The Asian Star July 16 2022

www.theasianstar.com Vol 22 - Issue 23

Bank of Canada hikes key interest rate by full percentage point The Bank of Canada has increased its benchmark interest rate by a full percentage point, taking a larger than expected hike to tame decades-high levels of inflation.

COVID-19 Cases ‘rising significantly’ B.C. COVID-19 Modelling Group confirms a new wave and variant of Omicron is sweeping the province, with hospitalization expected to rise through July. The number of cases of COVID-19 is rising significantly in

Independent BC report warns next COVID wave is here British Columbians should get back to wearing masks and potentially seek out a COVID-19 booster shot as soon as possible, according to a new independent report.

Daler Mehndi gets jail in 2003 human trafficking case

Continued on page 7

Saturday, July 16, 2022

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Ripudaman Singh Malik, acquitted in Air India bombing, shot dead in Surrey Ripudaman Singh Malik, one of two men acquitted in the 1985 Air India terrorist bombings, has been shot to death in Surrey.

A witness said he heard three shots and pulled Malik from his red Tesla bleeding from a neck wound.

The witness, who asked not to be named, said police were first to arrive at the scene.

A second witness from a nearby business in the 8200-block of 128 Street also identified Malik as the victim.

Surrey RCMP said a man shot at that location at around 9:30 a.m. PT succumbed

to his injuries at the scene. They say it appears to be a targeted shooting and are not releasing the victim’s name.

A suspect vehicle was located in the 12200-block of 82 Avenue engulfed in fire, according to police.

Malik, who was in his mid-70s, owned a business near where he was killed.

Malik and co-accused Ajaib Singh Bagri were acquitted in 2005 of mass murder

Indian origin Rishi Sunak most likely to be the next PM of UK Former British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday, 14 July, won the second ballot in the Conservative leadership race with 101 votes in UK.Junior Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt got 83 votes followed by Foreign Secretary Liz Truss

with 64 votes. Kim Badenoch, who received 49 votes stood at the fourth place on Thursday, followed by Tom Tugendhat who garnered 32 votes. Attorney General Suella Braverman was eliminated with 27 votes. Sunak,

and conspiracy charges related to a pair of bombings in 1985 that killed 331 people, mostly from the Toronto and Vancouver areas.

Of those who died, 329 were aboard Air India Flight 182 when it exploded in midair over the Atlantic Ocean on June 23, 1985. Another bomb destined for a separate flight exploded at a Tokyo airport, killing two baggage handlers.

The killings amounted to the worst mass murder in Canadian history.

Gandhi statue vandalized The Consulate General of India, Toronto, has expressed hurt at the desecration of Mahatma Gandhi statue at Vishnu temple in Richmond Hill. In a tweet, it said, “We are distressed at the desecration of Mahatma Gandhi statue at Vishnu temple in Richmond Hill. This criminal, hateful act of vandalism has deeply hurt the sentiments

Continued on page 6

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Saturday, July 16, 2022

Oil prices sink after IEA warns worst of energy crisis ‘yet to come’ Oil prices fell in early trade on Tuesday after the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that the worst of the energy crisis is yet to come.

IEA executive director Fatih Birol said countries were experiencing the first global energy crisis, warning “We might not have seen the worst of it yet”.

International benchmark brent crude (BZ=F) shed 4.2% to trade at $102.59 (£86.67) a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) was 4.4% down to $99.50.

It comes as US president Joe Biden intensified efforts to lobby the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, of which Russia is a member, to pump out more oil in an effort to tame

surging energy prices.

Only two cartel members, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have the spare capacity to offset the potential market shortfall. The UAE previously encouraged the cartel to release moresupplytocalmpricesandrelievefuelcosts.

Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Joe Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia to reset ties with the Kingdom, comes amid pleas to Gulf States to pump more oil to bring stability to the oil markets.

“However higher oil prices have boosted Gulf economies, with Saudi Arabia’s GDP surging by 9.9% in the first quarter.

Horgan paints dire picture of a health care system “crumbling under our feet” As the 13 premiers gathered in Victoria realized Tuesday their demands for more health care dollars would not be met by Ottawa, they became increasingly hostile, accusing the federal government of ignoring them and negotiating through the media.

Horgan paints dire picture of a health care system “crumbling under our feet” B.C. Premier John Horgan, who has been polite to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, took off the gloves in the fight with Ottawa.

And he had in his corner the country’s 12 other premiers who have called, to no avail, for the federal government to boost

its share of health care funding from 22 per cent to 35 per cent.

For B.C., that would mean an increase of $3.9 billion a year.

Horgan is the chair of the Council of the Federation and hosted provincial and territorial leaders in B.C.’s capital Monday and Tuesday to discuss health care, inflation and postpandemic economic recovery. It was the first in-person meeting since 2019.

Horgan portrayed the premiers as champions of everyday Canadians who don’t have a family doctor or are facing long waits in emergency rooms.

Auditor General to investigate B.C.’s vaccination coverage rates and how they are monitored The Office of the Auditor General of B.C. announced on Wednesday that it will audit the province’s vaccination coverage rates and how they are monitored.

According to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control’s latest publicly available information, as of July 2 there have been 12,074,608 doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered across the province.

Of those, 4,520,680 were first doses, 4,381,153 were second doses and 2,775,252 were third doses. As of July 2 there have been 397,319 fourth doses of vaccine administered.

The government audit will determine whether the Ministry of Health had

the information to monitor COVID-19 vaccination rates by location, age and population group (long-term care and assisted living) from December 2020 to Feb. 2022.

The audit will also look at how information was collected to monitor COVID-19 vaccination rates, processes used to determine vaccination rates and reporting to key decision makers.

The report is expected to be released in early 2023.

B.C.’s vaccination program began in December 2020 when the first vaccines were made available — less than a year after onset of the pandemic.

Bank of Canada interest rate hike turns up heat on Metro Vancouver rental market The Bank of Canada’s surprisingly steep interest rate increase Wednesday has the potential to turn up the heat on Metro Vancouver’s already stressed rental market, analysts agree.

Bank governor Tiff Macklem raised the institution’s key overnight lending rate by a whole percentage point, the biggest single increase since 1998, putting it at 2.5 per cent, as an inflation-fighting measure.

The expectation is that the higher rate will push up mortgage rates, making it harder for households to make the jump from renting into home ownership.

And it will keep a lot of households in rental accommodations in Metro Vancouver’s already tight market.

“It’s hard to imagine anything more

competitive than the rental market right now, and this (rate increase) obviously adds more stress to the market,” said Paul Danison, content director for the market website Rentals.ca.

Rentals.ca just published its latest rental report, which found that Vancouver posted the highest average asking rents in Canada, $2,412 a month for a onebedroom apartment — up 19.17 per cent from the same month a year ago and $3,597 per month for a two-bedroom on average, which is up 26.5 per cent.

“The Vancouver market was already in crisis,” Danison said, with vacancy rates in the one per cent range for many communities and inflation depleting consumers’ pocketbooks. “This (rate increase) just heightens it even more.”

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Saturday, July 16, 2022 Langley SkyTrain full steam ahead as BC gov’t formally approves $3.94-billion project The Surrey-to-Langley SkyTrain extension hit a milestone Thursday when the B.C. government gave its formal approval to fund the project, the first rapid transit expansion south of the Fraser in three decades.

B.C. and municipal politicians gathered at Holland Park in Surrey to present the business case for the $3.94 billion project, touted as one that would transform the region and create denser, more transit-oriented communities.

The project will be built earlier and for $500 million cheaper than originally planned, Transportation Minister Rob Fleming said at the news conference.

“This is going to be a transformative project for this region,” said Fleming.

“This project will now be delivered by 2028, two years earlier than originally planned. And in addition to accelerating this project it will cost $500 million less by doing it all at once to Langley.”

The province will provide $2.476 billion for the project, more than 60 per cent of the total cost.

The federal government will pony up $1.306 billion, and the remaining $228 million to come from local governments.

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World population to hit 8 billion On November 15th, the world’s population will reach 8 billion, and by next year, India will surpass China as the most populous country.

The United Nations released those new findings on Monday for World Population Day, as part of its World Population Prospects 2022 report. World Population Day is observed annually on July 11th, marking the date in 1987 when the world’s population hit the five billion mark.

The report pegs today’s global population at 7.942 billion, projecting it will top the 8 billion mark in just four months. The world’s population is projected to jump to 8.5 billion by 2030, according to the U.N., and 9.7 billion twenty years later. By the 2080s, it could balloon to 10.4 billion people, where it would remain until 2100.

Despite the surging numbers, the world’s population growth actually dropped by one percent in 2020, the first time that has happened since 1950, according to the U.N. That same year, the world population was estimated to be at around 2.6 billion people.

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Saturday, July 16, 2022

OPINION

By Franco Terrazzano and Kris Sims

And the winner is: more stories of government waste

How do you scare a polar bear?

You don’t. They are apex predators and could eat you whenever they want.

