Labour Day celebrated at Canada Games Plaza
Christine HINZMANN Citizen staff chinzmann@pgcitizen.ca
Hundreds of Prince George residents were at Canada Games Plaza to celebrate Labour Day at an event hosted by the North Central Labour Council on Monday.
For the third year the local council held a parade and celebration to honour the workers in the community.
Mayor Lyn Hall opened the event with a rousing speech that recognized the hard work those in the community do every day.
Sharing the stage with Hall was councilors Garth Frizzell, Murry Krause, Terri McConnachie, Frank Everitt and Brian Skakun.
“I want to say thank you to all the working women and men throughout our city whether they be union or non-union employees,” Hall said.
“If you work in small business, big business, mom-and-pop store or are a large employer – thank you very much.” Hall went on to say thanks to the more than 700 city workers and the 1,500 School District 57 staff, while acknowledging the rest of the workers in the community.
“Thank you to all the workers in the city – you build the fabric of this community and we couldn’t be prouder of what you do,” Hall said. Heard throughout the mayor’s speech was the faint call of ‘here, here’ in response to some of Hall’s talking points.
“What’s really encouraging for me is that they do a Labour Day parade here,” Aaron Ekman, secretary-treasurer of the B.C. Federation of Labour and resident of Prince George, said.
He said they don’t even do that in Vancouver.
No new wildfires in P.G. area
Christine HINZMANN Citizen staff
As of Sunday at about noon there were no new forest fires to report in the Prince George Fire Centre, according to Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, who met with media in the city.
“There are approximately 500 fires still burning across B.C. and 18 of those are fires of note, which is considerably less than a week ago,” he said.
“The fires across the northwest centre and the Prince George centre are looking better. We’ve had a bit of rain and rain doesn’t put fires out – it’s the crews on the ground that actually put the fires out – but rain helps because it allows them to take a more aggressive attack on fires.”
Donaldson said they haven’t turned a corner yet but some of the major fires of concern are definitely more under control at this time and as most evacuation orders are not rescinded, evacuation orders have shrunk.
“The Shovel Lake wildfire is contained at this point and fire lines held up against a big wind on Friday,” Donaldson said. “Wind is often not a friend to fire crews – it was up to 70 km/h on Friday – but the line held.”
They are looking at shrinking the evacuation orders in that area, he added.
The cause of the Shovel Lake wildfire is still under investigation, but it was not caused by lightning.
“We will be continuing our investigation on how that fire got started,” Donaldson said.
“There are still some major concerns around the fires south of Burns Lake, especially the Verdun fire.”
There are between 300 and 400 people in the fire crew that is currently battling that blaze. Although there’s been some precipitation in other parts of the province there still hasn’t been any in that area, he added.
“The labour council has done a wonderful job organizing the event and the community comes out to support it,” Ekman added.
“It’s important to remember the interior is really the lifeblood of the economy of the province.”
The event saw unions hosting information booths throughout the Canada Games Plaza with free hot dogs and treats being offered to those in attendance.
There was face painting and a bouncy castle with slide set up for the children.
“This is an opportunity for all unions to come together – for all labour to come together – and celebrate our achievements from throughout the year and give back a little bit to the community,” said Don Iwaskow of the North Central Labour Council.
“It’s been a great day.”
“So that makes it more difficult for our crews to reinforce containment lines,” Donaldson said. “So far structural damage has been limited and we’re very happy about how our people have been able to get containment on that fire. With the big winds on Friday the fire is burning into some areas that had a lot of mountain pine beetle kill – very dry wood – steep slopes, places where it hadn’t been logged and so those kinds of conditions present challenges but overall with the cooler temperatures the fire behaviour becomes less aggressive.”
— see ‘PEOPLE STILL, page 3
CITIZEN PHOTO BY CHRISTINE HINZMANN
Mayor Lyn Hall offers a few words of gratitude to those who live and work in Prince George during the North Central Labour Council Labour Day celebration held Monday at Canada Games Plaza. Joining him on stage were councilors Garth Frizzell, Murry Krause and Terri McConnachie, along with Matt Baker, chair of the organizing committee of the event, Coun. Frank Everitt, Don Iwaskow of the North Central Labour Council and Coun. Brian Skakun.
An a-peeling event at Huble Homestead
Christine HINZMANN Citizen staff chinzmann@pgcitizen.ca
The eyes have it! The potato puns flew around Huble Homestead as the Huble Homestead Giscome Portage Heritage Society held their ever-popular annual Potato Festival on Sunday and Monday of the long weekend.
The parking lot was filled Sunday and people were parking along the road leading up to the site to get their fill of all things potato.
On offer was a variety of heirloom potatoes for sale, along with other harvested root vegetables, including turnips and carrots and beets by the bunches.
Live entertainment was provided by Saltwater Hank, Junior Britt and Chloe and Barry Nakahara as site tours took place around the homestead.
For those who wanted to mash things up a bit (see what I did there?), there was potato peeling contests and other potato games and races like – you guessed it – potato sack races.
There was blacksmith and wood turning demonstrations and ice cream and butter making where guests could lend a hand.
And, of course, on the menu was potato pancakes, potato bacon soup, potato salad and burgers could come with a side of delicious handcut fries.
One family that usually comes to check things out at least twice a year is the Racicot family of Prince George and for the first time Sarah’s father came with them.
Jeremy Bignell, visiting from Britain, joined Sarah and grandsons Luke, 8, Owen, 5, and their dad Matt, as they made the trek from Prince George.
Matt decided stilt-walking was one activity he couldn’t pass up and while his family gleefully looked on he successfully navigated his way to a grassy knoll.
Jeremy marveled at the distance from Prince George the Huble family decided to homestead.
“I’m intrigued by the isolation here –we’ve just come from Prince George and it’s taken 40 minutes or so – and to think
of somebody living here – and the lady at the entrance said the family had a Model T Ford in 1915 – it’s staggering to think of the journey just to get into Prince George. To get around here you had to be self-sufficient and that’s extraordinary. I love these pioneering sites and they’re always near a source of water, which is life-giving and life-threatening, too, in the wrong circumstances.”
He noted that Huble Homestead is along the mighty Fraser River.
Sarah thinks it’s important for people to see how it was back in the day and is happy to support Huble Homestead’s efforts.
“And we get to see how history works,” Luke said.
Taking the lead on organizing the Potato Festival was Nicole Krizmanich, program manager for the society.
“This is always one of our favourite events,” Krizmanich said. “It’s bitter-
sweet because it marks the end of the regular season for us. But it’s a really fun event and everyone enjoys it, including the staff who just harvested the garden.”
The staff planted, watered and weeded the garden throughout the summer.
“It’s the fruits of their labour that you see here today,” Krizmanich said.
“We’re all fans of the potato as well. The staff thinks it’s hilarious – it’s raining and we still have people out here to enjoy the festival. So we know we’re not the only ones that like the mighty spud.”
Huble Homestead is now closed for the regular season with just a few special events on the fall schedule.
There is Scavenger Saturday on Sept. 29 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and an Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving on Oct. 8 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and a two-day Halloween Spooktacular on Oct. 26-27. For more information about Huble Homestead visit hublehomestead.ca.
Tech education program aims to increase diversity
Spencer HARWOOD Citizen news service
A technology education program officially launching in the fall at the University of Victoria in British Columbia hopes to address a gap in the industry with a novel approach for students.
HighTechU is a pilot program developed through the university’s computer science department in partnership with Victoria’s technology and education sectors.
It aims to develop skills in enterprising Vancouver Island teens to make them more effective in the tech industry, beyond the primary coding and technical abilities needed.
Andrew MacLean said he and program cofounder Dr. Ulrike Stege wanted to prepare students for the reality of the industry ahead of them, while making diversity a cornerstone of the program.
