Architect, construction manager chosen for new pool
Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca
Two firms with extensive experience in designing and building the facilities are teaming up to build the new leisure pool downtown.
Representatives of CEI Architecture Associates Inc. and Chandos Construction were in Prince George this week to get a look at the site and get a sense of what stakeholders are expecting out of the facility, which will replace the aging Four Seasons Leisure Pool.
Details on the design are still being fleshed out, but Mark Hentze, CEI’s vice president recreation, culture and community said the plan is to build a pool that stands apart and noted a visit to the Wood Innovation and Design Centre was part of their itinerary.
“I think the most important way that this project will be successful is that it’s not just a swimming pool that can be plunked anywhere,” Hentze said.
“This’ll be a swimming pool that people can say ‘that’s the one that’s in Prince George. What that means just yet we don’t know but we do know that wood will be factored into it.”
Bringing Chandos on early in the process has some advantages, local media were told during a midday event Thursday at the corner of Quebec Street and Seventh Avenue, where the new pool will be built.
“Collaboration with the design team so
early on is what every construction manager wants,” said Dominic Ries, Chandos’ technical solutions director. “We want to have that ability to have that discussion of what makes the best sense in getting in the ground and constructibility.”
That the site is on the flood plain will be
taken into account. It will likely mean the pool will be at least partially above ground – flood water can “pop” a pool bottom if it rises high enough – while also taking accessibility into consideration.
“If you look across the street to the Four Seasons pool, this pool is not universally
accessible because of all the stairs,” Hentze said.
Recent projects for CEI, which in turn is owned by HDI, a multinational firm, include the Delbert Recreation Centre in North Vancouver and a waterpark in Aldergrove that’s also Canada’s first year-round outdoor pool. Reis said he specializes in building pools and arenas.
“I travel around the country building those,” he said.
In all, $42 million has been budgeted for the project with $35 million to be borrowed.
The city has also applied to secure as much as $10 million in funding from the federal and provincial governments for the project. If the application is successful, it will reduce the amount to be borrowed for the work. Design work will occupy most of the year with construction to start sometime in 2020.
The Days Inn will be torn down in the process and a new hotel built in an adjacent spot. Sixth Avenue between Dominion and Quebec Streets was closed last week to make way for that project.
Keeping the work within budget is “our job,” Hentze said and noted some projects in the Lower Mainland have been put on hold because the costs “ballooned out of control.”
Ries said one of Chandos’ roles is to provide the “checks and balances.”
“We are in charge of the budget, we are in charge of the schedule,” he said.
Former city manager proposes changes to city’s snow clearing strategy
Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff
A retired manager has generated several suggestions for improving the city’s snow control service.
Frank Blues, who managed snow removal and budgeting for the majority of his 30 years with the city, was asked in March to carry out a review following heavy criticism of the city’s performance when heavy snowfall struck the city this past December and January.
A 33-page report is the result and in it, Blues provides a wide range of proposals on which routes and areas should get priority, monitoring performance and setting a budget for the service. They include providing more clarity on what are considered arterial roads.
In the snow removal bylaw, the
terms main arterial roads is used and is comprised of a “confusing” list of arterial, collector and local roads. Instead, he calls for classifying arterial roads solely on function and traffic volume.
Blues also calls for reintroducing collector roads and assign them to the list of priority two routes.
Blues also suggests relegating hills not on arterial roads to priority two from priority one to avoid the need for plows and graders to travel over uncleared collector roads. With the change, he said a collector road could be cleared first followed by the hill for “maximum benefit to the greatest number of road and sidewalk users.”
“An example of this revision would apply to Aberdeen Road which currently has three priority one hills intersecting Aberdeen
– Inverness, Walker, Skyline and McAndrew off Skyline,” he says in the report. Either way, he notes both priority one and two roads are to be cleared within 48 hours of an event that has accumulated 7.5
cm of snow over 24 hours.
Reintroducing collector roads will require a tradeoff.
“Something has to give, somewhere. We don’t have the resources to do it all at once,” Blues said during a presentation to council on Monday night.
On that note, he suggests reducing residential roads in the vicinity of the hospital from priority one to priority three while leaving parking restrictions in place to allow clearing at night. People would still be able to reach the hospital, he stressed, because adjacent arterial and collector roads would remain at their priorities.
Blues also proposes a system for risk-based budgeting for the service that would take into account the service levels the city has gone through over the previous 30 years, ranking them from lowest to highest and then basing
the budget on the 18th busiest so that “you’ve got 60 per cent of the typical calendar year covered.”
Other suggestions include:
• Relegating civic facilities that get only minor amounts of traffic priority three where clearing would be completed within 72 hours of work being finished on priority ones and twos and after snowfall has reached 12 cm within 24 hours.
• Reintroducing a “heavy snowfall declaration” that would advance the start time for nighttime snow clearing on priority ones to 11 p.m. from 1 a.m. Blues left it up to council to decide at what amount of snow a declaration would be issued but suggests the completion time be extended by 24 hours for each additional 10 cm of snow over the triggering point.
— see CITY STAFF, page 3
CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN
Architect Mark Hentze, centre, and Dominic Ries, project manager, address the media at the site for the new swimming pool in downtown Prince George on Thursday afternoon.
CITY OF PRINCE GEORGE HANDOUT IMAGE
This map shows the location of the new pool downtown, which is expected to start construction in 2020.
BLUES
Local fishing author offers fly-tying tips
Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca
Fly fishing is everything from recreation to religion for those who wade into the water on the hunt for the bounty of the river.
“It’s unbelievably humbling when you’re outsmarted by something with the IQ of a grape,” said Gord Lucas, one local fly fisher.
This battle of wits between surface human and aquatic quarry has been the subject of novels by Ernest Hemmingway, movies by Robert Redford and Khalil Hudson and Tyler Hughen, songs by Bill “Smog” Callahan and Grapes of Wrath, and tall tales – a surprising number of them true – by everyone who’s ever been a cast member in this net series.
Brian Smith has just added 104 sleek new pages to this everlasting conversation.
The Prince George fly fishing fanatic has been writing through this ubiquitous passion for decades. In countless articles for seminal magazines on the subject, and in two previous books, Smith tells the stories and describes the techniques that fishers feed on as much as any salmon on a grill or trout in a pan.
Now Smith gets really detailed. With carefully chosen descriptors and clear photographs, Smith walks the fly fishing fan through every enthusiast’s baseline preoccupation: tying the fly. The book is called Essential Fly Patterns For Lakes & Streams (Tips For Tying Your Own Flies) published by the premier bookhouse for northern B.C., Caitlin Press.
“If someone forced me to pick my favourites, these would be the ones,” he said. There are about 60 of them, arranged by the kind of water and the sort of fish they’d be used to lure.
Words like midge and chironomid, nymph and stonefly might mean little to the uninitiated, but to those who quietly wander the shorelines with rods in hand, these items can be the difference between dinner and disappointment.
“It’s an art all of its own, and you’re always refining,” said Smith.
“I started fishing when I was just a little guy but I began fly fishing when I was about 20 in Kamloops, mentored by pioneering fly fisher Jack Shaw, a master, who passed away in 2000. We had a great friendship. Now, I’ve discovered to my surprise that I’m expected to be the mentor.”
A compendium of Shaw’s diaries, The Pleasure of His Company, was published thanks in part to Smith, and Smith was also the winner of the 2008 Jack Shaw Fly Tying Award by the BC Federation of Fly Fishers.
Smith moved to Prince George in 1992 working for General Paint, followed by long stints with ICI and Cloverdale companies, 47 years in total in the paint and coatings industry.
He and wife Lois raised his family in Prince George and through it all, fishing
was his calling.
This city is a central location for almost endless fly fishing adventures.
For the past 10 years he has been the president of the Polar Coachmen Flyfishers Club where the area’s enthusiasts have a large and active association.
Smith’s first book was Fly Fishing BC’s Interior (Caitlin Press, 2009) followed by Seasons of a Fly Fisher (Caitlin Press, 2013).
“Bob Jones was a friend of a friend, and Bob was instrumental in moving me forward as a writer about fly fishing. He was the fishing editor for BC Outdoors Magazine. He told me ‘to do this, you’ve got to have an itch, and Brian, you have an itch’ as he hacked my article to pieces,” Smith laughed.
When the articles advanced him to the cusp of authorship, Smith went looking for a publisher, but he wanted one that shared his affinity for northern B.C.
There are other publishers in this region,
but Caitlin is the quintessential one. It was the publishing home of prolific local storyteller Jack Boudreau, said Smith, so that was an indication to him that Caitlin was the one to go with, if they felt so moved.
They did, and now they have completed the trifecta together.
“Jack Boudreau was a bard, he had a definite style to his stories,” said Smith.
“I have stories to tell, too, and they are in there, but in a different way. I’m not a scientist of fishing but I believe I have a keen sense of observation. I can see something, and put it to a hook, and I still have that itch to explain it. I just like to be creative.
“This guy here,” he said, touching the new book’s cover, “is my favourite – all the instructions that have come from my struggles and my testing it all out, and observing the details, all summarized. It’s kind of like a recipe book.”
The keen user of the book will even notice the binding of Essential Fly Patterns For
Lakes & Streams is subtly double-jointed, like a cookbook, to conveniently fold open and hold in place as someone at a workbench or desk meticulously follows the instructions.
Smith isn’t sure he has another book casting about in his brain, he will leave that to the natural courses, but he will certainly be out fishing this summer, putting those favourite flies to use.
For anyone else who wants to give these tools of the trade a try, the book is available now (or expected soon) at Surplus Herby’s, Books & Company, Cole’s Books, and the Save-On-Foods book section.
“It is about passing on, giving back to a great community, celebrating a great lifestyle we have right here all around us in this wonderful place we have, and sharing what I’ve enjoyed in life,” Smith said. Books, signed by the author, can be purchased directly from him via email at flyfishingnut47@gmail.com.
HANDOUT
Local fishing guru Brian Smith has written a new book, titled Essential Fly Patterns For Lakes & Streams (Tips For Tying Your Own Flies).
Aboriginal grad ceremony held
Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca
Lheidli territory has never been the site of an all-Aboriginal graduation ceremony, until now.
In an historic education event, School District 57 held a special event Thursday at Vanier Hall to celebrate the success of Indigenous students in the mainstream school system.
Statistically, those numbers have traditionally been low, but when the provincial government recognized a few years ago how Aboriginal content in the school curriculum helped connect Aboriginal students to the learning system, plus also helped nonAboriginal students have a clearer vision of their home communities, the graduations from grade to grade began to notably rise.
Many of the pilot programs that led to the ongoing provincial overhaul of the education system were led by School District 57 (SD57) headquartered in Prince George on Lheidli T’enneh First Nation territory. Thursday’s ceremony, putting Indigenous achievement into a cultural context, was another first.
Its title was Ts’udelhti, which in the Lheidli dialect of the Dakelh language, means We Honour.
“Close to 80 graduates will represent 33 nations,” said organizers of the event.
