The Asian Star October 17 2015

www.theasianstar.com Vol 14

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Issue 38 Saturday, October 17, 2015

SUKH DHALIWAL “I will work with all levels of government to get the job done for the residents of Surrey-Newton.”

Tel: 604-591-5423

Ready to Serve sukhdhaliwal.ca 604.441.5000 sukhsinghdhaliwal @sukhdhaliwal

WORKING TOGETHER

putting YOU first!

sukhdhaliwal.ca | 604.441.5000 Authorized by the official agent for Sukh Dhaliwal

Saturday’s Lotto 6/49 jackpot the biggest in Canadian history

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said Andrea Marantz of the Western Canada Lottery Corporation. “The current $64-million jackpot has carried over 11 times to reach this brand-new record amount.” If a single ticket wins the jackpot, it will also set a new record for the biggest single Canadian lottery prize ever won.

Continued on page 7

eeling lucky? There’s a record $64-million jackpot in this Saturday’s 6/49 draw. The jackpot edges past a $63.4-million prize offered in 2013 to make it the biggest jackpot ever offered on any Canadian lottery game. “As the jackpot kept rolling over, more people started playing, boosting it even higher,”

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Ethnic media has bigger role in 2015 election coverage

uring one of the federal leaders’ debates, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper was accused of having a secret meeting with members of the ethnic press in Vancouver, to which he retorted: “I’m not sure how you have a secret meeting with the media.” But the

reality of the ethnic press in Canada is that most of the political coverage or commentary in the hundreds of community newspapers, radio stations and television networks rarely breaks into the mainstream — until past couple of weeks. The decision by the

“Integrating communities is the solution”: sues. Integrating communities Harpreet Singh

Chhavi Disawar egregation in communities has to be ended. I will divide the riding into four parts and will conduct open townhouse meetings where councillors, public and law enforcement agencies will come together and discuss important is-

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is the solution”, told Harpreet Singh, the conservative candidate in an interview with The Asian Star. Harpreet Singh is a young aspirant of Conservative party who has been working into media for past three years. He Continued on page 6

Conservatives to yank one of their own candidates for something written in a Toronto Punjabi-language newspaper reflects the influence of those publications, especially in a race where heavily diverse ridings are much in play.

Continued on page 4

Two shootings in less than a few hours in Surrey

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urrey RCMP are investigating a pair of shootings in the last day. Shots first rang out at 9 p.m., Thursday (Oct. 15) near 110 Avenue and 142 A Street. Police were called and officers found evidence of shots fired, but couldn’t locate anyone connected with it. Police say witnesses said they saw a black pickup truck and a dark-coloured sedan shooting at each other.

Then at 7:30 a.m. at 99 Avenue and 156 Street, a red van pulled in front of another parked car at a house and fired several shots striking both the vehicle and the house. The van then sped off.

No one was hurt in the gun play. The shoot-

ing took place right next to William Davidson Elementary school, but fortunately, the violence played out before the school was open. Police say they have no evidence that Continued on page 2

A brilliant comeback of Sukh Dhaliwal

Chhavi Disawar ith elections coming upfront, Justin Trudeau is seen as the hope of tomorrow. Focusing on middle class group has strengthened his name in the public. With this craze going on, The Asian Star interviewed Mr. Sukh Dhaliwal, the present Liberal representative

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from Surrey Newton area. This promising candidate emigrated from India in 1984 and joined hands with Liberals in 1986. “It is all about the change. I wanted to be the voice of the community and Justin Trudeau’s Dad highly inspired me to join Continued on page 7

Local

2 i Saturday, October 17, 2015

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LNG Canada starts $1.5-million fund for skills training in BC

liquified natural gas project in Kitimat is creating a fund for skills training to spur B.C. residents to vie for jobs promised in the province’s nascent LNG industry.

LNG Canada, a joint venture led by Royal Dutch Shell PLC, is investing $1-million in the trades training fund while another $500,000 will come from the Canada-B.C. job grant program. While the funding is modest in the context of huge industry demand for skills training, the announcement is being touted by the B.C. government as one example of how the province is gearing up for what it expects will be an economic bonanza in exporting LNG to Asia.

“We also recognize that there will be a role for immigration – permanent pathways for people to be involved,” B.C. Jobs Minister Shirley Bond said Thursday during a news

conference at an international LNG conference in Vancouver. “At peak times, it may well be that there is a requirement for workers to be here on a temporary basis, but that will only be if and when needed, and after British Columbians have been considered.”

With the slump in the oil industry, Alberta has been hit hard by layoffs in the petroleum sector. “We are seeing in fact numbers of people return to British Columbia, particularly those who have gone to Alberta in the past to find work, and many of those workers are coming home,” Ms. Bond said.

From 2011 to 2013, more B.C. residents moved to Alberta than the other way around, but that trend began reversing in the summer of 2014. In the first six months of 2015, B.C. reaped a net gain of about 2,300 people from Alberta, according to preliminary estimates.

Woman dies in Chilliwack house fire

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n investigation has been launched after an elderly woman died following a house fire in B.C. Wednesday evening.

Firefighters were called around 7.30 pm PT Wednesday to reports of a fire in a two-storey house in the 45300 block of Westview Avenue. After entering the property, officers located a 74-year-old woman suffering from severe injuries. She was taken to hospital and

later died. The RCMP and the Chilliwack Fire Department are leading the investigation and are asking witnesses with information to come forward. “Police do not suspect the fire was targeted or linked to other fires we have had in the area. The BC Coroners Service is engaged with the investigation,” Cpl. Mike Rail said in a statement Thursday.

The woman has not yet been named.

Two shootings in less than 10 hours in Surrey From page 1 hootings are linked, or whether either is connected with an ongoing turf war over a dial-a-dope operation playing out in Newton.

Anyone with information is asked to call 604-599-0502 or to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

LNG Canada external affairs director Susannah Pierce said energy construction projects in British Columbia will require cost-ef-

fective ways to hire and manage large labour pools.

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CREATION DATE: 09/10/15 MODIFICATION DATE: September 11, 2015 3:44 PM OUTPUT DATE: 09/14/15

Saturday, October 17, 2015 i 3

4 i Saturday, October 17, 2015 Continued on page 1

EDITORIAL

Ethnic media has bigger role in 2015 election coverage

In Surrey, which has five federal ridings that are all competitive, there are 13 ethnic papers — nearly half of the city’s residents have a mother tongue other than English. In Brampton, Ontario, where there are also five ridings and a visible minority population of over 66 per cent, there are at least 10 ethnic papers in the city and dozens more who serve its population from headquarters around the

Greater Toronto Area.

Political coverage in the ethnic press has changed since the 2011 campaign, said Andrew Machalski, president of the ethnic media monitoring firm MIREMS, which keeps tabs on publications in more than 45 cultural communities in Canada for dozens of clients, including the federal government.

“It’s more engaged than in previous cam-

paigns,” he said in an interview.

“What we are seeing is that issues that are of concern to immigrants, above and beyond their concerns as the general public, seem to be in the forefront in the campaign right now — the issue of the niqab, refugees and immigration policy.” In 2011, the coverage was more general, he said, and often skewed towards the Conservatives because in that election, the party was more focused than the others on ethnic communities But this time around, everyone is actively courting the so-called ethnic vote and media outlets have responded by broadening their coverage as well. Another difference from past campaigns is the lead time available to papers, said Machalski. Many are weeklies, meaning that in the previous campaign they had only a handful of issues to discuss the election. With an 11-week campaign, there’s much more space available, he said. “It’s been far more intense,” he said. Engaging the ethnic press has just become a regular part of the campaign as opposed to past elections, when it was seen a specific target, said Ryerson University professor April Lindgren.

An increasingly diverse candidate pool also helps, she said. “If there is a candidate from their own community who is engaged in the race, there is a fair bit of interest in it,” she said. Lindgren researched some of the ethnic media coverage in the 2011 campaign in the Toronto-area and found that year, the most extensive election reporting came in the Punjabi-language papers. That community fielded at least 10 candidates in Toronto. One of the papers she surveyed was the Punjabi Post, whose editor-in-chief was turfed as a candidate by the Conservatives this week.

Jagdish Grewal wrote an editorial earlier this year entitled, “Is it wrong for a homosexual to become a normal person?” defending therapies that attempt to turn gays straight.

After other media reported the contents of the piece, the Conservatives removed him from their candidate list, though his name will remain on the ballot because the move came after the cut-off for candidate names to be submitted to Elections Canada.

He’s not the only influential South Asian

journalist seeking a seat in Parliament; Harpeet Singh, who hosts his own television show, is the Conservative candidate in one of Surrey, B.C.’s hotly contested ridings.

Saturday, October 17, 2015 i 5

6 i Saturday, October 17, 2015

Windsor man who ‘got the last laugh’ and slipped past no-fly list into Turkey now back in Canadian court

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ohammed El Shaer was on a the media constantly doesn’t make it easy to no-fly list, did not have a valid land your dream job,” he explained in March passport and was prohibited by from Turkey. The self-described marketing his parole conditions from leaving Canada executive apparently came to the attention of when he disappeared from Windsor, Ont. RCMP national security investigators after in February and somehow made his way he left Canada in November 2013 with AhTurkey. “I guess we know who got the last mad Waseem, a Pakistani-Canadian violent laugh,” the 27-year-old Palestinian-Canadi- extremist also from Windsor. El Shaer and an wrote in an email to a National Post re- Waseem flew a circuitous route to Turkey, porter. “Allah’s plan has beaten your fragile and Waseem then crossed into Syria. El Shaer entire nation’s plan. May Allah guide you to later told Canadian officials his passport had been damaged and, after giving false the truth or destroy you.” information, he received an emerBut on Friday, El Shaer gency travel document. He returned was no longer laughing as to Canada on Jan. 1, 2014 and was he appeared in a Windsor charged with a passport-related courtroom by video link, fraud and released on bail. Although charged with six docuhe was prohibited from leaving Onments fraud and parole tario pending his trial, he somehow violation offences after made his way to Egypt and Sudan. police arrested him as he Again, he returned and was arrestwas returning from the ed at Toronto’s Pearson airport. “I Middle East. According made a mistake and I apologize for to Ontario court records, that,” he told a judge after pleading police charged him on Mohammed El Shaer guilty on Dec. 19, 2014. He was senSept. 23 with making a tenced to 24 days and banned from statement he knew was traveling outside Canada. “It won’t happen false to Citizenship and Immigration Canada for the purposes of obtaining a passport. again,” he said. But shortly after he was reHe was also charged with breach of proba- leased from prison, he disappeared again. On tion. He was already facing a breach of pro- March 2, Waseem posted El Shaer’s photo on bation charged filed on Feb. 25, and on Feb. Twitter with the caption, “Canadian Muslims 15 he was charged with knowingly making guess which ‘high risk traveller’ made it into a false document, using a forged passport Sham?” (Extremists refer to Syria and the and possessing an identity document in the surrounding region as Al Sham.) “So what’s ur excuse,” Waseem added, along with the name of Mohamed Nour Hassan Moussa.

It was the third time in less than two years hashtags #Hijra and #IS. Hijra is Arabic for El Shaer had been arrested after returning migration while IS appears to refer to ISIL. from trips to the Middle East. His first came “What do you want me to say,” El Shaer reafter he traveled with a Canadian Islamic sponded when contacted by the Post at the State in Iraq and the Levant fighter who is time. The apparent ease with which El Shaer wanted by the RCMP for terrorism. “Cana- repeatedly travelled in an out of Canada hints da is home to me, my family but when you’re at the struggles counter-terrorism police are constantly harassed by government officials having keeping track of those they categorize it makes life a little bit difficult being fol- as “high risk travellers,” some of whom they lowed around everywhere and your name in fear may join overseas terror groups.

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LOCAL

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Surrey RCMP arrest one of two Strawberry Hill shooting suspects

olice have arrested a suspect in a recent shooting in Newton, but are still looking for a second suspect. Bullets hit Strawberry Hill elementary school shortly after 6 p.m. Sept. 15, in the 7600-block of 124th Street as gunmen in one car opened fire on another. A 22-year-old man was shot but survived. It’s remarkable no one else was hit, as the school’s playground is typically busy at that time of day. “It’s outrageous that it’s happening at all,� Surrey school district spokesman Doug Strachan said at the time.

It brought the number of shootings in Surrey and North Delta to 46 since the beginning of March. Police say many of those are

related to a dial-a-dope turf war in this area.

The Surrey RCMP issued a bulletin for two suspects charged in connection with the shooting. Amarpreet Samra and Shakiel Basra, both 21, have been charged with two counts each to attempt to commit murder and intentionally discharging a firearm.

Samra was arrested early Thursday morning, Oct. 15, after a Ford Mustang sped away from police conducting a traffic stop at 146th Street and 76th Avenue. Samra was arrested after the Mustang crashed into an unoccupied vehicle. They are still looking for Basra, described as South Asian, 21, six feet three inches tall and 150 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.

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PERSON OF THE WEEK

8 i Saturday, October 17, 2015

“Integrating communities is the solution”: Harpreet Singh

From page 1

has raised awareness amongst various issues concerned with our community and has in-

depth knowledge about the public matters.

He believes that media can bring awareness about various issues but being a part of government provides a platform to bring about a change.

Talking about Conser vatives Harpreet says,” Conservative party is the only party whose values match my values and specially the marijuana approach and legalization. I have two sons and I don’t want the corner shops where children can easily go and buy them.”

As per Harpreet Conservative party believes in Multicultural mosaic. Emphasizing on the economy he proudly mentioned that

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despite the ongoing oil crises, 80% of Canadian economy is growing. Also he highlighted that under the Harper government,

Canada’s GDP reached 16.2% that is best amongst the G-7 countries.

Harpreet’s major has always been the Surrey Newton area.” I have lived in this area for past 12 years and as a new immigrant myself I am aware about the problems and challenges of people.”

Harpreet stressed on education, and hard- and what can be done should be done” ening the Canadian laws when asked about claimed Harpreet. the crime and drug situation in Surrey.

Harpreet has door knocked around 19000 He strongly held the point that Interna- houses in Surrey- Newton area that has tional students should not be exploited as far as the wages are concerned. He also said that his government would be looking forward to eradicating this problem.

He also disclosed his plan about setting up new industries in the area that will help in generating jobs.

“I can’t promise to bring jobs if I become the MP but yes Surrey Newton area has a large berry Harpreet Singh with Prime Mininster Harper (left). business. I will bring processed food industries here that will help happened for the first time in the history generating jobs”, said he. of election campaigns. Ethics, integrity and Harpreet Singh is an honest, hard-work- honesty is the base of Harpreet’s campaign. ing, approachable and reliable person who “My focus is not just statements but creatspeaks his heart. “My priority is my people ing a working talk”, concluded Harpreet.

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PERSON OF THE WEEK

Saturday, October 17, 2015 i 9

A brilliant comeback of Sukh Dhaliwal Liberals”, said Sukh.” I have seen Justin

From page 1

Trudeau working hard, going coast to coast and understanding people’s problem and that motivated me to step in again.” Mr. Sukh Dhaliwal has been elected twice as a member of parliament. In 2008 at the time of Paul Martin’s Prime Ministry, Sukh ran from the riding that was never liberal. In his words it was a democratic win for him and the Liberals.