“It really focuses on the soft skills that go along with that career, and really focuses on workplace competencies for these students,” MacLean said from Vancouver Island campus.
“They get a sneak peek and to test drive a technology industry career before they even graduate from high school.”
HighTechU has two separate programs – the Computer Science Skills Academy, a six-week program that teaches coding and practical skills, and a summer industry internship program to give those students an eight-week, paid experience with a local technology company in Victoria.
MacLean said students enrolled in HighTechU are taught “soft skills” such as project management and personal communication to help them better understand the breadth of roles in the tech sector.
Stege said there appears to be a perception of what working in the tech sector is like, which she says is not necessarily in line with reality.
“It’s never been right and might still not be right. A program like ours will hopefully help to correct that,” she said.
MacLean said their mission is to impart to students how critical personal development is to a successful career in technology and that it’s as important as mastering the latest code language.
“It’s about how to be someone who’s not just building something, but someone who’s developing something and truly bringing it from start to finish,” said MacLean.
CITIZEN PHOTO BY CHRISTINE HINZMANN
Jeremy Bignell, from Britain, left, visited Huble Homestead with his family who live in Prince George, including son-in-law Matt Racicot, daughter Sarah, and grandsons Luke, 8 and Owen, 5. Despite the rain the family enjoyed their time exploring the site on Sunday during the annual Potato Festival.
Liberals consider taxing robots
OTTAWA — The Liberals have been told to consider taxing robots that displace workers, letting people pay their tax bill in kind rather than with cash, and work to prevent income inequality before it happens.
The ideas are part of a massive government effort to adapt to a rapidly changing workforce and stave off some of the strain it could cause on federal finances.
Documents obtained by The Canadian Press under the access to information law provide a window into the ideas the Liberals have been asked to consider as they modernize the social safety net and labour regulations.
All the ideas are aimed at preparing federal programs designed six decades ago for the workforce demands in the next six decades.
What the Liberals and other governments around the world are trying to respond to is increasing automation, the unbundling of work that can be done online by anyone, anywhere in the world, and more short-term jobs that are the hallmark of the “gig” economy.
Sarah Doyle, director of policy and research at the Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship, said the changes will be disruptive and affect some workers more than others, requiring a response to avoid an increase in inequality.
“We’re seeing changes happen that very well could become faster and magnified,” she said.
“The distribution of the risks and benefits associated with automation, with digitization, with these different large scale trends will not be evenly distributed across the population.”
One estimate provided to G7 labour ministers this spring said up to 15 per cent of jobs could be lost to automation over the next two decades.
The jobs most at risk are farm and construction workers, accountants, lab technicians and salespeople, according to information provided to a closeddoor meeting of top federal officials in December 2017.
The professions at lower risk of automation were paramedics, doctors,
nurses, teachers, engineers and journalists. The rise of cross-border telework has also meant tasks previously done by domestic workers are unbundled and posted for international workers whose labour costs less, which federal officials worry could depress wages in Canada.
Canadian demand for this online work is larger than its share of the international labour force, signalling an area that policy-makers need to probe, said
Armine Yalnizyan, an economist who researches the future of work.
Workers in this new “gig” economy –marked by more part-time and shortterm contract work – are also less likely to pay into the employment insurance system funded by premiums from employers and employees.
A June 2017 briefing to Canada’s labour minister said online platforms were “providing new ways to avoid employersponsored benefits and other financial burdens.”
Federal officials who were part of the discussion expressed concerns that the trend could deal a fatal fiscal blow to the federal social safety net.
Avoiding this fate encompasses a
range of solutions, according to the documents. The October 2017 brainstorming sessions included recommendations to pay each Canadian a guaranteed minimum income, which would replace various targeted social benefits.
Another idea was to allow Canadians to pay their tax bills through non-cash payments like volunteering to do work for the federal government.
Rejigging labour rules to give workers more bargaining power could be part of a push towards “pre-distribution” to boost market incomes instead of relying on government benefits to redistribute income and even out inequality.
“Increasingly over the last 50 years, we have seen the bargaining position of workers erode and unless there are measures that can actually improve the way in which workers can bargain for themselves, then we are totally reliant on government to fix everything. And that cannot be,” Yalnizyan said.
Lifelong learning has also been a key issue to allow workers to repeatedly drop out of the workforce to upgrade their skills and adapt to changing employment needs.
Prince George provincial court docket
From Prince George provincial court, Aug. 27-29, 2018:
• Bridget Carol Styler (born 1976) was sentenced to two years probation, issued a five-year firearms prohibition and assesed $200 in victim surcharges for two counts of assault with a weapon and was assessed $400 in victim surcharges for assault and three counts of breaching a recognizance or undertaking.
Styler was in custody for 81 days prior to sentencing.
• Chad Murphy Peter George (born 1997) was sentenced to two days in jail and assessed a $100 victim surcharge for theft $5,000 or under. George was in custody for two days prior to sentencing.
• Cody Kenneth Matthew Willier (born 1995) was sentenced to nine days in jail and assessed a $100 victim surcharge for breaching probation. Willier was in custody for two days prior to sentencing.
• Justin David Paul Clements (born 1985) was sentenced to 24 days in jail and assessed a $200 victim surcharge for disguising his face with intent to commit an offence, to 14 days in jail
and assessed $400 in victim surcharges for theft $5,000 or under and willfully resisting or obstructing a peace officer, to seven days in jail and assessed $400 in victim surcharges for breaching an undertaking or recognizance and possession of a controlled substance, and assessed $700 in victim surcharges for possessing of stolen property under $5,000, breaking and entering with intent to commit an offence, breaking and entering and committing an indictable offence and theft $5,000 or under. Clements was also sentenced to one year probation on all of the counts. Clements was in custody for 27 days prior to sentencing.
• Bradley Arthur Denie Collier (born 1984) was sentenced to 18 months probation, assessed $400 in victim surcharge and issued a 10-year firearms prohibition for assault with a weapon, assault and uttering threats. Collier was in custody for 89 days prior to sentencing.
• Amy Elaine Docherty (born 1977) was sentenced to 82 days in jail for theft
‘People still need to be vigilant’
— from page 1
In the coming weeks the long-term forecast says there will be more dry, hot weather, which is not ideal for this fire season.
“People still need to be vigilant,” Donaldson said.
“This is a huge fire season and in terms of the numbers of hectares burned, it’s the largest on record in B.C.”
The numbers have reached 1,303,479 hectares since April 1 and as of Sept. 1.
There have been 2026 fires in B.C. and 442 of those are in the Prince George Fire Centre.
“I want to commend B.C. Wildfire service staff, the contractors and the volunteers because their number one priority is keeping people safe and keeping themselves safe and we haven’t lost one life directly as a result of the fires in this season or last,” Donaldson said.
“And I think that’s a tremendous tribute to the success of what our crews have been doing out there.”
$5,000 or under, to 45 days in jail, prohibited from driving for two years and fined $500 plus a $75 victim surcharge for driving while prohibited under the Motor Vehicle Act and to time served for a separate count of theft $5,000 or under, all committed in Kelowna. Docherty was also sentenced to 18 months probation on the counts and was in custody for 22 days prior to sentencing.
• Donovan Kayle Graham (born 1998) was sentenced to three days in jail and assessed a $100 victim surcharge for breaching probation. Graham was in custody for six days prior to sentencing.
• Myles Ashley Christian (born 1981) was sentenced to 36 days in jail for assault, to 30 days in jail for willfully resisting or obstructing a peace officer and two counts of breaching probation and prohibited from driving for one year and fined $500 for driving while prohibited or licence suspended under the Motor Vehicle Act.
