Arthur WILLIAMS Citizen staff awilliams@pgcitizen.ca
The candidates for city council were in the hot seat on Tuesday night at an allcandidates forum co-hosted by the Prince George Citizen, Prince George Chamber of Commerce, the B.C. Northern Real Estate Board and UNBC.
Moderator Marnie Hamagami grilled each candidate one-by-one with a selection of personalized questions in front of the crowd of several hundred at UNBC’s Canfor Theatre.
Incumbent mayoral candidate Lyn Hall was the first up to bat, and was asked about the issue of wages and overtime for the city’s senior managers.
“It’s my plan to bring that particular policy to council, the new council, for review,” Hall said. “My anticipation is there will be changes.”
On the issue of attracting the newly-legal cannabis industry to Prince George, Hall said the city has already taken the first steps be finalizing its cannabis-related bylaws on Monday night.
Incumbent council candidate Frank Everitt was next in the hot seat. Everitt was asked if he thinks the city’s holiday policy for city managers which starts at four weeks of holiday time per year and increases to six weeks per year within three years of service is appropriate.
“We want our staff to go on holidays,” Everitt said.
Vacation time is an opportunity for staff to relax and recharge, and return to work more productive. Employers which discourage or penalize employees for taking their holiday time end up with hiring rates of burnout and reduced productivity, he said.
On the subject of city employees, Everitt was questioned about the 100 additional employees on the city’s payroll.
“When someone is on the payroll for a day, a week or a month they’re on the payroll (list) for the year,” Everitt said. “My understanding is it closer to 34 (new, permanent employees.”
Incumbent council candidate Garth Frizzell was also posed the same question.
“As council, we set the direction, we set the budget, and (city staff) decide how to do it,” Frizzell said.
Being on city council is a juggling act, because residents don’t want reduced services (and frequently want increased service), but also don’t want to pay more taxes, he said.
“I’d love to spent a lot less money, and I’d love to provide a lot more services. You have to balance it,” Frizzell said.
First-time council candidate Dave Fuller was challenged about his dismissal of scientific fact in his role as an advocate for the removal of flouride from the city’s drinking water.
Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff
mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca
Northern B.C. sawmill workers began rotating strikes Tuesday morning when a picket line went up at Tolko’s Lakeview Lumber in Williams Lake. The move is an escalation of job action by members of United Steelworkers Local 1-2017 after invoking a ban on overtime last
“I don’t know what evidence-based information I’ve dismissed,” Fuller said. “I did work to reduce the waste going into our water supply. I think my record is I can make change in this community.”
Long-time city councillor Murray Krause was asked if he thought the location at 18th Avenue and Foothills Boulevard was the correction location for a proposed BC Transit facility.
“No,” Krause said, to much applause.
“BC Transit thought it would be the perfect spot. (City) staff looked at it and thought it could work,” Krause said.
But the public outcry against the project was heard loud and clear at the council table and changing direction was the right move, Krause said.
Incumbent council candidate Terri McConnachie was asked how the city can continue to be friendly to new businesses, while controlling fees and taxes.
“The best practice of this city council was, in addition to getting out into neighbourhoods, was also working with the chamber (of commerce),” McConnachie said.
City council needs to listen to the city’s business community and to continue to promote the city, she said.
First-time candidate Cori Ramsay was asked if city council made the right call in
Sawmill workers start rotating job action
week on all 13 operations represented by Council on Northern Interior Forest Employment Relations (CONIFER). “This is step two of our process and currently our plan is to continue and maintain doing rotating strikes throughout the Conifer member companies,” Local 1-2017 business agent Brian O’Rourke said. Members have been in a legal strike position since Oct. 6. The sides are at odds over a new
since 1916
Council candidates grilled at forum
caving to public pressure to increase public access time to the newly-rennovated Masich Place Stadium.
“The people came out and spoke. It is a facility for the people,” Ramsay said. “Our councillors listened... and that’s their job.”
First-timer Kyle Sampson was asked what role the city should play in funding a replacement bus service once Greyhound ends service to the area.
“I think more of an advocacy role. We want to permit people to leave and coming to Prince George, but is it our job to provide that? Probably not,” he said.
Incumbent councillor Susan Scott was asked if the city should consider creating a local police force to replace the RCMP as a cost-saving measure.
“I doubt the premise. No, I don’t see creating a local police force as a cost savings,” Scott said.
Newcomer Paul Serup was asked about his position on the development of a new pool downtown, and whether he thinks the referendum was a sufficient mandate to justify the project.
“I think that should have been done very differently,” he said. “Putting the pool at the Days Inn site is a tremendous waste of taxpayer dollars.”
Long-serving city councillor Brian Skakun
contract. According to a Sept. 19 posting on the USW Local 1-2017 website, CONIFER was offering annual wage increases ranging from 0.5 to 1.5 per cent over five years and is also seeking a series of concessions.
But CONIFER executive director Mike Bryce said Tuesday the offer was changed at the end of September to two per cent per year for five years.
— see UNION, page 3
was asked if he would support the adoption of a ward system to provide representation for various parts of the city on council.
“I don’t think so, we’re quite small,” Skakun said. “If you’re going your job properly as a city councillor, you should be able to represent the whole city.”
Former city councillor Cameron Stolz, who is looking to make a return to council, was asked why voters should give him a second chance after a widely-published incident in which he was three years in arrears paying his city taxes.
“I was going through a very difficult time with my business,” Stolz said. “I made what I thought was the ethical choice to pay my employees, then I paid my suppliers. In hindsight, I should have eaten some humble pie and reached out to some of my friends and family and paid my taxes.”
Council candidate Chris Wood was also in attendance. The full debate was streamed live on The Citizen’s Facebook page.
Mayoral candidate Willy Enns and council candidate Viv Fox did not attend. Fox sent a representative to read a statement on her behalf, as she was in Williams Lake attending an emergency preparedness meeting that had been planned months in advance.
General voting day in the B.C. municipal election is this Saturday.
UNBC cafeteria staff members ‘on the verge’ of striking
Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff
Cafeteria workers at the University of Northern British Columbia are “on the verge of walking out,” but will be restricting their pickets to certain spots on campus should they take that step.
Members of Unite Here Local 40 served 72 hours notice on Oct. 5 against Chartwells, which operates food services at UNBC, but have not yet acted on it and have agreed to restrict picket locations in the event of labour action, UNBC said in an online posting. Pickets would be limited to: • The three outside entrances off the Agora Courtyard (the one near the dining hall and the two sets of doors near the Winter Garden). see UNBC CLASSES, page 2
CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN
Mayoral incumbent Lyn Hall answers a question at a Citizen pre-election forum at UNBC’s Canfor Theatre on Tuesday night.
Open for business
A security guard walks outside British Columbia’s first legal cannabis store in Kamloops on Tuesday. As of today, cannabis use in Canada is legal nationwide. See page 6 of today’s Citizen for opinions on the legalization of the drug. As well, see related stories on pages 4, 7 and 11.
UNBC classes won’t be disrupted by picket lines
— from page 1
• The doors into the Winter Garden’s upper level.
• The McCaffray Hall loading bay where picketers’ intent would be to stop vehicles making deliveries to Chartwells but stand down for other vehicles.
“UNBC employees are expected to be at work as it is not necessary to cross a picket
line,” UNBC said. “The university expects classes to continue as per the normal schedule.”
Octavian Cadabeschi, the local’s research analyst, said negotiations are at a standstill.
He said the bargaining committee met last Wednesday with Chartwells “but the company gave us an offer where they refused any pay increases for two and a half years.
“Our members still do not have any job security, they could all lose their jobs if UNBC chooses a new food service contractor, and Chartwells’ contract is up at the end of the school year.”
In the event of job action, UNBC said Chartwells will continue to offer food services to those who use the meal plan but delivery will depend on the extent of the job
action and may be reduced to limited times.
“UNBC will provide prorated reimbursement to people who pay for the meal plan. Again, this depends on the extent of disruption,” UNBC said.
Catering will be provided for functions that have already booked services while Stackers Deli and Tim Horton’s may be closed.
An Ephemeral Land opening at gallery
Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca
The Prince George public owns a library of visual art pieces. It is held in trust by the Two Rivers Gallery (2RG) and each year the gallery’s staff select a set of these works to be displayed for a group exhibition.
This year’s edition from the permanent collection is entitled An Ephemeral Land. Gallery curator George Harris will lead the unveiling of the show on Thursday evening at an event free and open to the public.
“We try to come up with a germane theme that lets us highlight our collection, especially if it can include some of the new additions,” Harris said.
The impressions that prevailed upon them during the planning stages were the forest fires. The threatened communities, the lost homes, the disrupted lives, the enormous resources invested in fighting the flames, the massive loss of timber and ecosystem all weighed on 2RG curatorial staff and inspired their views of the many works available to them for the upcoming exhibition.
“This notion emerged of smoke and flames and getting glimpses at the landscape, and the changes to the landscape,” Harris said. “If you take that experience we’ve had over the last couple of years and go one step further to climate change, it naturally opens the conversation wider.”
Each of the artworks selected for the show depicts some form of
It is a rare glimpse at some of the public treasures in the keep of the city’s premier art collection.
nature.
The artists included are: David Alexander, Patrick Dunford, Edward Epp, Annerose Georgeson, Pnina Granirer, Alfred Muma, Alice Park-Spurr, Patricia Piddington, Philippe Raphanel, Dana Rae Shukster and Peter von Tiesenhausen. Some have more than one work, some have multiple panels that amount to a single work.
Some appear to be abstract until more closely examined, like the large mottled double canvas dominated by blue by David Alexander.
“Yet it’s not so abstract when you think of Monet’s Water Lilies, which is what this painting is based upon. Then you have the grid painted over it which suggests human influence over the impression of the water scene, like roads or utility lines,” Harris said.
