use. For indoors, Jen Stearns, author of The Inspired House Plant and owner of the plant shop Urban Sprouts, says, “I always recommend having a cute mister.” She says misters in metal, such as the

Nickel Plant Mister, are popular choices.

Plus, metal misters and watering cans won’t tip over as easily as plastic ones.

“If you have a cute mister, you’ll keep it out and then you’ll actually use it.”

She recommends using a mister to clean leaves, water succulents, and spray aero plants and others that like humidity.

“I’m using lots of tools out in our flower field,” says Beth Barnett, owner of floral studio Larkspur. When working, she wears a

good shade hat and her favorite waterproof garden shoes, and always brings her gardening gloves.

“You need different types of gloves for different types of gardening,” she explains. “I like gloves that are thick enough that you’re not going to get poked by anything, but you also need to be able to feel what you’re doing. . . . It’s helpful to have gloves to go up your arm a little bit in case there’s poison ivy and any irritants.” Her favorites are the MiracleGro Women’s Latex-Coated Knit Gloves.

Allan Russell Anderson

Went to be with his Dad on March 18, 2019 at the age of 67 years. Survived by his loving Mother Emily Anderson. Brother Alex (Heather) of Prince George, 2 Sisters, Marlene (Wayne) and Betty (Lyle) both of Prince George. Nephews, Wade (Tammy) Sharpe, Cole (Shallyn) Anderson. Nieces, Alana (Bob) Leclerc, Brittney (Mark) Edgson, Erin (Brodie) Norn. Great Nieces and Nephews, Kianna, Alex, Makenna, Kael, Alysa, Presley, Colbie, Avery, Cooper & Brett and many more relatives and friends. He was predeceased by his father Alexander Anderson.

Allan was an exceptional son, brother, uncle & friend, thought of only his family and how he could help others. Allan was born and raised in Prince George and spent many years playing hockey and baseball. Fishing was Allans passion and he spent much time fishing with his brother Alex, his dad, nephews and friends. Allan was a wonderful uncle and was always interested in what his nephews and nieces were doing spending many weekends watching his nephews hockey games. There will be no service at his request. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Prince George Rotary Hospice House.

LEA,BrendaEleanora September15,1956-March26,2019 BrendawasbornSeptember15th,1956,andpassed awaypeacefullyinhersleeponMarch26,2019. BrendahadalongbattlewithAlzheimer’sthatshe foughtalongsideherbestfriend/husband,David (Dave),andwassobravelyfought. WithBrenda’sundyingfaithinGod,shehasgoneto meetourLordandSaviorinHeaven.Weknowshe wasgreetedatthegatebyallthosewhohavegone beforeher.Weweresoblessedtohaveherinour livesforthetimeshewashereonearth. Inherpassing,sheleavesbehindherhusband,David S.Lea;daughters,AmandaLeaandTriniaLea;and heronlyson,DavidS.T.Lea.Brendawas predeceasedbyherfather,AdolfWronski,andher adoringmother,NellieWronski,aswellasherloving parents-in-law,TedandMargaretLea. "I’llseeyouagain,thisisnotwhereitends.I’llcarry youwithme." ACelebrationofLifewillbeplannedatalaterdate. AnydonationsshouldbesenttotheSPCA,asBrenda lovedallanimals.

Violet Muriel Symon

October 17, 1920March 25, 2019

A long life well lived. God saw you getting tired and said “Come rest with me” and you quietly slipped away with your family by your side. She will be dearly missed by her daughter Marlene Hardstaff, grandchildren Brent Jensen (Karla), Rena Leppard (Troy Rivard), Shawn Flint. Great Grandchildren Steven, Brandan, Jessica, Nicole, Darren, Amanda, Corey. 6 Great Great Grandchildren and many other relatives and friends. She joined the Air Force in WWII and was also a soldier in The Salvation Army and a friend to everyone she met. A very kind lady.

A special thank you to Dr. Janzen and the staff at UHNBC for your excellent care.

A graveside service will be held on Friday, April 5 at 2:30 pm in the Prince George Memorial Park Cemetery in the Veterans Section. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to The Salvation Army of charity of your choice.

