Province looks to change labour laws
B.C.’s New Democrat government has introduced changes to labour law that scrap measures from the previous Liberal regime and meet recommendations from the province’s top unions.
Labour Minister Harry Bains said the proposed legal changes “supports our government’s commitment to update employment standards and ensure they are applied evenly and enforced.”
The legislation would “broadly raise the age a child may work from 12 to 16,” according to Bains’ ministry, while allowing exemptions for 14 and 15 year olds to do light work like stocking shelves at a grocery store or working on a family farm.
Previously, children as young as 12 could work with special permission from parents and the government. Bains said there are examples of children as young as 12 in B.C. working in hazardous sectors like construction and mining, and that B.C. paid out $5 million in worker’s compensation due to injuries to young children in recent years.
The change will bring B.C. into line with international standards on child labour, said Bains. Exactly what duties 14 and 15 year olds can perform will be set by later cabinet regulations.
The government legislation also proposes to expand unpaid job-protected leaves up to 10 days for workers escaping domestic violence, as well as the option for 15 weeks of consecutive unpaid leave and up to 36 weeks for a worker who needs to care for a critically ill child.
Tips at restaurants will also be pooled and regulated to be shared fairly, so that employers can’t withhold them or deduct them, according to the legislation. The recovery period would expand to 12 months from the current six months.
B.C. is copying Ontario’s model to regulate tips and gratuities.
The Employment Standards Branch would also be modernized, and penalties increased, as part of “a more effective compliance and enforcement program,” said Bains.
The changes were recommended by the B.C. Federation of Labour, an umbrella group for many of the province’s largest unions, which has been heavily lobbying
NDP and Green MLAs to roll back labour code changes made by the previous Liberal government in the early 2000s.
Green leader Andrew Weaver has called for a more moderate approach instead of an extreme policy lurch.
Some of the changes Monday were also supported by the B.C. Law Institute.
The legislation follows a governmentcommissioned review last year by a threeperson panel that represented employers and unions.
Their report contained 26 recommendations on changing the labour code, including removing education from essential service designation that limits strikes, reducing certification votes from 10 to five days, boosting fines, expanding successorship rules to building cleaning, security, bus transportation and healthcare sectors, and restricting employer communications to “a statement of fact or opinion reasonably held” that would prevent anti-union campaigns.
A majority of the review panel recommended maintaining B.C.’s current system of secret ballots for union certification in workplaces, which employers have said protects employees from intimidation in a union drive. However, unions have said the process makes it harder to certify and have called for the return of a system called card check, where a majority of employees must sign cards to certify.
Green leader Weaver had warned the NDP against pursuing the secret ballot, saying he would refuse to support it.
Union certification rules were not part of the legislation introduced Monday.
City considering public washrooms downtown
Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca
The possibility of public washrooms in the city’s downtown remains in play. City council voted unanimously Monday night to direct staff to come back with a report on the item following an extended conversation at the end of a presentation on initiatives in store for the downtown.
Noting it was an issue during the election, Coun. Cori Ramsay asked if staff has given the idea consideration. In response, social planning manager Chris Bone said public washrooms were given some thought when the Wood Innovation Square was in the early planning stages but then dropped over concern they would become “unsafe injection sites” and be out of service more often than not.
She said the conclusion was reached after conducting an “incredible amount of research with other municipalities who were struggling with similar issues that we are in our downtown.”
However, Bone said there appears to have been some success in communities where a social agency take on supervision and maintenance.
Coun. Murry Krause said the idea dates back to at least the mid-1990s and
added the facilities would not be just for “downtown, street-involved people” but for everyone. Mothers with children have had trouble finding a bathroom if they weren’t shopping or going to a restaurant, he noted. He also suggested the facilities would have to be supervised around the clock or at least during the hours they’re open.
Coun. Terri McConnachie also spoke in favour, saying the library effectively houses the only public washroom in the downtown.
Ramsay said a small segment is hindering realization of a community need.
“I’m really hoping it’s something that we can get past,” she added.
During the presentation, council was told BC Housing, the city and two social agencies will provide options to street people for storing their belongings on a pilot program basis to see if it will reduce the amount of outdoor sheltering. And once Wood Innovation Square is completed, Foodie Fridays will be moved to the spot.
Coun. Brian Skakun said needles, shoplifting and a fear for personal safety remain issues for downtown businesses and their employees. Other councillors agreed but added progress is being made.
Tax rate bylaw going to final reading
Citizen staff
A bylaw setting the rates households and businesses will pay for property taxes this year was passed through three readings during a city council meeting on Monday. Pending final approval in two weeks time, owners of residential property will pay $7.34 per $1,000 of assessed value. Although down from $7.60 last year, the owner of a typical home, valued at $300,680 will pay an extra $91 – pushing the bill up to $2,207 – to reflect the 4.3-per-cent increase in the tax levy.
Add on the city’s share of taxes for the Fraser-Fort George Regional District and the bill rises a further $315, compared to
$252 last year.
Those with homes valued below that level will see a smaller increase while those with homes above that level will see larger increases.
Businesses would pay $17.17 to the city and $2.59 to the FFGRD, major industry $53.32 and $3.59, and light industry would pay $27.62 and $3.59, with them accounting for 28.67, 2.82 and 13.2 per cent of the levy respectively. Residential properties account for 67.3 per cent of the city’s total assessed value.
Business makes up 26.6, major industry 2.46 and light industry 0.97 per cent. The total levy stands at just under $110 million.
Rob SHAW Vancouver Sun
Taking their show on the road
Sacred Heart Elementary School’s Kindergarten class waits at the Four Seasons Pool bus stop for a bus up to UNBC to participate in the annual P.G. Speech Arts and Drama Festival. The class was in choric drama category performing Explained by AA Milne.
BAINS
Princely preparation
Farmers’ Market opening for season this weekend
Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca
The outdoor season for the Prince George Farmers’ Market comes into bloom on Saturday. It’s a celebration day for the organization, as it sprawls out onto the street for the first time since the snows melted. There’s a little extra spring in their seasonal step this year.
“There will be many great vendors set up on Quebec Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue to sell their awesome local products,” said market manager Jody Holmes. “The Barefoot Fridays band is scheduled to perform live from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. to help us kickstart the 25th Anniversary of the Prince George Farmers’ Market.”
For the winter season, and ongoing through the summer, the market operates out of the building on the northwest corner of their street (1310 Third Ave.), with some vendors also set up kittie-corner at Hubspace on the southeast corner. When the weather warms enough to enjoy the great downtown outdoors as well, the number and variety of vendors sprouts until the onset of winter sends everyone back indoors in October.
The outside market weekends are a sure sign of summer. Holmes said it was not too late for producers to get in on the merchant action.
“If you are a local farmer, artisan, or crafts-person who is interested in selling your products at the Farmers’ Market please feel free to contact me to discuss vending at the market,” he said.
“The P.G. Farmers’ Market Association is proud to support local farmers, artisans, and craftspeople by providing them a place to sell their goods and connect with local residents of the P.G. community,” Holmes added.