Christian was also assessed $475 in victim surcharges and was in custody for five days prior to sentencing.
Statue removal is classic Macdonald politics
Afunny thing happened on my summer vacation away from Victoria. While I was meandering along the lakeside roads of the West Kootenay, a small revolution occurred.
There has been more ink spilled over the removal of Sir John A. Macdonald’s statue than there has been unseemly reminders of the summer seagull splashed across our fair city. If only the stain of much of the ink would clean off as easily.
I have said on more than one occasion that the statue should be removed, preferably 500 metres west, to stand proudly at the bottom of Victoria’s Inner Harbour, which, to my knowledge, has a deficit of Canadiana. What better way to spur the nascent aqua-tourism industry of the Inner Harbour than to place Sir John A. beneath the waves?
I am sure the Chamber of Commerce would agree – location, location, location. While I was surprised at the timing of the removal, long after the city’s 2017 Year of Reconciliation, and absolutely nowhere near April Fool’s Day, I was happy, and really how could I not be?
To see ropes affixed round Macdonald’s
statue is an image that will hang around my mind for some time. The truth of the matter is that the statue is not about really about history, as many have argued. The more Macdonald’s expressly racist record is retold, the more his defenders claim he was just of the times. It is telling that the voices who have no trouble explaining how exceptional Macdonald was as a politician, nation-builder, orator and leader predictably, and culpably, run for the cover of “he was just of the times” when his undeniably unscrupulous and racist record is mentioned.
He can’t be Mr. Exceptional on the one hand and Buddy McNobody on the other hand, especially when the balance of that fulcrum is his racism. That would be like saying that Burton Cummings’ Guess Who mullet was just of the times. Sure, it might be of the times, but it was the quintessential mullet of the era and it spurred countless others, many that endure today.
Mullets aside, the statue is not simply a work of art, either, as the sculptor and others would have it understood.
An imposing eight-foot statue of Macdonald standing watch at the entrance of Victoria City Hall is not some quaint picture postcard art piece that brings everyone together from the cusp of the gallows. It is a haunting, imposing and judgmental visage that represents one thing and one thing only: power.
That is what the removal of Macdonald’s statute truly represents: power, specifically a shift of power.
Sure, some settlers will bleat on sanctimoniously about the loss of culture and history that the statue’s removal represents.
C’mon folks. Get real. You cannot find a city more perfectly colonially constructed than Victoria with its Begbie Street hangups and Rattenbury fingerprints.
It’s a cornucopia of colonial history as frighteningly uniform as it is banal. But let’s be honest, Macdonald’s statue removal is classic Macdonald politics.
However the internal discussion of the city family went (the bizarrely termed committee that ostensibly proved the catalyst for the removal) the political execution of the removal by city council led by Mayor
Unions a weapon against inequality
The topic of economic inequality can appear complex, with many nuanced causes and outcomes. But while the two of us actively engage in that debate, we also strongly believe that there is one overarching factor that must not be, but often is, overlooked: worker bargaining power. On Labour Day, this problem of the long-term decline in workers’ ability to bargain for a fair share of the growth they have helped generate deserves a closer look.
There is, of course, a direct link between less worker clout and the decline in union coverage. In addition to directly empowering workers at the workplace, unions have played a central role in the drive for a wide variety of policy measures to ensure that everyone benefits from prosperity, which is the opposite outcome of rising inequality. This list includes social security, medicare, paid family leave, civil rights legislation, fairer tax policy and higher minimum wages.
This view has been further buttressed by recent research using new data showing a strong connection between union strength and a more equal distribution of income, a link that makes the sharp decline in union membership over the past four decades particularly disturbing.
This decline has not been an accident. The political right has quite explicitly targeted unions with an array of anti-union policies, the most recent of which have been “right-to-work” laws. These prohibit contracts that require all the workers at a unionized workplace to share in the cost of representation.
The impact of anti-union policy can be seen by the differing experiences of Canada and the United States over this period. While the unionization rate in the United States dropped from roughly 20 per cent in the late 1970s to just over 10 per cent most recently, unionization rates in Canada have edged down only slightly over this period and still exceed 31 per cent.
That unions continue to thrive in a country with a very similar culture and economy indicates that there is nothing inevitable about the decline in unions in the United States. It was deliberate policy.
Given that powerful, vested interests are behind the decline in unions, reversing this decline will be a serious challenge, one that requires worker-friendly policies and new forms of worker representation, such as centralized bargaining. For example, instead of organizing one restaurant at a time, unions must push for collective bargaining rights for restaurant workers across their industry. It also will require reaching out to all types of workers, not just those in construction, factories or lower-paid services.
Two decades ago, we worked together at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). EPI was and is a great place to work, but we felt it was important for the staff to gain an institutionalized voice.
We helped organize a union that affiliated with the Interna-
Lisa Helps is classic Macdonald politics. Hell, if “Old Tomorrow” were here in the flesh today, he’d have to tip his top hat to the political trapeze that Helps danced on the issue, going from committee to council to political announcement on her own reelection website. If that ain’t kombucha-barrel politics, I don’t know what is.
Personally, I am happy to see the statue go. Macdonald himself issued the order that sent the Northwest Mounted Police to Ktunaxa territory and forced our community from what is now Cranbrook to our reserve, bound for a few generations of residential school, malnutrition and cultural genocide. While the removal of the statue does little to restore our community economically, politically or culturally, that will come only with the reconciliation of actual land to our nation, and, trust me folks, that is indeed coming.
It does make walking into city hall a much less hostile experience.
It clears the view of Dylan Thomas’s stunning work Releasing the Light, which is on the Pandora Avenue wall of city hall. And that, my friends, is a view this city desperately needs much more of.
Troy Sebastian is a Ktunaxa Nation writer.
Let Trump kill NAFTA
Iam not a fan of NAFTA and its predecessor, the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. I do not believe either agreement has been in our best interests economically. They have cost us more than we gained.
Back in 1988, when it was just Canada and the United States at the table, the world was a different place. Trade liberalization was in its infancy. The world economy was dominated by two super powers but organizations such as OPEC were flexing their muscles.
We’d spent a decade reeling from one energy crisis to the next.
The idea Canada and the U.S. should share resources and create a larger economic block seemed to have some merit. But it required both partners to participate equally and fully within the relationship.
tional Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers.
We are well aware that in a labour force of more than 150 million, 500 workers isn’t exactly a game-changer. But the journey of 1,000 miles starts with one step. It is essential that unions make inroads into the types of workers organized by NPEU if they are to regain the sort of influence and power they had in prior decades.
Unions will continue to be important in traditional strongholds such as manufacturing and construction. But as the workforce becomes more educated, a powerful union movement will need to include many workers with college and advanced degrees. If that sounds peculiar, in countries such as Denmark and Sweden, which have a far more equal distribution of income than the United States, more than 70 per cent of the workforces are represented by unions. In these countries, it is the norm for people working in white-collar jobs, including many with college degrees, to be represented by unions.
The United States may never approach Scandinavian rates of unionization, but if we are even going to get back to 1970 rates, unions will have to make inroads into new areas. Part of that story has to mean organizing professional workers.
This week in particular, we proudly recall our small contribution to this effort.
Bernstein is a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and author of The Reconnection Agenda: Reuniting Growth and Prosperity. Baker is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
Right from the start it was obvious this was never going to be the case. Canada does not have an economy based on war-mongering. We do not have the federalist structure found in the United States. And we do not have the imperialistic tendencies displayed by the Americans.
Furthermore, some things were excluded from discussion entirely.
It is why we still have softwood lumber disputes 30 years later. It was never included in the CanadaU.S. FTA.