But that didn’t stop the government of Manitoba from spending $150,000 replacing diesel tundra buggies with whisper-quiet electric vehicles so

tourists wouldn’t frighten the bears away.

Too bad they hadn’t seen YouTube videos of the big white bruins sleeping soundly as the old buggies rumbled by.

That roaring waste of money was one of the heavyweight contenders for the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation’s

24th

annual Teddy Waste Awards.

The Teddy, a pig-shaped golden trophy the CTF annually awards to governments’ worst waste offenders, is named after Ted Weatherill, a former federal appointee fired in 1999 for submitting a raft of dubious expense claims, including a $700 lunch for two.

When one can laugh or cry, it’s better to laugh and mock the pigs at the trough.

This year, the CTF handed out the trophies during a spoof black-tie gala ceremony held in Calgary and in a parody news report posted online.

A former bureaucrat in Kamloops, B.C., owned the podium in the municipal category for living the bureaucratic version of a rockstar lifestyle.

As reporter Jessica Wallace at Kamloops This Week found through freedom of information requests, former ThompsonNicola Regional District CAO Sukh Gill spent about $100,000 per year for five years on the taxpayer credit card.

He spent taxpayers’ money on alcohol, fancy meals, gift cards and jewelry for staff. He spent more than $7,000 on a champagne room in Whistler during a conference. When Gill left the job, he got a form of severance for $500,000.

The provincial champion this year is the Government of Quebec for spending $380 million on the Airbus A220.

Turnsout,theAirbusA220wasjustanother name for the Bombardier C-Series jet.

The Quebec government had already blown $1.3 billion on that jet, too.

The National Capital Commission won this year’s federal trophy.

The parks and rec board that tends the Rideau Canal and makes sure Ottawa’s tulips bloom on time spent almost $11 million renovating the prime minister’s cottage at Harrington Lake.

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Saturday, July 16, 2022

Change in BC NDP leadership could mean an early election call The early departure of John Horgan as B.C. premier raises the very real possibility that the next provincial election will be called well before the Oct. 19, 2024 date that is currently scheduled.

Horgan’s successor (which appears almost certainly to be current Attorney General David Eby) may find it tempting to call an early vote rather than trying to govern for two more years without facing the electorate.

Those two years will likely see a string of controversies and hot button issues begin to accumulate. Rising inflation, a deteriorating health care system, high housing costs and various weather disasters are going to make governing increasingly difficult for anyone.

In other words, things will likely continue to get worse for quite a while

before they start to get better.

On top of that, Eby (assuming he becomes the next leader) will find himself under pressure from various activist wings of the NDP to abandon Horgan’s “progressive centrism” approach and embrace a more left wing, environmental activist direction.

Some of that pressure may come from membersofhisowncaucus.NorthVancouver Lonsdale MLA Bowinn Ma recently posted a multi-part thread on Twitter in which she insisted the next NDP leader had to be what she called a “Climate Champion.”

And she defined that as a leader who will agree that “addressing #ClimateEmergency is a moral imperative, who will take an unambiguous stance against the expansion of fossil fuel extraction,

Health Canada approves first COVID-19 vaccine for kids under 5 Canada’s drug regulator approved Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for infants and preschoolers Thursday, making it the first vaccine approved for that age group in the country.

Health Canada now says the Moderna vaccine can be given to young children between the ages of six months and five years old in doses one-quarter the size of that approved for adults.

“After a thorough and independent scientific review of the evidence, the department has determined that the vaccine is safe and effective at preventing From page 3

COVID-19 in children between 6 months and 5 years of age,” the department said in a statement posted to Twitter.

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization says the vaccine “may” be offered to children under 5. While serious illness among children is rare, the committee said the number of children hospitalized for COVID-19 shot up dramatically as the Omicron variant spread rampantly last winter.

“While most children in this age group have relatively mild disease, some do experience severe illness, especially those with underlying medical conditions,” said NACI chair Dr.

World population to hit 8 billion

In Greece, the population decreased by 39,933 in 2021, as the number of deaths from all causes was much higher than the number of births. That was according to a late December announcement by the Hellenic Statistical Authority. The data estimated the exact population in Greece as of January 1, 2021 to be at 10,678,632. According to estimates leading up to last year’s census, the Greek population in Greece was expected to be 500,000 fewer compared to the 2011 count.

World Population Increase Focuses on Eight Countries According to the World Population Prospects report, more than half of the estimated rise in population in the next thirty years will be mainly focused on eight countries: Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Tanzania.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the eight billion mark projection was “an occasion to celebrate our diversity, recognize our common humanity, and marvel at advancements in health that have extended lifespans and dramatically reduced maternal and child mortality rates.”

However, he added that it is “a reminder of our shared responsibility to care for our planet and a moment to reflect on where we still fall short of our commitments to one another.”

India, now the second most populous nation with 1.412 billion people, will surpass the Chinese population, which now has 1.426 billion, according to projections.

The report notes that the United States will remain the third most populous country by 2050, followed by Nigeria and Pakistan. Indonesia will be sixth followed

by Brazil, Congo, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh.

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Omicron BA.5 COVID-19 subvariant spreading at ‘very intense level,’ WHO warns COVID-19 cases are rising across the world as the highly transmissible BA.5 subvariant of Omicron spreads at a “very intense level,” the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.

At a news conference on Tuesday, the WHO chief said subvariants of Omicron, like BA.4 and BA.5, continue to drive waves of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths around the world.

“The virus is running freely and countries are not effectively managing the disease burden,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom told a virtual press conference from Geneva, Switzerland.

“New waves of the virus

demonstrate again that COVID-19 is nowhere near over,” he added.

The spread of BA.5, which is now the dominant version of the virus globally, is of concern because it has a growth advantage over other sublineages of Omicron, said WHO COVID-19 technical lead Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove.

“The virus is spreading at a very intense level at a global level and our ability to detect cases has reduced since the surveillance strategies have changed,” she told reporters.

The WHO has seen a substantial increase in reports of BA.5 cases over the last four weeks alone, Van Kerkhove said, adding that the trend is expected to continue around the world.

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Independent BC report warns next COVID wave is here

The independent BC COVID-19 modelling group’s latest report, released Wednesday, says the province is already facing a third Omicron wave, driven by the highly-transmissible BA.5 variant.

“Anybody with any health concerns should absolutely be getting boosted if they’re eligible and can get one right now,” said UBC mathematical biologist and modelling group member Sarah Otto.

“Our next wave is not going to be a fall wave. It’s going to be a summer wave.”

On Tuesday, the World Health Organization warned the virus is “running freely and countries are not effectively managing the disease burden,” and that the BA.5 subvariant spreads at a “very intense level.”

The B.C. report found that the BA.5 variant currently makes up about 80 per cent of all cases circulating in the province.

It projects the latest wave will peak at some point in August, but Otto said forecasting case counts or hospitalizations in particularly difficult this time around for several reasons.

Those include questions about how much immunity British Columbians still have from boosters or infections with other variants, along with unknowns about BA.5’s virulence and ability to evade immunity.

“Given the how how many people have recently had Omicron, we’re probably talking about the BA.5 (wave) being more similar to our second BA.2 wave in terms of number of cases,” Otto said.

Daler Mehndi gets jail in 2003 human trafficking case

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A Patiala court dismissed the appeal filed by singer Daler Mehndi against his two-year jail sentence in a human trafficking case registered against him in 2003. Mehndi, who was present in the court, was arrested and sent to jail.

Punjabi pop singer Daler Mehndi taken to jail by police in connection with an illegal Immigration case, in Patiala on Thursday. Tribune photo: Rajesh Sachar Daler Mehndi and his brother Shamsher Singh had been accused of illegally sending people abroad disguised as members of his troupe by charging hefty “passage money”.

In 2018, the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class had held both the brothers guilty and had sentenced them to two years in jail, following which they were granted bail and

later they filed an appeal in the sessions court.

Today, the court of Additional Sessions Judge HS Grewal dismissed his bail plea, following which he was taken into custody.

As per the FIR registered in 2003 at Sadar police station, it was alleged that Mehndi brothers had taken two troupes in 1998 and 1999, during the course of which 10 people were taken to the US as group members and were “dropped off ” illegally.

Police had earlier moved two petitions before the court saying that Daler was not required in the case as he had nothing to do with the immigration fraud, called ‘kabootarbaazi’—meaning flying pigeons referring to numerous youth in Punjab trying to use illegal means to settle abroad.

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Saturday, July 16, 2022

Ripudaman Singh Malik, acquitted in Air India From page 1 Among the dead were 280 Canadians and 86 children.

35 years on, Air India bombing to be remembered at private gatherings, online memorial Reaction to Malik’s death has been mixed.

“We lost a hero of the Sikh community” said longtime friend Ragibtir Bhinder speaking at the scene of the shooting. “We’d like this man to live a hundred years. It’s hurting us.”

Former British Columbia premier Ujjal Dosanjh, a former acquaintance of

Malik’s, said he was a controversial figure.