“The Farmers’ Market is leading the way in the critical work of supporting the local economy in Prince George and is always working hard to encourage local residents to check out the market and become regular customers so they can help support local businesses simply by purchasing amazing products.”
To make contact with Holmes, email manager.farmersmarketpg@gmail.com or call 778-281-0144.
The PGFM opens for business every Saturday at 8:30 a.m. and stays open until 2 p.m.
Northern B.C. musicians up for WCMA awards
Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff
The Western Canadian Music Alliance has announced the nominees for this year’s Western Canadian Music Awards.
This annual night of music power is the pinnacle event of the BreakOut West music conference. It will be held in Whitehorse this year, from Oct. 2 to Oct. 6.
The Prince George region had a couple of names on the list of nominees among the 31 categories. Each category has a shortlist of five.
The nearest name among the nominees is Cariboo couple Pharis & Jason Romero.
The Horsefly act has already piled up a trophy case full of Canadian Folk Music Awards, Penguin Eggs Readers Poll, Stingray Folk-Roots citations, multiple Junos (including 2019) and several previous “Westies” to go with these three new nominations.
Pharis & Jason Romero are up for one of the highlight categories, Recording of the Year (the shortlist also includes Dan Mangan, Foxwarren, Jill Barber and Sarah MacDougall), for Roots Duo/ Group of the Year, and for another of the biggies in the Songwriter of the Year category for their latest hit tune Sweet Old Religion.
Another name with close contacts is in the Blues Artist of the Year category.
Vying with Brandon Isaak, David Gogo, Jack Semple and James Buddy Rogers is former northerner Ndidi O who was known by her full name, Ndidi Onukwulu, when she lived in Burns Lake growing up.
From a little farther down Highway 16, congratulations are also in order for some other former northerners: Snotty Nose Rez Kids (Kitamaat Village), Aaron Pritchett (Kitimat), and former Smithers resident Dan Mangan who is up for five awards (the most of any artist this year, to go along with his Jimmy Kimmel Live appearance a few weeks ago).
Members of the Western Canadian Music Alliance can vote on some of these awards. Any aspiring or veteran musician can find new information, new contacts, new opportunities to advance in the music industry by attending the BreakOut West conference each year.
The event consists of the BreakOut West Festival, with over 100 shows, the Western Canadian Music Awards, as well as the conference itself with educational panels, networking events, and so much more.
The conference and the Westies are dedicated to the artists and other music professionals from B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwest Territories and Yukon.
CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN
Workers prepare the Little Prince steam engine for the season on Tuesday. The three engineers that run the train will have six new trainees this year getting their hours in to become certified to run the train. The train will start running on the May long weekend in Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park.
Entrance upgrade
Work on city paving projects starts this week
Citizen staff
Paving season is starting up in Prince George. Contracted crews will begin work this week on upgrading more than 40 lane-kilometres of city roads and sidewalks, city hall said Tuesday.
This largest project will be along Foothills Boulevard just south of Highland Drive, with three lanes adding up almost five lane kilometres scheduled for paving.
The largest sidewalk project will be along the south side of Highland Drive, from Berwick to Glenngarry Road.
Two new sidewalks are also being constructed this year on 2nd Avenue from Ospika to Quinn Street, and on 22nd Avenue from Highway 97 to the entrance to
NEWS IN BRIEF
Williams Lake hospital resumes maternity services
WILLIAMS LAKE (CP) — Expectant mothers around Williams Lake can once again deliver their babies closer to home.
Interior Health says maternity services at Cariboo Memorial Hospital in Williams Lake have resumed for low-risk deliveries.
Deliveries were suspended at the hospital two months ago due to a shortage of maternity nurses, forcing expectant mothers to travel about three hours south to Kamloops, or north to Prince George, as their due dates approached. Low-risk deliveries, involving full-term pregnancies with minimal complications, will be offered at Cariboo Memorial.
The health authority says the hospital is also able to provide planned or emergency caesarean births.
Resumption of birthing services follows the hiring of two maternity nurses, with a third nurse due to arrive in May, while seven
College of New Caledonia. Last week, workers began rehabilitating a section of sidewalk on the north side of 15th Avenue near the intersection with Ospika Boulevard.
The first road rehabilitation projects of the season are: Emerald Drive from Nordic Drive to Diamond Drive; Diamond Drive from Nordic Drive to Jade Drive; Jade Drive from Chestnut Drive to Emerald Drive and Taft Drive from Eden Drive to Glenview Drive.
All are anticipated to be completed by the end of the week, but are dependent upon the weather.
Motorists are advised to look for alternate routes whenever possible and to drive with caution around road crews.
Maps showing all the projects slated for this year are posted with this story at www.pgcitizen.ca.
nurses within the hospital are being trained in maternity care and are expected to start their new duties in July.
Ex-WHL player charged in childgrabbing incident
KELOWNA (CP) — A former minor-league hockey player has been charged after a childgrabbing incident in downtown Kelowna on Sunday. Thirtyyear-old Harold Giffen Nyren of Calgary appeared in a Kelowna courtroom Tuesday and is charged with assault and wilfully resisting or obstructing a police officer. Police allege the man grabbed a young child from its parents in a waterfront park, then left the child, took off his clothes and tried to swim away in the chilly waters of Okanagan Lake. Police say Nyren was arrested after officers coaxed him closer to shore.
Hockey-player database Elite Prospects shows that Nyren played for Calgary in the American Midget Hockey League and for Moose Jaw and Kamloops in the Western Hockey League from 2005 to 2010.
will soon be upgraded. Council had to increase the budget for renovations and updates to the library.
Wells hosting artists’ project
Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca
This summer’s top artists’ intensive in the area looks to improve and inspire the region’s aspiring creators.
The Toni Onley Artists’ Project takes place in Wells from July 6-14. Whether you are professional or emerging, the project is a place to take your art to its next level. A number of scholarships are available to offset the cost of attending. Wednesday is the deadline to apply for the funding help.
“You do not need to specify which scholarship you are applying for, your eligibility will be
determined by the jury,” said a statement issued by Island Mountain Arts, the arts organization in Wells.
“Only artists who commit to the full nine days will be considered for a scholarship.”
This year’s two mentors are Diana Thorneycroft and Peter von Tiesenhausen. From Winnipeg and the Alberta side of Peace country, respectively, these two highly experienced and acclaimed creators will infuse participants with their perspectives on technique, expression, inspiration, exhibition, marketing, and the whole gamut of being a working artist.
“Participants will be provided
studio space and direct and peer group mentorship with daily oneon-one critiques with the mentor artists and peers,” said Island Mountain Arts organizers.
“Limited to a maximum of 20 participants working in any medium, artists spend nine days in Wells, working in the IMA studios under the mentorship of outstanding art practitioners. The project is an opportunity for emerging and professional artists to step out of their own studio and into IMA’s shared studio space and work in an experimental, exploratory and risk-taking manner.”
For more information, follow the links at the IMA website.
Bennett re-elected to B.C. School Trustees Association board
Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff
Local school board trustee Tim Bennett has been re-elected to the board of the B.C. School Trustees’ Association (BCSTA).
Bennett has held the position before, and joins a provincial board that includes Mike Murray from Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows, Donna Sargent from Richmond, and Valerie Adrian from Gold Trail all as directors.