And the idea of appealing to third parties for resolution of litigation arising from the agreement was a non-starter as far as both sides were concerned although I think we could have made it work.
In any case, the original agreement was a flawed document with really only one purpose according to the American Congress. It secured U.S. access to our oil.
Indeed, one congressman said that everything the Americans had “given up” was worth it to ensure access to our oil.
It is guaranteed by Chapter Nine.
To quote from the document, “Either Party may maintain or introduce a restriction… with respect to the export of an energy good of the Party to the territory of the other Party, only if: (a) the restriction does not reduce the proportion of the total export shipments of a specific energy good made available to the other Party relative to the total supply of that good of the Party maintaining the restriction as compared to the proportion prevailing in the most recent 36-month period... (b) the Party does not impose a higher price for exports of an energy good to the other Party than the price charged for such energy good when consumed domestically…” There is more in the actual agreement which I have edited out but the important details are above. Written in legal language it essentially says our hands are tied.
The United States is guaranteed a proportion of our oil production and there is nothing we can do about. We can not “reduce the proportion of the total export shipments” relative to our total production. Period.
To be fair, Chapter Nine also addresses other sources of energy such as uranium ore, natural gas, and hydroelectric power, so it was not just oil but energy the American negotiators were seeking. But the proportionality clause, as it has been branded, limits our options. It was resoundingly denounced by Canadian organizations and people on all sides of the political spectrum.
When NAFTA was being negotiated, there was some hope Chapter Nine could be re-opened and reworked. Instead in Chapter Six, NAFTA simply re-iterates the terms and conditions of the previous agreement including the proportionality clause.
We have been stuck with the consequences ever since.
What are they?
According to Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and her predecessor Alison Redford, our deal with the United States costs us about $10 billion per year. We’re constrained to sell a percentage of our oil to the American market at prices they set sometimes 20 per cent below world market value.
Some would argue $10 billion is a drop in the bucket compared to the cross-border trade of $673 billion in goods and services in 2017. However, much of this trade happens outside of the confines of NAFTA or its predecessor. Not everything is regulated by the agreement.
And outside of the energy sector, the consequences of the FTAs have been mixed.
In some areas they have resulted in the flight of good paying jobs to low wage states while stifling innovation and growth.
For other Canadian businesses the agreements have opened up cross-border opportunities.
One thing is certain – Canadians still pay higher prices than Americans for many goods which should be moving across the border without duties or tariffs even when you take the exchange rate into account. It is why there is still a massive flow of cross-border shoppers each weekend.
If U.S. President Donald Trump wants to rip up NAFTA, I would say let him. Then let’s negotiate something better for our country because, despite all his bluster, the American economy needs Canada as much as we need them.
TROY SEBASTIAN Victoria Times Colonist
Guest Column
Guest Column
Missing, sick orca found Curriculum changes coming for B.C. students
Camille BAINS Citizen news service
VANCOUVER — Waking up for school won’t be the only reality facing British Columbia students entering their senior high school years as ongoing curriculum changes aimed at connecting them to real-life decision making are further implemented.
The Education Ministry says the curriculum overhaul, which was implemented for kindergarten to Grade 9 students in 2016, is designed to allow for more critical thinking, collaboration and communication in applying information learned in the classroom to everyday situations.
Changes starting earlier this year mean students in Grade 10 are no longer required to write a provincial math exam but must instead complete a numeracy assessment that incorporates knowledge from various subjects. The assessment can be completed in any year between Grades 10 and 12.
The ministry provided a sample assessment that included a hypothetical news report about nine British Columbia communities’ “skyrocketing” water use plotted on a graph, along with other information. Students would be required to answer 12 questions, including those based on how a family could save on its weekly water consumption.
Some questions are based on First Nations’ former practice of living in circular homes called pit houses, requiring students to estimate their height, living space and dimensions of the top opening.
The provincial English exam will also be scrapped next year for students in Grade 12. Instead, students will complete a literacy assessment that is still being developed.
Both the numeracy and literacy assessments will replace provincial exams that were introduced in B.C. in 1984 at the Grade 12 level.
“Many provinces are moving in the direction of competency-based curricula, with B.C. one of the leaders in this area,” the Education Ministry said in a statement.
Results from the assessments will not be blended with classroom marks because they are not tied to a particular course, the ministry said, adding results will be tied to a four-point proficiency scale that will be recorded on students’ transcripts.
Education Minister Rob Fleming said modernizing the curriculum and graduation program will help ensure students are armed with the knowledge and skills
they need to succeed whether they move on to university or trades training.
“The world is changing and it’s our duty to make sure kids are ready to succeed in that changing world,” he said in a statement.
Peter Liljedahl, a professor and associate dean of graduate studies in the faculty of education at Simon Fraser University, said numeracy applies math in realistic settings and includes planning and budgeting around costs, time and space.
For example, students would learn to interpret graphs containing information about elections or estimate the time required for several tasks, including driving to a certain destination, and working backwards to determine what time an alarm should be set to start the day.
“It is absolutely real life. And it’s about making sure you’re able to utilize mathematics,” Liljedahl said, adding students writing the numeracy assessment would be using what they’ve learned in multiple subjects throughout their education so individual teachers aren’t responsible for it.
Teresa Harwood, whose son Jason Depka will be starting Grade 10 this week, said the new numeracy and literacy assessments would be a good fit for the “hands-on guy” who may be headed for a career in the trades sector.
“In general, I think that’s a good
Work-life balance, job protection, a focus for revamp of labour code
Jordan PRESS Citizen news service
OTTAWA — Restoring a work-life balance and better protections for part-time and temporary workers will be among the key focuses of a planned rewrite of Canada’s federal labour rules which are to be updated by the time Labour Day rolls around next year, Canada’s employment minister says.
Labour Minister Patty Hajdu said legislation will be introduced this fall to update the decades-old federal labour standards that haven’t been revamped in a substantive way since they were first written.
Hajdu said changes to the labour code would reflect key themes that emerged from consultations Ottawa held over the last year, and that the lack of a work-life balance was raised a lot.
“People were saying things have to be fairer, things have to be more predictable and we need time... to spend with our families,” Hajdu said.
Any change to provide more work-life balance or new job protections will target the most precarious workers in federallyregulated fields, she said.
“Ultimately, at the end of the day, the code is there to protect the most vulnerable in the workplace,” Hajdu said.
Standards enshrined in the Canada Labour Code were originally drafted in the 1960s in an era when the average worker
thing,” she said of the curriculum changes. “If you’re not on an academic stream then those types of real-life situations, I think, are going to be helpful to students moving forward as they get into the work world, even learning how to budget at home.”
However, she said her older son, Matt Depka, who graduated a year ago, benefited from writing the provincial English exam in Grade 12 because it prepared him for university. But he was anxious about the results, which counted for 40 per cent of his overall English mark, she said from her home in Nanaimo.
“Thinking about it coming up was extremely anxiety inducing, the thought of it affecting his mark and therefore affecting his entrance to university,” she said of her son, who is on the autism spectrum and found it challenging to write an exam containing texts he hadn’t learned about in class.
Teri Mooring, first vice-president of the B.C. Teachers Federation, said overall, the union has been supportive of the curriculum changes though “we do have concerns around timing and resources.”
“Many of our members feel that they haven’t been given enough support through additional non-instructional days to learn about the changes and prepare for them,” she said. “Our members need up-to-date learning resources to actually do the teaching.”
had a full-time, permanent job with benefits. But the code is feeling the strain under a shifting labour force that since the 1970s has been increasingly marked by what is described as non-standard work – usually part-time, temporary or contract work.
Federal officials wrote in a consultation paper last year that some of the labour code’s provisions are basically out of date.