“One of the other complicating factors is he made a recent visit to India where he wrote a letter in support of [Prime Minister] Modi and his policies and I think that may have reverberated and had implications within the community,” said Dosanjh.

Tara Singh Hayer and the ‘incentive to kill’ Malik, a successful businessman with significant influence among Canadian Sikhs, sued after his acquittal in an effort to get back $9.2 million in legal fees.

Bank of Canada hikes key interest rate by full percentage point The central bank’s key interest rate now sits at 2.5 per cent, a drastic shift from the 0.25 per cent rate seen at the start of the year.

The Bank of Canada also signalled that interest rates would need to keep rising before the end of the current cycle.

Most economists had expected a 75 basis point increase, following the steps fo the U.S. Federal Reserve last month.

Markets had also priced in that hike.

The Bank of Canada said in a statement that it decided to “front-load the path to higher interest rates” amid a hot economy, high and broadening inflation, and expectations from consumers and businesses that high price growth will stick around longer.

Wednesday’s increase marks the largest single jump in the bank’s key rate since 1998.

Observers said the bank would be forced to take an oversized step as inflation continues to rage around the world. Global

forces such as the war in Ukraine and supply chain snarls tied to COVID-19 lockdowns in China are among pressures that continue to drive prices higher.

Independent BC report warns next COVID wave is here The independent BC COVID-19 modelling group’s latest report, released Wednesday, says the province is already facing a third Omicron wave, driven by the highly-transmissible BA.5 variant.

“Anybody with any health concerns should absolutely be getting boosted if they’re eligible and can get one right now,” said UBC mathematical biologist and modelling group member Sarah Otto.

“Our next wave is not going to be a fall wave. It’s going to be a summer wave.”

On Tuesday, the World Health Organization warned the virus is “running freely and countries are not effectively managing the disease burden,” and that the BA.5 subvariant spreads at a “very intense level.”

The B.C. report found that the BA.5 variant currently makes up about 80 per cent of all cases circulating in the province.

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Saturday, July 16, 2022

Rogers’ 5-day refund not enough to cover damage from outage: legal expert Rogers Communications Inc.’s move to credit its customers with the equivalent of five days of service following the massive outage that crippled its network last week is “wholly inadequate,” a legal expert said.“Five days is predicated on the possible belief that damage to individuals and small and mediumsized businesses can be quantified solely on the basis of a portion of a monthly fee,” Richard Leblanc, a York University governance, law and ethics professor, said in an interview Wednesday.

Payments could not occur, sales were missed, meetings were missed, work could not be done, and businesses could not operate fully, so damages would be broader than that, Leblanc explained.

Rogers made the announcement via a statement posted on Twitter on Tuesday saying that it was “a first step” in earning back its customers’ trust.

“They’re keeping the door open to do more and showing goodwill as an initial first step, but it’s a minimum,” Leblanc said.

In the statement, Rogers said it was listening to its customers from across the country and recognized how significant the impacts of the outage were for them.

Rogers wireless and internet customers were left without service in the outage that began early Friday morning and led to widespread disruptions. The outage affected 911 services as well as financial networks and other critical services.

The company said the disruption that shut down its mobile and internet services across much of the country came after a maintenance update in its core network, which caused some of its routers to malfunction.

As the next step, Leblanc believes Rogers should look to tailor its compensation

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LOCAL / NATIONAL

Saturday, July 16, 2022

No jail time, likely no record for man who randomly attacked woman in Vancouver There is anger and frustration over the sentence handed to a B.C. man who unleashed an unprovoked attack on a young woman in a Vancouver alley last year.

Robert Douglas Ferrey did not receive any jail time for the Feb. 13, 2021, stranger attack andhemayalsoendupwithnocriminalrecord.

Surveillance video captured Ferrey in Maxine Lane between Bute and Thurlow streets, where he grabbed the 24-yearold victim from behind in the dark.

Both he and the victim fell to the ground. Ferrey fled when she screamed.

Vancouver police said the woman was not physically hurt.

Story continues below advertisement Ferrey, 59, pleaded guilty to assault on June 13 and was sentenced to a conditional discharge and two years probation.

If he meets all of his conditions, Ferrey will have no criminal record.

“It gives a message that male violence against women is can continue with impunity,” said Battered Women’s Support Services executive director Angela Marie MacDougall.

Surrey RCMP investigate two cases where people were threatened with imitation guns Surrey RCMP investigate two cases where people were threatened with imitation guns RCMP say brandishing imitation firearms is dangerous because the public and police often can\u0027t tell they\u0027re not real Surrey RCMP are highlighting two recent investigations: One in which a youth was seen brandishing what looked like a handgun in a busy shopping mall and another later the same day when a fake gun was pulled during a road-rage

been especially busy this year, said Calver.

“The hot spots are Fort Langley, Walnut Grove and Maple Ridge,” he told Global News. “It’s directly related to the higher-than-normal Fraser River.”

High streamflow this season has meant a greater concentration of mosquitoes and mosquito eggs every time Morrow BioScience Ltd. treats the area by hand or by helicopter. There have been three river peaks this year, leading to three separate mosquito hatches, said Calver.

To protect oneself from being bitten, Calver recommended bug spray with DEET and wearing light clothing. Wood also recommended Thermacells, and a range of preventative options to avoid attracting mosquitoes to the home.

“With how wet it’s been, a lot of people haven’t been able to mow their lawns as

incident.The RCMP say calls about imitation firearms like BB guns, pellet guns and airsoft rifles are both alarming to the public and dangerous for the person holding the weapon, which police have to treat as real until proven otherwise.

“Calls that involve weapons prompt a heightened police response for both public and officer safety,” says Insp. Neil Kennedy.

“Imitation firearms can pose significant problems as it can be difficult for the public and police officers to distinguish

Calgary man who drove from Alberta to BC coast while banned fined $1,000

Observers say Lower Mainland abuzz with more mosquitoes this year Heavier and more prolonged rainfall has brought more mosquitoes to the Lower Mainland than last year, two mosquito observers have told Global News.

Ryan Wood of the pest control company Orkin Canada and Shaun Calver of Morrow BioScience Ltd. say both their mosquito control programs are buzzing this summer.

“Last year was fairly light with the amount of heat we got and how everything was dry,” Wood explained.

“With the amount of rain, subsequent puddles and marshes — even just the amount of moisture in your backyard — it’s been ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes this year.” Morrow BioScience Ltd., an environmental monitoring service provider, operates a mosquito hotline for residents of Coquitlam, Langley, Surrey, Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows and Richmond. The line have

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A trucking company owner who drove from Alberta to B.C.’s Lower Mainland while banned from driving in both provinces has been handed a $1,000 fine and an additional 15-month driving prohibition.

Chad William Markin, 45, of Calgary, was handed the fine in North Vancouver provincial court June 29 after pleading guilty to a charge of driving while prohibited under the Motor Vehicle Act. Crown prosecutor Sean Harvey said North Vancouver RCMP officers were conducting a roadblock on the Mount Seymour Parkway off-ramp to Highway 1 on May 5, 2021,

when a black 2013 GMC Sierra with Alberta licence plates approached around 2:30 a.m.

When one of the officers asked the driver for his licence, the man said he didn’t have one.

The officer determined that the man’s Alberta driver’s licence had been cancelled. Markin was arrested and his truck was impounded.

Harvey told the judge Markin had been handed an indefinite driving prohibition in B.C. on Jan. 8, 2016, but was subsequently caught driving again in Feb. 2016 in West Vancouver and handed a further oneyear driving ban as well as a $500 fine.

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LOCAL / NATIONAL

Saturday, July 16, 2022

BC govt looking at inflation-specific rebate to manage rising costs Premier John Horgan says the province is looking at providing money to people through the climate action tax credit and is also exploring a specific rebate to deal with inflation.

This comes as the Bank of Canada raised the key interest rate a full point to 2.5 per cent on Wednesday.

The interest rate increase is a clear sign the central bank is attempting to manage inflationary pressure but also an indication things have gotten hotter than expected.

“In COVID we got money to people fast and I think we can do that again.

But it is a tremendous task to build

these programs. There is no inflation program in anyone’s budget. It takes time to work these things through,” Horgan said in an interview with Global News.

“If we are going to stand up another program, we are going to have to start from scratch.”

The province’s COVID-19 rebate was promised in the election and delivered but cannot be replicated because the privacy information collected for distribution was destroyed due to privacy laws.

The current inflation rates in B.C. are the highest they have been in around 40 years.

The province had the highest gas prices ever recorded in North American, with a litre of fuel costing more than $2.70 per litre.

Man in wheelchair stabbed as tensions rise at East Hastings Street tent city A A 62-year-old man A A in a wheelchair

is recovering from stab wounds after a random assault on the Downtown Eastside Tuesday afternoon.

Wayne, who does not want to disclose his last name due to safety concerns, told Global News he was attacked after getting into an argument with someone occupying the sidewalk in front of his apartment building.

