The Asian Star February 15 2020

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www.theasianstar.com

Vol 19 - Issue 3

Saturday, February 15, 2020

Tel:604-591-5423

South Asian man shot dead in front of his kids as they left a party in Langley A Surrey man’s children were inside his car when he was shot and killed Friday following a family party at Langley’s Chuck E. Cheese, IHIT has confirmed. Ravinder Singh Sandhu, a 42-year-old Surrey man, died recently after being taken to hospital in critical condition Friday following the shooting, said Sgt. Frank Jang, spokesperson for the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT). Sandhu was shot inside his vehicle at about 9:30 p.m. with his two children, both under the age of 10, in the car with him. Neither child

was injured, said Jang, and there were no other adults in the car. “We believe somebody intended to end his life that night, and they did.” Sandhu and his children had been attending a party at Chuck E. Cheese near 64th Avenue and 200th Street. Other family and friends of Sandhu’s had been at the event, Jang said. The family has been offered resources through Victim Services for the children. The shooting was targeted, and Continued on page 7

Surrey tentmaker accused of discrimination A former employee of a Surrey tent-making company has lodged a human rights complaint against Ideal Canopy and Structure Ltd. alleging discrimination based on race, gender and pregnancy while she worked there. Yesol Park claims that in 2018 she was denied a promotion because of her gender and race and that she was marginalized

in the workplace because she doesn’t speak Punjabi. Park lodged her complaint with the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal against the company, which operates out of Newton. The respondents deny discriminating and applied to have the complaint Continued on page 9

India offers to import US dairy, chicken legs to seal elusive trade deal with Trump India has offered to partially open up its poultry and dairy markets to win a limited trade deal during U.S. President Donald Trump’s first official visit to the country this month, people familiar with the protracted talks say. India, the world’s largest milk-producing nation, has traditionally restricted dairy imports to

protect the livelihoods of 80 million rural households involved in the industry. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to pull all the stops for the U.S. president’s Feb. 24-25 visit, aimed at rebuilding bonds between the world’s largest democracies. In 2019, Trump suspended

Continued on page 8

PM Trudeau says ending pipeline protests won’t be easy Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says there are no easy answers to the dispute over a British Columbia pipeline project that has sparked Indigenous protests at vital rail links across Canada. In his most extensive public comments since anti-pipeline protests began affecting freight and passenger rail traffic

across Canada last week, Trudeau said Friday that the path forward is “fraught with challenges and obstacles to overcome.” “You need to know we have failed our Indigenous peoples over generations, over centuries. And there is no quick fix to it,”

Trudeau said, adding that all parties must move towards reconciliation. “We also are, obviously, a country of laws. And making sure that those laws are enforced, even as there is, of course, freedom to demonstrate free and to protest,” he said.

Continued on page 8

Four people with Coronavirus in BC getting better, health officer All four people infected with the coronavirus are recovering, according to B.C. health officials. They said Tuesday that there were no new cases of COVID-19, as the new virus has been named, in the province since three were confirmed last week, in addition to the one case previoulsy confirmed. “Their condition is stable and all of them are in isolation recovering at home,” said Dr.

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Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer. The individuals will be cleared by health officials only after testing negative on two tests, 24 hours apart. “I also want to say that the small number of close contacts for each of our cases has been identified and are being actively followed every day with Vancouver Coastal Health and they all remain well and asymptomatic.” As of Friday,

371 samples from B.C. had been tested for coronavirus, said Henry. The vast majority of them do not have the virus but Henry said the threshold for deciding to do the test is intentionally kept low. Henry said the test results that did return a positive result are for other viruses common at this time of year, such as influenza.

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www.theasianstar.com

Vol 19 - Issue 3

Saturday, February 15, 2020

Attorney General introduces new complaint process in bid to increase trust in ICBC

British Columbia’s attorney general says the province will “supercharge” an office that deals with complaints against the Insurance Corp. of B.C. in an effort to increase public trust in the Crown auto insurer. David Eby made the announcement as one of several moves that he says will increase transparency and accountability at ICBC. The government will also require the auto insurer to post its annual reports online in “plain language,” so that the average person can understand the financial health of the Crown corporation and how premiums are calculated. And individuals who accept pre-litigation payments from ICBC will no longer be barred from later suing the corporation, a move that Eby said may reduce the number of cases that actually end up in court. ICBC already has a fairness office with a $200,000 budget, but Eby said it is hard to find and there’s no statutory obligation for ICBC to respond to its recommendations. Under the changes, the commissioner will be appointed by cabinet, complaints can be filed online and the nature of complaints, the commissioner’s

recommendations and ICBC’s responses must be posted publicly in plain language. “I don’t think it’s a secret that many British Columbians simply don’t trust ICBC,” Eby said at a news conference Wednesday. “That’s a problem because British Columbians deserve the peace of mind of knowing that if they’re injured in a crash and they ask a public insurance provider for help, they need to know they will be well taken care of.” The New Democrats “inherited a mess,” when they took power and discovered ICBC was operating with billion-dollar deficits and projections showed massive increases to premiums for drivers would be required to break even. “The fact that this information was not available to the public before the 2017 election is just one more example of why more transparency is needed at the corporation,” he said. Since then, ICBC’s finances have stabilized and accident rates have gone down thanks to road safety initiatives. But the

government is still working toward a goal of decreasing premiums and establishing trust in the Crown corporation, he said. B.C. Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson has called for more choice in the sector after a report by accounting firm MNP found B.C. residents pay up to 42 per cent more for car insurance compared to drivers in Alberta.

Tel:604-591-5423 Wilkinson said the report concluded that B.C. and Alberta have similar insurance coverage and systems, but the difference is that Alberta allows choice and free-market competition. Eby said Wednesday that he has considered the option of privatizing insurance but that his office has been unable to replicate the modelling promised by the private sector. Under independent analysis, Continued on page 6

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OPINION

By Peter Stockland Senior Writer Cardus

Concern is growing over proposed changes to the federal approach to governing broadcasting in Canada.

After two days of almost baffling silence following the release of a report calling for sweeping changes to how – and over what – the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) exercises its regulatory powers, pundits and politicians are starting to sit up and spout about it. Two former CRTC commissioners warn that the report’s vision is radical and farreaching. “It’s an enormous expansion of regulatory authority over speech,” said Timothy Denton, who specializes in technology law and was a national CRTC commissioner from 2008 to 2013. “Even if half or a quarter of (the report) is

Saturday, February 15, 2020

New vision for CRTC is dangerously radical implemented with regards to the speech and licensing power, we’re in trouble.” The critical shift would be to bring the Internet under the authority of the CRTC, which would be renamed the Canadian Communications Commission. Currently, the commission regulates TV and radio signals, as well as phones and phone lines. That’s a problem for Peter Menzies, who served as CRTC vice-chairman of telecommunications. Menzies believes the report’s recommendations have the very real potential to limit how freely Canadians can access the Internet and what content they’ll be able to find when they do. “The Internet is not another form of broadcast,” he says. “It’s a way speech is communicated between Canadians. It’s (like) your phone line, and what’s being proposed is as if the government suddenly began regulating what you can say on your phone, how often and to who.”

He cites as an example the way even the current federal broadcast regulations govern religious programming – limiting the number of licences available, what can or can’t be said and the approach that must be taken to other faiths. “If you have a religious website, will you want to be told you can only provide certain kinds of content for so many hours a day, or that you have to give space to alternative religious views? Those are exactly the rules in place for religious broadcasting.” The same “logical failure” would affect all other forms of Internet content, Menzies notes. Under the proposals, even global content giants such as Facebook and Twitter would be regulated as though they’re equivalent to a small-town afternoon radio talk show. In Denton’s words, the very idea of “licensing” the Internet the way radio and TV are now licensed in Canada means obtaining “speech by permission” of the government. That regulatory power becomes doubly dark indeed, Denton says, when factoring in the report’s call for CRTC control of news sites and what it refers to as “alphanumeric content” – what the rest of us call written words. “If you and I set up (a website) and people come to us for interviews, are we news? Would we be subject to licensing? Would we be subject to heavy fines? And all this would now depend not on a law, but on the political majority operating within the (CRTC) at a given time. There would be nothing preventing (interview content) that concerns politics or cultural or social affairs from being declared regulatable by (government),” Denton says. Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault initially said there might be two sets of licensing requirements for news sites based on size. Global giants such as Facebook would be treated more

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Simpson, Thomas & Associates is proud to support the Sanjha Vehra Women’s Association. Sanjha Vehra Women’s Association has donated more than $100,000 over the years to cancer societies and the Surrey Memorial Hospital Foundation. For more information about the association, to volunteer or to make a donation please contact Rani Mangat on 604-506-6123.

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Saturday, February 15, 2020 Attorney General introduces new complaint process in bid to increase trust in ICBC From page 3 he said moving to a private insurance model would actually increase premiums for almost all drivers, except for one third of drivers older than 45. The NDP caucus has previously responded

that privatizing car insurance could result in double-digit rate increases, saying that the Alberta government recently removed a rate cap, which allowed rates to skyrocket up to 30 per cent.

Shots fired between two vehicles in Surrey Surrey RCMP are investigating after shots were fired between two vehicles Thursday. Police confirmed late Thursday night that the incident occurred around 5:30 p.m. in the area of 96 Avenue and 148 Street. “The two vehicles were described as a white Ford Expedition type and a white Lexus or Infinity type vehicle,� a news release states. “The vehicles were travelling at a high rate of speed and where last seen going north on 148th Street.� Officers responding

to the area “located several shell casings,� the release adds. No injuries or damage to property were reported. The intersection was closed while police investigated. Police are asking for anyone who was driving in the area and may have dashcamera footage of the incident or the vehicles involved to call 604-599-0502. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or www. solvecrime.ca

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Saturday, February 15, 2020 From page 1

South Asian man shot dead in Langley parking lot Jang said Sandhu was known to police, but could not provide further details. “We’re still looking further into his past,” he said. The brazen shooting at a time when the area was busy with people attending restaurants, and with children in the car, could have resulted in more people being shot, Jang said. “We are so fortunate that these bullets didn’t hit anyone else,” Jang said. He urged witnesses or people who could offer surveillance video to come forward, particularly dash cam videos. It’s urgent to do that soon, Jang said, because many dash cam devices write over

old footage after a certain amount of time. “If you have that information, I know it’s been a few days now, we need people to check their dash cam video.”

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Saturday, February 15, 2020 From page 8

“Getting that balance right and wrapping it up in the path forward ... is really important.”Transport Minister Marc Garneau said freedom of expression and the right to

PM Trudeau says ending pipeline protests won’t be easy peaceful protest are among the most cherished of rights, but added he is “deeply concerned” about the disruption of rail services. There is a risk of seeing the disruptions merely as

interference with the operations of profitmaking companies, but they affect all Canadians, he told a news conference Friday in Toronto, where he was meeting his provincial and territorial counterparts. “But it is about people’s jobs and livelihoods and about the transport of key supplies like food, propane, heating oil and chemicals for water treatment, agricultural products for export and so many other products,” he said. Garneau stressed that he hopes there will be peaceful resolutions to the blockade disputes. He was to meet representatives of national Indigenous organizations to discuss a way forward. Tensions could heat up Friday, with the added threat of activists planning to shut down government offices in British Columbia’s capital. Protests continue as political leaders look to negotiate solutions, while business leaders, opposition politicians and ordinary people call for immediate action to end the disruptions, which have already seen more than 80 arrests. Trudeau and B.C. Premier John Horgan spoke

Thursday about the need to work together to resolve the pipeline tensions that have resulted in solidarity blockades in Ontario, Manitoba and B.C. Indigenous leaders in B.C.’s northwest have invited federal and provincial politicians to meetings to find solutions, and said they would ensure a blockade of a Canadian National Railway track near New Hazelton, B.C., would come down during talks. CN spokesman Jonathan Abecassis confirmed Friday morning the New Hazelton blockade had been lifted. The railway said Thursday it was starting a progressive shutdown in the East, while Via Rail cancelled all service on CN tracks in Canada. The blockades began last week after RCMP enforced an injunction against Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and their supporters, who were blocking construction of the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline, a key part of the $40-billion LNG Canada export project. Horgan has rejected calls from the Opposition Liberals to seek immediate injunctions to end the blockades and protests in B.C.

India offers to import US dairy, chicken legs to seal elusive trade deal with Trump From page 8 India’s special trade designation that dated back to 1970s, after Modi put price caps on medical devices, such as cardiac stents and knee implants, and introduced new data localization requirements and e-commerce restrictions. Trump’s trip to India has raised hopes that he would restore some of the country’s U.S. trade preferences, in exchange for tariff reductions and other concessions. The United States is India’s second-largest trade partner after China, and bilateral goods and services trade climbed to a record $142.6 billion in 2018. The United States had a $23.2 billion goods trade deficit in 2019 with India, its 9th largest trading partner in goods. India has offered to allow imports of U.S. chicken legs, turkey and produce such as blueberries and cherries, Indian government sources said, and has offered to cut tariffs on chicken legs from 100% to 25%. U.S. negotiators want that tariff cut to 10%. The Modi government is also offering to open up India’s dairy market, but with quotas and a 5% tariff on some products, the sources said. Dairy imports will need a certificate they are not derived from animals that have consumed feeds that include internal organs, blood meal or tissues of ruminants. New Delhi has also agreed to lower 50% tariffs on very large motorcycles made by Harley-Davidson (HOG.N), a tax that was a particular irritant for Trump. The change would be largely symbolic because few such motorcycles are sold in India. Trump will be feted in Modi’s home state of Gujarat, then hold talks in New Delhi and attend a reception that the hosts have promised will be bigger than the one organized for former president Barack Obama in 2015. Trump has called India the “tariff king.” The country has an average tariff rate of 17.% compared with 3.4% for the United States, according to World Trade Organization data. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer held telephone conversations with India Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal this week about a trade agreement, and signs are positive. “As of now it looks like there will be a deal. All indications are we are closing in,” said a source briefed on the talks. A USTR spokesman and India’s trade ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

Saturday, February 15, 2020

Personal information belonging to 144,000 Canadians breached by federal departments & agencies Federal departments or agencies have mishandled personal information belonging to 144,000 Canadians over the past two years, according to new figures tabled in the House of Commons — and not everyone who was swept up in a privacy breach was told about it. The new figures were included in the federal government’s answer to an order paper question filed by Conservative MP Dean Allison late last month. The nearly 800-page response didn’t offer an explanation for the errors, which range in seriousness from minor hiccups to serious breaches involving sensitive personal information. “There’s a significant problem with the way that the government protects personal information,” said David Fraser, a privacy lawyer at McInnes Cooper in Halifax. “The numbers that we’re consistently seeing reported out of the federal government are higher than they should be and significantly higher in my view.” The Canada Revenue Agency leads the pack in breaches, with more than 3,005 separate incidents affecting close to 60,000 Canadians between Jan. 1, 2018 and Dec. 10, 2019. The department blames the breaches on misdirected mail, security

incidents and employee misconduct. “We consider a single privacy breach to be one too many,” said CRA spokesperson Etienne Biram. “Two-thirds of the total individuals affected were as a result of three unfortunate but isolated incidents.” In one of those cases, a protected hard drive containing personal information belonging to 11,780 individuals was inadvertently made accessible to some CRA employees in January 2019. There’s no evidence that any of the exposed files were accessed by people who weren’t entitled to see them, said Biram. Ottawa considering ‘significant and meaningful’ compensation for privacy breach victims Massive privacy breach at Public Services reveals workers’ salariesIn another case, a CRA employee accessed accounts belonging to two individuals and briefly viewed information belonging to another 11,745 individuals. “These individuals are not notified since the risk to them is deemed to be extremely low,” Biram said. Health Canada reported 122 breaches affecting close to 24,000 people over the same time period. In the most serious breach, the agency said, a government employee mistakenly received an email containing personal information.

Surrey tentmaker accused of discrimination

based on race, pregnancy dismissed, but tribunal member Pamela Murray refused to do so, finding that they “have not provided the information necessary for the tribunal to dismiss Ms. Park’s complaint without a hearing.” In her Jan. 31 reasons for decision, Murray noted Park claims that when she asked for workplace discussions to be in English a coworker, Jasi Taggar, “in essence” responded that “it was easier to speak in Punjabi.” Park also claims the company “took away her job duties” and “forced her to take her maternity leave early after having failed to provide accommodations for her pregnancy,” Murray noted. The tribunal heard that Park worked as an inside sales representative at Ideal, which manufactures and rents tents. It’s been in business for about 25 years and when Park worked there had roughly 20 employees. Beside the company itself, Kamaljit Johal and Jasi Taggar are also listed as respondents. Johal was Park’s supervisor and Taggar, who Park described as a manager, was a co-worker. Park told the tribunal that Ideal’s owner, who had hired her, suddenly died in January 2018 and her claims relate to things that happened shortly thereafter. None of the claims have yet been proven or dis-proven in a hearing before the tribunal. Park claims that in February 2018 she asked Johal to promote her to a management position but was denied, Murray noted, “and she says Ms. Johal responded that she ‘needed a man in the office and…you don’t speak Punjabi.’” “There is a dispute between the parties about whether employees at ideal often spoke in Punjabi, which Ms. Park does not speak,” Murray noted in her reasons. “According to Ms. Park, most Ideal employees have a South Asian background and speak Punjabi in the workplace, which made her feel isolated and excluded.” The respondents told the tribunal that

Ideal’s employees are from a variety of cultural backgrounds, that it provides instructions in English. “It says it has a few Punjabi employees who do not speak English at all, and that those employees are given instructions in Punjabi. However, they say that usually English is spoken in the workplace.” As for her pregnancy, Park claims that when she was three months pregnant, but had not yet shared the news with anyone at Idea, Johal poked her in the stomach. “She says that one day in mid-June 2018, Ms. Johal poked her in the stomach and asked her in a suspicious way ‘What’s this?’” Murray stated. “Ms. Park says that Ms. Johal then commented that Ms. Park should have told Ms. Johal when she was three weeks pregnant, that she could not trust Ms. Park, and that she had trusted Ms. Park with the company. Ms. Park does say that Ms. Johal apologized later that day for the comments she says Ms. Johal made.” But for their part, the respondents deny Johal poked Park’s stomach. “They say Ms. Johal did not even know Ms. Park was pregnant until Ms. Park herself told her at the end of June 2018, and I have assumed for this application that they deny Ms. Johal made the comments about not being able to trust Ms. Park,” Murray wrote. “In any event, Ms. Park says that from that point, Ms. Johal started taking her sales calls, Ms. Johal daughter started doing her job, and Ms. Johal started taking away her duties.” The respondents told the tribunal they did not fire Park and that she was more than welcome to return to work at Ideal once her maternity leave ended. “I note that Ms. Park herself does not say the respondents fired her,” Murray said. “It will be necessary for a Tribunal member to hear the parties’ evidence at a hearing to decide what actually happened,” Murray determined.

