Asian Star - December 31, 2016

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Vol 15 - Issue 48

Saturday, December 31, 2016

South Asian sisters arrested for blackmail

Jyoti & Kiran Matharoo

Two South Asian sisters from Toronto are in jail in Nigeria, facing accusations of extortion.

Judging from their lifestyle blog and Instagram accounts, Jyoti and Kiran Matharoo have spent the past several years living a glamorous life, posting photos in designer clothes, flying on private jets, staying in London or Paris, sitting court-side at Toronto Raptors games at the Air Canada Centre or at a polo match in Lagos, Nigeria. But last week, it seems the pair were arrested and detained in Lagos, accused of extortion in

connection to a website that allegedly published personal details of notable Nigerians, according to local news outlets that posted photos of what appear to be court documents. In the documents, the sisters apparently listed a home address in Toronto’s Etobicoke neighbourhood.

Specifically, Politics Nigeria reported that the Matharoos are accused of attempting to blackmail oil tycoon Femi Otedola, who Forbes listed among the richest billionaires in Africa this year.

Continued on Page 6...

Baloch leader denied admission to Canada for anti-Pakistan activities A refugee named by the BBC as one of the world’s 100 most “inspirational and influential” women in 2016 has had her asylum claim suspended by Ottawa because of her activism.

Karima Mehrab was recognized by the British Broadcasting Corporation for her “campaigns for independence for Balochistan,” an area that had been under the British rule until 1947 and was later acceded to Pakistan as one of the country’s four provinces.

Mehrab’s efforts are also what got the 33-year-old chair of the Baloch Students Organization (BSO), one of the groups behind the Balochistan separatist movement, into trouble in Canada.

Continued on Page 6...

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Star photo journalist Chandra Bodalia (middle), in action here at Premier Christy Clark’s Office, was honored by the South Asian community at a fundraising event last week. About $300,000 was raised to help pay for Bodalia’s cancer treatment.

‘Racist’ graffiti at Calgary Gurdwara A Gurdwara in Calgary has been spray-painted with “racist” graffiti and profanity by some unidentified persons, prompting the police to probe the incident as a hate crime. The graffiti was visible around six locations in and around the building of the gurdwara situated in 81st Street in Calgary.

Continued on Page 7...

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Saturday, December 31, 2016

$1M winning Lotto Max ticket remains unclaimed with deadline approaching Someone in Burnaby B.C. could be $1 million richer and their deadline to claim the prize is fast approaching.

A $1 million winning Lotto Max ticket was sold in Burnaby on Oct. 30, 2015, but it has not yet been claimed. The deadline to do so will be Oct. 30, 2016. The location where the ticket was sold will not be disclosed as that is part of the verification process.

Winners have one year from the draw date printed on the ticket to claim the prize so lottery players are being encouraged to check their pockets and drawers to see if they are

holding the winning ticket.

The B.C. Lottery Corporation (BCLC) says only four major prizes have gone unclaimed in B.C. since 2006 with a total of $534,572.70.

All four prizes matched five or more numbers so it was not the grand prize. The unclaimed prizes were $99,318.50 in 2006, $104,534.60 in 2008, $113,807 in 2009 and $219,912.60 in 2016. The BCLC says no top lottery prize in B.C. has ever gone unclaimed.

Last year, a winning $50-million Lotto Max ticket was presented to lottery officials, just days before the one-year deadline to claim the prize was set to expire.

In December, 2014, a woman filed a civil claim in B.C. Supreme Court, claiming her co-worker was hiding the ticket that was part of a workplace pool. However, the winners, Friedrich Mayrhofer, 67, his wife, Annand, and his son, Eric, tried to stay anonymous and claim the prize, but that’s against British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) rules.

Snow possible for Metro Vancouveron New Year’s Eve It looks like snow is on the way for Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley this New Year’s Eve. A new system from the northwest will bring rain and snow to the South Coast Saturday afternoon, meaning snow will fall in the interior.

In the Lower Mainland, higher elevations will see some wet snow Saturday afternoon and early evening.

Madryga says as it gets closer to midnight, there is also the chance of snow in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.

Madryga says Arctic air will follow beginning on Sunday, ushering in a stretch of several very cold, but mostly clear days and nights through most of the first week of 2017.

Temperatures will drop to the -5 to -10 degree range each night in Metro Vancouver, with highs struggling to only near zero.

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Survivors of fentanyl overdoses often suffer devastating brain damage Another troubling reality of the fentanyl crisis is emerging as the overdose epidemic ravages B.C. While hundreds are losing their life to the toxic drug, for those who survive, many face a new challenge.

While many lives have been lost to the fentanyl crisis, those who are fortunate enough to survive an overdose often suffer serious brain damage with little chance of making a full recovery.

At St. Paul’s Hospital, a patient named John survived a fentanyl overdose but his life is likely over.

“At this point in time that’s our assessment,” critical care doctor Delbert Dorscheid said. “He suffered an injury that is severe and we do not know what his recovery will be.”

Dorscheid said about 90 per cent of fentanyl overdose patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) have suffered brain trauma they will not recover from even though many received the life-saving antidote naloxone, also known as Narcan.

“When the paramedics come in and they do the rescue breathing and whether they can get enough Narcan into them or not, it doesn’t matter,” Dorscheid said. “They can restart the heart in a lot of these individuals but the brain has already suffered a catastrophic injury from the length of time — sometimes just minutes — that the brain has gone without adequate blood flow.”

Dorscheid said the overdose crisis is hitting

every demographic in British Columbia. He’s seen patients as young as 18 and as old as 60 suffer severe brain damage following an overdose.

According to reports, it costs about $5,000 a day to care for one brain injury patient in the ICU. “It’s a lot more problematic,” Dorscheid said. “These individuals stay within our acute care hospital system, so they stay in environments where they expect to get better

and they really won’t or don’t. And we have to, in the long term, manage how we’re going to help these people.”

It’s unclear if John, a young man in his 30s, will make it back home to his job, family and friends.

“Some of these people, it’s tragic. They end up in long-term institutions. To be honest, a lot of them will not have a meaningful life.

To use an old term, they’ll be in a vegetative state.”

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Opinion

Saturday, December 31, 2016

LNG guaranteed in 2016 with more to come in the new year

By Rich Coleman Minister of Natural Gas Development This was the year British Columbia secured a liquefied natural gas export industry.

The guarantee happened in November when Woodfibre LNG announced they will move forward their facility, representing $1.6 billion in new investment and hundreds of jobs. It marked the first confirmation that B.C.’s clean natural gas will reach markets in Asia.

It’s a project that joins the work already underway in Delta where FortisBC is expanding their facility to serve domestic needs and potential export. This expansion has already provided $60 million in contract work to over 100 companies and businesses in communities such as Vancouver, Langley, Abbotsford, and Coquitlam.

Both of these projects are a fraction of what’s on the horizon for B.C.’s economy should more, larger proposals move forward, including Pacific NorthWest LNG. The Pacific NorthWest LNG proposal, pending a confirmed final investment decision, would result in up to $36 billion in

new capital spending, 4,500 new construction jobs and close to 350 permanent positions. These benefits are in addition to the thousands of jobs created and sustained to support the proposal’s long-term operations and supply needs.

As 2016 concludes, we estimate over $20 billion has been invested by the industry so far. Companies have spent money to acquire natural gas assets and move development forward, facilitating growth and creating jobs.

Progress Energy, for instance, has spent upwards of $2 billion annually and supported 4,000 jobs in exploration and development for the Pacific NorthWest LNG proposal.

A scenario of five export facilities moving forward holds the prospect of $175 billion being invested in British Columbia - an unprecedented economic boost which we are capitalizing on.

Alongside economic growth, investments are also being made to build a cleaner natural gas sector. In 2016, the Government of British Columbia introduced a Clean Infrastructure Royalty Credit Program - the first of its kind in Canada - with royalty deductions of up

to $20 million attracting new private-sector funding for clean technologies. Once built and in operation, these projects will reduce greenhouse-gas emissions linked to the industry, complementing our commitment to have the cleanest LNG facilities in the world.

Moving forward, our new Climate Leadership Plan will guide efforts to limit emissions even more, including a plan to power operations in northeast B.C with electricity. Fully electrifying exploration activities in the Montney Basin, for example, could avoid up to 4 million tonnes of emissions per year, minimizing the greenhouse gas footprint of our province’s busiest resource area.

Since the BC Jobs Plan was released in 2011 we have been focused on developing a viable, competitive new industry to diversify our economy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help our natural gas sector grow.

It’s happening now, and we are just getting started. There is more work to complete as the industry diversifies.

Collaboration with First Nations is ongoing as we strengthen environmental stewardship programs and finalize economic benefits agreements. Partnerships with trades associations are also coming together to increase skills training for Aboriginal communities and for those interested in finding a career in the natural gas sector.

These are priorities the provincial government will be supporting in 2017 and beyond.

This was a banner year for British Columbia’s natural gas sector; our actions helped Woodfibre LNG announce they will move forward and they supported Pacific NorthWest LNG’s pending decision.

The LNG industry is a long-term commitment and one we will continue to promote globally at the next LNG Conference, Nov. 28 - 30, 2017.

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South Asian sisters arrested for blackmail Continued from Page 1...

The 54-year-old Nigerian businessman is chairman of Forte Oil Plc, an importer of fuel products, and the founder of Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd. He also owns a number of other businesses involved in shipping, real estate and finance. On Thursday came reports that two sisters, looking very playing without their sexy outfits and makeup publicly apologize to Femi Otedola.

In a video shared online by news website Politics Nigeria, Kiran and Jyoti Matharoo stand in all black as one of them reads a statement from the screen of a cellphone.

“We apologize to Femi Otedola and his family, especially his wife and children and all the other petitioners,” the statement begins.

“We created a platform called NaijaGistLive. com and .co where people can send in stories,” the statement continues. “Most stories were sent by close friends or associates of people being written about.”

“The intention was not to hurt anyone or to be malicious,” the statement goes on. “The intention was not to extort anyone. We haven’t received any money from this website.”

The Matharoos have been accused of

allegedly trying to blackmail billionaire Femi Otedola, with claims they had evidence of him cheating on his wife.

The sisters, who are from Toronto, are also reportedly accused of cyber-bullying more than 200 people based in various regions of Africa.

Global Affairs Canada confirmed on Tuesday that consular services are being

provided to “the Canadian citizens who have been detained in Lagos, Nigeria.”

However, the statement did not provide any more details, such as detained individuals’ identities, citing privacy concerns.

The Matharoo sisters have posted photos of their lavish lifestyle to Instagram, where their followers number in the thousands.

According to Politics Nigeria, the sisters appeared in court on Dec. 23. The website says their next scheduled court appearance will be on Jan. 26.

Global Affairs Canada confirmed on Tuesday that it was providing consular services “to the Canadian citizens who have been detained in Lagos, Nigeria.”

Spokeswoman Kristine Racicot declined to answer any questions about the case, “to protect the privacy of the individuals concerned.”

The case is reportedly set to resume next month, though it was not clear on Tuesday whether the two had been released on bail. Salem Moussallam, a Toronto stylist and model who said he is friends with the Matharoos, told that the sisters contacted him.

“They’re saying, ‘We’re all right. We’re fine.

We’ll come and see you — back soon. We’re going to be going to Vegas.’”

The two have grown a healthy following cataloguing their exploits: Kiran has 15,000 followers on Instagram; Jyoti, who also appears to go by Taranjot, has 36,000.

Baloch leader denied admission to Canada for anti-Pakistan activities Continued from Page 1...

Mehrab is facing an inadmissibility order by the Canada Border Services Agency because of the group’s involvement in “subversion” against the Pakistani government. Her asylum claim has been put on hold pending the outcome of an inadmissibility hearing by a refugee board tribunal in early 2017. The Baloch Students Organization is banned by Islamabad but it is

not among the terrorist entities listed by the Canadian government. Mehrab was scheduled to go forward with her refugee hearing in late October. Mehrab said she joined the organization in 2006 while attending Atta Shad Degree College in Turbat and climbed the ranks to lead the student group after the abduction of its former chair, Zahid Baloch, in 2014. After a year in hiding, she arrived

Canada in November 2015.

According Mehrab’s asylum claim, as the Pakistani military cracked down on the movement, her family home was attacked with mortar shells on at least three occasions and one of her cousins was abducted and tortured by officials looking for her.

“I feared for my life and the danger to my life was increasing daily. I am thankful to the

Canadian government officials that they helped me and a few of my other colleagues to move to this free country,” Mehrab said in her claim.

In their order, Canadian border officials said Mehrab is inadmissible on security grounds for being a member of an organization that engages, has engaged or will engage in an “act of subversion against a democratic government” as “understood in Canada.”

Happy New Year

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Puneet Sandhar with family

Newton Rotary Clubs blanket drive in partnership with Gurudwara Dukh Nivaran Sahib.

Puneet Sandhar is founding member of Surrey Newton Rotary.

Puneet Sandhar

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2017 BC Liberal Candidate for Surrey - Panorama Puneet Sandhar_BC Liberals

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‘Racist’ graffiti at Calgary Gurdwara

Continued from Page 1...

Police said a graffiti coordinator and a hate crime coordinator have been called in to investigate the vandalism. Meanwhile, the World Sikh Organisation (WSO) of Canada condemned the “racist vandalism” of the Sikh Society of Calgary that took place early previous Thursday morning and asked community members to remain vigilant and to report any suspicious activity around gurdwaras to the authorities. “The racist graffiti included a swastika and profanity,” the organisation said.

WSO vice-president for Alberta, and Calgary resident, Tejinder Singh Sidhu said, “While we are saddened to see the racist vandalism of the Sikh Society of Calgary, it comes at a time when we are seeing racist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic vandalism in several places across Canada.”

“These deplorable acts are motivated by ignorance and Canadians must stand in solidarity to ensure that racist and discriminatory rhetoric is loudly rejected,” Sidhu said. In January last year, a gurdwara in Edmonton was spray-painted with racist graffiti and earlier this year, anti-Sikh posters were posted at Alberta University.

BC’s job growth set to continue into 2017 2017 is ready to ring in where 2016 is leaving off for employment growth in British Columbia - and that's at the top spot in Canada.

Thanks to a Canada-leading job-growth rate of 3.0%, more than 69,000 jobs have been created in B.C. during the first 11 months of 2016 compared to the same period of last year. And with over 2.3 million people working in the province and the country's lowest unemployment rate, this good news is set to continue into the New Year.

For 2017, private sector financial institutes such as RBC Economics, BMO Capital Markets, Desjardins, Scotiabank along with the Conference Board of Canada are projecting that job growth in B.C., while moderate, will once again outpace Canada as a whole and will either be leading all other provinces or be right near the top.

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Saturday, December 31, 2016

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BC NDP candidate withdraws from race due to ‘sexism and harassment’ A Vancouver Island woman who was running to be a BC NDP candidate in the upcoming election has now withdrawn from the race citing sexism and harassment.

In a Facebook post, Georgia Collins, who was running to become the Cowichan Valley BC NDP candidate, says she wishes she could say her decision to withdraw is “unrelated to sexism and harassment” that she experienced during her campaign but that would not be the truth. Collins also states she was disappointed by the “party’s capacity to respond to such concerns.” Collins does not elaborate in her post about what happened to prompt her decision to withdraw.

BC NDP Treasurer Amber Hockin stated:

“We are disappointed about the circumstances surrounding Georgia Collins’ nomination campaign and her decision to withdraw.

She has raised concerns with us about the conduct of a private citizen who was part of her campaign team. We take those concerns seriously and are investigating the matter further.”

Collins thanks everyone who supported her and chose to speak out about their own experiences “despite pressure from people to stay silent and despite lawyers being marshalled to threaten expensive lawsuits.” She says stepping away from the campaign is the best decision for her and her children.

Unlicensed plastic surgery allegedly performed in North Delta home

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A North Delta home was raided last week after allegations were made that plastic surgery was being performed there without a license.

The B.C. Supreme Court issued a search and seizure order on Dec. 20 after the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC investigated a possible case of the unlicensed practice of medicine at the location.

It’s not known exactly what procedures were being done at the home, but doctors say the case is alarming.

“I think it’s probably pretty rare, but very concerning,” plastic surgeon Dr. Sheina Macadam said. “Any time a patient is getting any kind of anesthetic, whether it’s local sedation or general anesthetic, there’s

inherent risk. A patient could have an allergic reaction to one of the medications that is being administered. The other question is the instrument that the practitioner is using – is that instrument sterile?”

This was the question when a phony dentist was found to be operating out of a Burnaby home in 2013. In 2015, the College also found an unregistered doctor was administering Botox.

In B.C., you need to be a licensed dentist, physician, nurse or a licensed practical nurse to administer Botox.

The College says more information about the North Delta case will be released once the investigation is complete.

LOCAL

Saturday, December 31, 2016

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Trudeau’s Liberals say no donation rules broken in China corruption case The Liberal Party of Canada has rejected allegations that party leaders continued to accept political support from a man China considers to be a fugitive after they were warned in 2013 that the prominent Vancouver developer and party donor was using his cash to make “inroads� in Canada’s political system while being pursued by China on political corruption charges.

A new story from the South China Morning Post, citing an email leaked by a party insider, alleges that the Liberals were warned in 2013 that Ching was an alleged fugitive from China but the party continued to accept official donations from Ching and to benefit from major fundraising events attended by Justin Trudeau and organized by a politically active youth group called Tru-Youths. Michael Ching has refuted those charges as recently as April 2015.

The Tru-Youths were for a time directed by his daughter Linda. According to the South China Morning Post, after the 2013 warning the Tru-Youths helped “orchestrate largescale Chinese community events for the party that are believed to have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars.�

Blaine Calkins, Conservative MP and ethics critic, said the allegations fit in with the so-called “cash for access� questions the Liberals have recently faced in Parliament, in connection to donations from wealthy and politically connected foreigners.

Calkins said: “If what is being reported is true ‌ Canadians would be surprised the Liberal party is basically working with this individual to raise money.â€?

Ching’s name was publicized internationally in 2015 after he was named on China’s political

corruption wanted list. But years before China’s case against Ching was revealed, he quietly came to Vancouver and became a prominent developer. As Postmedia has reported, while working with former Liberal MP and top party fundraiser Raymond Chan, Ching and his daughter Linda rose quickly in Liberal power circles, around the time that Trudeau announced his party leadership run in 2012.

The Post cites an email leaked by a former Liberal executive that shows since December 2013 a number of Liberals were warned via email about Ching’s alleged background. It says the 2013 email identifies Ching’s Canadian name and his alternative identity in China, and says that Canadian authorities are seeking to expel him, while Chinese authorities actively pursue him.

According to the Post, the email also alleges: “Mu Yang Cheng (a.k.a. Michael Mo Yeung Ching) has been trying hard to use his money to make inroads to Canadian political system.

His biggest break came when Raymond Chan, ex-MP of Richmond, one of the major organizers for Justin Trudeau’s leadership run in B.C., connected Michael Ching and his daughter Linda Ching with Justin Trudeau and his B.C. leadership handlers.�

Ching’s lawyer, David Lunny, was not immediately available to comment for this story but in 2015 told The Vancouver Sun his client “denies all allegations of wrongdoing.�

Chan did not return a call for comment. “The party has previously reviewed matters referenced by the South China Morning Post

and is confident that all Elections Canada rules have been fully respected,� party spokesman Troy Aharonian said in an email Thursday. “All contributions made to the Liberal Party of Canada by individuals attending the events that are referenced were made, processed, and transparently reported in accordance with the Canada Elections Act.�

The email cited and published by the Post does not identify the source of anonymous warnings made to the Liberals in 2013. But the leaked email adds weight to claims already made by party insiders. One claim from inside the Liberal party,

is that in 2014 Liberal party leaders in B.C. had received email advisories directly from Chinese authorities, which said Ching was a fugitive wanted for political corruption.

The Liberals did not respond to a question on these alleged early warnings from China.

None of the allegations against Ching has been tried in court.

Information from party insiders, is that Linda Ching’s former budding political career in B.C. was backed by her father and Chan.

Linda Ching was president of B.C.’s Young Liberals of Canada until mid-2015. Corporate records from 2015 show Linda Ching was one of Tru-Youth’s five directors. One of the other listed directors shares an address with Chan.

Insiders said the group’s name was short for “Trudeau Youths.�

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BC students continue to excel and finish high school More B.C. students are performing well and completing high school, as confirmed by three annual Ministry of Education reports released today. The trio of annual reports look at graduation and completion rates, provincial exam results and Aboriginal student achievement across all B.C. schools.

The first report on graduation rates for 2015-16 shows that more students are graduating on time, with completion rates up almost two points from 2011-12. Eighty four percent of B.C. students are graduating, and more Aboriginal students and students with special needs are graduating now than ever before.

The second report on 2016 Provincial exam grades shows that all students in grades 10-12 continue to test well in courses with provincial exams. Two percent more students got a C+ or better on the English 10 exam this year than in 2011-12. In English 12, the number of students earning a C+ or better also increased by two points.

The third report shows that Aboriginal students are also finding greater success.

The Aboriginal student completion rate has improved steadily over the past five years, and more than 85% of Aboriginal students received passing grades in all key grade 10-12 courses.

Surrey RCMP and multi-agency CounterAttack campaign This Friday December 30th, the Surrey RCMP, in partnership with the Integrated Road Safety Unit (IRSU, Langley RCMP and the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) are continuing CounterAttack enforcement efforts and positive ticketing.

Officers will be looking for impaired drivers at several CounterAttack road checks throughout the region and will be handing out free coffee coupons to those designated drivers getting passengers home safely.

“Impaired driving crashes are preventable incidents, yet impaired driving remains in the top three of contributing factors for fatal crashes in BC, says Cpl. Scotty Schumann.

“When celebrating with alcohol this year help

us reverse these statistics by making good choices.”

“If your holiday festivities involve alcohol, plan ahead for a safe ride home,” says Karen Klein, local ICBC road safety coordinator.

“Arrange a designated driver, call a taxi, take transit or use Operation Red Nose. There are many options to get home safely.”

On average, forty percent of all impairedrelated crashes take place between 9pm and 3am, and men account for seventy percent of all impaired drivers in crashes.

If you see an impaired driver, pull over when safe and call 9-1-1. If you can, have the suspect vehicle description and direction of travel ready for the police dispatcher.

Surrey RCMP arrest a group of people that illegally entered Canada A group of people illegally entering Canada were caught two blocks away from the U.S. border by Surrey RCMP Thursday night. The United States Border Patrol contacted Surrey RCMP at approximately 10 p.m., notifying

police that a group of six people illegally entered Canada near the 184 Street and 0 Avenue intersection. The RCMP’s canine unit found the group in a residential yard near the 184 Street and 2 Avenue intersection.

Housing minister says tent cities need faster shut down responses to prevent growth B.C. Housing Minister Rich Coleman says he learned valuable lessons from the government’s handling of a homeless camp on the lawn at Victoria’s courthouse, and one of those lessons is acting more quickly to provide housing for people who are looking for it.

Victoria’s camp saw more than 100 homeless people build a village of tents, fences and fires on provincial property in the middle of an affluent, tree-lined downtown neighbourhood.

Neighbours complained of rats and used syringes, while the residents of the socalled tent city and homeless activists said the camp was a real-life snapshot of the lack of shelter space and housing for vulnerable people.

“The one lesson we learned is, as we dealt with some on these tent cities, is early intervention and understanding the clientele,” Coleman said in a recent telephone interview.

“I think we maybe could have done a better job on that in Victoria.”

The first tents arrived at the courthouse lawn in November 2015 and the final tent did not come down until mid-August of this year. The government applied twice to the B.C. Supreme Court for injunctions to shut down the camp. Coleman said he doesn’t advocate breaking up the camps without being able to provide housing, but in Victoria new people kept arriving at the tent city as the government found shelter space for campers.

“Part of it is knowing and understanding your clientele, but also moving quickly, which

we did in Victoria to find facilities and space for people but we were seeing ... an influx of people who were back filling what we were doing,” he said.