“They are selling stuff on the sidewalk and there is no way for a person in the

wheelchair to get through,” he said. “It should not be dangerous to go to the grocery store. We are taking our lives in our hands every day to go out that door.”

Sgt. Steve Addison with the Vancouver Police Department said the investigation is still in the early stages but it appears the victim may have bumped someone and that led to the altercation.

“We do believe he’ll recover. We don’t believe his injuries are life-threatening, but obviously that kind of violence is

Monkeypox cases in Canada rise by 59% in 9 days Canada now has 477 confirmed cases of monkeypox in the country, with numbers climbing in three provinces over the last week, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) announced Wednesday.

Since July 4, a total of 177 new cases have been confirmed in the country, representing a 59 per cent increase in case numbers over the last nine days.

Quebec continues to have the lion’s share of the viral disease, with 284 cases as of July 13, up from 211 cases last week.

But Ontario saw the biggest increase in cases of all the provinces, going from 77 cases as of July 4 to now confirming 156 cases.

British Columbia also saw an increase in

cases for the first time in weeks, with 29 cases now confirmed compared to four previously.

Alberta continues to have just eight cases confirmed, unchanged from the last update.

Monkeypox, which causes flu-like symptoms and skin lesions, is transmitted to humans from animals caused by an orthopoxvirus, which is related to smallpox, according to PHAC. Individuals can be infected through direct contact with an infected person or by shared contaminated objects, including bed linens or towels.

“PHAC is continuing to collect and analyze epidemiological information reported by the provinces and territories to help define the national scope of the investigation and

Vancouver police officer facing neglect of duty probe linked to Noelle O’Soup case A Vancouver police officer is facing a code of conduct investigation related to the discovery of a deceased missing teen at an East Hastings Street apartment.

The officer is facing an allegation of neglect of duty under the Police Act, according to the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner. The matter relates to the investigation into the disappearance and subsequent death of 14-year-old Noelle ‘Elli’ O’Soup, who was found in an apartment at the intersection of East Hastings Street and Heatley Avenue on May 1, along with another body.

In an email to Global News, Deputy Police Complaints Commissioner Andrea Spindler said the file was opened on a request from the Vancouver Police Department on May 18.

“The basis of the allegation relates to conduct surrounding attendance at a suite where three deceased individuals were ultimately located,” Spindler said.

The Police Act investigation, however, has been suspended until the criminal investigation into the deaths at the apartment has concluded.

Before her body was found, O’Soup had been missing for nearly a year

2 in hospital after rooftop parking lot collapsed in East Vancouver Two people have been taken to hospital after a roof top of parking lot collapsed in East Vancouver on Thursday afternoon. The collapse happened just before 1:30 p.m. at a

building on Lougheed Highway between Rupert Street and Boundary Road, according to Vancouver Fire Rescue Services. “A Bobcat was doing some work on the section of the parkade roof that gave way,” Asst. Chief Dan

Moberg said. “A section of the rooftop parking lot then collapsed onto an office space below.”

B.C. Emergency Health Services said four ambulances were dispatched to the scene

and two patients were taken to hospital.

The extent of their injuries is not known at this time. An investigation is ongoing.

Saturday, July 16, 2022

Trudeau announces deal to build $1.5B electric vehicle battery plant in Ontario Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Wednesday that Ottawa and Ontario have signed a deal with Umicore, a global metals refiner, to build a new battery materials facility in the province’s Loyalist Township.

Speaking at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., the prime minister said the facility will supply materials for one million electric vehicles a year.

Umicore, a multinational corporation based in Belgium, will transform metals such as nickel, cobalt and lithium into cathode active battery materials (CAM) at the new eastern Ontario site — materials that are critical to producing lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles.

Trudeau said the new plant will create 1,000 jobs while it is being built and hundreds of long-term positions once it is up and running.

He said the government and industry investments are part of a “big bet” that Canada can be a key international player in electric-vehicle supply chains.

“Today’s announcement is about creating jobs, cutting pollution and building a stronger, cleaner economy for Canadians.

Umicore’s intention to establish its new facility in Loyalist Township is another major step forward as we make Canada a global leader in producing electric vehicles, from minerals to manufacturing,” Trudeau said.

Ontario’s Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli said the $1.5-billion investment will build the first industrial-scale manufacturing plant of its kind in North America.

“With recent success attracting major investments to the province, our government is staking Ontario’s claim to developing and building the batteries that will power vehicles of the future,” Fedeli said.

Federal Industry Minister FrancoisPhilippe Champagne said the plant will fill a gap in the Canadian electricvehicle system by shoring up a key part of the battery-making process.

New Westminster drops ‘Royal City’ name There are changes afoot in British Columbia’s original capital city, as it seeks to move away from its colonial past.

New Westminster city council voted 6-1 Monday night to phase out the city’s long-time moniker as the “Royal City.”

Founded in 1858 on the territory of the Qayqayt First Nation by the head of a detachment of Royal Engineers, New Westminster was given its name by Queen Victoria — the source of its royal nickname.

But outgoing Mayor Jonathan Coté, who proposed the change, said the 21st century city has outgrown its 19th century branding.

“As the city in the past four years has really begun to engage in our work on reconciliation, that’s when we really started to see the incongruencies with our branding,” Coté said.

“It’s been something that’s been in the back of my mind for the last few years, so for me I think the time is right.”

It’s not the first time the city has

discussed dropping the “royal” nickname.

Coté said council debated the idea close to two decades ago, but that the community wasn’t ready at the time.

New Westminster has grown increasingly diverse since then, he said, and the time is right to develop an identity that is more reflective of its residents.Sticking with the old moniker, he said, also sent the wrong message to First Nations.

“When me as the mayor sends a letter to an Indigenous nation or Indigenous partners and we’ve got a colonial crown on the letterhead, that is no longer OK,” Coté said.

“As a city that is wanting to have a good conversation about reconciliation, I think branding does matter.”

It is not the first time New Westminster has made changes in the interest of reconciliation.

In 2019 the city removed a statue of John Begbie, B.C.’s first chief justice, from the plaza outside the New Westminster courthouse.

Vancouver firefighters may stop responding to many medical calls Vancouver firefighters may soon stop responding to a range of emergency medical calls, Global News has learned.

The department had originally planned to put the measure into effect as early as 8 a.m. Wednesday. Under the change, Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services crews would only respond to life-threatening calls, overdoses, burns, hazmat emergencies, motor vehicle crashes and technical rescues.

The reasoning of the proposed policy change was laid out in an internal memo from Vancouver Fire Chief Karen Fry, obtained by Global News.

Click to play video: ‘Paramedics union says Vancouver down to one ambulance on Wednesday morning’ 2:20 Paramedics union says Vancouver down to one ambulance on Wednesday morning Paramedics union says Vancouver down to one ambulance on Wednesday morning – Feb 4, 2022

“Extended wait times for paramedics to arrive on scene ties up our firefighters who, due to their licensing requirements, are not permitted to leave a patient until a transfer of care is made,” the memo states.

“VFRS has seen wait times increase, to where we are on scene for nearly one hour for 90 per cent of our [non life-threatening] responses in 2022, this is up from 32 minutes in 2019.”

BC Emergency Health Services, which operates the BC Ambulance Service, did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.

However, a late development appears to have put the service change on hold.

Sources told Global News the two sides discussed the issue Tuesday, and that the fire service has agreed to put the plan on hold for a few weeks.

The issue comes amid ongoing pressure on B.C.’s health-care system, including longrunning concerns about staffing and delays with both the ambulance service and 911.

LOCAL / NATIONAL

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Justice strikes down BC limit on recoverable costs from ICBC after vehicle collision A regulation that limits the amount of money a successful plaintiff can recover in a personal injury lawsuit after a vehicle incident has been struck down as unconstitutional in British Columbia.

In a decision released this month, Justice Nathan Smith found the “thinly veiled purpose” of the legislation is to improve ICBC’s finances by reducing the quantity of expert evidence in liability claims.

It serves to “reduce litigation costs and produce lower damage awards” through settlements or at trial, Smith wrote, operating in the “immediate and primary benefit” of ICBC. “While all of this may serve the best financial interests of the government

and its Crown corporation auto insurance monopoly, it makes more challenging the already difficult task of the Court in determining the nature and extent of the plaintiff ’s injuries and the appropriate medical treatment that might be required in the future,” reads the July 8 decision.

The province’s Disbursements and Expert Evidence Regulation was brought into force under the B.C. Evidence Act. It caps the funds — or disbursements — a successful plaintiff can recover for expenses and the costs of expert evidence to either six per cent of the damages awarded by the court or the amount agreed to in a settlement, with some exceptions.

Hockey Canada reopening investigation into sexual assault allegations Hockey Canada says it is in the process of making changes.

Whether those moves will be enough to satisfy the general public, fans, federal government and corporate sponsors remains to be seen.

The sport’s under-fire national federation made a series of announcements in an open letter to Canadians published Thursday, including the reopening of a thirdparty investigation into an alleged sexual assault involving members of the country’s 2018 world junior team.