LOCAL

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LOCAL / NATIONAL

Saturday, February 15, 2020

Surrey Mounties bust counterfeit ring in Newton Surrey Mounties say they’ve dismantled a counterfeit currency ring in Newton, with four suspects being charged. Police launched an investigation on Jan. 8 after receiving numerous reports Newton businesses were encountering counterfeit U.S. dollars – more than $5,000 in bogus bucks, all told. Mounties searched a residence in the 7600-block of 134A Street on Jan. 23. “During this investigation, police have seized a further $12,000 in counterfeit U.S. currency, $120 in counterfeit Canadian currency, equipment that have been used to produce counterfeit currency, as well as knives and replica firearms,” Constable Richard Wright said. Surrey Mounties looking for two

suspects in stolen credit card scam. Kaymen Winter, 25, is charged with uttering counterfeit currency, making counterfeit currency, possession of instruments used in making counterfeit currency, possession of counterfeit currency, two counts of possession of prohibited weapons, and three counts of possession of a forged document. Tassie Winter, 25, has been charged with six counts of uttering counterfeit currency, making counterfeit

currency, possession of instruments used in making counterfeit currency, possession of counterfeit currency and

possession of credit card data. Mitchell Coubrough, 32, has been charged with two counts of possession of counterfeit currency, and possession of credit card data. Terita Herbert, 33, has been charged with possession of counterfeit currency. Corporal David Amerlinck noted that counterfeit currency can do damage to small independent business owners in particular. “The victims of this type of fraud often find themselves paying out of pocket for the financial losses,” he said. “It’s affecting their business, but in many cases they are affected personally as well.” Police say they are still investigating and ask anyone with information to call the Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.

BC health officials announce 5th presumptive coronavirus case Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says B.C. has its 5th presumptive case of the novel coronavirus. The new patient is a woman in her 30s who lives in B.C.’s Interior. She recently travelled to China. Henry says the woman returned from China through Shanghai this past week and had not been in an area with travel bans, such as Hubei province. She flew through Vancouver and drove home in a private vehicle to the Interior. Henry says she began experiencing symptoms upon her arrival and immediately isolated herself at home. Henry says she eventually reached out to health officials in the Interior about her illness and was placed in isolation in

hospital. The B.C. Centre for Disease Control confirmed a presumptive test for coronavirus came back positive Thursday afternoon. “So once again we’re very thankful and grateful that the people who are coming back not just from Hubei province but all over China are taking the advice very seriously to self monitor and to connect with us and make sure that they can be tested, assessed and cared for safely,” said Henry. Vancouver Coastal Health and Interior Health are currently conducting investigations into the small group of people Henry said the patient came into contact with.

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Saturday, February 15, 2020

Khalsa Business Centre

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LOCAL / NATIONAL

Saturday, February 15, 2020

Vancouver council wants full disclosure of Little Mountain Social Housing sale Vancouver city council has unanimously passed a motion to throw its support behind a community group seeking the public disclosure of documents related to the 2008 sale of the Little Mountain social housing complex. The Little Mountain housing project, which has been in a state of suspension for over a decade, has attracted considerable scrutiny at a time where housing affordability has become a hot button issue in the city. Completed in 1954, the 224-unit social housing complex was Vancouver’s first large-scale modern social housing project. The complex, near East 37th and Main Street, housed a vibrant community. It was initially managed by the federal government, then passed on to the province and B.C. Housing in 2007. The complex

was sold by the provincial government, then led by the B.C. Liberals, to Holborn Holdings Ltd., a private developer in 2008. The plan for redevelopment included 1,400 market value homes but also 234 social housing units, child care, a new community plaza and public park. The existing residents were asked to relocate but were told they could return after the newer building complex was completed. But while most of the units on the site were demolished by 2009, very little progress was made. Most of the site has remained a vacant lot for the past decade. “To see it sit empty for so long when so many people in our city need homes, it’s upsetting,” said Coun. Christine Boyle, who submitted the motion.

Japan confirms 12 Canadians on cruise ship infected with novel Coronavirus Japanese authorities might soon allow people quarantined aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship near Tokyo, where 12 Canadians have contracted the novel coronavirus, to disembark and finish out their isolation on land. The 3,500 passengers on the ship have been under quarantine since last week, and so far 218 have tested positive for the disease, which the World Health Organization has dubbed COVID-19. It’s the biggest concentration of confirmed cases outside of mainland China, according to the World Health Organization The 12 Canadians who contracted the virus on board the ship have been moved to Japanese health facilities, and at least three

require hospitalization, Champagne said. Champagne said emergency response teams and consular officials are in Japan to make sure Canadians are receiving the help they need. “We know that there are some people who need medications on board, they want to have contact with their families, we’re facilitating that,” Champagne said at a briefing in Senegal, where he is on a diplomatic trip. Canada has also dispatched health officials to Japan to co-ordinate with local public health authorities. Japan plans to move passengers who wish to leave the ship in phases, with the most “medically vulnerable” guests being moved in the first phase, according to Princess Cruises, the line that owns the Diamond Princess.

BC Liberal leader says he was wrong to call domestic violence ‘a tough marriage’ BC Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson has offered an apology of sorts after referring to victims of domestic violence as people who are in a “tough marriage.” “This was the wrong choice of words and I got it wrong,” Wilkinson tweeted. “Victims of domestic violence need their voices heard and our unwavering support, and I want everyone to know they have that with me.” The quickly condemned comment was made on a radio show on Wednesday. Wilkinson was criticizing Tuesday’s NDP Throne Speech, which includes a promise to give workers fleeing domestic violence paid leave for up to five days. The Opposition Leader called it paid leave for people who are in a “tough marriage.” Reaction was swift, with MLA Mitzi Dean saying Wilkinson should

know better and Ending Violence BC saying domestic and sexual violence is much more than a tough marriage. “Between the years 2010 and 2015, 100 people died as a result of domestic violence in BC,” Ending Violence BC further said on Facebook. “It’s much more than a “tough marriage” as BC Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson suggested this morning.” Despite walking back the blunder, some are suggesting Wilkinson said what he meant, with one person on Twitter saying “Wrong choice of words? This was actually a very REVEALING choice of words sir” and another saying “No, you said what you felt.” Wilkinson also caught some heat last year for saying B.C.’s challenging rental situation was “part of growing up” and a “wacky time of life.”

Port Alberni board votes to change name of school named after former federal MP School trustees on Vancouver Island have voted to change the name of an elementary school named after a controversial former federal Member of Parliament. Alberni school district board members voted to remove Alan Webster Neill’s name from A.W. Neill Elementary School. The school board says it will form a committee to develop a list of possible new names for the school. Webster Neill, who died in 1960, was a Port Alberni mayor, a member of the B.C. legislature and a federal MP who represented the area in the

House of Commons from 1921-1945. He was known as an advocate of blue-collar workers, but was widely considered racist for his efforts to deny voting rights to Asian immigrants in the House, his support of anti-Chinese laws in the B.C. legislature and his approval of Indigenous residential schools. Port Alberni trustee Rosemarie Buchanan, who spearheaded the public effort to remove Webster Neill’s name from the school, says the decision comes after public consultation.

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Saturday, February 15, 2020

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Ontario investigating 15 more possible Coronavirus cases Ontario doctors are testing 15 people for possible coronavirus infection, up from nine on Wednesday, and say no new patients have tested positive for the virus this month. Another 16 people have been cleared by Public Health Ontario’s lab in Toronto. Until this past Monday, their specimens would have been tested again by federal microbiologists in Winnipeg before they are completely ruled out, but Ontario doctors said Thursday that they have “harmonized”

testing standards with the federal lab and now only presumptive positive patients will be tested a second time in Winnipeg. Yesterday, Ontario public health officials said one of Ontario’s three patients, a university student in London, Ont., had recovered from the virus. Two others, a Toronto couple in their 50s, remain in self-isolation in their home but still have not yet recorded two negative specimen tests 24 hours apart, the standard doctors say indicates someone has fully recovered from the illness.

Surrey councillor fined & suspended from practicing naturopathic medicine for describing self as ‘doctor’ during campaign The College of Naturopathic Physicians of British Columbia has suspended and fined City of Surrey councillor Allison Patton because she was not forthright about her professional credentials during the most recent civic election. In a public notice issued this month, the college noted that Patton was fined $500 and handed a three-day suspension from practising naturopathic medicine after she admitted to using the titles of physician and doctor “without denoting that she is a naturopathic doctor.” The college committee that decided on the discipline described Patton’s actions as “serious.” According to the notice, Patton has agreed to: “not repeat the conduct of using the title of doctor without denoting she is a naturopath; to identify and represent herself as a naturopathic doctor or physician as required by the College bylaws and advertising policy; and to abide by all current and future bylaws, standards,

policies and guidelines of the college.” Patton is a member of Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum’s Safe Surrey Coalition. According to campaign material on the SSC website, Patton is described as having been a “community physician for over 17 years.” She also wrote, in the firstperson, of her experience working with patients, but did not mention her naturopathic training. The material has since been edited to clarify that she is a naturopathic physician, not a medical doctor. In a written statement to Peace Arch News, Patton said she used the title Dr. without denoting that she was a naturopathic phyisician “unintentionally.” “I am very proud of my professional designation, Naturopathic Physician and I love the work I do with my patients,” she wrote. “Thank you for the opportunity to address this issue.”

Student driver runs stop sign, fails roadside sobriety test during lesson, police say A student and his instructor had a rather unexpected end to a driving lesson after the driver ran through a stop sign before failing a roadside sobriety test. Mounties in Coquitlam, B.C. said they pulled over a driver’s ed vehicle earlier this month after the car went through a stop sign. The 44-year-old male driver also failed a roadside sobriety test issued by a traffic enforcement officer. “This may be a funny story, but we’re serious about keeping our community safe,” said Cpl. Michael McLaughlin with Coquitlam RCMP in a news release. “It also shows why traffic stops are one of the most unpredictable things you can do as a police officer. Neither the driving student

nor the instructor did their due diligence to be safe on the road. Our officer made sure to deliver immediate consequences.” Not only did the student have his learner’s licence suspended for 90 days, he also received a ticket for failing to stop at the stop sign. The instructor also faced consequences and has his car impounded for 90 days. Both could face a review from ICBC, police said. “The instructors, students and the people who pay for lessons should all be doing due diligence,” McLaughlin said. “It’s not often we tow a car with two steering wheels, but impaired is impaired. Everyone must be safe on the road.”

But Associate Ontario Medical Officer of Health Dr. Barbara Yaffe said the couple is feeling well. “All of our cases in Ontario are at least clinically recovered,” she said. Four other people are recovering from the illness after testing positive in British Columbia, with all but one of them recovering at home. Three-hundred and forty people have been tested in Ontario since the outbreak began. Meanwhile, at CFB Trenton, two groups

of evacuees from Wuhan, China, numbering close to 400 continue their stint in isolation. Ontario Chief Medical Officer Dr. David Williams said three of the evacuees have been tested for possible coronavirus infection, and each tested negative. The continued spread of infection in mainland China has prompted federal and provincial officials to order anyone returning from the Hubei province of China to enter into self-isolation at home for 14 days.

Assembly of First Nations launches class action lawsuit against federal government The Assembly of First Nations has filed a class action lawsuit against the federal government, seeking damages for First Nations children who it says have been discriminated against by the government’s child welfare system. The lawsuit was first reported by APTN’s Brett Forester on Friday, and was confirmed in a release from the AFN on Wednesday. It alleges that Canada, through “discriminatory” funding, created an incentive to remove First Nations children from their families and failed to account for different needs among First Nations communities across the country. It also claims the funding for First Nations children on-reserve fell far short of what was allotted to children off-reserve. The suit goes beyond the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruling in January 2016, which found the government was systemically discriminating against First Nations children on-reserve and in the Yukon through its provision of services. Keep up with the minority Parliament: Sign up for our Capital Dispatch newsletter Canada was ordered to pay $40,000 to First Nations children and their families who were denied services or wrongly apprehended.

The AFN’s lawsuit is seeking compensation for an even larger group, broadening it to all those harmed by the system, including those not covered in the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal’s decision. “Year after year, generation after generation, Canada systemically discriminated against First Nations children and families simply because they were First Nations,” said AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde in a press release. “It did so by underfunding preventive care, perpetuating the historical disadvantage resulting from the residential schools. Canada breached its responsibility to our children and families, infringed on their Charter rights, and caused them real harm and suffering. We will always stand up for our children.” The government has already spent upwards of $8 million in legal fees in its efforts to fight the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruling, according to the Canadian Press. The First Nations Child and Family Caring Society’s Cindy Blackstock, who originally filed the human rights complaint, obtained the documents through the Access to Information Act.

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Saturday, February 15, 2020

South Asian mand entered guilty plea in fatal hitand-run case A man charged in connection with fatal hit-and-run that killed 30-year-old man in Vancouver has now entered a guilty plea to one of two charges. The BC Prosecution Service confirmed that Amanpreet Sohal pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a charge of failure to stop at an accident causing bodily harm It’s been almost four years since Ryan Barron was killed while riding his skateboard in April 2016. Police located a suspect vehicle at a home in East Vancouver two days after the hit and run, but no one there would admit to being the driver. In

December 2018, police announced Sohal had been charged. The then23-year-old Vancouver resident was also facing a charge of dangerous driving causing death. Prosecution Service communications counsel Dan McLaughlin said in an email the service expects the other charge will be stayed at the conclusion of the sentencing hearing. Barron has been described by friends as a musician and hard worker, who had recently been promoted to supervisor at the warehouse where he was employed. Sentencing has been scheduled for Sept. 16.

Abbotsford bank ATM robbery thwarted by woman standing her ground An attempted robbery at an Abbotsford bank ATM was thwarted after a woman stood her ground against a man with a knife. Abbotsford Police Sgt. Judy Bird said that on Thursday just before 6 p.m., a man followed a woman who intended to deposit a check into a bank on the 3300 block of South Fraser Way. The man claimed he had a knife and demanded money, and the woman told him she didn’t have any, Bird said. “He said if she didn’t give him the purse, he would stab her,” Bird said. “She said, ‘I’m not giving you my purse.’” Deterred after looking at the bank cameras, the culprit took off running down South Fraser Way. “At 5:56 p.m., police officers saw a man running down the street wearing dark-coloured clothing and a balaclava, so they stopped him.” He did not resist arrest, according to Bird. Scott Kuebeck, 32, has now been charged with robbery, disguising his face with

intent to commit a crime and possessing a weapon for dangerous purposes. Kuebeck was previously charged with 13 counts of robbery in 2017 and pleaded guilty to nine of them – six in Chilliwack and three in Abbotsford. He was sentenced in provincial court to four years in prison. The Crown lawyer at the time, Christopher McPherson, said Kuebeck owed a large drug debt from his heroin addiction and people were after him to pay up. In late 2018, Judge Jill Rounthwaite said, although Kuebeck’s crimes had caused significant psychological harm, his efforts to turn his life around in prison were commendable. Rounthwaite gave him three years’ credit for time served. There was another attempted robbery –by another man claiming to have a knife – which occurred at a bank on at the same section of South Fraser Way on Wednesday. It’s unknown at this time whether the crimes are related.

Contract awarded for $1.4B Pattullo Bridge replacement The British Columbia government has awarded a contract for the replacement of the Pattullo Bridge in Metro Vancouver. The $1.4-billion project will see a new four-lane bridge built with wider lanes connecting Surrey and New Westminster. The expanded bridge will also include dedicated lanes for pedestrians and cyclists. It will be built to potentially allow for the bridge to be expanded to six lanes. Construction is slated to being this year with the new bridge scheduled to open in fall of 2023. Fraser Crossing Partners — consisting of a number of construction companies — has been awarded a $967.5 million contract to replace the bridge, with the remaining costs covering project management, financing, property acquisition and other project-related items. The bridge is being built under a so-called community benefits agreement, which is aimed at boosting apprenticeship opportunities and hiring more women, Indigenous people and other under-represented workers. “The current bridge has needed to be replaced for years, and I’m proud our government is getting it done in a way that benefits the local community with good jobs and training opportunities,” Premier John Horgan said in a statement. “This is all part of our work to keep people and goods moving as we build a strong, sustainable B.C.” The Opposition Liberals have been

critical of community benefits agreements, arguing that in the case of the Pattullo Bridge it will add $100 million to the cost of the project because a number of contractors are excluded from a bidding process that favours unionized candidates. “Today, the NDP formally confirmed the awarded contract for the Pattullo Bridge replacement, which not only retains the

width of the crossing at four lanes but comes with a seven per cent price increase in cost that will be paid for by B.C. taxpayers,” said Marvin Hunt, a Liberal member of the legislature for Surrey-Cloverdale. The Surrey Board of Trade said the new bridge needs to be wider to cope with population growth in the region. “It is not too late though to build and open the bridge in 2023 with six lanes,” Anita Huberman, CEO of the board of trade, said in a news release. “We need to build transportation infrastructure for future population growth. By 2050,anadditional1.3millionpeopleareexpected to move into the Metro Vancouver region.”