A summary report of the consultations was released last week and showed a tension between labour groups that wanted more stringent rules, and employer groups that wanted more flexibility to adapt to changing labour market dynamics.
Experts also felt the right set of rules could unlock economic potential, but also cautioned about a one-size-fits-all approach.
The summary report also listed changes to federal minimum wage rules as an area for further review, as well as a proposal to give workers the “right to disconnect” and turn off their work-related devices while at home.
Hajdu said the goal is to have legislative changes passed by next summer, after which there would be a need for consultations with employers and labour groups on the necessarily regulatory texts.
The labour code affects more than 900,000 federal workers in Canada, representing about six per cent of the national workforce.
Citizen news service
VANCOUVER — An American whale research organization says an ailing killer whale has been found alive just hours after it was announced the young orca had been separated from her family pod.
In a Facebook post Monday, the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbour, Wash., says the female Southern Resident killer whale known as J50 was found mid-morning, and the centre’s researchers were in the water with the animal.
Michael Millstein of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a statement earlier in the day that J50 wasn’t seen with her pod when a group of biologists was studying them Sunday.
Millstein added that Fisheries and Oceans Canada saw J50 lagging roughly one kilometre behind her mother and brother, who were nearly three nautical miles behind the rest of the J Pod when last sighted on Aug. 30. He said J50 had lost a considerable amount of weight over the past several months.
CITIZEN FILE PHOTO
When students board school buses to head to class this week, there will be a new curriculum at B.C. schools.
Baby power drives Balogh to Labour Day glory
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff tclarke@pgcitizen.ca
Years from now, when 20-monthold Olivia Balogh is old enough to run the Labour Day Classic by herself, she’ll be able to tell her friends about the times she beat her fleet-footed mother Shar across the finish line.
It happened again Sunday at Canada Games Plaza, where Olivia sat in the comfort of her baby stroller while Shar did all the work, running the 8.5-mile course fast enough to win the women’s race in 58 minutes 56 seconds. They were a minute faster than last year, when they also romped into the winner’s circle.
“Olivia’s been training hard,” quipped Shar. “I kept trying to catch her but she kept being about a foot ahead of me. These strollers are amazing, they really don’t slow you down much. The wind was a little tough with the chariot but other than that it was great.”
Carley Billups (1:05:22) and Jessica Seely of Vanderhoof (1:07:38) were second and third respectively in the women’s 8.5-mile event
Overnight rain left the course cool but it was dry, with a start temperature of 10 C on a sunny, but breezy, morning. The 45th annual event drew 77 adult runners and about 35 kids, who raced the one km course at Canada Games Plaza.
Shar is a two-time winner of the 17-mile Labour Day race but says she prefers the one-lap 8.5-mile course.
“I really like the 8.5-mile, it’s easier to train for and you can push really hard,” she said.
Shar’s husband Dennis Balogh also raced Sunday in the five km event, finishing fourth overall in 20:53. Shar and Dennis are both entered in the Victoria Half-Marathon in October. Olivia will be on the sidelines cheering them on in that race.
Jim Van Bakel, won the men’s 17-mile race, his fourth Labour Day win in seven years. Van Bakel, 44, crossed the line two minutes ahead of Andy Wan, who just moved to Prince George in July from Vancouver to take a position as a UNBC math professor.
“It was good, I thought it was going to be rainy the whole day by the way the forecast looked so it was nice seeing some sunshine,” said Van Bakel. “(Wan) and I ran together most of the first lap and he kept the pressure on the entire second lap, which I wasn’t expecting, and that forced me to push a little harder.
“It’s fun, it’s such a cool event, it’s got so much history and this is the one I always like to make if I can,” he said.
Richard Harrison, 61, of Smithers who
started racing the Labour Day run in 1981 and has won the 17-mile distance nine times, cruised to a third-place overall finish in 2:11:38.
Matija Tiani took top honours in the women’s 17-mile race in 2:25:27. Robin Levant (2:34:3) was second and Sarah Gagnon (2:37:08) was third.
Zach Matyas, 21, was the male 8.5-mile winner, stopping the clock in 48:30, five minutes ahead of 50-59-yearold masters runner Brian Nemethy of Vanderhoof (53:23) and third-place Dale Huzar (57:22).
These strollers are amazing, they really don’t slow you down much. The wind was a little tough with the chariot but other than that it was great.
Matyas had never run the 8.5 mile (13.7 kilometre) course, having most recently raced the five km event in 2016.
He’s following a trail set by his father
Steve, who posted several podium finishes in the Labour Day run and is a previous winner of the 17-mile event. Zach started with the kids race when he was seven and kept up the family tradition, finishing the five km course several times.
“This is my first year stepping up to the 8.5 (mile race) and I was hoping for under 50 (minutes),” said Matyas, who runs about 120 km per week in training.
— Shar Balogh
The Duchess Park secondary school graduate and Prince George Track and Field Club member had success at the provincial level and was an 800-metre national qualifier for the 2016 Olympic trials. He works with Shar Balogh and Van Bakel
at Stride & Glide Sports and a visit to the store by a sales rep from Brooks Running led to a sponsorship that keeps Matyas running in new shoes. He goes through a new pair every three months.
“That (sponsorship) gave me a kick in the butt, it’s awesome,” he said. In the five km category, Brynn Witwicki captured the women’s title in 24:01, followed by Madison Seely (25:00) and Alexis Seely (26:19), both of Vanderhoof. Nolan Williamson won the men’s race in 19:29, ahead of Martin Williamson of Vanderhoof (19:56) and Mike Webber (20:33).
The 8.5-mile race ended with an ambulance ride for 17-year-old Jordan Bax. He had the finish line in site, about 50 metres away when he collapsed on the concrete, having suffered lightheadedness and confusion over the last couple of kilometres.
Observers saw him running in a zig-zag motion before he went down and he was rushed to hospital.
CITIZEN PHOTO BY JAMES DOYLE
Natalie Hoehn, 8, sprints down Canada Games Way on Sunday morning while participating in the Kids 1km Fun Run as part of the 45th annual Labour Day Classic race.
CITIZEN PHOTO BY JAMES DOYLE
A group of kids take-off down Canada Games Way on Sunday morning while participating in the Kids 1km Fun Run as part of the 45th annual Labour Day Classic foot race.
Youngsters earn high marks in major midget audition
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff
tclarke@pgcitizen.ca
The auditions for 15-year-old hockey players hoping to make a case for inclusion on the Cariboo Cougars major midget team roster continued over the long weekend at CN Centre.
Former NHL winger and Prince George minor hockey alumni Turner Stevenson brought the Everett Silvertips under-18 and under-15 teams for their second annual exhibition series against the Cougars major midget and minor midget teams and each of the four teams played four games.
Cariboo major beat the Everett U-18s in all four (3-2, 8-2, 9-2, 2-1) and Cariboo minor swept the U-15s in their four games (8-5, 4-3, 5-3, 4-2) but the outcomes didn’t matter. It was all about making positive impressions on the coaches and getting ready for the season.
Cariboo minor, under head coach Brian Toll, is competing as a new team in a new provincial league and will be exclusive to 2003-born players. But some of them could be playing with the older group this season. Cariboo major head coach Tyler Brough included several 2003-born players in his team’s weekend lineups and at least three of them will get serious consideration for permanent roster spots on the major midget team.
“We were mixing and matching with the rosters this weekend and it was good to see some of the younger guys step up, I was really happy with the ’03s we dressed this weekend, they’re making decisions tough for us,” said Brough.
Fischer O’Brien, the younger brother of Brogan, a former Prince George Cougar and major midget alumni, was the only Prince George player taken in the 2018 WHL bantam draft, chosen in the fifth round, 98th overall by the Lethbridge Hurricanes. He came back from his first WHL camp last week is looking ready to make the jump to major midget.