Hockey Canada said participation

in the investigation by the players in question is mandatory, adding anyone who declines will be banned from all of the federation’s activities and programs effective immediately.

The organization previously said it “strongly encouraged” players take part in the investigation into the alleged incident that occurred at a Hockey Canada function in 2018, but didn’t make it mandatory.

Hockey Canada CEO Scott Smith, who took on the role July 1 and has held various jobs at the federation since 1995, testified on Parliament Hill last month

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Saturday, July 16, 2022

Neetu Chandra reveals ‘a businessman’ offered her Rs25 lakh per month ‘to become his salaried wife’ Neetu Chandra recalled an incident when a businessman offered her ₹25 lakh to become his salaried wife. The actor has featured in many films over the years. She made her Bollywood debut with Garam Masala in 2005. y Neetu Chandra has spoken about an incident when a businessman told her ‘to become his salaried wife’ for which he would give her ₹25 lakh per month. In a new interview, Neetu

said that despite working with ‘13 National award winners’ she has neither money nor work. She also recalled an audition when a famous casting director rejected her within one hour.

Neetu made her Bollywood debut with Garam Masala (2005) in which she portrayed the role of an air hostess. She featured in several films since then such as Traffic Signal, One Two Three, Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, Apartment, 13B among others.

Community news Vedic Seniors Parivar Centre of Vedic Hindu Cultural Society of BC invites South Asian Adults and Senior members to attend in person webinar Presentation by iCON UBC on July 17th 2022 ( Sunday ) by Harlene Chohan Clinical Pharmacist with Fraser Health Authority from 2.00 pm to 3.30 pm at Shanti Niketan hall of Lakshmi Narayan Temple 8321 - 140th street Surrey BC. Tea and light snacks will be served after the presentation is over. In Person Yoga classes will continue by Mr. Ashwini Bansal expert Yoga Instructor

on 18th July 2022 (Monday) & 21st July 2022 (Thursday) both days from 10.00 am to 11.15 am. Members already vaccinated at least Two doses against COVID - 19 should join for yoga classes, please use Facemask for safety. Project funded by Government of Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors Program for Hindi speaking seniors. Please contact Surendra Handa Coordinator , Vedic Seniors Parivar Centre, Lakshmi Narayan Temple, 8321 - 140th street Surrey V3W5K9, BC Tel. 604 - 507 - 9945 for registration & for further information.

SRK’s new ventures Shah Rukh Khan is all set to spill his magic on big screens with his long list of upcoming films. The Badshah of Bollywood has Pathaan, Jawan, Dunki, and more upcoming films in his pipeline. In an exclusive interview with Bollywoodlife. com, the source close to the actor revealed that the superstar has put down a few conditions to his directors for his upcoming films. Yes, you read that right! Also Read - Taapsee Pannu is proud of herself for landing Dunki with Shah Rukh Khan; ‘It’s an achievement because...’

Shah Rukh Khan’s fans might know that the handsome hunk is a non-interfering

actor and this is the main reason why a lot of filmmakers have called him a ‘gentleman’. Shah Rukh Khan is one of the actors who filmmakers love working with. The actor has decided to work with actresses he has worked with in the past or if there is someone new, he wants the actress to be mature enough to match his age and not be too young. Shah Rukh Khan wants his fans and audiences to be able to find his onscreen jodi convincing as he is not looking to play very young characters and that does justice to his current life phase.

Shah Rukh who did not have a big hit film

Sushmita Sen is dating Lalit Modi?

As soon as businessman Lalit Modi shared pictures from his vacation with actress Sushmita Sen, everyone wondered if the couple has tied the knot secretly. The business tycoon shared pictures from their recent trip to the Maldives Islands and wrote, “Just back in London after a whirling global tour #maldives # sardinia with the families - not to mention my #betterlooking partner @sushmitasen47 - a new beginning a new life finally. Over the moon.

Here, take a look at the post: However soon, Lalit clarified that he is dating Sushmita and they are not married. In his tweet, he also expressed that marriage

too will happen! His tweet read, “Just for clarity. Not married - just dating each other. That too it will happen one day.

Along with the tweet, he shared a carousel of pictures and in one of the photos, the two can be seen cosying up to each other amidst the blue waters of the ocean.

Just for clarity.

Not married - just dating each other.

That too it will happen one day.

Meanwhile, in December last year, the former beauty Queen announced her break up with Rohman Shawl on Instagram. She wrote, “We began as friends, we remain friends!! The relationship was long over…the love remains!! #nomorespeculations #liveandletlive

Star & Style

Saturday, July 16, 2022

Even my parents are not bothered about my marriage - Sonakshi

Even my parents are not bothered about my marriage as much as the public is.

Actor Sonakshi Sinha is enjoying the current phase of her career with diverse projects part of her work profile, and she wants the focus to be on her work over her personal life. She is aware of the constant murmurs and rumours about her marriage, but she likes to laugh it off, saying ever her parents are not so curious about her plans of getting married.

“I have always maintained that

if I’m being spoken about, I would rather be spoken about for my work (rather than my personal life). But of course, people are curious. They want to know what’s going on in my life and they can speculate all they want,” Sonakshi tells us.

The 35-year-old actor continues, “Until I’m not ready to share my life with the world, I won’t do it.

I have always been that sort of a person. And that reflects on my

Sonam Kapoor ready to welcome her first baby Sonam Kapoor who is soon going to welcome her first child, has been treating her Insta family to adorable pictures and videos of herself ever since she announced the pregnancy. Recently, she shared two posts on her Instagram stories looking gorgeous in a yellow ensemble. In the first post, which is a video, she can be seen caressing her

baby bump,

while in the next, she is showing off her perfect makeup and red nails. She didn’t drop any caption and let the picture do all the talking.

Sonam Kapoor is enjoying her pregnancy to the fullest. Recently, she jetted off on holiday with her husband, Anand Ahuja, to Italy. She shared several pictures and

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Amol Palekar Amol Palekar was born to Kamlakar and Suhasini Palekar in lower-middleclass family in Mumbai. He was raised along with his three sisters, Neelon, Rekha and Unnati, by his father who worked in the General Post Office and his mother, who worked in a private company.[12] He worked at the Bank of India before he switched full-time to a career in acting. He also does some social work. He married Sandhya Gokhale after his divorce from his first wife, Chitra.

Palekar regards himself as an agnostic atheist.[ Palekar made his debut in 1971 with the Marathi film Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe directed by Satyadev Dubey, which started the New Cinema Movement in Marathi.[8] In 1974 he was cast as an actor by Basu Chatterjee in Rajnigandha, and in the surprise low-budget hit, Chhoti

Si Baat. This led to many other such roles in “middle-class” comedies, mostly alternative. These were mostly directed by Chatterjee or Hrishikesh Mukherjee and included films such as Gol Maal and Naram Garam.

He won the Filmfare Best Actor Award for Gol Maal.

He is noted for his image of the “middleclass everyman” who struggles to get a job (Gol Maal), his own flat (Gharonda), a girlfriend/wife (Baaton Baaton Mein), and appreciation from his boss.

In 1979, he was paired with a sixteenyear-old Sridevi in Solva Saawan, which was her debut Hindi movie as a heroine.

Amol played the role of an intellectually disabled man, a character played by Kamal Haasan in the original Tamil movie.

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Saturday, July 16, 2022

Big banks raise prime rates after Bank of Canada’s surprise supersized hike Canada’s biggest banks increased their prime lending rates on Thursday following the Bank of Canada’s surprise 100 basis point hike of its benchmark interest rate.

The country’s Big Five banks – Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO), TD Bank (TD.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), Scotiabank (BNS.TO), and CIBC (CM.TO) – all announced increases to their prime rates that go into effect on Thursday. Each bank says it will raise its prime rate by 100 basis points, from 3.70 per cent to 4.70 per cent.

The prime rate is the annual interest rate that banks and financial institutions use to set interest rates for loans and lines of credit. Increases to the Bank of Canada’s overnight rate will affect variablerate mortgages, but not fixed mortgages.

Those with variable-rate mortgages or a home equity line of credit will see an increase to monthly payments as a result of the central bank’s latest hike.

According to Ratehub.ca’s mortgage calculator, the monthly mortgage payment for an average priced home of $711,000 (with 10 per cent down amortized over 25 years) based on a typical five-year variable

rate of 2.5 per cent would be $2,955.

With the Bank of Canada’s full percentage point increase, that variable mortgage rate would increase to 3.5 per cent and the monthly payment would jump by $339 a month to $3,294.

The Bank of Canada raised its benchmark rate by 100 basis points on Wednesday, a surprise move that exceeded economist expectations, as the central bank attempts to set a firehose against scorching inflation.

The unexpected and supersized increase is the fourth consecutive hike and brings the Bank’s policy interest rate to 2.5 per cent, the highest level since 2008.

What that means for the housing market The hike is expected to put further pressure on the Canadian housing market, which continued to cool in May amid rising interest rates, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).

Housing market data for June is expected to be released by CREA on Friday.