B.C. ended up spending more than $25 million to purchase and renovate properties to provide more than 190 spaces for homeless people in Victoria, including shelter and living units at a former youth jail, a community centre and a former seniors’ care facility.

“I think part of it is to make sure you are always looking at your inventory to see what might be out there if you have a spike,” Coleman said.

Coleman said recent downturns in provincial economies in Western Canada have caused a rise in homeless numbers in B.C. “In the last 18 months we’ve seen an influx of people into the province who are ending up homeless because they are coming here without knowing whether they have a job or not,” Coleman said. “We have seen an uptick and it does create a challenge for us.”

The Housing Ministry’s website says B.C. committed $855 million this year to support the construction of 5,000 units of affordable rental housing. Since 2001, B.C. has spent $4.9 billion to provide affordable housing for low income individuals, seniors and families, it says. These funds include the most recent boost of 68 housing projects, financed through a $516-million housing fund that was announced by Premier Christy Clark in September.

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Human remains found in wooded area in Nordel Way Investigators are combing a site in Delta for clues after human remains were found Wednesday.

According to a release from Delta Police, a passerby spotted the remains in the 10700-block of Nordel Way just before 11 a.m. and called police.

Officers who attended the wooded area Wednesday confirmed the remains are human. Major Crimes investigators were then called in to search the site, which is adjacent to a residential complex. Delta Police is now working with the B.C. Coroners Service

to determine the gender and identity of the deceased person.

Investigators remained on scene Thursday and were expected to be there for some time.

No further information has been released.

Addicts now using needles from naloxone kits to shoot drugs, say paramedics Naloxone has been lauded by the health care community as a life saver, especially during the recent fentanyl epidemic that has swept over B.C. But, a disturbing new trend has many disappointed.

Paramedics now say addicts are frequently using the needles from the naloxone kits distributed across the Downtown Eastside to inject street drugs.

“Syringes are being used to inject drugs, and when they do that, they render the kit useless in the sense that they don’t have a needle to inject the Narcan that will save their life,” says Dave Leary, a paramedic.

“I think it’s horrific. I think that it’s a very unfortunate turn of circumstances.”

Over 18,703 naloxone kits have been handed out at the cost of over $1 million to taxpayers. The drug is a powerful antidote to opioid overdoses and can reverse the deadly drugs’ effect within minutes.

“If the government thinks that naloxone kits themselves are going to stop this crisis, clearly they’re not,” NDP public safety critic, Mike Farnworth, said.

The B.C. Ministry of Health says it has not heard about a misuse of naloxone kits.

“This is not a concern that has been raised to the Joint Task Force… the program has saved hundreds of lives,” the Ministry said in a statement.

More than 755 people have died from illicit drugs in B.C. this year and there have been over 6,000 recorded overdoses in Vancouver alone.

Paramedics now say addicts are mixing naloxone with deadly street drugs, hoping the cocktail won’t kill them.

They say it’s creating a false sense of security.

“We as a professional body don’t feel it’s the magic bullet. People are still dying and in greater numbers than has ever been seen before,” Leary added.

2016 to linger an extra second on New Year’s Eve There are many who can’t wait to see an end to a troubled, turbulent 2016, but international timekeepers will make them hold on a second longer.

It’s taking Earth just a little longer to make its daily rotation, so 2016 will get a leap second on New Year’s Eve to match the planet’s travel

with precise atomic clocks. Experts say the moon’s gravitational forces and warmer, denser waters from El Nino are among the reasons it’s taking Earth fractionally longer to circle on its axis each day.

Timekeepers announced in July, that on Dec. 31, at 11:59 p.m. and 59 seconds Coordinated Universal Time (6:59 p.m. Eastern Time, 3:59 p.m. Pacific Time), the next second will become 11:59:60. Ringing in the new year will have to hold on for another second in the United Kingdom, western Europe and parts of Africa.

Leap seconds are fairly common. Since 1972, 26 additional leap seconds have been added at intervals varying from six months to seven years, with the most recent being inserted on June 30, 2015, according to records compiled by the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service.

For those wringing their hands over a year of shocking terror attacks, relentless celebrity deaths and a highly divisive U.S. election, the extra second may be bad news, but it can also wreak havoc with communication and cloud networks and financial systems that rely on precise timing. Machines see the leap second as time going backwards, which can cause system errors and crashes.

Google is tackling the issue by stretching time rather than adding a second.

“No commonly used operating system is able to handle a minute with 61 seconds, and trying to special-case the leap second has caused many problems in the past,” Michael Shields, technical lead of Google’s time team wrote in a blog last month.

“Instead of adding a single extra second to the end of the day, we’ll run the clocks 0.0014 per cent slower across the ten hours before and ten hours after the leap second, and ‘smear’ the extra second across these twenty hours.

For timekeeping purposes, December 31 will seem like any other day.”

LOCAL

11

12

LOCAL

Saturday, December 31, 2016

VPD detective James Fisher charged with sexual exploitation and sex assault A veteran Vancouver police detective, who in 2015 received a special citation for his work on a sexual exploitation investigation, has been charged with sexual exploitation.

Det. Const. James Fisher was arrested Wednesday and faces three counts of sexual exploitation, one count of sexual assault, one count of breach of trust and one count of attempt to obstruct justice, according to court documents obtained.

Vancouver Police Chief Const. Adam Palmer said one of the alleged victims is a juvenile and another an adult.

Palmer called the charges against Fisher “very troubling news” and said they are “not reflective of the other members of the police department,” at a hastily called news conference on Thursday.

In 2015, Fisher received a Chief Constable Unit Citation for “extraordinary dedication” for his work in the Counter Exploitation Unit.

He was the lead investigator in the unit’s recent human trafficking investigation that led to the conviction in September 2014 of Reza Moazami of 30 counts of prostitution and sex assault-related offences involving 11 young women between 14 and 19 years old.

Reza Moazami convicted of human trafficking in teen prostitution case Fisher received special recognition from the provincial government for “exemplary leadership in community safety and crime

prevention.”

Palmer said a fellow officer came forward with concerns about Fisher in March of this year and an investigation was immediately called at that time.

“The details I can share are limited, as the matter is before the courts,” said Palmer of the charges Fisher now faces.

Palmer also said that B.C.’s Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner was also involved in the case from the beginning.

“It is rare for a VPD officer to be charged with offences such as these,” said Palmer. “There is no information to suggest that another officer was involved.”

The charges against Fisher relate to allegations from August 2015 to November of this year. Palmer denied that any Creep Catcher group — those that look to use false online social media accounts to out sexual predators — were involved in Fisher’s case.

But Vancouver’s top cop did say that because Fisher was involved in numerous investigations, the force will be reviewing those.

Fisher appeared in court Thursday morning, but the details of his bail hearing are subject to a publication ban.

The conditions of his bail, however, do prevent him from contacting the alleged victims as well as several other people and agencies listed in the court documents.

His next appearance is scheduled for January 24, at Surrey Provincial Court.

Calgary police seize 35,321 fentanyl pills in record drug bust Calgary police made a massive fentanyl bust just before Christmas, seizing a record 35,321 pills from a home in the southwest — more than three times the previous benchmark.

Search warrants were executed Dec. 23 at a Richmond Road S.W. home and on a 2011 Jeep Compass connected to the case, which had been reported stolen out of Strathmore, Alta.

Along with the fentanyl pills — which police said are worth an estimated $706,000 on the street — the search turned up cocaine worth an estimated $40,000, methamphetamine worth an estimated $22,000, heroin worth an estimated $9,000 and varying amounts of marijuana, MDMA, Oxycodone tablets and morphine.

Another 70 pills were found, which police are still working to identify. A search of the Jeep also turned up $37,115 in cash.

“This is a huge win for the Calgary Police Service,” said Insp. Mark Hatchette.

“I’m not going to sit here and say this is going to create a vacuum where there’s no fentanyl on the street to be purchased,” he said. “What I am saying is there are 35,000-plus pills that will not be used by addicts, and they’re not going to die because of that.”

Police said a man was found inside a bedroom in the home and was reaching for a shotgun when he was arrested.

Seven weapons were seized, including three 12-gauge shotguns, two rifles, a

handgun and a crossbow. Various amounts of ammunition and multiple sets of body armour were also found in the home.

The weapons are being tested to see if they were used in any other crimes, said Hatchette, adding the handgun was not reported stolen.

“Because of that, we believe it was smuggled into the country illegally,” he said.

“It’s not registered at all, to anybody.

These are types of things we see in these criminal organizations where these firearms become a valuable commodity to protect the product you see in front of you.”

David Hillson Pratico, 31, of Calgary is now facing more than two dozen drug and

weapons-related offences.

Hatchette said police believe Pratico is part of a criminal group.

“We believe he is top of the totem pole for this organization,” he said.

“We will be following it up and looking to see if there are other people out there like him. We would be remiss to think there aren’t. There are, and we have multiple operations on the go with different individuals.”

LOCAL

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Chrystia Freeland set for trade talks with China International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland says Canada is tentatively booked to begin talks with China in February as the two countries explore a free trade agreement.

In September, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang announced the start of exploratory talks with the goal of doubling trade between the two countries by 2025.

“China is very much a focus,” Freeland told in an interview. She’s also hoping to hold talks with the U.K.’s trade secretary, Liam Fox, as that country wiggles out of the European Union. British Prime Minister Theresa May has said the U.K. will trigger the formal process for leaving the European Union before the end of March.

“It’s going to be really hard to figure out a

new trading relationship with Britain, with anyone, until it knows the conditions of its relationship with the EU,” said Freeland.

The U.K. was among the strongest supporters of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), the mammoth trade accord between Canada and the EU, and she said the country will be covered by it when the deal enters into force.

“We are committed, and so are the British, to maintaining or increasing that closeness of a trading relationship,” Freeland said. “I’m hopeful that Dr. Fox is going to come and visit me in Canada early in the new year.”

On this side of the Western Hemisphere, the often-fraught softwood lumber file will likely keep the trade minister busy with discussions. The previous agreement expired in the fall of 2015. A one-year standstill period prohibiting trade actions expired Oct. 12. The U.S. Commerce Department agreed earlier this month to begin an investigation of Canadian lumber trade practices following a complaint by U.S. industry.

“It’s not over till it’s over,” Freeland said.

“We’re still talking.”

Freeland said the U.S. sent in a new proposal at the start of December and Canada is working on its response.

Injection site worries prompt Nanaimo city hall shutdown City officials closed Nanaimo’s city hall Thursday after safety concerns were raised about an unauthorized supervised injection site operating from a tent in the parking lot.

The tent was opened Dec. 26 by volunteers, including two city councillors, to try to reduce the risk of overdoses, which have claimed at least 25 lives in the city this year.

Nanaimo City Manager Tracy Samra said the decision to close city hall and another municipal building was made after consulting RCMP, bylaw and fire services.

“I’m cognizant of the public health crisis that we have here,” Samra said. “I don’t want to escalate this unnecessarily but I am obligated by law to take steps to protect the public.”

Samra said staff and CUPE union members

raised concerns about the city’s obligations to ensure a safe workplace and the potential risk of contact with drugs containing fentanyl or carfentanil.

City Councillor Gord Fuller, who helped set up the supervised injection site, said he didn’t understand the basis for safety concerns.

“We’re right beside a bluff where there’s been known drug use for years as well as homeless camps at times,” Fuller said. “It’s not like the issue did not exist beforehand.”

Fuller said about 30 people had already used the pop-up supervised injection site Thursday by mid-afternoon.

He said it would remain in place until Island Health fulfills its commitment to set up its own overdose prevention site, as authorized by the B.C. Government in a ministerial order Dec. 12.

Island Health stated it is seeking a location for an overdose prevention site and hopes to open it by early next week.

Meanwhile, Samra said the City of Nanaimo will try reopening city hall and the Service and Resource Centre (SARC) Friday. Security officers will be on site to respond if city employees or citizens have concerns about moving around the parking lot where the injection site is set up.

13

President Donald Trump turns off Canadian travellers Nearly a third of Manitobans want to stay away from President Donald J. Trump.

A new poll by Probe Research and the Winnipeg Free Press shows about 29 per cent of Manitobans, or roughly 200,000 people, will avoid travel to the United States after Trump is sworn in as president on Jan. 20, 2017.

The number is high enough to be a warning for border cities that rely on Canadian shoppers and tourists, said Scott MacKay, president of Winnipeg-based Probe Research.

Justin Trudeau invites Donald Trump to visit Canada in call that marks ‘strong beginning’ “200,000 people, if they were all to follow through on that, that would have a very large impact on the travel, tourism and hospitality businesses,” he said.

The Probe poll was conducted over the phone between Nov. 29, 2016 and Dec. 11, 2016 and with a sample size of 1,000 people.

One can say with 95 per cent certainty that the results are within plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

More women than men said they would avoid travel to the U.S. under Trump. Nearly half, or 49 per cent, of middle-aged women (aged 35 to 54) surveyed said they were now less likely to travel to the U.S. That demographic is an important one for businesses that rely on cross-border shoppers, said Barry Wilfahrt, president of the Grand Forks and East Grand Forks Chamber of

Commerce. The metropolitan region straddles the border of Minnesota and North Dakota and is located about 230 kilometres south of Winnipeg. Canadians represent about 20 per cent of overall retail sales and between a quarter and a third of all hotel business in Grand Forks, according to the chamber.

“Anything that could potentially adversely affect the Canadian travel to the United States, particularly to Grand Forks, it’s obviously a concern to us,” said Wilfahrt.

Those who used to be the most likely to travel to the States — such as more affluent South Winnipeggers — were the most anti-Trump, said MacKay. For instance, 62 per cent of those who said they were less likely to travel Stateside under a Trump administration earn $60,000 or more a year.

“They are people who are a little more affluent, they come from places like South Winnipeg and other places that tend to go down to Fargo and Grand Forks a lot to visit,” he said. “That’s going to have some kind of implications for the U.S. and travel and tourism.”

While pollsters didn’t look outside Manitoba to see what sentiments were across the country, Manitoba could be a bellweather.

“Manitoba is very often the average place in Canada. I don’t think Manitoba would be that different from anywhere else,” said MacKay.

14

LOCAL

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Majority of Canadians say ties to monarchy should be cut when Queen dies: poll A majority of Canadians now believe that when Queen Elizabeth II dies and Prince Charles ascends to the throne, Canada should cut ties with the monarchy. A new poll, conducted by Ipsos on behalf of Global News, has revealed that 53 per cent of us think it may soon be time to bid farewell to the monarch as our head of state.

That’s the highest number recorded since 2010, noted Sean Simpson, vice-president of Ipsos Public Affairs, and a 10-point jump since last September — when Prince William and Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, were visiting Canada with their children.

The numbers make sense, Simpson said, when you consider all of the major royal milestones over the last five years. There’s been a wedding, the births of two children (including a likely future king), the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and two royal tours of Canada by Will and Kate.

“Almost every year there’s a big function, a

Francophone BC man denied trial in French

big celebration, which tends to inflate support for the Queen and the monarchy,” Simpson said.

“Polls that we tend to do about the monarchy are done around these exciting times, so we actually capture inflated (support) … we thought it might be interesting to run the survey now at the end of the year when there’s nothing particular happening in the news that would have Canadians excited.”

Calls to dump the monarchy were, as usual, loudest in Quebec, where 73 per cent of respondents said the links to Britain should be severed upon the Queen’s death — compared to between 44 and 51 per cent in all the other provinces. The sentiments in Quebec are rooted in hundreds of years of history, Simpson said. “It goes all the way to the Plains of Abraham. French Canada was essentially conquered by English Canada, so Quebecers are in a sense ruled by a monarch that historically they didn’t support.”

English, with interpretation if necessary.

Blok ruled there is not “ongoing significant” infringement of Bessette’s rights to have his trial heard in English.

“The decision of the learned judge below is not so obviously wrong, if indeed it is wrong at all, that it merits immediate intervention by this court,” the decision says.

The judge also left the door open for Bessette to appeal the language decision after his trial is complete.

Bessette argued that prolonging the court action with an appeal would be “absurd” because a second trial could be avoided if the potential language issue was dealt with by the B.C. Supreme Court.

But Blok disagreed, saying the lower court had every right to rule on the language issue.

“The provincial court may have been right or it may have been wrong in its ruling — a matter on which I express no opinion — but it was competent to make the ruling it did,” he writes.

Red light texting still a problem in Canada, says CAA

YVR traveller traffic set to top record at 22 million Vancouver’s International Airport is booming, with a predicted total of 22 million passengers passing through its security gates in 2016, breaking all previous traffic records.

That’s nearly two million more than in 2015, when the airport saw 20.3 million passengers come through.

The total number of holiday travellers has not yet been tallied, said Vancouver Airport media relations representative Terry Chou.

But the average seen during the peak Christmas period beginning Dec. 19 and ending Dec. 31 is predicted to be about 70,000 passengers.

Top holiday destinations include Calgary,

A judge in British Columbia has ruled against a Francophone man’s bid to have his trial heard in French.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Murray Blok said in a written decision released Wednesday that the man who applied for a judicial review of his request did not prove that a lower court made a mistake in refusing him a French-language trial.

Joseph Bessette is disputing a charge of driving while prohibited dating back to September 2014, and asserts his right to have a trial in French.

Bessette applied for the right in provincial court, claiming he can request his trial be conducted in either of Canada’s official languages, but the judge refused. “[Bessette] says the trial judge is directly implicated in the violation of what he describes as his quasi-constitutional language rights,” the decision says.

The Crown claimed at both hearings that because the alleged offence falls under provincial law instead of the federal Criminal Code, it can only be tried in

Toronto, Hawaii, Mexico, Southern California and the Asia-Pacific region.

Chou said Vancouver Airport is on a trajectory toward 25 million passengers per year by 2020. Much of the current increase is due to Air Canada’s expansion of transpacific flights, which makes up about 50 per cent of the passenger traffic through Vancouver Airport.

The airport saw a myriad of firsts this year with inaugural flights to Nanjing, China that began Dec. 20.

The year-round service will operate three times weekly to Nanjing Lukou International Airport.

Canadians are still texting while behind the wheel, despite increased financial penalties and the threat of demerit points, according to a recent survey by the Canadian Automobile Association.

Justin Labrash is a young driver, who has had his license for about two years now. For him, the risks of texting and driving aren’t worth it.

“I think it’s really stupid.

There’s just no point in doing it,” Labrash said, adding there are plenty of places to pull over.

Nearly one-third of Canadians who took the CAA poll said they had texted while

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stopped at a red light in the last month.

Jeff Walker, the vice-president of public affairs at the CAA, says the numbers are troubling. He said the effect of texting at a red light lingers well after the light turns green, making it a dangerous driving habit.

It’s harder for Labrash to determine where to draw the line when it comes to cellphone use at red lights.

“In cities, I don’t really think it’s a good idea. Smaller towns, when it’s not busy — it still shouldn’t be done, but it’s a little bit less dangerous.”

However, he said strict laws are in place for a reason. Labrash said that if his friends attempt to text and drive while he is in the car, he doesn’t let it happen.

“I don’t want to be the victim who’s in the back seat when somebody’s being dumb.”

The CAA survey showed that close to 70 per cent of Canadians believe using their phone at a red light is unacceptable. CAA polled 2,012 Canadians for its survey.

The margin of error is plus or minus 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Saskatchewan’s current law only penalizes people who use their phones when driving, but that’s changing come the new year.

In 2017, Saskatchewan residents could be penalized for viewing, manipulating and even holding their phones while behind the wheel.

Regina resident Jodi Nicholson-Hachey welcomed the added restrictions, and said she thinks cellphone use in the car is more common than people would like to admit.

“If we are distracted for a second really bad things can happen, and I’m guilty, as are many people.”

She noted that phones are like an appendage for some people, but drivers should leave them alone while in the car.

Nicholson-Hachey’s concern extends beyond herself. “I have a young driver who’s just about to start driver training, and I think it’s really important for them to not be on that phone.” The new Saskatchewan laws come into effect Jan. 1 at 12:01 a.m. CST

LOCAL

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Winter conditions testing patience of Lower Mainland residents Lower Mainland residents and city workers are still trying to clean up after the latest snowfall. Snow accumulation during December has created a number of problems for residents in higher elevations and hard-to-

reach areas like local streets and lanes.

Cars were abandoned after getting stuck in the snow Tuesday night, and many remain immovable as they sit fixed on road shoulders and driveways.

Jerry Dubrovolny with the city of Vancouver said snow and ice removal crews have been catching up on plowing local roads, moving their way through their route priorities.

He said workers have worked 14-hour shifts, and are slowly making progress with the steep, narrow, and icy back alleys which have not been safely accessible.

Curbside recycling, garbage, and green bin collection have been disrupted in parts of Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey, and Delta.

Some Burnaby residents say they have not had any collection services for weeks.

While workers continue their collection efforts, the City of Vancouver is offering residents free drop-offs for household garbage at the Vancouver South Transfer Station.

Residents and businesses are responsible for keeping their sidewalks clear of snow and ice, but many sidewalks have been neglected this winter.

The BC Fire Fighters Union has noted an increase in falls due to slippery conditions.

“We are waiting an hour on the side of the street with someone wrapped in blankets,” said Dustin Bourdeaudhuy, vice-president of Vancouver Fire Fighters’ Union local 18.

“It’s frustrating for people, it’s frustrating for us cause we’re tied up at these calls.

People want an ambulance and they end up driving themselves to the hospital.”

Bourdeaudhuy said in some cases, ambulances and fire trucks simply can’t make their way onto snow-packed side streets, or can’t risk going up or down hilly roads that haven’t been plowed.

“It’s a difficult situation because there’s so many roads in the city, they can only plow so many so quickly, and they need the main arteries done.

“But for people having medical emergencies or a fire, it delays the response, and that affects outcomes.”

While some people may be neglecting their civic duty, the Vancouver Snow Angels organization recognizes that seniors and people with limited mobility may have trouble keeping their sidewalks clean, and therefore can receive the free service when calling 3-1-1.

David MacKenzie, volunteer coordinator for the Vancouver chapter, said the Snow Angels have received around 300 requests this season.

“It’s important for us to find a way to clear as many sidewalks as we can, because there are people who are bound in their homes, because they aren’t able to travel on the public sidewalks,” MacKenzie said.

MacKenzie said the Snow Angels could use more volunteers, especially with snow in the forecast for the first few days of the new year.

15

Vancouver residents question why bike lanes are clear but sidewalks remain icy Some Vancouver residents are frustrated after the city cleared bike lanes of ice before sidewalks.

Pedestrians navigated the icy walkways along the False Creek Seawall on Tuesday, with many we spoke to saying it looks like the City of Vancouver has not put down nearly enough sand or salt.

“I think it’s really treacherous here,” said one person who was out walking in Olympic Village. “It’s surprising they haven’t cleared this. I’m slipping and sliding.”

However, the adjacent bikeway is mostly clear of ice and snow and people have noticed a similar situation in other areas of the city since the winter weather hit.

The False Creek Seawall is public property and the City of Vancouver is responsible for clearing it. The City of Vancouver says some pedestrian pathways next to bike lanes have been missed as priority areas are dealt with.

The city did tell Global News, however, that crews will salt those areas on Wednesday.

They did not say what those priority areas were.

One civil lawyer says potential slips and falls could lead to more snow and injury claims this year.

“Now you have bikes on bike paths as well coming around a corner not expecting pedestrians,” said Chris Carta with the Trial Lawyers Advocacy Group. “It’s a recipe for disaster.”

Winnipeg man rides dog sled through suburbia to Jingle Bells — the Bollywood edition They’re no reindeer, but Grip Singh says don’t be fooled — these dogs pull just the same.

Titan, a four-year-old Alaskan malamute, and Isis, a seven-year-old Belgian Malinois, have been pulling Singh through his suburban Winnipeg neighbourhood every year for Christmas.

Singh, dressed in a Santa suit, started the tradition seven years ago. “The kids get a kick out of it,” he said. “They have a lot of questions for mom and dad.” This year Singh posted a video of his ride through Amber Trails in Winnipeg on

YouTube. He said the result has been overwhelmingly positive.