BC throne speech overshadowed by provincewide demonstrations B.C. Premier John Horgan cancelled a news conference planned for Tuesday afternoon, following his government’s

speech from the throne, because of demonstrations outside the legislature. Dozens of people supporting hereditary leaders of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation in their fight against a natural gas pipeline blocked all entrances and exits to the legislature in Victoria, disrupting the start of the spring session hours before it even began. Horgan said British Columbians have the right to protest peacefully, but that he also understands the frustrations of people who weren’t able to access their offices inside government building. “These events show us why meaningful reconciliation with Indigenous peoples is our shared responsibility and is critical to our province and our country,” Horgan said in a statement, noting that reconciliation is “hard work.” Victoria police say they’re investigating reports that suggest some government staffers were assaulted and injured during the demonstration, and they’ve asked any witnesses or alleged victims to speak to investigators. A senior staff member in the premier’s office told CBC News that a handful of employees reported being assaulted as they tried to make their way into the building. One woman was allegedly elbowed in the face, causing a nosebleed, and another was allegedly spit on.

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Surrey mayor calls Uber a ‘bully’ after city loses court case Doug McCallum says Uber should have waited for a regional licensing framework for ride hailing, which was approved by him and other mayors on January 30 – two days after Surrey’s bylaw officers started fining Uber and its drivers Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum took to his council chamber microphone for 12 minutes Monday evening to admonish ride-hailing company Uber after the company won an injunction against the municipality to halt ticketing of its contracted drivers. McCallum said what Uber “should have done in Metro Vancouver is waited until we got the regional plan together, which by the way we have done; we have voted on it and some of the structure in it still has to be worked out.” Although McCallum voted

against an inter-municipal licence (IMBL) last December at a Mayors’ Council meeting, he subsequently voted in favour of such a licence on January 30 – two days after Surrey bylaw officers started fining Uber and its drivers. Calling the company a “bully” and forewarning of more scofflaw companies poised to ignore city bylaws in the future, McCallum said he nevertheless would abide by last week’s court order and hopes to soon have in place a regional business licence for ride-hailing companies that align with taxi regulations, including harmonized fees, boundaries, insurance costs, access for disabled passengers and fleet caps. A licensing system with this “level

Pair arrested in connection with 16 Lower Mainland armed robberies Two men who were arrested in Abbotsford on Saturday night after allegedly robbing a Subway restaurant have now been linked to a total of 16 armed robberies throughout the Lower Mainland. Police say the pair’s robbery spree began on Dec. 9 in Vancouver and occurred at an average rate of four robberies a week. RCMP said there were a total of six in Abbotsford; three in Langley; two each in Maple Ridge, Surrey and Chilliwack; and one in Vancouver. The offences involved two masked men with firearms, one which appeared to be a long gun and the other a handgun. The robberies occurred at liquor stores, gas stations, convenience stores and banks. RCMP Sgt. Martin Guay said it became

apparent to police from several departments that their communities were experiencing similar robberies by suspects who had similar descriptions and used similar methods. The Langley RCMP coordinated the response that involved partnerships from police in all the affected areas, as well as the the Lower Mainland Emergency Response Team and the Integrated Police Dog Service. The pair were under surveillance and were arrested after allegedly robbing the Subway on McCallum Road in Abbotsford at about 1 a.m. Saturday. Justin Randy Walsh, 21, and Curtis Aaron Billy, 32, have so far only been charged with the robbery of the Abbotsford Subway restaurant, but more charges are expected.

One sent to the hospital after truck hit power pole in Surrey More than 500 BC Hydro customers without power in North Surrey after pickup truck lost control and sheared power pole The incident occurred at 160 Street and 100 Avenue just after midnight. According to one witness, live wires were downed in the incident, and the driver had to remain inside the truck until hydro crews deemed it safe. One person was then transported to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, the witness said. According to BC Hydro, crews remained on the scene as of 7:30 a.m., and power is expected to be restored around 9 a.m. The collision was the second in recent days involving a sheared power pole and outage in Surrey. Saturday, around 2,500 customers were left without power after a U-Haul truck westbound

on Fraser Highway hit a hydro pole and a traffic sign near 184 Street.

playing field” caveat followed a closed-doors meeting between all mayors January 30. On Monday, Surrey city council unanimously agreed to direct staff toward working with the region’s municipalities, via TransLink’s Mayors Council, for an IMBL for the likes of Lyft and Uber.

McCallum said the “level playing field” is critical for his support, given the impact ride hailing could have on taxi jobs, which are largely based in Surrey. Speaking of ride-hailing vehicles at the moment, McCallum said, “They can go everywhere, they can have as many as they want …and that will destroy the [taxi] industry.”

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Saturday, February 15, 2020

Surrey councillor says taxpayers’ cash should help the needy, not an SFU gala Steven Pettigrew was the sole council member to vote against SFU’s pitch for $5,000 for a gala . Surrey City Councillor Steven Pettigrew made a case for the city’s poor at Monday’s council meeting, saying he would rather see $5,000 of taxpayers’ money spent on helping these than forking it over to the Annual Simon Fraser University President’s Surrey Gala. “I’m having great difficulties trying to support something where we’re giving $5,000 so many of us can go and have just a wonderful time and dress up and eat lots of food, yet we walk among people that are just struggling, and sleeping on the street,” he said. He was the lone council member to vote against the City of Surrey providing a $5,000 contribution in

support of the gala, and authorization of buying additional tickets at $175 each, over and above four complimentary tickets, “as necessary for members of Council who are planning to attend this event.” Pettigrew said he’s a “supporter” of SFU, “but I’m having great difficulties here with the city providing $5,000 for this gala event.” As he drives in to work, the councillor told his fellow politicians, “I see people sleeping in the doorways, and I see people begging on the streets, and I’ve encountered many, many social and community organizations that are in desperate need of help, and they’ve come to the City for

help and they’ve been turned down.” “We need to take care of the people that are hurting, and help those organizations that are in real need of support,” Pettigrew said. “I have elderly people that are coming to me, they’re begging for food, they’re on the streets, they’re looking for places to sleep, so we need to take care of these elderly people that are homeless, and we need to take care of the single parents that are struggling to put food on their table.” He said he would rather see the cash used for such causes. According to a report by Kam Grewal, Surrey’s general manager of finance,

the annual event brings together more than 300 business, government and community leaders “from across the region to celebrate and support the growth and development of academic and research opportunities in Surrey.” His report indicates that with the $5,000 silver-level sponsorship “the mayor or a designate will be able to provide on stage remarks” and get a “complimentary seat at the head table.” Grewal noted the gala, with its themes of inclusion, education and culture, “supports the overall objectives” of the City’s Sustainability Charter 2.0. Such a grant, Grewal reported, supports “Desired Outcomes” under the city’s Sustainability Charter 2.0, one of which is that “Surrey is a caring and compassionate city that learns about and supports its residents of all backgrounds, demographics life experiences.”

Help identify a robbery suspect Surrey RCMP is seeking the public’s assistance in identifying a robbery suspect from an incident that occurred last year in July. On July 9, 2019, at 4:40 pm, Surrey RCMP received a report of a robbery at a restaurant in the 12800-block of 76 Avenue,

in the Newton area. The male suspect allegedly took cash from the register by force, as well as a donation box with cash inside. The suspect is described as a Caucasian man, approximately 25-27 years-old, 5’6” tall, with a medium build (Please see attached

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502 or, if you wish to make an anonymous report, contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS or www.solvecrime.ca.

For tips on how businesses can reduce the chance of robbery, visit the Surrey RCMP website.

RCMP search for man involved in 2015 Maple Ridge stabbing Ridge Meadows RCMP are asking for the public’s help to find a man considered to be dangerous and facing charges in connection with an Aug. 23, 2015 double stabbing in downtown Maple Ridge. Ricky Korasak is wanted for accessory to attempted murder and accessory to aggravated assault, say Ridge Meadows RCMP. The charges were sworn on Dec. 5 in Port Coquitlam provincial court. According to RCMP, two men were stabbed at about 2:30 a.m., in the 22200-block of Lougheed Highway. Korasak is described as a 34-year-old Asian man, 5’8 ” tall and weighing 168 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes and a tattoo on his right forearm with the word “LAOS.” Police consider Korasak to be dangerous and advise the public

not to approach him, but to call 911 immediately. Another man is also facing charges in connection with the Maple Ridge stabbing. Charged in the same incident with attempted murder and aggravated assault is Brandon Nathan Teixeira. Read more: Surrey murder suspect captured in California charged in double stabbing in Maple Ridge Teixeira also is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the October 2017 shooting death of Nicholas Khabra in south Surrey. Teixeira was arrested Dec. 1 in California. He is also charged with attempted murder and discharging a firearm with intent to wound or disfigure.

Surrey RCMP say missing 23-year-old has been located deceased Surrey RCMP is requesting the public’s assistance in locating a missing male.

Surrey RCMP asking for help locating a man missing since Saturday morning. According to news release, Rattanjot Sidhu, 23, was last seen at 11:30 a.m. on February 8, in the 6600-block of 184 Street. Sidhu is described as a fivefoot-nine East Indian male. He weighs 154 lbs, and has a medium complexion, s h o r t black hair and dark brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a black turban, black puffy jacket, black sweat pants and black/orange shoes. Police and family are concerned for his health and well-being. Anyone with information about Sidhu’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or www.solvecrime. ca, quoting file number 2020-20576.

Saturday, February 15, 2020

Dharmendra to launch new restaurant called He-Man on Valentine’s Day Bollywood icon Dharmendra is coming up with a new farm-to-fork restaurant named He-Man, which

to announce his new venture. This is Dharmendra’s second restaurant after the popular Garam Dharam Dhaba. He-Man will open on the Karnal Highway. Dharmendra, who is popularly known as the ‘He-Man of Bollywood’ wrote on Instagram: “Dear friends, after the success of my restaurant ‘Garam Dharam Dhaba’ now I’m announcing a first ever Farm to

Fork restaurant called ‘He Man’, friends, I truly appreciate your love, respect and belonging towards me. love you all... your Dharam.” The actor also shared an e-invite for his fans, which reads: “Dear fans, with immense joy and gratitude, I want to announce the launch of the first ever farm to fork restaurant called He-Man.

Launching this Valentine’s Day 10.30 a.m. on Karnal Highway.” Dharmendra has been working hard to set up his farm-to-fork restaurant for a while now. He keeps sharing videos on social media of his farm, with farmers displaying fresh vegetables like cabbages, gourd, beetroot, brinjals, ladies fingers and fruits.

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will be inaugurated on Valentine’s Day. The veteran superstar took to Instagram on Wednesday morning

Well known designer Wendell Rodricks dead

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Well known fashion designer, andgay rights activist, Padma Shri awardee Wendell Rodricks died following prolonged illness. Nilakanth Halarnkar, BJP MLA from Thivim Assembly constituency and friend of 60-year-old designer confirmed his death. “Yes, it is true. He died at 5:45pm. He was ailing for a long time,” Halarnkar said. Family sources said that the funeral is scheduled for Thursday. The fashion designer’s death was mourned by several Bollywood and fashion

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Bollywood Priyanka ’s latest throwback goes all the way back to her pageant days

Before she was a superstar actor (People calls her the “most successful Indian actor to cross over into the American entertainment industry”) and UNICEF ambassador, Priyanka Chopra was competing in

pageants, which was how she managed to make a name for herself back in India. Today, on Throwback Thursday, Chopra posted a snapshot from that part of her life, showing herself in full pageant regalia, complete with her sash and a princess-worthy ballgown. Winning Miss World in 2000 could be seen as the moment that catapulted Chopra into the mainstream. After earning the title, she became a huge Bollywood star and managed

to navigate crossover success in America with a role in Quantico. The rest is history — a history that involves Baywatch and Isn’t It Romantic and a turn as producer and actor for The Sky Is Pink. “Miss World at 18! The turn of the

millennium ... the year 2000! Wow ... feels like just yesterday I was living this dream,” she wrote. “Now, almost 20 years later, my enthusiasm for changing the status quo remains as strong and is at the core of everything I do. I truly believe girls have the power to bring about change if they get the opportunities they deserve. #strivehigher #dreambig.”You Almost Missed the Sweetest Moment Between Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas at the Grammys

Anup Jalota’s tribute to late Jagjit Singh Bhajan Samrat Anup Jalota paid a tribute to the late Ghazal King Jagjit Singh on his birth anniversary Feb. 8.

Jalota and the late Singh had a very personal bonding and they were best friends. Jalota used to call him Gazaljit Singh and was in turn called Bhajan Jalota by Singh.

Saturday, February 15, 2020

Shah Rukh & Kajol pen posts on 10 years of ‘My Name Is Khan’ Popular on-screen couple Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol have taken to social media to remember their film “My Name Is Khan,” which was released 10 years ago Feb. 12. The 2010 film’s director Karan Johar also shared a note. =Shah Rukh took to Instagram Feb. 12 and shared a few photographs from the set. He wrote: “Thank u @karanjohar & @kajol for making arguably the finest film of our careers. The only film I needed to see everyday pics to know if I have the expressions right! Here’s some of them...” Kajol shared a collage of photos from the set and some behind the scenes snaps, with the popular song “Tere naina” playing in the background. She captioned: “Soooooo many memories. So much fun from Nysa’s first Disney trip to seeing the history of San Fran Up, close and personal with the most amazing sunrise. It will always be one of my most fav memories! #10YearsOfMyNameIsKhan @karanjohar @iamsrk @mickeycontractor @ nysadevgan.” Johar also posted a note on Instagram along with a video, which pays tribute to the movie. “#10yearsofmynameiskhan. This will always remain an extremely

special film for me....a film that not only had relevant messaging but also ( in my opinion) a beating heart! Bhai @iamsrk put his all into creating Rizwan...and I will always be eternally grateful to him for just being him ....for being such a rock solid support to me through the journey of the film...love you so much Bhai! And love you @kajol for breathing life into Mandira and just being the fabulous and incredible artist that you are!!! And finally thank you to #shibanibathija for writing and creating the film and every character! Writing is the spine that we can give body to....thank you,” he wrote. “My Name Is Khan,” was released on Feb. 12 2010, It was Karan Johar melodrama that narrated a love story against backdrop of discrimination on the basis of religion and race.

Madhuri wishes husband with adorable video ‘Happy Birthday to the one that changed my life @DoctorNene... Words aren’t enough to tell you how much I love you or what you mean to me.’ Following widespread media speculation over years on her personal life, Madhuri married Shriram Nene, a cardiovascular surgeon from Los Angeles, California on 17 October 1999, in traditional ceremony held at the residence of Madhuri’s brother in California. Nene had never seen any of her films, and was unaware of her celebrity status. Dixit explained their relationship by saying, “It was very important that he didn’t know me as an actress because then he would know me as a person first. When people have seen you as an actress, they have preconceived notions... None of it was there here with him. I found the right person, I wanted to get married and I did.” Following her marriage, Dixit relocated

to Denver, Colorado, for over a decade. She moved back to Mumbai with her family in October 2011. Speaking about it, Dixit said, “I always love being here. I have grown up here in Mumbai so for me it is like coming back home. It was a different phase in my life, where I wanted to have a home, family, husband and children... everything that I had dreamt of.”’ In 2018, Dixit along with her husband, founded the production company, RnM Moving Pictures. On 17 March 2003, Dixit gave birth to a son, Arin. Two years later, on 8 March 2005, she gave birth to another son, Ryan. She described motherhood as “amazing” and added that her kids kept “the child in her alive”. Madhuri received six Filmfare Awards, including four Best Actress awards for Dil (1990), Beta (1992), Hum Aapke Hain Kaun! (1994) and Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), and a Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress for Devdas (2002). She earned a Filmfare Special Award for completing twenty-five years in film industry.

Saturday, February 15, 2020 The trailer of “Saaho� promised highoctane action, special effects and stylised sequences. Like a stock opening sequence that starts with an extreme close-up and zooms out to reveal a different picture, “Saaho� is a whole other movie than the trailer lets on. The plot, which moves between Mumbai and the fictional city of Waaji, concerns an undercover agent named Ashok (Prabhas) and a crime syndicate run by Roy (Jackie Shroff). Ashok is a top cop, but his demeanour suggests otherwise. He is languid and awkward and would rather make moves on his colleague Amritha (Shraddha Kapoor) than fight crime. She feebly resists his rather demeaning attempts

Movie Review: Saaho to woo her, but succumbs quickly – giving the film a chance to cut to exotic locations where the two can dance to mediocre music. At 179 minutes, “Saaho� drags on and on. Director and writer Sujeeth throws in countless plot twists,

intent on distracting viewers with action, blood, gore and romance over substance. At one point, when a character says, “I’ve concocted so many false stories, you think I can’t come up with one more� – it is as if he is talking about the script. Sujeeth borrows scenes and tonality

The Rock, Scarlett Johansson top highest paid actors list Hemsworth, Robert Downey Jr., Indian star Akshay Kumar and Jackie Chan join Johnson among the highest-earning men, while Sofia Vergara, Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, and Jennifer Aniston make up the rest of the top five female earners. Johnson and Johansson also topped last year’s list too.

Akshay to work with Dhanush and Sara Akshay Kumar will be starring alongside Sara Ali Khan and Dhanush in their new film “Atrangi Re.� The film, which is being directed by Aanand L. Rai, is an A.R. Rahman musical written by National awardwinning writer Himanshu Sharma. The film is slated to release on Valentine’s Day, 2021. Kumar is excited about the collaboration with Rai and said, “I have always admired the way he showcases his stories and

I am thrilled to be working with him.� Announcing the film, co-producers T-Series released a video wherein the names of the cast and crew alongside the title were announced. Kumar also announced the film on his social media handle, tweeting: “This one is really special.� As a co-producer himself, he also added a video announcing the new film and captioned it saying: “Love, in all its glory!�

from several Hollywood films, including “Mission Impossible� and “Mad Max�, but neither he nor his leading man match their quality. Prabhas, fresh off the success of the “Baahubali� franchise, fails to re-create his brooding action hero persona. Shraddha Kapoor’s character doesn’t have much to do except be rescued by a manly-man, with whom she must occasionally dance. The rest of the cast, including Chunky Pandey and Mahesh Manjrekar, seem to be wondering what on earth is going on. So will viewers.