Sukh is not only passionate about Liberals but also about helping the community.

“Leaders usually bring the voice from Ottawa to here but I have always focused to bring the voice of people from Surrey to Ottawa.”

Explaining further he told the Asian Star that he would not mind working five days a week in Ottawa, take a red eye flight to his work, complete his social/religious commitments on weekends and travel back to Ottawa again.

Getting back to field after a break could be a challenge for anyone but Sukh has no

Ken Hardie

Fleetwood-Port Kells

Harjit Sajjan Vancouver South

worries about it. When talked about the condition of drugs and youth in Surrey, Sukh quoted,” We have to rise above the political strives. At present, opposition is talking about crime while I talked about it around 10 years ago. I have always promoted and asked for educational programs about these youngsters. We have to provide enough preventative measures to be result oriented rather than just playing political games.” With his strong voice, Sukh takes pride in explaining the Liberals policies catered towards improvisation the middle class in Canada. “Liberals is the only party that is balanced in context to economic growth of the country and general social vision.” Focusing on jobs in Canada, Sukh pointed on generation of 35000

Sukh Dhaliwal Randeep Sarai Surrey-Newton

Surrey Centre

John Aldag

Jessie Adcock

Cloverdale-Langley City

Judy Higginbotham

South Surrey- White Rock

Port Moody-Coquitlam

summer jobs in order to help International students gain Canadian experience within their

Carla Qualtrough Delta

Jati Sidhu

Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon

Joe Peshisolido Adam Pankratz Stevston-Richmond East

Sukh Dhaliwal (left) with Justin Trudeau

study tenure so that they come out as profound professional with Canadian experience from their educational institutes. He even expressed his concern about the brain draining of International students and that Liberals will look forward to provide opportunity and retain them in Canada.

Talking about immigration concern, Sukh told The Asian Star that Justin Trudeau is looking forward to double the family class immigration and raise the age limit of accompanying children from 19 years to 22 years. Also he is planning to double the budget for this initiative. Sukh Dhaliwal is one such person who believes in transparency, accessibility to public and bringing about the change. His presence at numerous public events itself speaks about his concern for various issues in the community.

Also, even after a long time of staying out of the field. People waited for three hours in ques to nominate this candidate that tells us how brilliant his comeback is.

Authorized by the registered agent of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Burnaby South

SUKH DHALIWAL “I will work with all levels of government to get the job done for the residents of Surrey-Newton.” sukhdhaliwal.ca | 604.441.5000 Authorized by the official agent for Sukh Dhaliwal

Ready to Serve sukhdhaliwal.ca 604.441.5000 sukhsinghdhaliwal @sukhdhaliwal

WORKING TOGETHER

putting YOU first!

10 i Saturday, October 17, 2015

Pattullo Bridge to be closed this weekend

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he Pattullo Bridge, w h i c h links Surrey to New Westminster, will be closed for most of the upcoming weekend.

The bridge will be closed from 9 p.m. PT on Friday until noon on Sunday so construction crews can perform what TransLink describes as “essential pothole repairs.”

“It takes time for the crews to get in there and do the work that they need to do and reseal it back up,” said TransLink spokeswoman Jennifer Morland.

When a major fire closed the bridge for a month in 2009, it caused delays

for thousands of Metro Vancouver commuters.

Pedestrians and cyclists will still be able to use the bridge during the closure.

Millions in repairs needed Last month TransLink proposed to replace the bridge, saying repairs to the aging infrastructure would cost about $100 million and take 18 months.

TransLink’s vice-president of engineering and infrastructure management, Fred Cummings, said TransLink would prefer to do mi-

nor repairs to keep it functional until a replacement is built.

The province has said it’s not in favour of replacing the bridge.

BC’s drunk driving laws mostly upheld by Supreme Court of Canada

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anding out automatic roadside prohibitions to drivers who test over the legal limit for alcohol were weakened by a second Supreme Court of Canada decision today.

The laws, which have already been updated by the province, were deemed unbalanced as they were first written in 2010.

B.C.’s Justice Minister lauded the decision saying it upheld most of the provincial laws.

“Our government believes strongly in our immediate roadside prohibition law. and we know it saves lives — 260 since September 2010,” said B.C. Justice Minister Suzanne Anton. “ I’m pleased to see the court agreed wtih our argument in the Wilson case and with the majority of our argument in the Goodwin case.”

Legal experts saw it differently, saying the case does not uphold the 2010 law, and leaves even the revised laws up for attack.

“The province’s objective was a valid

objective, but it needed to be balanced

by Charter rights,” said Shea Coulson, a lawyer who argued automatic roadside prohibitions were onconstitutional.

“The court’s biggest concern was that the device used by police was unreliable,” added Shea, who predicts that today’s ruling will lead to more challenges of even the current B.C. drunk-driving laws.

Canada’s top court ruled that B.C.’s 2010 law is within the provincial jurisdiction and does not amount to a presumption of guilt over innocence , but flies in the face of search and seizure provisions of the Charter, because of the unreliability of breath test devices, according to Coulson.

The ruling says that the provincial laws “does not minimally impair the right of a driver to be free of unreasonable search and seizure,” said all justices except one dissenting in the reasons for judgement.

LOCAL

Trucks collide in Surrey sending 4 to hospital

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by the semi-truck. urrey RCMP say The driver of the semi this semi-truck swerved after colliding rear-ended a movwith the moving truck, ing truck after the latand hit a pick-up truck. ter stopped abruptly. A Police say two people moving truck and a large from the moving truck semi-truck collided in and the semi-truck Surrey, B.C., Thursday were taken to hospital afternoon, sending four with serious, but not This moving truck was rear-ended people in hospital with life-threatening, inby a semi-truck near Fraser Highway serious injuries. The acjuries.

Nobody in the and 176 Street in Surrey, say police. cident occurred near the pick-up truck was inintersection of the Fraser Highway and 176 jured.

Surrey RCMP say southbound traffic Street shortly after 1:30 p.m. PT. is closed on 176 Street near the accident and Surrey RCMP say the moving truck made is likely to remain closed until about 6 p.m. an abrupt stop and was then rear-ended PT.

Average driver will pay ICBC $60 more in insurance

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he Insurance Corp. of B.C. has decided to raise basic auto insurance premiums by 5.5 per cent, driving up the annual cost by more than $44 for the average driver.

And a further jump in optional premiums for coverage like third-party liability will add nearly $16, for an annual increase of about $60 on average.

The basic premium increase is less than the 6.7 per cent jump ICBC had warned in August might be required as a result of rapidly rising injury claims and the resulting payouts.

The hit is lower in part because the province has approved an unusual $450-million transfer of capital from ICBC’s optional insurance business to the basic insurance side.

There’s been growing financial pressure on the basic side, while ICBC has had more wriggle room in recent years to actually decrease rates on its optional side, where it does not hold a monopoly and competes with private insurers.

Punjabi singer Mika Singh (third from right) with fans in Vancouver, including Fruiticana’s Tony Singh (sitting right) Daljit Thind (second from right) and others.

Photo: Chandra Bodalia

Saturday, October 17 2015 i 11

12 i Saturday, October 17, 2015

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Trudeau calls Liberal campaign co-chair ’s letter to pipeline officials ‘inappropriate’

iberal Leader Justin Trudeau said Thursday that his former campaign co-chair Dan Gagnier’s letter to a number of people pushing for the Energy East pipeline to be built was “inappropriate,” and that Gagnier has decided to step down from Trudeau’s team for the “long-term future.”

Trudeau said that due to his connections to people in the energy industry, Gagnier was never involved in shaping Liberal energy policy but rather held an advisory role, and his voluntary resignation showed accountability.

“We are well aware of the challenge of perceptions in politics and of the

challenges the Liberal party has had to address in the past,” Trudeau said.

“That’s why we took immediate action to say that this action was unacceptable, inappropriate and Mr. Gagnier fully assumes the responsibility for his actions and stepped down.”

The Liberal leader also said that if his party forms government after the Oct. 19 vote,

it would set a higher ethical standard.

It was revealed Wednesday that Gagnier had sent a detailed letter to five TransCanada Corp. officials behind the Energy East pipeline, outlining how they could best lobby a government — including a Liberal government — to have the pipeline approved.

Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie (standing third from right) with supporters at his annual fund raising dinner in Richmond last week. Photo: Chandra Bodalia

Cars race on Surrey street, with passengers shooting at each other

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hortly after 9PM on Thursday, October 15, 2015 Surrey RCMP received several reports of shots fired in the 11000 block of 142 A Street. Surrey RCMP patrol officers were immediately dispatched to the area. Once on scene, officers located evidence consistent with shots being fired. Officers could not locate anyone at the scene in relation to the shots fired. Witnesses reported that they observed occupants of a Black pick up truck and a dark coloured sedan were shooting at each other as they drove through the area.

The investigation is in its early stages and Police are not able to say whether this shooting is linked to any other shootings .Officers conducted neighbourhood canvassing and spoke with several witnesses to obtain further information.

If anyone has any information about this shooting or if anyone has seen the suspect’s vehicles in the area at the time of the incident they are asked to call 604-599-0502 or if they wish to remain anonymous please call CRIMESTOPPERS at 1-800-222-TIPS1-800-222-TIPS FREE.

LOCAL

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Saturday, October 17 2015 i 13

Liberals upset with Conservative advertising aimed at Chinese, Punjabi voters

Trudeau has also spoken out in support open four of them in the Quebec city. Insite, despite a Supreme Court ruling onservative Party advertising targeted at Chinese and Punja- of safe injection sites in the past; he backed The Conservative Party, on the other that closing it down would be a violation bi-speaking voters in Vancouver Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre’s call to hand, has repeatedly tried to shut down of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. and Toronto is raising concerns in the Liberal Party.

The advertisement characterises Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau as supporting the sale of marijuana to children, and the establishment of safe-injection sites and neighbourhood brothels.

“It’s absolutely not true,” said Harjit Sajjan, the Liberal candidate for Vancouver South.

“I find it very disturbing that the Conservatives would actually turn to a tactic that goes beyond their fear and divisive tactics.”

The campaign is running in Chinese and Punjabi-language newspapers and radio stations in Richmond and South Vancouver, as well as the Richmond Hill and Markham areas of Toronto — ridings with a large percentage of Chinese and Punjabi-speaking residents.

They also happen to be former Liberal ridings that are now battlegrounds for Conservative seats.

Sajjan said it’s clear the Conservatives are targeting the ridings with specific messaging for voters in the Chinese and Punjabi communities.

“They shouldn’t be targeting these ads to anybody,” he said.

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14 i Saturday, October 17, 2015

LOCAL

Shafia parents and son, convicted in honour killing of four family members, seek new trial

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Montreal father, mother and son convicted nearly four years ago of murdering four other family members in an honour killing argue, in an appeal to Ontario’s top court, that they were victims of “cultural stereotyping” and “overwhelmingly prejudicial evidence” that should not have been admitted at their murder trial. In a 110-page document filed with the Court of Appeal for Ontario, Mohammad Shafia, 62, his wife Tooba, 45,

Rona (first wife of Shafia)

and their son Hamed, The three were sen24, claim they’re entitenced to life in prison tled to a new trial. The with no chance of padocument is a concise role for 25 years. They outline of the evihave been behind bars dence and legal argusince the convictions. ment that lawyers for The case attracted inthe three will present ternational attention at a hearing scheduled and was among events for Dec. 14. The trio, Mohammad Shafia, left, Tooba that sparked the Conwho were tried to- Mohammad Yahya, right, and their servative governgether, complains that son Hamed were found guilty of mur- ment’s crackdown on dering sisters Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, the trial judge, Justice Geeti, 13, and Rona Amir Mohamwhat it calls “barbaric Robert Maranger, mad, 52, who was Shafia’s first wife. cultural practices.” made numerous errors of “misdirection The victims were found dead in Murdered sisters Sahar Shafia (left) and non-direction” that may have permit- June 2009 inside a Nissan Sentra Zainab (top) and Geeti ted jurors to make improper conclusions. that belonged to Mohammad Shaand the two eldest girls had boyfriends.

The three were each convicted in Janu- fia and was submerged at the bottom of a Rona wanted a divorce and supported the ary 2012 of four counts of first-degree mur- three-metre deep canal in Kingston, in girls in their pursuit of western lifestyles. der in the deaths of Shafia sisters Zainab, eastern Ontario. The sensational threeRona wrote in a diary entered as evidence 19, Sahar, 17, Geeti, 13, and Rona Amir, month long trial heard that Shafia was that she and Tooba clashed frequently; 52, Shafia’s first wife in the polygamous enraged because he felt his teenage daughshe was abused, humiliated and isolated.

10-member Afghan family that came to ters had violated cultural rules requiring Jurors were told that Shafia concocted a Canada in 2007 and settled in Montreal. sexual modesty, they were disobedient plan to murder the four in a bid to restore his tarnished honour, in an ancient cultural practice that places family honour above human life. This honour is rooted in the modesty and subservience of the female family members to the patriarch. Several witnesses testified during the trial that Shafia spoke openly, before the four died, of wanting to kill Zainab. Prosecutors told jurors that Shafia enlisted the help of his eldest son and second wife in the elaborate but flawed plot to conceal the killings as a car crash.

Fearing jurors wouldn’t be able to fathom that a father would conspire to murder nearly half his family; prosecutors recruited an expert on honour killing. Despite defence objections, University of Toronto professor Shahrzad Mojab was permitted to testify about the origins of the practice but she wasn’t allowed to offer an opinion about whether the deaths of the four Shafia family members were honour killings.

The lengthy document filed with the appeal court includes a pointed, 13page attack on Mojab’s testimony.

“Dr. Mojab’s evidence was overwhelmingly prejudicial and should not have been admitted,” states the document.

“Her evidence invited the jury to improperly find that the Appellants had a disposition to commit family homicide as a result of their cultural background and to reject their claim that they held a different set of cultural beliefs.”

The manner in which Mojab’s evidence was presented “created enormous prejudice” and invited jurors to decide contested factual issues by relying on “cultural stereotyping,” according to the document.

“By reinforcing pre-existing stereotypes of violent and primitive Muslims, it created the risk that the jury’s verdict would be tainted by cultural prejudice,” the document states. It was prepared jointly by three lawyers representing the convicted family members and argues that while some of Mojab’s evidence may have been admissible, the judge failed to “limit its scope and its potential for prejudice.”

The Toronto lawyers, Michael Dineen representing Shafia, Frank Addario for Tooba and Scott Hutchison for Hamed, declined to comment on the appeal.