The executive consists of past-president Gordon Swan from Nicola-Similkameen, vicepresident Carolyn Broady from West Vancouver, and new president Stephanie Higginson from
Nanaimo-Ladysmith.
The BCSTA held its 115th annual general meeting in Richmond this past weekend. During the meeting, the association’s membership voted for the 201920 BCSTA board of directors.
“Our board has made great strides in the past year, and I believe our members have recognized these efforts through their choice to reelect all members of our 2018-2019 board so that we may continue to build on the work we have started, said Higginson.
She was acclaimed to the presidency when Swan opted to step to the past-president’s position.
The entrance way to the Prince George Public Library Bob Harkins branch
BENNET
New emperor ascends the Chrysanthemum Throne
Simon DENYER The Washington Post
The former crown prince Naruhito formally took his place as emperor Wednesday in a short and tradition-laden ceremony in the Imperial Palace’s Pine Chamber, a day after Naruhito’s 85-year-old father abdicated to pass the role to a younger generation.
The 59-year-old Naruhito now takes on the challenge of carrying forward his father’s legacy.
The former emperor, Akihito, sought to modernize the imperial family within the tight bounds of tradition and maintain its relevance in contemporary Japan while respecting a strict prohibition on anything deemed political.
Naruhito’s accession to the throne marks the start of the Reiwa era in Japan, a term taken from ancient Japanese poetry and translated as “beautiful harmony.”
But his own family is a constant reminder of the gender inequality at the heart of the conservative imperial system.
Naruhito and his wife, now known as Empress Masako, had a daughter, Princess Aiko, in 2001. Under Japanese law, Aiko is not allowed to inherit the throne, and Masako is thought to have come under intense pressure from within the palace to produce a male heir.
Masako reluctantly gave up a potentially highflying career in Japan’s diplomatic service to become his bride in 1993.
She later fell ill with what was diagnosed as stress-related “adjustment disorder,” largely withdrawing from public life for a decade.
In a further sign of entrenched attitudes and traditions, female members of the imperial family were not invited to attend Wednesday’s ceremony. They will be there later in the day when Naruhito was scheduled to make a brief speech.
The lone woman attending the ceremony – a government minister, Satsuki Katayama. Dressed in a tailcoat, Naruhito stood in front of the throne. Imperial chamberlains presented him with two of Japan’s sacred treasures – a sword representing valour and a jewel representing benevolence – as well as the Privy Seal and the Great Seal of Japan, the seals of the emperor and state, respectively.
Enclosed in cases and only seen by the emperor and high priests, the sword and stone were then placed on stands made of Japanese cypress. A third treasure, a mirror – representing wisdom – is kept at Ise Grand Shrine, the holiest Shinto site in Japan.
Naruhito’s much-loved father Akihito, who is now known as Emperor Emeritus, abdicated in a similar ceremony in the same room on Tuesday in the first such succession in Japan in two centuries.
In the past, Naruhito has upset traditionalists – but impressed many others – by
launching a passionate defense of his wife in 2004, explaining how she had given up a diplomatic career but since found it hard to get approval to travel abroad.
She had “totally exhausted herself” trying to adjust to her new role, while some people were trying “to negate her career and her personality,” he said.
After Naruhito, the imperial family has only one young male heir – his 12-year-old nephew, Hisahito – and the government says it will soon reconsider the question of whether to allow women to inherit the throne to save the succession.
Naruhito has also spoken out in favor of fathers becoming more involved in their children’s upbringing, something that is still relatively rare in conservative Japan.
His mother Misako would always walk a few steps behind her husband Akihito. But Naruhito has been seen hiking in the mountains with his wife and his daughter at his side.
“He is clearly a man who is respectful of strong women and a family man who adores his daughter,” said Shihoko Goto, a senior associate at the Wilson Center’s Asia
Program. “Yet one of the biggest challenges he will face as soon as he is enthroned will be the question of succession.”
“His only child will not be able to succeed him precisely because she is a girl,” she said. “As Japan looks to bolster the role the imperial family can play both at home and abroad, the question of gender equality will continue to be a thorn in its side.”
After completing a history degree at Tokyo’s Gakushuin University, Naruhito became the first member of Japan’s royal family to study overseas, spending two years at Oxford University’s Merton College, where his research focused on transportation along the River Thames.
He has since spoken on water management at global forums and is expected to bring not only an international outlook but also a focus on the environment and climate change to his new role.
“He needs to come out from under the very long shadow of Akihito. And I think he’s going to make climate change his signature issue,” said Jeff Kingston of Tokyo’s Temple University.
“He has indicated that the monarchy
must shift with the changing times, with the changing wind. His view is the monarchy isn’t just the state repository of tradition, but that it needs to remain relevant.”
Akihito was a much-loved figure. With his wife Michiko at his side, he humanized the role of the emperor – once viewed in Japan as a living god – by reaching out to vulnerable members of society and victims of natural disasters. In a break with long-held customs, he looked ordinary people in the eye when talking to them.
But Akihito’s personable style did not please Japan’s ultraconservatives, who felt he undermined imperial authority with ordinary gestures – such as kneeling down to chat to evacuees after a volcano erupted in Nagasaki in 1991.
Nor were they thrilled by his efforts to help Japan reconcile itself with its neighbours and its own wartime past.
A more elaborate enthronement ceremony for Naruhito will take place Oct. 22, and will be attended by royalty and dignitaries from around the world.
The Washington Post’s Akiko Kashiwagi contributed to this report.
Violence erupts in Venezuela
Scott SMITH, Christopher TORCHIA
The Associated Press
CARACAS, Venezuela — Opposition leader Juan Guaido took a bold step to revive his movement to seize power in Venezuela, taking to the streets Tuesday to call for a military uprising that drew quick support from the Trump administration and fierce resistance from forces loyal to socialist Nicolas Maduro.
The violent street battles that erupted in parts of Caracas were the most serious challenge yet to Maduro’s rule.
And while the rebellion seemed to have garnered only limited military support, at least one high-ranking official announced he was breaking with Maduro, in a setback for the embattled president.
In a Tuesday night appearance on national television, Maduro declared that the opposition had attempted to impose an “illegitimate government” with the support of the United States and neighbouring Colombia. He said Venezuela had been a victim of “aggression of all kinds.”
Meanwhile, Guaido sought to keep the momentum going at the end of the day by releasing his own video message in which he pressed Venezuelans to take to the streets again on Wednesday.
The competing quests to solidify a hold on power capped a dramatic day that included a tense moment when several armoured vehicles plowed into a group of anti-government demonstrators trying to storm the capital’s air base, hitting at least two protesters.
U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said the Trump ad-
ministration was waiting for three key officials, including Maduro’s defence minister and head of the supreme court, to act on what he said were private pledges to remove Maduro. He did not provide details.
The stunning events began early Tuesday when Guaido, flanked by a few dozen national guardsmen and some armoured crowd-control vehicles, released the threeminute video shot near the Carlota air base.
In a surprise, Leopoldo Lopez, Guaido’s political mentor and the nation’s most-prominent opposition activist, stood alongside him.