“For me, he fits in, he belongs at this level and we’re going to let it play out a bit, but this weekend he looked comfortable,” said Brough. “He’s a lot similar to Brogan, they have the same style of play. I just liked the poise in him. He’s not out of position and he’s playing centre, which is a big responsibility for a young guy and he’s doing his job on both sides of the puck.”
Forward Kellan Brienen of Prince George, who went through the Cougars’ WHL training camp, and defenceman Brody Johnston, a product of Fort Fraser, both excelled on the ice over the weekend, according to Brough and are heating up the competition for jobs on the major team.
Brough welcomed the chance to play the Silvertips again. Both teams gave the Cariboo squads a chance to raise the intensity level on the ice with the start of the season fast approaching at the end of the month.
“We love having Turner’s team up, he’s a big name around these parts and his family still lives here,” said Brough.
“They’re a good team that’s trying to get into our league so anything we can do to help and get some good games in Prince George, is a benefit for us.”
Stamps kick to Labour Day win
Donna SPENCER Citizen news service
CALGARY — A Rene Paredes field goal with no time left on the clock preserved the Calgary Stampeders’ string of Labour Day victories.
Calgary held off the Edmonton Eskimos 23-20 for a seventh straight win in the traditional Battle of Alberta on the September holiday Monday. The Stampeders remained unbeaten at home this season at 6-0, but paid a price to climb to 9-1 atop the CFL’s West Division.
Calgary’s star receiver Kamar Jorden and starting cornerback Ciante Evans left the game with lower-body injuries and did not return.
Calgary also had a major scare in the third quarter when quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell appeared to hyperextend his left knee. Mitchell wore a brace in the fourth quarter when he moved the chains for Paredes to boot the winning 43-yard field goal.
“We love these battles. That’s why we play football. You don’t play football for blowouts,” Mitchell said.
“You play football for grinding things out, playing through things, having to put your fingers in the dirt, wipe some blood off your face and go out there and get a win.”
The right-footed Paredes prefers to kick from the left of the uprights in case he hooks it. A pair of running plays got him to that side of the field.
“Before that drive, I walked over and he said, ‘Just get me there.’ I said, ‘You know I will. I’ll get you there, you put it in,”’ Mitchell said. “That’s exactly what happened. Love that guy. Always will.”
Monday’s game and Saturday’s rematch in Edmonton are the only two games between the provincial rivals on the regularseason schedule.
Edmonton (6-5) was up 17-13 at halftime Monday, but the committed three costly turnovers – two fumbles and an interception.
Four potential players for the Cariboo major team were still in junior camps on the weekend. Homegrown defenceman Jacob Gendron, 16, whose father Shawn played for the WHL Cougars in the ‘90s, is still with the Vancouver Giants. The Giants drafted him in the sixth round in 2017.
Defenceman Carson Golder of Terrace, 16, is still with the Victoria Royals (WHL); goalie Devin Chapman of Williams Lake, 17, is trying out in the BCHL for the Salmon Arm Silverbacks; and forward Booker Daniels of Vanderhoof is with the Tri-City Americans (WHL). Daniels, 17, has been sidelined with a broken foot and won’t be back for a couple weeks at the earliest.
The Silvertips were shortstaffed and nearly half their players did not make the trip. Both Everett teams play a 50-game
schedule in the North American Prospects Hockey League.
“Last year when we came up here we basically brought our (whole) team but school started early so between the two teams we’re missing 17 guys,” said Stevenson. “It’s good for the other guys to see B.C. hockey for the first time, physical hockey, so it’s been a good experience. For the guys coming up from bantam, now playing (15-andunder) for the first time it’s a lot different – a little more intense. The compete level is raised for a lot of the guys and it’s fun.”
Cariboo major will be in Kamloops for a preseason game Thursday night against Thompson and they’ll have four more games over the weekend in Kelowna, as will Cariboo minor. Everett will also be part of the exhibition series in Kelowna.
Sharapova knocked out of U.S. Open in fourth round
Howard FENDRICH Citizen news service
NEW YORK — Maria Sharapova won the U.S. Open as a teenager. More than a decade later, she can’t seem to make it past the fourth round.
With a mistake-filled performance, Sharapova lost a night match at Flushing Meadows for the first time in her lengthy career, beaten 6-4, 6-3 by No. 30 seed Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain on Monday.
“Just a little too up-and-down,” is the way Sharapova described her performance.
It’s the third consecutive appearance that ended one step short of the quarterfinals for the 31-year-old Sharapova, who had been 22-0 under the lights at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Sharapova collected the trophy in New York at age 19 in 2006 and owns a total of five Grand Slam titles, but the Russian was far shakier during this match than Suarez Navarro, who never has made it past the quarterfinals at a major.
The Spaniard, who turned 30 on Monday, will be at that stage for the second time at the U.S. Open, five years after her other run to that round.
“A really complete performance,” is the way she described her play.
On Wednesday, Suarez Navarro and her smooth one-handed backhand will take on 2017 runner-up Madison Keys of the United States. Keys advanced by beating No. 29 Dominika Cibulkova 6-1, 6-3.
“I have to be ready,” Suarez Navarro said about facing Keys, “and I think I am ready.”
Suarez Navarro often let the 22nd-seeded
Sharapova create her own problems.
Sharapova had all sorts of trouble serving, repeatedly catching wayward ball tosses
and committing eight double-faults. She was broken in six of her 10 service games.
During lengthy exchanges from the baseline, Sharapova repeatedly blinked first, although a couple of times the righty managed to switch her racket to her left hand for a desperation shot to extend a point.
While both women finished with 15 winners, Sharapova had nearly twice as many unforced errors as Suarez Navarro, 38-20.
“I didn’t take care of the chances that I had. By ‘chances,’ I mean the balls that were a little bit shorter. I hesitated to move forward,” Sharapova said. “The balls where I did attack, I made unforced errors, especially on that inside-out forehand today.”
Since her championship, Sharapova has only once made it to the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open – in 2012, when she lost in the semifinals.
Since then, the best she’s done are fourthround exits in 2014, 2017 and 2018.
After this latest loss, Sharapova was asked whether she envisions herself getting back to her best in the future.
“First of all, if I didn’t have the belief to keep doing this and to keep having the motivation and the grind of doing this every day in order to get myself in these positions, I don’t think I would be here. I think I’ve done plenty in my career, established a lot for myself personally, professionally,” she replied.
“The belief is not something that I’m eager to show everybody else,” Sharapova continued.
“The belief matters most when it’s internal and when you have a passion for something. If you don’t, it’s your choice to not continue that, not for anyone else to tell you so.”
CITIZEN PHOTO BY JAMES DOYLE
Cariboo Cougars Minor Midget player Colton Thom looks for the loose puck while going up against two Everett Silvertips U15 defenders on Sunday morning at CN Centre. It was the final match-up of a weekend exhibition series between the two teams.
Maria Sharapova returns a shot to Carla Suarez Navarro during the fourth round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament on Monday in New York.
Stroman struggles as Blue Jays fall to Rays
David ALTER Citizen news service
Toronto Blue Jays starter Marcus Stroman and his ailing finger pointed the blame at himself for his most recent outing.
“I just had no feel today,” he said. “I didn’t make the pitches I needed to and I kind of paid the price. I didn’t execute.”
Stroman was pulled in the second inning after allowing four runs and six hits as the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 7-1 on Monday.
The 27-year-old was making his first start since Aug. 17. Stroman (4-9) was activated from the disabled list after a struggling with recurring finger blister that refused to fully heal between scheduled starts.
Despite over two weeks off before coming back against the Rays (74-63), Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said Stroman is still dealing with the injury.