Shafia and Tooba both testified at the trial and rejected claims that they were abusive, conspired to kill their family members or that they subscribed to the notion of family honour above all. Tooba repudiated parts of a statement she made to Continued on next page

LOCAL

Man convicted of 2nd degree murder of pregnant girlfriend

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amien Taylor, the B.C. man accused was found and put a cross up to commemof killing his pregnant 16-year-old orate her. Taylor’s lawyer, Don Campbell, girlfriend CJ Fowler, has been consaid at the heart of the case was the three-day victed of second degree murder after the drug binge that the couple and their friends jury deliberated for less than five hours. were on at the time of the mur“We’re overwhelmed now,” said der. “What’s really at issue here Matilda Fowler, the victim’s mothis the human wreckage from the er. “I’m glad he’s guilty and we can abuse of crystal meth,” he said. get some closure around this.” The Campbell had told the jury in Kabody of Fowler, also known as Summloops, B.C., that his 24-year-old mer Star Elizabeth Krista-Lee Fowlclient was likely suffering from er, of the Gitanmaax First Nation psychosis and paranoia when Band near Terrace, was found unCJ Fowler Fowler died, the effects of taking der a cement block in a ravine near crystal meth and other drugs. Taylor had Kamloops in December 2012. The teenager testified that he blacked out after smoking a died of asphyxiation after the 25-kilogram combination of meth and heroin, and woke block crushed her jaw and neck. Fowlto find Fowler dead next to him. The sener’s mother said she forgives her daughtence carries a life sentence; the judge will ter’s now-accused killer for what he did. determine his parole eligibility at a later date.

“Everybody will find that weird, but I The Crown said Fowler was killed just hours forgive him,” she said. “It’s the only way after the couple learned she was pregnant, to keep going — forgiving and loving.” when she went to the hospital with chest She said said now that the trial is over, she pains after smoking speed with her friends. will go to the site where her daughter’s body

Saturday, October 17 2015 i 15

Surrey’s Riverside Golf Centre facing closure because city wants land

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nearly 50-year-old golf course in Surrey, B.C., is facing closure because the city wants to expropriate the land and turn it into a road and conservation area.

“They are now holding a proverbial gun to our head. They’ve basically made us squatters on our own land,” said Ken Poirier, the owner of Riverside Golf on King George Boulevard.

The city has expropriated the 16 acres of land that are currently home to Poirier’s pro shop, driving range and nine-hole golf course. It intends to use part of the land to extend Crescent Road, linking King George Boulevard to Winter Crescent. The rest would be used as a conservation area.

Nobody from the city was available to comment on the golf course’s closure, but at an expropriation hearing earlier this year, the

city’s parks manager Owen Croy said the golf course was the best location for the city to accomplish its goals.

“The objective is to acquire open land for park purposes for biodiversity conservation, passive recreation and the viewing of wildlife and scenery,” said Croy. But Poirier said his golf course already provides an outdoor recreation space for residents.

“We have tried to say to the city, well, we already have a park-like setting in which our patrons can come and enjoy activity physically and mentally,” he said. About a thousand people have signed a petition supporting Poirier’s fight to stay open. He said he’ll present it to city council next month, and he’s hoping dozens of people will come with him to show their support.

Shafia family seek new trial From previous page a police interrogator after her arrest, including the admission that she was at the canal when the car went into the water on June 30, 2009. During Tooba’s trial testimony, she said parts of her police statement “were all lies” designed to convince the interrogator to leave her alone and to protect her son Hamed from torture she feared he’d face from police.

Hamed did not testify so prosecutors were not able to cross-examine him on two starkly different accounts he gave of the night his family members died.

During hours of police interviews, Hamed said he had no idea how the four ended up dead.

In a conversation with a man who was paid by Shafia to investigate after the three were arrested, Hamed said Zainab took the family’s Nissan Sentra for a late night joyride — with her sisters and Rona as passengers — after the family stopped in Kingston on the way home to Montreal from a vacation in Niagara Falls.

Hamed said he drove another Shafia family vehicle and followed the four. Near the canal, he claimed that he rear ended the Sentra in a small fender bender and then stood by after they accidentally drove into the canal and drowned. He didn’t call 9-1-1 or jump in the water and claimed that he didn’t tell his parents what happened because he was afraid his father would be angry with him.

Though never proved conclusively, prosecutors theorized that the killers incapacitated the victims, perhaps by drowning them elsewhere, placed the bodies inside the Sentra and pushed it over a stone ledge into the canal with the other family vehicle.

Forensic tests concluded all of the victims drowned but the time and place they died could not be established.

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LOCAL

16 i Saturday, October 17, 2015

Golden Tree monument honoring farmworkers unveiled in Abbotsford

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haran Gill, PICS CEO along with Mr. Gurpreet Pabla, (PICS legal advocacy program) who have been an integral part of the conceptualization and building of the monument were present at the unveiling ceremony.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Gill said that the tree will forever be a reminder for everyone that we as a society need to continue to lobby for basic human rights of farmworkers and also to constantly review the progress we’ve made to better working conditions The Golden Tree Monument honoring the lives of three for farmworkers in BC. farmworkers who were killed in an accident in 2007 “When the news of the deaths was unveiled in Abbotsford last week. of the three farmworkers spite the tragedy in their lives gave the came in, it not only deeply saddened me but committee the courage to carry on the also made me angry that despite years of adwork and not rest till the goals were met. vocating for the rights of farmworkers, preThe Golden Tree monument is decious lives were still being lost,” said Mr. Gill. signed by local artsist Dean and ChrisMr. Gill also recognized Raj Chauhan, tina Lauzé, stands as a legacy to Amarjit Sarwan Boal, Judy Cavanagh and HarindKaur Bal (52), Sukhvinder Kaur Punia er Mahil who in 1976 had started the (41), and Sarbjit Kaur Sidhu (31), the farmworkers movement and thanked BC three women who were killed in 2007.

Federation of Labour who worked tireThe Golden Tree is the first monlessly to build this beautiful monument. ument in Canada to celeMr. Gill also expressed his gratitude tobrate and honour farmworkers. wards the families of the victims who de-

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B.C. Premier Christy Clark pledges to prioritize lumber deal

he hard-fought softwood-lumber agreement that ended decades of trade wars between Canada and the United States expires on Monday. A new battle with U.S. lumber producers could have enormous consequences for Canada’s forest industry, and in particular British Columbia’s economy.

The prospect of renewed tensions over lumber exports was enough to prompt B.C. Premier Christy Clark to acknowledge a federal election campaign is taking place in this country.

While Ontario Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne has found ample time in her schedule to campaign on behalf of her federal counterparts, the B.C. Liberal Premier has studiously avoided any topic that might offer clues about her preference for prime minister.

Last week, however, Ms. Clark sought to inject a new topic into the federal campaign. “I want to inform the House that as soon as this federal election is over, what-

ever the outcome, I will be speaking to the prime minister,” Ms. Clark told the legislature. “I’m going to make sure that our prime minister makes the softwood-lumber agreement and its renegotiation a priority.”

It sent not a ripple through the campaigns. Even the Conservative government, which secured the deal in 2006, is more consumed with debates on refugees and reefers. The Conservatives at least support renegotiation of the deal.

The NDP and Liberal platforms make no mention of softwood.

The expiry of the deal is a sleeper of an issue because of a year-long standstill period in which no trade litigation can be launched.

The agreement can be renegotiated – if the United States agrees. It is expected that U.S. lumber companies will agitate for another countervailing investigation, particularly as housing starts drive up demand.

Some on the Canadian side hope the markets have changed enough since 2006 to reduce the appetite for a fight.

Iranian-Canadian who wanted to bomb Canadians challenges possible loss of citizenship as ‘cruel and unusual’

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n Iranian-Canadian impris- lenge against federal legislation that could oned in Edmonton for ter- result in the loss of his citizenship, arguing it rorism has filed a court chal- amounts to “cruel and unusual punishment.”

Hiva Alizadeh, who pleaded guilty last year to possessing explosives with the intent to endanger life or damage property for the benefit of a terrorist group, wrote in his application to the Federal Court that the citizenship law harmed his right to security.

Alizadeh is among nine convicted terrorists notified by Citizenship and Immigration Canada that their citizenship may be revoked under a law that came into force in May. A tenth, Toronto 18 bomb plot ringleader Zakaria Amara, has already been stripped of his citizenship.

The citizenship law, C-24, which the government insists applies only to a handful of dual-nationals convicted of serious terrorism offences, became an election issue during last month’s leader’s debate on foreign policy. Prime Minister Stephen Harper defended taking away the citizenship of terrorists while Liberal leader Justin Trudeau vowed to scrap the measure. Tom Mulcair’s NDP has also pledged to do away with the law.

The issue resurfaced on Wednesday when Defence Minister Jason Kenney took to Twitter to info@eyelevelrichmond.com dispute a Liberal flyer targeted at new Canadians www.eyelevelrichmond.com that claimed the law had given “a politician the right to revoke your citizenship without a trial.”

LOCAL

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Montreal men accused of illegally exporting railway equipment to Iran

wo Montreal men are charged with illegally exporting American-made railway equipment to Iran, violating Canada’s Export and Import Permit Act and Customs Act, RCMP say. Michael Allen, 67, and Hugo Dreckmann, 75, are scheduled to appear in Quebec Court Wednesday to face charges of exporting without a permit and misrepresentation.

The two are directors of Romic Marc Rail Inc., a company based in St-Lazare that sells locomotives and train parts.

RCMP spokeswoman Camille Habel said the company was selling rail equipment manufactured in the United States directly to Iran, but passing it off as being manufactured in Canada. That’s a violation of the Export and Import Permits Act, because

V

oters at a number of advance polling stations including one in Merritt, B.C., were turned away without voting as the ballots ran out, Elections Canada says.

About 15 to 20 people who were waiting in line Merritt Civic Centre were told to go home Monday evening because there were no more ballots, said former MLA Harry Lali, who was there at the time as an area co-ordinator for Angelique Wood, the NDP candidate for Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola.

“This is just outrageous,” said Lali. “There’s not enough staff, there’s not enough polling booths ... now you don’t have enough ballots.”

Lali said some voters in the rural area, including those from Logan Lake where there was no advance polling station, had travelled 40 minutes or more and waited only to be turned away.

“I know some of these people were quite upset, some of these people came from out of town, from aboriginal reserves.”

Twice as many ballots not enough Elections Canada blames the shortages on high voter turnout — which was up 71 per cent from last election.

Advance polls were given roughly twice the number of ballots that were needed in the 2011 federal election, but some still ran out.

1 dead, 10 injured in attach on Band office

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Saturday, October 17 2015 i 17

he alleged suspect in an attack on a band office near Lillooet, B.C. is dead following a rampage that injured at least 10 people, RCMP say.

Lillooet RCMP say a man entered the Xwisten (Bridge River Band) office with weapons just before 8:30 a.m. PT. Wednesday and assaulted staff.

The Canadian Press reported that an emergency worker, who didn’t want to be named, said the man apparently attacked one person with a hammer, and when others in the office went to help they were also beaten. Police said when they got there, the man had already been “subdued and restrained.” RCMP members arrested the man but were unable to transport him as he became unconscious and “unresponsive,” police said in a written statement. “RCMP officers immediately commenced CPR, which was continued

by EHS who were staged nearby.”

Police say the man was pronounced dead at the scene despite efforts to resuscitate him. British Columbia’s independent police watchdog, the Independent Investigations Office of B.C. (IIO), has been called in to investigate the suspect’s death.

10 injured There were initially differing reports of how many people were injured in the attack

it’s a way of The RCMP alskirting strict leges Romic economic sancMarc Rail Inc. tions imposed illegally exportby the U.S. ed everything against Iran. from bolts to ‘Serious oflocomotive fences’ engines made “What that in the US to c o m p a n y ’s Iran. (Romic been doing is Marc Rail Inc. ) The two men accused are directors of the St-Lazeither lying “They’re conare company Romic Marc Rail Inc., which sells about the orisidered serious locomotives and railway parts around the world. offences, begin of the pieces and the material, or they’ve been cause they violate Canada’s international going through different countries to even- commitments.” RCMP launched an intually get the parts to Iran,” Habel said. vestigation after a seizure by the Canada

Advance poll runs out of ballots in Merritt “While Elections Canada did plan for increased interest in the advanced polls, some [electoral districts] experi-

enced substantially more voting activity than was anticipated, and ran short of ballots,” according to a statement from

Border Services Agency in 2010. Habel said the Mounties believes the two men illegally exported nearly $10 million worth of railway parts between 2007 and 2012.

She said there is a demand for such equipment in Iran, in part because of the U.S. sanctions.

“There’s a market for it, so the two accused have figured out a way to get what’s needed over there,” Habel said.

She said both charges the men are facing are indictable offences. Under the Customs Act, Allen and Dreckmann could face up to five years in prison and fines of up to $500,000, and under the Export and Import Permits Act they could face a larger fine and up to 10 years in prison.

Diane Benson of Elections Canada.

While returning officers have the option to print more ballots — or even photocopy the ones they have — that wasn’t possible in Merritt when ballots ran out in the last hour, said Benson.

18 i Saturday, October 17, 2015

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Get a low interest credit card Although for those in debt it is best not to have a credit card at all, they can be a useful convenience. If you feel that you need a credit card you should seek the lowest interest rate possible. Before applying for a credit card you should find the best deal possible, with literally hundreds of credit cards available in the marketplace at the moment you should be able to find a deal suitable to your needs. Some people have credit cards that charge over 20% in interest, however with careful investigation you could find several cards available now that have an interest rate of around 10%. It could be possible for you to literally halve your potential interest burden.

Pay off your balance each month The most effective way to cheaply manage your credit cards is to pay off the balance each month. Most credit cards

offer 30 to 45 days interest free. By paying your balance in that time you can avoid accruing interest. When you start failing to pay your balance on time this is when you start accumulating interest and begin to lose control of your debts. Continually using your card and failing to pay the balance on time is how you can easily get into financial trouble, regardless of how low your interest rate.

When using credit cards that have a 45 day interest free period make sure that you understand the implications of this interest free period. This 45-day interest free period generally implies that the overall interest is higher. If you fail to pay off the balance within this period of time it is likely that you will be stung by the interest.

Avoid charge cards Charge cards can be great if you are someone who manages their money effectively.

Charge cards force you to pay off your full balance each month and doing so means you never pay any interest. However failing to pay off the balance is when charge cards become most dangerous to your financial position. When failing to pay the balance you can become liable for interest, penalty interest, late penalties and many other costs. With charge cards, if you think that it is possible that you might miss the repayments it is probably best to avoid them altogether.

Forget about reward points Generally reward points are just an attempt to draw you into using certain credit cards and ultimately they have very little value. You often have to pay an annual fee to subscribe to a reward scheme. This fee can often equate to an entire month’s interContinued on page 19

IF HEALTH CARE LIKE THIS MAKES YOU SICK, VOTE By 2027, the Conservatives will have cut $52.5 billion from federal health funding. This will leave community patients on their own, seniors without residential care, and sick people in hospital halls. Help your family get the health care they deserve. Vote for better health care on October 19th.

Major Health Care Commitments (positive, negative)

PARTY

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No commitment

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Renew Health Accord with 6% annual increase

Yes

Support for home care

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he average selling price of a Canadian home was $433,649 in September, the Canadian Real Estate Association said today. The figure increased by 6.1 per cent from the same month a year ago. That’s the lowest annual gain we’ve seen in seven months.