“If any individual student does not have a delegate from his or her nation in attendance, that student will be honoured by the Lheidli T’enneh Nation for the day.”
The concept of an Aboriginal high school graduation celebration started with Lance Potskin, a SD57 Aboriginal Education worker.
“Other districts are doing it, and
Honouring our students’ cultural identity will make them stronger learners and feels like we’re moving towards reconciliation.
— Noelle Pepin, Aboriginal resource teacher
I just thought it was time,” said Potskin, who made reference to Aboriginal graduation initiatives at the University of Northern British Columbia and the College of New Caledonia.
“I thought it would be a great opportunity for our high school students. I think it’s an opportunity for them to embrace where they are in their journey and culture.”
Noelle Pepin, an Aboriginal resource teacher with the district, said Ts’udelhti is “one of the first steps” in honouring the cultural identity of Aboriginal graduates.
“Honouring our students’ cultural identity will make them stronger learners and feels like we’re moving towards reconciliation,” Pepin said. “I think it’s a step in the right direction. We need to keep building it, and we’re picking up speed.”
The reaction to Ts’udelhti among graduating Aboriginal students has been positive.
“We’ve had the opportunity to meet with the youth and some of their families,” said Lisa Provencher, who works in SD57’s Aboriginal Early Learning Pro-
gram. “They’re excited to see this happen.”
Ts’udelhti included a live performance by Juno-nominated musician Marcel Gagnon who was born in Prince George and is a member of the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation.
The Southridge Elementary School Choir also performed. Local student Caitlyn McCarville performed a Jingle Dress dance.
Another significant part of the graduation ceremony was the inclusion of young learners from the Prince George Aboriginal Head Start Program, hosted by the Prince George Native Friendship Center.
“The program is designed to meet the spiritual, emotional, intellectual and physical needs of Aboriginal preschool children (ages three to five) who live in an urban setting,” said organizers.
Provencher said, “we wanted to create intergenerational experiences. The Grade 12 students will honour and gift the Head Start students as a proverbial passing of the torch, saying, ‘We’re ending this particular journey and you’re starting.’”
Graduating student Taylor Peterson made a special address to the Head Start learners, who in turn delivered a pair of performances for grads and guests.
“This group of Head Start children would graduate in 2032, and then they will take on the role of gifting and inspiring the next generation,” Provencher said.
All students at the ceremony were given a traditional Lheidli welcome from LTFN Chief Clay Poutney.
“We’re trying to strengthen connections between the students and their nation and also their Indigenous identity,” Pepin said.
RCMP bait bike reeling in bike thieves
Prince George RCMP’s bait bike lured three suspected thieves in slightly more than one hour on Wednesday.
RCMP said Orlando James Egnell, 31, of Prince George was apprehended just four minutes after it was deployed. He has since been released on conditions and is scheduled to appear in court on June 5 on a charge of theft $5,000 or under.
About an hour later it was back on the street and within minutes a 49-year-old local man tried to steal the bike. And a few minutes after that, a 30-year-old man was arrested after the bike was redeployed in the same area.
Both were released on promises to appear at a later dates and charges remain pending. Their names were not provided.
Earlier this month, the bait bike helped nab three suspects in less than three hours. Two of the cases remain before the courts while charges remain pending for a third.
It’s not the sole answer to reducing bike thefts and RCMP are asking bike owners to do their part by taking steps to prevent their bikes from being stolen and aiding a quick recovery in the event they go missing. Those steps include:
• Always using a high-quality lock designed for
bicycles. The extra expense is worth it. Avoid cables and inexpensive locks, as they can be defeated easily and quickly.
• Reporting bike thefts right away. Many thefts are never reported to police, giving officers no chance of arresting someone in possession of it. Even if the bike isn’t worth much to you, reporting it could help arrest a thief.
• Knowing the bike’s serial number. Even if the bike is recovered, owners need to show that the bike is theirs. The best way to do this, is to provide a serial number.
• Registering bikes with 529 Garage (www.project529.com). Essential information like make, model, serial number and photos are recorded and accessible on any internet device which helps get the word out to other cyclists so they can keep an eye out for the stolen bike.
Trashion Show clothing going on display
Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff
There’s Broadway and there’s off-Broadway.
There was the Trashion Show and now there’s the Trashion After-Show.
The successful Trashion Show event at Two Rivers Gallery brought out crowds of viewers to see artistic designers come up with wild, wearable art all made from recycled materials. The downtown municipal art facility was transformed into a highfashion runway where models walked the catwalk to show off these up-scaled re-creations. Now the recycling has been recycled.
Omineca Arts Centre (OAC) will be the home of a static display where the mind-bending and eye-popping “clothing” will be in public view from Sunday to June 14. OAC’s curatorial leader Chelsea Amber Miller is working with
Two Rivers Gallery staff to give the event this unique kind of extension. A reception to open the show is scheduled for Saturday at 7:30 p.m. when all will be revealed.
OAC’s board chair Jennifer Pighin said it was another opportunity for their grassroots organization to support the work of other local arts catalysts.
“We have been partnered with Two Rivers Gallery since our inception through mentorship and via the Living Labs when they had the Neighbourhood Time Exchange and North/South Axis,” Pighin said. “We hope to have more partnerships with local arts communities such as the guilds and artist’s co-op to have more exhibitions and engaging events. We support each other’s events as much as we can, as we do with the Community Arts Council. Earlier on Saturday we are also part of the (CAC’s) Chili Cookoff. Wish us luck.”
City staff to follow up on report
— from page 1
• Use a combination of automated vehicle location devices and computer software to provide real-time progress on snow clearing around the city.
During a question and answer period following Blues’ presen-
tation, Coun. Susan Scott said vacation blackout periods may have to be considered as a firmer policy is developed.
Staff will provide a followup report on proposed changes to related bylaws and policies to council for the June 24 meeting.
CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN
Julie Williams from Ulkatcho Nation and a graduate of Valemount Secondary School is congratulated by Lheidli T’enneh Chief Clay Poutney. During the school district’s inaugural Aboriginal Graduation Ceremony – or Ts’udelhti, which means We Honour in Dakelh Lheidli dialect on Thursday at Vanier Hall.
Citizen staff
CITIZEN PHOTO BY JAMES DOYLE
Wearable art designed by Janna Burgat is modelled on Saturday night at Two Rivers Gallery during the Trashion Show.
Horgan rejects Liberal calls to dump Plecas
Dirk MEISSNER The Canadian Press
VICTORIA — The British Columbia legislature became embroiled in political turmoil Thursday as Premier John Horgan rejected calls to replace the Speaker after the Opposition Liberals accused him of conducting a clandestine security probe.
B.C. Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson told the house Darryl Plecas has embarked upon “intrusions” of employees at the legislature, which includes examining workplaces and data stored on their computers. The secretive conduct should not be permitted to continue, he said in calling for Plecas to be removed from the post.
He used a recent report written by Beverley McLachlin, a former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, on misconduct allegations made against two senior officials at the legislature to support his argument for Plecas to be replaced.
“We cannot carry on like this with this star chamber approach to secret investigations being done behind people’s backs with a quasi-criminal mentality where the former chief justice of Canada said that’s the wrong way to go about it,” Wilkinson said on the final scheduled day of the legislature’s spring session.
Plecas didn’t deny investigations are ongoing, but he said as the head of security at the legislature he wants to ensure employees’ data is secure in case it is required in the future.
“We do not want an instance where we have data not available to investigations. It’s that simple,” he said outside the house.
A report by Plecas made allegations of misconduct and overspending against clerk Craig James and sergeant-at-arms Gary Lenz. McLachlin’s report said James had engaged in misconduct but Lenz did not. Both men have denied any wrongdoing.
James took early retirement when the report recently came out and Lenz remains on suspension amid a police investigation. Lenz has asked that he be allowed to return to work.
In her report, McLachlin says Plecas viewed his investigation of the allegations against Lenz and James as a police probe rather than as an administrator.
“He seems to have seen his task as to build
a credible criminal-type case against Mr. James and Mr. Lenz, rather than promptly confronting and correcting the administrative practices that he questioned,” says her report.
Plecas denied he spoke harshly of McLachlin’s report at a meeting Wednesday with the house leaders of the three parties in the legislature. Liberal house leader Mary Polak said she took notes at the meeting and recalled Plecas saying the report was “pathetic” and “way down the scale.”
“That is absolutely ridiculous,” Plecas told reporters. “I described her as an eminent jurist. I said her terms of reference were
very narrow. I had wished that it could have been broader.”
Green house leader Sonia Furstenau declined comment on the meeting, saying it was private. She also said she was not aware of Plecas undertaking an investigation that involved observing employees and copying hard drives, calling those “rumours.”
Furstenau said the Greens support Plecas as Speaker. The NDP’s Garry Begg could not be reached for comment.
The New Democrats are governing with the support of the three Green party members in the legislature. Plecas sits as an
Independent after he was tossed out of the Liberal caucus shortly after taking the job as Speaker in 2017.
Horgan said it is not up to the Liberals to determine who sits as Speaker.
“We have a Speaker and it’s not the responsibility of the Opposition to say we want a new one,” he added.
Later Thursday, members of the Liberal caucus demonstrated their opposition to Plecas by attempting to make individual statements in the house disassociating themselves from him. Plecas cut them off to allow debate to continue, prompting some Liberals to walk out of the chamber.
Pence pledges solidarity with Canada in China dispute
Mike BLANCHFIELD
The Canadian Press
OTTAWA — The United States will link the liberation of the two Canadians imprisoned by China to its free-trade talks with the People’s Republic, U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence pledged Thursday.
Standing next to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Pence also called again on China to release Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor from their “unlawful detention” in the boldest and most tangible gesture of solidarity on a visit that was clearly meant to be a balm on the hurt feelings between the two North American neighbours.
The former Indiana governor came to Ottawa Thursday bearing a figurative hug on behalf of a combative president who has insulted the prime minister, taxed Canada’s metals as a national-security threat and accused Canadian farmers of unfairly impoverishing their American counterparts.
Pence’s whirlwind visit to the Canadian capital was a sea change from President Donald Trump’s bitter departure from the G7 summit in Quebec almost one year ago, when he tweeted as he flew home that Trudeau was “very dishonest and weak.”
Pence said Trump would push Chinese President Xi Jinping on Kovrig and Spavor at next month’s G20 summit, while he sidestepped an argument over the diametri-
cally opposed opinions he and Trudeau have on abortion.
He also gave Trudeau some domestic political cover against his Conservative opponents, who say the Liberals gave in to Trump and got a bad deal for Canada on the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
“I want to assure the people of Canada that the prime minister drove a hard bargain, as did our president,” he said. “I want to assure you that we’re making
energetic efforts to move the approval through the Congress of the United States this summer.”
Pence repeatedly emphasized his government’s effort to get the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement through Congress before the summer recess. Giving momentum to the ratification of the USMCA, as the U.S. calls it, was the main reason for Pence’s visit, one day after the Liberals introduced ratification legislation in the House of Commons.