“There’s no doubt it’s still bothering him,” he said. “More than anything, it’s the grip and feel.
The Blue Jays (62-75) have little to compete for in the standings down the stretch. The club’s top players have been traded to contenders and playoff aspirations are nonexistent.
Priding himself a fighter, Stroman shot down the suggestion of shutting down for the remainder of the season.
“I like to compete. I don’t like sitting. I only get to go out there one every five days to begin with,” he said. “Being out there every fifth day is a priority. I hate being on the DL. I hate watching. I hate not being out there. It frustrates me. It kills me inside, honestly. I’m going to do everything in my power to be out there.”
Stroman said his finger looked like it had a hole in it ten days ago and credited the training staff for preparing him to make his return Monday.
However, the trainers will likely err on the side of caution regarding Stroman’s immediate future.
“That’s probably what’s going to happen,” Gibbons said at the suggestion of shutting Stroman down. “We’ll have to see, I don’t know yet. In all fairness to him. It’s clearly affecting him, there’s no doubt.”
Yonny Chirinos (3-5) was solid in relief for Tampa Bay. Pitching after starter Ryne Stanek was pulled following one inning, Chirinos allowed just one run, four hits and three walks over seven innings of work. He also struck out five batters.
The Rays opened the scoring in the first inning. Tommy Pham hit an RBI single to give Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead.
Tampa Bay would pad their lead in the second inning. Mallex Smith hit an RBI
single. Matt Duffy would follow with a tworun double to give Tampa Bay a 4-0 lead.
Later in the inning, the Blue Jays got on the scoreboard.
Teoscar Hernandez hit an RBI single to cut the Rays lead to 4-1.
The Rays restored their four-run lead in the third. Kevin Kiermaier hit an RBI single that gave Tampa Bay a 5-1 advantage.
In the seventh, Ji-Man Choi hit a solo homer to give Tampa Bay a 7-1 lead.
NOTE: Attendance was 18,034. Pitcher Mark Leiter Jr. made his Blue Jays debut. Claimed off waivers from Philadelphia on Saturday, Leiter pitched a perfect ninth inning and recorded one strikeout. Leiter is the 35th pitcher to take the mound for the Blue Jays this season, a franchise high.
The Rays made it 6-1 in the fifth inning when Blue Jays reliever Tim Mayza threw a wild pitch that allowed Pham to score from third base.
Tiger-Cats’ Banks has seen career take off since last Labour Day
PHILLIPS Citizen news service
HAMILTON — Labour Day has done wonders for Brandon Banks’ receiving career.
The quick and diminutive Hamilton receiver reached a milestone 3,000 career receiving yards in the Tiger-Cats’ 42-28 victory over the Toronto Argonauts on Monday. Most notably, though, is that more than half of them have been earned since last year’s Labour Day match-up.
Banks made a 35-yard catchand-run late in the first half to cross that marker and then capped that same Ticat drive with a 19-yard touchdown reception. He finished the game with nine catches for 135 yards and two TDs.
“I’m just playing football - what I’ve been doing since I was five years old,” said the five-footseven, 150-pound Kansas State product.
“I’m just getting great opportunities. We’ve got a great quarterback that’s just feeding me the ball and we’ve got a great offensive scheme that coach June Jones is calling and I’m just the recipient of it.”
The six-year CFL veteran, nicknamed “Speedy”, has been known more as a return specialist (2015 CFL Most Outstanding Special Teams Player), but Banks’ receiving numbers got a boost last year when June Jones took over as Hamilton head coach from Kent Austin.
Jones made his coaching debut last Labour Day, and Banks im-
mediately made an impact as the game’s leading receiver with 98 yards on six catches and a touchdown.
Up to that point in the season, Banks had only eight catches for
52 yards and one touchdown as Hamilton went 0-8 to start the 2017 campaign under Austin. Under Jones, he became busier on offence, leading the league after Labour Day in targets (tied at 87), receptions (tied at 59), and TD receptions (seven), and was second in receiving yards (959).
His total 1,011 yards on 67 catches and eight TDs in 2017, almost doubled his previous best season of 529 yards in 2014.
This season, he’s already at 63 catches for 880 yards and five TDs with eight games left to play.
“I watched practice for two or three weeks before I got the head job,” said Jones, who re-signed Banks this winter.
“I’m a speed guy and he was our fastest player. I went back and looked at him playing for
the Redskins (Banks was with Washington 2010-12 before coming to Hamilton) and I said I gotta get him on the field, so he plays everywhere now for us. He’s making plays in the slot. He’s doing everything. He’s a big-time gamer.”
Early in the first quarter, Banks moved into second place on the all-time Ticats’ list for combined yards, passing Tommy Grant (10,213 yards from 1956-68), after starting the game with a 12yard punt return and a 12-yard reception.
Banks finished the game with 197 combined yards for a total 10,387, still a long way to go before catching Earl Winfield, who had 14,798 combined yards in his 11 seasons with the Ticats (1987-97).
Serbia, def. Joao Sousa, Portugal, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3. Women’s Singles Fourth
Carla Suarez-Navarro (30), Spain, def. Maria Sharapova (22), Russia, 6-4, 6-3. Madison Keys (14), United States, def. Dominika Cibulkova (29), Slovakia, 6-1, 6-3. Naomi Osaka (20), Japan, def. Aryna Sabalenka (26), Belarus, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. Lesia Tsurenko, Ukraine, def. Marketa Vondrousova, Czech Republic, 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-2. Men’s Doubles Third Round Bruno Soares, Brazil and Jamie Murray (4), Britain, def. Robin Haase, Netherlands and Matwe Middelkoop (14), Netherlands, 7-6 (4), 6-4. Mike Bryan, United States and Jack Sock (3), United States, def. Franko Skugor, Croatia and Dominic Inglot (16), Britain, 6-2, 6-4. Robert Farah, Colombia and Juan Sebastian Cabal (5), Colombia, def. Marcel Granollers, Spain and Ivan Dodig (11), Croatia, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. Edouard Roger-Vasselin, France and Rohan Bopanna (15), India, def. Fabrice Martin, France and Jeremy Chardy, France, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-3. Women’s Doubles Third Round Demi Schuurs, Netherlands and Elise Mertens (7), Belgium, def. Su-Wei Hsieh, Taiwan and Aryna Sabalenka, Belarus, 7-5, 6-4. Coco Vandeweghe, United States and Ashleigh Barty (13), Australia, def. Barbora Strycova, Czech Republic and Andrea Sestini
4-3, ret. Brandon Nakashima (14), United States, def. Henri Squire, Germany, 7-6, 6-4. Hugo Gaston (3), France, def. Neel Rajesh, United States, 6-1, 6-3. Arthur Cazaux, France, def. Adrian Andreev (7), Bulgaria, 6-3, 4-2, ret. Arnaud Bovy, Belgium, def. Axel Nefve, United States, 6-4, 7-5. Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc, France,
Russia, def. Elisabetta Cocciaretto (13), Italy, 7-5, 6-4. Elizabeth Mandlik, United States, def. Joanna Garland (12), Taiwan, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2. Diane Parry, France, def. Maria Gabriela Rivera Corado, Guatemala, 6-2, 6-2. Dasha Lopatetskaya, Ukraine, def. Connie
CP PHOTO
Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Marcus Stroman pitches during a game against the Tampa Bay Rays in Toronto on Monday.
Carol
BANKS
A copious amount of Bradley Cooper
A Star Is Born soundtrack
likely stuffed with vocals by studly actor
Sonia RAO Citizen news service
Picture this: a single spotlight illuminates the Dolby Theatre stage, on which a regal-looking Lady Gaga belts out a prolonged note.