Detained in 2014 for leading a previous round of anti-government unrest, Lopez said he had been released from house arrest by security forces adhering to an order from Guaido.
“I want to tell the Venezuelan people: This is the moment to
take to the streets and accompany these patriotic soldiers,” Lopez declared.
As the two opposition leaders co-ordinated actions from a highway overpass, troops loyal to Maduro fired tear gas from inside the adjacent air base.
A crowd that quickly swelled to a few thousand scurried for cover, reappearing later with Guaido at a plaza a few blocks from the disturbances. A smaller group of masked youths stayed behind on the highway, lobbing rocks and Molotov cocktails toward the air base and setting a government bus on fire.
Amid the mayhem, several armoured utility vehicles careened over a berm and drove at full speed into the crowd.
Two demonstrators, lying on the ground with their heads and legs bloodied, were rushed away on a motorcycle as the vehicles sped away dodging fireballs thrown by the demonstrators.
“It’s now or never,” said one of the young rebellious soldiers, his face covered in the blue bandanna worn by the few dozen insurgent soldiers.
The head of a medical centre near the site of the street battles said doctors were treating 50 people, about half of them with injuries suffered from rubber bullets. At least one person had been shot with live ammunition.
Japanese Emperor Naruhito, accompanied by Empress Masako, makes his first address at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Tuesday. Emperor Naruhito took the throne after his father, Emperor Akihito, abdicated.
AP PHOTO
Opponents to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro stand behind makeshift shields as they battle Bolivarian National Guards during an attempted military uprising in Caracas, Venezuela on Tuesday.
Quebec, N.B. hope worst flooding is over
Ontario situation
‘potentially worsening’
Morgan LOWRIE The Canadian Press
STE-MARTHE-SUR-LE-LAC, Que. — Robert Pepin’s mobile home sits crookedly on its foundation, the front door is broken, the insulation and deck are damaged beyond repair.
But the 70-year-old resident of Ste-Marthe-sur-le-Lac, Que., says he’s happy and less anxious because he’s been able to visit his home and see what the water did to it.
“(Before) there was so much pressure in your head,” Pepin said. “You think all the time, you can’t sleep. What am I going to do, is my house finished? Now you see what’s there, and you deal with it.”
Over the weekend water from the Lake of Two Mountains breached a dike and rushed through the Montreal suburb, forcing Pepin and about 6,000 others from their homes. On Tuesday, residents of 1,485 homes that were spared the flooding were cleared to return home, though authorities said they would be without running water or electricity for an indefinite period.
The partial lifting of the evacuation was a rare glimmer of hope in a province that has been fighting flooding for two weeks. “The worst is behind us,” Public Security Minister Genevieve Guilbault said earlier in the day.
Some 2,500 soldiers remain stationed in flood-ravaged regions of New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario, and various communities have declared a state of emergency. As Quebec and New Brunswick saw improvement on the horizon, in Ontario the situation was “potentially worsening,” federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said Tuesday
So far about 1,600 people have been forced from their homes across Ontario, Goodale said, most of whom are from the northern First Nations territory of Kashechewan.
City officials in Ottawa Tuesday said the bloated Ottawa River and its tributaries are expected to rise “over the next several days.” At an afternoon briefing, officials said they were closing a street through the heart of the flood-affected area of Constance Bay and asking 150 households to voluntarily evacuate.
The river is already 30 centimetres above the peak levels of severe flooding in 2017,
and could go up another 20 centimetres depending on the weather in the coming days. Forecasts call for snow, ice pellets and freezing rain, followed by up to 40 millimetres of rain by Thursday morning.
“The worst is yet to come,” Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said.
In New Brunswick, the province’s director of emergency measures, Greg MacCallum, said Tuesday the response to this year’s spring flooding is slowly turning into a recovery operation.
“Most regions along the Saint John River should be out of the flood stage by the end of this week,” he said. He said water levels along most of the river are making a slow but steady decline.
Bill Lawlor, the New Brunswick director of the Canadian Red Cross, said while some people have begun returning to their homes, the agency is still housing 433 people in hotels.
Goodale said about 9,200 residences and cottages remain flooded in New Brunswick along with 7,000 other properties of different kinds.
Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said investments in climate-resilient infrastructure and mitigation measures will be needed in the fight against climate change.
Man arrested after climbing tree to protest pipeline
The Canadian Press
BURNABY — Mounties have arrested a 71-year-old grandfather who defied a court injunction by climbing a towering tree in Metro Vancouver to protest the Trans Mountain pipeline.
RCMP in Burnaby said Terry Christenson was taken into custody Tuesday for prohibiting a court order preventing demonstrations within five metres of the Westridge Marine Terminal.
“Due to the nature of this demonstration, the Lower Mainland Integrated Emergency Response Team was engaged and their experience in high-angle rescues was utilized in order to ensure the demonstrator could be safely arrested,” police said in a news release.
Christenson is scheduled to make a court appearance on Wednesday.
Earlier Tuesday, he said more demonstrations would follow.
Christenson said RCMP had arrived in the morning at the base of the tree inside the marine terminal, advised him of his
rights and explained they were prepared to climb the tree to arrest him where he’d perched himself 30 metres above the ground. He said he staged a similar protest and was arrested last year at the height of rallies against plans to triple the capacity of the pipeline to carry bitumen from the Edmonton area to Burnaby.
The trained climber said he was prepared to descend from his perch rather than risk the safety of the officers ordered to make the arrest.
His demonstration aimed to renew awareness of the strong opposition to expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline, Christenson said.
Work on expansion of the pipeline was suspended in August when the Federal Court of Appeal found First Nations were not adequately consulted and that the National Energy Board failed to consider the marine shipping impacts.
The federal government purchased the pipeline from Kinder Morgan Canada for $4.5 billion last year in order to ensure the expansion would proceed.
“We recognize that there is an increasing reality that, almost every year, we’re dealing with people having to evacuate their homes, protect their homes from rising floodwaters,” Trudeau told reporters.
“These extreme weather events are going to happen more often.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, before the evacuation order was partially lifted in Ste-Marthe-sur-le-Lac, a total of 6,704 residences were flooded in Quebec while 3,483 were surrounded by water. More than 10,000 people had been forced from their homes.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault told a news conference in Quebec City that an analysis will be conducted looking at dikes across the province. He said the 3.5-kilometre dike that was breached in Ste-Marthesur-le-Lac was last repaired in 2009. After record flooding in 2017, a private firm determined it needed millions of dollars of additional work to be reinforced.
The town’s mayor had requested an environmental assessment, with work expected to begin this fall. “We’re in a situation where no one thought it was that urgent, or that what happened Saturday would happen,” Legault said.
In the town northwest of Montreal, teams of firefighters, Canadian Forces and police
used small Zodiac-style boats Tuesday to escort residents, like Pepin, back to their flooded homes. The hardest-hit areas still looked like a disaster zone. Cars sat submerged almost to their rooftops, and water reached nearly to the living room windows of some homes.
Jocelyne Martin, 68, noted that most of the residents are retired, living in relatively inexpensive mobile homes that may not be eligible for much compensation.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” she said.