“Overall, September’s housing markets stats are consistent with a continued hot housing market – it just doesn’t appear to be getting any hotter,” TD Bank economist Diana Petramala said after the numbers came out. As has been the case for a while, activity in Toronto and Vancouver is skewing the average higher, CREA said. Stripping out the two cities, the average drops to $334,705 and

Housing prices continue to grow

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he average price continues to be driven by gains in Vancouver and Toronto, the country’s hottest markets.

National home sales declined by 2.1% from August to September, as the cooling fall market officially kicks off.

“Sales are off the peak reached earlier this year but are still running strong, particularly in BC and Ontario, according to the experts.

Newly listed homes sale fell 2.1% from August to September as well.

The indomitable Vancou-

ver and Toronto markets continue to drive housing price gains, evidence of inventory challenges that continue to plague key markets.

The national average price for homes sold in September was $433,649, up 6.1% year-over-year.

National sales activity was not as strong in September as it was earlier this year. The GTA and Greater Vancouver made sizeable contributions to the monthly decline in national sales activity. They also rank among the tightest urban housing markets in the country due to a shortage of inventory and supply of land on which to build, which is why prices there continue to grow strongly.”

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Average house price up 6% in September, CREA says the gain is 2.9 per cent.

Indeed, prices aren’t moving up everywhere, or at the same pace. Home prices rose from September 2014 levels by about 1.5 per cent in Greater Montreal, and by about 2.5 per cent in Greater Moncton.

4 i Saturday, July 25, 2015 Prices fell by four per cent in Regina,

where they have been dropping since 2013. For the second consecutive month, prices in Calgary were flat on a year-overyear basis. Prices in Saskatoon and Ottawa were also about the same level as they were a year ago.

Beyond prices, sales were also stronger.

The number of homes sold during September was the second highest on record for the month, falling just 130 purchases shy of the record set in 2009. “Sales are off the peak reached earlier this year, but are still running strong, particularly in British Columbia and Ontario,” CREA president Pauline Aunger said.

2 i Saturday, October 17, 2015

real estate / finance

BOLLYWOOD / FILM

Sonakshi impresses everyone at the set Anyone who works with Sonakshi Sinha comes away singing praises of the girl.

When she was shooting for Force 2 in Hungary the entire crew was all admiration for her. Her co-star John Sonakshi Abraham was impressed by her dedication to the action film. She’d practise her moves diligently

before coming to the sets. Also Sonakshi, floored everyone by being on time every single day.

Besides, there w e r e no tantrums f r o m h e r .

She’d do John Abraham her work meticulously and leave. Her professionalism, industrywallahs say, will take her places.

Saturday, October 17, 2015 i 3

“Bigg Boss season 9 is mine’’ Salman says

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As the actor gets set to return to the hosting duties

arlier, an official from Colors channel had also tweeted confirmed that Salman Khan will return as the host of popular reality show “Bigg Boss” in its upcoming 9th season. In fact, the actor is already at work for the controversial reality show. A source told that he’s shooting a promo for the new season on Friday. Salman Khan, 49, hosted the last season of the show, but later stepped down from its extended edition “Bigg Boss Halla Bol” which was hosted by choreographerfilmmaker Farah Khan. At that time, he had to attend to his other film commitments. There were reports that Salman might not return as the host of the show due to his chedule. However, it’s clear now that he will be back to the bigg boss. The “Dabangg” star has hosted a total of four seasons of the show, which is an

Indian version of internationally acclaimed reality format “Celebrity Big Brother”. The show involves celebrity contestants locked inside a purposebuilt house for three months under constant camera surveillance and with no luxury and limited amenities of life. As Bigg Boss 9” saw controversies building up among the housemates, the day started with Mandana Karimi asking her partner Keith Sequeira to explain to his girlfriend Rochelle Rao that she isn’t inside the house to create problems between the lovebirds. Also, she told Keith that he is not just Rochelle’s boyfriend but Mandana’s partner as well. Keith, on the other hand, advised Mandana not to remain self-centred as it might affect her during elimination and mingle with others.

Continued on page 5

4 i Saturday, October 17, 2015

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BOLLYWOOD / film From page 3

Bigg Boss season 9

advised Mandana Karimi not to reher.

However, this time, Suyyash main self-centred as it might affect lost his cool on Bigg Boss for not her during elimination and mingle disclosing the size of the perwith others. manent tattoo and stormed Besides issues with Rochelle, out of the task area claiming Mandana Karimi was furious that the task assigned to at Aman when he jokingly them was unfair and even stopped her from punching flicked the bird, which him. Later, the budget for obvious reasons was task on ‘phobia’ continued with Kishblurred on-screen. wer Merchantt and her partner Aman Later towards the Varma. They were end of the day, the innominated to commates came up with a plan to rotate their pleted a task on Melophobia (fear of music) but were beds on daily basis again challenged to perform as it was unfair on Yuvika Chaudhary Trichophobia (the fear of hair) task. In both the tasks, the duo to spend sleepless emerged victorious. However, nights next to the when Suyyash Rai and his partner snorers -Arvind Rimi Sen were challenged for Tryand Vikas Bhalla. panophobia (fear of needles) task Mandana Karimi where they had to ink themselves with permanent Bigg Boss tattoo, Rimi Apart from ‘Bigg Boss’ Karimi is workbacked out once again but later agreed for a small tattoo when her partner convinced ing in Ekta’s new film ‘Kya Kool Hain Hum 3’’

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6 i Saturday, October 17, 2015

BOLLYWOOD / FILM

S

Shah Rukh Khan honored

hah Rukh Khan received his second doctorate today at the Edinburgh University in Britain.

SRK even gave a public lecture at the University’s new college. The superstar instantly took to Twitter to share his happy state with his well wishers, this what he said: “I am Doctor all over again...yay!!”

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The University of Edinburgh has honoured King Khan with his second doctorate His fans worldwide are rejoicing the fact of him being honoured again and we have #2ndDoctorateForKingKHan trending on Twitter.

Kareena Kapoor and Salman spent time at a studio

f pictures do indeed speak a thousand words, it’s safe to say that these pictures of Kareena Kapoor Khan and Salman Khan speak volumes about their closeness and bonding that they recently translated into a moneyminting hit with Bajrangi Bhaijaan.

So when Kareena and Salman

landed up at the same studio in Mumbai today, they couldn’t help but affectionately greet each other and even take a couple of selfies.

It’s adorable to see that Kareena, who is currently shooting for R Balki’s Ki and Ka, spent time catching up with Salman, who is training hard for his upcoming film ‘Sultan’ at present.

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BOLLYWOOD / FILM

Saturday, October 17, 2015 i 7

Saturday

Ranbir and Deepika in hot scene tamasha

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s if the excitement for the Ranbir Kapoor-Deepika starrer, ‘Tamasha’ hadn’t already hit its apogee, we hear the ex-lovers are also set to steam up the screens with their chemistry.

The Imtiaz Ali directed film features a passionate lovemaking scene between the two actors, a glimpse of which can also be seen in the intriguing and fun-filled trailer. This won’t be the first time the duo lock lips and they’ve done so earlier in ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’ and ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’ too. The

film’s plot is supposedly about two strangers, who meet in Corsica and after hitting it off immediately, have a blast while living under the guises of their favourite characters from Dev Anand to Don and Mona Darling. A source close to the production expounded on the events leading up to the intimate scene, saying: “But somewhere along the way, they fall in love. The play-acting stops and feelings become real. The kiss between them is not very long in terms of screen time, but it’s hot and intense and very different from the intimate kiss they shared in Bachna Ae Haseeno.” According to the source, the chemistry between the actors is palpable and the actors approached the scene as professionals and did what was required without any ‘tamasha’.

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Alia Bhatt

t’s a great time to be Alia Bhatt. The actress took the nation by storm with her sassy avatar in Student Of The Year and then moved on to equally successful ventures opposite s o m e of the biggest names in the industry and has even bagged a role beside Shah R u k h Khan in Gauri Shinde’s next film.

Recently, the actress was quizzed about her feelings regarding Shah Rukh Khan, Shahid Kapoor and Salman Khan and the actress had this to say: “I feel intimidated by Shah Rukh obviously because of his experience. But then I am also excited. With Shahid, I was nervous when I met him but then later it was all cool.”

And when asked how she feels about Salman, the actress promptly replied, “Salman Khan is Shaandaar!”

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8 i Saturday, October 17, 2015

LOCAL Man who refused to sponsor pregnant Pakistani wife, loses bid to keep son in Canada

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B.C. man who withdrew immigration sponsorship from his pregnant wife immediately after they separated has lost his bid to keep their son in Canada when she is deported.

The Victoria veterinarian, whose identity and those of his family are protected in court documents, had agreed to sponsor his wife as a permanent resident soon after she moved to Canada from Pakistan in the spring of 2013.

But the marriage soon disintegrated amid allegations that the husband had been physically and emotionally abusive, and they separated in March 2014, according to a recent B.C. Supreme Court decision. By that time, the wife was four months pregnant.

“Dr. H.S. withdrew his (sponsorship) support almost the same day the couple separated,” Justice George Macintosh wrote, noting that it isn’t clear if that was necessary.

“He was duty bound to do so in the case of divorce, and he says in an affidavit that he was advised by a lawyer to do so in the case of separation.”

The husband did not inform his wife about the change in her prospects for remaining in Canada, and she received a depar-

ture order from immigration officials on April 28, 2014. She tried making a refugee claim to stay in Canada, alleging that she was in danger from a former fiancé back in Pakistan, but that was rejected.

She is set to be deported in the first few weeks of this month.

The couple’s son is now 13 months old and has spent most of his short life in the care of his mother, although a court order allows the father up to 20 hours a week in six visits.

In anticipation of her deportation, the mother applied to the court for an order allowing her to take the boy with her to Pakistan, and the judge agreed that it would be in the child’s best interests to be with his mother.

“Mrs. R.S. is clearly A.’s primary parent and primary caregiver, and always has been. She still nurses him five or six times a day,” Macintosh wrote.

“The geographic location for a 13‑month‑old infant is less important than which parent the infant is with.”

The father argued in court that his former spouse should have done more to try staying in Canada, a claim that earned a sharp rebuke from the judge.

est. Ultimately this is like having to pay 13 months worth of interest per year. Rather than reduce your debt, rewards programs add to it the very thing you are seeking to avoid. Reward points are also not very good value for money. With some programs it is possible that you have to spend up to $20,000 per year on your card just to recoup the costs of the annual fee.

Following these steps should help you manage your credit cards better. But ultimately credit cards are one of the biggest

contributors to Australia’s rising personal debt levels and if you do not think you can manage your cards properly perhaps you should avoid them altogether.

If you would like to find out the most effective method to reduce your credit card debt then give us a call to get free and confidential appointment at 6049092277.

Our offices are conveniently located in lower mainland, which would help you to get a debt and stress free new Life.

Saturday, October 17 2015 i 19

Mom travels to Middle East to search for her missing kids

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Canadian mother whose four children have been missing for nearly two months has returned from northern Iraq where she unsuccessfully searched for her young kids after confirming they flew into the volatile region on Aug. 15.

Former Calgarian Alison Azer’s children — girls Sharvahn, 11, and Rojevahn, 9, and boys Dersim, 7, and three-year-old Meitan — were allegedly abducted in August by her ex-husband, Dr. Saren Azer.

“It’s a nightmare,” a distraught Alison Azer, who resides in B.C. but lived mainly in Calgary from A Canadian mother whose four children have been 2004 to 2012, said on missing for nearly two months has returned from Iraq Monday. first days of Grade 6 and Grade 4, and the “I woke up this morning and I just said I don’t boys were set to enter Grade 2 and preschool. know how much longer I can do this. I feel in Instead, a policeman came to Azer’s door such despair.” at 4:30 a.m. on Aug. 21 and told her RCMP Policing agency INTERPOL lists the four believed her former husband had abducted children as missing on its website and a Cantheir children. A court order requiring that ada-wide warrant for the children’s Kurdish the children be returned immediately to their Canadian father, a well-known doctor who mother was issued that day, and three days also goes by Salahaddin Mahmudi-Azer, was later RCMP issued an arrest warrant for the issued on Aug. 24. The Azer children were doctor, in relation to charges of Abduction in legally allowed to go on a trip to France and Contravention of a Custody Order.

Germany with their father in early August but The weeks since then have been a blur for alarm bells were raised when contact with the Azer as the self-described soccer mom group ceased. searches in vain for her children, who she The children were scheduled to return home last saw on Aug. 4 and last spoke to during a to B.C.’s Comox Valley on Aug. 22 and begin frantic telephone call when they were in Gera new school year — the girls were already many on Aug. 13. “I feel so alone without talking about what they would wear on their my children. They’re my entire life,” she said.

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NATIONAL

Pastafarian who fought to wear pirate hat or colander in driver’s licence photo find faulty by Quebec judge

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woman who took legal action in Montreal seeking permission to wear a pirate hat or colander in her driver’s licence photo not only got denied in Superior Court, she got a rebuke from Judge Stéphane Sansfaçon for wasting court resources.

In his ruling, the judge said the time of employees and lawyers and a half-day of courtroom availability were devoted to Isabelle Narayana’s suit, at a time when judicial resources are limited. “We forget too often that the courts are a public service with limited resources that must not be abused.”

Narayana, who claimed to belong to the

Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster whose members are known as Pastafarians, went to court after the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) said she couldn’t wear a colander or pirate hat in the photo. She’d shown up to renew her permit at an SAAQ office in March 2014, in full pirate attire, but was denied.

Only medical or religious exceptions are allowed to the no-head-covering rule.

Narayana argued that since the exception applies to Muslim women, it should apply to her as well, given her religious affiliation.

Public Service Announcement Program Launch: Workplace Integration for Mature Immigrants (WIMI 45+) If you’re an immigrant, 45 years or older and you want to get back into the job market then PICS has the program for you. Progressive Intercultural Community Services (PICS) Society is launching a new employment program called Workplace Integration for Mature Immigrants (WIMI 45+). This program partners with local community and business employers, to generate job placements for participants. To qualify for this program, you must be:  An Immigrant (either a PR or a Citizen) 45 years or older.  Unemployed or underemployed @ less than 20 hours per week  Non – EI receiver and out of School  Legally entitled to work in Canada  Job ready, committed and dedicated to finding a Job  Living in Mainland and Southwest of BC In this program, you will:  Conduct assessment on Career Exploration  Enhance your employment skills  Learn Life Skills  Enrich your job search experience  Get Short Term Training  Pair with a Mentor of your original profession  Get job placement assistance  Establish Work Action Plan The first session starts on November 2, 2015 at PICS Surrey Head Office located at #205 – 12725, 80th Avenue, Surrey, BC, V3W 3A6. For more information contact K. C. Chau at 604.596.7722 ext. 117 or via email at kcchau@pics.bc.ca

Tamil Tiger sent to Toronto to run guerrilla group’s Canadian front deported

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Federal Court of Appeal upheld member of the Tamil Tithe case, writing that, “Those gers who was allegedly sent who freely choose to raise to Toronto to run the Sri funds to sustain terrorist orgaLankan guerrilla group’s Canadian nizations bear the same guilt front organization has been ordered and responsibility as those who deported for terrorism, according to actually carry out terrorist acts.” documents filed in the Federal Court.