“I’m a Sikh man and I wear a turban and stuff and they find it hilarious that there’s this guy dressed up as a Santa Claus and he’s wearing a turban and stuff.”

Singh said the East Indian Christmas music he added to the video he posted online tops it off. He’s considering putting a speaker on his sleigh next year to play it on his journey.

“They’re like, ‘Is he confused or what is it?’” Singh said in an era of bad news, why focus on the negative?

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16

LOCAL

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Boxing Day storm blankets Metro Vancouver in snow Snow and fog blanketed much of the Lower Mainland by noon Boxing Day as a Pacific storm moved southeast down the B.C. coast after hitting landfall on the north coast.

By Monday afternoon, the snow was affecting TransLink bus routes in places such as Burnaby Mountain and steep roads higher up on the North Shore.

And at 3 p.m., the company announced HandyDart was operating only essential service — for renal and cancer patients — in

all areas because of road conditions.

Snow was also causing delays, detours and skipped stops on routes lower down, with the C3 Quayside/Victoria Hill run in New Westminster temporarily suspended at 12:30 p.m.

“With colder, snowy weather & icy conditions in many areas, pls use caution & remember to dress warmly in anticipation of potential delays,” TransLink said via Twitter.

Vancouver International Airport spokesman Chris Devauld said crews were busy clearing runways throughout the day, but that operations were back to normal later in the afternoon. “We saw some delays (Monday), but it wasn’t too bad.

We encourage people to check with their airlines before going to the airport and to give themselves a bit of extra time.”

Devauld said it’s a busy time of the year at the airport and that Tuesday will also be busy. “There’s no snow in the forecast.”

Rich Coleman admits government could have responded faster to Victoria’s tent city B.C. Housing Minister Rich Coleman says he learned valuable lessons from the government’s handling of a homeless camp on the lawn at Victoria’s courthouse, and one of those lessons is acting more quickly to provide housing for people who are looking for it.

The camp saw more than 100 homeless people build a village of tents, fences and fires on provincial property in the middle of an affluent, tree-lined downtown neighbourhood.

Neighbours complained of rats and used syringes, while the residents of the so-called tent city and homeless activists said the camp was a real-life snapshot of the lack of shelter space and housing for vulnerable people.

“The one lesson we learned is, as we dealt with some on these tent cities, is early intervention and understanding the clientele,” Coleman said in a recent telephone interview.

“I think we maybe could have done a better

job on that in Victoria.”

The first tents arrived at the courthouse lawn in November 2015 and the final tent did not come down until midAugust of this year. The government applied twice to the B.C. Supreme Court for injunctions to shut down the camp.

The first application was rejected because the government did not adequately prove there were better options for the tent city’s residents, but the second injunction was granted after the government proved safety conditions had deteriorated. “We probably could have had more information for the judge to be able to make the decision to allow us to vacate the camp earlier,” Coleman said.

Coleman said he doesn’t advocate breaking up the camps without being able to provide housing, but in Victoria new people kept arriving at the tent city as the government found shelter space for campers.

Baptist church vandalized days after erecting wall A downtown Victoria church that installed a wall last week to stop people from doing drugs near its entrance was vandalized ahead of its holiday services.

Those on their way to Christmas morning service Sunday at Central Baptist Church at 833 Pandora Ave. walked past a black scribble of spray paint, which covered the vandal’s message: “Hategate? #WWJD.” The letters stand for the phrase “What would Jesus do?”

An Our Place client named Dan, who was walking past Central Baptist but does not attend the church, was upset to see the vandalism.

Our Place provides outreach services that includes help for the homeless and those with substance abuse problems.

“I’m a recovering addict, but I wouldn’t do it (drugs) just anywhere and I wouldn’t deface something like this.

The day this happened, (church members) were sponsoring a breakfast at Our Place,” Dan said.

He doesn’t believe it’s the church’s responsibility to provide shelter for the homeless and said if he were in a better financial position, he would do something to help clean up the vandalism.

“I’m not, but I was thinking of calling a graffiti-removal company, because it really bothered me.”

A couple on their way into the church who asked not to be named said they supported the decision to erect the wall.

“They’ve tried a number of things and it wasn’t working. So the last thought was to put this fence up,” one of them said.

The vandalism itself was not important, he said, since the church is regularly

vandalized.

“There’s graffiti on the wall behind there anyway,” he said.

Central Saanich resident Chris Kane, who attended the service but is not a member, also said vandalism of the church is not uncommon.

“This is nothing new. I think it’s very

inappropriate, but then the people who are here (on the street) are struggling,” Kane said.

He said the church and its pastor support people in need and the wall was not intended to keep people out, but that discarded needles and other debris were creating health hazards.

“It kind of looks like it’s keeping people out, but that wasn’t the intention. The history of this church is one of great involvement in street outreach,” he said. He pointed to an outreach program run through the church and Pastor Barton Priebe’s recent trip to help people in Ecuador.

Asked what he thought Jesus would do, in a similar situation, he said: “I think he would be very much involved in these people’s lives. I think he would be serving at Our Place.”

Liberals ‘dragging their heels’ on electoral reform After a year of debate, discussion, a travelling parliamentary committee and a widely mocked online survey, a critic says the federal government is still no closer to introducing electoral reform.

Kelly Carmichael, executive director of Fair Vote Canada, a non-profit that advocates for electoral reform, told the federal government seems to be delaying the changes.

“It feels like they’re dragging their heels and taking us back to the beginning,” Carmichael

said. Justin Trudeau promised electoral reform in his campaign leading up to the 2015 election.

The country currently uses the first-pastthe-post system where the candidate who receives the most votes in a riding wins.

According to Carmichael, the system means millions of votes don’t go towards a winning candidate.

“In 2015 election, over nine million voters — more than 52 per cent of the voters in that election — were unable to cast a ballot that

actually elected somebody,” she explained.

“We had more people that chose candidates that lost than won.”

She would like to see a system of proportional representation implemented where the percentage of votes received translates into the same percentage of seats received. The special parliamentary committee appointed this year to study the issue also recommended some form of proportional representation be used in its December report. They said the issue should be put to a referendum.

Minister of Democratic Institutions Maryam Monsef criticized the report and that recommendation. Instead, the government launched an online survey meant to spur public discussion.

Saturday, December 31, 2016

18 i Saturday, March 26, 2016

DREAM CARPET

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Saturday, December 31, 2016

Vancouver mosque operates as homeless shelter due to cold Vancouver’s oldest mosque is operating as an overnight shelter for anyone in need of refuge from the streets during the winter cold.

Members of the Al Jamia Masjid congregation opened the mosque on Dec. 18 when temperatures fell below freezing. The plan was to close the space, located at Eighth Avenue near Cambie, after a week, but if the demand remains, that deadline is flexible.

“If the need is there, we will be open,” said Haroon Khan, president of the Pakistan Canada Association and trustee of the Al Jamia Masjid.

“This year, the emergency was really acute and the interfaith community has been mobilized. We really felt like this was the right thing to do, especially at this time of year,” he said.

On average, the mosque has sheltered 10 to 15 people per night, including many youth. They are kept company overnight by volunteers, mobilized by Haroon’s nephew, 22-year-old Abubakar Khan.

Volunteers are primarily youth themselves,

many of them Abubakar’s friends, whom he said “wanted to help because they had been hearing about the homeless crisis and fentanyl deaths.”

“We just started brainstorming and we said, let’s open the mosque for a week and it just started flowing, more and more [volunteers] started joining,” said Abubakar, who has spent nearly every night since then sleeping at the mosque.

The volunteers have been working to deliver meals, blankets and care packages to residents in the Downtown Eastside, as well as sitting and sharing stories at the mosque overnight.

Some people who have sought shelter have cell phones and have remained in touch with the volunteers they connected with at the mosque. Two volunteers are planning to reconnect with a man they met at the mosque to help him create a resume.

Haroon said it has been humbling to serve neighbours in need and that sometimes, it is just one bad decision, or one paycheque, that separates people from each other.

Al Jamia Masjid was founded in 1963 by Haroon’s father, Riasat Ali Khan. It is located at 655 West 8th Ave. Anyone in need is welcome to seek shelter between 7 p.m. PT and 9 a.m. PT. Food and clothing is also provided.

As Conservative leadership deadline looms, list of 14 could be winnowed down Should auld contestants be forgot, and never brought to mind?

A few Conservative leadership candidates might be asking themselves this question on New Year’s Eve. That’s because the first deadline in the Conservative leadership race looms on Dec. 31, when contestants who have already launched their campaigns have to pay the party a $50,000 compliance deposit in order to stay in the running.

This is on top of the $25,000 registration fee that was due upon entry into the race. Another $25,000 has to be paid before Feb. 24 — and only when that second and final instalment of the registration fee is paid do candidates have access to the party’s list of members.

Access to that list is vital for a campaign, as it makes it possible for contestants to contact every member eligible to cast a ballot for the next leader, so there is an incentive to get that second $25,000 in as soon as possible.

The compliance deposit is held as security, to ensure candidates meet all the requirements of the leadership campaign, and will be returned to them after the campaign is over.

The registration fees are not refundable.

Though contestants are able to donate $25,000 to their own campaigns, they need to raise at least $75,000 from donors to make the compliance deposit and second instalment payment.

Chris Alexander, Maxime Bernier, Michael Chong, Kellie Leitch, Pierre Lemieux, Erin O’Toole, Lisa Raitt, Andrew Saxton and Andrew Scheer are fully paid up.

Rick Peterson has paid the compliance deposit, along with the initial $25,000 fee.

In an email to the CBC, Brad Trost’s campaign says the Saskatchewan MP will be “complying to all the [Jan. 1] requirements.”

Steven Blaney, Daniel Lindsay and Deepak Obhrai did not respond to inquiries.

According to quarterly financial reports,

Obhrai raised only $1,100 in the third quarter of 2016.

Fourth quarter data won’t be available until early next year, but several candidates launched fundraising blitzes to close this year. Scheer’s campaign tweeted that it raised nearly $22,000 in a day on Dec. 19, while Raitt’s campaign raised almost $44,000 in a 24-hour fundraising drive on Dec. 13.

The Dec. 31 deadline applies only to the contestants who have already thrown their hats in the ring. After that, new contestants can get into the race by paying the $25,000 registration fee and the $50,000 deposit immediately upon filing (along with the 300 signatures of party members from at least 30 ridings in at least seven provinces or territories).

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Former Crown corporation boss says he was fired for trying to fight corruption The former head of a troubled Crown corporation says he was fired after he began investigating alleged financial corruption in the organization.

But the Liberal government won’t explain the specifics of why it decided to formally terminate Donald Salkeld’s appointment

at the Manitoba-based Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation effective Dec. 21 — the same day his term was already scheduled to expire. In its order-in-council adopted this week, the government simply says Salkeld was suspended in March and then fired following an investigation because his actions were “fundamentally incompatible with his position as president.” It said he “no longer enjoys the confidence of the Governor in Council to be the President of the Freshwater Fish

Marketing Corporation.”

Fisheries and Oceans Minister Dominic LeBlanc made the recommendation to terminate Salkeld’s appointment, which pays $147,900 to $174,000 a year. Officials at the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation referred all questions to the department of Fisheries and Oceans. The department and LeBlanc declined to comment on the decision or Salkeld’s allegations, saying it’s a personnel matter. Salkeld’s firing is the latest twist in the troubled history of the corporation, which was set up in 1969 to buy, process and market all freshwater fish caught for commercial sale in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories. In 2010, it received a failing grade from the auditor general’s office after a special report found “significant deficiencies in the corporation’s systems and practices related to governance, strategic planning and risk management, and in operational areas, including processes to establish prices paid to fishers in order to remain self-sufficient and meet its mandate, capital asset management and procurement, production efficiency and human resources.”

Abbotsford police search for missing pregnant woman Police are searching for a pregnant Abbotsford woman who was reported missing Tuesday afternoon after she became separated from her husband.

Marie Stuart, 38, who is five months

pregnant, got off a bus at the Sevenoaks Shopping Centre in the 32900-block of South Fraser Way on Tuesday afternoon accompanied by her husband. After that, the

two went in opposite directions, police said.

Stuart has not been seen since about 3 p.m.

“She’s been pretty moody, said Stuart’s ​ husband Leslie Scott Schellenberg. “She’s kind of in a bit of a state, and I’m worried that she might just wander aimlessly.”

When Stuart did not return home by 4 p.m. her husband called police, said Const. Ian MacDonald of the Abbotsford Police Department.

Stuart is five feet, two inches tall. with black hair and glasses. She was last seen wearing a yellow toque and a black jacket.

Anyone with information about Stuart is asked to call the Abbotsford Police Department at 604-859-5225 or text APD at 222973.

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Rampant corruption on the ground biggest hurdle to bringing Yazidis to Canada, expert warns Widespread corruption in Iraq is the biggest challenge Canada will confront in resettling Yazidi women and girls, warns the expert who led Germany’s groundbreaking effort to grant asylum to 1,100 survivors of sexual slavery, torture and violence by ISIS. Canada has committed to follow Germany’s lead in receiving an undetermined number of people fleeing genocide in northern Iraq, and is taking advice on what hurdles lie ahead.

Michael Blume, the head of Germany’s Special Quota Project, said officials must prepare to take a hard line against fraud, rip-offs and bribery at all levels.

“There is a big problem with corruption in the region,” he said in a telephone interview.

“Even well-meaning NGOs have their financial interests, so it’s a real challenge to keep the focus on the people and not to be played with.”

Key to avoiding exploitation is working with the right partners on the ground, sticking to strict protocols and not cutting corners despite the urgent need for help, said Blume.

MPs voted unanimously on Oct. 25 to adopt motion tabled by Conservative Immigration critic Michelle Rempel. That motion formally recognized that ISIS is committing genocide

against the Yazidi people, and committed to providing asylum to Yazidi women and girls within 120 days, effectively setting a deadline of Feb. 25. For this to be successful, Blume says Canada must build a strategy that doesn’t depend on any single partner. This way Canada can keep control and avoid bowing to pressure to accept certain people, or to pay inflated prices for services.

“If you don’t do that, there’s a chance officials will try to get some money for themselves, and you will get families who have a strong lobby or financial means but you don’t get those people you want to help,” Blume said.

The Yazidis are a religious minority with an ancient 6,000-year-old culture. They’re based mainly in northern Iraq.

Germany was the first country to launch a special program to help vulnerable women and girls, most of them Yazidis but some of them Christians and other religious minorities. It brought in 1,100 people between March 2015 and January 2016. The projected three-year cost was 95 million euros, or about $134 million Cdn, for transportation, housing and medical treatment, but Blume said the actual figure is now expected to be about onethird less.

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Saturday, December 31, 2016

Canada among the ‘most expensive mobile data countries’ Wireless providers in Canada are making more revenue per gigabyte of data than in any other country, according to a new report.

Telecom research firm, tefficient, released its 14th analysis of data usage across 32 countries, including Canada. It found that

Canadian carriers charge the most for data, while consumers make limited use of it.

“The most expensive mobile data countries are Canada, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic and the Netherlands and — as a consequence — mobile users in these countries are using very little mobile data,” the company said in its report.

In countries where unlimited or very generous mobile data plans are available, the company found that usage is higher.

In Finland, where half of users have unlimited data at some of the least expensive prices, average usage is the highest, the report said. A Finnish operator, DNA, has the highest average usage in the world, at 9.9 gigabytes per month.

The industry group that represents wireless providers in Canada, the Canadian

Wireless Telecommunications Association, argues that prices for data in this country are competitive.

It points to a recent report by the CRTC that shows the cost of a package that includes between 2 GB and 5 GB per month is $46.47.

That’s less than the United states at $50.68 and Japan at $51.81. However, the same coverage in Italy is available for about a third of the Canadian price ($14.35), and similarly in France ($14.98), Australia ($15.57), and the U.K. ($17.61).

The CWTA also pointed to the quality of wireless service in Canada — saying things like 4G/LTE networks increases usage and value for consumers.

“What we find when looking at the available data is that usage is more directly correlated to network quality,” said Marc Choma, vice-president of communications for the CWTA. “When people pay more for data, they use less of it because they’re worried they’re going go over their data cap and incur these crazy, huge overage fees,” said Katy Anderson with Open Media, who has helped campaign to end data caps.

“Once you lift those data caps we see that people use the internet in such creative and neat ways, and they’re not self-censoring themselves,” said Anderson.

Clampdown on student debts leads to bump in collections for government A concerted effort by federal officials to round up more money from student loan borrowers who defaulted has yielded a small increase in collections.

The Canada Revenue Agency says it was able to collect $208.8 million this year, about $10 million more than it did two years ago when the government decided that loan writeoffs had spun out of control and collection efforts needed to ramp up.

The year-over-year increases, though, have been relatively small: a 2-per-cent increase between 2014 and 2015, and a 3-per-cent increase between last year and this one.

Those increases are smaller than the 4.5-percent increase in collections between 2013 and 2014 when the agency and the department in charge of the student loan regime began sharing more information to aid in collection efforts. Each year, the government writes off some of the almost $19 billion owing in student loans for a number of reasons: a debtor may file for bankruptcy, the debt itself passes a six-year legal limit on collection or the debtor can’t be found.

Earlier this year, supplementary spending

estimates tabled in the House of Commons showed the government was writing off 33,967 student loans at a cost of $176 million to the public purse, the vast majority for borrowers

who defaulted on repayments prior to 2009.

The money was on top of the hundreds of millions in writeoffs from previous years: $295 million in 2015, $231.2 million in 2013 and $312 million in 2012. In most of those cases, the borrowers couldn’t be found. The files the CRA received for collection had out-of-date contact information and the agency wasn’t allowed to ask other departments for help because of privacy laws.

Petronas said to eye new island for $27-billion Canadian LNG plan to ease opposition Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Bhd. is seeking to move ahead with a proposed US$27 billion liquefied natural gas plant in western Canada after identifying a new site for shipping the fuel, a shift that may help reduce costs and quell local opposition.

Petronas’s Pacific NorthWest LNG project would continue as planned with the liquefaction plant on Lelu Island in British Columbia. The company would move the docking facilities to neighbouring Ridley Island, where ships would berth to take deliveries of the fuel for export, according to two people familiar with the negotiations.

Such a re-design would eliminate the need for a costly suspension bridge that was part of the original plan and also circumvent an environmentally sensitive marine area that’s been a flash point of controversy.

Petronas and its partners — China Petrochemical Corp., Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., Indian Oil Corp. and Brunei National Petroleum Co. — are expected to decide whether or not to proceed with the project in early 2017. The facility would

produce as much as 19.2 million metric tonnes a year of LNG and open up a new trade route for Canadian gas to be shipped to Asia.

“Pacific NorthWest LNG is conducting a total project review over the coming months,” spokesman Spencer Sproule said in an e-mail.

“During this time, the project is continuing to work with area First Nations, stakeholders and regulators to manage any potential impacts through mitigation measures and design optimization.” It’s unclear how changing the design might impact the construction timeline — the Kuala Lumpur-based company is in talks with the government and stakeholders to see if the modification could be carried out without sparking fresh regulatory delays, according to the people.

Canada’s Environmental Assessment Agency hasn’t received any information yet about potential changes, the agency said in an e-mail. “If we receive any new information from Petronas, we will review it and determine the appropriate next steps, including any potential environmental assessment requirements,” it said.

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Ottawa is now $9.3 billion in the red compared to a $600 million surplus last year The federal government ran a budgetary deficit of $1.5 billion in October as increases in spending on programs outpaced increases in tax revenues.

The Finance Department’s monthly fiscal monitor also says the federal government has a deficit of $9.3 billion since the 201617 fiscal year started in April.

That figure for the April-to-October period is a swing from the $600 million surplus the Finance Department reported during the same stretch in the 2015-16 fiscal year.

The monthly check on government spending shows that revenues rose by 11.3 per cent, or $2.5 billion, compared to the same time last year, with more money coming in from personal income, corporate and excise taxes.

Personal income tax revenue rose by 7.6 per cent, corporate tax revenue rose by 16 per cent and GST revenues rose by $600 million.

Employment insurance premium revenues were up as well by $18 million, or 1.5 per cent, from the period last year.

Federal program expenses were up 8.2 per cent, or $12 billion, between April and October compared to the same period last year, largely a result of jumps in major transfers to people — including child, senior and employment insurance benefits — and spending at departments like National Defence.

Public debt charges were down by about $100 million, or 3.1 per cent, compared to October 2016 because of lower interest rates.

Canadians will ring in the new year with federal, provincial changes Canadians will ring in the new year with a number of tax changes at the federal and provincial levels.

The Trudeau government is ending child tax credits for arts, fitness, education and textbooks and also cancelling income splitting for families that was introduced by the previous Conservative government.

Several other changes by the federal government will affect life insurance, business owners selling their companies and some

mutual funds.

Cash-strapped Newfoundland and Labrador is the only province hiking its income tax rate next year, the second time it’s doing so in six months. The province is also raising entry fees into provincial parks and campsites. Quebec is bidding adieu two years early to controversial health premiums introduced in mid 2010, while Ontarians will get an eight-per-cent rebate on rising hydro bills.

First-time home buyers in Ontario will also see refunds on a land transfer tax grow to as much as $4,000, double the previous maximum refund.

British Columbia is scrapping premiums on medical services plans for children and young adults attending school.

Alberta is reducing its small business corporate income tax rate but is also introducing a carbon tax on the purchase of fossil fuels, offset with a rebate for low- and middle-income earners.

Volkswagen buys Vancouver’s PayByPhone with aim to become global leader in mobile parking payment Vancouver-based parking payment company PayByPhone has been acquired by Volkswagen Financial Services AG. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 2001, PayByPhone bills itself as one of the fastest growing mobile payments companies in the world, processing more than $250 million in payments annually.

PayByPhone says its mobile web, smartphone and smartwatch applications are used by more than 12.5 million registered users around the world in such cities as Paris, London, San Francisco, Massachusetts and Boston.

A news release issued by both companies says PayByPhone is adding about 7,000 users per day.

Volkswagen Financial Services AG, a division of Germany-based Volkswagen Group, says the acquisition positions it as a clear leader in mobile payments and parking sectors.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for PayByPhone to explore new ways to expand

our mobile payments technology,” said PayByPhone CEO Kush Parikh.

“The mobile payment movement has exploded recently, and we look forward to accelerating our consumer parking and payments agenda made possible by this deal.”

“With the acquisition of PayByPhone,

we are now the leading provider for the processing and mobile payment of parking, added Volkswagen Financial Services executive Dr. Christian Dahlheim.

Both companies say the acquisition will not affect any of PayByPhone’s current operations.

NATIONAL

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Canada’s economy to lose ground globally as growth stalls at 2% for more than a decade, report warns Canada’s economic growth is set to flatline at two per cent or less per year over the next decade and a half, leading the country to lose ground in the ranking of the world’s largest economies, according to a new report.

The forecasts, compiled by the U.K.-based Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), predict Canadian GDP growth of 1.8 per cent from 2016 to 2020, followed by a decade of 2 per cent growth from 2021 to 2030.

Canada will be weighed down by its public sector deficit, which has risen slightly this year to 2.5 per cent of GDP, and its gross debt as a percentage of GDP, which stands at 92 per cent. Low interest rates and a currency devalued against the U.S. dollar will work in Canada’s favour.

CEBR’s World Economic League Table for 2017 estimates Canada is currently the tenth largest economy in the world, but that it will fall back two spots to No. 12 by 2030.

Leapfrogging Canada in that time will be Indonesia, which CEBR forecasts will see GDP growth averaging 5.6 per cent between 2016 and 2020 and 5.5 per cent between 2021 and 2025. The South Asian island nation reduced its debt-to-GDP ratio from 100 per cent in the wake of the 1999 Asian financial crisis to 25 per cent in 2014, and its annual budget deficit is capped at 3 per cent.