HOROSCOPE Aries

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Scarlett Johansson have topped the annual list of the highest-paid Hollywood stars.The 47-year-old wrestler-turnedmovie hunk and the Marriage Story actress have topped Forbes magazine’s latest countdown, earning $89.4 million and $56 million respectively.Chris

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Bollywood

March 21 - April 20 What troubles you, Aries? As luscious Venus aligns with healer Chiron in your sign on Monday, you may feel a tad hurt by someone’s attitude and wonder if there’s something amiss. It could be that someone

remark or action and this has left you feeling a tad unsettled. What can you do about it? Talking it over might help. With Valentine’s Day on Friday, there is an opportunity to make up, especially with the moon

Taurus April 21 - May 20 The sun in the topmost sector of your chart can be a call to shine and not hide your gifts and talents away from the world. Showcase your skills and relish the chance to let others know how brilliant you are. There is still a strong focus on your travel and adventure zone, which can see you reaching out for new opportunities. If you’ve hesitated to move out of your comfort zone, when stirring Mars enters this same zone,

Gemini May 20 - June 21 With the sun in your sector of far horizons, the coming week could inspire you to seek new opportunities. At the same time, with sweet Venus aligning with healer Chiron in your social sector on Monday, you also have a chance to resolve an issue with a friend or group. It may be minor or major, but with a willingness to reach out and see things from their perspective, much can be accomplished.

Libra Sept. 24 - Oct 22 The radiant sun highlights your leisure and romance zone this week, and you could be eager to get out and about and relax when you can. Be sure to factor in some downtime because you could be busy in other areas. With a continuing powerful focus on your home zone, you may still have a lot of responsibilities. Yet there’s a sense that a crisis may have passed and that life is somewhat easier. Are you eager to splurge on your Valentine? With the moon in your sector of spending and shopping.

Scorpio Oct 23 - Nov 22 You may feel like taking a step " ! #

! With the sun in your domestic zone, this is an opportunity to unwind and recharge when possible. Even so, there’s a lot of activity in your sector on Sunday, this will ramp up even further. You may feel like making a clean sweep and replacing old ways and methods with new and more dynamic plans and goals.

Sagitarius Nov 23 - Dec 22 You might be in a congenial mood and ready to connect with others who are very much on your wavelength. With the sun in your sector of communication, this is very much the time to market your goods and services and explore the potential in various business ideas. $ % concerning a love interest, the tie between Venus and healer Chiron could encourage you to talk to someone who has some sage advice. With the right perspective, you can soon feel more adventurous.

Capricorn Cancer June 22 - July 23 You may need to make peace with someone you work with, especially early in the week when convivial Venus links with be resolved with goodwill on both sides. Your sector of relating continues to be in focus, but as sobering Saturn gradually eases away from potent Pluto, you may feel more relaxed about a key relationship. This could be someone in authority or a partnership.

Leo June 24 - August 23 ! ! recreation and romance sector until Sunday, you may be ready to enjoy love adventures or activities that leave you feeling upbeat. At the end of this week, the focus shifts to your lifestyle sector, so you may be more eager to get on with plans and projects, and this could spill over into your leisure time.Still, with an intense Scorpio moon in your home zone, Valentine’s Day could simmer with promise even if you spend it quietly with your loved one.

Virgo August 24 - Sept 24 Is there someone you need to reconcile with? If so, a healing aspect at the start of the week could inspire you to reach out. It might mean letting go of the past, but it could be worth it if you value this association and want it to continue. There is still a powerful emphasis on your sector of leisure, creativity, and romance. And with sobering Saturn and powerful Pluto continuing to separate, a relationship that has caused issues can begin to ease. Whatever the problem, the solution may already be working.

Dec 23 - Jan 20 Chatty Mercury in your sector of communication is slowing down this week prior to turning retrograde on Sunday. Go easy if you’re thinking about closing a deal or making a commitment, because it would be & getting yourself into something that takes more ! ' sun continues to light up your money zone, and this could encourage you to take action

Aquarius Jan 21 - Feb 19 The illuminating sun in your sign can give ! ! involved in ideas and relationships that are deeply meaningful to you. Others may accuse ! relish being exactly who you are, so make no apologies. There is still quite a focus on # ( & that an issue that has bothered you for some while is beginning to feel easier. Last month’s dynamic focus may have been the catalyst that helped resolve it, and now things seem to be looking much better.

Pisces Feb 20 - March 20 You’re currently in a phase when it pays to "

game plan for the year ahead. With the sun in a spiritual sector, it’s also your chance to tie up

been holding you back. Your social zone continues to be busy, and %

# ! ending. This month, it could seem as though a burden has been lifted, and this may be due to actions you took over the past few weeks.

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Happy Valentine’s Day

By Vibhooti Vaishnav

O

r are you one of those who say “oh, it’s a big scam”. Do you blame it on consumerism? May be you are one of those who do not put any effort or time into it and then pretend to be so philosophical and say”everyday is valentine’s day, why should there be only one day and then forget about it?” Well although I do not disagree with any of the three opposites of enjoying this assigned day, I do want to inquire into why? Why have we assigned one day to express our love and gratitude to the person whom we love as we

Saturday, February 15, 2020

Were you “WELL IN TIME” for your Valentine? are with that person for the same reason that we love them. You can always find facts in Wikipedia as to how and why the tradition of Valentine’s Day came into being. What I want to talk about is it’s cultural significance and widespread acceptance world wide. Business and marketing have taken full advantage of influencing young and old into the gifting from chocolates and flowers to jewelry and expensive luxuries. There is an added pressure of social media where you

have to prove that you have received a gift from your beloved. Sometimes I also wonder what is it about receiving gifts that is so glorified and comes with a big dose of dopamine? For instance, you receive a bouquet of flowers and feel excited, why? Flowers don’t have capacity to love! They can be beautiful, fragrant and you may enjoy the freshness but happiness comes from emotions conveyed by this medium by the sender whom you love. Gift can be as expensive as a diamond jewelry or as inexpensive as a single rose, it is nothing by itself without love and emotion. Act of giving without feelings is just an ego or a tool to justify a stand or checking off a list. Feelings and emotions come from within, any external source is incapable of transforming or transmitting love or teach how to love and express love. It may inspire but can not instill emotions. Having said that, one should never undermine the importance of expressing love for it is the feeling of being loved that keeps the human race going. Gary Chapman has written an eye opening book “five languages of love” where he classified the way people express their love into five different ways and refers to it as languages of love. According to him there are people who express love through touch and hugs and intimacy, some by spending time together. There are some who are talented in using right kind of words at right time and some just are there for you quietly but surely and express through actions. And then there are some who find love in giving gifts, things that their love would appreciate and this is where the market makes its mark and influences the entire society into buying gifts. Interesting to note is that if two souls in love do not speak the same language of love there is an obvious misunderstanding of feelings. Here is another question that bothers me. Why is it always men have to buy the gift for their valentine? Why in this era of equality women are still on the receiving side of gifts? If you remain on the

receiving end, there is expectation and then there is disappointment. But if you are willing to show even a small gesture of giving to love of your life there is no disappointment, problem solved! We have to remember among all the factors of commercializations that “love is a quality and cannot be quantified” and physical things can diminish and only emotions prevail. Hence It makes me wonder why two people form a relationship to begin with. Togetherness is the essence of happiness. And it happens when Existence and persona merge. If you are in a relationship for any reason other than love, it is only an arrangement, more so a transaction. The initial attraction can impulse you into saying “I love you” where there is fantasy and expectation. Then the next stage in a relationship comes as affection where sense of gratitude is added, ego melts and one adjusts and accommodates. As time goes by with its ups and downs the relationship grows stronger. It becomes more about sharing and caring. There comes time in life where you accept the person as is, with their likes, dislikes, strengths and weaknesses. At times inevitably, frustration may bring a feeling that love is replaced by tolerance! But important is you pass the test of time , and after all the hustle of life, dust settles and you realize that you are there for each other through thick and thin of what life has to offer. You allow space to let the other grow. This ultimate growth brings oneness of soul to a love where it is not about two bodies anymore. Love that had sparked two now kindle souls that come in contact and expands into compassion. This was the kind of love Saint Valentine carried in his heart and touched the heart of whom ever came in contact with him. This was the essence of teachings of Jesus Christ when he said “Love thy neighbour as thee love thyself ” Where love is not self limiting but expanding one into a better person, giving, forgiving, grateful, helpful for in giving you receive and experience the abundance of happiness, joy and bliss. Needless to say for us Indians that Krishna is the embodiment of love and that Radha Krishna the epitome of pure benevolent love beyond expectations. And Shiva and Parvati merge into “ardhanarishwar” where love is matured beyond body and self distinction and your existence becomes that which is not. Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine’s.

‘Love Aaj Kal’ There is no re-created song here, except for a hint of the old “Love Aaj Aur Kal” song “Twist” in the end video track. But so what? The film itself seems to be a complete re-creation of the 2009 “Love Aaj Kal,” which was Imtiaz Ali’s last hit! This is a smart rework, just the way “Vishwatma” (1992) was rehashed from “Tridev” (1989), “Naseeb” (1981) from “Amar Akbar Anthony” (1977) and— officially— “Shiva” (2006) from “James” (2005). Quite obviously, with all these filmmakers, it was about playing safe. Imtiaz, as we know, has had no

hit since, never mind the hype that “Rockstar” was in the media. So Ali cleverly recycles the older “Love Aaj Kal”’s plot by replacing Rishi Kapoor with Randeep Hooda (sincere but no star like Kapoor was even then), and Sara Ali Khan is the female protagonist. Arushi Sharma, a pleasant but ordinary debutant, is the girl from the bygone era of the 1990s who was Raj (Hooda)’s love interest. Raj was then Raghu, and for small-time Udaipur, Raghu and Leena (Sharma) were fairly bold.

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Saturday, February 15, 2020 Darren Entwistle

Canada should take pride in its world leadership in network superiority

On the eve of 5G, Canadians should be justifiably proud to have the fastest and highest quality networks on the planet, accompanied by value and affordability that surpasses our developed country peers. This accomplishment is notable given that Canada’s vast and rugged geography and low population density create one of the world’s highest-cost jurisdictions to deploy technology and infrastructure. Our Canadian engineers have skillfully implemented billions of dollars of investment to build the infrastructure required to fuel our digital economy and society. Canada’s wireless networks have been recognized repeatedly by independent agencies as having the most expansive coverage, fastest download speeds and most consistent quality. In 2019, Canada, with its 10 million square kilometres, was ranked as having the thirdfastest wireless network in the world, behind only South Korea and Norway — countries that are 1/100th and 1/30th the size of Canada, respectively. The same organization indicated that if rural Canada was a country, it would rank an extraordinary 12th in the world. Surprisingly, the U.S. ranked a disappointing 30th, globally; while rural Canada was faster than every urban market in America. Canada’s network leadership is even more impressive when you consider that our country’s network infrastructure is among the most costly in the world to construct and operate. The sheer size of our country means that we have to invest in more expansive networks to deliver excellent service across our vast geography. Moreover, with Nortel

gone and BlackBerry repurposing its business away from smartphones, we purchase the preponderance of our network components and devices in U.S. dollars (USD), so we bear the cost of a challenging — and fluctuating — exchange rate. Furthermore, we pay labour rates to middle-class, skilled knowledge workers that are 6 per cent higher than in the U.S. The government plays a critical role in the price of wireless services in Canada, as the stewards of radio spectrum. By the end of 2019, Canada’s carriers had invested more than $25 billion in spectrum. In last year’s 600 MHz spectrum auction alone, Canada’s mobile operators collectively spent almost $3.5 billion, nearly two times what was paid in the U.S. for the same spectrum, to acquire spectrum licences from the federal government to expand our rural coverage and 5G deployment. Indeed, a report from NERA Economic Consulting stated that Canadian carriers pay the highest spectrum costs globally, with an average spend of $340 per Canadian, compared to $200 in the United States, $140 in Germany and $30 in Japan. In fact, economist Dr. Robert Crandall, of the Brookings Institute, recently concluded in an editorial that, were

spectrum costs as low as those paid by European carriers, Canadian mobile rates could be 12 per cent lower. This effectively means that Canadians pay an underlying 12 per cent spectrum charge integrated into their wireless bill, on top of the GST

and PST. Importantly, a recent study on wireless affordability published by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) found the average Canadian family spent less of their household income on wireless services (1.6 per cent) than the U.S. (2.6 per cent) and Australia (2.1 per cent). Household expenditures across a wide range of products and services — including home phones, postage, cameras and photography, audio/video and printed reading materials — have markedly

decreased as a result of growth in the wireless sector, placing more disposable income in the hands of Canadians. Moreover, the report found that while Canadians’ data consumption is increasing by 26 per cent annually, 90 per cent of total data consumption is used for streaming videos and social media, demonstrating that for the most part, our social lifestyles are driving this increased usage. Competition, customer demand and technology innovation have reduced Canadian wireless prices considerably. The Economist recently recognized Canada as being #1 in affordability out of 100 countries across the globe, thanks to our strong competitive environment, for both wireless and broadband. Notably, the PwC Pricing Index — which compares unlimited plans across speed, access, data quality and cost — ranks Canadian unlimited data plans as the best in terms of value among G7 countries. Unlimited data plans are expected to further improve affordability of wireless services by circa 6 per cent by the end of 2020.So take pride Canada: we lead the world in fast networks and rank amongst the best in the world for affordability and value. Our country’s global leadership in network innovation is an inspiring accomplishment for us all. Now, let’s work together to build upon the leadership we worked so hard to achieve, and continue to enable the positive outcomes that Canadians need to thrive in our increasingly digital world. Darren Entwistle is the President and CEO of TELUS.

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Press release

Saturday, February 15, 2020 NCM-The Walrus Professional Development Series for Immigrant Journalists Are you new to Canada and interested in journalism? New Canadian Media is offering free workshops on how to publish your work in Canadian news outlets Canada’s media industry continues to be a world in flux. Newspapers are going digital, cable is battling streaming, and new mediums like podcasts have given independent voices a chance to be heard. And meanwhile, Canada’s demographics continue to rapidly change. One in five Canadians today was born abroad. We are – as much as ever – a nation of immigrants. Our media industry is beginning to embrace that reality by seeking better coverage of diverse communities. Over the past decade, leading multicultural news outlet New Canadian Media (NCM) and its Member Collective of immigrant journalists have helped fill some of this shortfall.

In continuation of these efforts, NCM will be offering free journalism workshops to new immigrants interested in learning how their stories can be published in Canada’s ethnic and mainstream media outlets. These free professional development workshops will be offered in Vancouver on March 14. Leading journalists reporting on the Canadian immigrant landscape will share their best practices and expertise during these day-long information and mentoring sessions. They will help you learn how to effectively pitch your ideas and write engaging stories that resonate with readers across communities in multicultural Canada. You will learn best-practices for generating and pitching story ideas, polishing them into unique perspectives, and honing their storytelling skills to take their reporting on immigrant experiences to the next level. Each workshop will feature three sessions facilitated by seasoned journalists from an immigrant background and will consist of a lecture combined with class discussion and an opportunity to get some mentoring. The lectures will focus on the following topics: - What Makes Canadian Journalism Different - Giving Voice to the Voiceless: Advanced Reporting - Moving the needle through commentary: Advanced Opinion writing To register for workshops go to https:// newcanadianmedia.ca/events/ncm-thewalrus-professional-development-seriesfor-immigrant-journalists/ As part of the registration process, you will be required to submit a story pitch on one of the following themes, examining them through an immigrant lens: Family reunification Political engagement Canada: Preserving bilingualism + advancing multiculturalism Settlement agencies/integration Foreign credential recognition For enquiries, please email events@newcanadianmedia.com

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Saturday, February 15, 2020

Vol. 11 No. 3 Saturday - February 15, 2020

Tel: 604-591-5423

E-mail: ads@theasianstar.com

Vancouver-area home sales rebound from last year as prices inch downward: REBGV Sales remained steady while fewer people putwas steady demand for the listings. The spring their homes on the real estate market in Vancouvermarket is usually more active and Smith said and the surrounding region last month. The Realthe board will be watching to see if home Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV)listings keep pace with demand. Hong Kong social entrepreneur pitches rental affordability solution for Vancouver Apartment sales

reported residential home sales in January were 7.3 per cent below the 10-year average, but still more than 42 per cent higher than sales during January 2019. Board president Ashley Smith said 2020 began with fewer homes listed for sale than is typical for this time of year, but she said there

Housing market to see modest price growth in 2020 and 2021, predicts CMHC

The Metro Vancouver housing market will remain “balanced” over the next two years with home prices expected to increase in line with population growth, according to the latest housing market outlook report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Housing sales and prices have dipped recently as a result of multiple factors — including rising mortgage rates and new taxes — but the CMHC predicts that starting in 2020 and through 2021, there will be a modest increase both in prices and sales volume. Attached homes, condos and apartments priced under $700,000 are expected to generate the strongest demand because “homes in this price range can be accessible to buyers making a purchase based on their income compared with properties requiring substantial equity for a down payment,” says the report. The report says housing starts are expected to remain high, especially multi-family homes, which currently account for 88 per cent of unit starts.

jumped to 814 units last month, a 45.6 per cent increase compared with January last year, while the benchmark price slipped 1.5 per cent to $663,200. The benchmark price for a detached home in the region also fell in January by 1.7 per cent to just over $1.43 million. Municipalities

and areas covered by the REBGV include Burnaby, Coquitlam, Maple Ridge, New Westminster, North Vancouver, Pitt Meadows, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Richmond, South Delta, Squamish, the Sunshine Coast, Vancouver, West Vancouver, and Whistler.