A close look at the other apparently abstract work, also largescale, reveals that the 12 panels of oil on canvas actually depicts a view of winter, minimal and stark.
“In all of these artworks, the artists are using storms or weather or environmental conditions as an element of what they are showing us of nature, and we are at a point now where we are understanding a bit of how humans are playing a role in that,” Harris said. “So as
the artist represents nature, that comes from a human hand, and it calls up the consideration of how the human hand is represented here.”
Harris summed it up as being a collection of individual voices that, without their knowing at the time, would one day form a chorus on this topic.
“The land in which we live is ephemeral,” Harris said. “It is always changing: greening in the spring and in the summertime, turning yellow and gold in the autumn and white in the winter. However, this summer’s forest fires reminded us of how the land is subject to more than just seasonal forces.”
It is a rare glimpse at some of the public treasures in the keep of the city’s premier art collection. There is a comprehensive online database of the permanent collection at the 2RG website, but it is infrequent that any particular ones are on the walls to regard and contemplate in full personal force.
Many of these artists are or were residents of Prince George, many have been exhibited at the 2RG over the years, and Harris said “a show like this succeeds in hearing a diversity of those voices who’ve spoken into the conversation about Prince George’s art.”
The show will be officially unveiled at a reception on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in conjunction with the opening of another 2RG exhibition, that of artist Colin Lyons entitled Prototypes For The Preservation of Degradation. Lyons will be at the reception to personally discuss his show as well.
City council approves liquor licence for beauty parlor
“I just don’t see that as a positive thing for the city,” said Marlene Spyker of the New Life drop-in centre at 1164 Third. And in a letter to council, lawyer Ben Levine, whose office is located at 1180 Third Ave., noted the business hours will be from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week and contended it would effectively act as a bar.
But council members were told that while clients at the business would have the option of being served wine or beer while getting a pedicure or spa treatment they would be limited to three ounces or three drinks. “I don’t see any issues with the way alcohol is going to be sold and there will be minimum amounts of alcohol sold,” Coun. Brian Skakun said.
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Union has members at 13 sawmills
— from page 1
He said the previous wage offer was part of a package that would have seen more of the cost of the pension plan shifted onto the employer.
“At the end of September, the effort to integrate those two subjects ceased and we simply transitioned to just a direct wage offer,” he said. Given the high price producers have been attracting for their product, the USW has contended employees deserve better than what CONIFER has been offering.
The benchmark price for 1,000 board-feet of top-quality western Canadian two-by-fours hit US$540 this past spring, according to the trade publication Madison’s Lumber Reporter, compared with US$315 at the start of 2017. But the reigning price has since declined and stood at US$366 as of Friday.
Bryce said CONIFER’s goal is to reach an agreement that accounts for the “long-term realities of a cyclical industry” rather than bargain in the context of current market conditions which are “changing dramatically.”
Talks between the USW and the Interior Forest Labour Relations Association, the bargaining agent for sawmill owners in the Southern Interior, are in a similar
situation according to O’Rourke.
“We’re reviewing a document that they (IFLRA) handed us but at this point there is nothing we see favourable,” O’Rourke said.
But he stressed bargaining is still at the early stages, “so there’s still time for change.” O’Rourke declined to say where picket lines will go up next.
“But our plan is to strategically hit these employers and put on some pressure to get them back to the table,” he said.
At CONIFER’s request negotiations went before a mediator for five days. Bryce said progress was made before USW discontinued the process.
The sides are negotiating on behalf of 13 sawmills that employee roughly 1,600 workers: Canfor’s PG Sawmill and Isle Pierre operations as well as its sawmills in Houston and Fort St. John; Lakeland Mills in Prince George; Dunkley Lumber Ltd. south of Hixon; Conifex’s mills in Fort St. James and Mackenzie; Babine Forest Products in Burns Lake; Tolko’s Lakeview Lumber and Soda Creek mills in Williams Lake and Quest Wood in Quesnel; and West Fraser’s Williams Lake Planer.
A CONIFER representative has said the agency will not be talking to media before a contract has been ratified.
Wonderland holiday dazzler set for Dec. 15 at CN Centre
Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff
Wonderland is coming to Prince George. The holiday entertainment spectacle is a family experience designed to dazzle the senses and send young and old home with storytelling memories few productions can equal. Wonderland is a presentation of the Cirque Musica Holiday company, a subsidiary of TCG Entertainment.
“Audiences will journey into a visual world of Wonderland with amazing acrobats, aerialists, hilarious hijinks and holiday cheer,” said a representative.
“The show blends the spellbinding grace and daredevil athleticism of today’s greatest circus performers with the sensory majesty of a symphony orchestra performing the greatest holiday music of all time.”
That symphony orchestra is live, just like the acrobats and dancers. The show is as much about splendid music as it is about sensational physical art. This one-time-only performance happens Dec. 15 at CN Centre. Tickets go on sale Friday online at the TicketsNorth website or in person at the CN Centre box office.
CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN
Artist Colin Lyons works on the installation of his exhibit, Prototypes For The Preservation of Degradation, in Two Rivers Gallery. The exhibit opens on Thursday night.
CHBA recognizes excellence in north
Renovation
entrant must be the Renovator)
Best
Best Residential Renovation: $50,000-$100,000: Belledune
Homes
Best Residential Renovation:
$100,000+: Northern Legendary
Best Kitchen Renovation: over
$50,000: Belledune Homes
Best Bathroom Renovation: Artistic Homes
Design Categories (Primary entrant may be the Builder or a Project Partner)
Best Kitchen Design (New Home) under $50,000: Vanway Kitchen + Bath
Best Kitchen Design (New Home) over $50,000: Belledune Homes
Best Master Suite Design: New Home: Belledune Homes Best Innovative/special feature: New or Renovation: Kidd Group
Best Any Room: New or Renovation: Lithium One
Best Outdoor Living Space: New or Renovation: Kidd Group
Special Achievement Awards
Best Certified Home: Custom: Northern Homecraft
Superior Customer Service: Supplier: Emco
Controlled burns scheduled near Williams Lake
Citizen staff
B.C. Wildfire Service crews are planning to burn piles of woody debris near Fox Mountain over the next four weeks, depending on site and weather conditions. Smoke and flames may be visible from Williams Lake and surrounding communities. The work will be part of a project to reduce wildfire risks in the area.
“By removing this material, less fuel will be available to burn in the event of a wildfire and any such fire will burn with less intensity,” BCWFS said in a press release issued Monday. Personnel will be on site with firefighting equipment to monitor and control these burns at all times and will proceed only if site, weather and venting conditions are suitable.
Winnipeg students hurt in fiery crash
Citizen news service
Winnipeg police are investigating a fiery crash that sent seven teenagers from the same school to hospital.
Police say the SUV full of teens ended up in a ditch Friday afternoon. Another motorist, Dillon Vincent, says he stopped to help when he saw a girl unconscious on the ground and other injured people on the road.
Vincent says he called 911. That is when he noticed a youth trapped in the driver’s seat.
Then he saw that the SUV was starting to burn.
“I remember saying to him, help me save your life,” Vincent said Tuesday.
“And he twisted his body to the window so I could get my arms under his arms, and then from there I was able to lift him through the window and drag him away from the vehicle.”
Vincent says within minutes the SUV was burning out of control.
Police say three teens have been released from hospital.
Feds to expedite pardons for minor pot convictions
Jim BRONSKILL, Jordan PRESS, Kristy KIRKUP Citizen news service
OTTAWA — The federal government plans to move today on easing the process of obtaining a criminal pardon for simple pot possession.
The Canadian Press has learned the announcement on setting aside minor marijuana convictions of the past will come the same day the government ushers in a historic new era of legalized cannabis.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has faced pressure to address the pot pardon issue, including within his own caucus, due to the effect of possession charges on marginalized Canadians.
Until now, simple possession of up to 30 grams of marijuana has been punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and six months in jail.
Individuals have been eligible to apply for a pardon through the Parole Board of Canada five years after the conviction is handed down.
But the waiting period and the $631 cost of applying for a pardon, known as a record suspension, have proven difficult for some people saddled with records.
NDP justice critic Murray Rankin recently put forward a private bill calling for expungement of criminal records for minor cannabis possession offences.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh went further Tuesday, calling on the Liberals “to immediately delete” the criminal records held by thousands of Canadians for simple cannabis possession.
One insider said the process to be announced today would not involve a mass expungement of records.
Rather, it will streamline the existing process of obtaining a record suspension. A suspension doesn’t erase a record, but can make it easier to get a job, travel and generally contribute to society.
At a briefing Tuesday, federal officials told reporters that internal discussions had focused on an application-based process for speeding up pot pardons, instead of a blanket amnesty.
Much of the paperwork needed for a blanket amnesty resides in local courthouses out of the immediate and easy reach of the federal government and the
Kenney wary of price of hosting Olympics
Citizen news service
CALGARY — Alberta’s Opposition leader says he wants to see hard numbers about what it would cost the province if Calgary hosts the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Alberta has committed $700 million if Calgary bids for and wins the right to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
It’s about $300 million less than what was expected – the bid corporation was asking for $3 billion in public investment as part of the $5.2 billion price-tag. The federal government won’t
Newfoundland and Labrador site of first legal pot purchase
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. (CP) — One of the first customers to buy legal recreational cannabis in Canada says he has no intention of smoking, vaping or otherwise consuming the gram of weed he bought at a store in St. John’s.
Ian Power, who was first in line at one of several stores in the country’s easternmost province that opened just after midnight local time, says he plans to frame his purchase.
Hundreds of customers were lined up around the block at the private store on Water Street, the main commercial drag in the Newfoundland and Labrador capital, by the time the clock struck midnight.