The report said the greatest risk to Canada’s economic status comes from an overheated housing market, especially in Vancouver and Toronto.

While Canada’s vast oil resources leave it

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subject to the price of Brent crude, it is less exposed than other oil-dependent economies, such as Russia, because Canada’s exports are more diversified in areas including auto manufacturing and other raw materials. Russia is also expected to drop two spots to be the fourteenth largest economy, after it climbs one spot to twelfth next year.

The trend of emerging market economies gradually surpassing their more developed counterparts is widespread. The world’s fifthlargest economy, the United Kingdom, had a GDP of more than U.S.$2.8 trillion in 2015, though this tally came before factoring in the decline in the British pound after the country voted to leave the European Union earlier this year. By 2030, both India and South Korea will have eclipsed the U.K. in overall size.

India is expected to show GDP growth of 6.8 per cent in 2016 and 7.3 per cent in 2017, and will also average 6.5 per cent between 2021 and 2030. By that time, India will be the third-largest economy in the world, behind only the U.S. and China, the new No. 1, according to CEBR. While some developed economies have expressed their intention to try to kickstart growth by implementing largescale infrastructure stimulus — such as the incoming Trump administration in the U.S. — and others have already begun to do so — such as the Trudeau government with a 10-year $120-billion infrastructure plan announced this year — the immediate impact of these plans is in doubt.

SOUTH ASIA

Saturday, December 31, 2016

23

First female pilot in Afghan air force seeks asylum in USA, Elephant herd attacks Nepal village under cover of Afgan military officials dispute danger and ask to send her back fog, killing one person and injuring two others

A woman was beheaded in Afghanistan’s Sar-e-Pul province for stepping out of her house without a male guardian. The woman’s husband is in Iran and they have no children, officials said.

A report in The Independent states that the 30-year-old woman was reportedly slain by members of the Taliban for the “infidel act” of going shopping alone on Monday evening.

The incident took place in the province’s Lati village, which is under Taliban control.

The ultra-conservative Islamist group prohibits women from leaving their homes unless accompanied by a close male relative, one among many regressive policies against women. Provincial governor’s spokesperson Zabiullah Amani said the woman was stabbed and decapitated using the bayonet of an AK-47 by men linked to the Taliban. Never shy of using extreme force against those who transgress their radical interpretation of Islam, the Taliban has denied any involvement in the incident. So far, no arrests have been made.

A herd of elephants attacked a village in southwest Nepal on Wednesday, killing one person and wounding two others, officials said.

Government official Dilli Ram Acharya said the elephants attacked Praseni village at dawn, when there was not much light and poor visibility due to winter fog.

Acharya said the villagers did not see the elephants coming and did not have a chance to run.

Security forces were sent to the area to chase the elephants back to the forest. The injured people were taken to a nearby town for treatment.

Acharya says the village is close to Bardia

National Park, home to many elephants, but it was rare for people to be killed by the animals.

The park is protected by government soldiers and is home to endangered tigers, one-horned rhinos and many other animals.

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Michelle Obama praised her courage.

In Afghanistan, few supported her decision, and there were worries that her asylum request would affect the process of training Afghan pilots outside the country.

“Capt. Rahmani’s claim that she was harassed in the workplace is not true, because in the air force all the pilots and staff are well-educated and highly trained people,” said Col. Ayan Khan, a helicopter pilot in the Afghan air force. “How can they harass their female colleague who serves alongside them?”

Note: Programme can be change.

Contending that her “life isn’t at risk at all,” military officials in Afghanistan have asked that the United States reject the asylum case of Capt. Niloofar Rahmani, the first female fixed-wing pilot in the Afghan air force.

On Thursday, Rahmani revealed she had applied for asylum this summer, saying she felt unsafe in Afghanistan, where she and her family have received death threats. For the past 15 months, she has been training at air bases in Arkansas, Florida and Texas. Rahmani said that her Afghan male colleagues in the air force treated her with contempt and that she felt at risk.

“Things are not changing” for the better in Afghanistan, Rahmani said in an interview Friday. “Things are getting worse and worse.”

Gen. Mohammad Radmanish, a Defense Ministry spokesman, disputed her claims of being in danger.

“I am sure she lied by saying she was threatened, just to win the asylum case,” Radmanish said Sunday. “It is baseless that she claimed her life was at risk while serving in the Afghan air force.”

“Since Capt. Rahmani’s claim is new, we expect her to change her mind and return to her own country and continue serving as a pilot,” the general said. “We request from our American friends and government to reject her asylum case and send her back, because knowing the truth, Capt. Rahmani’s life isn’t at risk at all.”The U.S. government has celebrated Rahmani as an example of its success in advancing women’s rights in Afghanistan. In 2015 the State Department honored her with its annual Women of Courage award, and

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Saturday, December 31, 2016

Afghan Sikh leader shot dead The head of the Sikh community in Afghanistan’s restive Kunduz city was shot dead by unknown gunmen today, the second such incident within three months, triggering fear among the minority group members.

Lala Del Souz was gunned down at about 9 am in the Haji Gulistan Kochi Haman area of the city, Tolo News reported.

He was reportedly on his way to his shop when the shooting occurred. He died of injuries while being taken to hospital, the report said.

According to relatives of the deceased, he had been shot five years ago but survived the attack. Kunduz security chief Masoum Stanikzai confirmed the incident and said police have arrested three suspects.

“Investigations will however continue,” he

said. Del Souz’s uncle Prem said the deceased was well liked and had no enemies.

The shooting, meanwhile, sparked an outcry on social media with hundreds of people condemning the incident and sending condolences to his family. Prem, however, called on the government to thoroughly investigate the incident and make sure those responsible are brought to justice. He said if this does not happen, the few remaining Sikhs will sell up and leave the province.

Following the collapse of Kunduz to Taliban, many Sikhs left the province. Currently only three families are still there, the report said. Sikhs have lived in Kunduz for over 30 years and at one time there were as many as 40 families in the area.

Jayalalitha’s friend Sasikala Natarajan to lead AIADMK V K Sasikala, the close aide of late J Jayalalithaa, was on Thursday appointed as the AIADMK General Secretary, with the top decision making body of the party passing a unanimous resolution to this effect.

A resolution to this effect was adopted unanimously in the general council meet held here today. The post fell vacant following the demise of party general secretary and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.

Party treasurer and Chief Minister O Panneerselvam said, “In tune with party rules, honourable Chinnamma is appointed AIADMK General Secretary and a resolution to this effect has been adopted unanimously by the general council.”

Speaking to reporters flanked by senior leaders Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai and State Minister Edappadi Palanisamy, he said they were going to meet “Chinamma” to “apprise her of the party decision and to seek her concurrence,” for the party decision.

Significantly, the resolution that was adopted says “This general council adopts this resolution appointing Chinnamma VK Sasikala as the party general secretary till such time she is (formally) elected to that post in tune with party rule 20, clause 2.”

Hailing Sasikala’s contribution to the growth of the party, the resolution also says it “unanimously gives her all the powers bestowed on the position of general secretary

(by the party rules) to administer the party.”

The resolution was moved by party presidium chairman E Madusudanan and Chief Minister O Panneersevlam and Edapadi Palanisamy.

The resolution makes it clear that Sasikala will be formally elected as party General Secretary at a later date in keeping with the stipulations of the party constitution.

Till such time she is elected, the party has appointed her to the post giving her all powers of that post.

In the general council meeting held in December last year, late J Jayalalithaa had participated wherein she was authorised to take poll related decisions for the 2016 Assembly polls. In June this year, the executive committee meeting was the last party meet that Jayalalithaa had attended.

Enforcement Directorate arrests Delhi lawyer for money laundering The Enforcement Directorate has arrested controversial lawyer Rohit Tandon here in connection with a money-laundering probe in a case of seizure of Rs 13.6 crore after police raided a law firm premises as part of an anti-black money operation post demonetisation.

Officials said Tandon, who was being questioned by the Enforcement Directorate for the past few days, was placed under arrest late Wednesday night under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and will be produced in a court here for further custody.

The agency suspects Tandon was allegedly instrumental in the illegal conversion of demonetised currency amounting to Rs 60 crore in purported connivance with Kolkata-based businessman Paras Mal Lodha and arrested Kotak Bank manager in Delhi Ashish Kumar.

With Tandon’s arrest, the investigative agencies have now nabbed some of the major players of the two high-profile black money rackets unearthed post the note ban.

While Reddy has been arrested by the CBI from Chennai, Lodha and Kumar have already been arrested by the ED apart from two others in Chennai.

The agency has been questioning Lodha and Tandon here and even brought both of them face-to-face. Sources claimed that as

the required information was not coming forth from Tandon, he had to be taken in custody. “Tandon is required for custodial interrogation,” they said.

Tandon’s case pertains to an operation of Delhi Police’s Crime Branch and the

Income Tax department earlier this month when the agencies had seized Rs 13.6 crore, of which Rs 2.6 crore was in new currency, allegedly from a law firm here that he is associated with.

The ED had booked a PMLA case against him based on the police FIR. The lawyer was earlier separately searched by the tax department where it was said that he declared undisclosed income worth over Rs 125 crore to the taxman.

The two cases involving Tandon and Reddy are being probed by at least four lead agencies of the country, including the ED, I-T department, CBI and Delhi Police.

The Reddy case pertains to Chennai where the Income Tax department has made the biggest detection of unaccounted income of over Rs 142 crore.

PUNJAB

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Come out of your Sukhvilas and explain your failures to people: Capt tells Badal Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday listed the “failures” of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s 10 years of “misgovernance”, saying the people wanted an explanation and did not want to hear about the Congress’s achievements, which they were already aware of.

He asked Badal to come out of the luxury of their Sukhvilas and explain his government’s “total failure” in addressing the needs of the people.

Reacting to Badal’s challenge to him to list just one of his government’s achievements, Amarinder reminded the chief minister that he had listed not one but initially 51, and then

101 of his government’s achievements in the state assembly long ago and it was now time for the Badal government to talk about their “failures”. Amarinder dismissed Badal’s statement that there was no law and order problem in the state, and that the Congress was merely trying to put undue pressure on Punjab Police. Badal was clueless about the state of affairs under his government and was too busy in sangat darshan to be concerned about the situation in the state, Amarinder alleged.

The Punjab Congress president charged Badal with suffering from selective amnesia with regard to the Congress government’s achievements.

Government to bring back murdered youth’s body from New Zealand After the Indian High Commission in New Zealand decided to bear the cost of sending mortal remains of the youth, Hardeep Singh Deol, who was stabbed to death by a girl at Christchurch on Christmas, assurance from Union Minister Sushma Swaraj also came in for help. Swaraj tweeted in the morning expressing her condolences and sought contact number of the family so that she could speak to them.

She said she had read the news and has instructed the Indian High Commission in New Zealand to expedite the bringing

back of the dead body. She also spoke to the family and assured full support of the government Earlier, assurance of help was given by Sandeep Sood, Second Secretary in the Indian High Commission in New Zealand, on Thursday in reply to an email by Sirsa Deputy Commissioner Sharandeep Kaur Brar. He had also assured that the Indian High Commission will be helping the family in whatever way is possible to expedite the process of sending mortal remains of the youth to his native place.

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SGPC to probe ‘imitation’ of ardas at Maluka event SGPC chief Kirpal Singh Badungar today constituted a three-member inquiry committee to investigate the episode of alleged imitation of “ardas” during a Hindu prayer in the presence of Rural Development Minister Sikander Singh Maluka.

The committee comprises SGPC vicepresident Buta Singh, general secretary Amarjit Singh Chawla and member Mohan Singh Bangi.

Talking to the Tribune, Badungar said the inquiry would be time-bound and the committee would submit its report to the SGPC within 15 days.

Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh had yesterday asked the SGPC to order

a probe into the incident. The Jathedar will take a final call over the matter after receiving the report.

With the video clip showing the alleged incident going viral, it has invited criticism from various quarters.

Sacked Panj Pyaras Satnam Singh Khanda, Mangal Singh, Major Singh, Tirlok Singh and Satnam Singh held it equivalent to desecration and demanded the boycott of the minister by the community.

Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwarpal Singh Bittu said such incidents must be prevented as it could vitiate relations between the two communities. He termed the incident a mischief.

CM unfazed by criticism, says sure of win Dubbing both Congress and AAP as empty vessels, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has said AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal owes an explanation to the people of the state as to why his government had an anti-Punjab stance in the Supreme Court on the SYL issue.

Badal has also dared PPCC chief Capt Amarinder Singh to enlist even a single achievement of his government before “misleading the people with his imaginative nine-point agenda”.

“Being a Haryanvi, Kejriwal is busy making every effort to benefit his mother state at the cost of Punjab and its people, which could not be tolerated at any cost. Kejriwal and his party are anti-Punjab,” said Badal on the sidelines of

his Sangat Darshan at Kot Shamir.

On AAP leader Jarnail Singh’s candidature from Lambi, Badal said Kejriwal was free to field any of his top leaders against him. “Anyone is welcome to test the waters from the constituency. The people will dump any candidate challenging the SAD-BJP not only in Lambi, but in every segment. They will vote for the alliance for its development agenda,” he said.

Addressing public gatherings during his Sangat Darshan at Sangat Mandi, Kot Shamir and Balluana, the CM flayed the Congress and AAP for promoting politics of opportunism by “shamefully encouraging mass defections to satiate their lust for power”.

26

INDIA

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Rs 4,200 crore in dirty cash detected since November 8 The income tax department has stepped up its drive against those “misusing” the demonetisation drive to convert “black money” into “white” and has issued over 5,000 notices and detected undisclosed income of close to Rs 4,200 crore.

Since November 8, nearly 1,000 surveys and search and seizure operations were conducted across the country.

Between December 22 and 28, over 200 such operations were undertaken, data available with the department showed.

While surveys involve scrutiny of books, cash and other assets, search and seizure are referred to as raids in common parlance.

Of the Rs 458 crore cash seizures, Rs 105 crore, which is a tad under a quarter, was in new currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000, indicating the widespread use of banking and cash mules to convert old currency into new ones, which is stored as cash in offices and homes.

The move mounted through field offices is meant to identify those who used various tools — from depositing in banks to buying gold and jewellery soon after PM Narendra Modi announced demonetisation on November 8 — to try and protect their unaccounted wealth which was stashed away in the form of cash.

Central gov’t to probe AAP appointments Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday dared the Centre to get all the appointments made by his government probed after the CBI filed an FIR into the appointment of city Health Minister Satyendar Jain’s OSD. Asserting that he was not afraid of any probe, the AAP chief also wondered whether the Centre would accept a Delhi government-appointed committee to look into the Sahara Birla papers.

Kejriwal alleged that the CBI has filed “seven FIRs” against Jain and “two” against Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, but

did not elaborate.

In fresh trouble for the AAP government, the CBI has filed an FIR into the appointment of Jain’s OSD while the LG office has recommended a probe by the agency into the appointment of his daughter Soumya Jain as a functionary in the Mohalla Clinic project.

“You (Centre) make your committee and get all our appointments probed. And we will form one, and you get the Sahara Birla matter probed with it. Agree?

“We are not scared of any probe as we have not done any wrong. Then why are you scared of a probe?” Kejriwal tweeted.

Pak left out in new draft proposal for NSG membership According to a US-based arms control organisation, a draft proposal for accepting new members into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) paves way for India’s entry but leaves out Pakistan.

Last week, the US media reported that former NSG chairman Rafael Mariano Grossi had prepared a two-page document, explaining how a non-NPT state, like India and Pakistan, could join the group.

The document prepared by Grossi, acting on behalf of the current chairman Song Youngwan of South Korea, enjoys a semi-official status, reports the Dawn.

Grossi’s draft note proposes that “one non-NPT member state should reach an understanding not to block consensus on membership for another nonNPT member state”.

Arms Control Association (ACA) executive director Daryl Kimball said Pakistan still had grounds to object to the formula outlined by Grossi.

He explains the document will require Pakistan to meet the same criteria for membership as India, adding Islamabad will have to win a separate NSG exemption from the full-scope safeguards requirement to engage in civil nuclear trade with the NSG states.

Present NSG membership rules require a state to sign the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) before joining the exclusive club.

India remains one of the only three countries, with Israel and Pakistan, to have never signed the NPT. Earlier this year, India formally applied for

membership and was followed by Pakistan.

The United States and a host of other western nations back India’s application, but China and some others are blocking New Delhi’s membership, which requires a consensus of all members.

The proposal requires a non-NPT state to declare that it has brought into force a clear and strict separation of current and future civilian nuclear facilities from non-civilian nuclear facilities and is willing to apply this principle to future facilities as well.

The new member also needs to assure NSG that it has provided and maintains a declaration to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that identifies all current and future civilian nuclear facilities.

INDIA

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Madras High Court questions Jaya’s death; asks why body can’t be exhumed The Madras High Court on Thursday raised doubts over late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s death and said the truth must come out.

The court asked why they can’t order exhumation of Jayalalithaa’s body, and issued notice to the Centre and state governments.

“Media has raised a lot of doubts, personally

Apple plans to make iPhones in Bengaluru

Apple plans to make iPhones for the Indian market in Bengaluru. Wistron, a Taiwanese OEM maker for Apple, is setting up a facility in Peenya, the city’s industrial hub, to manufacture the iPhones. The facility will start production from next April, according to industry sources.

Top sources in the company confirmed to TOI that Apple is “very serious” about beginning assembly operations —and thereafter full manufacture — in India by the end of next year. “Bangalore is being looked at seriously,” said multiple sources within the company. Local manufacture will help Apple price its phones competitively as full imports attract 12.5% additional duty.

Foxconn, Apple’s largest Taiwan-based OEM, earlier committed to setting up a manufacturing plant in Maharashtra. The assumption was the plant would make only Apple products.

But sources say Foxconn has tied up with other players like Xiaomi and OnePlus for local manufacture and not necessarily to only make Apple products there.

This will be Apple’s second big announcement for Bengaluru. In May, Apple announced a design and development accelerator in the city to grow the iOS developer community and also to guide Indian developers to leverage Apple’s programming language Swift and build apps for Apple TV and Apple Watch. The facility will open early next year.

The Bengaluru manufacturing facility underscores India’s importance for the Cupertino-based company.

Apple CEO Tim Cook’s multi-city India tour earlier this year signalled the growing importance of India powered by the demand for Apple products by a burgeoning middle class.

I also have doubts in Jayalalithaa’s death,” said Justice Vaidyalingam, who was hearing a petition demanding an inquiry into the former AIADMK chief ’s death.

J u s t i c e Vaidyalingam said, “When Jayalalithaa was admitted in the hospital, it was said that she was on proper diet. At least after her death now, truth should be revealed.”

Jayalalithaa died on December 5 at the age of 68 following cardiac arrest. She was admitted to Apollo Hospital on September 22, after she complained of fever and dehydration.

Earlier also questions were raised over the health and death of Jayalalithaa.

27

India will label China as terror abettor if it continues to support Masood Azhar By this weekend, China will have to make up its mind on the fate of terror leader Maulana Masood Azhar when its “technical hold” on a ban against the Jaish-e-Mohammed chief expires in the UN Security Council.

In anticipation, India too has readied its own subsequent actions.

China put a technical “hold” on sanctions against Azhar+ on March 31 this year, blocking India’s move to put a ban on the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) leader and Pathankot terror attack mastermind under the 1267 sanctions committee. China was the only member in the 15-nation UN body to put a hold. Azhar’s name on the list would subject him to an assets freeze and travel ban.

China has two options. It could let the “hold” lapse, in other words, do nothing.

The ban would then automatically apply to Masood Azhar as the sanctions under UNSC resolution 1267 would kick in. Of course, China’s official reason for the technical hold is that it “will allow more time for the committee to deliberate on the matter and for relevant parties (read India and Pakistan) to have further consultations”.

India has rejected the idea. On the other hand, China could convert the “hold” into a “block”. That is a more formal status to stop Masood Azhar from coming under sanctions. It would indicate China’s intention to support Pakistan at all costs, including its terrorist leaders and therefore China’s diplomatic support to global terrorism. It would be a tough step for IndiaChina ties.

28

FIJI

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Government MP charged with assault Fiji First Member of Parliament Balmindar Singh has been charged by Police for one count of assault.

Confirming this, Police spokesperson Ana Naisoro said Mr Singh was arrested last Friday night for allegedly assaulting a 30-year-old man of Nadera inside a nightclub in Suva.

Ms Naisoro said Mr Singh was charged and bailed after he had sought medical examination.

She said the MP would be summoned to appear in court at a later date.

Inflation rate set to rise The Reserve Bank of Fiji estimated yearend inflation to be about 4 to 5 per cent.

In September this year, the bank forecast that inflation would drop to 3.5 per cent.

However, in its December Economic Review released yesterday, the bank said the inflation forecast was further impacted by the recent Tropical Depression (TD04F) and its impact on the supply of market items.

The inflation rate for November dropped to 4.3 per cent from 4.7 per cent.

The higher prices throughout the year were contributed by alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics; health; furnishing, household equipment and routine household maintenance categories.

The lower prices were contributed by the food and non-alcoholic beverages; clothing

and footwear, recreation and culture; miscellaneous goods and services; and communications categories.

Inflation is the rate at which the general level of prices for goods and services rise and consequently the purchasing power of a currency falls.

From 2012 until the beginning of this year, inflation was fairly subdued at below 5.9 per cent.

But it spiked after TC Winston to a high 5.9 per cent in August.

The severe supply shortage in market items after Severe TC Winston in particular kava and bananas was a contributing factor to the rise in inflation.

Price increases for cigarettes and alcohol after the announcement of the 2016/2017 National Budget was also a contributor.

Back to school fever Parents and guardians wasted no more time as they were seen taking advantage of the back to school sale in the capital city.

Mereani Rogosau was shopping for her

childrens text books when approached for an interview.

The mother of four said she spent $500 yesterday buying books and stationery and

today she just bought the left over items on the book lists for her children. ?Two of my children are in Year 8 and surprisingly there had really been a lot of textbooks being required by the schools for parents to buy,? said Ms Rogosau.

Head of Retail and Marketing for Post Fiji Limited, Isaac Mow said the crowd turnout into Post Fiji has been reasonable as people had started preparing for the new school year since the Christmas week. We noticed most parents coming in here and instead of buying gifts for Christmas, they had already started purchasing items for their back to school shopping.

Post Fiji will be able to cater for the customers that will be coming in numbers, in the next few weeks before school begins, Mr Mow said.

Company lowers job education requirements Post Fiji Limited will lower education requirements for advertised jobs to their office as an initiative to employ students from poor backgrounds.

The acting chief executive officer, William Wong, said the employment opportunities which formerly required diploma and degree holders would now be offered to Year 13 graduates to help out families who were struggling financially.

“Many families in Fiji have children who are very good with school, but because of financial hardships they are not able to go further to universities.

“Post Fiji has been very passionate about schoolchildren and this is one of the initiatives we are implementing so students are given the convenience to proper employment,” Mr. Wong said.

He said being underprivileged was not the child’s fault nor was it the parent’s fault, but were just circumstances some families went through.

He added he would be supportive of those who chose to pursue their tertiary education after being employed by the company because it would enable them to attain higher and more employment opportunities.

A suicide attempt every 36 hours in Fiji Lifeline Fiji has received a total of 5,023 genuine calls through the crisis line to-date in terms of assisting people who are going through any form of crisis or personal problems.

This was revealed by the Lifeline Fiji Director Archana Mani.

Mani says that they are keen on broadening its partnership with their stake holders so that they can reach out to many people in rural communities.

She says according to their statistics, every 36 hours a person attempts to commit suicide.

She adds that this is a very critical issue and it needs to be addressed in a united approach.

Mani highlights that through the support of the Australian Government and United Care

Community, they were able to reach out to 10,180 individuals in 11 communities which were affected by TC Winston.

She says they provide the crisis support

to individuals and then refer them to long term assistant providers such as Ministry of Social Welfare, Ministry of Health, Medical Services Pacific and Empower Pacific.

The Lifeline Fiji’s Crisis Support toll free Line number is 132 454 which was launched in February this year.