“We don’t even know what they’ll do with the houses. I heard they’ll be demolished but I don’t know, we’ll see,” she said after her trip to retrieve belongings including clothes and her passport.
But despite the dire situation facing some residents, Pepin wasn’t the only one expressing relief after making a first visit home.
Darlene Ratelle was glad to see that while water was high on her street, the interior of the home appeared untouched.
“It looks like a wasteland out there, it really does, but to go in the house to see that everything inside is nice, all intact, it helps,” she said.
— With files from Jordan Press and Kevin Bissett
CP PHOTO
A Canadian Forces LAV III passes through floodwaters on both sides of Bayview Drive in the Ottawa community of Constance Bay, during a guided tour of Canadian Armed Forces flood relief operations in the capital region on Tuesday.
May Day for mental health
Tomorrow is Spirit Day.
The Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation, together with our friends across the street at the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group, are working together to raise money for better healthcare in Prince George and across Northern B.C.
This year, the goal is to raise $70,000 towards improving mental health and addictions care in the region.
Judy Neiser, the executive director of Spirit of the North, says the growing focus by the foundation on mental health and addiction care is donor driven.
In other words, people have stepped forward with their cheque book wanting to make a difference in this specific area, often because they have been traumatically affected through the suffering of a loved one and want to do more to help prevent others from going through the same kind of pain.
Mental health and addictions are the black sheep of medicine, both within the medical community and within society at large. Being a surgeon comes with far more respectability than being a psychiatrist. Re-
searching treatments for cancer or diabetes earns far more praise than developing new regimes to combat alcoholism. That’s not a criticism of healthcare practitioners; it’s simply a recognition that illnesses and the professionals who treat them come with an embedded hierarchy.
So a Spirit Day devoted to mental health and addictions comes with its own challenges. If the pediatric ward is in need of equipment or other resources, it’s easy as your A-B-Cs to raise money because it’s for the kids. People get in line to give. To put it harshly, getting folks to donate towards treatments for schizophrenics, meth heads, crack addicts and alcoholics is a different story.
Fortunately, that view is changing.
The effects of mental health and addictions have penetrated society deep enough that, like cancer, everyone has been touched in some way. Every adult knows a recovering addict. Every adult knows someone who continues to struggle with mental health issues. For more and more Canadians, finding that person requires only a mirror. Even the language is a barrier towards
recognizing these health issues as legitimate. Both mental health and addictions are seen as somehow separate from other ailments. Blaming the victims is common, because they are weak, they bring their suffering upon themselves and/or they’re exaggerating their condition to attract attention, receive financial aid and avoid working and other responsibilities.
Referring to addiction and mental health conditions as diseases elevates them to equal standing with cancer, diabetes and other serious illnesses. That’s where they belong but most people can’t shake their health prejudices, even when they know better.
As soon as those prejudices are pulled back and passing judgment is discarded, diagnosing and treating addictions and mental illness becomes solely about providing care, managing symptoms, relieving suffering and improving quality of life. That’s the appropriate response, of course, for illnesses that don’t discriminate by gender, race, culture, education, wealth or geography.
The Canadian Mental Health Association estimates the annual cost of mental illness
Solutrean salute
I would like to thank Mr. Dale for his apology (letter, April 18) which I accept, but there is always a but.
Mr. Dale speaks of the Solutrean theory as being debunked when in fact it is alive and well.
Since the discovery of a Solutrean stone point in Chesapeake Bay, many of the Clovis first believers have begun to question that theory admitting that it would have been possible for those peoples to travel from Europe’s most westerly point to North-Americas most easterly point, a distance of 1,200 miles or less at that time.
Travelling by some type of watercraft, (the predominant thought is waterproof animal skin boats such as those used in the Arctic) skirting the massive ice flow of the last glaciation period.
More evidence of the peopling of the Americas came from a find in Texas where two stone points were uncovered amongst the debris left from knapping stoneage points.
These points at present predate all other finds of human habitation in the Americas.
They are thought to be of a previous unknown people.
This find throws more doubt on the “we were here first” concept by native peoples.
As to your comments that North
American natives were preceded by White Europeans and that the hypotheses of this possibility of Solutrean peoples preceding aboriginal people are made by white supremacist groups, apparently you see these early Europeans in the same manner as white supremacists goosestepping Aryans marching in perfect formation along the ice shelf intent on invading the Americas.
At that period of time, there were no “white men.” They simply did not exist then.
There was no difference in colouration between the early Europeans and the early Asians who migrated by accident into Americas just as any other peoples that by accident in their continuous flight to survive, arrived in the Americas.
As I previously stated, at this present time no one knows definitively who arrived first.
It is not for politicians and stories told to determine who was here first.
This must and will be determined eventually by science, with archaeologists on their knees digging in the dirt.
much the tree that two nice ladies decorate to celebrate the different holidays like Christmas, Easter, Halloween, etc.
These people do this at their own cost of time and materials to put a smile on people’s faces that frequent the park.
People who frequent the park and trails truly enjoy this nice gesture.
It is very disappointing and disgusting to find that some people who frequent the trails choose to destroy there creations or steal the decorations.
Whoever is responsible for this, please grown up and leave things alone that don’t belong to you.
There is no value to speak of in these items so why destroy it for others? Get a life.
Alt-males
to the national healthcare system at about $8 billion. This doesn’t factor in further economic costs (lost wages, decreased business productivity, job loss), nor does it include the harm caused to personal and family finances through bankruptcies and failed mortgages.
For relief (of both physical and mental illness), many turn to self-medication, the first step towards addiction.
To turn things around, as with any sickness, the first steps in the right direction are recognition of the problem and a willingness to get help.
There are many agencies besides Northern Health working to help those with mental illness and addiction, as well as their loved ones, which is good because the problems are significant and require everyone working together.
Tomorrow’s Spirit Day deserves all the help it can get so the Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation can help Northern Health do more to make a difference. Think about the people you know struggling with addictions and mental illness. Please give.
— Editor-in-chief Neil Godbout
Messing with gas playing with fire
From my recent visit to the Lower Mainland, I can assure you that $1.70 per a litre or higher for gasoline isn’t an exaggeration, matching the growing anger in a population where over half do not have easy access to public transit and must commute for work. Indeed, fuel prices in the GVRD are so outrageous, it is cheaper to buy American, even after the exchange rate. Add to this Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s plan to restrict the supply, and cars may well be parked this summer.
What progressives seem unable to grasp, from Prohibition to marijuana legalization, is that nothing exists in a vacuum: moonshiners, rollers of Status tobacco, and small time weed dealers all benefit from the overpricing earnest people believe will truly save the world from sin.
Now that same mindset has been brought to bear on fuel, spurred by apocalyptic visions of climate change that are preached from every progressive pulpit. We British Columbians have been paying a Carbon Tax since 2008, longer than anyone else in North America, and yet the wildfires that have decimated our interior continued to rage with a vengeance. How much more sacrifice do the climate gods demand? What kind of indulgence will expiate my carbon footprint?
Vancouver was quite possibly the worst jurisdiction to experiment with these penalizing levies: non-GVRD members have gas that’s up to 20 cents less a litre, and much of the Lower Mainland already goes to the States for cheap dairy – might as well bring an empty jerry can.