But later Thursday, in a surprise announcement that could compromise the trade deal, U.S. President Donald Trump said that he will slap a five per cent tariff on all Mexican imports to pressure the country to do more to crack down on the surge of Central American migrants trying to cross the border.
He said the percentage will gradually increase “until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied.”
Trump said the tariff will increase to 10 per cent on July 1, to 15 per cent on Aug. 1, to 20 per cent on Sept. 1 and to 25 per cent on Oct. 1.
“Tariffs will permanently remain at the 25 per cent level unless and until Mexico substantially stops the illegal inflow of aliens coming through its territory,” the statement read.
Pence said he also had “extensive discussions” with Trudeau over the detained Canadians as their meeting went more than half an hour longer than scheduled. The pair continues to languish in Chinese custody, on allegations of espionage, although their plight is widely seen as retribution for the detention last December of tech scion and Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wangzhou, whom Canada arrested on an extradition request by the U.S.
The Chinese have rebuffed Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland’s repeated attempts to speak with her counterpart in Beijing. But Trump will speak directly to Xi at the G20 in Japan next month.
“We are in the midst of significant discussions over our trading relationships but I can assure you in that context going forward we’re going to continue to urge China to release the Canadian citizens even while we deal with larger economic and structural issues between the United States and China,” Pence said.
Speaker Darryl Plecas walks out of the house chambers at the Legislature in Victoria on May 16.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau listens as U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence makes his opening statement during a joint news conference in Ottawa on Thursday.
Make StatsCan data on lower life expectancy due to
ODs an election issue: doctor
Camille BAINS The Canadian Press VANCOUVER — Life expectancy rates in Canada have stopped increasing for the first time in four decades, says a Statistics Canada report that blames opioidrelated overdoses for deaths in British Columbia, followed by Alberta.
Canadians concerned about young adults dying from overdoses should demand drug-policy changes by “holding politicians’ feet to the fire,” said an addictions specialist responding to the data released Thursday.
“I don’t understand, truthfully, how governments are making decisions that pertain to this issue because we’re hemorrhaging money with bad drug policy and poor health-care spending,” said Dr. Keith Ahamad of the high rates of deaths.
Statistics Canada said life expectancy did not go up from 2016 to 2017 for either men or women after an upward trend from the mid-1990s to 2012, but overall gains then started to stall.
“In particular, the drug overdose crisis occurring in Canada was a major contributing factor in the change seen in life expectancy from 2016 to 2017, especially for men,” the agency said in a report.
Life expectancy fell in B.C. in 2017 for the second year in a row, especially for young men between the ages of 20 and 44, it said.
“Although older men are living longer, the increase in deaths among young men almost completely offset these gains. A similar pattern occurred among women, although to a lesser extent.”
Ahamad, who works at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, said street drugs tainted with cheap and potentially deadly fentanyl and the more potent carfentanil, typically used to tranquilize elephants, call for a regulated drug supply because too many young people are dying.
He said life expectancy between young men in Vancouver’s poor Downtown Eastside and the west side differs by 17 years and men are dying 11 years earlier than women.
“It’s absolutely mind-blowing,” he said, adding Indigenous people are disproportionately affected by the overdose crisis that led the B.C. government to declare a public health emergency in 2016.
“We’re doing a very bad job nationally with drug policy, combined with the fact that we’re not looking after people from the lower socioeconomic groups,” said Ahamad, who is also a researcher with the BC Centre on Substance Use, which advocates for evidence-based treatment with opioid substitutes such as suboxone.
Ahamad said it needs to be a federal election issue this fall.
“There’s a traumatic fallout for people who are losing children and siblings and friends and parents. There is health-careprovider burnout at a level I’ve never seen before. My colleagues are absolutely burned out.”
Statistics Canada said death rates due to overdose were 2.1 times higher for men and 1.6 times higher for women in
2017 compared with 2015 but those are likely underestimates because the cause of death in some cases has not yet been determined due to ongoing investigations.
Of the 4,108 overdose deaths recorded in Canada in 2017, nearly 1,100 involved people between the ages of 30 and 39, the agency said.
Dr. Bonnie Henry, British Columbia’s provincial health officer, said the lifeexpectancy data reinforces the negative impact the overdose crisis is having on communities.
“I believe we need to continue to focus on this crisis and there is more to do including decriminalization of people who use drugs and providing people addicted to drugs and at high risk of dying with pharmaceutical alternatives to the poisoned street-drug supply,” she said in a statement.
The First Nations Health Authority in British Columbia said 193 First Nations men and women fatally overdosed last year, a 21 per cent increase from a year earlier.
Compared with their counterparts in the general population in B.C., First Nations women are more likely to fatally overdose, the health authority said, adding about 40 per cent of women die from overdose versus 17 per cent of non-First Nations women.
Grand Chief Doug Kelly, chairman of the First Nations Health Council, which governs the health authority, said the legacy of the residential school system, ongoing racism and family violence have marginalized women.
The stigma of mental health and substance use among both women and men is an issue that needs to be addressed so the “grannies and aunties and uncs” understand the “swamp of addiction” and provide support for people who are suffering, he said.
“I think there needs to be a debate so we understand what’s happening.”
NEWS IN BRIEF
Five charged with dozens of trafficking offences in Surrey
SURREY (CP) — A 51-year-old man and four teenagers face multiple charges in what police in Surrey allege is an illicit drug trafficking group operating in the Lower Mainland.
Police say the investigation that began last September resulted in 38 charges against six people, including one man who has since died. The charges all relate to drug trafficking, specifically suspected fentanyl and cocaine.
Police say search warrants uncovered bulk and pre-packaged fentanyl and other evidence which led them to believe that large volumes of the drug was being trafficked.
The RCMP investigation began as police looked into a group of people believed to be involved in the Lower Mainland gang conflict.
RCMP Insp. Wendy Mehat says the results of the investigation will have a positive long-term impact on the community with the disruption of a criminal network.
B.C. Interior
truck crash results in diesel spill in river
KAMLOOPS (CP) — A transport truck that crashed along the Yellowhead Highway in British Columbia’s Interior has resulted in about 500 litres of diesel spilling into the North Thompson River. The Interior Health authority issued an advisory for people who draw their water from the river between the crash site, about 12 kilometres north of Vavenby, to the confluence with the Clearwater River.
The authority’s Jennifer Jacobsen says the Vavenby water system wasn’t impacted but it was shut temporarily as a precaution.
She says if residents notice a diesel odour or sheen in their water, it shouldn’t be consumed and they should have it tested.
This comes as a boil-water advisory is in effect for the community and Jacobsen says that remains in place. Another transport truck veered into the river last December, prompting a do-not-use order, and a similar crash and spill in January 2017 forced Vavenby residents to turn off the tap for eight days.
AHAMAD
First Nations pipeline play conflicts NDP
It fell to Environment Minister George Heyman to comment Wednesday on a new initiative by Indigenous leaders to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline from the federal government.
His two-minute contribution was a study in how to glide past the fact that two core NDP beliefs may soon be smashing headlong into each other.
That means a First Nations bid to buy a controlling stake in the pipeline is the definition of being between a rock and a hard place, when it comes to describing where it leaves the B.C. NDP government.
Heyman opened with complete indifference to the potential plight the government may find itself in.
“It’s not the business of the provincial government to intervene in a business deal... it doesn’t change the nature of our responsibility to protect our environment, our coast, tens of thousands of jobs and a significant part of B.C.’s economy.”
Then he spent a moment confirming the government’s opposition to the pipeline.
“It’s a bad project for B.C.”
But when he also started confirming the government’s fervent enthusiasm for supporting Indigenous self-determination and aboriginal pursuit of opportunity, the problems became obvious.
“Reconciliation is important and econom-
IN THE FAST LEYNE
LES LEYNE
ic opportunities for Indigenous nations are important,” he said. He cited the government’s recent moves to turn over a percentage of gaming revenue to First Nations on a permanent basis, and its encouragement in them pursuing forestry ventures.
“There is a range of economic opportunities that can benefit First Nations and we’re looking constantly for ways to enhance that.”
Heyman, who was designated to speak for the government on the issue, said: “We support reconciliation and economic opportunities.”
But the kicker is this: the government also sees a responsibility to speak up “when we think a particular project is not in the interest of B.C. and threatens our environment, threatens jobs and threatens our economy.”
The message is that the NDP is all about supporting aboriginal economic development, but only if they agree with the projects that First Nations are undertaking.
That has more than a tinge of the paternalistic approach that has driven Indig-
“There is a range of economic opportunities that can benefit First Nations and we’re looking constantly for ways to enhance that.”
—
George Heyman, Environment minister
enous leaders to distraction for years.
What highlighted the issue was a visit to Victoria by Shane Gottfriedson, a former elected First Nation chief from Kamloops. He’s the B.C. representative for an ambitious Indigenous group that is making the rounds, pitching the idea of aboriginal ownership of the pipeline.
The group’s name is loaded with nuances as far as the B.C. government is concerned. It’s Project Reconciliation.
The idea is to coalesce all or most of the 300 bands, from B.C. to Saskatchewan, into an entity that would buy into majority ownership of the pipeline, purchased by
YOUR LETTERS
Scapegoating caribou
This letter is in response to “Caribou recovery deal could cut millions from South Peace economy and incomes, study finds,” published May 27, 2019.
The choice between protecting caribou habitat and having forestry jobs is not the choice the B.C. government has before them and it would be to the benefit of caribou and to us if we stopped talking about it in this way.
The province has no choice but to come up with a plan that will protect our mountain caribou. That is their legal responsibility under the Species At Risk Act.
We have at least 30 years of caribou research telling us what caribou need: large swaths of non-industrialized, intact habitat. This habitat needs to have high and low elevations. Herds that are forever dependent on predator control, maternal penning, and other human interventions will never be recovered. We’ve known since at least 2012 that the forest industry is in
decline (see the midterm timber supply report from that year).
The reason for this decline is the unsustainable rate and scale of industrialized, high-technology forestry in an economy and culture that does not recognize limits.
Scapegoating caribou because we’ve allowed rapacious logging of our non-renewable old growth forests is unhelpful and irresponsible.
Chief Roland Wilson from West Moberly First Nation is absolutely right that if mills close, it won’t be because of caribou.
Governments have a responsibility to take care of people, and that includes protecting the environment on which we all rely.
The prioritization of corporate profits at any cost must end. As a society, we can compensate and re-train workers where needed. We can get more jobs out of each tree we cut. There are creative solutions out there that don’t pit caribou against people. We can focus on the needs of caribou and the people affected by caribou protection strategies.
After all, we share the same home.
Jenn Matthews, Conservation North, Prince George
Enough already
Re: First Nation calls for seat on School District 57 board Enough already. So if any one person, group or other wants to be represented on council, or school board or any other political arena do what the democratic way is and run for office.
If elected, great. If not, then suck it up like others before you.
In life things have to be earned to understand the benefits. To just give a seat to Aboriginals is not right in my opinion.