Chickens shot for allegedly trespassing in Labasa A 45-year-old man of Benau, Labasa is under investigation for allegedly using his rifle to shoot his neighbours chickens for trespassing into his compound.

Police Spokesperson Ana Naisoro says the incident occurred on Boxing Day and it is alleged the suspect out of frustration that his neighbours chickens kept trespassing into his compound used his rifle to shoot the chickens.

Naisoro has confirmed the investigation continues into the alleged misuse of the weapon.

Police are requesting members of the public to control their emotions and learn to talk about their issues instead of resorting to violence.

PAKISTAN

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Fake news leads minister to issue Nuke threat to Israel Pakistan’s defense minister threatened Israel that his country could use nuclear weapons after a fake news report that his Israeli counterpart had threatened “nuclear retaliation” for Islamabad’s role in Syria against Islamic State, highlighting the serious problem proliferation of fake news poses.

A report in the New York Times said a fake news story prompted Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif to threaten to go nuclear.

In a post on Twitter, Asif lashed at Israel after a false report — which the minister apparently believed — that Israel had threatened Pakistan with nuclear weapons.

“Israeli def min threatens nuclear retaliation presuming pak role in Syria against Daesh,” the minister wrote on his official Twitter account, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State. “Israel forgets Pakistan is a Nuclear state too.”

The NYT report said Asif appeared to be reacting to the fake news article published on awdnews.com, which was titled ‘Israeli Defense Minister: If Pakistan send ground troops to Syria on any pretext, we will destroy this country with a nuclear attack’.

The article had appeared on the website on December 20, alongside articles with headlines like ‘Clinton is staging a military coup against Trump’.

The fake story about Israel even misidentified the country’s defence minister, attributing quotations to a former minister, Moshe Yaalon. Israel’s current minister of defence is Avigdor Lieberman.

The Israeli Defence Ministry responded on Twitter to say the report was fictitious.

“The statement attributed to fmr Def Min Yaalon re Pakistan was never said,” the ministry wrote in Twitter post directed at Asif.

Bilawal Bhutto to be opposition leader in parliament Bilawal Bhutto is set to be the leader of the Opposition in Pakistan’s National Assembly after he is elected to parliament, according to media reports on Thursday.

The 24-year-old scion of the influential Bhutto family will replace Khursheed Shah, 64, as the leader of the opposition, The Express Tribune reported.

Oxford-educated Bilawal is currently Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). The news of Bilawal’s expected elevation was made public by none other than Shah himself, the paper said.

It came a day after PPP Co-chairman Asif Zardari announced that Bilawal would contest a by-election for a parliamentary seat from Larkana, the hometown of the Bhutto family in Sindh province. “Bilawal Bhutto will be the leader of the opposition and I will assist him as his adviser while his father will also guide him on parliamentary politics,” Shah told journalists in Sukkur, Sindh province, last night.

Bilawal is the son of former President Asif Ali Zardari and the slain prime minister

Don’t forge friendship with India: Hafiz Saeed Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief and the 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed has asked the Pakistan government to refrain from forging friendship with India claiming that its forces are committing atrocities in Kashmir.

He also alleged that the BJP government is trying to change the demographic status in Kashmir.

“We are standing with Kashmiris and completely support freedom movement of Kashmir,” he said and

criticised the Indian Army for committing atrocities in Kashmir.

He has urged the Pakistani government to solve problems of Kashmiris.

“The Pakistani government should not look towards India’s friendship. Blood is being shed in Kashmir.

Therefore, it is Pakistani government’s responsibility to solve their problems,” he said.

29

Benazir Bhutto, and the grandson of late prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

A PPP spokesperson, when asked for clarification on Shah’s statements and any

change in the PPP’s stance on the matter, said that it is possible that Bilawal may become the Opposition leader.

When asked whether Bilawal would be the new opposition leader or not, the spokesperson told Dawn newspaper that: “It is obvious. He [Bilawal] is the party head. He will become [the opposition leader].”

Brother kills mother of four in ‘honour killing’ A mother of four in Pakistan was allegedly killed by her brother on Thursday in a suspected honour killing in the southern Sindh province, police said.

The woman’s husband, however, did not comment on his wife’s murder, the Dawn reported. Every year, hundreds of women are killed in Pakistan by their male relatives for “dishonouring” the family.

In July, a high-profile murder of social media starlet Qandeel Baloch allegedly by her brother over “honour” prompted the government to pass a bill in the parliament invoking stronger punishments for those

involved in such killings.

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NRI

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Sikh doctor in US files religious discrimination lawsuit A Sikh doctor in the US has filed a lawsuit against an American medical organisation alleging he was denied a neurology job for his religious appearance.

Jaswinder Pal Singh of Kentucky is a licensed and board certified physician practising in the area of neurology.

Sikh advocacy group, The Sikh Coalition, filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in the US District Court for the Middle district of Tennessee on behalf of Singh.

The lawsuit alleges that Singh, an observant Sikh physician who keeps a religiously mandated turban and beard, was denied a neurology job after the employer and recruiter inquired into his religious appearance.

As part of the 2014 hiring process, the employer Premier Medical Group and its recruiter Arthur Marshall Inc expressed interest and concern about the way Singh looked, the suit further alleges.

Though the recruiter praised

Singh’s credentials in phone interviews, Singh was allegedly abruptly denied further interviews after he submitted photographs of himself, along with additional information on Sikhs and Sikhism. The job then remained vacant, it said. “It was very clear to me that I was denied employment because of my ethnic background and religious appearance,” Singh said in a statement released by the coalition.

“No Sikh in any job or profession should ever be denied employment because of their religion.

By speaking out and taking action, I know that we will continue to hold employers directly accountable,” said Singh, who migrated to the US from India in 2008.

Indian churches in Philadelphia celebrate Christmas The Ecumenical Fellowship of Indian Churches (EFICP) in Philadelphia hosted their 30th annual Christmas programme on December 10.

The event featured speakers from the religious community as well as guest speaker, Senator John Sabatina Jr, and performances by 16 participating churches and three dance academies. The keynote address was delivered by Bishop Zachariah Mar Nicholovos Metropolitan of the Northeast American Diocese of the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church, who shared a message about fully seeking the transformative power of Christ and loving all our neighbours - a teaching that was exemplified by awarding the $15,000 proceeds from the fellowship’s 5K run earlier this year to three different charity organisations that help fight poverty and

homelessness in Philadelphia.

The fellowship, a coalition that traces its roots back over 50 years, now consists of 21

member churches of different denominations in Philadelphia region - a drastic growth and evolution from when it was first started.

Until 1976, there was no denominational congregation in Philadelphia except for an ecumenical Christian group.

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NRI man found guilty of bribery An Indian-origin man was found guilty of bribing Mexican officials to secure contracts, Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell has said.

Kamta Ramnarine, 69, the coowner of an aircraft maintenance company was found guilty in the $2 million-bribery case involving Mexican officials, Caldwell said on Tuesday. He and three others, who either co-owned or were associated with the aircraft maintenance companies, and two Mexican state government officials were all found guilty in the $2 millionbribery scheme, officials said.

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100 Indians held in Saudi Arabia for carrying banned drugs Over 100 passengers have been detained by the Dammam Airport Authorities in Saudi Arabia, in past two months, for carrying medicines that are reportedly banned in the country. Most of them had brought these drugs for themselves or their friends.

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Vancouver Oakridge Centre Pacific Centre 220 East 1st Ave. 991 Denman St. 1095 West Pender St. 1143 Robson St. 1855 Burrard St. 2338 Cambie St. 2372 West 4th Ave. 2706 Granville St. 2748 Rupert St. 3121 West Broadway

West Vancouver *4K television required to watch 4K. Optik 4K PVR and Internet 50 or above required to watch 4K on Optik. Minimum system requirements apply. Subscription to corresponding channels required; not available with all channels.

Final eligibility for the services will be determined by a TELUS representative. For more information, visit telus.com/4k. †Offer available until December 31, 2016, to residential customers who have not subscribed to TELUS TV, Internet or Home Phone in the past 90 days. Cannot be combined with other promotional offers. TELUS reserves the right to modify channel lineups and packaging, and regular pricing without notice. HDTV-input-equipped television required to watch HD. The Essentials or Lite is required for all Optik TV subscriptions. Internet access is subject to usage limits; additional charges apply for exceeding the included data. Cancellation fee will be $15 multiplied by the number of months remaining in the term, plus applicable taxes. Free installation and equipment rental are not available with Lite. If you downgrade to Lite, regular rental fees will apply starting in the month of the downgrade and cancellation fees will apply as above. TELUS, the TELUS logo, Optik, Optik TV, the future is friendly and telus.com are trademarks of TELUS Corporation, used under licence. All copyrights for images, artwork and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved. © 2016 TELUS. 2016_TELUS_MC_Home Solution_4K_Peacock_SA_BC__Indo can Voice.indd 1

Park Royal South

2016-12-14 11:20 AM

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FRUITICANA

Saturday, December 31, 2016

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Saturday, December 31, 2016

Saturday - December 31, 2016

Virat Kohli NOT getting engaged to Anushka Sharma The internet is flooded with stories of Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli getting engaged on Jnauary 1, 2017. The couple headed to Dehradun for a vacation with their families and ever since then there have been speculations about their engagement. Not just that, the Bachchans and the Ambanis were supposedly among the guests for their engagement party and they wereeven spotted at Dehradun’s Jolly Grant airport hereby adding fuel to fire. So are Virushka actually getting engaged? Well, sorry to disappoint you fans but the answer is NO! Anushka and Virat are not getting engaged or hitched in 2017. A spokesperson of Anushka shunned all such rumours calling them untrue. “The rumours surrounding Anushka and Virat’s engagement are untrue. They are on vacation,“ the spokesperson informed a leading daily.

“Many are saying that Virat is set to become the brand ambassador of Uttarakhand tourism and was personally invited by Chief Minister Harish Rawat.

The CM wished him and Anushka a happy stay in his state. A grand bash has been planned for New Year’s Eve which will be attended by all the celebs in town,“ adds a source.

In the start of 2016 too there were reports that Virat and Anushka were ready to walk down the aisle but that didn’t happen.

In fact they broke up soon after that and apparently Anushka was miffed with Virat because he had proposed marriage to her. However, they reconciled after a couple of months and ever since then lovebirds just can’t get enough of each other.So calm down you guys, the big day is not nearing anytime soon.

Dangal beats Dhoom 3’s opening week collection but fails to surpass Sultan Aamir Khan’s Dangal has managed to beat Dhoom 3’s opening week collection after raking in a whopping Rs 197.53 crore in its first week.

However, it still lags behind as Salman Khan’s Sultan stands tall in the first position for earning Rs 229.16 crore.

Trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted the opening week collection of Dangal saying, “#Dangal Fri 29.78 cr, Sat 34.82 cr, Sun 42.41 cr, Mon 25.69 cr, Tue 23.09 cr, Wed 21.46 cr, Thu 20.29 cr.

Total: Rs 197.53 cr. India biz.” As you can see, the film’s collections on weekdays haven’t slowed down much.

In fact, surprisingly Dangal continued to rake in a very impressive collection at the box office. Dangal’s collection has surpassed a lot of big movies.

With Rs 197.53 crore, Aamir’s wrestling biopic has beaten Dhoom 3, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, PK and Prem Ratan Dhan Payo to become the second highest opening week earner.

Kangana Ranaut to get married in 2017?

Kangana Ranaut has made us sit up time and again with her statements.

The talented actress is someone who is candid and mysterious at the same time. Throughout 2016, she made news with her battle with Hrithik Roshan.

While the superstar denied that any sort of romantic liaison between the two, statements from the Kangana’s side made it clear that it was otherwise. It was a mud-slinging match that shook the industry and clearly proved that the girl from Himachal is not one to take things lying down. However, heartbreak or failed relationships have not broken Kangs’ optimism, in an interview with VH1’s Inside Access, Kangana said she did get married in 2017.

Leading tabloid mid-day has reported that the lady said this on the chat show.

However, when asked about her mystery man, she just smiled. We are sure gossip mills and paparazzi will swing into action to find out who is the sure.

It seems they asked what big thing can fans expect from Kangana in 2017, she

quipped, “I will get married.” Kangana also spoke about a side of her personality that does not learn from its mistakes.

“Yet, I had that dying spirit to never learn

from my mistakes (from Gangster, 2006, days). I continue to do that. I like that sort of ride.” The actress has had a string of failed relationships but is someone who strongly believes in lover.

Karan Johar: I’m a liberal but I feel scared to raise a point in my films Filmmaker Karan Johar, whose latest film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil was caught in a controversy for featuring Pakistani actor Fawad Khan, says while he continues to be “liberal” as a person, he has become “scared” of expressing his opinion freely.”I’m a liberal. In a headspace, that is extremely progressive about many things. But I just feel like I can’t say anything. I feel like I’ve joined the herd mentality of the silent society,” Karan said

on “Bollywood Roundtable 2016 with Rajeev Masand”.

“I feel scared to raise a point in my film, I feel scared to give an opinion and then: I feel scared what’s going to happen during the release of my film,” added the filmmaker, who was under attack from right-wing Hindu outfits for casting a Pakistani actor in his movie.

23 HITLIST

2

mid-day

Wednesday, December 28, 2016 | www.mid-day.com | twitter.com/mid_day | epaper.mid-day.com

have you heard?

Bollywood

Set to do Dhamaal yet again Indra Kumar and Ashok Thakeria are planning a third outing in the Dhamaal franchise. Though in the initial stages, the directorproducer duo has hired a team of writers to come up with ideas for the comic caper. The 2000 film

FIRST FLIGHT

Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor have already planned their newborn baby Saturday, December 2016 Taimur’s first overseas trip.31, Since Saif will be shooting for Raja Krishna Menon’s Chef in Europe next month, Bebo and Taimur will accompany him

All is well

starred Sanjay Dutt, Riteish Deshmukh, Arshad Warsi, Jaaved Jaffrey and Ashish Chowdhry. Its sequel came 11 years later. The makers remain tightlipped on whether part 3 will retain the original cast or feature new faces.

There has been speculation about a fallout between Salman Khan and Sonakshi Sinha. However, Sona’s recent appearance on Sallu’s show Bigg Boss has put rumours to rest. The Dabangg duo shared a warm camaraderie on screen. Onlookers say the two got along like a house on fire and kept cracking jokes.

Point noted.

Hey kids, it is time to get fit Jackky Bhagnani’s social endeavours has made him come up with a fitness video, Kasrat, for municipal school students in Mumbai. The 30-minute routine is to enhance the physical training curriculum and is aimed at the age group of 13 to 16 years. Once upon a time, Jackky weighed over a 100 kilos, so he would know better how to go from fat to fit.

Be on top of celebrity gossip with www.mid-day.com

In disguise Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal travelled by the Delhi Metro to beat traffic blues while shooting for Fukrey Returns.

The duo wore caps and scarves to avoid pubic glare.

They feel they pulled it off since no one noticed them.

Now Richa and Ali would not exactly get mobbed, right?

It’s a small world, after all Here’s another Shah Rukh KhanSalman Khan connect. King Khan was conferred an honorary doctorate degree at the Maulana Azad National Urdu University’s convocation in Hyderabad on Monday (below). The varsity’s chancellor is businessman, Zafar Sareshwala, a close aide of Prime

Unveiling Misha, feet first

Minister Narendra Modi. It is said he has the PM on speed dial.

Sareshwala is also close to Salman Khan and family. In 2014, he had accompanied Sallu for a meeting with Modi. Salim Khan had launched an Urdu website on Modi at Sareshwala’s invitation.

Interesting connections. PIC/PTI

Shahid and Mira Kapoor were spotted at the airport with baby Misha.

Sasha always keeps the four-month-old bundled up, but we got a glimpse of the tot’s booties. Next time, we hope to see the baby’s face.

Some more shockers Tattle about Priyanka Jagga’s sudden exit from Bigg Boss following host Salman Khan’s diktat has not yet stopped. Priyanka’s brother, Sameer Jagga, put up a sensational post on Facebook, but deleted it later. He blamed the producers and the channel for victimising Priyanka, alleging she was pregnant and her health was at risk in the house. He wrote, “Unke show ke liye apna bachcha maar de kya?

Ab koi bhi jeet jaaye, Big Boss ki saari TRP hum apne ghar le aaye. Picture abhi baki hai mere dost.” But what, or rather who, could have made Sameer delete the post?

Jan

06

Begum Jaan

*ing: Vidya Balan, Gauhar, Naseeruddin Shah

Jan

13

OK Jaanu

*ing: Aditya Roy Kapur, Shraddha Kapoor

New Released Bollywood Films Jan

13

Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai

Jan

13

Haraamkhor

*ing: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Shweta Tripathi

Jan

13

Rambhajjan Zindabaad *ing: Om Puri

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Bollywood

Sonakshi Sinha to get engaged to rumoured beau Bunty Sajdeh in February?

Rumour mills suggest Sonakshi Sinha is all set to get engaged to rumoured boyfriend Bunty Sajdeh in February. It doesn’t come across as a shock as they have been spotted together on numerous occasions. Plus, this isn’t the first time reports of their engagement have done rounds. For quite a while, they’ve given gossip mongers a topic of discussion.

So far these rumours haven’t unfazed her as she continues to hang out with Bunty. This is the second engagement rumour that has surfaced in this week.

Earlier after paparazzi spotted Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli in Dehradun, Sharma’s hometown, it was stated that they were to get engaged.

Eventually, Kohli took up to Twitter to clarify that no plans of engagement are on the cards. Perhaps Ms Sinha too will do the same

NO debut for Aryan Khan in the next four years, confirms Karan Johar

Shah Rukh Khan‘s son Aryan Khan is one of the most popular star kids of all time.

Every now and then we hear reports of Aryan planning to make his Bollywood debut. In fact, sources had told us that he was going to make his BIG Bollywood debut with Saif Ali Khan‘s daughter Sara Ali Khan next year.

However, in an interview to Bombay Times, Karan Johar confirmed that Aryan won’t be making his debut for the next four years.

While talking about launching Aryan in a film, Karan Johar revealed, “Aryan is my godchild. Currently, he is in Los Angeles and he has four years of university ahead of him. When he comes back he is going to decide if he wants to be in the movies. And if he does, of course, I will be a big part of it as a director or just as a guiding support.

For me, Aryan being launched is like my son being launched. I will be this hyper relative breathing down his neck. I have held Aryan in my arms when he was six months old, and walked around the streets of London. Now he is a grownup, good looking boy with six packs and all set to face the world. I feel so proud. Of course, I track him all the time.

When I see any images of him online, he gets messages from me in the middle of the night.

I ask him, ‘What are you doing, who is this person with you in the frame?’ I feel like a possessive parent who wants to know exactly what he is up to.”

When asked about how Shah Rukh and Aryan would look in a single frame, Karan replied, “I think SRK and Aryan will be totally dynamic in the same frame, as they are great with each other. I have spent so much time with them and seen the relationship they share.”

if this piece of information isn’t true. Well, we can’t really confirm but wait to see whether she chooses to react to her engagement news with Bunty Sajdeh.

Earlier, we had reported how the actress was rejecting films because she was planning to get engaged. In fact, Filmfare also suggested that Sonakshi’s mother Poonam Sinha disapproved of this relationship.

As per the buzz, Bunty proposed to the actress and she happily said yes.

Currently the actress is working on Noor and Ittefaq . While Noor will release in 2017, Ittefaq with Sidharth Malhotra will kickstart next year.

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4

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Bollywood Horoscope Aries

Libra

March 21 - April 20

Sept. 24 - Oct 22

You need to hang on to your principles, but much still revolves around money. You feel that you should not be in the business of making other people happy, but of securing your own interests. It is about time that you put yourself first, so don’t feel guilty.

You may celebrate Jupiter’s presence in intriguing parts of your chart by buying yourself a treat or two. Your pleasure may be slightly marred by a hint of provocation in the financial department. All the signs suggest that a cash crisis will pass with a partner’s support. That’s the week’s good news!

Taurus

Scorpio

April 21 - May 20

Oct 23 - Nov 22

You must be prepared for frank and open debate! You may wish that everything were sweetness and light, but it’s far better to face up to causes of disagreement. There’s little to be gained from papering over the cracks. In the long-term, life is running your way, so you can afford to relax.

Planet is piling upon planet, star upon star, and you may be experiencing a welcome rise in energy. However, there are too many choices. If you really can’t decide what you should be doing, it is perfectly acceptable to surrender to circumstances and let fate take its course.

Gemini

Sagitarius

May 20 - June 21

Nov 23 - Dec 22

You are famous for your good ideas but, also, in many people’s opinion, for the ease with which you change your mind. However, it’s now important to be consistent and realise that your plans must be capable of practical implementation.

Your fantasy life appears to be extremely powerful at present. There’s nothing wrong with this, just as long as you don’t imagine that what you believe to be true really is true. As the days pass, fact and fiction begin to follow completely separate paths.

Cancer

Capricorn

June 22 - July 23

Dec 23 - Jan 20

Passions are mounting. This obviously means that romantic dalliances could develop a momentum of their own. It also indicates that all your creative powers should be at a peak. Cancerian artists will be exploring new avenues or expertise.

The results could benefit your business life.

Leo

Justin Bieber is the most UNDESIRABLE celebrity neighbour – says a poll Grammy-award winning singer Justin Bieber has been voted as the most undesirable celebrity neighbours in 2016.

Every December, online real estate marketplace Zillows asks American adults which celebrities they would like to have as their neighbour and with whom they wouldn’t want to share a fence. The “Sorry” hitmaker has topped the list this year, reports aceshowbiz.com.

Bieber had earlier topped the list in 2014 as well. But this year, he earned the highest percentage of votes in the survey’s history. One in three participants (36 per cent) found Bieber to be the worst neighbour and he was particularly disliked among male voters (39 per cent).

There are particular reasons why respondents wouldn’t want to share a fence

with Bieber, according to the publication.

In 2014, the “Baby” hitmaker had egged a neighbour’s house and ended up paying $80,000 to settle the vandalism charge.

The results come from a survey conducted between December 8 and 9 on behalf of the real estate site. The poll used a sample of 1,000 adults in the US, age 18 and over.

Hrithik Roshan and Lisa Haydon are back and this time with an even SEXIER picture

Your stars mean business, and friends and acquaintances are set to take life extremely seriously and an otherwise lighthearted situation can become extremely intense. What happens in the end is very much up to you, and your emotional wisdom and experience will be thoroughly tested.

Aquarius

June 24 - August 23

Jan 21 - Feb 19

Power struggles are inevitable, most likely at home or within your family.

Never imagine that you are completely faultless, for, even inadvertently, you have contributed to current, awkward emotional situations. An older, or more experienced, partner, will come to your aid.

Virgo

Discussions and decisions which take place over the current period will be dominated by the Moon, and that means you’ll be making rational choices on the basis of your instincts and feelings. And that’s no easy feat! Your judgment may be good, but think before you speak!

Pisces

August 24 - Sept 24

Feb 20 - March 20

It’s difficult to focus on details at the moment and you should be setting off on a fact-finding expedition at work. You’ll do well in serious discussions and meetings, but don’t be thrown by people who are out to shock you. Family matters could benefit from some of your sensitive and intuitive skills.

It’s time to catch up with a few basic lifelessons. It looks very much as if you may have been taking other people for granted, or otherwise under-valuing their gifts and qualities. You would do well to reconsider your habits and preconceptions.

Hrithik Roshan and Lisa Haydon collaborated for the first time for Vogue and we have to say the product is making internet go crazy. A few days we showed you the magazine cover and it had set everyone’s tongue wagging. And now they have released another picture and we are falling short of words. I mean how can someone look so hot ? I wonder if this is what a picture is doing, then what will be people’s reaction if these

two hot bombs get cast opposite each other?

We hope the directors are listening!