But Suresh appealed to The government has been trythe Supreme Court, which ing to deport Manickavasagoverturned his deportaam Suresh since 1995, when he was first arrested in Toronto. The case was tion order in 2002, ruling that the secuthought to have languished but last week rity threat he posed to Canada had to be the case reappeared on the court docket. balanced against the threat of torture he The Immigration and Refugee Board declined faced upon his return to his home country. to comment Tuesday. But in an application The government appeared to have backed off filed in Toronto on Oct. 5, Suresh asked Fed- Suresh, 60, who lived in Mississauga, Ont. eral Court to overturn an IRB decision “in and was working as a computer engineer. The new case, however, inwhich Mr. Suresh was found member of the Tamil Tigers dicates that officials inadmissible to Canada.” who was allegedly sent to have continued their The decision was received Toronto to run the Sri Lankan attempts to remove Sept. 17, according to the documents, which in- guerrilla group’s Canadian front orga- him from Canada.

The leadership of the dicate that Suresh was nization has been ordered deported found inadmissible un- for terrorism, according to documents WTM acts at the direction of the LTTE and der sections of the im- filed in the Federal Court. has been instrumental migration law that allow for the deportation of members of terror- in fundraising in Canada on behalf of the LTTE, IRB spokeswoman Anna Pape said she ist groups and those engaged in terrorism.

Lawyers representing Suresh wrote in their could neither confirm nor deny any inforapplication that they wanted to argue that the mation about the Suresh case. A copy of IRB erred by finding that he had “engaged in the IRB’s reasons has not yet been filed terrorism,” was “complicit in terrorism,” and in the court so it was unclear why it had that there had not been an “abuse of process.” approved his deportation at this time.

The Suresh case has a long history in the courts.

But in January, Sri Lankans elected a new The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, allegedly tasked Suresh with president Maithripala Sirisena, widely running the World Tamil Movement, a considered more reform-friendly than non-profit that Canadian officials said had his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa, “raised significant funds” for the rebels. whose 2009 military defeat of the Tamil His arrest in 1995 was approved by the Tigers killed an untold number of civilthen-Liberal government of Jean Chrétien. The ians.

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POLITICS

More than 3.6 million Canadians vote in advance polls

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TTAWA—If the 2015 federal election were a movie, the opening weekend box office returns suggest it could be a hit. More than 3.6 million Canadians cast ballots in advance polls that were open over the Thanksgiving weekend, according to early numbers from Elections Canada. That’s up 71 per cent over the 2.1 million Canadians who voted in advance polls in the 2011 election and it’s up as well over the 1.5 million ballots cast in the advance polls ahead of the 2008 election. One reason for the increase is that this election had four days of advance polling rather than three in past elections. And Monday proved to be the biggest day with 1.2 million elec-

tors voting. There are also more voters — 26.4 million eligible voters for this year’s federal election compared to 24.3 million in 2011, There had been some complaints about lineups and long waits at some locations.

But Elections Canada spokesperson Diane Benson said that while voters may be unhappy about the seemingly slow process, the roles of each worker and the procedures they follow are carefully prescribed to safeguard the voting process. In particular, she said the step of hand-writing each voter’s details and having the voter sign it is part of the process of knowing who has voted and who has not as Elections Canada prepares the final list of electors for use on election day.

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Saturday, October 17, 2015

NDP releases BC-specific platform in bid to capture undecided voters

ew Democrats in British Columbia hope a newly released platform that sums up the party’s B.C.-specific promises will help them win over undecided voters in the final week of the federal election campaign, as the party appears to be faltering nationally but remains competiNDP Leader Tom Mulcair greets a supporter tive on the West Coast. Building a at a rally in Maple Ridge last week.

Better British Columbia, a 20-page at the higher level of undecideds, people document released on Tuesday at a news are really looking for substance,” Peter conference in Vancouver’s Olympic VilJulian, a veteran MP seeking re-election lage neighbourhood, echoes a previous in his Burnaby-New Westminster riding, approach by the federal Liberals, although said after the news conference, which that party says it does not plan to do the featured NDP candidates from the Lowsame for this campaign. “When you look er Mainland talking about the campaign.

Up-for-grabs B.C. has attention of all parties with election closing in

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ith less than a week until the federal election, B.C. has turned into a key battleground and there’s a tight three-way race for the province’s 42 seats.

A razor-thin margin separates the three major parties in B.C., according to the latest projections from CBC polls analyst Éric Grenier, the Toronto Star’s election forecast from Vox Pop Labs, and the Laurier Institute for the Study of Public Opinion and Policy — all of which predict the Conservatives, Liberals and NDP will win between 12 and 15 seats each.

All three also predict one seat for the Green Party in B.C. Any of the three major parties

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could end up on election day in first, second or third place in B.C., said Richard Johnston, a political-science professor at the University of B.C. Some seats are just about locked down, he said, such as traditionally Conservative ridings in the Interior, or NDP bastions on Vancouver Island.

But about half the province’s seats are genuinely up for grabs, Johnston said, “and this will go right down to the end.”

In the 2011 federal election, the Conservatives won 21 seats in B.C., the NDP improved to 12, the Liberals dropped to only two seats, and the Greens picked up one.

Federal election day is Monday Are you ready to vote?

If you’re a Canadian citizen, 18 or older, you can vote in the federal election.

Your voter information card tells you when and where to vote.

If you didn’t receive your card, you can still register and vote at your polling place.

To find out where to vote, and what ID to bring, visit elections.ca or call 1-800-463-6868 ( TTY 1-800-361-8935).

Elections Canada has all the information you need to be ready to vote.

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CLASSIFIEDS

Saturday, October 17, 2015

C Matrimonial Parents looking match for their Canadian 27 year old very handsome, jat sikh boy, 5’9”, graduate , well establisehd businessman.

Girl must be well cultured, educated, Canadian citizen or permanent resident .

Contact after 6pm 604-598-1987 - 778-387-1672

JOBS Western door manufacturing Ltd. located at #109-8250 124Street, Surrey BC V3W 3X9, has an immediate vacancy of Carpenter. We design and manufacture high end solid wood exterior doors, solid wood interior doors and custom doors.

Full time permanent job position with wages of $25per hour.

35 to 40 hours per week.

Job Duties includes Read & interpret drawings & sketches to determine specifications; Estimate height, width, length, & other proportions; Measure, cut, shape, & assemble materials using woodworking machines, power tools and hand tools; Build exterior doors, interior doors, custom doors with jams; Install hardware such as hinges, handles, catches using hand tools and power tools; Repair doors & replace panels of doors.

Job requirement: High school with 2-3 years of experience.

Trade certificate will be considered as an asset. If interested send resumes by email at westerndoormanufacturing@gmail. com ------------- September 5, 2015

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JOBS “Balwinder Singh Singhmaar, resident of 15095 92Ave, Surrey, BC V3R 5V8 has a vacancy for In-home Child caregiver for infant child and 9 years old son. $10.25/hrs, Full Time, 40 hrs/ week. Applicant must have high school with minimum of 1 year of related experience within last 3 years or 6 months of full time training in caregiving. Job Duties includes Supervise and care for children, prepare formulas and change diaper of infant, feeding, bathing, dressing, prepare children for rest period, escort child to school, prepare and serve nutritious meal and snacks, accompany to and from activities & appointments, light housekeeping, laundry, maintain safe environment at home, keep record of day-to-day activities, health and progress of children.

Optional accomodation is available at no charge but this is not a condition of employment” -------------- August 13 2015 Jun13_155 Long Haul Truck Drivers Reqd. Sal:$23.00/hr, 40hr/wk, +1yr exp. & Class A 0r 1 license reqd., FT/PT Duties: Operate, drive straight or articulated trucks to transport goods & materials on local routes or over long distances.Plan trip logistics & obtain required documentation to transport goods.Perform pre-trip & post-trip inspection of vehicle systems.Record cargo information, hours of service, distance travelled & fuel consumption.May perform emergency

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JOBS

roadside repairs. Lang: English.

Work at various location in Canada & USA. Contact: Balwinder from Metro Transport ltd.12772 82nd Ave, Surrey, V3W 3G1 E-mail your resume at metro_transport@ yahoo.ca.

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1 Optical Frame Fitter Reqd.

Sal: $22.00/hr, 40hr/wk, +1yrs exp. or certification reqd., FT/ PT Duties: Obtain specifications for eyeglasses or contact lenses from a prescription. Assist clients in selecting eyeglasses. Grinding & polishing of lenses. Cut & edge lenses & fit lenses into frames. May supervise or manage activities of other opticians. Lang: English. Location: 12841 96 Avenue, Surrey, BC, V3V 6V9 Contact: Imran from Eye See 2020 Optical at opt_eyesee@yahoo.ca.

------------------------------Jun 06_15 Dosa Corner Restaurant Ltd in Vancouver Looking to hire an authentic south indian chef .

This is a full time permanent position. $18.50/hr. 40hrs/week. Must have at least 3-5yrs experience in south indian cuisine & specialized knowledge in Dosas.

Duties include Prepare & cook meals.kitchen management. Plan menus & quality. Orders food supplies. Mail your resume to selvamm164@ gmail.com or apply by person at DosaCorner Vancouver. 110-8248 Fraser Street.

Vancouver. B.C.. V5X 3X6 Ph: 604-324-3672.

-----------------------------------Seamstress required Seamstress (Tailor) needed Foam & Décor is looking for Full Time or Part Time Seamstress ( tailor) for drapery in Surrey.

Salary will be provided @ 12 per hour. Please call 604-594-1882

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is $14.00 per hour plus vacation pay. You would be required to Mayuri Indian foods inc is looking oversee and supervise Static to hire an Ethnic Food Cook in Guards. You will need to ensure Surrey BC. F/T & Perm.$17/hr. the duties of the Static Guards Must have at least 2-3 yrs expeyou supervise are being completed and the client’s needs are berience in South Indian cuisine & specialized knowledge in Indian ing met. Field Manager pay rate is spicing. Duties: Prepare & Cook $18.00 per hour plus vacation pay. meals; Supervise Kitchen helpers; You would be required to report to the Director of Operations and Plan menus; Ensure quality & you are responsible for supportdetermine food proportions; ing, mentoring and supervising Monitor & order food supplies; the security officers in the field.

Set up & oversee buffets; Manage You will be required to manage kitchen operation. Mail resume the company’s field operations or apply by person Mayuri indian and resources after business cuisine , Unit 102A,12677 80th hours. Mobile Supervisor pay rate Ave., is $18.00 per hour. You would be Surrey BC V3W 3A6 required to provide ongoing leadFax: 604-572-3281 ership, direction and training. You ------------------------------------need to ensure all standing orders English Classes for Adults and scheduled daily activities are Register for classes carried out for each shift. You September 2-8 For more information,Visit: www. will be required to discipline staff when necessary victoryesl.com and ensure proper documentaCall: 604.755.7976 tion is passed onto head office.

E-mail: victoryesl1@gmail.com You will have to investigate alarm ---------------------------responses and respond in a timely Cook Require manner. You will need to commuCurry junction Restaurant in nicate any concerns/issues with White Rock need cook Site Supervisor/ immediately, This is a full time Coordinator. permanent position for a experiThe above opportunities suit enced person, candidates willing to travel all Depending on experience salary over the lower mainland and will be upto $21 per hr. with other benefits. Call:604-729-6741 or from Squamish to Hope. We also have opportunities in Edmonton, 604-385-1558 Alberta.

---------------------------Minimum qualification for these Transworld Security positions are completion of located at 2nd Floor, 5050, secondary school and BST Justice Kingsway, Burnaby BC V5H 4H2 Training of BC. is looking for a Static Guard, Past experience is preferred but Static Guard Supervisor, Mobile we are willing to train candidates Supervisor and Field Manager. who show eagerness to learn. For These are permanent full-time more information please visit our positions. Static Guard pay rate website at www.transworldsecuis $13.00 per hour plus vacation rity.ca. pay. You would be required to patrol industrial and commercial premises to prevent and detect To PLACE signs of intrusion and ensure YOUR security of doors, windows and AD IN THE gates. Answer alarms and inASIAN STAR vestigate disturbances. Monitor and authorize entrance and CLASSIFIEDS departure of employees, visitors Section and guests. Call police or fire departments in cases of emergency.

Circulate among visitors, patrons Please and employees to preserve order Call: and protect property.

Static Guard Supervisor pay rate 604-591-5423

JOBS

COMMUNITY Do You Have a Child with Autism? Free evening presentations in Punjabi Siblings, Parents, Grandparents and Neighbours — all are welcomed to these community events aimed at increasing awareness of the potential of children and adults with autism and the needs of their families for information and support.

October 13, 2015 The Individualised Education Plan (IEP)—what the school is supposed to do and how the parent can support the IEP process Speaker: Raminder Kaur, Behaviour Consultant, posAbilities November 17, 2015 Advocacy Tools for Parents— how to help your child get the services they need Speaker: Deborah Pugh, Executive Director, ACT December 1, 2015 One Parent’s Journey in Autism— the important role that family plays in supporting their child with autism Speaker: Sunita Braich, Integration Support Teacher, Surrey School District Details: www.actcommunity. ca/events Organized by ACT’s South Asian Autism Awareness Committee ( ASAAP )

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Want To Be Self Employed?

Register with PICS SelfEmployment Program

PICS is calling all potential entrepreneurs in Delta, Surrey and Burnaby to join their next info session of Self Employment Program on October 14, 2015 at 2:30 PM at PICS Head office

in Surrey. Through this program you will learn to develop self-employment skills, business plans, marketing plans. You will also learn how to arrange start-up funding and the best possible ways to manage your cash.

What – PICS self-employment program info session When – Wednesday, October 14, 2015, 2:30 PM Where - PICS Head office - #20512725-80th Avenue, Surrey How - Pre-register at deshpal.grewal@pics.bc.ca or sunil.rawat@ pics.bc.ca . Or call Mr. Deshpal Grewal at 604-596-7722, Ext 126, or Mr. Sunil Rawat at 604-596-7722, Ext 128.

Eligibility –BC Job seekers who are unemployed/underemployed and who have received EI in the past 3 years or Maternity Benefits in the past 5 years. Selected clients may be eligible to receive up to $300 per week for 48 weeks.

Hurry seating is limited !

-------------------------------UBC celebrates its centennial anniversary Advanced Education Minister Andrew Wilkinson made the following statement in recognition of the 100th anniversary of the University of British Columbia.“This year marks the 100th anniversary of the University of British Columbia. Government established UBC with the passage of the University Act in 1908, and the university first opened its doors to students in 1915. UBC is the oldest post-secondary institution in British Columbia.“The university welcomed 379 students in its first year. A century later, approximately 60,000 students are enrolled at UBC at its campuses in Vancouver and the Okanagan, with more than 10,000 students graduating in 2014-15. The university is a significant

Saturday, October 17, 2015

contributor to the B.C. economy with an economic impact of $12.5 billion annually.