Until we meet again Mom~Love you

WINTERS,MelvinJ. May2,1944-March19,2019

MelwasborninAustin,Manitoba,andmovedto100 MileHouseforaperiod,thenontoPrinceGeorge. MellovedtoworkwithvehicleshewasintheautobodybusinessandworkedatICBCformanyyears. Melispredeceasedbyhisparents,RegandNora Winterbottom;sister,Brenda;andsister-in-law,Ria. Heissurvivedbyhissons,David(Nicole)Guiseand Darren(Bonnie)Guise;grandchildren,Parker,Paige, Siena,andMason;andsiblings,Don(Marilyn),Ken, Keith(Ruby),andKathy(Ron),aswellasmany nieces,nephews,andsomanylifelongfriends.Thank youtoallthestaffatthehospicehouseandallthe nursesintheIMUatUHNBC.Pleasemakeadonation toPrinceGeorgeRotaryHospiceinMel’sname.

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Quotations in

Brexit crisis looms in U.K.

The markets today

Canada’s main stock index gained 12.4 per cent in the first quarter despite a losing day in the last trading session in a tepid March. It slightly outperformed the 11 per cent gain by the Dow Jones industrial average. But it lagged the Nasdaq composite, which is up 16.5 per cent so far this year, and the 13 per cent increase by the S&P 500 index.

North American markets bounced back from oversold levels late last year that was harsh for investors.

The recovery since January has kept the TSX 2.8 per cent below the high set last summer.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 53.40 points to 16,102.09 on Friday, after hitting an intraday high of 16,212.68.

The market ended the week slightly higher than the previous week and at the end of February. Toronto’s market fell as eight of the 11 major sectors lost ground, led by financials, energy and materials, which together account for about 61 per cent the market. Energy lost half a per cent despite crude oil prices rising above US$60 per barrel for the second time since November.

The May crude contract was up 84 cents at US$60.14 per barrel and the May natural gas contract was down five cents at US$2.66 per mmBTU.

The June gold contract was up US$3.20 at US$1,298.50 an ounce and the May copper contract was up 6.3 cents at US$2.94 a pound.

Technology led the day as BlackBerry Inc. rose 13 per cent after posting strong fourth-quarter results. It was followed by the cannabis-heavy health sector and consumer staples.

Health care was the best performer in the quarter, gaining 48 per cent, followed by technology (25 per cent), real estate (17.7 per cent), energy (16.5 per cent), utilities (16.3 per cent), industrials (15.5 per cent), financials (11 per cent), consumer staples (10.4 per cent), telecommunications (10.2 per cent), consumer discretionary (10.15 per cent) and materials (nine per cent).

The Canadian dollar traded at an average of 74.83 cents US Friday, compared with an average of 74.47 cents US on Thursday, after Statistics Canada reported the economy grew 0.3 per cent in January, exceeding expectations. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 211.22 points at 25,928.68. The S&P 500 index was up 18.96 points at 2,834.40, while the Nasdaq composite was up 60.16 points at 7,729.32.

U.S. markets rose on renewed optimism about trade talks between the United States and China.

Citizen news service

British lawmakers on Friday rejected the government’s Brexit deal for a third time, leaving the U.K. facing the stark prospect of a chaotic departure from the European Union in just two weeks, with political leaders in turmoil and the country ill-prepared for the shock.

It’s either that, or a long delay to the country’s exit from the EU.

The alternatives are dwindling.

The House of Commons voted 286-344 against the withdrawal agreement struck between Prime Minister Theresa May and the EU, rebuffing her plea to “put aside self and party” and deliver the Brexit that Britons voted for.

Amid business warnings that a no-deal Brexit could mean crippling tariffs, border gridlock and shortages of goods, a visibly frustrated May said the vote had “grave” implications.

“The legal default now is that the United Kingdom is due to leave the European Union on 12 April – in just 14 days’ time,” she said. “This is not enough time to agree, legislate for and ratify a deal, and yet the House has been clear it will not permit leaving without a deal. And so we will have to agree an alternative way forward.”

Had the deal been passed, Britain would have left the EU on May 22.

The bloc said the rejection of the divorce terms made a no-deal Brexit “a likely scenario” and called an emergency summit of EU leaders for April 10 to decide what to do next.