So many people run in elections, and yes lose, but try some time to stop with the expectations.
Again my opinion.
Roland Hill, Prince George Editor’s Note: This letter has been edited for the sake of clarity.
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.
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the federal government for $4.5 billion last year.
While buying the rights and the work to date on the expansion project is a gamble, it comes with the existing line, a reliable source of revenue for years to come.
Gottfriedson has talked to government staff about the idea, but had no luck pitching it to cabinet ministers.
None met with him, although it’s not clear if a formal attempt was made.
Heyman’s response was made to reporters. He was well-received by the B.C. Liberal opposition, though, and said he’s also had good talks with the federal government and with new Alberta Premier Jason Kenney. There are countless problems to solve before Project Reconciliation is announced as the new owner of the politically cursed pipeline. The big one is money, although Gottfriedson hinted that financial news is coming next week.
The other is organizing the Indigenous world into a viable entity. He said there are currently about a half-dozen Indigenous groups pursuing the idea independent of one another.
If Project Reconciliation or any of the others succeed, it would put the NDP in the awkward position of opposing something that ticks every single one of the boxes on their wish list for Indigenous progress.
Government should release the full McLachlin report
It seems like old times out there in beautiful B.C. I confess to having a sense of déjà vu on hearing the news of how two permanent officers of the B.C. legislative assembly had been treated over the past many months.
Government was very clever. Teetering on the edge of the green, the government was very adroit to putt in the big name.
After all, if a retired chief justice can’t unearth the facts in the sliver of time allotted to her, who else?
To my knowledge, the special adviser had no investigative legal authority. The results formed the basis of the Speaker’s first public report alleging misconduct, released two months after the permanent officers were abruptly escorted out of the legislature.
How is it possible that this theatrical display occurred at the legislative assembly, the very place responsible for overseeing the promulgation of provincial law, ignoring the rules of natural justice and rule of law?
This misadventure took me back to 1998. What most folks don’t know about is the clandestine way in which my term as ombudsman ended. The mandate of the all-party committee, chaired by the NDP government and deputy chaired by the B.C. Liberal opposition, was to consider my re-appointment or select a new ombudsman, in accordance with the law.
Here’s where the process went astray: government committee members refused to open my application package. It was curious no one suspected anything. The political parties were particularly polarized at the time, and as a result, the process was protracted. I would remain as ombudsman until July when the new person was selected and available.
Six months to complete pending public reports, including confinement of Doukhobor children, forest-fire prevention and Workers’ Compensation Board. In early 1999, three reports were tabled, leaving one slotted for June.
I recall the essentials of that last report. It involved the Ministry of Environment which had proclaimed a prime piece of privately owned real estate as “special waste contamination,” thereby rendering the otherwise valuable land worthless.
The landowner, Darcy McPhee, an honourable and decent man,
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operated businesses on the property. The “special waste” designation resulted from pollution by a utility, from which the family had purchased the land years before, unaware of the contamination. After the ministry’s designation, the owner was estopped from using or developing his land. Remediation legislation (polluter pay) was on the horizon but delayed. Ultimately, the ministry purchased the land, but significantly reduced the sale price, charging the owner the cost to remediate. To this day, the property has never been remediated.
The report was not about the polluter; it was about whether the ministry had treated McPhee fairly. So when late on a Friday afternoon at the end of May, someone in the premier’s office had the decency to call to alert me that I should pack up because on Monday cabinet would remove me from office one month in advance of my end date, I was shocked. Shocked an independent officer would be removed without notice to the legislative assembly.
Why tell this story now? During my term as your ombudsman, I saw how truly devastating the consequences can be to a person’s well-being when denied access to a fair and just investigative process. After the McLachlin report was completed, the government tabled a motion in the legislature, which passed, to seal all of the evidence submitted during her review, and released a redacted report. The motion to seal the evidence may be justifiable, but not the redactions to the McLachlin report.
British Columbians are entitled to see the complete McLachlin report. To do otherwise does a disservice to its author, the public and the permanent officers. Government did the right thing in taking this matter seriously with the appointment of the former chief justice. But fondness for power sometimes has a funny way of calibrating justice. Government has to finish the job by doing what’s fair and just: Release the full report.
Dulcie McCallum is the former ombudsman for the province of B.C.
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Chemotherapy is administered to a cancer patient via intravenous drip. Cancer patients who need intravenous chemotherapy in Haida Gwaii will now have to take onerous journeys to Prince Rupert or Vancouver for the treatment.
Remote health care tested as Haida Gwaii loses chemo treatment
QUEEN CHARLOTTE — Cancer patients who need intravenous chemotherapy on the British Columbia archipelago of Haida Gwaii will now have to take an eight-hour ferry trip to the mainland, highlighting the challenges of delivering health care in remote communities.
Dr. Jaco Fourie, Northern Health’s medical lead for cancer care, says the health authority has been unable to recruit a new pharmacy technician to mix the drugs, so about eight patients will have to seek treatment elsewhere as of June 21.
Haida Gwaii isn’t unique in its staffing challenges, Fourie said in an interview.
“It does raise a concern about the future of delivering complex and often dangerous care in small, isolated communities and how sustainable that will be in the long term, especially as we get more efficient newer drugs that are also more complex to deliver.”
Haida Gwaii is one of the most remote regions in B.C. that offers cancer care.
Patients will still have access to other treatments, including oral or injectable chemotherapies, but the specialized role of the pharmacy technician requires particular training.
Northern Health has offered “substantial” incentives to fill the position. It has previously filled
vacancies by employees elsewhere in the province who volunteer to travel, but Fourie said the novelty typically wears off after a few visits.
The health authority is working with existing patients to develop care plans that would minimize travel. There are demonstrated health benefits to remaining in the community, connected with family and the land, especially for First Nations, he said.
“To disrupt people from that supportive framework has profound consequences,” Fourie said.
“We do know that people who are not stressed are more likely to stay on their treatment and have better quality of life. It’s not just about treating the cancer, it’s about treating the person.”
Northern Health is accustomed to finding ways to deliver service across dispersed landscapes and it won’t give up on this or future problems that come with increasingly complex care, Fourie said.
“We are going to work very hard to find solutions and sustain this.”
Sarah Dutheil said she was disappointed to hear that other families will now have to go through what she did with her father.
Dutes Dutheil died at 71 last February, more than a year after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Sarah left her home in Vancouver to help care for him. While there were cancer services on Haida Gwaii at the time, she said they
still had to make about 20 trips to Prince Rupert, on the northern B.C. mainland, or Vancouver because the chemotherapy nurse only worked part time and was flown in periodically – a gap that Fourie said has since been filled.
The ferry was free but the family still had to pay for hotels, food and other costs on each trip. High winds in the fall sometimes meant they couldn’t get back to Haida Gwaii for up to two weeks, she said.
“It totally sucks, it’s the worst ever. It’s really hard on the patient. You just want to be home after getting this treatment,” Dutheil said.
“It’s too bad it’s coming up again as an issue,” she said. “There’s a lot of stress involved and the older you are, the harder it is.”
Kris Olsen, mayor of Haida Gwaii’s largest village of Queen Charlotte, said Haida Gwaii has had cancer services for about 10 years.
“It’s been wonderful. We have an amazing group of doctors and nurses, we have a brand new hospital in Haida Gwaii,” he said.
The community will have to go back to fundraising for each another to support off-island travel expenses if no one moves to fill the position, he said.
“There’s got to be someone in Canada who has this skill set and would be willing to move here,” he said. “We live in a beautiful part of the world.”
Canadian garbage will depart Philippines for Vancouver
Mia RABSON The Canadian Press
OTTAWA — Environment Minister Catherine McKenna says it is “unfortunate” that a disagreement with the Philippines about Canadian garbage became an international diplomatic incident but she hopes it’s created an opportunity for Canada to tackle its plastics-pollution problem.
“This is the reality that developing countries do not want to have any more of the plastics or trash of developed countries,” she said. “It’s unfortunate that it got raised to this level but we are committed to getting it back.”
Next month, McKenna intends to unveil a national plastics-pollution plan that is expected to put more onus on plastics producers to ensure their materials are recycled or reused.
McKenna said Thursday she was “cautiously optimistic” the saga over the garbage in the Philippines is nearly at an end, as the 69 remaining containers of Canadian household waste that ended up in the Philippines under false pretences five and six years ago were loaded onto a container ship in the port of Subic.
“I’m waiting with bated breath. These containers are all getting loaded, they’ve all been fumigated and I am cautiously optimistic but until I see the last container on the ships I will not get too excited,” she said.
The last container was put aboard the MV Bavaria shortly after 3 a.m. in the Philippines. The ship should take about four weeks to get to the Port of Vancouver. Once back in Canada the garbage will be burned at a waste-to-energy facility in Burnaby.
The returnees are the leftovers of 103 shipping containers that arrived in Manila and Subic in 2013 and 2014, falsely labelled as plastics for recycling.
An inspection revealed they were mostly filled with regular garbage, including electronic waste and dirty diapers.
Philippine Foreign Secretary
Teddy Locsin posted video and photos to his Twitter account showing the containers being loaded throughout the afternoon and into the wee hours of the morning in Subic, a major international port northwest of Manila. He also showed a Canadian Embassy official monitoring the process.
Locsin suggested there were last-minute problems getting international shipping permits in place, saying the Philippine environment minister was “up early” and “begged for foreign transshipment permits” while Canada’s ambassador John Holmes “never slept ’til it all got done.”
McKenna also said there “were some challenges.” Locsin’s social-media presence has peppered the ongoing dispute with colourful commentary, much in line with his boss, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who in April threatened to declare war on Canada if it didn’t finally take back its trash. Duterte also said he would ship it back himself if he had to, a threat his government reiterated when Canada missed a May 15 Philippine deadline to get the garbage on a container ship.
Ultimately, however, Locsin worked with Canada to get the necessary work done as quickly as possible, a Canadian official said, asking not to be identified because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Amy SMART The Canadian Press
MCKENNA
Trump hitting Mexico with five per cent tariff in response to migrants
Jill COLVIN and Colleen LONG
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — In a surprise announcement that could compromise a major trade deal, U.S. President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he is slapping a five per cent tariff on all Mexican imports to pressure the country to do more to crack down on the surge of Central American migrants trying to cross the U.S. border.
He said the percentage will gradually increase “until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied.”
Trump made the announcement by tweet after telling reporters earlier Thursday that he was planning “a major statement” that would be his “biggest” so far on the border.
“On June 10th, the United States will impose a five per cent Tariff on all goods coming into our Country from Mexico, until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP. The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied,” he wrote, “at which time the Tariffs will be removed.”
Trump has accused the Mexican government of failing to do enough to crack down on the surge of Central American migrants who have been flowing to the U.S in search of asylum from countries including El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.
The announcement comes as the administration has been pushing for passage of the United States-
Mexico-Canada Agreement that would update the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Trump’s tariff threat comes at a time when Mexican authorities have been carrying out migrant raids and detaining thousands more who are travelling through the country on the way to the U.S.