But if nothing else, this latest policy disaster demonstrates once again why one ought to have faith in anything but government and its members.
ground subway? What about the clearly oil-based seats or the plastic posters supporting silly causes in every station? I would like to see those receipts. Meanwhile, families are being hurt by these prices, as the cost of fuel drains a great deal from pocket books that could have been spent anywhere else. And how does one square the circle that tolls on the Port Mann bridge were unjust, but a universal tariff, whether you use the only properly built parkway in B.C. or not, isn’t highway robbery? I vaguely recall rules about “the Queen’s road” and no tolls being allowed; maybe some activist lawyer could be useful for once.
Of course, there is reason to be grateful.
Premier John Horgan’s kowtowing to radical environmentalist doctrine has created a perfect foil for conservative provincial premiers and the federal Tories just before an election: see what happens to gas prices when you vote Left? And as the crisis will only continue to grow, a change in government is imminent for British Columbia, finally colouring Canada blue from English Bay to Charlottetown Harbour. Thanks, progressives! Here it is right and just to offer some free advice to left-leaning people across the country – take your parties back, please.
These radical imps are fueled by a combination of religious zealotry akin only to jihadism and international financial resources laundered through non-profit lobbies that make SNC-Lavalin’s acts seem perfectly ethical.
Trail vandalism
Larry Barnes Prince
George
I have been walking for many years on the Cottonwood trails in the city and have enjoyed very
SHAWN CORNELL DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING
E. Rosin Prince
George
While Jon Peter Christoff’s recent letter (April 25) analyzing right nationalism in Alberta was informative, I take issue with one statement. In his last sentence, he states that white nationalism is just dressed up in lipstick and heels. In reality, it is dressed up in suits and ties as the majority of the far right are male. Heather Sapergia
Prince George
The people in charge refuse to live by the consequences of their ideology, as our leaders don’t pay for their commutes and supporters of this tax are subsidized to ride on public transit, including the SkyTrain that costs millions more to construct per mile than light rail, an option Translink lobbies against in neighbouring cities.
By the way, did the carbon tax get paid for the concrete poured to make the skyline ruining track of Vancouver’s extravagant above
Cast these jacobins into the dark abyss all while asserting a platform for affordability and poverty reduction through higher wages. Canada has bountiful energy that is ethically produced. It is beyond comprehension how our country sets gas price records or takes political risks that are threatening not just to projects but confederation also. So far we’ve avoided the global wave of discontent.
But are we immune?
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RIGHT OF CENTRE
NATHAN GIEDE
Tensions with China ‘do not play out in our project at all’: LNG Canada CEO
Andy BLATCHFORD
Canadian Press
OTTAWA — The head of LNG Canada says Ottawa’s trade and diplomatic frictions with Beijing “do not play out” at all in the massive project that will one day ship liquefied natural gas from British Columbia to major Asian economies – including China.
PetroChina, a state-controlled Chinese energy giant, owns a 15-per-cent stake in the $40-billion project, a Royal Dutch Shellled joint venture that includes other Asian partners. The project includes an export facility in Kitimat, B.C.
In an interview Tuesday, LNG Canada CEO Andy Calitz told The Canadian Press the deepening feud between Canada and China has never been raised at any of LNG Canada’s executive committee meetings.
“The current tensions between China and Canada do not play out in our project at all,” Calitz said in Ottawa after meeting with federal cabinet ministers and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “PetroChina is a proud participant.”
In recent weeks, China has blocked Canadian canola-seed shipments – which is widely seen as a response to Canada’s move in December to arrest senior Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver at the behest of the United States. Meng’s arrest, and her possible extradition to the U.S. to face criminal charges, has angered China.
Canola is a key export for Canada and China has been a huge market for the product.
China imported $2.7 billion worth of Canadian canola seed last year, which ensures any prolonged blockage will hurt farmers, the industry and the
LNG Canada CEO Andy Calitz applauds after a final investment declaration was signed by LNG Canada joint venture participants to build an LNG export facility in Kitimat on Oct. 2, 2018.
broader economy. (Trudeau has said his government will have “good news” to announce on canola in the coming days.
Besides pursuing China for proof of the alleged contamination of Canadian canola, the government has promised to find ways to help affected producers in Canada.)
Since Meng’s arrest, China has also detained two Canadian citizens on allegations of endangering Chinese national security and has sentenced two Canadians to death for drug-related convictions.
The second death penalty was handed down Tuesday. The Canadian was among at least six foreigners allegedly involved in
what has been described as an international methamphetamine operation.
Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s foreign-affairs minister, told reporters in Ottawa that the government firmly opposes the use of the death penalty anywhere.
“We think that this is a cruel and inhumane punishment which should not be used in any country,” Freeland said. “We are obviously particularly concerned when it is applied to Canadians.”
On Canada’s natural-gas business with the Chinese, Calitz said he’s worked on different projects that have taken Australian and Russian gas to China. He sug-
gested the work in B.C. could strengthen the Canada-China connection.
“Every time it leads to trade ties that relaxes the relationship,” he said. “It creates a mutual dependency, it creates business understanding.”
China, he added, plans to bring in Canadian gas to help it replace its coal power plants, improve air quality and lower greenhouse-gas emissions.
Calitz added that the LNG Canada project, which has faced opposition from some Indigenous communities in B.C., is on track to start transporting gas in late 2023.
Corporate watchdog needs teeth, UN warns
Mike BLANCHFIELD The Canadian Press
OTTAWA — Canada’s international reputation will be damaged if it doesn’t give real power to its new watchdog on responsible corporate conduct, warns a United Nations rights watchdog.
Surya Deva, the chair of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, is in Ottawa this week and will be seeking answers from the government on why it took 15 months to appoint its new “ombudsperson for responsible enterprise.”
Deva said he was disappointed that International Trade Minister Jim Carr commissioned a further legal review, due in June, to assess what the ombudsperson’s powers should be when Carr finally filled the new job three weeks ago.
“Let me say very candidly, things are moving quite fast and if the Canadian government wants to maintain the leadership in this particular field, or in the field of human rights generally, they need to really act now and do certain things,” Deva said.
Deva said Canada is falling behind other countries such as France, Germany, Switzer-
land and Australia in enacting laws to improve the conduct of their companies operating abroad, especially in less developed countries.
“The Canadian government can’t just sit back and think, ‘Oh, we are the leader,’” he said. “This is a critical time and initiative and they should completely go ahead and do it.”
Carr’s decision to announce a further legal review also drew condemnation from rights groups when he announced the appointment of Sheri Meyerhoffer, a lawyer with a long record in business and international development.
Deva said if the government settles on anything short of full power to compel companies to supply witnesses and documents in Meyerhoffer’s investigations, it will hurt Canada’s reputation as a human-rights leader.
“If they’re going to go back on that promise, it won’t really send a good signal to the international community.”
The government took too long to choose Meyerhoffer, having left the appointment on its agenda for years, he added.
“This should not have taken this long, and things are not really that complicated if they really wanted to do this,” said Deva.
“The Canadian government has been engaging with this issue for a while. It is a not a new topic for them.”