The cover photo had Hrithik wearing just a silk Adidas joggers, flaunting his ridiculously chiseled body and Lisa donning a sexy black bodysuit. And the latest picture sees them a bit more covered. But, don’t worry they are not looking any less hotter than the previous one

Bollywood personalities’ birthdays

Vidhya Balan january 1

gul panag january 3

uday chopra january 5

bipasha basu january 7

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Eshwar Shakti

5

6

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Movie Review

Rogue One In 2015, we finally got a proper Star Wars movie after years of waiting and going through those lackluster prequels. The Force Awakens, while not being the perfect intergalactic adventure that we expected, was still an enjoyable treat and gave us ‘A New Hope’. We would have had to wait till 2017 for another Star Wars movie, if it wasn’t for the spinoff, Rogue One that releases this Friday. Directed by Gareth Edwards, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen and others.

What’s it about Though set in the Star Wars universe, Rogue One doesn’t revolve around the Skywalker siblings or Han Solo (though one of them does make an appearance). Instead it is set in a time before Luke found his destiny, when the infamous Death Star was still being built. Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) had her father Kalen (Mads Mikkelsen) taken away from her by the Imperial army when she was

Darth Vader and a terrific third act are enough to make you love this Star Wars spin-off a child. He was a scientist who helped in building the Death Star but defected when he learnt about its purpose. Kalen is brought back to forcibly work on the incomplete Death Star project by Director Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn), himself is a puppet of a certain dark Jedi.

Years later, Jyn is recruited against her will by the Rebel Forces, so that they can use her to reach her father. Accompanied by Rebel’s officer Andor (Diego Luna) and his snarky Android K-2SO, Jyn decides to find her father and steal the Death Star plans so that they can fins that loophole to destroy it.

They are not alone in their mission as they find new team-mates in a blind ninja monk (Donnie Yen), his assassin friend (Jiang Wen) and a defected Imperial pilot (Riz Ahmed).

What’s hot Let me start off the positives with the biggest compliment – this is the most beautiful Star Wars movie ever made. Gareth Edwards is known to have an eye for visually

appealing scenery, as was evident in Godzilla and his debut Monsters, and he uses his biggest strength in creating some striking imagery for this spinoff. Be it just random shots of alien planets, or when the debris of just destroyed planet entering into space or

Vader’s plane appearing out of nowhere in the climax, each of these frames will suck you in its imagery. Another pat on the back is needed for how this spinoff gets neatly tied into the main canon despite lacking the original main characters. Of course, the idea of rebel forces stealing the Death Star plans is a fantastic one, building up on the crawling commentary of the first Star Wars movie.

There are countless references that hark back to the original franchise, many of which you can only catch on multiple viewings. I also loved the fact that they didn’t exploit the iconic character of Darth Vader. If any other

director would have got hands on what is supposed to be the greatest villain of all time, they would done with it what Suicide Squad did with Joker. Thankfully, Edwards puts Darth Vader to minimal use but deriving maximum impact. While his entry scene is whistle-worthy, His scene in the climax is not just the best scene of this year, but of the entire Star Wars movie franchise.

Though the movie is dull in parts, the third act enlivens it up considerably and delivers nearly an hour of action-packed visual extravaganza, tinged with the fear of death.

It’s like Saving Private Ryan set in a galaxy far, far away. Among the rest of the characters, Donnie Yen’s martial arts expert and K-2SO (voiced by fantastic Alan Tudyk) stand out.

The special effects is impressive, especially in the way they created certain characters from the original trilogy using CGI. What’s not I appreciate the fact that Gareth Edwards wanted to make a Star Wars movie bereft of kid-friendly cheesiness associated with the original franchise. However in his attempt to do so, he attempts to make the movie so bleak that it gets too serious for its own good. This makes the first two acts so dull that we won’t blame you from feeling very fidgety and pray for Darth Vader to appear and make things lively.

Another problem I have with Edwards’ working style is that he gives more prominence to visual imagery than to developing the human characters (a big flaw with the Godzilla movie). Here also he repeats the same mistakes, as most of his characters remain underdeveloped, including lead protagonist played by Felicity Jones.

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Foodie

7

Besan Chilla (Vegetarian Omelette) The chillas or cheelas can be made for breakfast, evening snack or dinner. It can also be packed for lunch box. The taste is somewhat similar to omelette and hence also known as vegan omelette. It can be used to make vegan bread omelette too. It is also gluten free it perfect for people with wheat allergy and egg allergy. Here’s the basic recipe for the same :) Preparation time: 10 minutes Cooking time: 15 min Serves: 2 Ingredients Gram flour (Besan) - 1 cup (Fine powder is good) Sooji (Rawa) - 1 tbsp (optional) Cauliflower - 2 florets (Grated and dried off water) Onion - 1 medium size (finely chopped) Cooking Oil - as needed Salt - to taste 1 - 1.5 cups of water

Method Mix the flour / besan , cauliflower , onion in a bowl and add water just enough for all these contents to make batter that flows smoothly but slowly out of the spoon. Ensure that there are no uneven flour lumps in the barter. Add a spoon of sooji / rawa to the batter, this adds to the crispness of the chillas.

Let the batter rest for 3-4 minutes before starting the cooking.

Switch on the flame and pre-heat the griddle for about one minute. Coat the pan with cooking oil ( about 1 tsp for each chilla ) and maintain the heat on low to medium flame ( and ensure the oil coating doesn’t steam off ).

With the help of a katori / small bowl / scooped-ladle spread a fourth portion of this batter evenly on the heated pan . After cooking on one side, flip partway through to cook the other side. The chilla is to be considered cooked when both the sides turn to golden yellow and crisp.

Carefully transfer the cooked chillas to a plate and serve hot.

Serving Besan Chilla Besan Chilla can be served as such for a light meal or snack with some tomato

ketchup, mint chutney or tamarind chutney.

The dish can be served with bread or buns to make it a whole-meal.

In South India, smaller pancakes are made with lots of vegetables and served as a side dish for variety rice. It is also sometimes served as a meal with some coconut chutney.

18 HITLIST

8

mid-day

Thursday, December 29, 2016 | www.mid-day.com | twitter.com/mid_day | epaper.mid-day.com

have you heard?

Bollywood

THRILL RIDE

Milap Zaveri has been signed by Nikkhil Advani’s production house to pen Saturday, December 31, 2016 a thriller.

The writer had narrated an idea to the filmmaker who liked it and asked him to work on the script. Advani will direct the film

Dippy-Vin to arrive first in India

Surfing into 2017

Fans of Deepika Padukone can rejoice as her Hollywood debut xXx: The Return of Xander Cage will be releasing in India first before anywhere else in the world.

The film, which pairs her with Vin Diesel, releases in India mid next month.

“Thrilled to announce that 'xXx: Return of Xander Cage will release in India first! Before anywhere else in the world!

January 14,” Deepika announced on Twitter.

Celebrity designer Masaba Gupta has jetted off to Bali with hubby, producer Madhu Mantena, to bring in the New Year. While enjoying the sun and sea in the Indonesian island, Masaba is also taking lessons in surfing, something that had been on her bucket list for long. The couple is joined by businessman Gaurav Gupta, his actress-fiancée Mandana Karimi, theatre artiste Roshan Abbas and wife Shaheen.

In a media statement, Ajit Andhare, COO Viacom18 Motion Pictures said, “For Hollywood movies in India, 2017 couldn’t have started on a more promising note.

Our very own Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone will be seen in a leading role in the movie.”

In her debut international film, Deepika will appear in a never-seen-before avatar. The American action film has been directed by DJ Caruso and also stars Nina Dobrev and Ruby Rose.

Numbers game Priyanka Chopra was ranked No 55 in IMDB’s most popular celebrity list racing ahead of Hollywood stars like Jennifer Aniston, Leonardo DiCaprio, Emma Watson and Johnny Depp. But now PeeCee had moved up to the 16th spot. IMDB is considered the most popular source for movie, TV and celebrity content.

Ramu wants to touch Aamir’s feet Aamir Khan and Ram Gopal Varma had a fallout during the making of Rangeela (1995). Creative differences cropped up and Ramu had vowed never to work with Mr Perfectionist again. Over two decades later, Ramu has publicly said that he is in awe of the star. After watching Dangal, he tweeted: £ Superstars never grew up beyond wanting to look forever young and wanting to show six-packs even after 50 and then comes Aamir in Dangal. £ “Want to touch Aamir’s feet for his ever growing sincerity which was always there, but it impossibly seems to be growing taller. £ Other Khans presuppose the audience to be dumb which I, too, think they are, but Aamir respects and caters to their intelligence hidden behind. £ Aamir Khan’s films force the world to take India seriously and the other Khans’ films make India look regressive. £ Seeing Dangal, I feel all of us in the entire industry, including the other Khans, should learn gymnastics, martial arts and kick ourselves.

All fired up Deepika Padukone took to Twitter to praise Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma for their recent outing on Koffee With Karan. Dippy wrote, “These girls were on fire! What a fun episode.” Now Deepika shares cold vibes with Kat and Anushka. The two even let it know on the show. So, was Dippy trying to be sarcastic or extending an olive branch to them? Your guess is good as ours.

Kriti in Aamir, Big B-starrer?

There is chatter about Kriti Sanon being one of the contenders for Vijay Krishna Acharya’s Thugs of Hindustan, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan. In the past, there has been buzz about producer Aditya Chopra keen on casting his protege, Vaani Kapoor. The film is set in the preindependence era and is based on Philip Meadows Taylor’s 1839 book, Confessions of a Thug.

A breather, finally For the last two years, Amit Sadh has had a working New Year, but this time, he wants to kick back and usher in 2017 with his close pals. The actor is taking a five-day break from the shoot of Ram Gopal Varma’s Sarkar 3 to take a quick trip to the picturesque hill station of Coonoor before work beckons again.

Be on top of celebrity gossip with www.mid-day.com

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Saturday, December 31, 2016

9

Special Feature

Kung Fu Yoga: Jackie Chan and Disha Patani’s action adventure is filled with gags, stunts and, unfortunately, stereotypes After Mallika Sherawat managed to bag eleven minutes of screentime in The Myth a few years ago, now Disha Patani and Amyra Dastur will now get to share screen space with none other Asia’s biggest star, Jackie Chan in his new movie Kung Fu Yoga. And unlike Mallika, it looks like at least Disha Patani has something substantial to do in the movie, going by the new trailer that has landed up on the net. By the way, the trailer is in Mandarin so unless you have an understanding of the language, all we can do is enjoy the visuals and Jackie Chan’s antics as of now, and wait for the English or the Hindi trailer later.

The film has been set up on a large scale, as Jackie Chan takes the action from China to India to Dubai. And just what you expect from his movies, there are a lot of gags in the trailer. The best bit I liked was the portion where Jackie Chan finds himself in a car with a lion and when the car takes for a leap, the similar expressions on

both the beast and the man is damn funny. For the action junkie, there are rooftops fights, running away from hungry hyenas, and more stunt sequences set in the icy hinterlands. The trailer however had an uncanny similarity to Jackie Chan’s own movie Chinese Zodiac.

Speaking about the Indian stars, Disha Patani had the maximum screentime followed by Sonu Sood and Amyra Dastur in the trailer.

We have to say, Disha was looking really beautiful especially in the scene where she is seen in the Indian attire. Sonu Sood plays an antagonist in the movie, and he gets to have a couple of fighting scenes with Mr Chan himself. However, the trailer could have avoided the usual stereotypes attached to India like that levitating sadhu. After having stayed in this country for my entire lifetime, I have not seen one myself so I wonder how these foreigners always manage to catch a glimpse of these ‘miracle workers’.

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Superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who is one of the Bollywood stars in the Forbes list of worlds top 20 highest-paid actors, believes people should make money first and then philosophize. The onscreen ‘King of Romance’ says there’s nothing romantic about being poor.

In an interview to GQ India’s January 2017 issue, the superstar said: “Don’t philosophize until you’re rich first. I used to be poor, and I can tell you there’s nothing romantic about it. When young people, friends, say they want to be great creative novelists, I advise them to be a copywriter first, make a little money. Don’t be a struggling artist; be a happy one.”

“It’s very important for me to smell good. I mix two fragrances – a Dunhill scent that’s only available at their London store as well as a Diptyque one. I’m not big on fashion, but I have a good eye.

“I don’t like wearing formal shoes, so I mostly buy sneakers. I recently picked up these pre-distressed, wornin Golden Goose sneakers, which both my son and Ranbir Kapoor tell me are all the rage,” he said.

The “Dear Zindagi” star lost his parents fairly early on. Talking about the impact on him, he said: “I’m 51. I lost my dad when I was 14 or 15, and my mother when I was 25.

That void never gets filled. If you lose your parents too early, you have to grow up too fast. You can’t play with toys, you have to start playing in the real world. He said his father passed away suddenly, and then his mother redeemed the situation for a bit.”Then she died suddenly and we were all shaken up again.

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Saturday, December 31, 2016

Classifieds JOBS

Nanny Required

JOBS Salary: $30 per hour for 40 hours per week, overtime after 40 hours at the rate of 1.5 times

We need a nanny or a student to take care of our old mother immediately at our Richmond home.

Salary will be based on experience. Resident will be provided If required.

Please call :604-2703875 ------------- Dec 31-2016

Vacancy for Diesel Mechanic A trucking company, Planet Pride Logistics, located at 11411 Shell Road, Richmond BC V7A3W7 has immediate vacancies for Diesel Mechanic Job Title: Diesel Mechanic Number of positions:1 Term of employment: Full time, Permanent Position with 40 hours per week Job location: 11411 Shell Road, Richmond BC V7A 3W7 Hours of work: 40 hours per week Shifts: Weekdays, Weekends, Evenings

Benefits: Two weeks of paid vacation Requirement: Completion of High school with minimum of 2 years of experience as Diesel mechanic Duties: • Determine truck condition by conducting inspections and diagnose tests to detect faults and malfunctioning.

• Keep truck available for use by completing preventive maintenance schedules such as changing oil, checking batteries, lubricating machinery, installing components and part upgrades.

• Diagnose faults by using computerized and other testing equipment to determine the extent of repair • Correct equipment deficiencies by removing, repairing, adjusting, overhauling, assembling, disassembling, and replacing major assemblies, subassemblies, component parts or system, such as power and drive train, electrical,

South Indian food cook wanted

Required South Indian food cook immediately Please contact:

604-312-9297

JOBS air conditioning, fuel, emission, brake, steering, hydraulics; making adjustments and alignments including bearing loads, gear tooth contact, valve mechanism, governors, oil systems, control linkages, clutches and traction units.

• Verifies vehicle performance by conducting test drives; adjusting controls and systems.

How to Apply: Please send your resume at planetpride.logistics@ gmail.com or fax at 778297-4402 Only those who meet our basic expectations will be contacted for an interview. We thank you for your interest in our company!

------------- Dec 24-2016

Crown Farms Ltd. located at Abbotsford BC is looking for 1 f/t permanent Farm Supervisor to join us as soon as possible .

Number of Positions: 1 Job type: full time, permanent Education :Requirement: Completion of high school or equivalent Experience :Requirement: 2 years related experience Language : English Work location: 31792Harris Road Abbotsford BC , Canada.

JOBS Wage Rate: $ 15.00/ hour . 40 hrs. week . 4 % Vacation pay .

Job Duties: - Co-ordinate and supervise the work of general farm workers and harvesting labourers - Supervise and oversee growing and other croprelated operations - Develop work schedules and establish procedures - Ensure farm safety and bio-security procedures are followed - Maintain quality control and production records.

Work Conditions: Outside, Physically demanding . Job involves walking , standing and bending frequently.

Security : Criminal record check required .

Contact Person : Sukhwinder Sidhu Ph: 778-908-7091 Interested applicants please email resume at crownfarms@outlook. com . Only shortlisted applicants will be called for interview . No walk in please .

--------------- Nov 19-2016

Baker / Sweet Maker wanted Nirala Sweets and Restaurant in Surrey BC needs fully qualified Pakistani style Baker/ Sweet maker (Mithai).

Responsibilities will include Sweet making for retail and banquets, training of employees, labour & food cost

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Cook for Pakistani cuisine wanted Nirala Sweets and Restaurant in Surrey BC needs experienced chef for Halal Northern Pakistani style dishes. Must be expert in making kababs and tandoori dishes. Must be able to handle halal meats. Responsibilities will include menu design and planning, cooking for individual customers and banquets, training of employees, labour & food cost control and supervision of kitchen staff. Must have at least 3 years experience as a Pakistani cook. Knowledge of Urdu and asset.

Hourly wage $17.00 per hour.

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Contact Pasha at 604 593 7323 or send resume at anwarpasha786@hotmail. com --------------- Oct- 22-2016

Saturday, December 31, 2016

South Asian Seniors - Digestive System Organs, Disorders & Treatment, Dr. Saroj Kumar on 18th December 2016 (Sunday) - 2.00 pm to 3.30 pm.

Vedic Seniors Parivar Centre of Vedic Hindu Cultural Society Surrey invites South Asian Adults / Senior members and also non members to attend a Power presentation on Digestive System Organs, Disorders & Treatment

by Dr. Saroj Kumar a Family Physician at Viva Care Clinic Delta, on December 18th 2016 (Sunday) from 2.00 pm to 3.30 pm at Shanti Niketan hall of Lakshmi Narayan Hindu Temple 8321 - 140th street Surrey BC. All questions about Digestive Disorders will be answered by Dr. Saroj Kumar after the presentation. Project funded by Government of Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors Program for Hindi speaking seniors. Tea and light snacks will be served after the presentation is over.

Please be there to attend this important presentation and contact Surendra Handa Coordinator Tel. 604 - 507 - 9945 for further details.

December 29 and will be offered for eight weeks each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday afternoon. The youth will learn about social norms, expectations, potential hazards and dangers of stereotyping. Guest speakers from the RCMP, social workers, youth counselors and Canadian youth will provide more insight into the Canadian culture. An open forum with diverse dialogue will also be held. Register now, seats are limited!

What – Interactive workshops with Syrian youth Where - PICS Head Office, #205-1272580th Avenue, Surrey When – Dec.28 AM & 29 launch (11:00 AM); Then for 8 weeks each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday afternoon Contact for registration and more info: Tamam Hasan 604 596-7722 ext.133 or Eva Touzard, 604-596-7722 ext 138 Register now!

------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------Free Interactive Workshops Syrian Youth at PICS

for

PICS is offering Syrian newcomer youth free informative get-togethers and workshops to provide them with an indepth insight into the Canadian culture.

The program called SyrianKidsGO is funded by Coast Capital Savings and will be offered at PICS Head Office. The program will launch on Wednesday December 28 @ 11:00 AM and Thursday

South Asian Seniors are planning to visit Australia & New Zealand through 13 days cruise and 2 days extra tour of Sydney (Australia) total 16 days including travel time. The cruise itinerary starts from Sydney (Australia) on November 17th 2017, one day visit at each of these ports, Melbourne (Australia), Burnie (TasmaniaAustralia), Wellington (New Zealand), Napier (New Zealand), Tauranga (New Zealand), Auckland (New Zealand), Bay of Islands (New Zealand) and back

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Community News to Sydney (Australia). Every port the ship Norwegian Jewel will stop, all seniors will go for city tour by bus. All arrangements will be made for your air travel from Vancouver to Sydney (Australia) and return from Sydney to Vancouver, Cruise bookings, all port city excursions, city visits of Sydney (Australia), hotel stay in Sydney, food ( Pure Vegetarian or Non Vegetarian as per your choice) during Sydney City visits, also local bus pick up from Lakshmi Narayan Hindu Temple Surrey to Vancouver airport & back to Temple on return from Vancouver airport. The total tour will be of 16/ 17 days including travel time from 14th November 2017 to 2nd December 2017. The travel insurance with Medical Coverage, Cancellation, Interruption and Baggage loss is a must, which you can arrange yourself or get the one we arrange for the whole group Insurance at a reasonable price to cover Basic Medical Coverage, Cancellation, Interruption, & Baggage Loss etc. The maximum cost for the whole trip to cover everything including return air tickets will be approximately $ 4,500.00 US Dollars per person. All staterooms are Double occupancy, so you should select your partner to share the stateroom with you on the ship. If you are interested to join South Asian group of Seniors, you should be in good health to walk independently, can afford the Luxury in life for 16/ 17 days, then only call. The entire amount

11

$ 4,500.00 US Dollars or Equal ant Canadian Dollars as per present Bank rates will be spent on you only and will be taken from you in 4 installments with intervals. You will have to pay me $ 750.00 US Dollars per person for Cruise deposit to confirm your stateroom, and if you don’t have your travel insurance as mentioned above then you have to pay me $ 205.00 US Dollars per person for group travel Insurance in addition to cruise deposit.

Please remember the Travel insurance once purchased can not be cancelled or transferred to somebody else. The final payment for the cruise is due by 20th June 2017 and you will be able to pay through your credit card directly to Cruise Web. For the other payments for Air Travel, Port City Excursions and hotel stay & food expenses etc. you will be informed time to time. The prices I have negotiated for the cruise are the rock bottom prices which can not be held for long and we are getting two amenities free, Gratuity for 13 days Cruise is Free and Cocktail Drinks are free for 13 days of Cruise for Ocean view cabins and above.

Inside cabins will have only one Amenity Free of your choice. I have only room for two more couples or 4 friends to share two cabins on the ship, So don’t miss the chance of enjoying the Luxury in life for 16/ 17 days to visit Australia & New Zealand and call Surendra Handa Organizer/ Tel. 604 - 507 - 9945.

12

Superstore

Saturday, December 31, 2016

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Saturday, April 2, 2016

i 5

Saturday, 2, 2016 Saturday, April April 2, 2016 i 5i 5

Vol. 6 No. 31 Saturday - April 2, 2016 - Tel: - Tel: 604-591-5423 E-mail: ads@theasianstar.com 604-591-5423 - -E-mail: ads@theasianstar.com Tel: 604-591-5423 E-mail: ads@theasianstar.com Vol. 6 No. 31 - Saturday - April 2, 2016 - Tel: 604-591-5423 - E-mail: ads@theasianstar.com

Vol.- 6Saturday No. 31 - -December Saturday - April 2, 2016 Vol. 7 No. 48 31, 2016

Vancouver’s skyline to rise amid an office-tower building boom

Vancouver’s skyline toMcMurray rise amid anFairfax office-tower building boom Post-fire construction boom inskyline Fort Financial first to win approval to buywill Vancouver’s to rise amid an office-tower building boom next two years due to competition. it Suisse is optimistic his building tower tower is optimistic his building will he $240-million $240-million Credit CreditSuisse/ Suisse/ Mr.Mr. Shokri others expectnext two years due to competition. it Suisse he Shokri andand others say say theythey expect The landlords who will likely suffer The landlords who will likely suffer next two years due to competition. start to fill as the completion date start to fill as the completion date gets closer. it Suisse tower is optimistic his building will expected to oilsands frenzy majority stake in Indian bank gets closer.

SwissRealtower tower theheart heart of many many ofof the new towers to start signing SwissReal ininthe ofheight of the new towers to start signing tenant he surpass $240-million Credit Suisse/ Mr. Shokri and others say tenant they expect a result oflandlords the current are ownas aasresult of the current boom are ownThe who boom will likely suffer

T T

Franz Gehriger, the of CEO ofgets SwissReal Franzstart Gehriger, CEO SwissReal to fill as the the completion date closer. downtown Vancouver will leases as they getget to completion. downtown SwissReal Vancouver will be heart leases as many they closer to completion.

Thattenant tower inbethe of ofcloser the new towers to startThat signing As Darrin Eckel walks through the nearly McMurray’s recovery task force. ers of older buildings, Mr. Shokri said.

Asare owners of older buildings, Mr. Shokri said.

As as a result of the current boom Group who bought the original historic Group who bought the original historic Franz Gehriger, the CEO of SwissReal completed ininless than a ayear, but sosofar,far, will is is partly because in Vancouver, completed less year, partly because companies intoVancouver, downtown Vancouver be says leases ascompanies they get this closer completion.