The crumbling city of Tapachula, near the Guatemalan border, has become the epicenter of the crackdowns.
Thousands of migrants have been stranded in the city because the Mexican government isn’t providing them visas that allow them to travel.
Authorities this week have been clearing out parks of camping
migrants and raiding hotels where immigrants were staying.
Mexican authorities raided and largely broke up the last major migrant caravan, detaining hundreds of immigrants from Central America.
And the Mexican government has allowed the U.S. to return hundreds of asylum seekers from Central America and other countries to force them to wait their cases out in Mexico – in one of only a few immigration policies that have not been immediately struck down by the courts.
The White House said Trump would be using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to implement the tariff.
“If the illegal migration crisis is alleviated through effective actions taken by Mexico, to be determined in our sole discretion and judgment, the Tariffs will be removed,” the White House said in a statement.
But if Trump is not satisfied, the five per cent figure will increase to 10 per cent on July 1, to 15 per cent on Aug. 1, to 20 per cent on Sept. 1 and to 25 per cent on Oct. 1, the White House said.
“Tariffs will permanently remain at the 25 per cent level unless and until Mexico substantially stops the illegal inflow of aliens coming through its territory,” the statement read.
During a visit to Canada on Thursday, Vice-President Mike Pence vowed the deal would be passed this year.
“Our administration is working earnestly with leaders in the Congress of the United States to approve the USMCA this summer,” he said. Asked by reporters about the new tariff consideration, Pence said that both Mexico and Congress need to do more and that Trump is determined to use his authority to call on them to do so.
Trump had said Thursday morning that he was planning “a bigleague statement” later Thursday or Friday regarding the border.
“We are going to do something very dramatic on the border because people are coming into our country. The Democrats will not give us laws,” he said as he headed to a commencement speech for 2019 United States Air Force Academy graduates.
Oregon, awash in marijuana, takes steps to curb production
Andrew SELSKY The Associated Press
SALEM, Ore. — Oregon is awash in pot, glutted with so much legal weed that if growing were to stop today, it could take more than six years by one estimate to smoke or eat it all.
Now, the state is looking to curb production. Five years after voters legalized recreational marijuana, lawmakers are moving to give the Oregon Liquor Control Commission more leeway to deny new pot-growing licenses based on supply and demand. The bill, which passed the Senate and is now before the House, is aimed not just at reducing the huge sur-
plus but at preventing diversion of unsold legal marijuana into the black market and forestalling a crackdown by federal prosecutors.
“The harsh reality is we have too much product on the market,” said Democratic Gov. Kate Brown, who intends to sign the bill if it wins final passage as expected. Supply is running twice as high as demand, meaning that the surplus from last year’s harvest alone could amount to roughly 2.3 million pounds of marijuana, by the liquor commission’s figures. That’s the equivalent of over one billion joints.
Oregon has one of the highest such imbalances among the 10 states that have legalized recreational marijuana since 2012, in part because it had a big head start in the weed business.
With its moist climate and rich soil, Oregon has a long history of pot growing. When it became legal, many outlaw growers went legitimate, and others jumped into the business, too.
They are now all cultivating weed in a multitude of fields, greenhouses and converted factories, with 1,123 active producer licenses issued by the OLLC over the past three years.
The legislation could be a lifeline to some cannabis businesses that are being squeezed by market forces.
Retail prices in Oregon for legal pot have plummeted from more than $10 per gram in October 2016 to less than $5 last December.
At the same time, smaller marijuana businesses are feeling competition from bigger, richer players, some from out of state.
Officials worry that some license holders will become so desperate they will divert their product into the black market rather than see it go unsold.
“We’re a very young industry,” said Margo Lucas, a marijuana grower and vendor in the Willamette Valley who is hoping the measure will give her business breathing room.
She noted that growers can’t seek federal bankruptcy protection – pot is still illegal under federal law, and banks avoid the industry – and that many owners have
taken out personal loans to finance their businesses.
“So when we go out of business, we’re going to go down hard,” Lucas said.
“Many of us will lose our homes... You’re going to have a lot of entrepreneurs in this state that are pretty unhappy with the way that this ends if we don’t get some support with this bill.”
Opponents say the proposed law will drive growers who are denied licenses into the illegal market, if they’re not there already.
“This current track seems like a giant step backwards toward prohibition, which has always been a disaster,” Blake Runckel, of Portland, told lawmakers in written testimony.
As of January, Oregon’s recreational pot market had an estimated 6 1/2 years’ worth of supply, according to an OLCC study.
To prevent excess pot that is still in leaf form from spoiling, processors are converting some into concentrates and edible products, which have longer shelf life, OLLC spokesman Mark Pettinger said.
U.S. Justice Department officials have said they won’t interfere in states’ legal marijuana businesses as long as the pot isn’t smuggled into other states and other standards are met.
Oregon officials want to let federal authorities know they’re doing everything they can to accomplish that.
The bill to curtail production could “keep the feds off our back,” Rob Bovett, legal counsel for the Association of Oregon Counties, told lawmakers.
Oregon puts no cap on the number of licenses that can be issued. Last June, the OLCC stopped accepting applications so it could process a monthslong backlog. But under current law, it has no specific authority to say no to otherwise qualified applicants, Pettinger said.
The longer-term hope is that the federal government will allow interstate commerce of marijuana, which would provide a major outlet for Oregon’s renowned cannabis.
“We will kind of be like what bourbon is to Kentucky,” said state Sen. Floyd Prozanski.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 42.23 points to 16,089.24 following a thirdstraight day of losses. The key energy sector fell about 1.5 per cent as Enbridge Inc. and Canadian Natural Resources lost 1.04 and 0.76 per cent respectively.
The July crude contract was down 3.8 per cent or US$2.22 at US$56.59 per barrel and the July natural gas contract was down 7.7 cents at US$2.55 per mmBTU.
Crude prices fell after a weekly U.S. report said stockpiles fell less than expected while geopolitical tensions eased. “So on a day when you have geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and even Russia be quiet then you see oil prices retreat,” said Kash Pashootan, CEO and chief investment officer at First Avenue Investment Counsel Inc.
“We don’t view the recent movement in oil prices higher, and now lower, to be rooted in supply and demand fundamentals. We feel they’re rooted in geopolitical and supply disruption reasons.”
The consumer discretionary sector benefited from BRP Inc. shares rising nearly 16 per cent after beating estimates in its latest quarter and Canada Goose recovering somewhat from Wednesday’s 31-per-cent loss by closing up 4.1 per cent. The Canadian dollar traded at an average of 74.07 cents US compared with an average of 74.00 cents US on Wednesday.
The August gold contract was up US$6.10 at US$1,292.40 an ounce and the July copper contract was down one cent at US$2.65 a pound.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 43.47 points at 25,169.88. The S&P 500 index was up 5.84 points at 2,788.86, while the Nasdaq composite was up 20.41 points at 7,567.72. Pashootan said investors were largely taking a breather in trading as the optimism of earlier in the year has waned and they’re evaluating if the sell-off will continue.
“So the time is coming and it’s really no reason other than these things go in cycles and we’re at a stage now where the next economic cycle is a recession.”
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks about modernizing the immigration system in the Rose Garden of the White House two weeks ago in Washington.
Sports
Assault back in business as senior lacrosse contenders
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff tclarke@pgcitizen.ca
Don Wittmeier knew the well was running dry on the Co-op Petroleum Stylers.
The Prince George Senior Lacrosse Association team was in the process of folding, as was the Northland Nissan Assault. That would have left the senior loop with just two Prince George teams for the 2019 season along with a team from Quesnel and Mackenzie until Wittmeier, the Stylers’ coach, came up with a solution.
He blended the two teams as the Assault and they’ve built themselves into a contender.
Nearly halfway through the 16game schedule, Northland Nissan sits second in the league standings with a 4-3 record heading into a Monday battle against the firstplace Westwood Pub Devils.
The trigger point for Wittmeier came when Stylers team manager and forward Matt Rochon announced he could no longer take on the load of running the team. He turned it back to the league and Wittmeier volunteered to take it over.
“They were going to fold this team and I said no, having just two teams in the city would kill lacrosse here,” said Wittmeier.
“I said I would take the team, I will find enough players.”
Wittmeier’s ability to draw a handful of former stars of the league back into the game has spearheaded the revival, giving the longtime coach an element of experience he never had in years past as the Stylers’ bench boss. The new blend of youth and veteran savvy is producing the desired results in the win-loss column.
“We have a combination of younger and older guys, which is what you need,” said Wittmeier.
“With the Stylers it was always young guys against the men and we had no leadership with the older guys. Now with the older guys on board they can show the younger guys how to do it.”
Davey Jenkins is now into his 30s but he’s back to full health after knee surgery and still has the smarts and stick skills to quarterback the Assault attack. He’s been reunited with Clarke Anderson
Northland Nissan
of the top teams in
and goalie Russill Mills, whose chemistry on the floor dates back to their Prince George minor lacrosse days with the junior B Posse. Jenkins is tied for second in league scoring. In five games Jenkins has 13 goals and 21 assists for 34 points, equal to that of Drew Doig of the RPR Mechanical/JR Construction Bandits. Andrew Schwab of the Devils (18-22-40, not including Wednesday’s game) leads the PGSLA scoring race. Anderson has been hobbled by a leg muscle injury that forced him to miss a couple games but he’s been productive (3-8-11) in the three games he has played. Matt Rochon, who came over from the Stylers, has also done his part offensively (11-10-21) and is back
playing with his longtime buddy Olin Erricson (10-2-12). New recruit Cole Kulcyzycki (5-10-15) brings junior B experience from Alberta. Doug Porter (15-8-23) is also a significant scoring threat for the Assault.
“It’s pretty sweet when we can get all our guys firing at the same time with Dom Sia on the crease, Clarke Anderson as the shooter, Davey Jenkins as the setup man, and Doug Porter and Matt Rochon – that’s our power play,” said Wittmeier.
“It looks good on paper, just have to get everyone there at the same time.
“It’’s been a nice blend, I was able to get Anderson and Jenkins and Anderson back into the fold. That was one of my goals was to
get people who hadn’t played for a few years back into the game.”
The Assault sent a second-round midget pick to the Devils to acquire Riley Stevens and he’s lived up to Wittmeier’s expectations with five goals and seven assists in seven games. The Sia siblings –Dom and Sera – are back together with the Assault. Dom returned to the game after a two-year absence to play with his sister and they’ve both added some spice to the offence, combining with former Stylers Gage Prince and Aden Halsall.
The Assault roster has 19 runners. With work commitments factored in they usually have about 14 to work with each game. On Wednesday they took advantage of a Quesnel Summit
Hawes is BCHL’s executive choice
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff
tclarke@pgcitizen.ca
Prince George Spruce Kings general manager Mike Hawes is the B.C. Hockey League’s executive of the year.
In a season of firsts that included a league championship, Doyle Cup series win and berth in the national junior A hockey championship final for the Spruce Kings, the 49-year-old Hawes was selected for the award by his league peers, presented Thursday at the BCHL’s annual general meeting in Penticton.