A festive atmosphere broke out, with some customers lighting up on the sidewalk and motorists honking their horns in support as they drove by the crowd.
Cannabis NL expected 22 stores to open on Oct. 17, but not all opted to open in the middle of the night to commemorate the event.
Licensed marijuana producer Canopy Growth Corp. opened the Tweed-branded store in St. John’s at the late hour, while retailer Loblaw Companies Ltd. planned to start selling cannabis at its 10 locations at 9 a.m.
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians were also the first to buy products such as dried flower and oils online after ShopCannabisNL.com launched at midnight local time, ahead of its provincial and territorial counterparts by at least a half hour.
Parole Board, officials said.
As of Tuesday the drug was still illegal, and officials said any charges or cases before the courts could still be prosecuted after legalization. The majority of cases are handled by federal prosecutors, who could decide, in the public interest, not to prosecute, they said.
provide more than $1.5 billion under a policy for hosting international sport events, and has yet to say how much money it would chip in.
United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney says he remains “skeptical” about the price-tag and wonders about governments putting a hard cap on funding commitments.
If cost overruns happen, Kenney says it would have to be covered.
“When there’s a cost blowout, somebody’s got to pay the bills,” Kenney said after a speech in Calgary Tuesday.
VANCOUVER — The British Columbia government says a new agreement between a group of Indigenous people and the provincial and federal governments is consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The treaty negotiations memorandum of understanding was signed Friday at a ceremony involving the chiefs from the six First Nations of the Sto:lo Xwexwilmexw Treaty Association and ministers from the provincial and federal governments.
A release from the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation says this new approach recognizes that Indigenous rights are inherent and cannot be extinguished or surrendered, and shifts away from seeking a full and final settlement.
The release says the agreement builds a collaborative and predictable ongoing government-togovernment relationship that can adapt to changing circumstances over time, as policies evolve or new rights are established by the courts. Constitutional relationship, self-government, land ownership and jurisdiction would be set out in a constitutionally protected core treaty developed together by the governments and the First Nation, but administrative and operational policy matters would be included in supplementary agreements. Members of the six First Nations communities are Sto:lo, meaning People of the River, with villages located in the Lower Fraser River between Vancouver and Yale.
CP PHOTO
Canopy Growth CEO Bruce Linton passes a bag with the first legal cannabis for recreational use sold in Canada to Nikki Rose, centre, and Ian Power at the Tweed shop on Water Street in St. John’s N.L., at 12:01 am NDT on Wednesday.
‘I think I’m helping people’
Trump says he won’t accept blame if GOP loses House
Catherine LUCEY, Jonathan LEMIRE, Zeke MILLER Citizen news service
Facing the prospect of bruising electoral defeat in congressional elections, President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he won’t accept the blame if his party loses control of the House in November, arguing his campaigning and endorsements have helped Republican candidates.
In a wide-ranging interview three weeks before Election Day, Trump told The Associated Press he senses voter enthusiasm rivaling 2016 and he expressed cautious optimism that his most loyal supporters will vote even when he is not on the ballot. He dismissed suggestions that he might take responsibility, as his predecessor did, for midterm losses or view the outcome as a referendum on his presidency.
“No, I think I’m helping people,” Trump said. “I don’t believe anybody’s ever had this kind of an impact.”
Trump spoke on a range of subjects, defending Saudi Arabia from growing condemnation over the case of a missing journalist, accusing his longtime attorney Michael Cohen of lying under oath and flashing defiance when asked about the insult – “Horseface” – he hurled at Stormy Daniels, the porn actress who accuses him of lying about an affair.
Asked if it was appropriate to insult a woman’s appearance, Trump responded, “You can take it any way you want.”
Throughout much of the nearly 40-minute interview, he sat, arms crossed, in the Oval Office behind the Resolute Desk, flanked by top aides, including White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and communications director Bill Shine. White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway listened from a nearby sofa.
The interview came as Trump’s administration was being urged to pressure Saudi Arabia to account for the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Instead, Trump offered a defence for the U.S. ally, warning against a rush to judgment, like with what happened with his Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexual assault.
“Well, I think we have to find out what happened first,” Trump said. “Here we go again with, you know, you’re guilty until proven innocent. I don’t like that. We just
Trump warns of aid cut over migrant caravan
went through that with Justice Kavanaugh. And he was innocent all the way.”
Weeks away from the midterms, Democrats are hopeful about their chances to recapture the House, while Republicans are increasingly confident they can hold control of the Senate.
Trump has been campaigning aggressively in a blitz of rallies aimed at firing up his base. He said he believes he’s doing his job, but allowed he has heard from some of his supporters who say they may not vote this November.
“I’m not running,” he said. “I mean, there are many people that have said to me... ‘I will never ever go and vote in the midterms because you’re not running and I don’t think you like Congress.”’ He added: “Well, I do like Congress.”
If Democrats take the House and pursue impeachment or investigations – including seeking his longhidden tax returns – Trump said he will “handle it very well.”
The president declared he was unconcerned about other potential threats to his presidency. He accused Cohen of lying when testifying under oath that the president
coordinated on a hush-money scheme to buy Daniels’ silence. Trump on Tuesday declared the allegation “totally false.” But in entering a plea deal with Cohen in August, federal prosecutors signalled that they accepted his recitation of facts and account of what occurred.
Trump said that Washington lawyer Pat Cipollone will serve as his next White House counsel and that he hoped to announce a replacement for UN Ambassador Nikki Haley in the next week or two. He again repeated his frustration with Attorney General Jeff Sessions over the special counsel investigation, saying, “I could fire him whenever I want to fire him, but I haven’t said that I was going to.”
On the ongoing Russia investigation, Trump defended his son Donald Trump Jr. for a Trump Tower meeting with a Kremlin-connected lawyer offering damaging information about Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump called his son a “good young guy” and said he did what any political aide would have done.
Trump again cast doubt on climate change, suggesting, incorrectly, that the scientific communi-
CHIQUIMULA, Guatemala (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Tuesday to cut aid to three Central American nations if they let people travel to the U.S. illegally, reacting to a caravan of some 2,000 migrants advancing through Guatemala with hopes of reaching the U.S. border.
Late Tuesday, Trump said via Twitter that the U.S. had conveyed the same message to the governments of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, telling them that U.S. aid will stop if
ty was evenly split on the existence of climate change and its causes. There are “scientists on both sides of the issue,” Trump said.
“But what I’m not willing to do is sacrifice the economic well-being of our country for something that nobody really knows,” Trump said. He added: “I have a natural instinct for science, and I will say that you have scientists on both sides of the picture.”
Asked about his wartime leadership, Trump acknowledged that he has not brought U.S. troops home from conflict zones overseas and that there are more Americans serving in harm’s way now than when he took office.
“It’s not a lot more. It’s a little bit more,” he said. Saying he’s trying to preserve “safety at home,” Trump added that if there are areas where people are threatening the U.S., “I’m going to have troops there for a period of time.”
Trump increased U.S. troop totals in Afghanistan by about 4,000 last year.
The president engaged on several other topics, including:
• He said he has given no con-
they allow migrants to travel from or across their countries with the intent of entering the United States without permission.
“Anybody entering the United States illegally will be arrested and detained, prior to being sent back to their country!” he added.
Amid the tweeting, the migrants continued their trek. Despite having walked all day Monday with swollen, blistered and aching feet, the group rose shortly after sunrise from sleeping on the
sideration to pardoning Paul Manafort, his former campaign chairman who was convicted of numerous financial crimes.
• He suggested that his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would happen after next month’s midterm elections and would likely not be in the United States.
• He broke with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s proposed changes to Social Security to control the deficit.
• And he defended his decision to break from his predecessors and not yet visit a military base in a combat zone, claiming it was not “overly necessary.”
Repeatedly stressing what he saw as the achievements of his first two years, Trump said he’d be seeking another term because there was “always more work to do.”
“The new motto is Keep America Great,” Trump said. “I don’t want somebody to destroy it because I can do a great job, but the wrong person coming in after me sitting right at this desk can destroy it very quickly if they don’t do the right thing. So no, I’m definitely running.”
ground in their clothes in the town of Esquipulas. Dozens attended Mass at the basilica in the city just across the border from Honduras and about 150 kilometres east of Guatemala City. The migrants resumed their journey escorted by Guatemalan police and covered some 50 kilometres to arrive in the town of Chiquimula for the night. The group’s numbers have snowballed since about 160 migrants departed Friday from the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula.
U.S. President Donald Trump listens to a question during an interview with The Associated Press in the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday in Washington.
The new normal of cannabis
Alas, the sun did rise over the lands this fair autumnal morning, first at Signal Hill in Newfoundland, then racing east over the Arctic and the southern provinces, before finally kissing Prince George and then Haida Gwaii with its warmth and brilliance.
For this star and the planets that revolve around it on the outskirts of this rather average galaxy of 100 billion stars in a universe with 100 billion galaxies care not about the legalization of pot in Canada.
To bring it back down to Canadian soil, does anyone remember when the prohibition on liquor ended in this country?
This is a day like any other and, in the broader scope of national history, allowing adults to legally consume marijuana will not be a major change. Instead, this will simply be the new normal. As the years go by, people will sit around with a puzzled look, not because they’re perpetually stoned, but because they will have to work hard to remember what life was life before legal pot, like they already do when asked how everyone managed without smartphones, social media and Wi-Fi.
As more and more private and public retail stores spring up selling high-quality cannabis products – not just pre-rolled doobies with filters on them but a broad
variety of other ways to consume THC, the stuff that provides the high – the days of getting hooked up by that guy you knew in high school will fade away, as forgotten as the days of buying moonshine from a bootlegger.