1.

What the Bank of Canada’s full percentage point hike means for the housing market and your mortgage 2.

The easiest way to save money on landscaping Beautiful landscaping offers many benefits beyond improving curb appeal.

Peterson’s Landscape & Maintenance Services states that landscaping provides a better overall quality of life. Landscapes and lawns keep the space around your home up to 30 degrees cooler than solid surfaces, such as concrete, and 20 degrees cooler than uncovered soil.

Trees add even more cooling effects.

Although landscaping is beautiful, it can be very expensive to create and maintain.

You can hire a landscaping company to do all the work, but be prepared to spend a lot of money on plants, materials, and labor.

You also have to consider maintenance. If the landscape company is planting, you are less likely to know how to maintain the plants yourself. However, if you start the learning process from the beginning of your landscape adventure, you will save money up-front and again every year. You’ll also get the benefit of fresh air, exercise, and the pride of doing it yourself.

Most people do not know that plant nurseries often have huge markdowns on plants in the late summer and fall.

Bankrate states that buyers often see 30% to 50% discounts on the cost of trees and shrubs, sometimes more. Companies do not want to have to care for these plants over the winter, but for the buyer, this is the perfect time to plant. According to

the University of Maryland Extension, the ideal time to plant shrubs and trees is in the fall before the ground is frozen.

This is also a great time to stock up on perennials. These plants return year after year, as opposed to annuals which only last one season. Avoid buying annuals while you are shopping end-of-season clearance sales because they are likely at the end of their lifespan, but you can plant most perennials in the fall. Take your time to learn about the plants you select and make sure they are appropriate for your USDA Plant Hardiness Zone.

As you learn about the plants you choose for your landscaping project, look for those that are considered drought-tolerant.

This is the easiest way to save money on landscaping. These plants require less water, which saves you time and money.

By selecting plants that require less water, you can avoid installing –- or paying a professional to install –- an irrigation system. This may also be a necessity in areas that often have water usage restrictions, according to Allstate Landscape Services.

While you watch your neighbor’s landscape wilt and die, you know that you have made a good choice with your landscape plants.

Drought-tolerant plants that are appropriate for your landscape are like any perennial in that they will vary by location. Plants that grow well in California

New Metro Vancouver homebuyer shares disappointing developer experience A new homeowner is sharing some details about a disappointing experience with a major Vancouver developer, where what was promised does not appear to match what was delivered in their property.Daniel Lam recently purchased a condo developed by Vancouver developer Aragon Properties with his partner in New Westminster.

Ever since they put down the deposit they’ve had what they’re calling a terrible experience with sales and marketing team.

Lam notes that he knew Aragon to be a premium Vancouver developer recognized for their designs and craftsmanship.

“Unfortunately, my experience with their sales and marketing team since our walkthrough leaves much to be imagined,” he told Daily Hive.

Waiting game: Over half of Canadian millennials put plans to buy a home on hold

BC needs 570,000 more new homes than expected by 2030 for affordability Grosvenor acquires 14acre Oakridge bus depot redevelopment in Vancouver What went wrong?

According to Lam, the issues were made clear during the scheduled deficiency walkthrough, where several of the rooms were finished with a different colour theme than what was agreed to.

This is what Lam says they were promised for the bathroom: “My partner and I noticed immediately that the unit was completed with the wrong finishing colour. This was a huge oversight as the furnishings include the entire kitchen as well as our bathroom,” said Lam.

Vancouver-based green construction startup Nexii now worth $2 billion After being founded just four years ago, a Vancouver-based company looking to disrupt how buildings are constructed with its proprietary green building design system is now worth $2.05 billion.

In fact, the value of Nexii Building Solutions doubled in under a year; it reached “unicorn” status — the term used to define a startup that reaches a valuation of over $1 billion — in September 2021. It was the fastest Canadian company to ever turn into a unicorn.

The latest milestone of exceeding a valuation of $2 billion was the result of an additional $45 million investment into the company made by Horizon Technology Finance Corporation and Trinity Capital.

This will go towards accelerating the company’s growth and manufacturing capacity in order to meet surging demand for its sustainable construction solutions.

“We are very thankful for Horizon and Trinity’s continued partnership with Nexii,” said Stephen Sidwell, co-founder and CEO of Nexii, in a statement. “Our revolutionary green building solutions are enabling us to win new projects with some of the largest global brands, and with Horizon and Trinity’s expanded support, we are well situated for continued growth and to deliver our sustainable construction technology worldwide.”

Exterior of the newly completed Starbucks in Abbotsford using Nexii’s building technology. (Nexii) The real potential in Nexii’s proprietary construction materials and building methodology continues to gain attention for not only its ability to significantly reduce greenhouse gases, but also for its ability to speed up construction timelines, lower construction costs, and eliminate the need for scaffolding.

Nexiite, their proprietary material, is seen as a replacement for concrete in certain applications and components of new building construction or renovations.

It has a 20% to 33% lower carbon footprint, reduces overall energy use by 33%, and cuts heating energy by 55%.

Between 60% and 85% of the process is built off-site in factories, allowing for assembly in any weather conditions with fewer delays, and reducing construction waste. The resulting structures are fire, flood, earthquake, and hurricane resilient.

Nexii states its clients to date have included Starbucks, Popeyes, and Marriott, specifically the new nine-storey Marriott Courtyard hotel in Nanaimo. In February 2022, it also announced a partnership with Siemens to create a new electricvehicle charger prototype that will make installing charging stations faster, cheaper,

Saturday, July 16, 2022

Rising interest rates slow down sales, but prices not budging High mortgage rates are slowing real estate transactions across the province as interest rates continue their climb from historic lows, said the B.C. Real Estate Association.

In June, 7,136 residential sales were recorded on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), a decrease of 35.7 per cent compared to last June and a 13 per cent dip compared to the previous month.

In its most recent report released Tuesday, the association said some markets and housing types have tipped into balanced or even buyers’ markets as high interest rates are keeping potential buyers to the sidelines.

“While a still growing economy and robust population growth point to strong demand, it is increasingly difficult to satisfy

that demand at current interest rates,” said BCREA chief economist Brendon Ogmundson in a statement. “As a result, sales activity across the province, but especially in more expensive markets, continues to slow.”

The slowdown in sales appears to be having an effect on prices, which have started trending downward, according to BCREA statistics.

In June, the average residential price in B.C. was pegged at $951,105, a 4.6 per cent increase from the $909,657 recorded last June but down 14 per cent from this year’s highest average price of about $1.1 million in February.

In Greater Vancouver, the average home price is just over $1.2 million, down 9.5 per cent compared to February,

Real Estate

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Is the bubble finally bursting?

The Canadian housing bubble has been shrinking for quite a while. But despite so much air rushing out of the bubble, the probability of it bursting is still quite high.

The Canadian housing market is going through a rapid “slowdown” phase. One of the most expensive markets in Canada (Oakville) has seen a decline equivalent to over $2,200 a day from its peak.

Toronto home prices have fallen (on average) over $130,000 since their peak.

Even though the decline of the housing market as a whole shouldn’t be gauged through the hottest individual markets, it’s a

good representation of the pace at which the housing market is falling on a global scale. Experts at Goldman are predicting that Canada’s housing market will experience the sharpest fall among all the global real estate markets that are sliding down right now.

A positive perspective on the current situation would be that the housing “balloon” has been punctured and is losing air at a rapid pace. A more pessimistic outlook would be that the bubble, instead of shrinking, is finally bursting, and now investors and homeowners will suffer the consequences.

What the Bank of Canada’s full percentage point hike means for and be able to focus on other parts the housing market and your mortgage of their lives because the first-time

The Bank of Canada’s surprise move to hike its policy rate by a full percentage point — with no indication it will stop there — will add to the financial squeeze faced by indebted homeowners and likely push more buyers to the sidelines of already cooling real estate sector, market watchers said Wednesday.

The move, which sent a statement about the central bank’s resolve in combatting inflation, brought the policy rate to 2.5 per cent and came in higher than the 75-basis point hike most had expected.

Industry experts expressed shock at the size of the move.

James Laird, Co-CEO of Toronto-based mortgage brokerage Ratehub.ca, said he

was initially taken aback by the move until he considered the Bank’s language leading up to the decision, reiterating the need to “act more forcefully” to bring inflation down.

Laird said the oversized hike could put further downward pressure on cooling real estate markets across the country and push balanced markets across many regions to move toward buyer’s market territory.

Housing markets have been cooling off rapidly since the prospect of a rate hike cycle

pulled demand forward into the latter parts of 2021 and the first months of 2022, ahead of the Bank’s first hike in March.

Laird said that with a hike this large, some Canadians who have purchased at the height of the pandemic may be underwater, but Canadian families are viewing their properties more as a home rather than an investment vehicle.

“There’s not as much regret as you might think,” he said. “People are generally happy to be in a place

#106 - 7565 132 St. Surrey, BC 604.572.3005

homebuyer journey (is) so challenging.”