“It’s a little feather in the cap for myself and the organization, you don’t win an award like this without being surrounded by good people and certainly the year we had kind of lends itself to this,” said Hawes.
“I’ve been in the league for a long time and put a lot of work not only to our team but into the league as a governor for a lot of years. We have 17 members in our league and we’re all rivals on the ice but we’re all partners off the ice and we all have to work together. A lot of work goes into running a successful league and we have one of the best ones around.”
In his ninth season as GM, Hawes built a Kings team that won its way to the national championship. After finishing second overall in the BCHL regular season standings they took off on a spectacular playoff run. They went 16-1 in the playoffs, then beat the Alberta-champion Brooks Bandits in a six-game Doyle Cup series to emerge as Pacific champions at the national tournament in Brooks.
The dream of winning a national crown came up one win short May 19 when the Kings lost 4-3 in the final to the host Bandits.
Last season with Hawes at the helm the Spruce Kings made it to the BCHL final for the first time in their 22 years in the league and ended up losing a five-game series
Electric Crossfire that had just six runners available and beat them 15-3 at Kin 1. Rochon led the way with five goals and two assists. Wittmeier tried to adjust for the discrepancy in numbers by having his defencemen play as forwards with his usual go-to snipers playing defence.
In goal, Mills (back from an extended lacrosse hiatus) and Kyle Frederick have been splitting the load with help from midget draft pick Liam Froese. Steve Moleski, Cole Callaghan, Cam Prouse, Brendan Girard, Nicholas Girard, Nick Hansen, Iain Scott, Rob Warren and Bret Benbow are the other Assault players.
The Assault-Devils rematch is set for Monday at 8 p.m. at Kin 1. Westwood Pub, now 7-0, clobbered Northland Nissan 15-3 in the opening game of the season April 24.
The Devils have loaded up to take a run at the provincial senior A championship, which will be hosted in Prince George, July 26-28. Among the players they’ve added is former National Lacrosse League veteran defender Jeff Moleski.
“Jeff doesn’t hurt them at all,” laughed Wittmeier.
“They’ve picked up a lot of guys from Vancouver that have played junior A. It’s who you know, and they know Jamie (Westwood goalie/team manager Bellamy). They’re high-calibre, they’re going for provincials this year. They have 25 guys on the roster and are usually sitting five players every game.
“It should be that if you’re new to the city you should be put in a draft, but that’s not how they do it.”
• The Glen “Moose” Scott/ Treasure Cove Casino Canadian Senior Invitational Lacrosse tournament will be contested the same weekend as the four-team senior C championship, both at the Kin Centre. The invitational tournament is named after Scott, the PGSLA commissioner, who is now battling cancer, among other health concerns.
“This is my 29th year as commissioner and one of these days I’ve got to step down,” said Scott. “I’m not sure but it might be next year.”
changes were made to how the league administers suspensions and serious penalties. In the case of major penalty for a blow to the head being handed out, which used to carry an automatic fourgame suspension, that has been reduced to a two-game suspension, which is reviewable by the league’s players’ safety department.
“Those sorts of penalties within our league are on the decrease and they have been again this year,” said Hawes.
“We only had four suspensions through the playoff season all the way through the junior A national championship, the lowest we’ve ever had, and that’s a good sign. Our league is a leader as far as players’ safety goes.”
Hawes serves on the league’s competitions committee and the coaches were brought in to discuss some of the hockey operations issues they’re facing. The league has developed a tentative schedule which will be finalized this week.
In the wake of the WHL’s Kootenay Ice leaving Cranbrook for Winnipeg, there is interest in Cranbrook acquiring a BCHL franchise and while that won’t happen for next season Hawes says there has been serious discussion about a group from there joining the league, which would likely lead to a realignment of the divisions likely to affect the Spruce Kings.
• Spruce Kings defenceman Layton Ahac, listed by NHL Central Scouting as the 66th-ranked North American skater eligible for the draft in June, is in Buffalo, N.Y., this week to participate in the NHL scouting combine – a series of physical tests and interviews to help the 31 NHL teams make their draft choices. Prince George Cougars goalie Taylor Gauthier, ranked seventh among North American goaltenders by NHL Central Scouting, is also attending the combine. The NHL draft will be in Vancouver June 21-22.
CITIZEN FILE PHOTO
Assault goalie Kyle Frederick prepares for the shot from Cole Paciejewski of the RPR Mechanical/JR Construction Bandits during a Prince George Senior Lacrosse Association game in 2016. Fortified by an influx of talented players from the now-defunct Co-op Petroleum Stylers, the Assault is one
the league this season.
Wenatchee. That Kings team put up its first BCHL banners as Coastal regular season and playoff champions, as well as winning the
Coastal Conference playoff title. Discussions at the BCHL table Thursday with league commissioner Chris Hebb and chairman of
the board Graham Fraser centred around a newly-developed fiveyear strategic plan and how that will be implemented. Some minor
HANDOUT PHOTO
BCHL board chairman Graham Fraser, left, and commissioner Chris Hebb flank Prince George Spruce Kings general manager Mike Hawes after Hawes was chosen as the league’s executive of the year Thursday at the BCHL annual general meeting in Penticton.
Sports Pascal Siakam has 32 points in Raptors’ win over Warriors
Lori EWING The Canadian Press
TORONTO — Two years removed from toiling in the NBA’s G League, Pascal Siakam led the Toronto Raptors to an historic victory on Thursday.
The 25-year-old from Cameroon scored 32 points to lift the Raptors to a thrilling 118-109 victory over defending champion Golden State Warriors, giving Toronto a 1-0 lead in its NBA Finals debut.
Kawhi Leonard had 23 points on 5-for-14 shooting against a swarming, smothering Warriors defence.
Marc Gasol, who was acquired at February’s trade deadline to help the Raptors’ playoff push, had 20 points and seven rebounds before fouling out of the game with 1:14 to play.
Kyle Lowry finished with nine assists but just seven points. Fred VanVleet had 15 points, while Danny Green shrugged off the shooting slump that plagued him in the conference finals to finish with 11.
Game 2 is Sunday before the Finals shift to Oakland, Calif., for Games 3 and 4.
Stephen Curry had 34 points to lead the Warriors, who are making their fifth consecutive Finals appearance, and are by far the more experienced squad, boasting a combined 140 Finals games between them, compared to Toronto’s 38.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr had talked about the magnitude of the Finals compared to the first three rounds of the playoffs.
“It’s just different,” he said in his pre-game press conference.
“Everything about it feels different. It completely takes you out of your comfort zone.”
The Raptors though seemed thoroughly comfortable in the moment. While the Warriors hadn’t played in 10 days after sweeping Portland in the west finals, Toronto rode the momentum of
during
four straight wins against Milwaukee in the Eastern finals, cobbling together a 10-point lead in the first half, and stretching it to 12 by the third quarter. The Raptors led 88-81 with one quarter left.
Golden State pulled to within three early in the fourth. But when Lowry hurled a long pass to Siakam for an easy basket, it put Toronto up by seven. Green’s threepointer with 7:31 to play made it a 12-point game, and brought the delighted capacity crowd of 19,983 fans, including golfer Bubba Watson, out of their seats.
The Raptors matched the Warriors virtually shot for shot down the stretch, and when VanVeet’s long jumper circled around the rim, as the crowd held its collec-
tive breath, before dropping with 3:21 to play, Toronto went back up by a dozen.
Golden State would pull to within seven with just over a minute to play, but the win was already well in hand. Lowry drilled an icing-onthe-cake three with 30 seconds to play and the crowed erupted.
Drake, who’s been a lightning rod in the post-season for his oncourt antics, came dressed in a No. 30 Dell Curry jersey. Dell (Steph Curry’s dad) played for the Raptors from 1999 to 2002.
Siakam’s points were the most by a player 25 or younger in their Finals debut since 2012 (Kevin Durant, 36 points for Oklahoma City). It was a night of firsts. The first NBA Finals for the Raptors, a story
24 years in the writing. It’s was the first NBA Finals game held outside the United States, and so the first time “O Canada” was sung at an NBA Finals – performed by The Tenors. The celebratory Scotiabank Arena fans were so loud, they entirely drowned out the Tenors by the anthem’s final few words.
Jordan Smith, winner of Season 9 of The Voice, sang the U.S. national anthem. According to several online ticket agencies, it was the most expensive Game 1 in NBA history. The average resale price was about US$1,360, almost double the average price of last season’s Game 1 between the Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Every logo in Raptors history was splashed across the giveaway T-shirts.
Six Raptors scored in a first quarter that saw Toronto race out to a seven-point lead. A running dunk by Thompson capped an 8-0 Warriors run that had the visitors up by a point. Toronto replied with a 7-0 run and led 25-21 heading into the second.
The Raptors shot 65 per cent in the second quarter, and when Green connected on a three-pointer with 11 seconds left, the bucket sent Toronto into the halftime break with a 59-49 lead as chants of “Danny!” rained down from the crowd. Raptors alumni were honoured at centre-court during a timeout, including the team’s first general manager Isiah Thomas, plus Muggsy Bogues, Charles Oakley, Jerome (JYD) Williams, Dell Curry, Tracy McGrady, Morris Peterson, Chris Bosh, and a Year 1 Raptor Damon Stoudamire.
Rapper Kardinal Offishall performed The Anthem, his ode to Toronto, during a timeout. Rapper ASAP Ferg performed at halftime.
In his pre-game press conference, NBA commissioner talked about the Finals being a full-circle moment. The first NBA game was played between the Toronto Huskies and New York Knickerbockers at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1946.
The presence of a non-American team, he said, might be felt on a global scale.
“Symbolically having our first Finals outside the United States maybe has a big impact on countries that follow the NBA but don’t have teams,” Silver said.
“This clearly is a marker of sorts that here we are 2019, our Game 1 of the Finals taking place in Toronto, Canada. That will be a milestone.
“It’s come full circle in terms of basketball being invented by a Canadian.”
Bruins’ top line looks to break out in Cup Final vs. Blues
Stephen WHYNO
The Associated Press
ST. LOUIS — Bruce Cassidy figures sometime before the puck drops for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final, the Boston Bruins’ first line will get together.
Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak will talk about what hasn’t gone right so far in the series against the St. Louis Blues and what they need to do better. Maybe assistant Jay Pandolfo will show them some video clips for good measure.
“They’re students of the game where they see an opening,” Cassidy said Thursday.
“Listen, we’re in the finals. These are good players they’re playing against every night, so they’ve got to find that little edge and I suspect they’ll work hard to do that in Game 3.”
One of Boston’s biggest strength through the first three rounds of the playoffs has been virtually nonexistent so far against St. Louis. Marchand, Bergeron and Pastrnak have zero even-strength points against the defensively sound Blues and will look to break out on the road in Game 3 on Saturday to try to put the Bruins up again in the best-of-seven series.