“UBC has developed a reputation for excellence over the years. It is consistently ranked among the top universities in Canada and the world. UBC is also a world leader in innovation and scientific discovery in diverse fields. UBC faculty are leaders in medicine and biology, sequencing the SARS virus in record time and implementing the world’s leading treatment and prevention regime for HIV/AIDS. UBC graduates lead major international business consultancies and IT firms. “UBC has more than 300,000 alumni in 120 countries, including two Canadian Prime Ministers, and seven Nobel Prize winners in physics, economics and molecular biology. UBC faculty, alumni and researchers have won 69 Rhodes Scholarships and 65 Olympic medals and UBC graduates are prominent in the private, government and non-profit sectors of our society. “Congratulations to UBC students, staff, faculty and alumni on 100 years of academic success.”

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Navratri Festival 2015

Join us for the biggest and best Garba of the year in Vancouver When: Tuesday October 13th to Wednesday October 21st Time: 6:30pm until late Where: **Riverside Signature Hall 201-13030 76th Ave, Surrey, BC Tickets: $3 - Monday - Thursday. $6 - Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

Email: info@navratri.ca / or info@navratri.ca

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2015 Surrey Innovation Award Winners Announced At the September 30th Surrey Board of Trade Leadership Surrey Dialogue Lunch on ‘Surrey’s Transportation Future’ at Eaglequest Golf Course with Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner, Former Premier Mike Harcourt, Gordon Price of SFU, and a crowd of over 150 businesses, the Surrey Board of Trade proudly presented the 2nd Surrey Innovation Awards.

“It is fitting that the Surrey Innovation Awards are being presented at the Surrey’s Transportation Future Lunch because our transportation prob-

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lems require innovative solutions, and each of today’s winners exemplifies innovation, that is new ways of doing business. It is Surrey’s innovative companies that will meet the challenges of the new economy, expanding opportunity in the great city that is Surrey, improving lives locally and globally by transforming ideas and technology into commercial reality,” said Anita Huberman, CEO, Surrey Board of Trade. The 2015 Surrey Board of Trade, Surrey Innovation Award Winners are: 1. Young Innovator Category Recognizes the entrepreneurial spirit of an individual less than 30 years of age who has demonstrated innovative thinking through the research and/or development of a technology-related product or service WINNER: Empower Operations Corporation – GEORGE CHENG With more than 20 years of university research Empower Operations Corporation is built on world-leading, simulation-based design optimization techniques. Empower provides a flagship product, OASIS (Optimization Assisted System Integration Software) that offers efficient design exploration and optimization, engineer-centered interactive design environment and advanced visualization capabilities. Empower also offers optimization procedures that can be integrated with existing engineering simulation software.

Empower Operations won the 2015 Coast Capital Savings Venture Prize and was featured in the Vancouver Sun and Business in Surrey. 2. Excellence in Innovation Awards Recognizes a company that has developed a new or improved technology, service, process or product by using creative methods and innovative thinking that has the potential to transform an industry sector or quality of life. WINNER: Vantek Innovations Since 2014, Vantek Innovations has developed the technology to create a safer environment for Emergency Response Vehicles.

Vantek Innovations’ algorithm is to shut off the car stereo system and provide an audio message instructing the driver to pull over, even before they are aware of an Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) approaching. With the successful implementation of their software into passenger vehicles it will lower the collision/fatality rate, along with decreasing the response times by providing the ERV a safe and clear path to the accident/crime scene. Vantek Innovations is currently in discussion with multiple car manufacturer’s who have expressed interest in their software.

3. Organization Innovation Award Recognizes an organization that has developed a new or improved technology, service, process or product by using creative methods and innovative thinking that has the potential to transform quality of life WINNER: Pacific Community Resources Society The Pacific Community Resources Society (PCRS) Green Courier program was established to substitute the use of commercial couriers for regular inter-office mail between PCRS sites.

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Saturday, October 17, 2015

Business / Finance

Why kids should be taught personal finance in school - and at home

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very year, a Manitoba high school teacher asks his graduating students to create a budget for the next year. They write down their income and anticipated expenses, but they don’t see how it adds up — and whether they’re in the red — until the very end.

“Every single time I’ve done this ... they see that they’re $15,000 in the hole for the year,” says Kyle Prevost, a high school teacher and co-author of More Money for Beer and Textbooks.

Perhaps the most troubling thing is that his students believe they’re filling out “reasonable” amounts for their expected expenses.

“Many of them thought they were already taking a hit spending $2,000 or $3,000 a year on clothing, because that was less than they were spending now,” he says.

Many youth are graduating unprepared for the financial realities of adult-

hood because they don’t tend to learn financial savvy either at home or school.

Students need personal finance classes, according to Prevost and other personal finance experts, to prevent them from spiraling into a life of debt and financial insecurity.

Parents struggle with financial literacy too “Canadians don’t understand the basics,” says Laurie Campbell, CEO of Credit Canada Debt Solutions.

Many adults, she says, struggle with simple concepts like spending less than they earn.

I believe that we can realize and recognize that parents haven’t done a very good job of teaching their children.- Laurie Campbell, Credit Canada Debt Solutions CEO Canadians’ rising debt levels help prove her point.

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Vancouver considering options to bolster taxi service

ancouver city councillors are set to consider a lineup of recommendations to bolster taxi service in the city, but giving the green light for rideshares — read services like Uber — is not among them. Instead, city staff propose various fixes like ending a moratorium on new taxi licences, and issuing permanent peak period licences for 99 local and 38 suburban taxis to improve service to the downtown entertainment district.

Among the other recommendations listed in a staff report up for consideration by council on Oct. 20 is a novel ideal to consider “destination-themed” taxi stands “to better connect passengers with drivers motivated to carry them.” The concept would see passengers make their way to a Surrey-bound hub if they’re headed in that direction, for example, or a North Shorebound hub for those crossing Burrard In-

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let. An entire section of the report deals with customer safety, recommending drivers take refresher courses every five years and be certified to perform first aid. And another points to a few glaring problems related to accessible taxis. Were the recommendations approved, they would require accessible taxi drivers to “wait at least three minutes for the passenger to arrive at the pickup point” and, in case of a medical emergency, “wait for paramedics to arrive.”

A trio of recommendations are intended to boost environmental performance, including requiring limousines to meet “a minimum environmental performance standard for fuel efficiency.” Staff are also requesting direction to look at enabling taxi sharing — not to be confused with ridesharing —for some trips and integrating TransLink’s Compass Card system with taxis.

Credit Suisse report finds 1% of population own half of world’s wealth

he richest one per cent now own half of all the wealth in the world, a new report from Credit Suisse says. The bank’s Global Wealth Report 2015 marks the first time that the world’s super rich have amassed enough wealth to cross that symbolic line. By the bank’s reckoning, just over $250 trillion US worth of wealth has been amassed by households. At the top sit the ultra-rich, which the bank defines as having a net worth of at least $50 million in assets. Worldwide, there are 120,000 people in the group. Just below the ultra-rich are 34 million people, with a collective net worth of at least $1 million. Collectively, people in that part of the pyramid make up 0.7 per cent of the world’s population, but own 45.2 per cent of the world’s wealth. If you extend the cut-off to one per cent of the world’s population, they own more than half of all wealth in the world. “Wealth inequality has continued to increase since 2008, with the top percentile of wealth holders now owning 50.4 per cent of all household wealth,” the report said. Canadian data In Canada, 1.1 million people last year fit the bill of being worth at least $1 million US. But due largely to the huge drop in the loonie, their ranks actually declined in 2015 to 984,000 people.

Millionaires from just about every coun-

try saw their collective wealth decline last year, but the main factor was the rise of the U.S. dollar, which made wealth denominated in other currencies look comparatively smaller. On a global scale, Canada has a disproportionate number of millionaires as Canadians make up three per cent of the world’s “1%”, despite Canada having only 0.6 per cent of the world’s population.

Middle-class wealth Beyond tabulating the wealth of the super rich, the report examined the wealth of the so-called middle class, the definition of which changes depending on the country. In the U.S., Credit Suisse says anyone worth between $50,000 and $500,000 would be considered middle class for the purposes of the survey. In some countries, the cut-off is higher, for example, in Switzerland, where the middle class starts at $72,000. In China, it drops to $28,000. In India, it’s at $13,700.

Interestingly, this year marks the first time that China’s middle class — numbered at 109 million according to the bank — is larger than America’s, which counts for 92 million people. All in all, the middle class is worth a collective $80.7 trillion, or just under a third of the world’s wealth. On the bottom rung of the global wealth pyramid are 3.4 billion adults – 71 per cent of the world’s population — who are worth less than $10,000 US.

Business / Finance

Stephen Poloz blames ‘bad choices,’ not monetary policy for record debt not others.

All else being equal, the bank cuts rates when it wants to encourage businesses to borrow to invest and expand the economy. The bank hikes rates when the economy is getting too hot, and the bank wants to discourage that type of activity. The impact of the bank’s rates on consumer lending and borrowing is in many ways a byproduct of that — not a primary concern.

• ANALYSIS: Should Stephen Poloz be more worried about the Canadian economy?

“Since we are an inflation-targeting central bank, our policy tool must always be directed first at our inflation target,” was how Poloz summed it up.

That poses a problem when the cheaper lending tailored to the business community spills over into other parts of the economy, such as the housing market, where it sometimes encourages recklessness.

There’s evidence that’s happening, as housing prices set new record highs with economy” and find the best way of achieving its monetary policy objectives without each passing month, especially in large, hot markets in Toronto and Vancouver. contributing to imbalances elsewhere.

The central bank has come under fire in But if buyers are buying more than they recent years for repeatedly warning Cana- can swallow thanks to cheap rates that dians about the dangers of taking on debt make monster mortgages look tempoonce rates inevitably increase, but then fail- rarily manageable, that’s not the central bank’s fault, Poloz said. “It is not the ing to actually move rates higher.

Inflation targeting That seeming dichot- role of monetary policy to protect inomy comes about because the bank’s actual dividuals from making bad choices,” he mandate is to keep inflation within a com- said, adding that borrowers and lenders fortable range of between one and three per themselves are “the first line of defence” cent. But the bank doesn’t have the specific against those sorts of risks to the finantools to make lending easier for some, but cial system.

Bad decisions made by lenders and borrowers are to blame for any problems in the housing market, not a low interest rate environment built by Canada’s central bank, Stephen Poloz told a banking audience on Monday.

In his last scheduled public appearance ahead of Monday’s election and the central bank’s latest interest rate decision on Wednesday, Canada’s top central banker told a Washington, D.C., banking audience that the bank is in the process of trying to gauge the impact that its rate setting and other activities have on the so-called “real

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TD Bank says house prices will fall In Ontario & BC next year

n Toronto and Vancouver’s hot housing markets, affordability is “becoming a growing challenge for many individuals and families,” Royal LePage noted in a new report. Buying any type of residential property in Greater Toronto is 11.9 per cent more expensive today than it was a year ago, the realtor said in a survey released Wednesday. In Greater Vancouver, residential real estate is up 12.9 per cent in a year, to an average of $928,532. No wonder an ever-larger group of real estate market experts is warning that housing affordability is headed towards a crisis. But an economic forecast from TD Bank says that problem could soon reverse itself, in the form of a slowdown in the housing market that will end years of house-price run-ups in Ontario and British Columbia. Citing “signs of extreme weakness” in the housing market, TD Bank — the country’s third-largest mortgage lender — predicts housing markets in Ontario and B.C. will turn down next year, and stay down at least through 2017. In Ontario, TD sees home sales falling 1.4 per cent next year, before falling a steeper 9 per cent in 2017. In British Columbia, the forecast calls for a 7.4-per-cent decline in home sales next year and a 14.1-per-cent drop in sales in 2017. That will take a toll on house prices. TD sees Ontario house price growth slowing to 1.9 per cent next year, basical-

ly the rate of inflation. Prices are expected to fall by 1 per cent in 2017. British Columbia house prices will continue to grow next year, at a slower 4.3-per-cent pace, but prices will turn down in 2017, TD predicts.

It sees them falling by 1.2 per cent.

The weakness will be due to “both weaker demand as well as a multi-year period of overbuilding,” TD economists wrote. “As affordability challenges continue to intensify, markets in B.C. and Ontario are expected to record a tapering in sales and price growth in 2016 and into 2017.

“But, barring a shock to employment or interest rates (which we view as unlikely), corrections in these regions are likely to be orderly.”

Runaway House Price Growth In Toronto Suburbs Royal LePage’s house price survey, released Thursday, took a more rosy view of the housing market, despite its warning about eroding affordability.

“Home ownership remains a bright light amid unsettled investment and savings options in volatile global capital markets,” the real estate agency said in a statement.

It noted that the country’s steepest house price growth has shifted to Toronto’s suburbs. The median price of a two-story home in Richmond Hill jumped 18.6 per cent, to $963,561, while in nearby Vaughan they rose 18 per cent, to $842,173.

Saturday, October 17, 2015

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PUNJAB

Saturday, October 17, 2015

15 Sikh religious leaders arrested for arson

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day after bloody clashes between the police and Sikh protesters in Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan village, which claimed two lives, the Faridkot police have registered two criminal cases against 15 Sikh religious leaders and many unidentified persons today. Over 50 persons, including several policemen, were seriously injured in the clash. Both these cases have been registered on the complaints of Station House Officers (SHOs) of the Kotkapura and Bajakhana police stations. Slapping charges of attempt to murder, arson, assault on police forces, theft, inflicting grievous injuries on police officials, using explosive substances and obstructing public ways against the protesters, the police have registered two separate FIRs under Sections 307, 353, 332, 333, 323, 382, 435, 283,

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120-B and 148-149 of the IPC and Sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act and Damage to Public Property Act. Booking 15 Sikh religious leaders, including Panthpreet Singh, Amrik Singh Ajnala, Rajinder Singh Majhi, Sarabjit Singh Dhuna, Giani Kewal Singh, Ranjit Singh Dhadrian Wale, Satnam Singh Chandar, Avtar Singh Sadhawala, Daler Singh Kheri, Bhai Inder Singh Mansa, Sukhjit Singh Khosa, Sukhwinder Singh Maujukhera, Harjit Singh Thapali, Gursewak Singh Ramgarh, Gurpreet Singh and many unidentified persons, on the complaint of Kotkapura SHO Gurdeep Singh, the FIR alleged that these leaders incited the religious sentiments of a large number of Sikh protesters and provoked them to attack the police in Kotkapura with fire weapons, stones and damaged police vehicles on Wednesday.

Muslims should give up up beef if they want to live in India: Haryana CM Khattar

aryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar (pictured) has courted a controversy by saying the Muslim community has to give up eating beef if they want to live in India, since the cow is an “article of faith” for the majority of people here. “They can be Muslim even after they stop eating beef, can’t they? It is written nowhere that Muslims

have to eat beef, nor is it written anywhere in Christianity that they have to eat beef,” Khattar said in an interview to a newspaper.

Khattar said the Bhagvad Gita and Saraswati are articles of faith in the Hindu-majority country and that the minorities must not violate their religious beliefs.

Hubby’s kin can’t be charged on frivolous grounds in dowry case: HC

CHANDIGARH: In a relief to people facing false dowry harassment cases, the Punjab and Haryana high court has held that relatives of the husband cannot always be held responsible for the dowry demand by the man. “It is noticed that in the recent past, a tendency has developed for roping in all the relatives of the husband in dowry cases in order to browbeat and pressurize the immediate family of the husband. Accordingly, sometimes even inflated and exaggerated allegations are leveled against them with oblique motive,” the court said while quashing a dowry case against two girls from Batala in Gurdaspur district.

