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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2014
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INSIDE TODAY: Is your pooch a star? P11
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RUFFLING FEATHERS
◗ HYACK FESTIVAL
Parade goes on – despite lack of cash BY THERESA MCMANUS REPORTER tmcmanus@royalcityrecord.com
The Hyack International Parade plans to go on – even if they have no cash. Planning is underway to hold the annual Hyack International Parade on Saturday, May 24. “From that perspective (planning) we are in great shape,” said Peter Goodwin, president of the Hyack Festival Association. “We lack funding, of course, because there hasn’t been a final determination made. We are up and ready to go other than that problem.” In response to internal problems at the Hyack Festival Association, the City of New Westminster took a series of actions last fall, including requesting a review of Hyack’s finances. Although the city has approved grants to many local organizations, it has yet to deal with Hyack’s grant application. “I should mention I do not have a problem with us not For related having our grant approved stories, yet. Really,” Goodwin told scan The Record Monday. “I don’t with Layar know if it comes from being a lawyer, but city council said ‘we are going to do an investigation of Hyack, which involved a whole bunch of different things, but in particular the accounting audit. How could they possibly turn around now and say, ‘Well, we haven’t completed our investigation but we have made a decision?’” Although a couple of things contributed to a delay of the financial review, including a death in the family of Hyack’s bookkeeper, Goodwin believes it’s been completed and is in council’s hands. Lisa Spitale, the city’s chief administrative officer, said city council and staff is still working through the analysis done for the city by KPMG. In a Feb. 25 email to The Record, she said she was unable to determine when the information would be made public. Goodwin told The Record the planning for ◗Hyack Page 9
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Teachers hold strike vote Union prez says initial job action would have ‘minimal’ impact on students BY NIKI HOPE REPORTER
nhope@royalcityrecord.com
About 550 teachers in New Westminster will cast ballots in a strike vote next week. But Grant Osborne, New Westminster Teachers’ Union president, said if they vote to strike it doesn’t mean schools are going to close. “It means that we have some decisions to make,” Osborne said. Initial job action should have “minimal” impact on students, he added.
“We will not be impacting teachers’ communication with parents. We will not be impacting report cards, and we will not be impacting extra-curricular, he said.” The union and government negotiators have had 40 bargaining sessions, Osborne told the board of education at its Feb. 25 meeting. “The most recent demand from the government negotiation has been cuts to our contracts, and we are looking at cuts to sick days, to grievance language, discussions about maternity benefits, and, again, some pretty egregious statements about salary,” Osborne said. Trustee Lisa Graham told Osborne she doesn’t want job action to affect graduating students.
“In proceeding forward, please make that a top priority,” she said. “Absolutely, I don’t have an issue with at all,” Osborne told her. The B.C. Teachers’ Federation announced Monday that it would hold a strike vote to push back against the government’s attempt to reverse a recent B.C. Supreme Court decision, which struck down legislation that removed class size and composition from the teachers’ contract. The ruling also concluded the government attempted to provoke a teachers’ strike. On Wednesday, the Appeal Court temporarily stayed the ruling, which the province argued would be costly ◗Teachers Page 9
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Getting a workout: Framboise Canucci was having fun while chasing pigeons outside New Westminster’s River Market recently. The young tot was getting exercise while giving the pigeons a workout, as well.
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