“We need to capitalize,” Bergeron said in Boston. “For us, it’s about being better. We’ve dealt with this this whole playoffs against different lines. It’s no different. We know how we can play.”
How they can play is pretty darn dominant. They were responsible for 23 of the Bruins’ 32 goals going into the final and exploited matchups against offensive trios similar to the Blues’ top line. That success hasn’t materialized – yet – against the Blues, who have
tried to get the shutdown defence pairing of Jay Bouwmeester and Colton Parayko against Marchand, Bergeron and Pastrnak as much as possible. In the first home Cup Final game in St. Louis since 1970, nothing can be said to be certain except a jacked-up atmosphere Bouwmeester and Parayko sticking to that line like glue.
Cassidy gave St. Louis credit for defending well while also predicting his top line won’t be held off the scoresheet 5-on-5 forever.
“Usually if they check well, get pucks back, they’ll get some odd-man rushes against offensive lines,” Cassidy said. “If they support the puck close together, they’ll get their chances. If they’re able to separate down low against those man-to-man type of defenders, they’ll get some chances. They got a few. They haven’t finished yet. I wouldn’t say that that line has been dormant by any means.”
This is dormant by their standards. Perhaps that’s why Pastrak’s answer to what he and his linemates could do better was, “Obviously, maybe produce more?” That actually starts in the defensive end with getting the puck back and going on the offensive.
“I think executing a little better in our zone – I think it starts there,” Bergeron said.
“We have to play a little bit more our way, our style.”
Coach Craig Berube likes going power on power and leaning on Bouwmeester and Parayko to fill the role they have all playoffs.
“They skate well both those guys and just don’t give them a lot of room,” Berube said.
“It’s a very good line. It’s hard to handle them for sure. They do a lot of things well. So far it’s been pretty good, but we’ve got to continue to do that. It’s a tough line to defend.”
That’s preaching to the choir for Toronto, Columbus and Carolina – the teams Boston bulldozed through to get to this point. This is the first time this post-season Marchand, Bergeron and Pastrnak haven’t been able to get on track. Pastrnak believes the key is getting to loose pucks and producing more chances, which this line certainly is capable of doing. “We want to spend more time in O-zone and always be stronger on the puck,” Pastrnak said. “Once we get to the O-zone, just try to hang on to the pucks and get those second opportunity pucks back to us.”
Because Schwartz, Schenn and Tarasenko are already responsible for three goals in the series, Cassidy expects Berube to try to put them on the ice against the Bruins’ first line as much as possible in St. Louis. He also thinks his guys are prepared and eager for that.
Big Guy Lake Kings brings home Kamloops title
Citizen staff
The Big Guy Lake Kings intend to be swimming with the largest fish when they host the 50th annual Canada Day fastpitch tournament at Spruce City Stadium, June 30-July 1. They will be one of the teams to beat for that crown if they continue to play ball like
they did last weekend while winning the 10-team Kamloops Titans fastball tournament.
Behind the pitching of lefthander Norm Linton, the Prince George-based Kings went 5-1 in the tournament, finishing with a 9-8 win in the final over the previously unbeaten Vernon Installers.
The Kings opened with an 8-3 triumph
over the host Titans, then lost 4-3 to the Abbotsford Bulldogs.
Thirty-eight runs in four consecutive victories on Sunday gave the Kings the title they sought. They beat the Abbotsford Jays 8-3, pounded out a 10-6 decision over the Bulldogs, and behind shutout pitching from Linton and Chad Ghostkeeper they blanked
Kekumbas 11-0, leading into the final. Linton was named the tournament’s most valuable player. The Kings have a busy summer planned with plans to enter the Canadian Native fastball championship in Winnipeg, Aug. 2-4, and the Canadian senior championship in Grande Prairie, Alta., Aug. 28Sept. 1.
CP PHOTO BY NATHAN DENETTE
Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam (43) rejects Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23)
the NBA championship basketball finals action in Toronto on Thursday.
Too good: Top spelling bee kids humble dictionary in finals
Ben NUCKOLS The Associated Press
OXON HILL, Md. — The kids were just too good.
The finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee turned into a slog on Thursday, with bee organizers unable to scour Webster’s Unabridged dictionary for words challenging enough to narrow the field efficiently. It started routinely enough, with 10 of the 50 spellers exiting the stage in the first round. Then the kids started schooling Scripps.
In the next round, only six spellers were eliminated. The following round saw five more depart. Four left in the round after that, and at that point, spellers had been on stage for four hours, 45 minutes.
Scripps and broadcast partner ESPN prefer to bring about a dozen spellers into the prime-time finals, so the bee continued as the prospect of a lunchbreak became an afterthought.
Finally, in the fifth round of the session, some spellers withered. Eight of the first 16 were eliminated, and the tension in a room diminished a bit as the break drew near. After nearly 5 1/2 hours onstage, 16 spellers advanced to prime time, including seven who did it last year and two – 14-yearold Erin Howard of Huntsville, Ala., and 13-year-old Shruthika Padhy of Cherry Hill, NJ – who made it for the third consecutive year.
A champion will be crowned Thursday night, taking home more than $50,000 in cash and prizes.
No matter what languages of origin were called upon – Yiddish, Afrikaans, Russian,
the dreaded “unknown” – spellers were up to the task.
Among the words that might sound impossible to the TV audience but are considered by elite spellers to be near-layups: maxixe, oeillade,Gebrauchsmusik,Seychellois.
Parents shook their heads, amazed by their kids’ depth of knowledge. Former spellers griped on social media that the words were too easy.
Perhaps one reason for the spellers’ performance: the burgeoning industry of spelling coaches and study guides that promise to crack the code of the bee. Thirteen of the 16 prime-time finalists and 38 of the 50 overall used study materials from SpellPundit, a business started by teenage ex-spellers Shobha Dasari and her younger brother,
Shourav. The Dasaris offer a money-back guarantee if Scripps uses a word that’s not included in their guides.
“It’s all the spellers’ hard work,” 18-yearold Shobha said.
“We just give them the words.”
The key personality trait onstage was businesslike efficiency. Veteran spellers strode to the microphone confidently and never appeared rattled by the words they were given. Thirteen-year-old Rohan Raja of Irving, Texas, celebrated with fist pumps as he lumbered back to his seat.
Another machine-like speller: 13-year-old Sohum Sukhatankar of Dallas, sporting a black leather jacket, who advanced to the prime-time finals for the first time but is considered a favourite, with previous victo-
R. Kelly charged with 11 new sex-related counts in Chicago
Michael TARM and Herb MCCANN
The Associated Press
CHICAGO — Prosecutors charged R&B singer R. Kelly on Thursday with 11 new sexrelated counts involving one of the women who accused him of sexually abusing her when she was underage, including counts that carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, making them the most serious he faces.
Cook County prosecutors charged the Grammy award-winning singer with four counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, two counts of criminal sexual assault by force, two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse against a victim who was at least age 13 and under 17 at the time.
The four aggravated criminal sexual assault counts carry maximum terms of 30 years in prison. Kelly is due in court to hear the new charges next Thursday.
Kelly was already facing 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse involving four women over roughly a 10-year period that started in the late 1990s. Three of the women were minors when the alleged abuse occurred.
The new charges pertain to a single victim, identified in the court filing by the initials “J.P.” Prosecutors didn’t specify in the filing if she is the same person as
Paris
Paris City Hall wants to name a small plaza after Princess Diana, at the site of the 1997 car crash that killed the cherished British royal. The site already holds a golden flame-shaped monument in her honour, adjacent to the Alma Tunnel where the accident occurred.
The plaza is currently named
one of the original four accusers who was also identified as “J.P.,” but Kelly’s defence attorney, Steve Greenberg, seemed to suggest as much in a tweet Thursday. Greenberg didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment left by The Associated Press. The AP also couldn’t immediately reach Kelly for comment about the new charges. He pleaded not guilty to the original charges and denied any wrongdoing after his February arrest. He has been free since Feb. 25, when a suburban Chicago woman posted $100,000 bond, or 10 per cent of the $1 million bond the judge set in his case.
According to the new court filing, the first eight counts are from encounters that allegedly occurred between Jan. 1 and Jan. 31, 2010. Three others pertain to alleged
encounters between May 1, 2009, and Jan. 31, 2010.
Among other things, prosecutors allege that Kelly used force or threatened to do so to pressure the accuser into sex or to perform oral sex on him. She was underage at the time, extending the statute of limitations for bringing charges to 20 years from her 18th birthday, they wrote. Kelly doesn’t face federal charges, but attorney Michael Avenatti told the AP on Thursday that he expects the singer to face “serious federal charges” in the coming weeks.
Avenatti, who says he represents three Kelly victims, two parents and two whistleblowers, said he has provided “significant evidence” against Kelly to federal prosecutors in multiple U.S. attorneys’ offices. He declined to say which federal districts would pursue the charges, but he said he and his clients have been co-operating with prosecutors “for the better part of four months.”
Avenatti, who said after Kelly’s arrest that he had turned over video to prosecutors showing Kelly having sex with an underage girl, faces his own serious federal charges, including ones accusing him of trying to shake down Nike and cheating his most famous client, porn star Stormy Daniels, out of $300,000.
Associated Press writers Jim Mustian in New York and Caryn Rousseau in Chicago contributed to this report.
at site of her death
after opera singer Maria Callas.
A city hall official said Thursday that the city council will vote next month on a measure to rename it after Diana. The city noted that Callas already has a nearby avenue named after her, and that the city wants to honour Diana for her humanitarian work.
The 36-year-old princess, her boyfriend and driver died after their Mercedes crashed into a concrete pillar in the tunnel.
ries at the North South Foundation spelling bee and the South Asian Spelling Bee.
“I knew all the words I got. When I got them, I knew I was going to get them right,” Sohum said.
“I took my time. If you spell too quickly, you could miss the word.”
Melodie Loya didn’t take that advice.
The 14-year-old from Baimbridge, NY, spelled her first word with such speed that when she returned to the microphone, pronouncer Jacques Bailly implored her to pace herself.
Spelling deliberately has obvious advantages: it prevents a speller’s mouth from moving faster than her brain. And, as Bailly, pointed out, it ensures the judges can understand what the speller is saying.
Melodie couldn’t help herself. She started quickly and only got faster as she plowed through “madrague,” raising her hands in apparent surprise when she was told she got the word correct.
Every time at the microphone was a minidrama for Melodie, whose facial expressions conveyed her exasperation, concentration and abject panic. She closed her eyes. She looked at the ceiling. She buried her face in her hands.
And when she spelled, she acted as if she couldn’t wait for it all to be over – until it wasn’t. Melodie was eventually bounced by the word “theileriasis,” which just had too many vowel sounds she couldn’t figure out. For many of her fellow spellers, referred to on their Scripps-issued T-shirts this year as “word detectives,” the clues were obvious and the suspects might as well have turned themselves in.
KELLY
The Associated Press
wants a Princess Diana Square
PRINCESS DIANA
AP PHOTO BY SUSAN WALSH
Sahil Langote, 13, of New Castle, Del., says he was so close to getting his word correct as he competes in the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Oxon Hill, Md. on Thursday.