Ron Butler, mortgage broker and owner of Toronto-based brokerage Butler Mortgage, wrote in a tweet that prime rates and the cost of home equity lines of credit are moving up in a big way.

“Huge 100 bps increase … means bank prime is now 4.70 (per cent) and most HELOC rates are 5.20 (per cent),” Butler tweeted moments after the announcement. “The purchase of a rental property accessing a HELOC on an existing property for down payment is simply becoming unmanageable.”

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Saturday, July 16, 2022

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Saturday, July 16, 2022

Tour De Concord Vancouver

T

housands of spectators e n j o y e d Va n c o u v e r ’s biggest Free Family Bike Festival and Criterium Cycling races on Thursday, June 30th at Concord Pacific Place on the north shore of False Creek. It was a fun-filled summer evening featuring professional and amateur bike racing, a family community ride on the racecourse, the

Concord $5,000 Charity Challenge, f r e e family

by Concord Pacific in celebration of Vancouver’s growing cycling culture.

Race registration proceeds of $7,500 were donated by Concord Pacific to support Cycling BC’s youth development programs for

activities, complimentary popcorn and treats for kids, food trucks and over $6,000 in draw prizes were awarded to attendees.

It was a fun event for people of all bike levels and every age to learn more about bikes, the benefits of cycling for sport, commuting and family fun, get a free bike tune-up, plus experience pro cycling races up close, as pro cyclists raced laps around the closed 800-metre circuit.

The event was hosted

aspiring young cyclists.

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Saturday, July 16, 2022

Indian tech firms contributed nearly $200 bn to the US economy, more than the combined economies of 20 US states The Indian information technology (IT) industry has contributed substantially to the US economy last year through jobs and local investments for training next-generation talent and driving innovations.

Indian tech firms have spent $396 billion in US sales output. This supported 1.6 million jobs in total and contributed $198 billion to the US economy, which is larger than the combined economies of 20 US states in 2021, according to a NASSCOM report.

“From the value chain through to the end customers, Indian technology companies invest in American talent and technology that they augment with their global resources to develop and produce cutting-edge innovations for industries and clients,” the report said.

The sector directly generated $103 billion

of revenue in the USA, while employing 207,000 people last year. The Indian tech industry created an average wage of $106,360 for the employees in the US, according to the report.

The report is titled ‘Impact of Indian Technology companies on the US Economy and Building the current and future US workforce: role of the Indian technology industry in the US’.

“The Indian technology industry makes a critical contribution to the US economy through local investments, fuelling innovation and the labour force, and enabling skill development for the local workforce,” said Debjani Ghosh, president at Nasscom.

The report further elaborated that the Indian tech sector works with 75% of the Fortune 50 companies, which is an annual list published by Fortune magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations.

The ground under Sheikh Hasina’s feet is shifting With elections in 2023 and debt repayment schedules kicking off in 2024, it seems only a matter of time for the veneer of stability to lose its sheen. The risk of dislocation of this so-called house of cards has only been rising in recent years.

Bangladesh’s foreign minister AK Abdul Momen arrived in India last month to fight political fires. But he found himself dealing with massive floods that hit Sylhet and Assam. Nature has its ways to convey that not all is well in India’s near-

east. Far from the glitz about Bangladesh’s economic success, on display during the recent inauguration of the Padma Bridge, clampdown on Islamists, and shrewd management of big power rivalries, is a parallel potent reality of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s authoritarianism, heightened polarisation, and economic distress. As an Indian official mentioned to me, and a Bangladeshi official echoed, Hasina “has built a house of cards”.

Saturday, July 16, 2022

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa sends resignation letter after fleeing to Singapore Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has submitted a letter of resignation, two government sources said on Friday, after he fled to Singapore following mass protests over his country’s economic meltdown.

Rajapaksa emailed a letter of resignation to the speaker of the country’s parliament late on Thursday, two sources said.

It was not immediately clear if the letter, sent shortly after Rajapaksa arrived in Singapore, would be accepted in email form, the sources added.

In commercial capital Colombo, troops patrolled the streets to enforce a curfew.

Rajapaksa, who fled to the Maldives on Wednesday to escape a popular uprising over his family’s role in a crippling economic crisis, headed on to Singapore on a Saudi Arabian airline flight, according to a person familiar with the situation.

A passenger on the flight, who declined

to be named, told Reuters that Rajapaksa was met by a group of security guards and was seen leaving the airport VIP area in a convoy of black vehicles.

Airline staff on the flight told Reuters the president, dressed in black, flew business class with his wife and two bodyguards, describing him as “quiet” and “friendly”.

Singapore’s foreign ministry said Rajapaksa had entered the country on a private visit, and had not sought or been granted asylum.

His decision on Wednesday to make his ally Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe the acting president triggered more protests, with demonstrators storming parliament and the premier’s office demanding that he quit too.

“We want Ranil to go home,” Malik Perera, a 29-year-old rickshaw driver who took part in the parliament protests, said on Thursday.

Indian family swept away by violent wave on Oman’s beach after 8 members ‘cross boundary fence’ for taking photos In a tragic incident, three members of a family from Maharashtra’s Sangli got swept away off the coast of Salah al-Mughsail in Oman. The father who was washed away with his two children is reported to have died. The unfortunate incident took place on Sunday afternoon when three persons from Sanglis’ Jat taluka were swept away by the sea waves in Oman. The terrifying video, which has gone viral on the social media, shows deadly waves swept away people at the beach. The video shows three young females posing on

the rocky shores of Salalah Al Mughsail beach for photographs despite the violent waves.

Soon, as the waves land they lose their balance and fall to the ground. While one woman was seen being pulled away by a man, others were being washed away as they cried for help. Two men are seen rushing to help and they could extend their hands to pull them out in time.

Five others were also swept away by the strong waves when they were seen too close to the powerful tides

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INDIA

Saturday, July 16, 2022

Ukraine sacks ambassador to India Ukraine’s ambassador to India Igor Polikha was relieved of his post by President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday, diplomatic sources confirmed to The Hindu. Mr. Polikha has been known as one of the most senior European diplomats with extensive experience in India’s relations with eastern Europe.

Mr. Polikha informed that he was neither surprised nor disappointed by the announcement as it was expected given his unusually long tenure here. “After seven years as ambassador of any country, it is normal to return home. I am a career diplomat. I will return whenever the official process is completed,” said Ambassador Polikha to The Hindu confirming that his tenure in India has ended.

Mr. Polikha’s appointment to India as Kyiv’s envoy was made soon after the Crimean campaign by the Russian forces began in 2014. On February 24 this year, when Russian forces invaded Ukraine, Mr. Polikha hit the headlines as he made an emotional appeal.

“We are deeply dissatisfied

by India’s position. We are pleading for the strong voice of India in this case....

Your Prime Minister Mr. Modi can address Mr. Putin, he can address our President,” said Mr. Polikha in a dramatic press conference. He coordinated with the Indian side during the evacuation of Indian students from Kharkiv, Kyiv, Lviv, and other Ukrainian cities.

PM Modi unveils new National emblem atop parliament building Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday unveiled new bronze statue of India’s national emblem on top of the new Parliament building. The statue boasts a height of 21-feet 3-inch-tall, the statue shows four Asiatic lions seated at the top of the central foyer of the building.

However, the lions on the new national emblem had their fangs out while the old national emblem didn’t have their fangs out.

However, PM Modi unveiling the national emblem has sparked a huge controversy, the opposition has claimed that the emblem has been modified and it is ‘insulting’ to the

constitution. Jawhar Sircar, a Rajya Sabha MP of Trinamool Congress took to his Twitter and wrote, “Insult to our national symbol, the majestic Ashokan Lions. Original is on the left, graceful, regally confident.

The one on the right is Modi’s version, put above new Parliament building — snarling, unnecessarily aggressive and disproportionate.

Shame!

Change it immediately!”

Netizens also reacted to the new emblem, while some supported the design of the emblem, some others did not. Take a look at the reactions here.

Furore over ‘bared fangs’ of Ashoka symbol unveiled by PM Modi After Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the national emblem cast atop the new Parliament building, opposition parties questioned the new design in which the four lions have bared their fangs, in contrast to the Lion Capital of Emperor Ashoka in Sarnath. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) said there is a “gentleness” on the face of the four lions in the original work while the “copy” created in the “Amrit Kaal” has lions that show tendency to swallow everything.

“Each symbol reflects the inner thinking

of the human being. Human beings use symbols to show the common man what is his nature,” the RJD wrote in Hindi while posting contrasting images of the national emblem.

Senior lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan compared the national emblem with the lions sitting “majestically” and “peacefully” with Mahatma Gandhi and and the ones with bared fangs on the new Parliament building with Nathuram Godse, Gandhi’s assassin.

Never seen such blatant, shameless misuse of central agencies to fix rivals: Yashwant Sinha On a day when the Election Commission started dispatching ballot papers and pens to mark votes as well as ballot boxes for the July 18 presidential election, Yashwant Sinha, the opposition’s nominee for the post, lashed out at the Union Government, accusing it of misusing central investigating agencies to “fix political rivals”.