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Saturday, February 15, 2020

Condo prices are set to put many investors in the red as rents fail to meet carrying costs, experts warn There’s no shortage of people lining up to invest in the city’s burgeoning condo market — many of them mom and pop investors who see rental units as a hedge for their c h i l d r e n against the increasingly unaffordable property market. Others are self-employed individuals without a pension

who view a condo as an appreciating asset to help fund their retirement. But real estate experts are warning that the investment scene will shift in less than five years as the cost of condos continues to climb at the same time Toronto tenants show signs of hitting a wall when it comes to paying for

an apartment. That will have significant cash flow implications for property investors because rent won’t cover the monthly carrying cost of those units, said Shaun Hildebrand, president of market research firm Urbanation. “I’m not sure that condo investors that

have been active recently in buying preconstruction units fully appreciate how much supply is underway in the condo sector and what that will do for their assumptions for returns,” he said. Rents that rose about 10 per cent a year in 2016 to 2018, will likely increase at a more moderate 5 per cent annual for the

Anti-money-laundering course mandatory for real estate agents and property managers Real estate professionals will learn how to recognize red flags and be instructed on their obligations if they’re involved in a suspicious transaction. The regulatory agency for B.C.’s real estate professionals is launching a mandatory anti-money-laundering course to show real estate agents and strata and property managers how to recognize red flags and what steps they’re obligated to take to report suspected cases. The course will provide “the information you need to understand why real estate is attractive to money launderers,” said the course outline on the website of the Real Estate Council of B.C., the self-regulatory body of the province’s 26,000 licensed real estate pros. Members will learn “how to recognize the risk signs and red flags associated with money laundering (and) review your obligations and the steps to take to report suspicious transactions,” it said. The self-paced online course will “empower them (real estate pros) to actively contribute

to preventing criminal activity in B.C. real estate markets” and support them to “comply with their federal reporting obligations,” spokesman Warren Mirko said in an emailed statement. “Real estate professionals work closely with their clients, so they are well positioned to identify suspicious transactions,” he said. The announcement of the course requirement comes two months after the provincial government unveiled plans to create a new regulator for B.C.’s real estate sector by spring 2021. A single regulator for the sector was a key recommendation of recent reports aimed at cracking down on money laundering. The three reports into money laundering since 2018 have revealed billions in proceeds-of-crime, and other questionable sources of income have been laundered for years through the real estate industry, as well as through other luxury purchases and through casinos.

The latest report, by Maureen Maloney in May, estimated up to $5 billion was funnelled through the B.C. property market in 2018

alone, likely increasing housing prices that year by five per cent. Retired B.C. Supreme Court associate chief Justice Austin Cullen is in the middle of a yearlong public inquiry to investigate the causes, scope and impact of money laundering in the province. Registration will open when the course is launched next week and it will be required for licence renewal beginning April 1. “It will become part of the mandatory education that real estate professionals must take in order to maintain their licence to practise in B.C.,” said Mirko. The B.C. Real Estate Association announced this week a new requirement of 18 hours of professional training every two years for its realtors (who make up 90 per cent of all real estate agents), but there was no reference to money laundering

Reasons why Canada’s apartment building owners are happy

R

ental apartment building market in Canada is trongest it’s ever been, especially from the perspective of apartment building owners. Buildings are practically full across the country, rental rates are at or near 10-year highs in nearly every market, and average national rents have climbed 4.4 per cent annually over the last two years, according to a new report by commercial property brokerage house CBRE. This rapid rise of rental rates is earning more money for building owners. Total annualized returns for the Canadian multifamily sector were 9.8 per cent as of the first quarter of this year, just behind the industrial sector. Canada’s national average rental apartment vacancy rate ended 2018 at 2.4 per cent, below the 10-year average of 2.6, CBRE said in its national multifamily mid-year update. Investors are lining up to get into the market in most cities. Multifamily investment volume reached record levels for four consecutive years, including an alltime high of $8.3 billion in 2018. Apartments are traditionally viewed as stable and defensive assets to own, said CBRE Canada vice-chairman Paul Morassutti. “(The asset class) never displays great amounts of volatility,” he told Postmedia

last week. “Very rarely would you have declines in rental rates or net operating income. Typically, things would go up in a slow and steady fashion and it was always a favoured asset class for all those reasons.” Here are other main drivers that Morassutti and his firm believe will continue to stoke demand for apartment buildings in Canada. Population growth: Canada’s population is expected to grow by nearly one per cent annually over the next four years, surpassing

growth in all other G7 countries, the report said. Much of this momentum is being fuelled by immigration, which accounted for 80.5 per cent of the country’s population growth last year. The government has a plan to welcome one million new immigrants between 2019 and 2021. Much of that new population is settling in the Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver regions, with Toronto and Vancouver experiencing the sharpest annual apartment rental price growth of 5.0 per cent and 7.1 per cent, respectively, over the past four years.

Shortage of new supply Canada’s big cities are not building enough new rental apartments to keep up with demand, when compared to global peers, the report said. The largest rental market in Canada is Montreal with just under 600,000 units. Toronto follows well behind with 313,000 units, and Vancouver trails with just 109,000 units. Units on the secondary market, including privately rented condos, do close the gap, but it’s clear that renters across the country need more options, or else rents will continue to climb. While we are seeing increased construction of rental units more recently, the overall number remains relatively low, Morassutti said. Rising cost of home ownership An expanding proportion of Canada’s big-city dwellers can’t afford to buy a home. This factor, above all others, is probably having the greatest effect on stoking apartment rental prices, while spurring investors to buy buildings, Morassutti said. “In Toronto, if you want to buy a detached house or semi-detached house, you need to have a household income of close to $200,000,” he said. “The average household income in Toronto I believe is something like $100,000.” (According to the last Canadian census, the average household in the Greater Toronto Area earned $87,993 after tax.) That leaves residents with only a couple of choices.

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Saturday, February 15, 2020

The mortgage stress test is making housing supply issues worse — and making homes even more unaffordable

C

anada is experiencing sustained economic and population growth. Millennials and new Canadians are forming households and their desire for home ownership is very strong. Interest rates are low. In this environment, home sales should thrive and supply should rise alongside demand, keeping prices in check. Instead, our housing supply is lagging and prices have risen dramatically in key markets. Governments bear much of the blame for this undesirable market imbalance, as a narrow focus on suppressing household debt has dominated the policy mix while the root causes of undersupply — including excessive red tape, fees, taxes and nimbyism — have gone largely unaddressed. If we want to address housing affordability in Canada, governments need to redesign the policy mix to confront these factors. For its part, the federal government could start by developing a more nuanced mortgage “stress test.” Ottawa’s stress test is demolishing Canadians’ housing dreams. Which party will rebuild them? Why Ottawa’s attempts to help young Canadians afford housing simply won’t work The mortgage ‘stress test’ has started harming Canadians more than it helps

First, consider mortgage debt in the Canadian context. Canadians have some of the highest rates of home ownership and mortgage borrowing in the world. Evidence shows that Canadians use mortgage debt responsibly; in the majority of cases, we make additional payments or otherwise accelerate our repayments. Equifax credit scores for first-time Canadian homebuyers are in the upper half of the range considered “very good,” and they typically continue to improve in the first, second and third years of home ownership. Second, we have the indisputable finding, reproduced in dozens of independent surveys, that Canadians strongly value home ownership. It is overwhelmingly identified as a top priority across the age

spectrum, from millennials to baby boomers. And the opportunity for home ownership here is a key attraction for immigrants, many of whom leave behind societies where it is rare. Unfortunately, despite all the evidence that Canadians are committed and responsible

borrowers, would-be homebuyers are today restricted by a number of government policies that need redesign, most notably the mortgage stress test. To be clear: when applied selectively on mortgagors who are attempting to borrow significantly more than their annual income or who are carrying a heavy load of non-mortgage debt already, the stress test can be a useful tool. But there is reason to be concerned about the scope and duration of the test’s current application in Canada. While the government’s one-size-fits-all approach has helped cool overheated markets, it has also destabilized Prairie housing markets, which were already suffering from that region’s economic slowdown. It has now been 23 months since the stress test was implemented. At that time, policy-makers wanted to ensure borrowers could service their debts when their mortgages came up for renewal — mainly because it was widely presumed rates would rise in the near term. But now, if anything, interest rates are expected to ease amid weakening economic growth, trade tensions and other factors. Given the current environment, we must ask if the marginal improvement in mortgage credit quality created by the stress test is worth the many unintended consequences it causes.

Condos, the ‘future of our communities,’ now cost more per square foot than a detached home Condominiums may be the “future of our communities” but per square foot, they are hardly a bargain. According to a Royal LePage report released today, aside from Vancouver and Calgary, every major city’s condo price per square foot has increased. With the exception of Vancouver, the median price per square foot of a condo is now higher than that of a single family detached home nationwide. Canadian home prices are up — but by the smallest amount in

a decade. Seven reasons Canada’s housing market is stronger than it looks Vancouver’s housing market is dismal — but you still need six-figure income to get your foot in the door “While condo units are smaller, they are the present and future of our communities. With more development opportunities, they can meet both the growing need for housing and lifestyle expectations of homebuyers,” said Phil Soper, the president of Royal LePage in a

press release. The Greater Ottawa condo price per square foot appreciated the fastest among the cities that were measured, rising 17.9 per cent year-over-year to $395, while the Greater Vancouver price actually declined the most by 8.3 per cent to $764. “We are seeing significant interest in Ottawa’s south and west ends from residents working in the nearby military and technology hubs,” said Kent Browne, broker

Over 11% of Vancouver condos have a non-resident owner, says new CMHC report

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Over 11 percent of Vancouver condos have at least one non-resident as an owner, a number that jumps to more than 19 per cent when it comes to newer built condos. The information is contained in a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation housing market insight report which also found that non-residents — defined as someone who

doesn’t have their principal residence in Canada — tend to own more expensive properties than residents, especially in Vancouver. Some of the other findings: 7.2 per cent of all Vancouver properties have at least one non-resident owner. Non-resident ownership is highest in

and owner of Royal LePage TEAM Realty. The city of Vancouver remains the most expensive condo market in the country, with homebuyers paying $1,044 per square foot for a condo and $1,279 per square foot for a single-family detached home. Greater Calgary offers the lowest condo price per square foot, with a fall of 6.7 per cent to $313.“For the fourth consecutive month, condo inventory in the region declined compared to last year.

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Saturday, February 15, 2020

Press release

Science Fair 2020 at Gobind Sarvar School Gobind Sarvar Elementary / High School started in September 2016 and it is fourth year of its operation. This is group one independent school situated at 8820 – 168 Street, Surrey and follows Ministry of BC Curriculum. This year our Annual Science and Education

Fair was held on Monday, February 10, 2020 and all grades from Kindergarten to Grade 10 participated. There were

49 projects this year. Judging was done by teachers with

Science background. Some projects worth mentioning are Vertical forest, Goldberg

Machine, Most effective antacid and T e s l a f a c t o r y. O u r students

w i t h some of the top projects are going to participate in South Fraser Regional

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Science Fair. This year’s Science Fair was a huge success as hundreds pf parents and guests attended and appreciated the hard work of Students. Congratulations to all students This success was achieved as a result of

dedication, cooperation and helpful attitude of parents, PAC members and the management.

Saturday, February 15, 2020

Press release

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Balmoral Multicultural Marketing Celebrates 30th Anniversary – as Canada’s Longest-Running Ethnic Agency Business and government leaders gather at Toronto’s Shangri-La Hotel to honour accomplishments of trailblazing CEO, Sharifa Khan and her agency team also broken every boundary imaginable to Many of Toronto’s preeminent business ago, when the economic serve her calling – cultivating the power and government leaders congregated at the class from South of diversity in building communities and Shangri-La today, at a glitzy 30th anniversary Asian and Chinese businesses. She has been honoured by bash, to honour Balmoral Multicultural communities started former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Marketing, Canada’s longest-running ethnic bringing considerable Chretien for her entrepreneurial success. communications agency, and its pioneering wealth, buying power She is the recipient of Queen Elizabeth II’s founder, Sharifa Khan. “It has been my greatest and professional skills Golden Jubilee Award. She was named as honour over the past 30 years to serve Canadians into Canada. Financial one of Canada’s top 18 Women of Influence. by building bridges – helping brands support institutions, telecom Khan lobbied three levels of government newcomers as they embrace the Canadian way companies, airlines to raise $23 million to bring the Dragon of life, while at the same time, showcasing how and automotive brands Boat World Championship to Toronto, immigrants enrich Canada by sharing their were at the forefront, resulting in significant contributions to culture, cuisine and customs,” said Sharifa Khan, making long-term Toronto and Ontario’s GDP. Moreover, president and CEO, Balmoral Multicultural commitments to build Khan has tirelessly served many boards and Marketing. “This has been a lifelong personal relationships with charities over the years to promote goodwill mission of mine, and as my team and I look Canada’s multicultural – always making valuable connections forward today, I’m more excited than ever, for audiences. Today, Balmoral’s client list today is as diverse as the what’s to come.” Khan has lived the immigrant Filipino and Arab communities are close seconds ethnic communities it serves. Some of the agency’s for Canada’s multicultural communities. journey herself, having come to Canada in terms of newcomer growth in Canada. And clients include: BMW, OLG, Rogers, Canada Life, Today, with Balmoral’s 40 ethnic-marketing originally as a student from Hong Kong, and with changing times, marketing efforts have Brita, Clorox, and the governments of Ontario, and professionals by her side, Khan is excited to continue breaking new boundaries, all to then building her life here. Thirty years Canada among others. help brands and government organizations ago, she noticed that marketers weren’t Under Khan’s leadership, connect with new markets. “It’s wonderful paying attention to many growing new Balmoral has also been a to look back and reminisce about how far immigrant communities. Back then, trailblazer in the industry. Among we’ve come, but looking forward is the best there were big influxes in the Portuguese, its many accomplishments: it was part, as we know that our mission continues, Italian, Greek, Polish and Ukrainian the first multicultural marketing and we have more important work to do,” communities. There was also a gradual agency in Canada to operate added Khan. About Balmoral Multicultural increase of Asian immigrants, particularly offices in Toronto, Vancouver, Marketing from Hong Kong. Communicating with Hong Kong, Mumbai, and For 30 years, Balmoral Multicultural these audiences at the time was not even Shanghai – marketing to would- Marketing has been helping both leading on the radar for businesses. “I saw an be newcomers to build loyalty Canadian and international brands, untapped market, and I knew that brands before the arrive. It was also companies and government organizations had a real opportunity to expand their the first to launch a dedicated generate growth and connections in new client base, if they could authentically digital and social media specialty markets by cultivating relationships with connect with these passionate, new division: D-Lounge. Balmoral this country’s ever-growing multicultural Canadians,” explained Sharifa. “My first boasts a full suite of integrated communities. From research and strategic client in multicultural marketing was the communications services all planning to creative advertising, community Bank of Canada; they were looking to build in-house, with capabilities to brand equity for their Canada Savings Bonds gone through massive transformations as well. serve markets in over XX languages. It has won outreach, events and PR, Balmoral offers full – a well-suited option, for many immigrants Brands today are seeing immense value in multiple prestigious awards from such prestigious multicultural marketing services. D-Lounge is Balmoral’s dedicated digital and social looking for safe and secure investments.” At investing with immigrant communities. shows as: the CASSIES, Marketing, and CMA. media specialty division. Balmoral has offices that time, clients would spend 1-2 per cent of “Investments in multicultural marketing Most importantly, clients recognize Balmoral as in Toronto, Vancouver, Hong Kong, Mumbai their marketing budget on ethnic communities, have grown exponentially, and that is partly due a long-standing industry leader that brings to life and relied, as expected on traditional print and to the fact that clients today are often seeing the principle that – cultural relevance is the most and Shanghai. For more information, please visit: www.balmoralmkt.com. radio advertising. Khan says the pendulum higher returns here, compared to mainstream powerful connector. had its biggest swing in Canada about 10 years investments,” said Khan. Over the past 30 years, Khan has personally

PICS Mega Job Fair hits the highest digits of success with over 3000 job seekers in attendance PICS Mega Job Fair 2020 was held in Croatian Cultural Center on February 8th, 2020 from 10 am to 3:30 PM. The fair had

had a blend of service providers relevant to job seekers such as recruiters, educational services and

City of Vancouver and Councillor Jean on Corrections Officers and the positions Swanson, City of Vancouver. PICS available at BC Corrections. The event started thanks all the exhibitors, attendees, with a motivating

the highest number of attendees this year as 3000 job seekers lined up until the end of the parking lot. The fair comprised of exhibitors representing a wide range of industries from retail, finance to Food Services. The fair also

technical training providers. The fair’s Title Sponsor BC Corrections also had numerous roles and had great conversations with potential candidates that debugged the myths of recruitment requirements

dignitaries and media for supporting the speech by Hon. Melanie Mark, Minister of job fair. The next Mega Job Fair will be Advanced Educations, Skills & Training, held on August 6 at North Surrey Sports Hon, George Chow, Minister of State for and Ice Complex. Trade, MLA Mable Elmore, Vancouver – Kensington, Councillor Sarah Kirby-Young,

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Saturday, February 15, 2020

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much faster than the cost of necessities, including housing, the institute said. The authors calculated that the typical household spent just more than $32,000 on clothing, food and shelter in 2018. Taxes and basic expenditures of the average Canadian family* as a percentage of total income “When you look over a couple of generations, we’ve significantly expanded the scope of government,” Finn Poschmann, resident scholar at the Fraser Institute, said in an interview. “If we want to continue supporting the scope of government that we do, we should remind ourselves just what the cost is.” As a proportion of average cash income, the tax rate climbed from 33.5 per cent in 1961 to 40.8 per cent in 1981 to 44.2 per cent last year, the institute calculated. Since the early 1980s, overall rates have remained relatively stable, ranging between 41 per cent and 47 per cent. “The major expansion of government was between the 1960s and the 1980s, and it has so far proved durable,” Mr. Poschmann said. Tax bill of the average Canadian family* Based on the 2018 average income of $88,865 Import dutiesNatural resource taxes Other taxesFuel, motor vehicle, carbon Liquor, tobacco, amusement Property taxes Profit tax Sales taxes Payroll & health taxes.