Susan Lynn Baker
Born September 30, 1970, passed away peacefully with family by her side at the PG Hospice House on May 16, 2019. She is survived by her parents David (Darlene) Jackie (Bobby), Sister Jac and her family, Brother Chad, Sister-in-law Debbie, Niece Cadence, Nephew Blaze as well as numerous aunts, uncles, cousins and many, many friends. She was predeceased by her grandparents Ray & Ruth Baker, Art Brookes, Jeannette Brookes, Uncles-Jackie Baker, David Brookes, Kevin Dwyer, Aunts- Debbie Brookes, Sandra Baker. In lieu of flowers donations to the PG Hospice House would be appreciated. No service per her wishes.
Agnes Catherine Metz Nov. 17th, 1937May 21st, 2019
It is with much sadness that the family of Agnes Metz announces her passing at the age of 81. She is survived by her daughter Karen (Les), son Rocky (Korla), her sister Viola, six grandchildren Dustin (Christine), Ryan (Tina), Taryn (Grace), Adam, Ben (Alecia) and Brielle, one great grandchild Sebastian & her nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her loving husband John Metz on November 1st, 2017. Together they owned & operated the Eagle Crest Pub in Fort St. James for 21 years. Those who knew Agnes will always remember her with a smile because of her sassy sense of humour. She loved people, anyone she met she considered her friend. Music made her blue eyes light up; a glass of vodka & water she would never refuse. She lived her life by her favorite words “you always gotta have a laugh” and she did. She danced, she sang, she played, and she lived her life as she chose. The family wishes to express their gratitude for the exceptional care provided by the amazing staff at Jubilee Lodge & Dr. McCoy. A Celebration of Life will be held Sunday, June 23rd, 2019 from 1-4pm at the Marriot Hotel.
Robert Philip Gordon Gable Apr 25,1925 - May 27, 2019
It is with great sadness we announce the passing of Robert (Bob) Gable, aged 94, peacefully at the University Hospital of Northern BC. He will be forever remembered and dearly missed by his wife of 71 years Kathleen (Kay); their children Kirk (Kathie), Brock (Mandy), Murray (Suzanne) and Laurel (Wes Penner); grandchildren Emily (Cory), Carla (Adam), Brianna, Nate (Christie), Luke (Erin), Hannah, Danial, Katie, Andrew (Kristina), Eric, Haley, Eric, Jon and Alex and 9 greatgrandchildren. He is predeceased by many family and friends. Bob, a Second World War veteran and the youngest of three children, was born and grew up in Edmonton, Alberta. He enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy at the young age of 17, boarded the HMCS La Hulloise and went off to war in the north Atlantic. He was one of the last remaining crew members. While on shore leave in 1945 he met Kay who would become his wife and steadfast life companion. They married in 1947 and spent the next 10 years in Edmonton before moving with their young family to Fort St. John in 1958 and then Prince George in 1965. A welder by trade, Bob was indeed a builder of the Canadian economy over his career beginning as an apprentice for Dominion Bridge on a vessel riveting crew in Edmonton, running a welding rig business with brother Don in Fort St. John to support the growth of the oil and gas industry, and then working with pulp mill construction contractors and the Local 170 Welders & Pipefitters Union for the next 40 years in Prince George. He became a member of the Royal Canadian Legion in 1946, and was a member of the Masonic Lodge. Bob and Kay vacationed and traveled together with their children spending summer vacations at Kalamalka Lake along with Kay’s sister and her three children. They spent many wonderful times at their cabins at Charlie Lake and Bednesti Lake; and enjoyed traveling to Nevada in their motorhome to escape the northern winters. Family was always a priority for Bob. For many years Bob kept Appaloosa horses and in his later years he became a decent gardener growing vegetables, herbs and flowers in his backyard garden. A memorial service will be held at 3:00pm on Saturday, June 1st at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, 3590 Dufferin Avenue, Prince George with a reception to follow. Interment of ashes will be at a later date in Edmonton.
Svend Aage Andersen
Mar 25, 1931 - May 23, 2019
Svend Andersen passed away peacefully on May 23, 2019, at the age of 88. At his side were his wife, Patricia, and his son and two daughters. Svend was born in Denmark, and in 1959 came to Canada with his first wife, Edith, a son, and a daughter, to pursue a career in forestry. In 1968, Svend and his family, which now included a second daughter, moved from Victoria to Prince George. Here, Svend helped establish the nursery at the Red Rock Research Station. He spent 20 rewarding years at Red Rock, enjoying his work outdoors, and taking pride in his contributions to the tree improvement program. He was recognized as the BC Forest Service expert in tree grafting. Svend was an avid rock-hound, prospector, fly fisherman, weather-watcher, gardener, and blueberrypicker, sharing many of these passions with his children and grandchildren. He was kind, easy-going, patient, and had a wry sense of humour; qualities that were admired and appreciated by all. Svend met Patricia Frank in 1979, and they married in 1982. Together they built a new home and a happy life sharing many trips near and far, and hosting numerous family gatherings full of laughter, and endless games of cards. Despite the many years since he left Denmark, Svend stayed closely connected with family through correspondence, travel and memories. Svend is survived by his wife, Patricia; his children, Torben (Sheila), Jane (Drew), Marianne (Robert); his very special friend, Rick; eight grandchildren, seven great grandchildren, and many other dear family members in Denmark and Canada. He is pre-deceased by his first wife, Edith, his infant son, John, his parents, Anna and Viggo, his sister, Anny, and his brother, Arne. Svend was an integral part of many lives, and will be sorely missed. There will be no formal service. A gathering for family and friends will be announced at a later date. The family is grateful to the staff of Simon Fraser Lodge for taking such good care of Svend for the last year. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to the Kidney Foundation of Canada or the Canadian Mental Health Association.
Giani (Johnny) Tomasini
Passed away suddenly on May 23rd, 2019 at his home in Prince George. Born In Prince Rupert on September 25, 1954, John started working at BC Hydro when he was 18 years old, until he found his career at Northwood Pulp Mill where he continued to work for almost four decades. Predeceased by his father Angelo. He is survived by his mother Gemma Tomasini, sister Lora Tomasini, brother Mark Tomasini, nephew Bryce Johnson & niece, Jenna Johnson. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the BC Heart & Stroke Foundation. A service will be held at Assman’s Funeral Home at 10:30 am on June 1, 2019. Reception to follow.
The heavens rejoiced on Saturday morning, May 25, 2019, when Harold Joseph Anderson (Corky), born May 10, 1934, made the transition from earthly realm to heavenly realm. He has gone ahead of his beloved wife, Rosemary Eleanor, son Larry (Marilyn), daughter Laura (Gary Giese), grandchildren: Ryan (Nastasjja) Dahl, Cassidy (Crystal) Dahl, Kirsten (Dwain Funk), Lars Anderson, great granddaughters: Tyler, Charlotte, Navy Dahl, and great grandson Azlan Dahl. Corky was born in Dryden where he met and married Eleanor, April 22, 1957. He worked as a millwright at Dryden Pulp and Paper until 1968 when he packed up his family and horses to move to Olds, Alberta to manage an Arabian Ranch. That didn’t work out well so they had a family vote to move to Prince George in 1972. He and Eleanor found their dream property and they pursued their dream of an Arabian stallion farm. That transitioned and downsized overtime. Corky retired from Northwood in 1997 after being there since 1972. Corky was so full of life right up to the end. He was always so positive and full of fun. He had a smile that could melt your heart. His love for the outdoors was evident in the many pictures of hunting, fishing, and riding horses. When he wasn’t doing those activities he could be found working on a project around his place. He loved to bowl and he loved to dance. Every morning he would put in his earbuds and dance around the floor for exercise and he couldn’t help but to be positive after that. He loved to celebrate with his family as often as possible with good food, good music, and dancing. We know that he is waltzing around Heaven right now with joy overflowing.
We love you Corky, Dad, Grandpa, Great Grandpa. Till we meet again.
We are having a celebration of life for Corky on Saturday, June 1, 2019 at 2 o’clock at the Heartland Baptist Church, luncheon to follow. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Prince George Hospice House. The people that work at that organization are absolutely amazing.
It is with profound sadness we share with you the passing of Emily Wozney our loving and devoted wife, mother, grandmother, sister and friend who left us peacefully on May 25, 2019. Emily was the beloved wife of Matthew and cherished mother to Deborah and Peter (Kristine). She will be forever in the hearts of her greatest pride and joy, her grandchildren Corbin and Kendra (Kulchiski) and Michael, Karlie and Morgin (Wozney). Emily is already missed in so many ways by her sister Nellie and other close friends and family. The world became so much brighter when Emily arrived 85 years ago and was loved by so many with her charming personality and devotion to others. Emily grabbed on to life with a passion for red sports cars, bling, lipstick, beautiful clothes and Elvis Presley. While we struggle with this loss, we are comforted in knowing how many people were fortunate to have Emily in their lives. There will be a Celebration of Life later this summer.
UWE&ZENAIDA FINGER-50YEARS! WishingourMomand Dad/"Yowie"and"Opi"a veryhappy anniversary!Uweand Zenaidametin VancouverataFilipino NewYear’sEveparty andthenmarriedin MontrealonMay31, 1969.Theyhadtwo incrediblygoodlookingandbrilliant children,before makingtheirwayto PrinceGeorge,where theyhavelivedever since.Alwaysthe lovingandsupportive parents,theyhave delightedinbeing grandparentstotheir twolittlesweethearts, ArabellaandDaxton. WethankGodtobe blessedwithyouboth andprayformany, manymorehappy yearsfullofjoyand adventures! Withallourlove, Dirk&Melissa, Arabella&Daxton, andGigi&Brian.
“Manny”
Kayden Bruce Roberts April 15, 1996 - May 4, 2019
It is with very heavy hearts that we announce the passing of our dearly beloved son, brother, father, nephew, cousin and friend, Kayden Roberts. He is survived by and will be greatly missed by his loving
Son: Warner Crue Wayne Lupul Roberts,
Parents: Tanya White, John White, Brothers: Garrett (Christine) Wilgan and Donovan Blaine Roberts. Step-brothers: Brodie (Dani), Ryan (Jusstine), Trace (Paola), and Orrin (Kelsey) White, and brother of the heart
Daniel Fjellner. His maternal Grandmother: Inger Marie Wilgan, as well as many cherished Aunts, Uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews and friends. Kayden is pre-deceased by his Father: Lauren Augusteen Roberts, Sister: Kristie Nicole Wilgan, Grandfather’s: Melvin Rene Roberts and Edwin Roy Wilgan, paternal Grandmother: Rosianne Marie Roberts, and Uncle: Bruce Murray Roberts. Funeral Services will be held on Saturday, June 1st , 2019 at 1:00pm at Assman’s Funeral Chapel, 1908 Queensway Street, Prince George, BC. with a Celebration of Life to follow at 10335 Jutland Road.
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