Thatnew developments in the suburbs, finished living roomthan in his rentalbut property She construction spring will bewell, well, ers new developments suburbs, building in 2002 partof older buildings, in Mr. the Shokri said.stock-exchange As stock-exchange building 2002 before partGroup who bought theinbefore original historic only one tenant has signed upupthan totomove in.in.butwhich do do want to be in new, energy-efficient only one tenant has signed move which want to be in new, energy-efficient completed in less a year, so far, is partly because companies in Vancouver, in Fort McMurray, Alta., he reflects on the spread throughout the city, with blocks ofwhich have already experienced higher nering with Credit Suisse to develop it, said which have already experienced higher well, new developments in the suburbs, The tenant has committed forfor a a10th buildings, tend to operate on short timelines. nering with Credit Suisseinto2002 develop said stock-exchange building beforeit,partThethat’s tenantonly hasone committed 10th of move buildings, tend to operate oninshort timelines. tenant signed upof to in.homes which do wanton tostreets be new, energy-efficient work been done overhasthe past five new going up where othervacancy rates inhave recent years,years, may may have have the main group interested in leasing Vancouvacancy rates in already recent which experienced higher the 370,000 square feet – –leaving a state offorof a 10th AsAs well, he hesaid, prices in in the newnew the main group interested in leasing Vancounering with Credit Suisse to develop it, said the 370,000 square feet leaving a state well, said, prices the The tenant has committed of buildings, tend to operate on short timelines. months to rebuild the burnt-out house from houses are still standing and occupied. Hertrouble as they compete with each other. ver office space these days is the technology vacancy ratescompete in recent have theoffice trouble as they withyears, eachmay other. emptiness that is unusual for an office sky- buildings will likely come i Saturday, 25, 2015down in the mainspace groupthese interested Vancoudaysinisleasing the technology the is370,000 square feetoffice – leaving of Saturday, As July well, he said, prices in can emptiness that unusual for an sky- a 4state buildings will come in the new scratch. biggest concern islikely making suredown residents 4 i July 25, 2015 In Vancouver, the co-developer of the Cred- sector.ver Those companies make their deciscraper in this city. Even so, a huge shift in trouble as they compete with each other. sector.

In Vancouver, the co-developer of the Credver office space these days is the technology Those companies make their deciemptiness that is unusual for aninoffice buildings come scraper in right this city.

Even so, a huge shift “We are in the finishing stages, ” says goskyabout their dailywill liveslikely even25, though muchin the 4 i Saturday, July 2015down business tenancy is expected as the region In Vancouver, the co-developer of the Cred- sector. Those companies make their deciscraper inexpected this city. and Even so,region a huge shift in Eckel, whotenancy issomething both isthe builder owner business as the experiences it has not seen be- of of the city will be a construction zone. the two-unit house.

“How do we make sure that if our schools business tenancy is expected as experiences something it has not seen be-the region fore: an office-tower building boom much It was one of the nearly 2,400 buildings are reopened, and we have kids outside experiences something it has not seen before: an office-tower building boom much of which is speculative construction rathdestroyed when a massive fire swept playing and walking down the sidewalk, fore: an office-tower building boom much of which is speculative construction rather than for specific committed tenants. through city on May 3, and it’sfor the first how which is committed speculative construction rath-do we continue to sustain that quality er“This thanisthe forof tenants. kind ofspecific uncharted territory Vanto be completely rebuilt. of life while we are in the rebuild?” er ofthan for specific committed couver, ” said Mehdi Shokri, aterritory principal with “This is kind uncharted for Van- tenants.

Eckel, who is president of Vis-Star homes, She says the municipality is working on “Thisteam isShokri, kindatofAvison uncharted territory the capital markets Young. couver, ” said Mehdi a principal with for Vanreceived the first building permit from the a plan couver, said Mehdi Shokri, a principal with that will include having someone in “But I don’t markets see a ”big disaster occurring. ” the capital team at Avison Young.

Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in place in each neighbourhood to act as a coThe ICredit Suisse tower is onlyteam the at most the capital Avison “But don’t seehis acrew bigmarkets disaster occurring. ” Young.

August.

He and used the same floor ordinator between the different construction visible and furthest of aasecond “But I along don’t see big disaster ” The Credit Suisse tower is only thewave mostoccurring.

Value investor Prem Watsa’s Fairfax reported the RBI approval earlier Friday, plan as the house that burned down. crews. of new office towers planned fortower VancouThe Credit Suisse iswave only the most visible and furthest along of a second Financial Holdings Ltd. won regulatory citing unidentified people. says everyone in the A neighbourhood Before the fire, the city was in the middle verHe and some key suburbs. cluster visible and planned furthest first along of a second wave approval to buy 51 per cent of Catholic Syrian Catholic Syrian had 156.5 billion rupees of new office towers for Vancounoticed thetwo house began to gofeet up–in of a downturn because of slumping oil prices. of towerswhen – some million square of new office towers planned for VancouBank Ltd., marking the first time India’s (US$2.3 billion) of assets at the end of March, ver and some key suburbs.

A first cluster the fall.

But some of those people who were laid off was built downtown insome the past three years. ver and key suburbs.

A first cluster central bank is allowing a foreign investor according to its annual report. The lender’s ofAnother towers – 11 some two million square “We actually had some progress, ” hefeet says.– have since found work building homes. office developments are of towers – some two million square feet – to purchase a majority stake in a domestic network includes more than 430 branches “You felt downtown that something wasCredit happening Eckel has already hired five new permanent was built in theofpast three years. proposed within blocks Suwas built downtown in the past three years. lender. and 240 automated teller machines in India, now, and we are rebuilding. ” Another 11 tower officeat developments isse’s Exchange Howe and Westare staff. In the spring, the municipality plans Another 11 office developmentsto hold are a home show and a job fair to help Catholic Syrian, based in Thrissur in south its website shows.

There are 160 homes under construction Pender streets, evenblocks while the office-va-Suproposed within of Credit within of the Credit SuIndia’s Kerala state, received notification of India’s central bank will require Fairfax in Fort McMurray, with the blocks bulk cancy rate inproposed the tower region to of inch isse’s Exchange atcontinues Howe and West connect contractors with the companies the approval Thursday from the Reserve Bank to keep its ownership level for at least five isse’s Exchange tower at Howe and West building underway in the neighbourhoods who need them. up as a result of the firstwhile wave the of building.

Pender streets, even office-vaof India, director T.S. Anantharaman said in years, Santhanakrishnan said. The Canadian Pender streets, even while the office-vaof Thickwood and Timberlea.

Housing Many homeowners who haven’t started But commercial brokerscontinues say the city is cancy rate in the region to inch cancy rate in the region continues inch starts slowed once winter set in,towers. but are torebuilding yet will be spending time over a phone interview. The 96-year-old Indian firm will need to reduce its shareholding to not about to be populated by ghost up as a result of the first wave of building. up as aupresult of the levels first wave of building. expected to ramp to record when the winter completing their paperwork, lender must now send a list of valuation 15 per cent within 12 years, according to But commercial brokers say the city is But commercial brokers say the including city is the ground thaws. applying for the necessary permits companies, which can produce an estimate Santhanakrishnan. not about to be populated by ghost towers. of Catholic Syrian’s worth, to the central bank The Reserve Bank of India approval letter Eckel has not already to building and settling insurance claims. aboutcommitted to be populated by ghost towers. for their selection before proceeding with states Fairfax will be allowed voting rights in Some residents are discussions, he said Friday. accordance with the guidelines contained in further along in that The lender’s board can then negotiate a central bank circulars from November and process than others. deal price with the Canadian investment May, he said.

In the Waterways A single investor’s voting rights in a nonneighbourhood, for firm based on the valuation report, Catholic example, there was a Syrian Director S. Santhanakrishnan said state bank cannot be more than 15 per cent, long delay as officials by phone. The parties will need to reach a according to the May guidelines.

Catholic Syrian raised about 1.2 billion considered whether people final agreement within three months of the valuation company being chosen, according rupees in October selling stock to investors should rebuild there at all. including Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance Of the 238 homes to Anantharaman.

“The approval for Fairfax to acquire a stake Co., HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co. and that burned down in the neighbourhood, more is a game-changer for banks and for Catholic Reliance Capital Ltd. at about 120 rupees per share, Santhanakrishnan said. than half were located in a Syrian Bank,” Santhanakrishnan said.

Representatives for Fairfax and the RBI Federal Bank Ltd. and Edelweiss Financial flood hazard zone. didn’t immediately respond to e-mails Services Ltd. also own stakes in the lender, “We have been in limbo,” seeking comment.

India’s Mint newspaper according to a regulatory filing last year. says Yvonne Ormson, 30 homes next year. With so many projects who’s lived in the neighbourhood for seven on the go at once, he says the biggest years. challenge will be trying to keep people She was hoping the municipality would happy. All his clients want to be in their offer residents a buyout so they could build homes by next Christmas, he says. elsewhere, but earlier this month officials “Everybody is going to want [their home] announced that wasn’t going to happen. first.”

Instead, the municipality plans to invest in The springtime construction boom flood mitigation measures, including a wall, will be unprecedented, even for a city so residents can rebuild on their lots. that experienced its fair share of frenetic But before Ormson begins filling out her development during the height of the paperwork and settling on a new house oilsands boom. design, she has another decision to make: “We have built 600 or 700 homes in a whether to rebuild or just move on. summer before, but the difference is that “I do not want to be in Waterways at all,” has all been in new subdivisions,” says she says.

Erin O’Neill, operations manager of Fort “I just want to move forward.”

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Latest Real Estate Stories

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14

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Real Estate

2016 Vancouver Real Estate Year in Review What a year it’s been for Vancouver and BC real estate stories. From soaring values, to shadow flipping, to foreign buyers tax, to tough new mortgage policies and then Donald Trump’s US presidential election win… 2016 has seen it all. Here are the highlights of our local year in real estate.

January- January real estate news is always dominated by the New Year’s BC Assessment figures, which shocked everyone in January 2016. The value of residential real estate in Vancouver compared with the previous year went up by 16.96 per cent – far greater than the already-high 9.5 per cent of the previous year but only the fourth steepest increase in BC, according to BC Assessment figures released January 4. Lions Bay in West Vancouver saw the province’s highest rise, at 17.96 per cent year over year, followed

by Squamish at 17.33 per cent and Burnaby at 17.07 per cent.

However, the most expensive properties in the province were to be found on Vancouver’s West Side – check out this separate story here about the 2016 roll’s top-valued homes (but first, take a guess whose house made the list again…).

February - The big real estate story of February was the unethical application of contract assignments to deliberately inflate home prices – now known as “shadow flipping” – which started with this Globe and Mail story and spawned many further media articles, including this advice-based editorial. The issue was later tackled by the provincial government – see March and May.

Also rocking the real estate world in February was the BC Budget, which sidelined first-time buyers in favour of subsidizing buyers of new homes – much to the consternation of many.

And first-time buyers were also shocked by the increase in the minimum down payment for homes above $500,000, which was implemented February 15.

March - Following February’s shadow flipping stories, in March the BC government announced new provincial rules intended

to remove the potential profit of contract assignments from real estate agent’s hands.

Many in the industry supported the move, but the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver’s then-president wrote in a March 22 letter to Premier Christy Clark that the BC government was reacting prematurely, and was particularly scathing of how the local mainstream media had covered the topic. “The media has not let facts get in the way of painting a negative picture of REALTORS® in this story of

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assignments,” wrote Darcy McLeod.

A City of Vancouver-commissioned report published in March revealed that Vancouver’s home vacancy rate was less than five per cent, which is said to be typical for a city of Vancouver’s size and type, and is lower than the previous study in 2002. However, the 10,800 empty homes identified in the study would turn out to be 10,800 too many for Mayor Gregor Robertson – see June.

April - With the real estate market in Vancouver at scorching levels, Central 1 Credit Union issued an April forecast that predicted Vancouver and BC home price rises would continue through to 2018. Considering the justpublished record-breaking March resale statistics, the forecast was hardly surprising – although of course the credit union did not see coming the ensuing drop in sales and various government interventions that would add to the slowing of an alreadytopped-off market.

May- In a further step to quell the flames of the shadow-flipping debacle, the BC government announced on May 16 the strict new rules on the application of contract assignments that it had promised back in March. The new system prompted a mix of reactions ranging from support to outrage – this editorial being one of those reactions.

Another major meme in May was a series of media stories on the perceived exodus of Millennials from Vancouver over the lack of affordable housing – which was responded to by this VanCity survey of 500 local Millennials that suggested this was far from the truth.

June - Reacting to March’s vacant home study, Mayor Gregor Robertson announced in June that 10,800 empty homes was unacceptable and that he would be implementing a vacant home tax “with or without” the province’s backing.

And following the “shadow-flipping” debacle and the new rules on contract assignments in May, the government took away the real estate industry’s self regulation, going further than its Independent Advisory Group’s recommendations and announcing that the Real Estate Council of BC would be overhauled and governed by a new superintendent.

July - Our most-read story in July was this expectation-adjusting advice piece by local agent Lindsie Tomlinson about how the record high prices are causing some sellers to “lose their grip on reality” in terms of what they can expect to sell their homes for.

But of course the big news of July came right at the end of the month, when the BC government did a full 180-degree turn and announced that a new foreign buyer tax, amounting to an additional 15 per cent in property transfer tax, would be imposed in early August. As we all know, it left the real estate industry scrambling to try to get as many overseas-buyer transactions through before the August 2 deadline as possible.

August - It was all foreign buyer tax, all the time, in August 2016. The new tax was implemented the day after the BC Day stat holiday, and immediately real estate agents started reporting deals collapsing under its weight, which was our most-read story of 2016. There were also a large number of sorry tales of collateral damage of those buyers who had already committed to a purchase and were suddenly hit with the new tax,. Our story on

Vol. 6 No. 31

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-

Saturday - April 2, 2016

- Tel: 604-591-5423 -

E-mail: ads@the

Vancouver’s skyline to rise amid an office-tower building

he $240-million Credit Suisse/ SwissReal tower in the heart of downtown Vancouver will be completed in less than a year, but so far, only one tenant has signed up to move in.

The tenant has committed for a 10th of the 370,000 square feet – leaving a state of emptiness that is unusual for an office skyscraper in this city. Even so, a huge shift in business tenancy is expected as the region experiences something it has not seen before: an office-tower building boom much of which is speculative construction rather than for specific committed tenants.

“This is kind of uncharted territory for Vancouver,” said Mehdi Shokri, a principal with the capital markets team at Avison Young.

“But I don’t see a big disaster occurring.”

The Credit Suisse tower is only the most visible and furthest along of a second wave of new office towers planned for Vancouver and some key suburbs. A first cluster of towers – some two million square feet – was built downtown in the past three years.

Another 11 office developments are proposed within blocks of Credit Suisse’s Exchange tower at Howe and West Pender streets, even while the office-vacancy rate in the region continues to inch up as a result of the first wave of building.

But commercial brokers say the city is not about to be populated by ghost towers.

Mr. Shokri and others say they expect many of the new towers to start signing tenant leases as they get closer to completion. That is partly because companies in Vancouver, which do want to be in new, energy-efficient buildings, tend to operate on short timelines.

As well, he said, prices in the new buildings will likely come 4 i Saturday, July 25, 2015down in the

next two years due to competition.

The landlords who will likely suffer as a result of the current boom are owners of older buildings, Mr. Shokri said. As well, new developments in the suburbs, which have already experienced higher vacancy rates in recent years, may have trouble as they compete with each other.

In Vancouver, the co-developer of the Cred-

collateral damage prompted a US family who had relocated to Langley to get in touch with REW.ca and share their own tale of woe.

Early August sales statistics suggested that Vancouver home sales were down 63 per cent year over year, although local agents pointed out that this was a combination of August sales being urgently pushed through at the end of July and a widespread “emotional reaction” to the new policy.

September - Following the abovementioned foreign buyer tax introduction, everyone was eager to see the board’s MLS® resale statistics for August, issued early September. They revealed that although home sales were indeed well down in August, the drop was nowhere near the 63 per cent that early-August data had suggested – and in fact the rate of sales slowdown was less steep than in June or July, as the market had been rapidly cooling even before the new tax announcement. The chief economist at Central 1 Credit Union was particularly bullish about market recovery, telling an industry audience that he expected Vancouver home prices to be higher in a year’s time than currently.

October - Another policy-shocker in October, this one in the form of strict new mortgage qualification rules for all Canadians, issued by the federal finance minister (he of the red-flag warning back in June). Bill Morneau announced that anyone applying for a new insured mortgage on a home, those with less than 20 per cent down payment, would have to undergo a “stress test” by qualifying for the mortgage under much higher hypothetical rates, to ensure they could afford a rate increase. This prompted a lot of criticism as first-time and low-income buyers would be the most affected by this policy, which could push many of them out of the reach of home ownership entirely.

The forecasters offered equally bearish news in October, with the National Bank predicting a home price drop of 10 per cent following the recent slew of housing policy changes, and Royal LePage’s third-quarter outlook saying that Vancouver prices had seen their “final hurrah” – at least for this real estate cycle.

November - If all of the above wasn’t enough, early November saw the shocking victory of onald Trump’s US presidential campaign. Immediately, Americans who had been threatening to move to Canada, should Trump win, seemed to be making good on their threats, with Lower Mainland home searches from US sources tripling the day after the election.

We also published this opinion piece by Western Investor editor Frank O’Brien on the possible effects of a Trump White House on local and US real estate.

In other news, it was reported in November that new home sales seemed to be falling just as fast as resales, according to this Urban Development Institute report, and the CMHC reported that rental vacancy rates had dropped even further in Vancouver, especially in investor-held condos.

December - In early December, a City of Vancouver poll found – fairly unsurprisingly – that Vancouverites were largely opposed to the proposed 3.4 per cent hike in property tax, which is well above inflation. This was followed by a last-minute proposal to add an extra 0.5 per cent to that raise, in order to create a $3.5 million fund to help solve the fentanyl crisis sweeping the city (and, indeed, country).

That total of a 3.9 per cent increase in property tax was approved in a (nonunanimous) council vote December 13, putting Vancouver home owners firmly on the hook for the opioid epidemic.

it Suisse tow start to fill a Franz G Group wh stock-excha nering with the main gr ver office sp sector. Tho

31

Saturday, April 2, 2016

i 5

Saturday, December 31, 2016

-

Real Estate

15

Will Canada’s Real Estate Bubble Finally Pop in 2017?

Saturday - April 2, 2016

- Tel: 604-591-5423 -

E-mail: ads@theasianstar.com

couver’s skyline to rise amid an office-tower building boom

edit Suisse/ he heart of er will be , but so far, to move in. or a 10th of ng a state of n office skyhuge shift in s the region not seen beboom much uction rathted tenants. tory for Vanrincipal with vison Young. r occurring.” nly the most second wave for Vancoufirst cluster square feet – three years. pments are Credit Sue and West he office-vanues to inch of building. y the city is host towers.

Mr. Shokri and others say they expect many of the new towers to start signing tenant leases as they get closer to completion. That is partly because companies in Vancouver, which do want to be in new, energy-efficient buildings, tend to operate on short timelines.

As well, he said, prices in the new buildings will likely come 4 i Saturday, July 25, 2015down in the

next two years due to competition.

The landlords who will likely suffer as a result of the current boom are owners of older buildings, Mr. Shokri said. As well, new developments in the suburbs, which have already experienced higher vacancy rates in recent years, may have trouble as they compete with each other.

In Vancouver, the co-developer of the Cred-

it Suisse tower is optimistic his building will start to fill as the completion date gets closer.

Franz Gehriger, the CEO of SwissReal Group who bought the original historic stock-exchange building in 2002 before partnering with Credit Suisse to develop it, said the main group interested in leasing Vancouver office space these days is the technology sector. Those companies make their deci-

A number of things happened in 2016 that were designed to send house prices reeling. In B.C., the government passed a law saying all foreign buyers of Vancouver real estate had to pay a 15% tax. The federal government also changed the rules for all insured mortgages, making it harder for buyers to qualify.

Changes in Vancouver appear to be having the intended impact. Prices in Canada’s thirdlargest metro have fallen since the foreign buyers’ tax was implemented, especially in more expensive parts of the city.

Other cities have also started to see house prices decline. Regina’s real estate is struggling, and Edmonton is barely treading water.

Halifax and Quebec City are also faltering a bit. And Winnipeg’s average price is up a paltry 0.5% over the last year. Surprisingly, Calgary houses are up an average of 5% versus the same period last year. In fact, gains are largely coming from one place: Toronto. House prices in Canada’s largest city are up a shocking 22.8% over the last year.

The big reason why the market could crash in 2017 is demand drying up from buyers.

The new mortgage rules will have a big impact on already stretched first-time buyers. According to Genworth MI Canada Inc. (TSX:MIC), approximately one-third of first-time homebuyers would no longer qualify for their current homes if they were forced to re-qualify under the new mortgage

#106 - 7565 132 St. Surrey, BC 604.572.3005

rules. Genworth also said in October that approximately half of its total portfolio of insured loans wouldn’t have qualified under the new rules. That is a lot of demand exiting the market.

There’s also the possibility mortgage rates go up. Although the Bank of Canada seems content to keep its bank rate at 0.75%, fixedrate mortgages are increasing along with bond yields. All of Canada’s largest banks have increased mortgage rates in the last couple of months.

Such a trend could easily continue in 2017, which will eventually hit heavily indebted homeowners right where it hurts most.

Finally, there’s the Toronto factor. If the average price there starts to fall, it could have a real psychological impact on the market.

Home Capital Group Inc. (TSX:HCG), the subprime lender with a focus on Toronto, would get hit especially hard if Toronto started crashing.

One of the most interesting things about bubbles is, they can last longer than we expect.

Toronto real estate was in a bubble in mid-2013, back when the average price was $531,000. These days, the average is closer to $780,000. If prices truly have separated from what a reasonably astute buyer would pay, then what’s the limit? And remember, money is pouring into the Toronto market from wealthy foreigners who have been shut out of Vancouver.

0 By: Asian Star ADVT.

SOLD at $4,95,00

17,160 Sq. ft (Prime Industrial Lot) $ 985,000

Saturda

16

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Garry Grewal

Vol. 6 No. 31

T

DIAMOND AWARD

Sutton Group - West Coast Realty #106 7565 132 St., Surrey. BC.

COMMERCIAL MEDALLION CLUB MEMBER

WINNER OF FVREB’s - Highest Dollar Volume AwardTOP -ACHIEVEMENT Commercial TopAWARDS Sales Award COMMERCIAL MEDALLION CLUB MEMBER

- Highest Dollar Volume Award FOR SALE

FOR LEASE

- Commercial Top Sales Award

FOR SALE

FOR LEASE PREMIUM OFFICE ACE SP HOTEL WITH 32 ROOMS FOR SALE FOR ALE S Picturesque location in the heart of beautiful British

14.827 CRES A HOME OR ALE FS Spectacular! Estate home on 14.827 Acres of high yield blueberry farm. Luxury unfolds with the stunning front foyer, dual staircases, and elevated catwalk.NThe regal LIS EW& walk great room is situated next to a gourmet chef kitchen w/ separate wok kitchen TIN G pantry. Ainmedia room, yoga/ exercise 8 bedrooms & multiple entertaining Beautiful 800 sq.ft 1 bedroom in apartment a highly desirable area androom, beautifully rooms round out this spectacular home. Gaze out upon south views of Mt. Baker or the maintained complex! Great floornorth plan with and doorShore off living room overlooking viewspatio of the North Mountains from outdoor patios situated both upstairs and down. true luxury its best!

The farm features healthy mature blueberry stunning courtyard, ponds and waterfall.

LargeThis openis kitchen with at great storage.

Radiant in varieties Duke, Elliott, and Reca ensuring steady crops throughout the season. Fully floor h/w heating and gas fireplace are included in the maintenance fee.

In-suite automated irrigation. Too much to list! Book a laundry, showing today! Asking $4,999,900

1 BED AND 2 BED CONDO

8318 cottS oad R ering is medical off and Columbia; this treasure of a business consists ofopportunity 32 rooms other ofessionals pr an o t with the potential to expand up to 50 rooms.