An EU Commission official said the 27 remaining EU nations were “fully prepared for a no-deal scenario at midnight 12th of April.”

Almost three years after Britain voted in June 2016 to leave the EU, and two years after it set its departure date for March 29, 2019, British politicians remain deadlocked over Brexit.

Like the country as a whole, they are split between those who want a clean break, those who want to retain close ties with the bloc, and those who want to overturn the decision to leave.

Last week, to prevent Britain from crashing out, the EU granted an extension to May 22 if the divorce deal was approved by Friday – or to April 12 if it was rejected.

Friday’s 58-vote margin of defeat for the deal was narrower

“Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.” — Mark Twain Call 250-562-2441

than previous votes in January and March, but it still left the government’s blueprint for exiting the bloc in tatters.

May’s deal was voted down even after the prime minister sacrificed her job in exchange for Brexit, promising to quit if lawmakers approved the agreement. With the deal’s rejection, she will face pressure to step aside and let a new Conservative Party leader take over negotiations with the EU.

The government had also warned pro-Brexit politicians that rejecting May’s deal could see Britain’s departure from the EU delayed indefinitely.

May’s arguments moved some previously resistant Brexit-backers to support the deal. Former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson –a likely contender to replace May as Conservative leader – tweeted that rejecting it risked “being forced to accept an even worse version of Brexit or losing Brexit altogether.”

But May’s key allies, the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland, refused to back the agreement because it treats Northern Ireland differently from the rest of the U.K. Parliament voted on the legally binding, 585-page withdrawal agreement that May struck with the EU late last year, setting out the terms of Britain’s departure –but not on a shorter declaration on future ties that was also part of the accord between the two sides. Removing the political declaration altered the deal enough to overcome a parliamentary ban against asking lawmakers the same question over and over again. May also hoped severing the link between the two parts of the deal would blunt opposition. That gamble failed to pay off, as opposition lawmakers said if amounted to voting for a “blind Brexit” with no idea what would happen next.

Opposition lawmakers declared May’s deal as good as dead. Labour Party legislator Ian Murray likened it to the dead parrot in a Monty Python comedy sketch. “Her deal is no more,” he said. “It has ceased to exist. It is bereft of life. It rests in peace. It’s a deal that has been nailed to its perch. It’s an ex-parrot, it is an ex-deal.”

Lawmakers who favour a “soft Brexit” plan to hold votes Monday in an attempt to find a deal with majority support that can break the deadlock.

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said Parliament had a “responsibility to find a majority for a better deal for all the people of this country.”

If lawmakers back a new proposal, Britain would need to seek a new delay to Brexit from the bloc to implement it.

The political morass has left Britons on both sides of the debate frustrated and angry.

Thousands of Brexit supporters, who had planned to be celebrating Friday, were protesting instead. They converged on Parliament Square as lawmakers voted inside, waving Union Jack flags, singing “Bye-Bye EU” and lamenting the government’s failure to take Britain out of the bloc on schedule.

“The people are supposed to be the masters and them inside (Parliament) are meant to do what we tell them,” said Charlotte Clifford from Eastbourne in southern England.

“It’s democracy.”

The main “Leave Means Leave” protest outside Parliament was attended by senior Brexiteers including former U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage, who called Friday a “day of betrayal.”

In a separate rally up the street, far-right agitator Tommy Robinson roused supporters with a speech attacking politicians and the media.

Retired charity worker Mandy Childs, one of a band of Brexit supporters walking across England to join the “Leave Means Leave” protest, said she felt “heartbroken.”

“We were told over a 100 times by a British prime minister that we would be leaving on the 29th of March, 2019,” she said.

“To do that, promise the British people that and then say ‘Actually, no, we need to just put it back’ – absolute betrayal. And how dare she?”

CITIZEN NEWS SERVICE PHOTO

A Brexit supporter wears balloons and a British passport on his hat during a rally in London on Friday.

CITIZEN NEWS SERVICE PHOTO

Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage speaks at a rally in Parliament Square after the final leg of the March to Leave in London on Friday.