Punjab remains tense as bandh hits normal life

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call for Punjab bandh on Friday evoked mixed response as most of the areas in Malwa observed complete shutdown while two persons were hurt in a clash at Samrala. The bandh was called by Sikh groups to protest the killing of two youths in police firing at Behbal Kalan village in Former Takht Damdama Sahib Jathedar Balwant Singh Nandgarh Faridkot district yesterand SAD (A) leader Parminder Balianwali struggle with each other day during an agitation the road blockade. against alleged desecration of Guru Granth Sahib. Among places including religious personalities Giani Kewthat observed complete bandh were Kotka- al Singh, former Jathedar of Takht Sri Dampura, Faridkot, Moga, Jaitu, Mansa, Bathinda dama Sahib, Ranjit Singh Dhadarianwale, and Ferozepur. Punjab CM Parkash Singh Panth Preet Singh, Avtar Singh Sadhawala, Badal today constituted a judicial commis- Sarabjit Singh Duna, Satnam Singh Chander sion, headed by Justice Zora Singh (retd) and Daler Singh. Seven SGPC members — of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, to Jaspal Kaur from Rampura Phul, Baba Avtar probe the sacrilege of the holy book and its Singh Ghariala (Tarn Taran), Gurpal Singh aftermath. Badal also thanked people of the Gora (Gidderbaha), Jaswant Singh Purain, state for maintaining peace, communal har- Kaka Sukhjit Singh, Sukh Harpreet Singh mony, tolerance and brotherhood during Rode and Jagtar Singh Rode — have resigned the bandh. The police have registered an in protest against the killing of two persons in attempt to murder case against 15 persons, the police firing.

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Amritsar’s first private hospital receives NABH accreditation

he holy city’s non-corporate Hartej Hospital has become the first one to receive NABH accreditation which is given in recognition of the systems and processes of the hospital which are in perfect consonance with the best health care practices followed around the world. The director, National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers, Quality Council of India Dr Gayatri Mahindroo Vyas informed on Friday that NABH accreditation was given to Hartej Hospital as it had met the set of standards laid by NABH covering patient safety,

U N LI M IT ED P R O V IN C E- W

continuity of care, continuous quality improvement, medication management and patient and family education. “This accreditation ensures that patients can always count on receiving consistent and extraordinary quality of care” she said. She further informed that 526 hospitals, both private and government, were actively pursuing accreditation in the country . “We expects nearly 500 hospitals to get accreditation in the next three years” she said adding that in most of the developed countries like America, Australia and Canada, 90 per cent of the hospitals were accredited.

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Ingredients • 250g boneless chicken • 2tbsp rapeseed oil INDIA Saturday,• 1October 17,onion 2015 i 29 medium red • 3 large tomatoes • ½ cup cashew nuts • 100g tomato puree he Supreme Court has suspended a tion by• Indian 1 tbspHotel driedand fenugreek leaves Restaurant AssociaMaharashtra law banning dance per- tion, challenging • 100ml low fat cream the validity of Maharashtra Joseph and A K Goel, which also rejected the n a landmark judgment, the Supreme formances at restaurants and other places Police • (Second 1tsp garam masala Act 2014.

Amendment) Court on Friday declared as unconsti- plea of Central government to refer for review to larger Bench the 1993 and 1998 verdict of • 1tsp red chilli powder the law after The state amended tutional the law brought by the NDA the apex court on the appointment of judges • 1tbsp gingergarlic paste the earlier provisions were struck government to replace the over two-deto the higher judiciary. While four • 2tbsp lowBombay fat yoghurt downthick by the High Court cade- old collegium system of judges apjudges held as unconstitutional the • salt tasteThe state government andtoSC. pointing judges in the higher judiciary.

99th amendment of the Constitution, The apex court, which quashed the pleaded that the law was aimed Justice J Chelameswar differed with National Judicial Appointments Comat preventing obscenity, but the them and gave his own reasons for missionProcedure: (NJAC) Act in an unanimous petitioners contended that the auits validity. the chicken with the ginger garlic pasteupholding and the yoghurt for Justice 20 min.Khehar, soak the cashew in warm water for 15 minutes.chop the onions thorities and tomatoes.

Heat 1 tbsp even verdict,Marinate also declared as unconstituwere not permitting judgment the colour. remove the chicken pieces. in the same pan, add 1tbsp oil and the chopped oil to a pan. sear thetochicken pieces in the hot oilwho for 1pronounced minute onthe each side to for a golden tional the 99th amendment the Concultural events based on classical Bench, said system garam of appointonions. saute till Act a translucent red that chilithe powder, masala powder and cook on medium flame till the tomatoes are tender (approx. stitution to bring in the to replace pink. Add the tomatoes, dance forms, citing4-5 the new proviof judges thesoaked Supreme Court and the a smooth paste. return to the pan and add the tomato puree. Bring to a boil and add minutes). remove flame and run inment a blender withtothe cashews to make the collegium system.

Thefrom unanimous verdict sions.

The Bench also directed the Chief and judges of the high andfat cream whereand liquor was served, observing thatthe thefenugreek quashing NJAC pieces.

Act wassimmer deliveredfor by 4-5 a fivethethe chicken minutes tillJustice the chicken is cooked.

Addcourts the low simmer for 2 minutes.

Broil leavesto ongrant a pan.licenses crush the government to restaurants transfer offire. judges fromhot. one high court to anoth- state could regulate but not prohibit such judge Constitution Bench comprising fenugreek leaves over the curryjustices and remove from serve and other events after following proper proer has been existing in the Constitution prior to J S Khehar, J Chelameswar M B Lokur, Kurian events. A Bench passed the order on a peti- cedure, instead of placing a blanket ban. the 99th amendment.

Supreme Court strikes down NJAC as collegium system to continue

Supreme Court lifts ban on Mumbai dance bars

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INDIA

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Indian ‘mystery girl’ stranded in Pakistan for a decade finds her family in India

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n Indian woman stranded in Pakistan for says they are her family... We hope she will cona decade has identified her family in pho- firm the family identification during the Skype tos sent from across the border. Efforts to find chat through sign language. the family began in August after India accepted Geeta was unable to provide a name, the woman, named Geeta, was one of its citizens. address or any documentation to the Pakistani Geeta, who has speech and hearing impairments, border guards who found her over a decade ago. was about 11 when she is believed to have strayed Nor could she explain how she ended up across into Pakistan. Her plight emerged the border. following a Bollywood film BajranOnce her travel documents are gi Bhaijaan, which told the story of sorted, she could leave for India as a Pakistani girl who cannot speak early as 26 October, Faisal Edhi, the and is trapped in India. Media son of Pakistan’s leading PhilancaptionFaisal Edhi tells Geeta’s thropist Abdul Sattar Edhi, said on storyFor most of her time in PaThursday. The Edhi Foundation kistan, Geeta has lived at an Edhi was trying to arrange a Skype call shelter home in Karachi, reports between Geeta and her family, who Geeta, who has speech the BBC’s Shahzeb Jillani. Staff at and hearing impairments, was live in the Indian state of Bihar, he the charity gave her her name - about 11 when she is believed added. It was not clear when the she is now thought to be about 22. to have strayed into Pakistan.

Skype chat would be held. Al“The Indian high commissioner though it was long thought that Geeta was has lately sent a family photo to us and Geeta has Indian, it was only in August that the authorrecognised the family,” Anwer Kazmi, a senior official at the foundation, told AFP news agency. ities in Delhi accepted her as a citizen - and “We have showed the picture to Geeta and she said she would be brought back home soon.

Indian government to declassify Subhash Chandra Bose files

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ndia’s government has said it will begin declassifying crucial files on revolutionary leader Subhash Chandra Bose from January. Some in India have questioned the official version of events that Bose died in an aeroplane crash in 1945.

Bose had approached Germany and Adolf Hitler to form an army to end British rule in India and was wanted by allied forces. His death has been the subject of many conspiracy theories. No photograph of the body, which was said to have been cremated in Taiwan, was released. Reports say the govern-

ment has 39 classified files in its possession.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the announcement on Wednesday after meeting 35 members of Bose’s extended family in Delhi.

He said on social media that the declassification of files will begin on 23 January, the day of Bose’s birth.

“There is no need to strangle history. Nations that forget their history lack the power to create it,” Mr Modi said.

He said he would also request foreign governments - beginning with Russia in December - to declassify files they have on Bose.

Voting begins in Naxal-hit districts of Bihar

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ens of thousands of voters on Friday defied the Maoists and stood in long-winding queues in the second phase of Bihar’s staggered assembly elections.

As many as 23 of the 32 constituencies where ballotting is taking place is Maoist-affected.

Around 20 per cent polling was recorded on Friday during the initial hours. No violence has been reported so far, officials said.

Voters queued up at many polling stations hours before the start of the polling and women were also seen standing in large numbers to cast their ballot. “Initially queues were small. Now voters are seen standing in long queues outside polling booths,” an official of the chief electoral office here said. Polling began at 7 am in 32 of the 243 constituencies, in-

cluding Maoist-affected areas, spread across six districts, officials said. As many as 8.58 million voters are eligible to cast their ballot.

Polling in Maoist-hit areas will end at 3 pm.The outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist earlier this month vowed to intensify attacks to disrupt the election process.

Most of the 8,849 polling booths are in rural areas. As many as 456 candidates are in the fray. Reports reaching here said voters at most of the polling booths said that they would vote for the development of Bihar.

Five helicopters, drones and 993 companies of paramilitary forces have been deployed for this phase, said Additional Chief Electoral Officer R. Lakshmanan. “Polling will pick up like the first phase polls on last Monday,” the official added.

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Punjabi among engineers who won lawsuit against Apple in US

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wo India-born engineers are part of a team that won a patent lawsuit against Apple Inc in the US for using the technology developed by the group in its products, a case that could cost the tech-giant up to USD 862 million.

A federal court jury in Madison on Tuesday supported a criminal complaint initially filed in 2014 by the Wisconsin AlumniResearch Foundation, finding Apple Inc guilty of infringing on the foundation’s patent rights for a specialised microprocessor.

The technology, developed by UW-Madison microprocessor architecture researchers Terani Vijayku-

mar, Gurindar Sohi, Andreas Moshovos and Scott Breach, was patented in 1998, according to the 2014 complaint.

The jury ruled that the smartphone and computer giant had used technology known as ‘Table Based Data Speculation Circuit for Parallel Processing Computer’.

The university sought USD 862.4 million in damages from the smartphone giant, according to a court filing, but the jury has yet to rule on the sum to be awarded, Wall Street Journal reported.

The Indian-origin professors both attained their undergraduate degrees from the Birla Institution of Technology and Science in Pilani, Rajasthan, India before moving to the US for graduate studies. ---

FIJI

Military officer is new President

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he election of the new President in Parliament on Thursday received mixed reaction from people.

As members of the government side were satisfied with the result of the presidential election, the Opposition were disappointed.

But a daughter of former governor general Ratu George Cakobau, Adi Litia Cakobau, said she was happy with the result.

Despite the newly-elected president not being indigenous, Adi Litia said being from Rotuma was being from Kubuna.

“I think it is a gallant choice, he’s a gallant man and very wise. First Rotuman,

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Union stays away from gov’t body

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why not? E kai Kubuna o koya (He is from Kubuna),” former Senator Adi Litia said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola believes that given time, Konrote will be able to fill in the shoes of outgoing President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau.

“Excellent choice Major General Jioje Konrote. A historical day today in Parliament for the election of our new President, I am sure he will do well up there in Government House,” Ratu Inoke said.

Rotuman Council chairman Gagaj Tokaniua Tarterani Rigamoto said they were “really happy” for the election of Mr Konrote.

he Fiji Islands Council of Trade Unions will not sign the joint implementation report required by the International Labour Organization because their proposals and agreement were not met at the recent Employment Relations Advisory Board meeting in Suva on Wednesday.

FICTU general secretary Attar Singh said though they went into the ERAB meeting with a genuine desire to contribute, their requirements were not met, therefore, they would now await the ILO’s decision.

Fiji Trades Union Congress general secretary Daniel Urai, when contacted last night, said there was no point in attending the meeting because Government would not change its position and it was pointless to attend the ERAB meeting.

New tropical cyclone threatens Fiji

tropical depression located about 65 kilometres southeast of Rotuma has a high probability of developing into a tropical cyclone. The Director of Meteorology Ravind Kumar said the tropical depression had a high probability of developing into a tropical cyclone in the next 12 to 24 hours.

Kumar said though the trough associated with the tropical depression was expected to move onto Fiji later today, the rain bands associated with the system had started to affect the group and was expected to become more frequent.

Four dead after Nasinu fire

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our people are dead and two are in hospital after a house fire in Nasinu last night. The fire at Narere Navosai Road is alleged to have been deliberately set by a man who is in police custody now.

Karalaini Luvu, a neighbour, said an elderly man and his granddaughter died in the fire which was allegedly set at about 11pm.

Ms Luvu said a taxi driver and his pregnant wife who were renting in a flat also died in the fire.

She said the elderly man’s wife and daughter survived.

Police spokeswoman Ana Naisoro confirmed the incident and said it was a suspected case of arson and a man is in custody.

“We have identified two of the victims as a 54-year-old man and a 12-year-old child, and we are yet to identify the other two,” she said.

Man faces rape, porn charges A man who is facing charges of rape and pornographic activity will be produced in the Sigatoka Magistrates Court today.

Police chief of intelligence and investigations ACP Henry Brown said a 44-year-old man had been charged with three counts of rape and one count of pornographic activity contrary to section 62 (b) of the Juveniles (Amendment) Act, 1997 for offences allegedly committed against a 17-year-old.

“The accused is alleged to have raped the 17-year-old victim on three different occasions between 2013 and 2015,” Mr Brown said.

Saturday, October 17, 2015 i 31

He also said a heavy rain warning was now in force for the whole of Fiji.

Good News!

Good News!

However, the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation CEO Nesbitt Hazelman said they signed the joint implementation report and while goodwill existed at the ERAB meeting, they would all want the commission of inquiry issue put to rest.

“The issues sighted by the ILO was to do with freedom of association and also Political Parties Decree and also the potential restrictions on right to freedom of association,” FICTU general secretary Attar Singh said.

“We made proposals not to bring about changes to all that. Our proposals were discussed but unfortunately we could not get an agreement on the proposals and as a result we have informed the chairman and the members that the agreement does not go far enough and we would be unable to sign.

Good News!

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22nd November: Arrival from India to Lahore Lunch and shopping.

23rd November: Day visit Kartar Pur, Rorri Sahib, Chaki Sahib and Lallo de khoi 24th November: Day visit to Dera Sahib and other Gurdwaras, shopping 25th November: Move to Nankana Sahib for Celebration stays overnight 26th November: Arrival Serena Hotel Faisalabad and rest.