As more and more private production facilities begin operation, creating jobs, growing the economy, sponsoring community events and becoming part of mainstream culture, just like the distilleries have, the days of fretting about what people will think of you for partaking in some of the devil’s lettuce will shrink further and further in the rearview mirror.
This is a day like any other and, in the broader scope of national history, allowing adults to legally consume marijuana will not be a major change. Instead, this will simply be the new normal.
As a result, no future prime minister will try to roll back the clock on this file and make pot illegal again. Once provincial and federal governments become used to the annual revenues from the cannabis industry (and hopefully they... ahem... pass some of those proceeds onto municipalities), prohibition will just be silly talk, regardless of political ideology. But we also shouldn’t be in denial about the negative effects. Doctors are right to
worry about long-term health effects. Police officers are right to worry about inebriated drivers. Parents are right to worry about access to children, but if they weren’t already worried about it they were hopelessly naive. Yet this issue was already settled nearly a century ago in regards to alcohol. Despite the steep social costs of deaths, violence and addictions, along with their rippling effects on families and communities, a previous generation of Canadians decided that the individual freedom to choose or not choose to consume alcohol was more important. That’s why it’s so easy for some people to say they’ll never touch weed in any form but support the right of their fellow Canadians to choose for themselves.
And choose they already have and by the millions, indulging for decades in an illegal product that fuelled an underground economy that mostly benefitted organized crime.
At this point, the government legalizing pot is about as redundant as formally approving Netflix for public use. An unwanted
YOUR LETTERS
A collection of thoughts
We recently celebrated Terry Fox locally, nationally and internationally. We know his tragedy of stopping his run near Thunder Bay as the cancer had returned to which he succumbed. Motivated by Terry, Steve Fonyo, who has the same handicap of losing a leg to cancer made the same attempt of running across Canada with one difference; he was successful. Should Steve’s criminal history of DUIs and domestic assault diminish his accomplishment? It is difficult to enter a government or professional office without seeing the walls adorned with paintings by Robert Sebastian. We have enjoyed the works of another B.C. painter Robert Bateman. Now I know that when it comes to art appreciation, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder but I would submit the difference is obvious. Sebastian’s work looks like paint by numbers where Bateman’s looks like a photograph, especially his wolves head and the eagle landing. It’s like comparing the housepainter to Picasso (with apologies to
housepainters).
Stephen Harper apologized on behalf of all Canadians to the Indigenous and Metis people for the legacy of residential schools and the ’60s scoop. This was followed by a national inquiry, attempts at reconciliation and compensation, both with mixed results. Angela Merkel apologized on behalf of all German people for the misery perpetrated by the Nazis and particularly to the Jewish people for the Holocaust. And that was it – a simple apology. Maybe she knows that you can repeat history but you can’t change it.
While as a freshman in Calgary, I heard Dick Gregory who was a comedian turned anti-Vietnam war protester speak to the student body. To illustrate the violence that pervades American society, he queried as to why on TV and the movies, you can often see a gun go off but never a penis. One can destroy life; the other creates it. I still scratch my head over that.
Doug Strachan Prince George
Choose your loyalties
I immigrated from the United
States in 1975. Here I was subsequently granted Canadian citizenship. I later jumped numerous paperwork hurdles culminating in my receiving a document entitled “Certificate of loss of nationality of the United States.”
This remains one of my most precious documents. My rejection of U.S. citizenship required a final interview at the fortified U.S. consulate in Vancouver. At this interview I was asked why I chose to reject American citizenship. My reply was that “a man cannot ride two horses.”
This is now truer than ever.
In these days of the Trump regime, reportedly supported by some 60 per cent of the American electorate, it is obvious that one cannot simultaneously be a truly loyal American and a loyal Canadian.
It is time for those 600,000 Americans who choose to live here, enjoying the privileges and rights of Canadians, to select where their loyalties lie. And, by the same token, those Canadians living south of the border should make the same choice and act according to their consciences.
James Loughery
Prince George
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side effect of both – alone and in tandem –is sitting around for too long and eating too much but if that’s how some people want to live their lives, that’s their choice. There are better ways to spend a weekend than eating THC-infused snacks and watching the entire first six seasons of Game of Thrones, but who’s to judge? Yet even that’s a stereotype. As cannabis consumption becomes mainstream and increasingly public, when people can have a THC cookie and wash it down with a beer at concerts and sporting events, when traditions arise involving pot (much like the piper gets paid in whisky for piping in honoured guests at special gatherings) take hold, the reefer madness stereotype will also be replaced. Soon enough, cannabis use will simply be a normal thing for many adults, with little judgment from others. Even more so, people will stand around and argue what brand is better, just like they do now about beer.
Smoking dope will likely be like smoking cigarettes with the same social stigma increasingly attached to it but pot could also go in a different direction and become like cigars, something connoisseurs do. Or maybe both. No matter what, pot has arrived (it’s been here for decades) and it’s here to stay (it wasn’t going anywhere, anyway).
— Editor-in-chief Neil Godbout
Let the reefer madness begin
Today shall live in infamy.
Cannabis, in its many forms, has been legalized for distribution and sale across the Dominion of Canada.
I have advocated against this exact scenario for several years, citing the many dangers that even recreational use poses, as well as explaining away the exaggerated new revenues and medical miracles the drug will supposedly bring us. To quote Walter Sobchak, “has the whole world gone crazy?!”
It must be stated unequivocally that this product is neither a safe nor neutral addition to the private citizen’s or vast public’s consumption. Disputing this point separates the ideologues from those willing to use their brains – the substance is addictive, often smoked without a filter, and the clinical studies that point to “incredible potential” are not rigorous.
We don’t know the drug’s benefits conclusively, but the harm it causes has become quite clear over the decades.
sell to kids, consume it privately, and, if you are any kind of dealer, it be best to not draw attention to yourself or participate in even gloomier activities. It is hard to know the savings from these conventions, but I’m certain it’s significant.
We don’t know the drug’s benefits conclusively, but the harm it causes has become quite clear over the decades.
It is an observable phenomenon that one predisposed to schizophrenia may be triggered by marijuana use even with no prior symptoms. Unlike other regulated substances that can lead to serious medical issues, there is no cure.
Alcoholics and smokers can quit their vice or receive treatments that can stop a corollary disease; but mental illness can only be managed, plagued by unpredictable factors over time, from the cost of medicines to the severity of the symptoms. Regarding the untold wealth that is to flow from this new system, which has always been the strongest argument from advocates to skeptics, I doubt very much my taxes will be any less this time next year. I also predict that fundraising for healthcare facilities and medical research will continue at the same feverish rate, begging the question “where is all that sin tax money going?”
Perhaps we’ll hire some more public servants with said cash to see where it went.
As for the law enforcement question, this was likely the weakest argument. If you don’t want to go to jail for something illegal, either don’t do it or don’t get caught doing it.
With respect to marijuana, the de facto rules seemed to be: don’t
Now money will be spent enforcing a new law universally rather than suspending the old one situationally. More cops, increased roadchecks, and new rent-seeking firms offering THC testing devices. I predict rising policing budgets after cannabis legalization. And let’s not forget, waking and baking is a widespread practice, as is driving while high, thanks to popular culture’s downplay of the dangers: how much can we afford to spend enforcing a zero tolerance policy?
B.C.’s driving while intoxicated laws are incredibly harsh, unconstitutionally disguised as a Motor Vehicle Act regulation.
Socially, it’s unforgivable to contest them regarding alcohol, but the first time a rookie constable screws up using a hypodermic needle on a citizen to draw blood, cue The Final Countdown by Europe, because a landmark Supreme Court case is imminent. Lastly, we ought to consider that dozens of community groups, particularly First Nations, are opposed to legalization. Furthermore, some cities are refusing to grant licenses; others have let stores open, yet banned the consumption of marijuana anywhere but at home. These many reactions range from truly noble to outright cynical, but it certainly disproves the claim that there is any consensus regarding this major policy change that affects a country of 35 million people.
In The Big Lebowski, The Dude becomes outraged when he realizes he’s been conned by the powerful to do their dirty work for them. The same has happened here – under the guise of fighting crime and empowering users, the squares have found a new way to pay themselves.
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NATHAN GIEDE
Right of Centre
NEWS IN BRIEF
B.C. man accused of swimming naked in shark tank arrested
THUNDER BAY, Ont. (CP) —
Police have arrested a B.C. man who is accused of swimming naked in a shark tank at a popular Toronto aquarium.
Const. Allyson Douglas-Cook of Toronto police says the man was arrested Tuesday afternoon by Ontario Provincial Police in the Thunder Bay area during a vehicle stop. She says Toronto police were working with OPP to have him returned to face charges.
A man stunned patrons and staff at Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada on Friday night when police say he stripped naked, hopped a security barrier and jumped into a large shark tank. Witnesses say the man spent several minutes swimming in the tank with sand tiger sharks, sawfish and moray eels.
Police allege the same man is wanted in connection with an alleged assault at another location earlier Friday that seriously injured a man.
Police say David Weaver, 37, of Nelson was wanted for assault causing bodily harm and mischief interfere with property.
Kamloops council approves B.C.’s first legal pot shop
KAMLOOPS (CP) — Councillors for the City of Kamloops took less than 10 seconds to unanimously approve British Columbia’s first and only marijuana dispensary. The store to be run by the province in B.C.’s Interior is opening today as pot sales become legal across Canada.
Mayor Ken Christian announced the approval by saying “history has been made.”
Christian has said the vote was to be held last week during a regular council meeting but was postponed because of the Thanksgiving long weekend.
Development services director Marvin Kwiatkowski says there were no complaints about the operation and the B.C. government vowed to sign an agreement with the city to ensure safety around the shop.