Deva delivered that message again Tuesday at a conference in Ottawa on corporate responsibility that included numerous civilsociety groups, government officials, business representatives and lawyers.
Chris Moran, the director general for tradeportfolio strategy at Global Affairs Canada, said the current system gives her department’s 1,200 trade commissioners the necessary leverage to ensure companies act responsibly on foreign soil.
Her branch requires companies to sign an “integrity declaration” that promises good corporate behaviour in exchange for receiving the enhanced services that Canada’s trade commissioners can provide to help them find new business opportunities, she said.
“These are not rights that companies have to those services. Those are enhanced services. These are things that are nice to receive,” Moran told a panel.
If companies don’t live up to their humanrights obligations, those services can be withdrawn, she said.
— Canada’s main stock index fell despite gains by the tech sector while the Nasdaq dropped from Monday’s record high on a disappointing result from Google parent company Alphabet. The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 19.64 points at 16,580.73 after hitting an intraday low of 16,544.55. Decreases in the health care and energy sectors more than offset gains in information technology, which rose 1.8 per cent on a stellar performance from Shopify Inc. The online shopping platform’s shares rose 7.5 per cent to a record high of $325.75 after it beat earnings expectations on a 50 per cent increase in revenues and boosted its full-year forecast. Energy lagged with Crescent Point Energy falling 4.8 per cent despite a rise in the price of crude oil after the Saudi energy minister signalled that the production cut agreement could be extended to end of the year.
The June crude contract was up 41 cents at US$63.91 per barrel and the June natural gas contract was down 1.8 cents at US$2.58 per mmBTU.
Markets and the Canadian dollar were largely unaffected by a report saying the economy contracted 0.1 per cent in February.
The Canadian dollar traded at an average of 74.50 cents US compared with an average of 74.32 cents US on Monday. That helped gold prices with the June gold contract rising $4.20 at US$1,285.70 an ounce and the July copper contract was up 0.7 of a cent at US$2.90 a pound.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 38.52 points at 26,592.91.
The S&P 500 index was up 2.80 points at 2,945.83, while the Nasdaq composite was down 54.09 points at 8,107.77.
The U.S. markets responded largely to divergent earnings reports. Alphabet fell 7.5 per cent on disappointing sales that held back revenues, Pfizer Inc. was up 2.6 per cent after profits beat expectations and General Electric was up 4.5 per cent on surprisingly good earnings.
The
Bantam Zone Camp
Bobrovsky, Blue Jackets beat Bruins to take 2-1 series lead
Mitch STACY The Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio — Sergei Bobrovsky kept up his impressive post-season play, making 36 saves as the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Tuesday night to take a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Boone Jenner and Matt Duchene scored for the Blue Jackets, who won a second-round home game for first time in franchise history. Game 4 of the best-of-seven series is Thursday night.
Tuukka Rask had 32 saves for Boston. The Bruins’ only goal was a flukey one in the last minute of the second period, the only chink in an otherwise brilliant game by Bobrovsky, who is having the best post-season of his career thus far. Bobrovsky withstood a flurry by Boston earlier in the second period, including an acrobatic save that saw him sweep away a puck from in front of the goal line. The Bruins pulled Rask with 2:11 left but couldn’t beat Bobrovsky with
the 6-on-5 advantage. Columbus overcame deficits twice to win Game 2 in overtime at Boston on Saturday but never trailed in Game 3. There were some big hits but the game was less testy than the previous two meetings between the two teams in the post-season.
The Blue Jackets struck late in the first period when Jenner, skating left to right across the slot, slid the puck past Rask on the glove side before the goalie could adjust. The tally with 1:23 left was Jenner’s first of the post-season. With Zdeno Chara in the penalty box for high-sticking Jenner in the face, the Blue Jackets swarmed for an extended time in front of the Boston net before Duchene tapped in another goal with 7:18 left in the second.
Boston made it a one-goal game with 40 seconds left in the middle period when in a knot of players in front the Columbus net, the puck trickled behind Bobrovsky and over the line. The goal initially was waved off by an official, but a
video review determined that play hadn’t stopped before the puck slid in. Jake DeBrusk got credit for the goal.
Boston’s best opportunity to tie the score came with just under 9 minutes left when David Savard went to the penalty box for tripping, but 16 seconds later Patrice Bergeron was whistled for the same infraction, creating a 4-on-4 and then a brief Columbus advantage.
NOTES: Tuesday’s game was the latest in April that Columbus has played in franchise history. The Blue Jackets, who won a playoff series for the first time, have never played in May. ... Columbus rookie Alexandre Texier was a healthy scratch for the first time in the playoffs. ... David Krejci joined Ray Bourque (125) and Bobby Orr (66) as the third player in Boston franchise history to have 60 playoff assists. ,,, Columbus has won 13 of 15 games dating back to March 24.
UP NEXT: Game 4 on Thursday night.
Raptors regroup after Game 2 loss to Sixers leaves series tied
Gregory STRONG
The Canadian Press
TORONTO — The Toronto Raptors regrouped Tuesday after an off-night in Game 2 blunted the momentum from a dominant opening performance in their second-round series against Philadelphia.
There was plenty to pick apart after a woeful first half led to a 94-89 loss to the 76ers at Scotiabank Arena on Monday night. Philadelphia made matchup adjustments after Toronto’s 108-95 victory in Game 1 and it seemed to catch the Raptors off guard. Toronto’s Kawhi Leonard had another big night but the Raptors’ bench struggled, the team’s three-point shooting was poor and the 76ers had a 52-36 edge on rebounds.
“We thrive and have our best offence when we’re running and don’t give them a chance to match up,” said Toronto swingman Danny Green.
“We’ve got to find a way to get
stops to do that.” Raptors forward Pascal Siakam had a tougher time in Game 2 against Sixers big man Joel Embiid while Ben Simmons did his best to stifle Leonard, who led the Raptors with 35 points but was held to 3-for-10 from distance. Siakam finished with 21 points on 9-for-25 shooting and Kyle Lowry added 20 points.
Toronto’s bench players were held to just five points. Serge Ibaka scored two points over 13 minutes and Norm Powell made one three-pointer over his 15 minutes of play. Fred VanVleet was solid at the defensive end but held scoreless over 18 minutes and Jodie Meeks didn’t score during his brief appearance.
“For me it was trying to stick to our guns a little bit,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said after a team workout at its practice facility. “Our rotations felt really good for five straight games. Like really, really good, not just OK. Like really, really good.”
Team Leslie (yellow) defenceman Parker McBurnie skates the puck down the centre of the ice against Team Myatovic defender Ian Foster on Sunday morning at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena during the North Central and North West Bantam Zone Camp. Team Myatovic won
Arts in action
Citizen photos by James Doyle
TOP, dancers perform a demi called Love Blossoms at Vanier Hall on Sunday evening as part of THINK, Performers North annual fundraising show.
ABOVE LEFT, Britt AM performs at Hubspace on Saturday night as part of Good Egg Records Spring Fling.
LEFT, the Prince George Canata Singers perform Song For The Mira on Sunday evening at the Prince George Playhouse during the Curve of Gold show celebrating their 50th anniversary.