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PAKISTAN

32 i Saturday, October 17, 2015

‘Pak under Zia-ul-Haq broke promise on uranium enrichment’

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akistan under dictator general Zia-ul-Haq’s administration broke its promise on uranium enrichment in the 1980s, a series of newly declassified documents have shown amid reports that the US is considering a civil nuclear deal with the country. According to the latest declassified documents released by National Security Archive, the then military dictator General Haq assured that Pakistan would not enrich uranium above five per cent and in lieu of it extracted huge amount of financial aid and modern military assistance from the US. “I appreciate the assurances you gave ambassador Hinton that Pakistan would not enrich uranium above the five per cent level,” the then US President Ronald Reagan wrote in a letter to Zia on September 12, 1984. In the letter, Reagan expressed concern over Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme. “I must candidly state that enrichment of uranium above five per cent wouldbe of the same significance as those nuclear activities, such as unsafeguarded reprocessing, which I personally discussed with you in December 1982 and

would have the same implications for our security programme and relationship,” Reagan said. In fact, Reagan in his letter warned that if Pakistan goes ahead with his nuclear weapons programme, it might attract untoward action from other countries in the region. “I have personally discussed with you my concerns about stemming nuclear proliferation, and my Administration remains fully committed on this issue,” he wrote. “Concern is also growing in Congress and among the public about Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme. I am mindful that other countries in the region might use this issue as a pretext for untoward action towards Pakistan,” Reagan said. By saying so, Reagan was referring to the CIA assessment that India was planning to carry out strikes against Pakistani nuclear facilities.

A talking point memo ahead of the letter refers to this. The talking points, which has now been declassified and made public by NSA, refer to Washington’s “judgement” that it is “likely that at some point India will take military action to pre-empt your military programme.”

Christian woman on death row put in isolation

A

minority Christian woman on death row for blasphemy in Pakistan has been shifted to an isolation ward fearing threats to her life by extremists upset over a high-profile ruling in a separate case, officials said today. Asia Bibi, a mother of five whose case had sparked international outrage over the country’s controversial blasphemy laws, was put in an isolation ward last week soon after the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence to a former police commando who brutally killed former Punjab governor Salman Taseer for seeking reforms.

Bibi, sentenced to death in 2010 for allegedly

uttering blasphemous words during a quarrel over a bowl of water with fellow Muslim women while working on a crop field in Punjab province, has denied the charges over the 2009 incident. Taseer had visited her in jail and criticised the blasphemy laws, introduced by former military dictator Zia ul Haq in 1980, enraging his police guard Mumtaz Qadri who killed him in 2011 in Islamabad.

Qadri was later convicted for murder, and his sentence being upheld by the Supreme Court has created fears that in backlash, the extremists may try to harm Bibi held in a jail

US explores deal to limit Pakistan’s nukes WASHINGTON: The Obama administration is exploring a deal with Pakistan that would limit the scope of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, the fastest-growing on earth.

The discussions are the first in the decade since one of the founders of its nuclear programme, Abdul Qadeer Khan, was caught selling the country’s nuclear technology around the world. The talks are being held prior to the arrival of Pakistan’s PM Nawaz Sharif in Washington next week. They focus on American concern that Pakistan might be on the verge of deploying a small tactical nuclear weapon — explicitly modelled on weapons that US put in Europe during the Cold War to deter a Soviet invasion — that would be far harder to secure than the country’s arsenal of larger weapons. But outside experts familiar with the discussions, which have echoes of the Obama administration’s first approaches to Iran on its nuclear programme three years ago, expressed deep skepticism that Pakistan is ready to put any limitations on a programme that is the pride of the nation, and that it regards as its only real defence against India. The discussions are being led by Peter R Lavoy, a longtime intelligence expert on the Pakistani programme who is now on the staff of the National Security Council. White House officials declined to comment on the talks ahead of Sharif ‘s visit.

But the central element of the proposal,

according to other officials and outside experts, would be a relaxation of the strict controls imposed on Pakistan by the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a loose affiliation of nations that try to control the proliferation of weapons. “If Pakistan would take the actions requested by the US, it would essentially amount to recognition of rehabilitation and would essentially amount to parole,” said George Perkovich, vice-president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who has maintained contacts with the Pakistani nuclear establishment. “I think it’s worth a try ,” Perkovich said. “But I have my doubts that the Pakistanis are capable of doing this.” David Ignatius, a columnist for The Washington Post, first disclosed the exploratory talks in a column a week ago.Since then, several other officials and outside experts have talked in more detail about the effort, although the White House has refused to comment. The activity of Khan, who lives in retirement in Islamabad after years of house arrest, prompted more than a decade of US-led punishment of Pakistan’s nuclear enterprises. He ran what amounted to the world’s most sophisticated black market in material needed for nuclear fuel, doing business with Iran, North Korea and Libya. When Libya turned over the equipment it bought, in late 2003, it included a nearly complete design for one of China’s first nuclear weapons.

Four killed in blast A local who belong to the ruling PML-Nparty was among the four killed and two injured on Wednesday in a blast in Dera Ghazi Khan district, Punjab province. The blast took place outside the election office of an assembly member belonging to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Party, in Punjab’s Dera Ghazi Khan district. Eyewitnesses said two attackers drove into the PML-N leader’s office and detonated their explosives.

The leader was in Islamabad at the time of the suicide attack while around 40 people were present at his election office.

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Volkswagen to cut costs by $1.5B, focus on electric cars

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olkswagen AG says it would cut investment by €1 billion ($1.5 billion Cdn) within the year and step up development of hybrid and electric vehicles.

Faced with fines that could amount to billion of dollars in the scandal over rigging of emissions tests, the German company sped up cost cutting in its largest division, the VW unit.

It also announced a revamp of its diesel program, saying it would switch to a new technology that uses a urea solution called AdBlue to reduce diesel emissions. This technology is more expensive than the lean NOx traps currently used in its diesel models.

New diesel technology Volkswagen is facing a crisis after it was revealed that its diesel engines in North America and Europe are installed with software that turns on emissions control during testing conditions, but turns it off during real-world driving. For the past seven years, these vehicles have been emitting more than the legal limit of nitrogen oxide.

Herbert Diess, head of the VW unit, said changes to the diesel engine technology would be made “as soon as possible.”

“We are becoming more efficient, we are giving our product range and our core technologies a new focus, and we are creating room for forward-looking technologies by speeding up the

O

ntario will be the first province in Canada to allow road tests of automated vehicles, according to Ontario Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca. “For Ontario, the benefits of being part of automated vehicle innovation are clear,” said Del Duca in a speech at the University of Waterloo on Tuesday morning. “In order to compete, Ontario needs to be consistent with the approach of U.S. jursidictions.”

The province will allow testing of self-driving cars, as well as related technologies, starting on Jan. 1 of the new year.

The provincial government is also pledging an additional $500,000 to the Ontario Centres of Excellence Connected Vehicle/Automated Vehicle Program. That program pairs academic institutions with businesses to further transportation technology.

Del Duca was joined at the university

by Brad Duguid, the province’s minister of economic development, and local MPPs Daiene Vernile (Kitchener Centre) and Kathryn McGarry (Cambridge), as well as Feridun Hamdullahpur, the university’s president. “We intend to be leaders in this disruptive technology,” Duguid said.

In the U.S., Nevada, California and Michigan currently have laws that allow for autonomous car testing on roads, while Virginia has designated just over 110 kilometres worth of roads in the northern part of the state for testing. Rules vary from state to state. In California, for example, manufacturers must apply for a permit to test autonomous cars, and those cars must have a human test driver. Ten companies, including Google, Tesla Motors, BMW and Nissan, have been approved for road testing in the state.

It’s likely the province picked the Uni-

efficiency program,” Diess said.

The focus on electric and hybrid vehicles may be smart, given the loss of confidence in diesel likely to arise from the scandal.

“There is a real chance for VW to even extract something positive from the diesel fiasco,” said Stefan Bratzel, head of the Center of Automotive Management think-tank near Cologne.

“Funnelling more resources into electric mobility gives them a credible future perspective to try to overcome this crisis.”

F a c i n g huge losses VW’s flagship Phaeton model will in the future be purely electric, with the automaker promising long distances on a single charge.

The cost cutting comes as Volkswagen, the world’s biggest automaker, faces losses because of the price of handling the emissions scandal.

It will have to have to refit up to 11 million diesel vehicles that could contain cheat software, about five million of those from the VW brand.

It has set aside €6.5 billion ($9.75 billion Cdn), but faces costs of up to €35 billion ($51.5 billion Cdn), analysts say. And that’s before the lawsuits, the fines for breaking emissions laws and the potential criminal prosecution around the world.

Self-driving cars to be tested on Ontario roads versity of Waterloo as the site of the announcement because the school is home to WAVELab, the Waterloo Autonomous Vehicles Laboratory, headed by Prof. Steven Waslander. WAVELab works on both aerial and ground autonomous vehicles, and has partnered with local robotics companies, including Aeryon Labs and Clearpath Robotics. In addition to WAVE, two

Waterloo students started a company, Varden Labs, that focuses on self-driving vehicles. Michael Skupien and Alex Rodrigues say they achieved a Canadian first in August when their autonomous golf cart successfully drove itself for 10 minutes along Ring Road, the road that circles the boundary of the University of Waterloo campus.

SOUTH ASIA

34 i Saturday, October 17, 2015

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Nepal Prime Minister invites agitating parties for talks

ATHMANDU: Nepal’s new Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli on Thursday appealed to the agitating Madhesi groups to withdraw their protests over the Constitution and come forward for a dialogue to resolve their issues. “I call upon the agitating political parties to withdraw their protest programmes in this festival season and come forward for a dialogue to resolve the issues,” Oli said in his address to Parliament.

“We have made it clear that appropriate, lawful and logical demands can be addressed by amending the Constitution,” Oli said. Prime Minister Oli also thanked the dissenting parties for their contribution in implementing the Constitution by participating in election of Prime Minister. The Madhesi parties had participated in the Prime Ministerial voting process though they have boycotted the Constitution drafting process. Madhesis are Indian-origin people who are opposed to splitting Nepal into seven provinces. Oli termed as unusual the situation arisen in the southern plains due to the blockade of key trade points with India. He said that the government is serious about the disruption of supply of essentials due to the blockade. “Unobstructed transit is the right of the landlocked country and international laws have guaranteed such rights,” Oli said, adding that there should not be any kind of obstruction in the free movement of goods at the border.

Lawmaker arrested for shooting 9-year-old in Bangladesh

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HAKA: A ruling party lawmaker in Bangladesh was arrested on Thursday for allegedly shooting and injuring a nine-year-old boy, an incident that sparked a massive public outrage. Manjurul Islam Liton, a member of the ruling Awami League party, critically wounded Shahadat Hossain Shoura two weeks ago when he allegedly fired gunshots from his car targeting boy’s uncle. Liton, 45, became angry when he asked Shoura’s uncle to stop but when the uncle did not respond, he pulled out his gun and fired it, missing the uncle and hitting the boy, who is in hospital in a stable condition. The incident triggered a massive outrage at his constituency with his fellow partymen joining the protests, prompting the lawmaker to take a secret refuge at a relative’s home in the capital Dhaka.

But as the uproar continued, he resurfaced on Monday and sought an anticipatory bail at the high court, which turned down his petition and ordered him to surrender before a lower court at his constituency. An attorney general moved to the Supreme Court seeking to stay the high court order so police could arrest him immediately instead of waiting for his surrender, a request which the apex court immediately accepted paving ways for Liton’s arrest last night.

Delivering for Delta TRANSPORTATION & INFRASTRUCTURE • Spearheading the Secondary Channel Dredging Program • Road/rail grade separations along Deltaport Way • Annacis Wastewater Centre • Deltaport Way Truck Staging Area • South Fraser Perimeter Road

COMMUNITY FACILITIES IMPROVEMENT • Lions Club picnic shelter at North Delta Community Park • Solar water heaters at Ladner/North Delta community pools • Refurbishment of the Delta Museum and Archives building

ENVIRONMENT & AGRICULTURE • B.C. Cranberry Research farm in Ladner • Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust to conserve grassland and hedgerow habitat in the lower Fraser River Delta through agricultural stewardship

PUBLIC SAFETY • Upgrade the Boundary Bay Port of Entry • Flood mitigation and dyking projects throughout Delta Authorized by the official agent for Kerry-Lynne Findlay

Rajapaksa cries foul of Sri Lanka probe panel

C

OLOMBO: Former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa on Thursday slammed as an act of political revenge his summoning by a graft probe panel over not settling monies he owed to state-owned ITN television station. Rajapaksa appeared before the Presidential Commission to Probe Serious Acts of Corruption on Thursday for the first time. Commission officials had previously visited him to record his statement. Rajapaksa was accused of not paying monies due to ITN for carrying out his propaganda work during the presidential election held on January 8 which he lost. In a statement after his appearance, Rajapaksa said that he was only a candidate of his party and was not personally aware of transactions between his party’s campaign office and media institutions.

Since his defeat to current president Maithripala Sirisena, Rajapaksa and his family have faced corruption allegations. Most of his family members have been quizzed by authorities over alleged irregularities during his nine-year rule.

Delivering for Canada

LOCAL BUSINESSES

CREATING ECONOMIC GROWTH

• Avcorp to develop new technologies in metal bonding for production of aircraft parts • Canada Summer Jobs to support Delta businesses hiring local youth through the summer, providing valuable work experience and job training

• Canada has the best income growth in the G7 since 2007 – second in the G20 • 1.3 million net new jobs. Over 90% fulltime. Over 80% private sector. Nearly two-thirds in high wage industries

EDUCATION & YOUTH

• Largest increase in GIS in 25 years • Income splitting for seniors • Tax-Free Savings Account • New Home Accessibility Tax Credit • Doubled Pension Income Credit • Automatic GIS renewal when filing annual income taxes

• BCIT Annacis Island Campus Heavy Duty Equipment Operator Program • Boys and Girls Club Skills Link Program

SPORTS & CULTURAL ACTIVITIES • Funding for Canada Day events across Delta • Tour de Delta White Spot Delta UCI Road Race hosting grant • Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations across Delta

SENIORS & VETERANS • DRS Earthwise Society Pocket Markets • Delta Meals on Wheels Expansion • Corporation of Delta Seniors Expo

• Most competitive tax rates in the G7 • Strongest business investment performance in the G7 • Second most attractive country for businesses to grow

SUPPORTING OUR SENIORS • Changed CPP so seniors can keep working and build pensions • Raised age limit for RRSP from 69 to 71 • Built new affordable housing for seniors – over 20,000 helped • Significant funding to combat elder abuse

HELPING FAMILIES: PUTTING MONEY BACK INTO THE POCKETS OF MOMS AND DADS • Federal tax burden at its lowest level in 50 years • Enhanced Universal Child Care Benefit • Doubling the Children’s Fitness Tax Credit • Income Splitting for Families • Children’s Arts Tax Credit • Family Caregiver Tax Credit

OCT. 19, 2015

• Reducing the Personal Income Tax Rate to 15% • Public Transit Tax Credit • Increased Child Care Expense Deduction • Volunteer Firefighter Tax Credit • First Time Homebuyers Tax Credit

KERRY-LYNNE FINDLAY

Conservative Party of Canada

Saturday, October 17, 2015 i 35

36 i Saturday, October 17, 2015