Ring kissing controversy confusing

Citizen news service

Some called it “disturbing” – while others view it as an act of “demystifying” the papacy – but every member of the royal court of Catholic Twitter seems to have an opinion on the video of Pope Francis expressing visceral annoyance at Catholics seeking to kiss his ring.

The video, filmed during the pope’s day trip to Loreto, Italy, on Monday, first started making rounds in traditional Catholic circles, showing a smiling pope pulling back his hand during a parade of Catholics seeking to kiss his ring.

The traditional act of kissing the ring –which in the Catholic tradition is worn by bishops, cardinals and the pope – has historically symbolized respect for the office. When footage surfaced of Francis steering Catholics away from it, the right-wing Catholic website Lifesite called it “disturbing.”

Others, however, responded that Francis’ actions reflect a man who has garnered a reputation as the pope of the people, seeking to institute a more humble approach to the way in which Catholics engage the papal office.

In his 1996 book, The Church Visible: The Ceremonial Life and Protocol of the Roman Catholic Church, James-Charles Noonan Jr. wrote that “for centuries, the Church has granted an indulgence to Catholics who reverence the ring of the pope, cardinals, and other prelates.”

Indulgences are granted for specific acts of piety wherein the Church grants remission of sin and have long been a common practice, yet as Noonan observes, when it comes to ring kissing, in most Western nations, prelates have long discouraged the practice.

As of Monday, it seems quite clear that this pope does as well.

Medieval church history scholar Christopher Bellitto, a professor at Kean University, said the ancient tradition of kissing the pope’s ring is not part of any formal protocol while greeting the pope, but one

synonymous with patterns of behavior for how one would greet kings, queens and emperors.

“When one greeted Ramses or Nebuchadnezzar, I’m sure it was common practice to bow and kiss one’s ring.”

Now, says Bellitto, “it’s a leftover that is best left over.”

“This isn’t as much of a Francis story, as much as a story about the modern papacy,” he added.

John Allen, a veteran Vatican journalist and editor of the online Catholic news site Crux, concurred, saying Francis’ actions Monday are one further move in a trend that’s continued since Pope John XXIII to “dial down the tradition of subservience,”

which has traditionally marked the papacy over the centuries.

Francis’ reaction, he believes, is one further step to demystify one of the world’s most secretive institutions, and after the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), popes have made gradual efforts to bring the office into the modern era.

In 1964, Pope Paul VI sent shock waves around Rome when he shipped off his bejeweled papal tiara for a charity tour around the United States to benefit Catholic Relief Services, making him the last pontiff to don the crown.

Pope John Paul I’s brief 33-day papacy changed the course of papal liturgy when he eschewed the papal coronation ceremony

The power of the printed page

Whether it is the biblical record of divine revelations, or the stories of lives transformed by these biblical records, I want to state emphatically that my life has been changed by a combination of these two different levels of the printed page.

Let me refer to the example of the life of E. Stanley Jones, who was born in Baltimore on Jan. 3, 1884.

CLERGY COMMENT

ARLO A. JOHNSON WESTSIDE FAMILY FELLOWSHIP

for a Mass of inauguration. Pope John Paul II, who would jet around the world visiting 129 countries, abandoned the portable papal throne for the popemobile, allowing easier access to the masses that had come out to greet him.

Even Pope Benedict XVI, known for his fondness for liturgical vestments, removed the image of the tiara from the papal coat of arms – and like Francis, shied away from allowing guests to kiss his papal ring.

For Allen, the lesson from Monday is that the Vatican’s master of ceremonies for papal events should reconsider how it communicates with those attending a papal audience and explain to them that Francis would prefer for his guests not to kiss the papal ring.

2. What is around us? Sin.

in a book titled The Christ of the Indian Road and it sold over a million copies. Later in his life, he added 31 more books to his credit.

Late in the 1960s, it was my privilege to personally meet with Jones.

At one point in the early part of his Christian life, he was elected to the highest office of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America.

On the night after his election prior to assuming that position, he came to believe that God was calling him to decline that position and give himself to a worldwide mission.

