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S U R R E Y - N O R T H D E LTA E D I T I O N
Surrey
Inside
Using new imaging tool isn’t brain surgery... well, actually it is
8 9 11 17
Viewpoint Letters Community Classifieds
See page 3
August 14th
16
Come on, Surrey – let’s get creative!
Education
Fassbender open to strike option Christopher Poon
Now staff Twitter @questionchris
As talks between teachers and the province loom, education minister and Surrey MLA Peter Fassbender has taken the responsibility of bargaining from the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association board of directors and placed it in the hands of a government-appointed administrator. The move comes as talks are set to resume in the fall and follows Fassbender’s breaking off of talks with the BCSPEA in June. Currently, the province’s teachers are without a contract. See also VIEWPOINT › page 8
Cloverdale
Residents fight to keep 37 acres in ALR Jacob Zinn
Now contributor Twitter @jacobzinn
Some Cloverdale residents are making it known loud and clear that they don’t want 37 acres of farmland between 168th Street
and the Serpentine River to be removed from the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR). More than 70 locals gathered at the Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church on Thursday night for an hour-long discussion about their concerns with
the properties. The land is spread across seven properties with six owners, who have applied to the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) for exclusion from the ALR. see GROUP MAD › page 3
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SFU students Kashif Pasta (left) and Shyam Valera write, direct and produce comedic videos online. They’ve started a project called Creative Surrey in an effort to get artists and businesses to work together. See story on page 16. (Photo: KEVIN HILL)
“We want to bargain directly with the B.C. Teachers’ Federation, that was a request they made last year in December and formed a framework that we announced in January so this afternoon we’ve taken the next step in that process,” Fassbender said Wednesday. In a letter to education stakeholders, Fassbender said the move is in line with the province’s pursuit of a 10-year deal with teachers and that “the proposed innovations include many ideas previously proposed by the BCTF such as the full right to strike, negotiation of more matters at local bargaining tables, improvements to the bargaining process and enabling the BCTF to negotiate directly with government on provincial matters.” Fassbender said the BCPSEA’s board will still be invited to remain involved in the talks in an advisory capacity. Requests for comments by the BCTF were not returned by press time.