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth has said more approved stores will follow in the coming months and the province has received 173 applications for cannabis retail outlets, with 62 of them submitted to local governments for review.
The Kamloops store, located in a shopping mall, will be open at 10 a.m. today and have “24 cannabis consultants standing by to serve.”
People who are at least 19 will also be able to legally buy non-medical cannabis online by paying a shipping fee of $10 per order.
You get what you pay for
Ryan McKENNA Citizen news service
REGINA — The Saskatchewan municipality where a newly-built bridge collapsed hours after opening had been approved for $750,000 in provincial funding to go toward construction, but opted for a less expensive design, a rural leader says.
The Dyck Memorial Bridge in the Rural Municipality of Clayton opened to traffic Sept. 14, but collapsed into the Swan River later that day. No one was hurt and the contractor is responsible for repairs.
The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities said Tuesday that Clayton applied last fall for funding through the province’s municipal roads program which the association administers. The RM was primarily approved in January by a project management board.
Over the next several months, SARM requested engineering criteria from Clayton, but didn’t received it, said executive director Jay Meyer.
Clayton was given a week-long extension to July 20, but the information still didn’t come in, he said.
The total cost of the rural bridge if it had been built through the municipal road program was $1.1 million.
The maximum the program could allocate was $750,000, which left Clayton on the hook for $350,000.
“They felt the bridge that fell under the program was too expensive,” Meyer said Tuesday.
Sask. rural municipality where bridge collapsed day after opening cut costs on construction
In a Sept. 24 interview, Clayton Reeve Duane Hicks said the cost for his municipality to independently replace the bridge through builder Can-Struct Systems Inc. was about $340,000.
Clayton administrator Kelly Rea declined an interview request on Tuesday when contacted by The Canadian Press.
In a video posted on YouTube from SARM’s annual convention in March, Rea said she had concerns with the roads program and with criteria for bridge repairs.
She said when Clayton was approved for funding, only one specific bridge was recommended
by the program.
“This bridge is above our needs. We do not need this bridge,” Rea said as she asked government for a policy change giving municipalities more than one option.
The highways minister at the time, David Marit, responded by saying he would look at the program criteria and alternatives around bridges.
He acknowledged the costs could be “quite onerous” on municipalities.
SARM president Ray Orb said, while bridges under the municipal roads program are more expensive, they’re also safe.
“We’ve never had a bridge that has been designed through the... program that has ever collapsed that we know of, anyway,” he said. Meyer said bridges built through his organization follow criteria laid out by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways.
Hicks previously said the bridge was built to Canadian safety standards, though no geotechnical investigation was performed on the riverbed under the bridge before it was built.
He said the municipality wanted to get the bridge built in time for harvest and it took four to five weeks to complete.
U.S. pot firm concerned about Canada’s competitive edge
James McCARTEN Citizen news service
WASHINGTON — An American cannabis producer is warning U.S. President Donald Trump that Canada is poised to dominate the North American marijuana industry unless the United States takes steps to eliminate barriers to financing and market capital south of the border.
A full-page ad in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal, framed as a plea to the White House and its most prominent occupant, warns the U.S. is rapidly losing its competitive advantage to Canada, where recreational pot became legal at midnight.
“The cannabis industry is legal in 31 states, yet most domestic companies do not have access to traditional banking or institutional financing,” reads the ad, signed by Derek Peterson, the chairman and CEO of Californiabased Terra Tech Corp.
“As a result, many U.S. companies are being forced to move to the Canadian public markets to access capital and build their businesses.”
The ad also warns that Canadian firms have tapped into U.S. investor interest in order to raise and spend money in order to acquire American cannabis assets.
“Regrettably, this will put what should be one of our homeland’s greatest economic drivers in foreign control.”
As of Wednesday, Canada will be the first G7 member to greenlight legal recreational pot – a move Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has justified as an effort to better protect young people
from the drug’s effects and eliminate the influence of organized crime.
In an interview, Peterson admitted to having mixed feelings about the momentous paradigm shift that’s scheduled to begin north of the border when the Trudeau government’s promise to legalize recreational pot finally becomes a reality.
“It’s a double-edged sword,” he said.
“I’m afraid of the economic impacts right now if we don’t do anything, but at the same time, (Canada) really triggered and ignited the national discussion. I literally would categorize that as the single most pivotal point in our own path towards legalization, that they took the initiative to do it.”
The challenge for U.S. firms lies in the fact that while recreational cannabis is legal in nine states and medicinal pot in 22 others, it remains illegal under federal law. Sending product across state lines is impossible, as is the ability for companies to obtain financing from major banks.
Federal statutes aimed at curtailing the cocaine trade in the 1980s remain on the books, making it impossible for companies like Terra Tech to deduct routine business expenses and capital equipment like computers and payroll costs against their taxes, Peterson said.
Producers have to rely on smaller financial institutions like credit unions for financing, while the major players in the world of institutional capital have been flocking to back Canadian rivals, he added.
The result is what Peterson called a “federal
illegality tax” that extends across the spectrum of a U.S. producer’s operations and swallows profit margins whole.
“The reality is, like it or hate it, you guys are getting a first-mover advantage,” he said of the Canadian industry.
“We’re sitting here with no access to banking, getting our credit cards shut off, having all these crazy headwinds due to the dichotomy between state and federal law, and you guys took the first-mover advantage from the federal perspective and you’re reaping the rewards of it.”
The solution, Peterson writes, is for the U.S. government to allow states to enact their own cannabis regulations “so that we can fairly compete and protect our domestic industry before it’s too late.”
The federal philosophy on recreational pot in the U.S. has been fraught with confusion since Trump was elected in 2016. Despite campaigning on a promise to leave the issue up to individual states, the White House appeared to reverse course earlier this year by rescinding the so-called Cole memorandum, an Obama-era edict that prevented federal interference with those states where recreational cannabis is legal. Trump has since insisted, however, that the federal law would not be enforced in those jurisdictions.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., has since said he has been assured that Trump plans to proceed with reforming federal marijuana laws as they pertain to medicinal pot once next month’s midterm elections are over.
HANDOUT PHOTO BY DUANE HICKS
The Dyck Memorial Bridge in the Rural Municipality of Clayton, Sask. opened to traffic Sept. 14, but collapsed into the Swan River later that day.
Currencies
OTTAWA
Postal union to begin job action on Monday
Citizen news service
The markets today
TORONTO (CP) — Canada’s main stock index posted its best day in six months despite a pullback of cannabis stocks on the last trading session before today’s legalization. The upturn in markets was almost global, where the stock losers of the past few days outperformed led by the technology sector, said Patrick Bernes, a portfolio manager for CIBC Asset Management.
The activity comes as U.S. corporate earnings have started to roll in with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley on Tuesday outperforming some forecasts, suggesting a solid earnings season ahead.
“We’ve seen the selloff, a little bit of a correction and you’ve seen some decent results come in. I don’t think there are any growth or macro concerns that would warrant further downward pressure,” he said of equity markets.
Bernes said bond yields, which drove investor anxiety when they increased to multi-year highs, have retreated in the last few days to provide some support to equity markets.
“I think from here we’re probably past the selloff,” he added.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 170.27 points at 15,579.74, a high for the day on 280.4 million shares traded.
The market was led by technology stocks that were up about four per cent. Heavily weighted sectors like industrials, energy, financials and materials were also up. Only gold and health care closed down.
Bernes said he doesn’t believe there are any fundamental drivers for Tuesday’s 3.4 per cent slide in cannabis stocks a day after they enjoyed large gains. The sector has been highly volatile even though the market capitalization of various producers have surged since the Liberals promised to legalize recreational cannabis use three years ago.
The Canadian dollar traded at an average of 77.29 cents US compared with an average of 76.96 US on Monday.
OTTAWA — The Canadian Union of Postal Workers said Tuesday it has given strike notice to Canada Post that workers could walk off the job as early as next week.
The union representing 50,000 Canada Post employees said rotating strikes will begin Monday if agreements aren’t reached with the Urban Postal Operations and Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers bargaining units.
The scale of the job action will depend in part on how talks go in the coming days, but union president Mike Palecek said they would look to avoid inconveniencing the public.
“Our aim is not to disrupt the public, it’s not to disrupt the service that we provide, that we’ve been defending for years, so we’re trying to come up with ways to put some pressure on Canada Post without impacting the public.”
The union decided to issue the strike notices after the nearly year-long talks stalled with the two sides fairly far apart, said Palecek.
“We’ve said we would remain at the table as long as progress is being made, and we’ve reached a point where we’re not seeing a lot of progress.”
He said the union, which provided five days notice rather than the 72 hours required, hopes the threat of job action will help the Crown corporation take the issues seriously.
The union has been pushing for 3.5 per cent annual wage increases but has been met with offers of increases below inflation, while health and safety concerns have also yet to be addressed, said Palecek.
Canada Post spokesman Jon Hamilton said in a statement that the service has found common ground with the union on several issues including workload concerns and has made meaningful offers.
“Canada Post has made significant offers to CUPW which include increased wages, job security, and improved benefits and has not asked for any concessions in return.”
The postal service will still be operational in
the event of a strike, said Hamilton.
“Canada Post will remain open for business, continuing to operate if the union decides to conduct rotating strikes across the country next week. We will notify customers of any disruptions planned by the union as soon as we are aware, however customers may experience some minor delays.”
The possibility of a work stoppage has hovered over Canada Post since Sept. 26 after postal workers voted overwhelmingly in late summer in support of a potential walkout to back their contract demands.
Canada Post is the biggest parcel shipping company in the country, having delivered about one million parcels per day during the holiday season last year – an increase of 20 per cent over the same period in 2016.
The postal service also has contracts with numerous provinces to deliver the legal online cannabis sales that begin Wednesday, including Ontario where online sales will be the only source of the product until next April.