If reconciliation is God’s chief

business, then it is ours – to bring about reconciliation, between man and God, between man and himself, and between man and man. This reconciliation brings a fulfillment of the words of Jesus in Matthew 22:36-40, so that man loves God with all his heart, soul and mind, as well as loving his neighbor as he loves himself. As a result of Jones’s call to work toward reconciliation among people of different nations, his work became interdenominational and worldwide. Very early in his life and ministry, he wrote a report of these years of service and published it

I now have copies of half of the books that he wrote.

In one of his books, Abundant Living, he makes this statement: “If we haven’t that within us which is above us, we will soon yield to that which is around us.”

To understand this more fully, I pose three questions: 1. Who is above us? God.

Praying for the sinners and the victims

We now come to the long promised column on corruption in the Catholic Church. The difficulty of addressing such a topic is obvious: there are sensitive issues on either side, from victims of the worst trespassers to innocents unfairly coloured by the same brush. What’s more, Catholic factions often lay mother church’s sins at the feet of their enemies in the faith. Finally, borrowing from Swiss reformed theologian Karl Barth, there is “that damned Catholic ‘AND!’” As Barth well knew, Catholicism is full of “ands” – faith and reason, scripture and tradition, etc. Regarding corruption, the complication arises that those consecrated to the Church are both persons as well as instruments, their very nature altered by their vocation. Understanding this duality is not easy. An example runs as follows: Father Theta is both “father” – a priest – as well as “Theta” – a specific man. By his ordination, God’s power has made an indelible mark upon his

OF

soul. Now, Father Theta can fail or succeed as a man or as a priest, independently or simultaneously, resulting in either a beatific, lukewarm or infernal end.

Yet, in the event Father Theta commits a catastrophic moral trespass, he is still a Catholic priest after being locked up and defrocked. Not even the Pope can retract the power granted by God to Father Theta at ordination. Ergo, we are forever shackled to our vocations.

This explanation is provided to shed some light on why so many good people have fallen to the temptation to cover up scandals; the consequences are dire, and even when meted out, the fact remains that a bad pope, bishop, priest, brother, or sister is still part of the faith. Also, the strongest condemnation does not release the individuals in question from their vocation and the

vows they took. Indeed, they are expected to take up their cross again and live a life of penance.

To put it bluntly, “no man is an island,” as crypto-catholic John Donne wrote. When I pray for the church and the world, I am praying for both the victims and the perpetrators of the worst kinds of crimes. I am always my brother’s keeper, even if he be cruel, wicked and unrepentant.

There are of course no excuses for the evils of mother church’s members. I have my own sins to answer for and I speak with no authority, but for what it’s worth, I am deeply sorry. We have greatly sinned, in our thoughts, words and deeds – by what we have done and what we have failed to do. I also fully acknowledge that we are worthy of neither forgiveness nor mercy; our betrayals of divine love are the greatest crimes ever committed against humanity.

Here the practical question of how to prevent future abuses by the Church rears its head. And resignation simply will not do, any more than ill-advised solutions will result in success.

Careful screening and arduous formation,

3. How can we acquire within us, that which is above us? In Revelation 3:20, Jesus said, “Behold I stand at the door, and knock; if anyone hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in...” That is how we can have within us, that which is above us. John 1:10-12 states, “Jesus was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. But as many as received him, to them he gave power to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name.”

Do you have within yourself that which is above you?

programs are still the best methods of filtering out those not suited to the challenges of vocation. However, the institutions that facilitate this do not necessarily conform to the best criteria universally. The Vatican should audit all such places.

In parish life, many protocols already exist to protect minors and those who work with them. But such rules are only as good as their enforcers, and if there is an incident, everyone must be prepared to go to both the police and the church hierarchy to ensure total transparency.

What won’t work is relaxing celibacy and chastity. The evidence overwhelmingly proves sexual crimes are far higher in the wider population not bound by such promises. Furthermore, these vows are inextricably linked to following Christ with total devotion, becoming His spouse.

Indeed, mother church’s evil always begins with infidelity to God. While steps must be taken to prevent abuses, this problem has plagued us since Judas. The ultimate solution might very well be found in Jesus’ words on that fateful night at Gethsemane: “keep watch and pray.”

CITIZEN NEWS SERVICE PHOTO

Pope Francis leaves at the end of his weekly general audience, in St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican on Wednesday.