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LOCAL / NATIONAL

Saturday, February 15, 2020

‘Racist’ MP’s name removed from Port Alberni school A Port Alberni elementary school named after a controversial public figure from the city’s past will be renamed. The board of education for School District 70 voted unanimously on Tuesday, Feb. 11 to remove the name A.W. Neill from one of its elementary schools. The name has been a point of contention in Port Alberni for years now. SD70 trustee Rosemarie Buchanan first brought her concerns to the board back in 2016, but the potential name change was met with backlash from the public. SD70 started work on a name changing policy, and the decision about A.W. Neill was made following this policy. Alan Webster Neill was an MP for Comox-Alberni from 1925-1945 and an Indian Agent for the West Coast of Vancouver Island, helping to establish the first residential school in the Alberni Valley. Neill

was also vocally racist against those of Asian heritage, making multiple efforts in the House of Commons to deny voting rights to Asian immigrants and at one point stating that Japanese Canadians were “being spread all over Canada like the smallpox disease.” He also supported Japanese internment during the Second World War. Neill’s own home in Port Alberni included a covenant stating that no Asians were allowed to live there, except as servants. The covenant was finally removed in 2019 with the help of some high school students.

Alberni high school students help remove racist covenant from historic house Eiko Eby, a member of the National Association of Japanese Canadians, was at the school board meeting on Tuesday to offer her support for renaming the school. “For us as a Japanese-Canadian community, there were racist actions that Mr. Neill was part of,” she said. “This is something that we’re really concerned about. It’s not too late to try to redress some of these things that happened.” The school board invited feedback from members of the public during a

consultation period starting in 2019 and received an “underwhelming” response, said superintendent Greg Smyth. Out of a total of 124 responses, only eight people voted to keep the name A.W. Neill.

Victoria police step up downtown patrols after business outcry The Victoria Police Department says it is stepping up patrols in the city’s downtown core. The move comes less than three weeks since local business owners turned to a private security firm to combat shoplifting and vandalism in the Lower Johnson Street and Yates Street areas. Victoria police have dubbed the effort “Project Downtown Connect,” saying the initiative will run for four months. “The goal of this project is to respond to the concerns of the business community with respect to theft and to support local businesses downtown,” VicPD said in a statement announcing the program Monday. The department says patrol officers will maintain a “consistent, highvisibility presence” downtown. On Jan. 23, several downtown businesses hired Themis Security guards to fight theft, vandalism and “nuisance” crimes in and around their businesses. One Johnson Street shop owner told CTV News at the time that thieves had become increasingly brazen, raising safety concerns for herself and her employees. Victoria Police Chief Del Manak said the new engagement project is a priority of the department. VicPD says the program will be staffed ad hoc by officers from across the department due to “resource constraints.”

Wet’suwet’en solidarity protesters block entrance to B.C. legislature ahead of throne speech Protesters blocked all of the entrances to the B.C. legislature in an effort to disrupt Tuesday afternoon’s speech from the throne. Victoria police are appealing for witnesses after getting reports that people were “assaulted and injured” during the protests. The protesters had asked MLAs to stand with them in opposition to the Coastal GasLink pipeline as it heads toward Wet’suwet’en territory. MLAs, journalists, and staff approached entrances to the legislature on Tuesday morning and, in many cases, were turned away by demonstrators. Others were met with resistance and then allowed to move through the ground and into the building. By midday, about three-quarters of MLAs and B.C. Premier John Horgan were inside the legislature. Lieutenant-government Janet Austin was able to enter the building and the throne speech took place at 2 p.m. as scheduled. Horgan, however, was forced to cancel his post-throne speech press conference. In a statement issued Tuesday afternoon, Horgan said he supports peaceful protest, but understands the frustration of people were blocked from the building or have had their travel disrupted by protesters. Horgan said his government had met directly with Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and is available to meet again and pointed to his government’s passage of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights

Saturday, February 15, 2020

Brampton immigration consultant stripped of licence, faces fraud charge A Brampton immigration consultant with a long history of disreputable conduct, including allegedly taking $95,000 from one family and failing to carry out the work, has been stripped of his professional licence. Artem Djukic had faced 30 complaints since 2011 — 16 of which resulted in disciplinary action — but the professional regulatory body for immigration consultants decided only in January to remove him from their ranks for providing “misleading” and “erroneous” advice to clients. Artem Djukic was recently stripped of his immigrationconsultantlicence.Hewasrecently charged with fraud by Peel Regional Police. Djukic, 55, who operated Soko Immigration and Consulting Services in Mississauga, now faces a charge of defrauding the public, laid in January by Peel Regional Police. So far, investigators have identified 23 alleged victims and say they expect that number will rise. Djukic is scheduled to appear in court later this month. Critics say the litany of complaints Djukic faced over the years and the slow pace of action show the profession’s self-regulatory approach to policing consultants has no teeth. On top of losing his consultant’s licence in January, Djukic had his licence to operate as a paralegal revoked four years ago after the Law Society found him guilty of misappropriating more than $900,000 from clients.Djukic had opted not to defend himself in the recent proceeding before the immigration consultants regulatory council that resulted in his licence being revoked. “Djukic remains unapologetic for all of his ethical transgressions. He has not demonstrated any remorse, acceptance of responsibility or an understanding of the effect of his misconduct on others. Instead, he has chosen not to respond,” said the regulatory body in a 51-page disciplinary order dated Jan. 8.

“Djukic claims he is unable to do so owing to health reasons, yet when asked for supporting documentation, he failed to produce evidence of any medical issues that prevented him from co-operating with the (investigators). His failure to co-operate demonstrates that he is likely ungovernable.” Former client Gyorgy Lang took his complaints about Djukic to the regulatory body. He said he had paid $95,000 — in cash and with no receipts — to the consultant between 2011 and 2018 for help with his family’s asylum claim as well as an application to stay in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. For that amount, Djukic also offered to fast-track their permanent residence application, according to their complaint. Gyorgy Lang, right, with wife Andrea and daughter Agnes, says he paid immigration consultant Artem Djukic $95,000 to help with the family’s asylum claim. He says the claim was withdrawn without their consent. They now face deportation to their native Hungary. (FAMILY PHOTO) Djukic, according to the disciplinary decision, withdrew the Lang family’s refugee claim without consulting them, and never submitted the humanitarian and compassionate application or delivered the permanent residence promised. Lang, 43, his wife, Andrea, 44, and their daughter Agnes, 19, are now facing deportation to their native Hungary, where they say they fled threats by criminal gangs. “We have suffered so much because of him. We have worked day and night since we came here. We borrowed money and gave all our hard-earned money to him,” said Lang, who is an electrician by trade and runs a landscaping company with his wife. “Money comes and goes. It’s not that important to us. We just want justice.”

‘This is not a good sign’: Toronto housing price surge resembles sky-high gains of 2016 Canadian home prices will likely expand this year at “their fastest annual pace since 2016,” says a new report by TD Economics. “Price appreciation now resembles what it did prior to the implementation of the B-20, Bank of Canada rate hikes, and Ontario’s Fair Housing Plan,” TD economist Rishi Sondhi says in the report, released Tuesday. “Affordability is now the poorest it’s been since the frenzied days of 2017. And, while affording a home remains a difficult proposition in the single-detached market, robust price growth in recent years has also eroded condo affordability to a massive extent,” the report said.

A similar report last week by RBC Economics notes that the Toronto housing market is picking up steam at an “uncomfortable” magnitude, one that resembles the sky-high gains of 2016 that subsequently led to a slew of regulatory measures to tame markets. “It’s looking more and more like early-2016 all over again. This is not a good sign,” wrote RBC senior economist Robert Hogue. 375 Canadians a day went insolvent last year, the most since the financial crisis ‘Drive until you qualify’: Mortgage stress test forces homebuyers further outside GTA to find house they can afford

PQ demands businesses should justify why potential hires have to speak English Employers should have to justify why speaking a language other than French is necessary to work a job, the Parti Quebecois suggested on Wednesday in a proposed law. Their proposed law would modify the charter of the French language. Were it to pass, businesses would have to show that speaking a language other than French was crucial to a job. People who speak only French shouldn’t be excluded from working in Quebec, interim PQ leader Pascal Berube said. “If you work in a shop and you’re not in front of people, and you don’t have to respond to those people in the front office, and you do a hard job, I don’t think you need to speak English,” he said. Premier Francois Legault sounded

open to the bill on Wednesday but didn’t give it his full support. French-language Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette was already readying an action plan to better defend and promote French, the premier said. The PQ is waiting to see such a plan, Berube said, noting that he thinks the PQ knows best when it comes to strengthening language laws. The PQ currently holds nine of the 125 seats in the National Assembly after taking a hit in the 2018 provincial election. The party has traditionally been the defender of French in Quebec and, when in power, has twice driven the province to hold a referendum on the separation of Quebec from Canada.

LOCAL / NATIONAL

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Homeowner escapes $12K firefighting bill after Edmonton amends bylaw An Edmonton man billed more than $12,000 after his house burned down won’t have to pay after all. That’s after city council amended a fire services bylaw Monday to provide clarity on which expenses should be covered by the fire department — and which should be the responsibility of homeowners. The amendment, which was passed unanimously, was brought forward by Coun. Mike Nickel after the home of one of his constituents was badly damaged in a fire in October 2018. Woytek Stachowski was in the process of submitting his insurance claim when he received the $12,854.12 invoice that included items like a $2,200 vacuum truck, $285 work lights and even a $19 carbon tax charge. Edmonton Fire Rescue Services said the bill was to cover higher-than-normal costs because the cellulose insulation used in the house meant it took extra work to extinguish the blaze. Fire also had to hire a contractor to pull out the insulation. Stachowski said at the time his insurance company offered to pay the bill but it would be deducted from his overall

settlement. But that changed after council’s vote. “Some of the services were above and beyond, for vacuum services, for pulling out the cellulose, for shovels, for gloves and things like that, and his insurance wasn’t going to pay for it,” Nickel recapped. “We determined today finally that yes, these services, if it’s fighting the fire, you’re not going to get an extra bill in the mail. It’s part of your taxes.” The amendment will apply to four or five other similar situations where homeowners were billed, he said, but only amounts roughly $100,000 in costs for the city. “It’s just about common sense,” said Nickel. The amendment covers three specific expenses that were not previously referenced in the Fire Rescue Services Bylaw: Fencing to secure the property and prevent public from entering unsafe areas Heavy equipment and/or a trackhoe to move debris and prevents structures from falling outside of the secured area

Health Canada issues recall, safety alert over 23 unauthorized health products Health Canada has issued a recall and safety alert over unauthorized health products promoted for “sexual enhancement” and weight loss, among other things. The agency warns that those 23 products listed may include unlabelled and dangerous ingredients. The list, which was updated and released Monday, includes products that are promoted for “sexual enhancement, weight loss, as a workout aid, or as ‘poppers’” according to Health Canada’s website. On the recall page, Health Canada advises that consumers stop using the products listed and consult their health-care professional if they have used the products and have concerns. Authorized health products have an eight-digit Drug Identification Number (DIN), Natural Product Number (NPN) or Homeopathic Drug Number (DIN-HM), the recall adds. The full list of products being recalled, the companies selling them, as well as the hazards identified, can be found on Health Canada’s website.

The ingredients highlighted in the safety recall were as follows: Sildenafil is a prescription drug used to treat erectile dysfunction, but should only be used under the supervision of a healthcare professional, according to the safety recall. Misuse of the drug, especially for those on other medications and with heart conditions, can result in life-threatening low blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, chest pain, headache, dizziness and hearing loss. Tadalafil is also a prescription drug used to treat erectile dysfunction and should only be used under the supervision of a health-care professional, according to the safety recall. The same side effects are listed for those who misuse the drug and those who have heart conditions as Sildenafil. Yohimbine, a prescription drug derived from yohimbe, a bark extract, is a prescription drug that may have serious adverse reactions – including increased blood pressure and heart rate, anxiety, dizziness, tremors and headache. Yohimbe and Yohimbine should not be used by children, pregnant or nursing women.

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National / Finance

Saturday, February 15, 2020

Bombardier exits the commercial plane business, sells remaining A220 stake to Airbus Bombardier is getting out of the commercial aviation business, as the company moves to pay down its massive debt. The Quebec-based plane and train maker said late Wednesday that it has sold its remaining stake in the A220 program — formerly known as the C Series — to Airbus. Bombardier has been reorganizing its business in an effort to pay off a multibillion-dollar debt. It released its financial results for 2019 on Thursday. Bombardier currently has more than $9 billion US worth of debt on its books, against annual revenues of just over $15 billion. The company posted an annual loss of $1.6 billion for the fiscal year, which is why the company is moving to sell off assets to shore up its balance sheet. “We are looking at our options,” CEO Alain Bellemare said. “As you

can understand, it’s very sensitive. “The reason why we’re looking at strategic options is to accelerate deleveraging of the business — the strategy was always to exit commercial aircraft,” said Bellemare, who has been CEO since 2015. Under the deal, Airbus now owns 75 per cent of Bombardier’s commercial aviation business. The Quebec government, which is not injecting any new money into the program, owns 25 per cent. Airbus will pay Bombardier $591 million US for the stake. The deal means Bombardier will no longer be required to make investments of approximately $700 million US into the program. ‘Major announcements’ to accompany Bombardier earnings report Thursday — minister The deal also includes a three-year guarantee

of the jobs belonging to 360 people who construct the plane’s cockpits at the plant in the Montreal borough of Ville Saint-Laurent. After that, they will be transferred to Mirabel, Que. In all, Airbus said the deal secures a total of 3,300 jobs in Quebec How once mighty Bombardier became politically toxic in Quebec Bombardier said in January that it was “reassessing its ongoing participation” in its partnership with Airbus to manufacture the A220. Despite the Quebec government’s $1.3-billion investment in the C Series in 2016, sales of the planes were initially slow, leading Bombardier to sell a controlling

stake of the C Series program to Airbus in 2018 for $1. In the year before that deal went through, Bombardier said the commercial aviation unit was burning through more than $1 billion a year, and posted a loss of more than $400 million. At the time, the deal included a clause that allowed Airbus to buy the entire business at “fair market value” within the next seven years. Front Burner Are taxpayer handouts over for Bombardier? 2 4 : 0 5 Today, the Canadian company Bombardier is more than $9 billion US in debt. Over the years, it has received billions in taxpayer bailouts. But after some big failures, layoffs

Average Canadian household spent more on taxes than living costs in 2018, report finds The average Canadian household paid nearly $40,000 in taxes last year, more than the combined cost of clothing, food and shelter, according to a new report. The Fraser Institute’s annual Canadian Consumer Tax Index is meant to show how the tax bill has changed over time. Last year’s average tax burden of $39,299 is almost three times what Canadians paid in 1961, after adjusting for inflation – and has risen much faster than the cost of necessities, including housing, the institute said. The authors calculated that the typical household spent just more than $32,000 on clothing, food and shelter in 2018. Taxes and basic expenditures of the average Canadian family* as a percentage of total income “When you look over a couple of

generations, we’ve significantly expanded the scope of government,” Finn Poschmann, resident scholar at the Fraser Institute, said in an interview. “If we want to continue supporting the scope of government that we do, we should remind ourselves just what the cost is.” As a proportion of average cash income, the tax rate climbed from 33.5 per cent in 1961 to 40.8 per cent in 1981 to 44.2 per cent last year, the institute calculated. Since the early 1980s, overall rates have remained relatively stable, ranging between 41 per cent and 47 per cent. “The major expansion of government was between the 1960s and the 1980s, and it has so far proved durable,” Mr. Poschmann said. Tax bill of the average Canadian family*

Rail disruption hurting industries, groups say The disruption in rail service caused by anti-pipeline protesters is having a significant impact on some Canadian industries, costing millions and damaging Canada’s reputation as a supplier of goods, industry leaders say. “Every day that it goes on, the damage compounds,” said Perrin Beatty, CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. “It is damaging our international reputation as a reliable supplier. It is affecting our supply chains around the world.” Anti-pipeline protesters who are demonstrating around the rail lines near Belleville, Ont., and New Hazelton, B.C., have prompted CN Rail to temporarily shut down parts of its network, the railway said in a statement Tuesday. There is currently no movement of any trains — freight or passenger — at both those locations, crippling the ability to move goods and facilitate trade.

Via Rail said Wednesday it has cancelled its Montreal-Toronto and Toronto-Ottawa routes until Friday. The passenger rail service said that 256 trains had been cancelled, impacting 42,100 passengers. Since last week, the Mohawks of Tyendinaga have been protesting in support of the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, who oppose of the Coastal GasLink pipeline in B.C. The demonstrators are not blocking the railways but are too close to the tracks for the trains to pass, rail officials say. Ottawa ‘very concerned’ about blockades as CN Rail says it will close ‘significant’ parts of its network In an open letter to federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau and Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry Navdeep Bains, Beatty wrote that his organization is “deeply concerned

CBC losses in the billions after HNIC fallout: Memo The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is hemorrhaging billions of dollars after losing the rights to Hockey Night In Canada, according to an internal federal memo. According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the television network is out more than $2 billion after losing the 12-year licensing rights to Hockey Night In Canada. The memo, which was obtained via Access To Information, contradicts claims by network executive that the HNIC contract was only worth a “few dollars.” In a confidential report, the CBC claims it remains “the cornerstone of culture and democracy” despite the large loss in ad revenue. “CBC Television lost its long-standing flagship sports broadcast Hockey Night In Canada which had been part of the

broadcaster’s programming lineup for fifty-five years,” CBC staff wrote in a 2019 briefing note to then-Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez. In 2013, Rogers Communications Inc. paid $4.2 billion for the HNIC rights, which runs until 2026. The note stated the CBC’s annual ad revenue dropped by about $175 million, which equates to $2.1 billion over a 12year period. Rogers allows the CBC to license games but without the lucrative revenue generated by advertisements. Drawing more than a million viewers weekly, HNIC was once CBC’s highestrated program. At the time, CBC execs claimed the losses were insignificant when Rogers picked up the rights.