Speculation tax to balance out housing crisis, James says
Dirk MEISSNER Citizen news service
VICTORIA — British Columbia’s proposed speculation and vacancy tax is aimed at cooling an overheated real estate market and convincing owners of vacant homes in some urban areas to either sell or rent their properties, says Finance Minister Carole James.
The legislation introduced Tuesday would impose a tax of either 0.5 per cent, one per cent or two per cent on the assessed value of a vacant property in the 2019 taxation year and onwards. The highest rate of two per cent would be applied to foreign owners and so-called satellite families, or those who don’t report the majority of their income on Canadian tax returns, James said.
Canadian citizens and permanent residents who don’t live in the province would pay one per cent on their homes assessed value.
B.C. residents who own a second home and don’t rent it out would pay a tax of 0.5 per cent.
The goal of the tax is to improve housing affordability for thousands of people in B.C., including seniors forced to live in their vehicles and young professionals who leave the province because they can’t find a place to live, James said as she introduced the legislation.
“We are supporting businesses who can’t find employees because they can’t afford housing,” James said. “We are addressing the crisis for families in B.C. That is our job as government and we are going to get it done.”
The tax was introduced in February’s budget with few details as part of the government’s 30-point plan to create 114,000 affordable housing units over the next decade.
“With today’s legislation we’re acting to bring balance back to our housing market,” James said. “Is it going to happen overnight?
No,” she said. “Is it easy to do? No. But it’s the right thing to do. It reflects our belief as a government that homes purchased in B.C. should shelter people, not out-of-province money.”
Opposition Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson said he expects the tax to stifle property development projects, kill construction jobs and chill investor confidence. Wilkinson said he sides with the communities of West Kelowna, Nanaimo and Langford, which are opposed to the tax and asked the government for exemptions.
“Our goal is to defeat this bill,” he said.
“It is a phoney tax. It accomplishes nothing except to grab revenue for the NDP. We don’t
believe in that.”
The private sector could build enough housing to suit B.C.’s needs if more land were made available for development and the approval process for housing projects were faster, Wilkinson said.
Green party Leader Andrew Weaver said he remains concerned Canadians are not being treated equally and he will review the bill.
The tax would apply to vacant properties in Metro Vancouver, Kelowna, West Kelowna, Nanaimo-Lantzville, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Mission and the Capital Regional District around Victoria on southern Vancouver Island.
A Canada Post worker walks to his truck in Richmond on Sept. 26. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers has given strike notice to Canada Post, and rotating strikes are planned to begin on Monday.
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Full steam ahead
Sara Vermeulen of the Northern Capitals leaves a Fraser Valley Rush player in her wake during a Sunday game at Kin 2. The Northern Capitals and Rush played a three-game weekend series in the B.C. Hockey Female Midget Triple-A League. The teams tied 2-2 on Friday, the Caps won 1-0 on Saturday and the Rush prevailed 4-2 on Sunday. Camryn Scully and Pyper Alexander scored for the Capitals in the Friday deadlock. In the Saturday victory, Brette Kerley connected for the winning goal midway through the third period. On Sunday, Capitals shooters who found the Fraser Valley net were Georgia Musil and Scully. The next games for the Northern Capitals are Oct. 26-28 when they host the Greater Vancouver Comets.
Boeser nets overtime winner
PITTSBURGH — The arrival of 19-year-old Elias Pettersson has provided Vancouver with a much needed jolt. Yet the Canucks believe they’re far more than their fresh-faced rookie. Going toe-to-toe with Pittsburgh near the end of a draining road trip offered proof they might be right.
Brock Boeser fired a wrist shot by Casey DeSmith’s stick and into the net 34 seconds into overtime to lift Vancouver to a 3-2 victory over the Penguins on Tuesday night.
Pettersson sat out with a concussion after taking a hit in Florida on Saturday night. The Canucks won their third consecutive game anyway, riding a defence that kept the Penguins and star Sidney Crosby in check.
“It’s obviously tough when you go on the road, especially early in the year,” Boeser said. “To get the points that we have, it’s nice.”
The Penguins tied it late in regulation when Carl Hagelin took a perfect pass from Phil Kessel and slipped it past Anders Nilsson with 3:14 to go. Vancouver, however, responded in the extra period.
Boeser took the puck and drifted through centre ice as the Canucks worked through a line change behind him. Rather than drop it off to a teammate, he let one go just inside the right circle for his second goal of the season.
“I made a good read on the shot,” DeSmith said. “It just found a hole under my arm. Obviously one I want to have back. The guys played great tonight and they deserved better than that.”
Ben Hutton and Brandon Sutter also scored for the Canucks. Nilsson finished with 26 saves for Vancouver, which played its fifth straight game on the road.
“We had a real good team effort tonight,” Vancouver coach Travis Green said. “What a road game that was against a hockey team that’s obviously pretty deep. We’re learning how to win some hockey games and how we have to play to be successful.”
Hagelin’s goal was his first of the season for Pittsburgh. Jake Guentzel continued his torrid start by picking up his fourth.
DeSmith finished with 23 saves while making his third straight start in place of Matt Murray. Murray, Pittsburgh’s top goaltender, sustained a concussion last week and though he has been cleared to return spent a second consecutive game as DeSmith’s backup.
We’re learning how to win some hockey games and how we have to play to be successful.”
— Travis Green
“It was a tough game for a goalie,” Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said. “When you don’t score a lot of goals there’s not a lot of margin for error.”
Guentzel scored on Pittsburgh’s first shot, taking the puck away from Vancouver’s Tim Schaller and starting a two-on-one with Sidney Crosby the other way. Rather than pass it to his teammate, Guentzel instead fired a wrister from the right circle that found its way between Nilsson’s right arm and his body to give the Penguins the lead 6:34 into the game.
Hutton responded just over two minutes later, taking advantage of a scramble in front of the Pittsburgh net to swoop in from the blue line and fire a shot by the sprawled DeSmith to pick
up his first goal since March 16, 2017.
Sutter, who played for the Penguins from 2013-15 before signing with the Canucks, pushed Vancouver ahead with just 1:04 left in the first period, though Schaller did most of the hard work. Schaller worked behind the Pittsburgh net and then slipped the puck across the goal mouth. Sutter pounced and fired from a sharp angle just above the goal line.
The goal appeared like it would be enough until late. Nilsson tamped down what little pressure the Penguins produced. It took an exquisite play from Kessel for Pittsburgh to draw even. Kessel, one of the best snipers in the NHL, raced down the right side but instead of shooting the puck instead opted to slip it across the ice to Hagelin, who redirected it into the net to help the Penguins salvage a point.
“I think for the most part I think as far as scoring chances go we’ve had enough to win games,” said Crosby, who is still searching for his first goal of the season. “Tonight is another example. We generated good ones. You’re going to play games that are tight and you’ve got to take advantage of the ones you get.”
Future of Allen’s sports holdings unclear
Citizen news service
RENTON, Wash. — Paul Allen’s love was basketball and he delved into professional football out of loyalty to his hometown Seattle. In the wake of his death, Allen’s ownership of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers and NFL’s Seattle Seahawks has come into focus because of questions about how the franchises will move forward in his absence. No one is providing many details yet about the succession plans for Allen’s franchise holdings in the wake of his death Monday from complications of
non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. His primary franchises were the Blazers and Seahawks, although he also owned a small stake in Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders. “Paul thoughtfully addressed how the many institutions he founded and supported would continue after he was no longer able to lead them. This isn’t the time to deal in those specifics as we focus on Paul’s family,” according to a statement from Allen’s company, Vulcan Inc. “We will continue to work on furthering Paul’s mission and the projects he entrusted to us. There are no changes imminent for Vulcan, the teams, the
research institutes or museums.”
For now, Allen’s teams will continue to be overseen by Vulcan Sports and Entertainment, an arm of the company he created. His sister, Jody Allen, and executive Bert Kolde were the other members of the Seahawks’ board of directors with Allen. Jody Allen may take a more prominent role with the NFL franchise going forward.
“It doesn’t feel like it’s time to be engaging in that conversation. We’re more into the conversation about recognizing what took place and how to respect Paul and his desires and all of that,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said Tuesday.
Cougars slam to silver at Best of the West
Citizen staff
The College Heights Cougars fell one victory short of a major tournament title.
The local senior boys volleyball squad finished second at the 32-team Best of the West gathering in Kelowna on the weekend. In Saturday’s championship final, the Cougars fell in three sets to the George Elliot Coyotes of Lake Country. Scores in the match were 25-22, 24-26, 15-6.
Heading into the event, the Cougars were ranked No. 3 in the provincial double-A division, one spot higher than the Coyotes.
At the Best of the West, the Coyotes were the only team to beat the Cougars, and they did it twice. In pool play on Friday, George Elliot downed College Heights 25-19, 25-19.
In their other pool-play contests, the Cougars battled to victories against MEI (No. 5 double-A, 2516, 29-27) and Abbotsford Christian (No. 1 doubleA, 17-25, 25-22, 15-12).
In their crossover playoff match, the Cougars met the No. 7 double-A team, Princess Margaret, and earned a 25-18, 27-25 decision. In the quarterfinals, College Heights beat Vernon Christian, the No. 1 single-A team in the province, 25-17, 25-27, 15-9. That win moved the Cougars into the semifinals, where they played Earl Marriott of Surrey and bounced back for the victory after an opening set loss. Scores in that match were 22-25, 25-12, 15-12.
Two members of the Cougars – Matthew Shand and Zach Ohori – were selected as tournament allstars.
The D.P. Todd Trojans and Kelly Road Roadrunners also competed at the Best of the West and posted top-16 results.
Local senior boys and senior girls teams will be in Dawson Creek for tournaments this weekend.