Its also includes purchase emium pr of�ice space ey, in Sur a 110 seat opub,Set fully licensed resaturant BC. beed t y alland complet ba Liquor f store 2016, this his and hers closet. PLUS 2 underground secured parking stalls with loads of visitor parking. with state lot size close to 45,000ifsqft.

PNP or run yourart eelIdeal for BC the and ete concr st Storage locker on main floor for added convenience. Close to shopping, schools, restaurants building willachieve er your off entrepreneurial ae etaildreams! mixtur of and r own business and and easy access to Hwy 99, 91 and Hwy 10. Asking $250,000 A very rare opportunity to own a beautiful Parisian feel Salon/Café in of�ice o ofessionals pr lookingor f a Contact for morespace details.

Askingt $2,599,000 Historic Abbotsford. Well established, with a loyal client following this home or ftheir business. Space Spacious 2 bedroom and 2 bath condo with over 1300 sq. ft.establishment of living space overlooking view ofdathe insideea. beautiful ers withoffa ybeautifulall brunch, Lunch long erm and t Afternoon T In addition, this beautiful cafémoulding offers so courtyard and pond! Well maintained property with laminate floors, crown andmuch neutralmore! paint. Reservations This open floor for is ed. PIZZA limitoday Callor et f mor BUSINESS FOR SALE details.

ONE IN

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BUSINESS OR ALE S F

PLATINUM AWARD

opportunity!

Please oach do info required. Asking $75,000

staff, not

PRIME OFFICE SPACE FOR LEASE

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2010

FOR SALE

FOR 4020SALE 272 T, /S LEASE LANGLEY OFFICE FOR LEASE IN PAYAL BUSINESS CENTRE

N LIS EW TIN G

Office for lease: Located in the heart of Surrey in Payal Business Centre , this office is professionally designed. 5 offices, reception area, separate lunch room and full washroom. 1200 Sq ft. $2000 per month + GST

PITA PIT FRANCHISE

Magni�icent luxury estate situate don 8.5 acres with over 8100 sq. ft of living space. Home includes 6 bdrms, 8 washrooms, a separate guest house and fruit stand. 5 acres has blueberry plants as well. This Well established Pita Pit stunning home possesses every luxury possible with high ceilings, crown molding, stainless steel Franchise in rapid growing appliances,Granite counter tops, open �loor plan, large gym room, grand patio, sundecks, built in vacuum, top of the line security system, separate wok kitchen and much more! gorgeous home is situated in the Brentwood area ofThis Burnaby! middle of serene farmland yet only two minutes away from Aldergrove Town centre and with quick access are oppor tunit y toto advantage of this stunning to Hwy #1. The second house is rented as well as fruitRstall.Rare opportunity home! Call today for a personal viewing. purchase a well established

developments, commercial businesses and more. This PAYAL BUSINESS location does school hot lunches and a large amount of ordering as well! Do not approach staff please CENTRE - 82 catering Ave St contact listing realtor& for more128 details. Asking $209,000

ealtor contact orappry N LIS EW TIN G

CUSTOM TEELS &ABRICATION F BUSINESSOR ALEFS

For sale Prime 1489 Sq ft office space for sale in busy retail/office complex in Surrey.

Ideal for a variety of office types. Visible from 152 and centrally located. Asking Established steel abrication and business. aluminum eat Gr f $350,000 custom

next two years due to competition.

The landlords who will likely suffer as a result of the current boom are owners of older buildings, Mr. Shokri said. As well, new developments in the suburbs, which have already experienced higher vacancy rates in recent years, may have trouble as they compete with each other.

In Vancouver, the co-developer of the Cred-

2010

ATTENTION TRUCKERS!

N LIS EW TIN G

E-mail: ads@the

MASTER AWARD

2011, 2012 2008-2009 2013-2014

Attention Truckers! Permitted use for Transportation Industry and more. IL zoned Be your own boss! Established Pizza business for sale. Excellent location in land available. Two side by side lots that are ACREAGE OR F ALE S andIN RE ASKATCHEWAN S South Surrey with tons of opportunity to expand grow.GINA Only $69,000.00! to be sold together. House is since Contact for more info on this opportunity. Asking Only $69,000 ATGRE INVES TMENT ORTUNITY! OPP f listing an r demolished. Commercial Land only. Please 4 es, acr el Hot velopment and de GREEN MOUSTACHEsite FRANCHISE FOR SALE contact for more vailablea in the egina, City of details. Asking R $649,000 Are you passionate about healthy lifestyle? Are you ready to take your passion and belief in each. not Saskatchewan.

Prime location,

Showers, Birthdays, Anniversaries, Special occasions and even Private

plan includes a large living room with gas f/p whichceremonies. open up ton the spacious eating area. This Extra large kitchentreasure with lots of of a Wedding Wait...there's more! beautiful cabinets and counter space. Large laundry room, inoffers floor radiant heat,select extra shelving closets, 2 parking stallslinens, and storage business gorgeous apparel,infurnishings, jewelry, gifts, vintage treasures and home décor.

A beautiful, breathtaking turnkey locker. Great location with easy access to shopping, transit & Highway 91 & 99. Please call listing realtor for more info. operation this is a chance to own a niche business created and Asking $329,900 established with love and a business owners delight don't miss this

- Tel: 604-591-5423 -

PREC PREC

2006-2007 2004-2005 2011, 2012 2008-2009 2006-2007 2004-2005 2013-2014

Sutton Group - West Realty PH:604-572-3005 FAX:Coast 778-574-4174 #106 7565 132 St., Surrey. BC. PH:604-572-3005 FAX: 778-574-4174

Saturday - April 2, 2016

he $240-million Credit Suisse/ Mr. Shokri and others say they expect SwissReal tower in the heart of many of the new towers to start signing tenant downtown Vancouver will be leases as they get closer to completion. That completed in less than a year, but so far, is partly because companies in Vancouver, only one tenant has signed up to move in. which do want to be in new, energy-efficient The tenant has committed for a 10th of buildings, tend to operate on short timelines. the 370,000 square feet – leaving a state of As well, he said, prices in the new emptiness that is unusual for an office sky- buildings will likely come 4 i Saturday, July 25, 2015down in the scraper in this city. Even so, a huge shift in business tenancy is expected as the region experiences something it has not seen before: an office-tower building boom much of which is speculative construction rather than for specific committed tenants.

“This is kind of uncharted territory for Vancouver,” said Mehdi Shokri, a principal with the capital markets team at Avison Young.

“But I don’t see a big disaster occurring.”

The Credit Suisse tower is only the most visible and furthest along of a MASTER second wave PLATINUM of new office towers planned for VancouAWARD AWARD ver and some key suburbs. A first cluster of towers – some two million square feet – was built downtown in the past three years.

Another 11 office developments are proposed within blocks of Credit Suisse’s Exchange tower at Howe and West Pender streets, even while the office-vacancy rate in the region continues to inch up as a result of the first wave of building.

But commercial brokers say the city is not about to be populated by ghost towers.

DIAMOND AWARD

WINNER OF FVREB’s TOP ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

-

Vancouver’s skyline to rise amid an office-tower building

franchise surrounded by highrises, residences, new

healthy own organic run foods and juices y to the next level?? Look no further and join The Green to be missed! or e Contact mor f Moustache Family with their latest franchise location on W. 4th in Vancouver. Already an details. established name with two locations in Whistler and one in Squamish this turn key operation The Mann Corporate Centre is comprised of 23,000 square feet of 'A' Class office/retail space PHARMASAVE FRANCHISE MORE 1000O 12,000 . T AIL S.F & RET ACEOFFICE SP will enable you to develop your passion into a profitable career. With excellent support from the founders, this BC over three floors. A brand new facility with a custom open floor plan for your preference. The FORflexibility ALEandSallows ASE & LE count of approx 12,000/annum. Approx 2400 sq ft of ground floor space leased space w/5 year, 5yr, 5 yr lease based company is looking for individuals who believe in health and are community driven and are wanting to utilize Mann Corporate centre has been AVAILABLE designed to provide maximum for + 1 st right refusal to tenant option to purchase the building. Open six days/week (6) doctor offices, High end that to let their Entrepreneurial juices flow! Contact for more details on the Green Moustache Franchise and joining many types of professional users who are seeking a high quality facility with great exposure.

Kroll software, and Oscar CRM software in use. Lease area of 2,400 sq.ft. Customized tenancy improvements.

Dream or ale Highlights include: State of the art facility with modern finishes, Underground secured the Green Moustache family on W.4th!Pizza Asking $99,000 FS Established Sweets andCare Restaurant business high traf�ic Business is runIndian professionally by a Health Group Companyenormouslocated expansionin potential!

Owner willarea of Scott Rd, Surrey.

Perfect opportunity o our be own t y boss parking provided. Free on site surface parking, more than 3 parking stalls per 1000 Sq ft. 24/7 Wide egetarian v me for v more details. menu eets. with xpanded Can sw tobe egetarian add e dishes non to v the provideariety training. Contact Asking $1,250,000 with ell this established w Pizza & Indian 13737 96 ve,Central location entre A with City security with HD recording privilege. easy access to allCmajor routes.

LEARNING CENTRE FOR SALE menu. Catering services provided regular clientele. Seating for 50. Complete turn key restaurant Cuisine in y. unning Langle R successfull y or f great business opportunity! Asking $129,000 and intercom.$465,000, Please contact listing realtor for details on remaining space,$335,000 square footage and pricing details.

Attention learning centers, Early Childhood Education related businesses, Teachers and others with Educational backgrounds that FOB access #705 #706 COLLECTION / CREDIT COMPANY FOR SALE- ONE IN A MILLION OPPORTUNITY! the veLast ears Your dream y�ixcellent with yedail sales. enjoy working with children! to own your business has arrived. Reputable and 23 years Established Credit Company for sale. Retail and Commercial collections, Close o ys t Da Inn, estern The & Best W Two adjoining of�ices in a new building established Bricks 4Kidz Franchise has over 320 franchises worldwide! This unique business Westward Inn o also eyhound the for Maple closeRidge, Gr Pitt t across om fr SMH. ht Can or be boug Judgments, Tenancy Order Collection, loans and outstanding invoices.Take can be run from home or elsewhere.

The exclusive Franchise territory Fantastic opportunity to run your own Pizza & Indian Cuisine station, taxi op st bus standthat enable and man Wellleased establishedogether Vera's busy Fraser t Burger orfFranchise otal located a onspace t Highway of in Meadows and Mission is for sale. Fantastic recession proofybusiness children business!

Excellent by customers open 7 days$229,000 a advantage of this food, uniquerated niche4.5/5 business opportunity.

Asking apartments near y. Legocellent bbricks. TeachEx location of S.T.E.M. & ey (science,ation. turn oper Thisk is Cloverdale. Well an week, very busy location take out with availability for seating if 1600 sqft ate. or turn key operation separ from 3-13+ learn and build with the fundamentals maintained. establishment full ready for you desired. Tons of tourists year round, central to major sites in Hope opportunity o not be Asking t offersmissed! $139,900 technology, engineering & mathematics).

This unique business in School Workshops,

opportunity our to business with services that include: aluminum welding and repair, custom and stock trailers, mobile welding service, crane fabrication, fabrication of residential gates, security bars and much more! Mon– Fri operation closed on weekends. Please contact me for more details on this hard to Assetby SaleDBA "Pharmasave"Asking well established franchise operating since June 2012. Increasing annual script come opportunity! $149,000

NEW LEASING OPPORTUNITY

BUSINESS OR F SALE

BUSINESS OR F SALE

PIZZA

&

INDIAN

CUISINE

BUSINESS

BUSINESS FOR SALE

and integral area near grocery stores, city hall, local police station, motels and and cinema.

WellLighthouse established, great sales and a complete Well known established Franchise on King George & 80th in Surrey. Take out turn key operation that will not last long! Asking $199,000

CONVENIENCE TORE S &

MINI MAR T

SIGNAGE & PRINTING BUSINESS FOR SALE

N LIS EW TIN G

TOWING COMPANY FORINDIAN SALE LIGHTHOUSE Established and reputable towing company that serves clients throughout

The perfect second floor office space for lease WithinTUNITY busy Triton Centre.OPPOR Busy and GREAT FRANCHISE growing area makes this an ideal location for your office. Contact listing realtor Great ranchise F opportunity ed! yjust Bus list LD for more details. 1985 Sq.ft.

Coquitlam Center MallO or location oss Chop f N

office space in Surey, BC. Set to be completed by fall 2016, this state if the art steel and concrete building will offer a mixture of retail and office space to professionals looking for a long term home for their business. Space is limited. Call today for more details.

UNIT ORF SALE

NEW COMMERCIAL KITCHEN AND RESTAURANT FOR SALE LISTING

ATTENTION FOREIGN MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS!!!

2 BABY ULTRASOUND FRANCHISES FOR SALE! UNITS OR ALE F S (15299 VE)

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a

NEWNG I LIST

UNIT FOR SALE

In Mughal Garden plaza 2 units available, approx 4875 sqft.Already leased to long term tenants, to be sold together. Asking $1.25 million

plaza Banquet in Halls, APARTMENT

PLAZA

VERAS BURGER FRANCHISE

corner unit in busy plaza move in ready. Approx 1200 sq ft perfect for fast food, of�ice or retail Looking for the perfect franchise well look no more! Established and award space. Easy access to highway, close to all amenities on Busy King George Hwy. Great winning Vera's Burgers in busy Meadow Town Center with major anchors like Opportunity contact me today. Superstore, Cineplex Odeon, and many major Financial Institutions and major

AUTO

BOD Y SHOPOR FSALE retailers. Fully turn key operation with extra large patio, good lease, low franchise fees and beer licence. Current absentee owner this business is a great opportunity to be your owny!boss and take itboss to theynext level! Asking $229,900 shop our sale f own be toda N

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ACREAGE FOR SALE IN REGINA - SASKATCHEWAN NEWNG I LIST

Downtown core. 2 bed, 2 bath to be missed! Contact for more details.

850 sq.ft home to use as a rental property. Asking $349,000

OFFICE SPACE FOR SALE Approx. 3100 SF of office space available for sale in the busiest plaza in Surrey. Close to Banquet Halls, retailshops & offices. Asking $749,000

BUSINESS FOR SALE

J.J AINI S

8077 eas t KING GEORGE BLVD. The perfect retail

Approx.

QUIZNOS FRANCHISE FOR SALE

Excellent opportunity to own your own franchise! Well established and recognized

Established Indian Sweets and Restaurant business located in high Quiznos Subs in Port Coquitlam will enable you to achieve your entrepreneurial traffic area of Scott Rd, Surrey. Wide variety vegetarian menu with dreams! Busy plaza with Earls, Safeway, Scotiabank, McDonalds, Bosley Pet Valu and much more! Residences and commercial businesses all around sweets. Can be expanded to add non vegetarian dishes to the menu. makes this an ideal location. Owners have run it for several years Catering services provided regular clientele. Seating for 50. Complete and are now ready to retire. Contact me for more details regarding turn key restaurant great business opportunity! Asking $129,000 this business opportunity. Asking $119,000

ITALIAN RESTAURANT FOR SALE

A treasure gem of Italian cuisine tucked away in Hope! Open for lunch and dinner this quaint restaurant serves traditional Italian classics in a fantastic atmosphere and ambiance. Perfect casual dining for locals as well as tourist traffic. Turn key operation ready for you to implement your dreams as a restaurant owner! Asking $219,000

INVESTOR OPPORTUNITY

Investment Opportunity in Hope. 7200 Sq. ft large Lot Fully renovated home close to the Downtown core. 2 bed, 2 bath 850 sq.ft home to use as a rental property. Asking $349,000

J.J SAINI PLAZA

Station, restaurant and Public Transit. This space has 2 offices inside and lunch room as well as washroom. Perfect for Accountants, Notary, Immigration Great opportunity to get into a Franchised and or other consulting or Lawyer. The space can also be Located in a busy commercial plaza in the ED easy to operate Candy business! This established DUCuses as well. 1260 Sq. ft. converted heart of Surrey. Lots of traf�ic and close to franchise is located in Ocean Park Shopping Centerfor various REretail

INVESTOR OPP ORTUNITYGREAT INVESTMENTNEW OPPORTUNITY!FRANCHISE 2590 sqft . etail R ande Of�ic Investment Opportunity in Hope.

CUISINE development Sq.4 acres, ft Hotel largeandLot Fully site available in the space for LIGHTHOUSE sale INDIAN Asking $649,000 7200 renovated close to the Prime location, not Cityhome of Regina, Saskatchewan.

Don't miss this rare opportunity to own your own busy Lighthouse Indian Cuisine Franchise! Prime location in Brickyard Station Plaza this fantastic business has Take out and dine in, beautiful décor, quality kitchen, Full Liquor license and full Indian Cuisine 95 Menu.

Ave Complete & 152turn St., sqft. of�ice for franchise. Contact me today for further key 940 operation enables you to bespace your ownis bossavailable with this established lease 2nd �loor including 3 small of�ices, meeting room info.on Asking $389,000 and reception. Also available 9400 sqft. space for lease.

LOTS OF EXPOSURE.

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UNIT OR FASE LE ON T 72 & 132 Available for lease. Opp JR Furniture. Good mix of warehouse and of�ice space. Centrally DONAIR BUSINESS located in light industrial zoning.

Of�ice for eat vestment sale! In Gr FOR ALE S FOR ALE S #1 1016 Sq cellent xposure, Ft e 12,000 op S.F.ExRETAIL t �loor of�ice y space Khalsa within the REDown MORE 1000 TO & OFFICE SPACE U CE Amazing opportunity to be your boss!

D Perfect opportunity to be your own boss with this well established Pizza ,6960ey Surr 120 St Business Cent er x. comple ull ea F ar eddesignat or oom f classr space and addition Established Donair food outlet in prime busy AVAILABLE FOR SALE & LEASE Perfect ving li space & Indian Cuisine in Langley.

Running successfully for the Last five years with of�ice space. ake vantage T ad ons of ofxposure t om visual fr . 128th e af�ic High st tr area in Langley. Already steady clientele from thedaily sales. of Western 128 and 84.

CD zoning allows v over 1000Closecorner ft & 2 with excellent to Days sq Inn, The Best gr in opportunity . $325,000.00 the ous numer businesses ounding, surr tons complexof eat vestment bedroom den taxi stop bus2traf�ic Westward Inn also closewith to the Greyhound station, stand and lots of opportunity to expand the #2. 1920 sq ft of second vate �loor of�ices, droom,of�iceboar space. bath corned unit in business further. Low lease, and great area and many apartments near by. Excellent location & turn key operation. reception ea,ar chenette. kit cellent Ex xposure, e op t �loor of�ice y space wit Harleen dens.

Gar make this the perfect turn key operation to own Khalsa Business er Cent x. comple ake vantage T ad ons of of xposure t visual fr e om This is an opportunity not to be missed!

Asking $79,000 8077 KING GEORGE BLVD. Great unit available for lease facing King Asking location. centr busy $289,900 Surr your own business today! Asking $99,000 128thBlvd.. Greatst Highexposure. xcomple eat tr tovestment gr in . $550,000 George visualaf�ic and retail Close shopping, Gas opportunity

Listing realtor for more details. Asking $139,900

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restaurant servesthat traditional Italian classics in business offers Amazing opportunity rarely becomes available!

This unique a fantastic atmosphere and ambiance. Perfect Pizza, Pasta, and Chicken etc.

Additionally, the kitchen has a full casual dining for locals as well as tourist traf�ic. commercial/industrial kitchen infrastructure place which is perfect for catering Turn key operation ready for you toinimplement plaza. and food manufacturing.

This uniqueowner! concept allows for the combination of both. your dreams as a restaurant Asking $219,000 Well maintained, quality equipment this turn key operation is ready to go! Contact

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Busy, established Pizza and Pasta restaurant in the heart retailshops & Asking of�ices. $749,000 Lougheed Hwy. Offers extensive menu plus School bookings, Catering for parties/meetings etc. Full website.

This business qualifiesSfor ALMI. TakeKHALS advantage UNIT OR ALE F T A BUSINESS of many hotels, businesses in the area as well as residences. Complete turn key Take vantage ad eat of vestment in this opportunity! gr ound Ideal etail/�loor Gr high eys in busy Surr Khalsa Business operation. Askingceilings $159,900 businesses

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Unique and established opportunity to make your entrepreneurial dream come true! This beautiful Café in the heart of White Rock is a small business owners dream! Tastefully decoratedInexcellent breakfast and lunch menu and rarely 2 den Mughal plaza Gar available, license oxas well! Outdoor appr .Already 4875 leased tons of to found…Liquor seating back and front ofsqft premises, together. Asking $1.25 million parking and many, many more high rises coming in the area currently make this a business owners dream come true. Turn key business ready and waiting for you!

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Don't miss this rare opportunity to own your own busy Lighthouse Indian Cuisine Franchise! Prime location in Brickyard Station Plaza the Lower Mainland. Ideal opportunity to run your own turn key business this fantastic business has Take out and dine in, beautiful décor, quality kitchen, Full market.

Liquor Contact license and full Indian Complete in a niche for more details.Cuisine AskingMenu. $279,900 turn key operation enables you to be your own boss with this established franchise. Contact me today for further info. Asking $389,000

OFFICE

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SURREY VERAS BURGER FRANCHISE FOR SALE

After School Enrichment Classes, Week long Summer camps, Birthday Parties, pre School alon S Realtor for Business sale Classes and Kidz Night out programs. Hair Please contact listing more info on thisfor unique opportunity. Asking $79,000 Located raser on , Hwy verdale F Cloea, ell ar w established business, y o maintain, higher monthl y evenue. Asking r $69,900

establishment and Party Orders are also handled. The website for all franchise locations is www.lighthouse.menu and they are on Facebook as well. This business has been established in 2009 and has been run by the same owner since this time. As it is a take out and delivery.

Establishment there is not a liquor license at this location. Asking $549,000

Don't miss this chance to run your own buy Convenience store/Mini mart! This well established business is well or-ganized, excellent set up, with all your essential sundries for sale as well as lottery AND opportunity run your own signage andlocation! printing business!

Thisarea established key operation offers all theGreat licensing totosell Pizza at this Busy nearturn parks, varieties ofresidences banners and signs, window small graphics &business! lettering LED Channel schools, it vehicle is thewraps, perfect Ample& 3Dofletters and awning opportunity to add yourEstablished ideas to already turn operation! canopies and window graphics. for an five years, low lease, builtkey up clientele make this a great business Don't miss this great small prospect! opportunity!

Contact me for more business details. Asking $99,000 Asking $149,000

UNITS OR F SALE &

BEAUTIFUL TURN KEY A SPALON / OR FSALES

near major anchor Safeway. This rapidly growing franchise currently has 22 locations within BC and Alberta. With unique product Imported from the US and UK this franchise is completely turn –key and full training provided. This easy to run business is perfect for a couple and for those Established auto body shop for sale be your own boss today! wanting to try their hand at being an entrepreneur.

Asking Well$79,900 established and well equipped Auto Care Center which offers complete car &

public transportation, restaurants, of�ice and retail shops. Established recently the spa and salon offers modern décor up to date equipment/furnishings. Excellent turn key operation. Asking $60,000 RED

AUTO BODY SHOP FOR SALE

truck inspection, service and repair. The perfect opportunity to run your own business with a well recognized and established automotive center. Contact realtor for more details. Asking $109,000

UCED 29/07

Office for sale! Great Investment #1 1016 Sq Ft Excellent exposure, top floor office space within the busy Khalsa Business Center complex. Full area designated for classroom space and additional office space. Take advantage of tons of visual exposure from 128th st. High traffic complex great investment opportunity. $325,000 #2. 1920 sq ft of second floor office space. Includes 10 private offices, boardroom, reception area, kitchenette.

Excellent exposure, top floor office space within the busy Khalsa Business Center complex. Take advantage of tons of visual exposure from 128th st. High traffic complex great investment opportunity. $550,000

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