ABOVE, Raquel Pokiak focuses on the details while painting at centre court of Pine Centre Mall on Saturday morning while competing in the Northern FanCon art duel.
BELOW, dancers perform a jazz piece called Agyness Deyn at Vanier Hall on Sunday evening as part of THINK, Performers North annual fundraising show.
Underwood lifts women up on tour
Cry Pretty tour opens tonight with all women behind the mic
The Associated Press
When Carrie Underwood was plotting out her upcoming Cry Pretty Tour 360, she realized she had selected an all-female lineup with opening acts Maddie & Tae and Runaway June.
But then she wondered: “Can we do that?”
And then told herself: “OK, we have to do this!”
In a genre that often only designates one or two slots to female acts for festivals or tours, Underwood’s arena tour kicks off today in Greensboro, N.C., with six women behind the mic throughout the show. It’s becoming a pattern for women in country music.
Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris and Kacey Musgraves all have had all-female or mostly-female tours recently.
“I feel like it’s been a really great time for women to kind of come together and be like, ‘Let’s support each other. We’re all in this together. Let’s be all in this together,”’ Underwood said.
After her No. 1 album Cry Pretty came out last year, Underwood is hitting the road again and playing in more than 50 cities through October.
Sitting down in a Nashville rehearsal hall where they were practicing for the tour, Underwood blushed when her supporting acts recounted how her songs were intertwined with their own careers.
Naomi Cooke from Runaway June remembers always getting requests to cover Before He Cheats when she played at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, a downtown honky tonk. Taylor Dye of Maddie & Tae recalled that she often won local talent shows when she sang Cowboy Casanova or Temporary Home.
Underwood will be returning to the centre of the arenas for this tour, following her 2016 Storyteller Tour that also featured a centre stage that allowed her to spread out. The seven-time Grammy winner is an energetic performer, typically sprinting around and singing from all sides of the stage and blowing away fans with her impressive vocal chops.
Obamas unveil Netflix projects
The Associated Press
Barack and Michelle Obama on Tuesday unveiled a slate of projects they are preparing for Netflix, a year after the former president and first lady signed a deal with the streaming platform.
The Obamas’ production company, Higher Ground Productions, on Tuesday announced seven films and series that Barack Obama said will entertain but also “educate, connect and inspire us all.”
Higher Ground is producing a feature film on Frederick Douglass, adapted from David W. Blight’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography. Also in the works is a documentary series that adapts Michael Lewis’ Fifth Risk: Undoing Democracy, the Moneyball author’s 2018 bestseller about government servants working under the political appointees of Donald Trump’s administration.
The production company’s first release will be Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert’s Sundance Film Festival documentary American Factory, about a Chinese-owned factory in post-industrial Ohio. Netflix and Higher Ground also acquired Jim LeBrecht and Nicole Newnham’s Crip Camp, a documentary about a summer camp for disabled teenagers founded in the early 1970s.
The Obamas are also developing a drama set in post-Second World War New York titled Bloom, and an adaptation of The New York Times Overlooked obituary column, about deaths unreported by the paper. A show for preschoolers titled Listen to Your Vegetables & Eat Your Parents will instruct kids about food.
“We love this slate because it spans so many different interests and experiences, yet it’s all woven together with stories that are relevant to our daily lives,” Michelle Obama said. “We think there’s something here for everyone –moms and dads, curious kids, and anyone simply looking for an engaging, uplifting watch at the end of a busy day.”
“I loved being able to see so much more of the audience and be able to connect so much with so many more people,” Underwood said.
She’s bringing the whole family on the road with her, including four-year-old Isaiah, three-month old Jacob Bryan, and her husband, former NHL player Mike Fisher.
“Somebody’s got to watch the kids when I am onstage,” Underwood said with a laugh.
The music industry isn’t always supportive of working moms and Underwood has been blunt and honest about those pressures, posting on Instagram about her postbaby body or having to pump as she was getting ready for the Academy of Country
Music Awards.
“(Isaiah) was 11 months old when we started the last tour,” Underwood said. “So it was very much like: do a little makeup, make him dinner, come back and do my hair, then get him ready for bed. So it was worlds colliding, but it was great. I’m so lucky I get to take my kids to work with me and not everybody gets to do that.”
The tour comes at an important time for both Maddie & Tae and Runaway June, who both have new albums coming this year.
“We’ve never performed our music in a lot of these cities,” said Cooke of Runaway June (Hannah Mulholland and Jennifer
Get tips to improve your bottom line, every Friday with business coach Dave Fuller
Wayne round out the trio). “We literally couldn’t have dreamed up a better platform for us to be releasing new music and playing new songs.”
In a year when no women were nominated for entertainer of the year at the ACMs, Underwood – who has won that award twice – has a chance to prove that women deserve to be in that category again.
“It’s gonna be a great show from start to finish. That’s our main objective,” Underwood said. “I want them to leave saying, ‘That’s the best show I’ve ever been to.”’ And Maddie Marlow, of Maddie and Tae, added: “Watch all these chicks sell out arenas.”
AP PHOTO
This 2018 file photo shows, from left, Maddie Marlow and Tae Dye of Maddie & Tae, Carrie Underwood, and Hannah Mulholland, Naomi Cooke, and Jennifer Wayne of Runaway June at the 2018 CMT Artists of the Year show in Nashville, Tenn. Underwood picked Maddie & Tae and Runaway June to open for her arena tour that starts today in Greensboro, N.C.
Gerald Buckley passed away on April 25th, 2019 at the age of 83. He is survived by his loving wife Grina, daughter Maria (Darren) Cardinal of Mackenzie, BC, son Wesley of Mackenzie, BC and 2 grandchildren Brayden and Emery. Gerald is predeceased by his mother Dorothy. There is no service by Gerald’s request, Our special thanks to all the staff at the Mackenzie hospital.
Heather Isabel Corbett
October 1, 1933 April 22, 2019
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our Mother and Grandmother Heather Isabel Corbett. She is survived by her three sons Lawrence (Edna), John, and Ron (Lurana), and by her two beloved granddaughters Christina and Madison. Heather is predeceased by her husband “Bill” William John Corbett, sister Peggy Howlett, and her parents Reginald and Isabel Johnson. A funeral service will be held on Friday May 3, 2019 at 2:00pm at Assman’s Funeral Chapel, 1908 Queensway St, Prince George, BC. Open house to follow at Ron and Lurana’s.
Heather is in the comfort of the Lord, sitting and holding hands with her husband Bill Corbett
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• Upper College Heights
• St Barbara, St Bernadette, Southridge, St Anne Ave, Bernard, St Clare St, St Gerald Pl, Creekside, Stillwater.
• • KGV Area
• Wainwright St, Burden St, Irwin, Harper, 1st, 2nd, Douglas, Hammond,Nechako Dr, Carney, Douglas, Melville, Tofield, Alward, Ewert St, Freeman St, Gillett St, Laurier Cres •
Full Time and Temporary Routes Available. Contact for Details 250-562-3301 or rss@pgcitizen.ca
Adult & Youth Newspaper Carriers Needed in the Following areas:
Accepting