The former Union minister reached Chandigarh on Tuesday and met Congress MLAs led by Congress Legislature Party leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda

at the latter’s residence in Chandigarh.

“In 60 years, I had never seen such a terror of government agencies the way I am seeing today. I stayed in Atalji’s government for five years. The infamous Enforcement Directorate, the income tax department etc…it had never even struck my mind to use these agencies to fix political opponents.

Those days, there was never such misuse. But these days, both these ED and IT departments are being used so blatantly and shamelessly,”

BJP attempts to “dissolve” state govts, Sharad Pawar Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday took a swipe at the Union government by claiming attempts were being made to “dissolve” governments in several states.

He said people would do the same with those in power.

Speaking at a meeting of NCP workers here, Sharad Pawar also said the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was “attacking Parliamentary democracy in the country”.

“There are attempts to dissolve several states. However, people will do the same with

those in power. People are watching,” the former Union minister said without naming any dispensation or state in particular.

However, he named the BJP while talking about recent developments in Maharashtra, where the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government collapsed following a rebellion by the Eknath Shinde faction of MLAs against the Shiv Sena leadership. ”The BJP is attacking parliamentary democracy in the country. What happened in Madhya Pradesh and now in Maharashtra is known to everyone.

21

Saturday, July 16, 2022

Punjab Eliminating gangster culture, controlling drug menace top priority, says DGP Punjab Temple in Amritsar on Thursday.

The DGP visited Amritsar during the day and offered prayers at the Golden Temple and the Durgiana Mandir.

Speaking to the media in

Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said eliminating gangster culture and controlling the drug menace are the top priorities of the state police.

DGP Gaurav Yadav at the Golden

FIJI Couple remanded for alleged murder of Sigatoka student A couple who allegedly murdered an 18-year-old student in Waiqali Settlement, Maro in Sigatoka two weeks ago have been remanded in custody.

Nazmeen Nisha and Naushad Ali appeared in the Sigatoka Magistrate’s court this afternoon charged with one count of murder.

The two informed the court that

they will seek legal aid assistance.

It is alleged that they murdered a student on June 30th who was found motionless outside his girlfriend’s home.

The matter has been transferred to the Lautoka High Court.

The matter has been adjourned to July 25th.

Special Investigation Team arrests 3 people from UP’s Kanpur A special investigation team probing the 1984 anti-Sikh riots on Thursday arrested three more people who were allegedly part of a mob that had set houses ablaze here killing several people, an official said.

As many as 127 people were killed in the riots in Kanpur. The special investigation team (SIT) was formed by the Uttar Pradesh

government three years ago on the orders of the Supreme Court to reinvestigate the cases.

The SIT has so far arrested 22 people in connection with the violence that occurred following the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards in Delhi on the morning of October 31, 1984.

Police arrest 13 more operatives of Lawrence BishnoiHarwinder Rinda gang The Punjab police on Thursday arrested 13 more associates, including nine sharpshooters of the inter-state gangs backed by gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Harwinder Rinda, said Inspector-General of Police Headquarters Sukhchain Singh Gill.

The Jalandhar rural police chased

down the accused after a two-weeklong operation led by special teams.

Those arrested have been identified as Avtar alias Mangal, Jobanpreet, Akashdeep, Harpreet alias Kaka, Arashdeep, Lovjit and Resham alias Bao, all residents of Tarn Taran; Gurpreet alias Ghumma

74 new Covid-19 cases in Chandigarh The city witnessed 74 fresh Covid cases on Tuesday, taking the active caseload to 393. While there was no fresh fatality, 52 patients recovered from the disease.

In Mohali, as many as 66 persons tested positive for Covid during the past 24 hours, taking the total number of cases in the district to 97,308, while 46 patients were

cured of the disease. However, there was no fresh fatality. The district has 294 active cases. Meanwhile, a total of 20,74,795 beneficiaries have been given anti-Covid shots in the district till date. As many as 11,53,571 people have received the first dose while 8,73,790 of them have got the second

Pakistan PM announces compensation package for flood victims Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif says the federal government will provide one million rupees as compensation to the family of the deceased in floods after a joint survey of the NDMA and provincial disaster authorities.He was chairing a high-level meeting in Islamabad on Thursday, on the flood situation in KP and Balochistan.

The Prime Minister said Acting Chairman NDMA will immediately reach Quetta and work with the Balochistan government for the relief and rehabilitation of the flood affectees.

He said coordinated efforts between the federal and provincial governments should be made. There is no room for complacency.

He said NDMA will increase its presence in flood-affected areas of Balochistan and KP.

Press reporter labelled ‘Lady Chand Nawab’ after slapping boy A Pakistani reporter who slapped a teenage boy on TV while reporting on Eid al-Adha celebrations Sunday has acquired the moniker ‘Lady Chand Nawab’ after the well-known local journalist who made headlines for doing the same nearly a decade ago. The video clip of the

reporter, Maira Hashmi, slapping the young man has gone viral on social media this week.

It has given social media users another chance to comment on the state of Pakistan’s broadcast media, where dealing with citizens in a violent manner has become a common practice.

Man boils wife in cauldron in front of children after she ‘refuses to engage in illicit relations on his order’ In a shocking incident, a mother of six children was killed and boiled in a cauldron allegedly by her husband in Gulshan-e-Iqbal neighbourhood in Karachi, local media reported.

The body of 32-year-old Nargis was

found in the cauldron in the kitchen of a private school located in Block 4 of Gulshan-e-Iqbal, The News reported.

Mobina Town police reached the school after a 15-year-old daughter of the victim called up the police helpline.

Child servant beaten to death for stealing fruits 10-year-old domestic worker was beaten and tortured to death and his younger brother badly injured after their masters caught them stealing fruit, police said.

Officers said the boys had been tortured for several days at their employers’ home in an upmarket neighbourhood of Lahore.

The assaults are the latest to put the spotlight on the exploitation of child labour and young domestic servants in Pakistan.

The issue is feared to have become more severe because of worsening economic conditions, as poverty-stricken families seek to survive by finding jobs for their children.

Australia’s Telstra completes Digicel Pacific buyout Telstra Corp Ltd (TLS.AX) on Thursday said it had completed the acquisition of Digicel Pacific, backed by funding from the

Australian government, after a tax dispute between Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Digicel threatened to stall the sale process.

Suva near to bursting as PIF meeting turns Fiji’s pandemic bust to boom With the biggest regional event in years in town, there’s a buzz on the streets of the Fijian capital that hasn’t been felt since Covid slammed international borders shut in 2020. The 51st Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting might be off to a somewhat rocky start with the withdrawal of member state Kiribati, but Suva is

booked solid as hundreds of delegates and journalist converge for the event.

At the Tanoa Plaza Hotel, occupancy rates are the highest they’ve been for three years.

Timaima Sauqaqa is part of a team working to cater to an international soccer tournament and at least two government delegations.

Some people did not support me when I started playing soccer – Sindhika Footballer, Shayal Sindhika says her father always encouraged her to play soccer although there were some who told her that she cannot play with boys.

Sindhika who is from Vunivau, Labasa is part of the Digicel Fiji Women’s soccer team that is competing in the

OFC Women’s Nations Cup in Suva.

The 29-year-old started playing soccer at the tender age of 16 when she moved with her family to Sigatoka.

Prior to this, Sindhika used to play soccer with her brothers in Vunivau.

22

Saturday, July 16, 2022 NDP calls for action to make the rich and powerful pay their fair share Press release

NDP Critic for Tax Fairness and Inequality, Niki Ashton (Churchill – Keewatinook Aski), along with Canadians for Tax Fairness economist and lead researcher, DT Cochrane, and Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada President, Jennifer Carr, called on Justin Trudeau’s Liberals to act for more tax fairness in Canada. They are calling on the government to end its unfair tax system and make the rich pay their fair share of taxes. The Parliamentary Budget Officer estimates that Canada lost up to $25 billion in 2018 alone due to tax evasion and avoidance by the rich and large corporations.

The NDP is urging the Liberals to close the tax gap, identify loopholes in Canada’s tax code and give the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) the tools it needs to ensure that billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share. “While working people are struggling to make ends meet, it is unacceptable that the rich and powerful are

being let off the hook,” said Ashton. “We are losing billions of dollars due to tax evasion and avoidance that could be invested in social services that Canadian families need, particularly as

the cost of living soars. Justin Trudeau must act now to make things fairer for Canadians, and to give the CRA the tools it needs to make the rich and powerful pay their fair share.”

Just recently, Canadians learned that the Liberals collaborated with accounting firm KPMG to keep them from paying their fair share of taxes. While hard-working people are struggling to get by, they watch in disbelief as their government caters to big businesses and billionaires. Since the Liberals came to power seven years ago, they have allowed big corporations and billionaires off the hook when it comes to paying their taxes. The NDP is fighting to change this.

NDP Media Centre

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