Mystery ailment shuts down Surrey SPCA page 3
Metro to vote on smoking ban in parks page 10
Tuesday September 13, 2011 Serving Surrey and North Delta www.surreyleader.com
Quake rattles region
Surrey councillor was once a Liberal candidate
Steele under fire for Campbell’s Order of B.C.
Shaking felt in Cloverdale
by Kevin Diakiw A SURREY COUNCILLOR is under fire for endorsing the Order of B.C. nomination for former Premier Gordon Campbell. Surrey Coun. Barbara Steele is the president of the UBCM (Union of B.C. Municipalities) and, as such, was part of the team choosing which nominees received the honour. Steele ran for the Liberals under Campbell in Surrey-Whalley in the 2005 provincial election, losing to the NDP’s Bruce Ralston. In calling for nominations for B.C.’s highest honour, Lt.-Gov. Steven Point said in January “it avails us the opportunity to publicly recognize the good works of those in our communities who have gone above and beyond in their efforts to make all our lives better.” By March 10, there were 179 nominations. Fourteen of those were selected as winners, including Campbell, who resigned in the wake of the reviled Harmonized Sales Tax. Barbara Steele The fact that he was included continues to cause a public uproar. As of Monday, a Facebook site titled “Gordon Campbell does not Deserve the Order of BC award” had more than 5,200 people “liking” it. The nominations were received by an advisory committee headed by the Chief Justice of the B.C. Court of Appeal, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, the president of a B.C. university, an associate deputy minister, two previous Order of B.C. recipients and Gordon Campbell Steele. Stephanie Ryan, who will be running for council this year, says Steele is out of touch with her constituents by endorsing the Campbell nomination. Campbell, she said, has not been kind to Surrey, and she charges that Steele “is putting political cronyism ahead of what her constituents in Surrey would want. “Since Campbell’s appointment is so controversial, Councillor Steele owes the voters of Surrey an explanation as to why she went along with this decision,” Ryan said.
by Jeff Nagel A MAGNITUDE 6.3 earthquake that struck Friday off the west coast of Vancouver Island did no damage but left residents across southwestern B.C. trading stories about what they felt. The quake hit at 12:41 p.m. and was centered about 100 kilometres west of Tofino at a depth of 22 kilometres, according to Natural Resources Canada. Many residents in the Lower Mainland felt nothing, but others report feeling something like a helicopter passing overhead or the reverberation of a passing freight train or Gail Carr construction equipment. There are also reports of swaying buildings, signs and wires in parts of the Lower Mainland and employees ran out of some stores in Cloverdale. Residents on parts of Vancouver Island, including Campbell River, say they felt the quake strongly. “I was sitting at my computer and the whole house shook – the floor, the roof, everything,” Bowser resident Gail Carr said.
“I was sitting at my computer and the whole house shook.”
9/11 – Ten years after
BOAZ JOSEPH / THE LEADER
In a ceremony at Holland Park on Sunday, Surrey firefighters paid tribute to fallen comrades on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The New York City Fire Department lost 341 firefighters and two paramedics at the World Trade Center.
See QUAKE / Page 3
See STEELE / Page 4
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