Saturday, February 15, 2020

Conservative MPs push Trudeau to investigate Chinese role in hack of Canadian data The Conservatives want to know what federal officials are doing about China’s alleged involvement in stealing data from thousands of Canadians. In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, two Conservative MPs say it is extremely worrisome that members of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army stand accused of the high-profile 2017 hack of Equifax. The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that a federal grand jury had returned an indictment charging four members of the PLA with hacking into the credit-reporting agency’s computer systems and stealing data and trade secrets. The nine-count indictment alleges the four were members of the PLA’s 54th Research Institute, a wing of the Chinese military. Hackers accessed the personal information of 145.5 million Americans and hundreds of thousands of Britons in the incident. The breach also involved the information of

about 19,000 Canadians, including names, addresses, social-insurance numbers and credit-card numbers as well as usernames, passwords and security-question data. Pierre PaulHus and Glen Motz, the Conservative public safety critics, want Trudeau to explain what Canada will do to ensure those who pilfered Canadians’ data are brought to justice. “If this charge is proven in court, it would mean that the PLA conducted a deliberate, statesponsored, cyberattack against Canadians, in order to steal their personal information,” the letter says. “In a digital age, Canadians must be assured that their personal information will be safe, and that the Canadian government will protect them from foreign actors that engage in hacking, espionage and other cybercrimes to collect this information.”

Ottawa launches consultations on indigenous ownership of Trans Mountain pipeline The federal government is launching a new set of consultations with Indigenous groups that will determine if and how they might take part in ownership of the Trans Mountain pipeline and its expansion project, Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced Monday. Up to 129 communities will be consulted over the next weeks to ensure they have a chance for “meaningful economic participation” in the Ottawaowned pipeline, the minister said at an event in Calgary. “This next step will be focused on different models of economic participation such as equity-based or revenue-sharing options and will seek to build momentum towards a widely acceptable option for the groups that we’re consulting with,” he said. “We’ll also explore whether the participating communities are willing to work together, either through an existing entity or a new one.” Several Indigenous groups have expressed interest in buying a stake in the pipeline but the government hasn’t said when it plans to sell it.

As long as Trans Mountain is operated as a commercial enterprise, the industry will be supportive of its sale, said Chris Bloomer, CEO of the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association, after listening to the speech. “Anything that facilitates participation meaningfully with First Nations in these projects is a welcome thing. Having a deliberate approach to it, I think, is good,” he said. n his speech, Morneau said he sympathizes with Albertans who have lost jobs because of an economy hit by a capital investment slide and discount prices for oil and gas as export capacity fails to keep up with gains in production. The novel coronavirus is also having a negative impact on Canada’s economy, he said, pointing out oil prices are down by about 15 per cent because of the spread of the illness, a result that hits the West harder than the rest of the country. A Federal Court of Appeal ruling last week that set aside a challenge of the Trans Mountain expansion project by four B.C. First Nations is important for the western Canadian economy, he said.

Liberals ‘have to do more’ to free my husband after 14 years in Chinese prison, says wife of jailed Uyghur man The wife of a Canadian citizen imprisoned in China for nearly 14 years says the government must push the Chinese harder to get her husband home. “They have to do more,” said Kamila Celil. “It’s been 14 years. I think it’s enough.” The plight of Huseyin Celil has been almost forgotten with the spotlight now on the high-profile jailings of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig in the wake of the Meng Wanzhou affair. Celil, a member of the Muslim Uyghur ethnic minority, fled China in 2001 after being briefly jailed for advocating for human rights for the group. He settled in Canada and became a Canadian citizen in 2005. But after travelling to Uzbekistan on his Canadian passport in 2006, he was arrested, extradited to China and jailed. In all the years he has been in detention, he has never received any consular access despite requests from both Conservative and Liberal foreign ministers.Last week, Canada’s Ambassador to China Dominic Barton said Celil was not a “Canadian citizenship holder,” while answering a question from Conservative MP Garnett Genuis at a House of Commons

committee.Outside the committee, Barton later clarified that he was unsure about his status, but said the Chinese government didn’t recognize the citizenship. “We have tried everything we can on the consular services side and we can not get access.” Kamila Teledinbaeva and her sons pictured left to right, Mohammad Celili, Badruddin Celil, Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne made clear in the House of Commons the day after Barton’s appearance that the government recognizes Celil’s status. “We will continue to call upon the Chinese government to give Canadian officials consular access, in order to determine his well-being and offer him assistance, like we will do for every Canadian.” Celil said she didn’t see Barton’s comments, but said there should be no doubt about her husband’s citizenship. “He is a Canadian citizen. I have all the documents.” But Kamila Celil said the government should move past requests for consular access and focus instead on getting her husband released on humanitarian grounds.

NATIONAL

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INDIA

Saturday, February 15, 2020

President appoints Kejriwal as next Delhi CM President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday appointed Arvind Kejriwal as the new chief minister of Delhi after his Aam Aadmi Party bagged 62 of the 70 seats in the recent Delhi Assembly elections. According to an official notification, the president has also appointed six MLAs as ministers of the Delhi Government following the advice of the chief minister. The six ministers who will take oath along with Kejriwal on February 16 are: Manish Sisodia, Satyender Jain, Gopal Rai,

Kailash Gehlot, Imran Hussain and Rajendra Gautam. “The President has been pleased to appoint Shri Arvind Kejriwal to be the Chief Minister, National Capital Territory of Delhi with effect from the date he is sworn in,” the notification said. A separate notification said the president has also accepted the resignation of Kejriwal as chief minister of the NCT of Delhi along with his council of ministers with immediate effect.

Global defence firms line up as India goes shopping to update ageing fleet U.S. and European defence firms backed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s military modernisation drive at a defence exhibition on Friday, despite a lengthy procurement process running into years and limited funds. Airbus SE and U.S.-based Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co. are eying multi-billion dollar deals under Modi’s aim to upgrade an ageing fleet of aircraft and enhance local arms manufacturing to cut imports.“I feel encouraged overall,” Anand

Stanley, President and managing director of Airbus India and South Asia, told Reuters. “Every year the government is doing capital allocation. They are spending,” he said. The military is also looking to buy submarines, warships and battlefield communication systems. But these have made little headway. Airbus is offering to set up an assembly line in India in partnership with the Tata Group to produce the C295W military transport aircraft as a replacement for Indian Air Force’s Avro fleet.

India readying $2.6 billion US naval helicopter deal ahead of Trump trip ndia is set to give final approval to a $2.6 billion deal for military helicopters from U.S. defence firm Lockheed Martin ahead of a visit by U.S. President Donald Trump this month, defence and industry sources said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is trying to pull out all the stops for Trump’s trip in a bid to reaffirm strategic ties between the two countries, which have been buffeted by sharp differences over trade, to counter China. India’s

defence purchases from the United States have reached $17 billion since 2007 as it has pivoted away from traditional supplier Russia, looking to modernise its military and narrow the gap with China. Modi’s cabinet committee on security is expected to clear the purchase of 24 MH-60R Seahawk helicopters for the Indian navy in the next two weeks, a defence official and an industry source briefed on the matter separately told Reuters.

India tour operators face severe blow from China Coronavirus Indian tour operators estimate they could lose up to $500 million because of cancellations from tourists from China and other countries due to the coronavirus outbreak, a cost that could rise four-fold if it persists through the year. State carrier Air India has cancelled flights to China and Hong Kong until further notice while private carrier IndiGo has suspended its flights until February 20. “There is a panic in the tourism sector as thousands of bookings have been cancelled,” said E.M. Najeeb, vice president, Indian Association of tour operators. He said foreign as well as domestic tourists were cancelling travel to the southern state of Kerala where three cases of the disease have been confirmed, prompting state

authorities to declare a state of emergency. More than 280,000 Chinese tourists visited India in 2018, and were among the top 10 spenders by nationality despite being less than 3% of 10.6 million foreign tourists in 2018, according to government estimates. Tour operators said more than 50,000 Chinese tourists were expected to visit during JanuaryFebruary and most of these bookings were now cancelled. India like other countries has blocked the entry of people from China and Hong Kong. “We fear immediate loss of up to $500 million as the coronavirus outbreak has hit the arrival of tourists from China, Hong Kong and neighbouring countries,” said Pronab Sarkar, national president, Indian tour operators Association.

Amazon challenges India antitrust probe in court: filing Amazon.com Inc has begun legal action in India to quash an antitrust investigation against the company, saying it could cause “irreparable” loss and damage to its reputation, according to its court filing seen by Reuters. Last month the Competition Commission of India (CCI) ordered an investigation of Amazon and rival Flipkart, owned by Walmart, over alleged violations of competition law and certain discounting practices. Amazon and Flipkart have faced mounting criticism from India’s brick-and-mortar retailers, which accuse the U.S. giants of violating Indian law by racking

up billions of dollars of losses to fund deep discounts and discriminating against small sellers. The companies deny the allegations. The CCI ordered its probe after a New Delhi-based trader group complained that the e-commerce giants were promoting select sellers and in turn hurting business for other smaller players in one of the world’s biggest online shopping markets. “The entire order passed by (the CCI) ... is bereft of any foundation,” Amazon said in a Feb. 10 filing to a court in the city of Bengaluru, rejecting the allegations leveled against the company.

India’s January retail inflation rises, industrial output shrinks India’s annual retail inflation accelerated to its highest level in nearly six years, while industrial output unexpectedly contracted, showing that Asia’s third-largest economy remains troubled. Annual retail inflation rose to 7.59% in January, partly driven by rising vegetable prices. December industrial output contracted 0.3%, after rising for the first time in three months in November.

The inflation rate was above December’s 7.35%, the 7.40% forecast in a Reuters poll of economists and the Reserve Bank of India’s medium-term target of 4%, the data released by the Ministry of Statistics on Wednesday showed. Economists said the rising inflation could prompt the Reserve Bank of India to leave interest rates unchanged in coming months as it tries to support the faltering economy.

World’s largest cave fish discovered in India About 250 species of subterranean fish are known on Earth, eking out a living in a world of permanent dark and scant food. They are usually small, generally a few inches long, since there’s usually little food or prey to eat. But in an underground chamber in northeastern India, researchers have discovered a cave fish that is much bigger—growing to nearly a foot and half in length and weighing about 10 times more than any known species. Picture of explorers inside Krem Chympe cave Locals have reported occasionally seeing the newfound cave fish in Chympe cave, seen here, where waterfalls cascade into a subterranean pool.

When biologist Daniel Harries first saw the fish during a 2019 expedition, he was amazed. And perplexed. “My first reaction upon seeing the fish myself was, I’m going to need a bigger net.” The fish, described recently in the journal Cave and Karst Science, may still be in the process of evolving to be a separate new species, says Harries, a study co-author—and could present scientists with a unique opportunity to understand this evolutionary process. The finding raises many questions, such as how the fish maintain their body size, what they feed on, and how they’ve adapted to live

Two passengers put in quarantine for suspected Coronavirus at Kolkata airport Two passengers, who arrived at Kolkata international airport from Bangkok, have been placed in isolation for suspected novel coronavirus, officials said on Thursday. A passenger named Himadri Barman was quarantined on Tuesday, and Nagendra Singh on Wednesday, government officials said in New Delhi. Both passengers were sent to Beliaghata ID Hospital, a Kolkata airport official said. Earlier, a passenger named Anita Oraon had also showed signs of fever during thermal scanning, Kolkata airport director Kaushik Bhattacharjee said.Already two airlines which had direct flights between Kolkata and China have suspended their flights. Low-cost carrier

IndiGo has temporarily suspended its flights between Kolkata and Guangzhou from February 6. “In line with the WHO guideline to contain the spread of coronavirus, IndiGo will be suspending its Kolkata-Guangzhou service from February 6, 2020 to February 25, 2020 and Guangzhou-Kolkata from February 7 till February 26,” the airline had said in a statement. After IndiGo, China Eastern Airlines suspended its flights between Kolkata and Kunming in China from February 10 to February 29. Passengers of flights coming to Kolkata from Kunming and Guangzhou in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok were being screened since January 17.

PUNJAB

Saturday, February 15, 2020

Film ‘Shooter’ banned in Punjab & producer charged Hours after Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh ordered a ban on Punjabi movie ‘Shooter’, based on the life of gangster Sukha Kahlwan, the Punjab Police today registered a case against producer/promoter KV Singh Dhillon and others for allegedly promoting violence and gang culture. The case has been registered under Sections 153 (intent to cause riot), 153A (promoting enmity), 153B (prejudicial to national integration), 160 (committing affray), 107 (breach of peace) and 505 (public mischief) of the IPC in Mohali. The FIR said the movie was likely to instigate youngsters to

take up arms, and disturb peace and harmony. Kahlwan, who called himself a “sharpshooter”, was allegedly involved in 20 cases of murder, kidnap and extortion. He was shot by gangster Vicky Gounder and his accomplices on January 22, 2015, while being brought back to Patiala jail after a court hearing in Jalandhar. Earlier, the CM directed DGP Dinkar Gupta to look into possible action against Dhillon, who in 2019 had reportedly promised in writing that he would shelve the movie, originally titled ‘Sukha Khalwan’. The DGP had also been asked to look into the role of the promoters, directors and actors.

Punjab’s governance reforms dept creates IT cadre, invites applications for 354 posts Punjab’s Governance Reforms Department has created a state-level IT Cadre, with 354 posts of IT Officers to execute various projects such as Digital India under the national e-governance program. Notably, the applications are being invited from aspiring technocrats to avail the opportunity and to be part of state IT cadre. The various posts for which the candidates can apply include Senior System Manager (SSM), System Manager (SM), Assistant Manager (AM) and Technical Assistant (TA). Candidates can visit following link https:// ctestservices.com/DGR/in order to check the eligibility criteria and apply for the posts on or before February 21, 2020. Disclosing this here on Thursday, Additional Chief Secretary, Governance Reforms, Vini Mahajan said that the initiative would go a long way in making Punjab a digitally empowered, knowledgeeconomy instead of the conventional way of doing business. She further said the IT Cadre

Gangster Budha’s interrogation leads to 23 arrests: Punjab DGP Punjab Police on Thursday claimed to have nabbed 23 criminals from Ferozepur and adjoining states Haryana and Rajasthan, based on information revealed by a gangster who was arrested in November last year. Wanted gangster Sukhpreet Singh, alias Budha, was deported from Armenia and arrested when he landed at the Delhi airport in November 2019. “Budha made several revelations, which led the state police to solve many untraced heinous crimes in Punjab,” Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta said. He said the arrested criminals were facing charges of murder, dacoity and extortion, kidnapping and targeted killing. Police have recovered 36 firearms from the criminals and four shops dealing in guns have been sealed, Gupta said in a statement here.

Two gangsters, gunhouse owners among 23 arrested The interrogation of Ashish Kumar, the main supplier of arms to gangsters and terrorists, has led the Punjab Police to a major crackdown on illegal arms suppliers.He was a key aide of slain Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) chief Happy PhD.The police have arrested 23 men, including gunhouse owners and two gangsters, and cracked down on several gunhouses for allegedly supplying arms to criminals. In all, 36 weapons were seized during raids in Ferozepur range and adjoining states of Haryana and Rajasthan.

would provide impetus to implement enterprise architecture in all Government departments and functionaries in order to facilitate interoperability, besides avoiding duplicity of efforts and wastage of time.

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Punjab overexploiting groundwater resources - Centre Overexploitation of groun-dwater in the region is the highest in the country, with Punjab topping the list of states extracting a lot more water than it should. While the national average of extracting groundwater is 63 per cent of the annual extractable resources, it is as high as 166 per cent in Punjab. The annual extractable groundwater resource of Punjab is 21.58 billion cubic metres (BCM) where as the current annual extraction is 35.78 BCM, according to data released by the Ministry of Jal Shakti on February 10. Irrigation accounts for over 96 per cent of groundwater use in Punjab, with domestic consumption being about 1 BCM and industrial use 0.20 BCM. The annual recharge of groundwater in the state is 23.93 BCM out of which about 73 per cent is during the monsoon season. Recharge from rains during this reason accounts for only 5.54 BCM while 11.83 BCM is from other sources. Punjab is followed by Rajasthan and Haryana, where the extraction is 140 per cent and 137 per cent more than the extractable

resources. On the other hand, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland draw the least amount of water in percentage terms, with the extraction in these states being less than one per cent of the extractable resources. Prof SS Johl, an eminent agricultural economist, said, “Over 75 per cent of crop area in Punjab depends upon groundwater for irrigation and use of canal water remains low. Recharge of groundwater is also inadequate as rivers and seasonal rivulets have been dammed.” Blaming government policies for the current situation, he added that there was neither any effort by farmers to conserve water or any incentives for them to switch over to other methods of irrigation. A pre-monsoon survey in 2019 carried out by the Central Ground Water Board revealed that of 245 wells analysed, water level had fallen in 69 per cent when compared with the mean pre-monsoon levels. The drop in the level; was between 0-2 m in most of the wells while in five it was between 2-4 m and above four m in two wells.

36

INDIA

Saturday, February 15, 2020

CISF seizes Rs 45 lakh in foreign currency from peanuts, meatballs at IGI airport The CISF has seized Rs 45 lakh worth of foreign currency hidden in cooked meat pieces, peanuts and sealed biscuit packets from a passenger at the Delhi airport, officials said on Wednesday. A total of 508 crisp currency notes were recovered from the eatables. The unique modus operandi of currency smuggling came to light on Tuesday evening when security personnel intercepted Murad Ali, 25, on the basis of his “suspicious” behaviour when he reached Terminal-3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport to board an Air India flight to Dubai. “On physical checking of the passenger’s baggage, a high volume of foreign currency was found concealed in cooked mutton pieces, peanuts, biscuit packets and other eatables,” CISF spokesperson Assistant Inspector General Hemendra Singh said.