Pro motocross event landing at CN Centre
Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca
Some of the most daring, adrenalizing, motor revving athletes in the world will launch into the CN Centre air.
This winter, the FMX World Tour will include Prince George on its rip across the globe. The stars of freestyle motocross will stick the landings on Jan. 26 at 6 p.m. “Look ma, no hands” got left in the dust by these gravitationally challenged riders of the storm.
Tickets to see this full throttle rocket ride go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. and if you buy before Nov. 30, a pit pass comes with it.
“Pro riders will participate in an intense competition, throwing out some of the most death defying tricks ever seen,” said an FMX statement. “Superman Seat Grabs, Cliff Hangers, Kiss of Death, Back Flips and Super Back Flips combinations are just some of the tricks that will be used to fight for the Nitro FMX World Tour championship title.”
Tickets to see this full throttle rocket ride go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. and if you buy before Nov. 30, a pit pass comes with it. “Pit passes will allow fans to come on to the floor and party in the pits, to meet all the stars of the FMX World Tour,” said organizers. “(The) pit party is from 4:30-5:30 p.m. This allows fans the chance to meet the riders and take the opportunity to take pictures and receive autographs.”
Tickets are $30 adult and $14.50 for those aged 16 and younger. They are available online at the TicketsNorth website or in person at CN Centre.
AP PHOTO
Bo Horvat of the Vancouver Canucks gets in close for a scoring chance on Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Casey DeSmith during Tuesday’s game in Pittsburgh. The Canucks won 3-2 in overtime.
Sports
Leonard glad to be back in the game
Lori EWING Citizen news service
TORONTO — When Kawhi Leonard stepped off the court on Jan. 13, his bizarre final season with the San Antonio Spurs was already done after only nine games.
It’s been nine months since one of the NBA’s biggest stars has been in a real game. Leonard has missed playing basketball.
“Everything – bad calls, missing shots, making shots, winning games, high fives with teammates and just being competitive out there,” the 27-year-old said Tuesday. “Just (missed) everything, I love the game.”
Leonard, back in action after a quad injury scuttled his 2017-18 season, will make his long-awaited regular-season debut with Toronto when the Raptors host Cleveland tonight. As much as Raptors fans have been eager to see Leonard – the biggest piece in the blockbuster trade that sent DeMar DeRozan to the Spurs – fit seamlessly into his new team, Leonard would also like nothing better.
But Leonard, who was the MVP of the 2013 NBA Finals, suggested it could be a work in progress.
“The challenge is coming in to a new coaching standpoint and direction,” he said after practice. “It’s not the same offence that I’m used to. It’s a different coach, different style of play. I’m used to playing the same way for six years so that’s the challenge for me, just learning the new plays.”
For the past few years, the Raptors’ blueprint has been built around the hard work and hustle of DeRozan, Kyle Lowry and a supporting cast, with former head coach Dwane Casey, who was fired after last season’s playoff disappointment, barking encouragement from the bench. The Raptors have been among the best in the league in the fourth quarter of games.
Nick Nurse, an NBA rookie head coach and Casey’s former assistant, said he hopes that same workmanlike mentality is instilled this season’s team as the Raptors look to take a revamped roster all the way to the NBA Finals.
“It’s not like it’s something that we talked about a
Bradley’s slam helps Red Sox beat Astros
Citizen news service
HOUSTON — Jackie Bradley Jr. didn’t let his demeanour change this season, even as fans begged Boston to trade him during a miserable first-half slump.
Stayed steady after the biggest swing of his career, too.
Bradley belted a grand slam for his second big hit in the AL Championship Series, helping the Red Sox beat the Houston Astros 8-2 on Tuesday for a 2-1 series lead. His low-key personality was on display as he rounded the bases without the hint of a smile. He greeted his screaming, excited teammates at home plate with one small jump and a few high fives.
“One of my coaches back in the day... said: ‘No one should ever know whether you’re winning or losing. Kind of keep the same temperament. That way, it will allow you to put some perspective into things,”’ Bradley said. “And I kind of took that to heart.”
Bradley’s slam backed a solid start by Nathan Eovaldi, who hushed Houston a day after some social media smack talk from Alex Bregman.
“We can play at any park,” Eovaldi said. “The first game is always the biggest one of any series when you go on the road.” Game 4 is tonight, with Boston’s Rick Porcello opposing Charlie Morton.
Steve Pearce hit a tiebreaking homer for the Red Sox off Joe Smith in the sixth, a drive that sailed just inside the foul pole in left field for a 3-2 lead.
Bradley’s slam capped a five-run burst in the eighth against Roberto Osuna. The
lot at all in the past. Like, ‘Hey we’re going to come out and play harder,”’ Nurse said. “It’s kind a given a little bit that we’re going to come out and play hard. I think your practice structure, your preparation, all those things feed into that sense of: we’re ready to play and we’re ready to fight.”
If “culture reset” was the catchphrase heading into last season, Nurse was asked how he would characterize this season.
“I just think there’s a little bit more of a blank paper here because our team has changed,” he said. “I think our team is more versatile and I hope that plays itself out on the floor. I want to see lots of groups play well. I want to see great chemistry. I want to see given extra effort, pulling for your teammates.
“Those are the kinds of things we’re shooting for because that’s what we need.”
Nurse is expecting the Raptors to be an aggressive presence on defence, and the six-foot-seven Leonard, named the NBA’s top defensive player in 2015 and 2016, will go a long way in initiating that.
“That’s how you win games, coming out establishing an aggressive team and that’s usually started by defence,” Leonard said. “So you just got to go out, feel bodies and contest all shots and get the rebounds and then you’re off to the races on offence.”
Leonard showed tantalizing glimpses of his imposing and pestering defensive presence in the pre-season, in forcing turnovers and bad shots.
“That’s how you get your winning streaks going and fuel your offence by limiting them to one shot and coming down on the offensive end and feeling good rather than them racking up shots each and every possession,” he said. “So we want to get our hands in the passing lanes, get deflections, get out in the open court and get easy layups and just keep moving from there.”
Opening week will provide an interesting gauge of how the Raptors stack in the LeBron-less Eastern Conference this season. They host the Boston Celtics on Friday and then are on the road against the Washington Wizards – last season’s first-round playoff opponent – on Saturday.
Astros closer got two outs but allowed two singles and plunked consecutive batters to force in a run. Bradley then crushed a 1-1 fastball into the right field seats to send Houston fans streaming toward the exits.
“That’s the pitch I always get him out with,” Osuna said. “He hit it today, but I would go there 100 more times.” Osuna was acquired from Toronto this
season while serving a 75-game ban under Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy. He had a 1.99 ERA over 23 games for Houston in the regular season after he returned.
With his childhood hero and fellow Alvin, Texas, native Nolan Ryan sitting behind the plate, Eovaldi turned in another solid start. He allowed six hits and two runs with four
strikeouts in six innings for the win in the second playoff start of his career.
“For him, I know it’s a special one,” Boston manager Alex Cora said.
Bregman had shared a video Monday on Instagram of Houston hitting back-toback-to-back home runs off Eovaldi in his previous outing against the Astros in June. Eovaldi downplayed the post when asked about it Monday.
Bregman did much of the damage against Eovaldi, getting two hits, an RBI and a walk in three plate appearances. Bregman has reached base safely in 20 of 28 plate appearances this post-season.
“Eovaldi did a great job,” Bregman said. “He had really five pitches working for him. He’s tough.”
Bradley hit a three-run double during Boston’s Game 2 victory, giving him three RBIs in consecutive games for the first time in his career. Moments after his slam, fans at TD Garden in Boston began chanting “JBJ!” during the Celtics season opener against the Philadelphia 76ers. Bradley had caught the ire of many Red Sox fans while batting .210 during the first half of the season.
“It’s a credit to him, because at this level, when you’re hitting .180 after two months or I think it was three months, it is hard,” Cora said. “And he kept showing up. He kept working. He kept working his craft. Now you see the results.”
In Game 4 of the NLCS, the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers were tied 1-1 in the ninth inning at The Citizen’s press deadline on Tuesday night.
Toronto Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard goes to the basket as Jae Crowder of the Utah Jazz arrives too late during a preseason game in Salt Lake City on Oct. 2.
AP PHOTO
Jackie Bradley Jr. of the Boston Red Sox watches his grand slam off Houston Astros relief pitcher Roberto Osuna during the eighth inning of Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on Tuesday in Houston.
The Happy Prince a sentimental tale of Oscar Wilde’s final years
Mark
Watching The Happy Prince, writer-director-star Rupert Everett’s account of the older Oscar Wilde, ungenerous viewers may think of someone who would have disdained the movie: the younger Oscar Wilde.
Victorian London’s brattiest wit, Wilde once remarked, of Dickens’ The Old Curiosity Shop, that “one must have a heart of stone to read the death of little Nell without laughing.”
It would be stone-hearted to laugh at The Happy Prince, but its level of sentimentality is nearly Dickensian. Fortunately, the maudlin moments are offset by fine performances, flashes of humor and a visual sense that’s more astute than the script.
Everett’s drama charts the period from 1897, when Wilde was released from the British prison where he served time for “gross indecency,” to his death in 1900 in Paris. With barely a franc or a lira in his pocket, the author travels through France and Italy, sometimes joined by such benefactors as Robbie Ross (Edwin Thomas) and Reggie Turner (Colin Firth). More problematic are the visits from Alfred “Bosie” Douglas (Colin Morgan), the young lover who led Wilde down the road to ruin. The movie leaps through time
The Happy Prince conveys the declining Wilde’s pain, despair and self-pity, but also the writer’s defiant banter. The script includes such wellknown quips as “I am dying beyond my means,” as well as comic scenes.
and across the channel, not very gracefully, to show us Wilde’s wife (Emily Watson) and the two young sons for whom he wrote the story that provides the film’s title. There are also flashbacks to moments of literary triumph and to an incident where Wilde was attacked by a homophobic mob at a London railway station. With its panicky point-of-view shots, the latter sequence plays like something from The Elephant Man. Everett isn’t as unrecognizable as John Hurt was in that film, but he does wear a fake nose and jowls. Although these are distracting at first, the actor inhabits Wilde so fully that the prosthetics are forgotten. Everett, who’s
played Wilde – and Wildean roles – onstage, gives an assured and affecting performance. If it’s also a bit theatrical, that’s apt for a biopic about an author who wrote his best work for the stage.