It is the 91st Academy Awards ceremony, and several cameras point to the songstress – so that us regular folk can witness the glory from our living rooms – save for one intended to capture Bradley Cooper’s emotional reactions.
Or maybe the newly minted director stands beside her as the two perform a duet from A Star Is Born, his remake of a now thriceremade movie and one that he says he spent nearly three years preparing to film.
Will something like this happen? Maybe! While A Star Is Born seems boldly on track to either be a masterpiece or a complete disaster, the attention it received at its Venice Film Festival premiere is undeniable.
Robert De Niro called the film “terrific,” a review posted on Talkhouse.net deemed it “the most impressive directorial debut by an actor since Robert Redford’s Ordinary People,” and someone on the internet already made a Pokémon joke out of Gaga’s singing in the trailer. Yes, memes count as buzz.
By the time Interscope Records released the tracklist for the soundtrack this past Thursday, we knew to expect a whole lot of Gaga (obviously) and a whole lot of Cooper (slightly less obvious!), the latter of whom took singing lessons for the role. His buddy
De Niro said the hard work paid off – hopefully, because the entire soundtrack was reportedly recorded live! – but we won’t find out for sure until Oct. 5, the wide release date of both the album and film. Until then, we must pour over a tracklist that lays out the entire plot of the movie: Cooper plays Jackson Maine, a veteran country singer who discovers and eventually falls in love with a struggling singer-songwriter named Ally, played by Gaga. Her star power soars as his decays. Drama ensues.
The soundtrack features 19 songs “in a wide range of musical styles,” Interscope tweeted, as well as 15 dialogue tracks that supposedly mirror the experience of watching the movie, which explains the existence of gems such as Parking Lot (Dialogue) and SNL (Dialogue). Standouts among the actual musical numbers include: I Don’t Know What Love Is, which makes us sad. Why Did You Do That? which makes us angry. Music to My Eyes, which makes us confused, and Hair Body Face, which makes us even
more confused. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times – which includes a very Reynolds Woodcock-esque tale of Cooper wiping off Gaga’s makeup to expose her true self during a screen test in her home – Gaga is said to have “helped inform Cooper’s performance as a musician.” She answered his questions about what it feels like to be backstage at a concert and even wrote a number of songs for the movie. Her own musical journey differed quite a bit from her character’s, she said. While she
“hit the concrete running” from the get-go, Ally is introduced as someone who has “given up on herself. And that’s very different from me.”
Cooper just seems grateful to have been in Gaga’s presence, telling the L.A. Times: “Everybody already knows that she’s got a God-given talent as a singer, and she was able to utilize that plutonium to act. If this is something she wants to pursue, I will just have been lucky to have been part of her story as an actress.” Ah, music to our eyes.
Franklin’s funeral one for the ages
Citizen news service
They laid Aretha Franklin to rest with a funeral fit for a Queen. A week of tributes and public mourning – which included a massive concert, tributes from some of the nation’s most prominent public figures and four final, glorious outfit changes – ended with a day-long funeral Friday in Detroit, the vibrantly musical city that launched her career and remained her home for much of her life.
“The secret of her greatness was she took this massive talent and this perfect culture that raised her, and she decided to be the composer of her own life’s song,” former president Bill Clinton said. “And what a song it turned out to be.”
Franklin, who died Aug. 16 of pancreatic cancer at 76, inspired an eight-hour send-off that reflected the impact of her career.
“It took a little time to get in here, but I believe the Queen wouldn’t have had it any other way,” said Bishop Charles Ellis III of Greater Grace Temple, in his welcome to mourners about an hour after the expected 10 ET a.m. start time.
The Rev. Al Sharpton called Franklin a “civil rights activist and freedom fighter.” Former attorney general Eric Holder Jr. said her “status as a queen, unlike others who inherit a title... was earned.”
“She was classy enough to sing on the most prominent stages in the world,” said Bishop T.D. Jakes, “but she was homegirl enough to make potato salad and fry some chicken. In a class all by herself.”
Two other former presidents – Barack Obama and George W. Bush – sent remarks that were read. The mayor of Detroit announced that “one of her favourite places in the world,” Chene Park, would be renamed after Franklin.
The funeral for such a singular figure in American popular culture could have easily turned into a massive show-business production.
And while celebrities filled the pews and provided electrifying performances, the homegoing for Franklin was mostly a joyful church service, with gospel tributes, preaching and many opportunities to catch the Holy Spirit.
“If Ms. Franklin can dance on the stage, somebody ought to be able to dance in the church,” said Ellis. “We’re here to lift up this family. Put a smile on their face.”
AP PHOTO
Actor Bradley Cooper and actress and singer Lady Gaga pose for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film A Star Is Born at the 75th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Aug. 31.
Anthropological linguist creates concept languages
Spencer HARWOOD Citizen news service
Typically when B.C. anthropology professor Christine Schreyer finishes concocting a new language for a film, it is eventually spoken by aliens from beyond the stars bearing messages of hope, peace, and occasionally destruction and doom.
However, her latest concept language has a uniquely human origin, contrary to the work she has done on films like Man of Steel and Power Rangers.
Her newest language, called Beama, was created for the recently released film Alpha, which is about a young man separated from his tribe who befriends a lone wolf and takes place 20,000 years ago.
Schreyer said the filmmakers’ desire for authenticity forced her to set her sights on ancient oral traditions to create something realistic but manageable for the cast.
“They really strived for accu-
racy in terms of the tool technology, the housing, the animals and also the language,” said Schreyer, who teaches at the University of British Columbia Okanagan in Kelowna.
Schreyer started by exploring the research on phonetic sounds of several protolanguages to determine how her new language should sound.
“I did take out some of the more complex sounds for English speakers because the actors needed to be able to say everything,” she said from Kelowna, adding there were sounds different from English retained in Beama.
Although there are no fossil records for languages like there are for ancient peoples and animals, poetry and research from the study of historical linguistics helped guide Schreyer while sounding out Beama.
“Poetry and traditional storytelling tends to have more of the older or high version of the languages – just like how Shakespeare has older forms of English in it,” said Schreyer.
SCHREYER
She said the film’s director, Albert Hughes, preferred more melodic-sounding languages, which prompted her to incorporate more vowel sounds and remove some of the harsher consonant-heavy words from Beama.
And while concept languages have been used in various films and television series since the late 1960s, such as Klingon in Star Trek or the Elven tongue in Lord of the Rings, Schreyer said the internet has given fans far more access to the languages than they had previously.
“They’re able to access details on films they were very rarely able to access before,” she said.
“Part of the reason I’m here is because I did a study of people learning Na’vi from Avatar and how they were able to do that.”
Schreyer said the production designer for Man of Steel hired her to create the Kryptonian language after reading her study, knowing that diehard fans of Superman would not accept gibberish masquerading as a language.
“Fans are demanding that detail and that authenticity.”
That sense of authenticity was not always in demand, or even desired at all.
Schreyer said some films, including the Star Wars movie franchise, use inconsistent patterns
interspersed with gibberish for language-like sounds.
“I think at this point it’s a point of pride for them, that they’re the ones that don’t have it,” said Schreyer.
“I know people in the constructed language communities often have an axe to grind with that.”
She said she’s received many requests for Kryptonian translations for tattoos, and one woman on Twitter had compiled every trace of the language she could find from Man of Steel.
Schreyer said people have taken her courses because of their love of her concept languages, and even gone into the field themselves afterwards.
It’s the lovers of Na’vi and Klingon who often become the professional linguists preserving and maintaining oral traditions, said Schreyer, who has also worked in Canada and around the globe with Indigenous communities in revitalizing their languages.
“Actually, you can get people like me who can do both things.”