The Happy Prince conveys the declining Wilde’s pain, despair and self-pity, but also the writer’s defiant banter. The script includes such well-known quips as “I am dying beyond my means,” as well as comic scenes.
In one, a bacchanal in Naples is interrupted by a local matron who’s indignant at the potential immorality, but apologizes when she finds out there are no women present. Even Wilde’s final moments are played partly for laughs, with the entrance of a grumpy Irish priest summoned to offer last rites. (He’s played by Tom Wilkinson, one of several major actors in minor roles.)
Wilde’s religious ideas go unexplored, although they’re most conspicuous in such children’s parables as The Selfish Giant and The Happy Prince. Everett is more interested in emotion and mood, the latter exemplified by cinematographer John Conroy’s evocative use of red-gold light and deep shadows. Wilde is slipping into darkness, and the transition is as lovely as it is sad and unjust.
— Two-and-a-half stars out of four
Top 10 stoner flicks to watch while celebrating pot legalization
Victoria AHEARN Citizen news service
TORONTO — Mary Jane and the movies have been a long-time pairing, from 1936’s propaganda film Reefer Madness to contemporary onscreen stoners like Vancouver’s Seth Rogen. With Canada legalizing recreational cannabis use today, here are 10 toke-filled titles to spark the mood, man: • Reefer Madness: Worth watching just to see how far viewpoints on cannabis have changed since the ’30s. Louis J. Gasnier’s black-and-white fictional film became unintentional satire over the years with its melodramatic look at “the new drug menace” that is “destroying the youth of America.” (Available to stream on Amazon Prime, and for rent/purchase on multiple platforms.)
• Up in Smoke: Lou Adler’s 1978 cannabis classic helped establish the stoner genre, with its depiction of Edmonton-born star Tommy Chong and American actor Cheech Marin as two pothead pals constantly baked. Hijinks – and highs – ensue when they unwittingly smuggle a van constructed out of marijuana out of Mexico. (Available for rent/ purchase on multiple platforms.)
• Dazed and Confused: The haze of weed also hovers over Richard Linklater’s 1993 comingof-age comedy about Texas teens and their giant field party on the last day of school in 1976. Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, and Jason London are among the stars in the story of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. (Available on Amazon Prime and TMN Go, and for rent/ purchase on multiple platforms.)
• Friday: Ice Cube co-wrote and co-stars in this 1995 comedy, alongside Chris Tucker as his stoner buddy who convinces him to “puff, puff, give” on the front porch to ease his unemployment woes. The simple setting, directed by F. Gary Gray, allows the hilarious script to shine as a motley mix of other comical characters enter the picture.
(Available for rent/purchase on multiple platforms.)
• Half Baked: Now here’s a cannabis combo for the ages –
Snoop Dogg and Willie Nelson. The two recording artists, widely known for their love of pot, join Dave Chappelle and others in this 1998 comedy about a group of stoner friends who build a bud business to make bail money for their friend. (Available for rent and purchase on multiple platforms.)
• The Big Lebowski: Jeff Bridges’ hippie slacker, known as The Dude, is widely regarded as one of the coolest onscreen stoners. This Coen brothers’ 1998 cult hit follows The Dude as he becomes entangled in the life of a man who has the same name. (Available for rent and purchase on multiple platforms.)
• Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back: Kevin Smith’s 2001 comedy oozes cannabis culture, as he and Jason Mewes star as potselling burnouts who try to ruin a big-screen adaptation of a comic that’s based on their lives. Ben Affleck plays one of the creators of the comic. (Available on Netflix and Hollywood Suite GO, and for rent/purchase on multiple platforms.)
• Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle: Getting “blitzed out” and buying burgers are the goals for the characters of John Cho and Kal Penn in this Danny Leiner-directed 2004 comedy. Neil Patrick Harris plays an alternate version of himself, causing trouble for the two as they desperately try to satisfy their munchies. (Available on Netflix, and for rent/purchase on multiple platforms.)
• Pineapple Express: Rogen takes his onscreen stoner persona from Knocked Up to new heights in this David Gordon Green-directed 2008 comedy. He plays a pot-loving process server who becomes entangled in a crime after trying the “dopest dope” at the apartment of his dealer, played by James Franco. (Available on Amazon Prime, Netflix Canada, TMN Go, and for rent/purchase on multiple platforms.)
• This is the End: Rogen hits the herb once again in this 2013 apocalyptic comedy, which he wrote, co-produced and directed with Evan Goldberg. Rogen and an ensemble cast play fictionalized versions of themselves. (Available on Netflix, and for rent/purchase on multiple platforms.)
JENKINS Citizen news service
SONY PICTURES CLASSICS HANDOUT PHOTO BY WILHELM MOSER
Rupert Everett stars as Oscar Wilde in The Happy Prince, a film about the last years of Wilde’s life.
Hector William Pruden Feb 8, 1940 to Oct 10, 2018
Passed away peacefully at UHNBC
St. Onge, Marlene Ellen
Born in Ocean Falls, BC on August 8, 1954 and passed away at the Prince George Hospice House on September 12th, 2018 with her sister Simonne by her side following a very short battle with cancer. Marlene was predeceased by her parents Robert and Elaine St. Onge and her daughter Andrea Young. She is survived by her sisters Nicole (Rob) Ireland of Mission, Simonne (David) Young of Prince George and Diane (Wayne) Maskwa of Saskatoon. She had one grandson, Dawsen Young from Prince George as well as many nieces and nephews. A small family gathering will be arranged at a later date to remember Marlene.
James Arthur Briggs 1941 -2018
We are sad to announce the passing of James Briggs on September 24, 2018 in West Kelowna, BC at the age of 77. James was born in Duckmonton, England on Feb 6, 1941 to James and Dorothy Briggs. Jim immigrated to Canada with his wife Avril in 1965, settling in Prince George. He worked as a teacher and a principal in Prince George, retiring in 1999. In 2006 Jim and Avril moved to Peachland, BC. Jim was an avid soccer player and referee as well as a BC Soccer Association instructor. He was instrumental in starting the annual spring Hospice Association Antique Fair. And South Bowl community association fall Antique fair. He was predeceased by his son David in 2017. Jim is survived by his wife Avril, sons; Martin and Adrian, granddaughters Jessica and Kendall and step-grandson Skyler. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Jim’s memory to the Parkinson’s Society of BC https://www.parkinson.bc.ca/ or Prince George Hospice society.
Herb Eckert September 24, 1925October 11, 2018
The family of Herb Eckert is sad to announce that Herb peacefully passed away in his sleep at the age of 93. Herb was born in Morden, Manitoba, one of 12 children to parents Gottlieb and Mathilde. Herb is survived by his daughter Charlotte (Guy) and son Ken (Jan), grandsons Grant (Christine), Chase (Chris) and Blair, great grandchildren Casey, Jacob and Luke. Herb is predeceased by his wife Irene, son Larry and daughter Marilyn. Herb was born with the Eckert family stubborn streak. This determination lead to a successful life. Herb’s greatest loves were his family, logging, farming and a good game of crib. Herb’s family would like to thank the nurses, care aides and staff at Jubilee Lodge. Your loving care and kindness made his final days comfortable. Thank you Dr. McGlynn and Dr. MacEoin. A special mention to Fil (his right hand), Alice and Gayleen. Your constant care and concern will always be remembered.
There will ba a casual celebration of Herb’s life Saturday, October 20 at the Coast Inn of the North, McGregor Room from 1:003:00pm. Please stop in for a coffee and share a story.
It is with great sadness that the family of Albert Robert Joseph Legeard announce his sudden passing on September 26, 2018 in Abbotsford, BC at the age of 52 years. Albert was born November 20, 1965 in Prince George, BC. Survived by son Jeremy (Melanie), grandson Jayden, six sisters, numerous nieces and nephews. Predeceased by father Albert, mother Marge and sister Alana. Please join the family in a Celebration of Life on October 20 at 4:00pm at the Eagles Hall on Dagg Rd.
Arthur John Tourand (Art)
Born February 3, 1941October 12, 2018
It is with great sadness we announce the passing of Art who fought a courageous battle with Cancer, Art passed away peacefully with family by his side. Art was born in Meadow Lake, Sask to John Edward Tourand and Blanch Cheze. Art worked as a Millwright/Welder at Clear Lake Sawmill until his retirement in 2007. Predeceased by his wife Hazel of 43 years in 2000.
Survived by his wife Jane (Gates) Tourand,
Children Peter (Beth), Ralph (Brenda), Wanda (Arnold), Bev (Frank), Jim (Angie), LeahAnne (Rick,) Margarette (Steve), Patricia (Brad), step children Louise (Larry), Al, 12 grandchildren, 9 great grandchildren, brothers Peter (Frances), Laurence (Sue). We would like to give special thanks to Doctor Burg/Wooldridge and Staff, Palliative Care Team, the Cancer Clinic and a special thanks to the Nurses at UHNBC on the IMU floor for taking care of Art during his final days.
Service to be held on Saturday October 20th, 2018 at 1:00pm at Assmans Funeral Chapel. In lieu of flowers please donate to the PG Cancer Society.