“This is a unique and peculiar way of concealing foreign currency for smuggling,” Singh said. A video of the interception provided by the force showed the security personnel cracking peanuts, unzipping sealed biscuit packets and digging into oily meat pieces to extract an assortment of Saudi Riyal, Qatari Riyal, Kuwaiti Dinar, Omani Riyal and Euro rolled and wrapped neatly inside. The estimated worth of this seized cache is Rs 45 lakh and the passenger, who had a tourist visa for Dubai, and the currency have been handed over to Customs authorities, the CISF spokesperson said. Ali, a resident of Saharanpur district in Uttar Pradesh, told CISF officials that he worked as a casual labourer and was carrying the food items in his bag on the directions of someone.

Two Indian crew on board cruise ship off Japanese coast test positive for Coronavirus Two Indian crew on board a cruise ship off the Japanese coast have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the Indian Embassy in Japan said on Wednesday as authorities confirmed that 174 people have been infected with the deadly disease. The cruise ship Diamond Princess with 3,711 people on board arrived at the Japanese coast early last week and was quarantined after a passenger who de-boarded last month in Hong Kong was found to be the carrier of the novel virus on the ship. A total of 138 Indians, including

passengers and crew, were on board the ship. “Due to the suspicion of novel coronavirus (nCoV) infection, the ship has been quarantined by the Japanese authorities till February 19, 2020,” the embassy said in a statement. “Altogether 174 people have been tested positive for nCoV, including two Indian crew members,” it said. All the infected people have been taken to hospitals for adequate treatment, including further quarantine, in accordance with the Japanese health protocol, it said.

Wuhan evacuation a logistical nightmare: Indian envoy India’s efforts to evacuate its citizens from the coronavirus-epicentre Hubei province and its capital Wuhan were a logistical nightmare since the entire operation had to be done in a region sealed from all sides, Indian Ambassador to China Vikram Misri said on Monday. As the news of the outbreak began emerging in the middle of January, the Indian Embassy stepped up efforts to locate hundreds of Indians, mainly students, residing hundreds of kilometres apart in the central Hubei province and Wuhan — the

epicentre of the virus outbreak, Misri said. Misri said the embassy had to first locate the Indian citizens in Hubei province, establish contacts with them, receive their consent for a 14-day quarantine, followed by the most difficult part of the operation — to get approvals from China’s central, provincial and local governments as the city and province had been locked down since January 23.Ahead of the first Air India flight on February 1, the mission sent two of its diplomats — Deepak Padma Kumar and M Balakrishnan .

Fearing he had Coronavirus, Andhra man hangs himself near his mother’s grave Fearing he could be infected with coronavirus, a 50-year-old man in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district committed suicide, his family members said.K. Balakrishna, who had flu-like symptoms, suspected that he was infected with the deadly virus. Fearing that he could spread the infection to his family and other people, he ended his life by hanging. The incident took place Tuesday in Seshamnaidu Kandriga village near temple town of Srikalahasti. According to his family members, he left the house in the early hours of the day and was later found hanging from a tree near his

mother’s grave on the village outskirts. Balakrishna, an agriculturist, used to watch videos about coronavirus on internet and was also behaving in a weird manner with the family members by warning them against coming close to him. t was on February 1 that Balakrishna complained of cold and fever. Four days later, he went to a hospital in Tirupati, where was diagnosed with viral infection. The doctors advised him to wear mask. Two days later he returned home and as there was no relief from cold, cough and fever, he started suspecting that he had coronavirus.

Police record statement of student booked for sedition A 22-year-old student-activist, against whom a case of sedition has been registered for allegedly shouting slogans in support of jailed JNU student Sharjeel Imam at an event here, on Wednesday appeared before the police, who recorded her statement, an official said.Urvashi Chudawala, a student of the city-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) appeared before the Azad Maidan police station in south Mumbai. Chudawala had participated in a rally organised by the Lesbian-Gay-BisexualTransgender-Queer (LGBTQ) community at Azad Maidan on February 1.Police

allege that during the rally, she had shouted the slogan “Sharjeel tere sapno ko hum manzil tak pahuchaenge” (Sharjeel, we will realise your dreams).Sharjeel Imam, a PhD student of JNU was arrested in a sedition case lodged across several states for alleged “inflammatory” speeches made during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).The Azad Maidan police had registered a case of sedition against Chudawala under IPC Section 124 A. The Bombay High Court had on Tuesday granted interim protection from arrest to her.

SC judge recuses from hearing plea challenging Omar Abdullah’s detention Supreme Court judge Justice M M Shantanagoudar recused himself on Wednesday from hearing the plea filed by Sara Abdullah Pilot challenging the detention of her brother and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah under the J-K Public Safety Act. After Justice Shantanagoudar “expressed his inability” in hearing the matter, the apex court directed its registry to obtain necessary directions from Chief Justice of India S A Bobde for listing the plea on February 14 before an “appropriate bench”. Pilot’s plea came up for hearing before a three-judge bench comprising justices N V Ramana, M M Shantanagoudar and Sanjiv Khanna. “I am not participating in this matter,” Justice Shantanagoudar said at the outset without citing any specific reason

for his recusal. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Pilot, urged the bench to list the matter for Friday. “List before another bench since Justice Mohan M Shantanagoudar expressed his inability to participate in the hearing of the matter,” the bench said in its “The Registry is accordingly directed to obtain necessary directions from the Chief Justice of India for listing of the matter on February 14 before an appropriate bench,” the top court said in its order. Pilot had on Monday approached the top court challenging her brother’s detention under the J-K Public Safety Act, 1978, saying the order of detention is “manifestly illegal” and there is no question of him being a “threat to the maintenance of public order”.

Saturday, February 15, 2020

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PAKISTAN

Saturday, February 15, 2020

Kashmir to remain ‘cornerstone’ of Pakistan’s foreign policy Foreign Minister Kashmir issue would continue to remain the “cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy”.Shah Mahmood Qureshi asserts Kashmir to remain cornerstone of Pakistans foreign policy, says dispute over Valley must end for stability in South Asia Chairing a meeting in Islamabad with the leaders from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir as a follow-up to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s address to the PoK’s Legislative Assembly in Muzaffarabad on 5 February, Qureshi said that a lasting

solution to the Kashmir dispute was essential for durable peace and stability in South Asia region. “Kashmir would continue to remain the cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy,” Qureshi was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry (FO). During the meeting, which was also attended by PoK leader Raja Farooq Haider Khan, the participants called for the complete removal of lockdown on communication and media in the Valley. India abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution on 5 August, 2019 that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

Student in Wuhan misses father’s funeral, anxiety grows From his dormitory in the locked-down Chinese city of Wuhan, PhD student Hassan spoke to his father in Pakistan for the last time on Thursday. The 80-year-old begged him to come home. The next day, Hassan’s father died of a heart ailment. Hassan is one of more than 1,000 Pakistani students in China’s Hubei province, the epicentre of the coronavirus. Some say they have been told by their government that it has had to rule out their return home for the moment. “They need me at this time, my mother needs me,” Hassan, a PhD computer architecture student, said. He asked

to be identified only by one name to protect his family’s privacy. Other Pakistani students in Hubei share Hassan’s concerns and some are critical of their government’s response to the crisis. Other countries, including neighbouring India and Bangladesh, evacuated citizens from Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, as the virus death toll rises. The Pakistani students and their families, including young children, are stuck indoors most of the day. Four students said depression and anxiety were growing, their feelings worsened by fears of catching the virus and uncertainty as to how long the conditions

First wife gatecrashes hubby’s 3rd wedding, beats him up A Pakistani man was rescued by the police after his first wife gate crashed his third wedding and brutally beat him and tore up his clothes in front of guests on Wednesday. Madiha and her relatives barged into the wedding reception venue of Asif Rafiq in Karachi’s Sakhi Hassan Chowrangi area on Monday night and claimed that she was married to him in 2014. She claimed that Rafiq had married another woman, a Jinnah University employee, without her consent

and apologised to her after she objected to his second marriage, promising to stay only with her, the report said. Madiha and her family brutally thrashed Rafiq during the reception and tore his clothes, the report said, adding that the police also beat him up after detaining him. Rafiq tried to escape from the police station but was chased by Madiha’s family, forcing him to hide under a parked bus. He was caught and beaten up again before being rescued by some people, it said.

11 years jail for Hafiz Saeed, alledged mastermind of Mumbai attacks Hafiz Saeed, accused by India and the United States of masterminding the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, was jailed for 11 years in Pakistan on Wednesday on terrorism financing charges, a government prosecutor and his defence lawyer said. The Islamist leader was the first high profile figure convicted on terrorism financing charges in Pakistan, which denies regular accusations that it shelters militants. The unprecedented

ruling came ahead of a meeting of a world financial watchdog, Financial Action Task Force (FATF), next week to decide whether to blacklist Pakistan over a failure to curb terrorism financing. Amid pressure from the FATF to take action against Saeed’s militant groups, Pakistan charged him in December with collecting funds for his organisations, which are listed as terrorist organisations by the United Nations. He pleaded not guilty.

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FIJI

Saturday, February 15, 2020

WAF currently working to address the balancing of water pressure and flow in pipelines and reservoirs The Water Authority of Fiji is currently working around the clock to address the balancing of water pressure and flow in pipelines and reservoirs which is causing fluctuations in water levels which has resulted in intermittent water supply to Fijians who receive their water from the Nasinu, Flagstaff, Nagatugatu, Tacirua, Dokanaisuva and Colo-i-suva reservoirs. The Authority says last week, restoration of water was greatly

delayed due to the opening of fire hydrants in Raiwai, which disrupted the pressurization of the water supply system. The Authority also says that after restoration works were completed in the weekend, system balancing is still in progress to stabilize fluctuations in pressure and flow to the affected reservoirs. This may cause low pressure or intermittent supply to elevated areas of Tacirua, parts of Tamavua Princes Road, upper Ragg Avenue

Rapitst remanded in custody 50-year-old Abdul Mohammed Sameem accused of raping a 27 year old woman on Tuesday at a house in Nailuva has been remanded in custody by the Suva Magistrates Court. He is charged with one count of rape. The case has been transferred to the Suva High Court where Sameem has been told to apply for bail. According to information filed by the Police Prosecution, the woman was

visiting a friend at Rewa Street when she was allegedly approached by Sameem who offered to take her home and buy her food.Sameem then allegedly took the woman to Nailuva Road where they both got off and went to a house. It is alleged the incident happened in the house. The woman managed to escape and run towards the main gate of the house where she screamed for help.

FEO requires any application for new voter registration to be accompanied by Birth Certificate & another ID confirming the person The Fijian Elections Office states that it requires any application for new voter registration to be accompanied by the person’s Birth Certificate and another ID confirming the person. Supervisor of Elections, Mohammed Saneem says if a second ID is not available, a declaration from another registered voter is accepted. Although SODELPA Leader, Sitiveni Rabuka has raised concerns on his facebook page on why birth certificates are needed for voter registration and why women cannot use their married names, Saneem says the name of a person on the birth certificate (the

Registered Name) is the only approved name that will be printed on the person’s Voter Card. Saneem says this is in compliance with the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1975. The Supervisor of Elections says should the person wish to add additional names, surnames or alias, the FEO will not permit the same. Saneem says as per the requirements of the 1975 law, any person that wishes to include additional names, must first follow the legal procedure and thereafter furnish the Fijian Elections Office with the Deed Poll or a duly issued new Birth Certificate from the Registry.

Fiji’s response effort to COVID-19 effective PM Bainimarama says Fiji’s response effort to the global spread of COVID-19 is proving effective as we don’t have any confirmed cases so far. Bainimarama says the government has doubled its monitoring and prevention efforts

in Fiji as the number of global cases continues to rise. He says all passengers that have so far entered the country through all points of entry have been thoroughly screened by health experts.

Fijian business and consumers likely to be affected as delay of goods from China becomes a real concern With the ports in China closed off and slowly opening soon after the Novel Coronavirus, and many companies not having employees to do the work in China, countries around the world including Fiji will be affected due to the prolonged delay expected in the shipment of raw materials for manufacturers and goods being sold at the retail outlets. We may even have increased prices for goods as manufacturers

and other business houses would have to look at alternative suppliers. Business activity is slowly sputtering back to life in China but the extended Lunar New Year holiday, originally scheduled for January 24th to 30th, has affected companies around the world as the Chinese government enforces curbs to prevent the spread of a deadly coronavirus.

Thousands in parts of Suva, Nasinu and Nausori continue to face water cuts due to critical water levels in reservoirs Thousands of people living in parts of Suva, Nasinu and Nausori continue to face water cuts or intermittent supply due to critical water levels in the reservoirs and burst pipelines. Fijivillage has received confirmation that people in Laucala Beach, Kinoya, Caubati, Raiwaqa, Vatuwaqa, Rewa Street, Vuya Road, parts of Ratu Sukuna Road, Namadi Heights, Tacirua Heights, Davuilevu Housing, Nakasi and Khalsa Road have been facing water problems. People in parts of Nasese do not have water supply since late Monday while other areas in Tacirua, Tamavua, Nasinu and Nausori have been facing disruptions from the weekend. When Fijivillage contacted the Water Authority, they first said that they want the

names of the people complaining and their residential addresses. The Authority then came back and said that people in Nasese had water except the person complaining. When we said that this was not the case as there were other people also affected, the Authority then admitted that other people have been facing water cuts and it was due to critical water levels in the reservoir. The Water Authority of Fiji confirms to Fijivillage that all these areas have been affected due to burst mains and low reservoir levels. They are currently trying to rectify the issue and hoping to restore supply later today. The Authority says water will be supplied by water carting trucks to the affected areas.

SOUTH ASIA

Saturday, February 15, 2020

NRI Indian couple jailed in Singapore for trafficking labourers An Indian couple was sentenced to more than five years in jail in Singapore on Tuesday for exploiting migrant women, the first labour trafficking conviction in the affluent nation that is home to many foreign workers. The two Indian nationals were given a prison term of five years and six months each after

they were found guilty of exploiting three Bangladeshi women they recruited to dance at nightclubs they ran in Singapore. The pair was also given a fine, while the male owner of the nightclubs was ordered by the court to pay nearly S$5,000 ($3,600) in unpaid wages, according to a spokesman from Singapore’s Manpower Ministry.

Vijay Mallya back in court to prevent his extradition to India Vijay Mallya, a Liquor businessman is back at Royal Courts of Justice in London one Wednesday for the second day of his court appeal against extradition to India, during which his lawyers argued against any prima facie case of fraud and money laundering against him. The 64-year-old former Kingfisher Airlines boss, wanted in India on charges amounting to an alleged Rs 9,000 crores in unpaid bank loans, sat in the public gallery as his legal team highlighted the widespread woes of the airline industry in India, including another collapsed firm Jet Airways. “Let’s hear the arguments in court,” he said, as he entered the courtroom. Lord Justice Stephen Irwin and Justice Elisabeth Laing, the two-member bench hearing the appeal, confirmed at the start that they would not be handing down their verdict

immediately after the hearing, scheduled until Thursday. Mallya’s barrister, Clare Montgomery, reiterated the central defence that there had been no misrepresentation or fraud on the part of her client and that Kingfisher Airlines was the victim of economic misfortune alongside other airlines. “The airline industry is littered with examples of struggling airlines being supported for strategic reasons,” said Montgomery. She has focussed her arguments on trying to establish “multiple errors” in Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot’s verdict in favour of her client’s extradition in December 2018 and revisited a series of bank statements and balance sheets provided to Indian banks to seek loans as proof of full disclosure.

NRI tax not to apply on bonafide workers in Middle East The government on Sunday clarified that the proposed tax on NRIs will not apply on bonafide Indians working in tax-free foreign countries and is intended to tax only those seeking to escape tax by exploiting their nonresident status. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget for 2020-21 had proposed to tax Non-resident Indians (NRIs) who do not pay taxes in any foreign country. This provision raised anxiety in minds of those working in the Gulf region where countries don’t tax income earned by individuals. nFirst Sitharaman clarified that

only Indian income of NRIs is proposed to be taxed under the new provision, and later the tax department issued a statement to say that “the new provision is not intended to include in tax net those Indian citizens who are bonafide workers in other countries”. The Union Budget for 2020-21 presented on Saturday had tightened the screws on those seeking to escape tax by exploiting their nonresident status. While earlier it was possible to be classified as a non-resident by staying out of the country for 183 days or about six months in a year, this has now been, in effect,

NRI loses bag to bike-borne thief A bike-borne man snatched a bag from an NRI, Rajpreet Badesha, when he along with his family was returning from Golden Temple after paying obeisance on Friday. “We were returning and reached near the RS Tower when a motorcycle-borne person came and snatched his bag,” he said. His bag contained British passport, Rs10,000, an iPod along with $1,500. Though the Kotwali police registered a case under Section 379-B of the IPC, but there was no breakthrough as yet. Meanwhile,

the Civil Lines police have nabbed a snatcher, identified as Nikhil Kumar of Yasin Road, who allegedly snatched a mobile and cash from a local resident Sunny Verma near Holy Heart School. The police have launched raids to nab his accomplice. In another incident, an unknown person snatched purse of Manjit Kaur, a local resident, when she came to Paris Town locality for some personal work. She alleged an unidentified person snatched her purse containing Rs 4,000 and a mobile

41

Indonesia says it has nothing to hide after declaring no Coronavirus cases Indonesia is not hiding anything over the coronavirus, the health minister said on Tuesday, after some medical researchers expressed concern that cases may have gone undetected in the world’s fourth most populous country. While the virus has quickly spread from China throughout much of the rest of the region and beyond, the sprawling Southeast

Asian country of more than 260 million people has not recorded any cases so far. Dozens of cases have been recorded in other regional countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines, where one person has died, raising suspicions on social media in particular over a potential lack of vigilance in Indonesia.

Nepal shuts resort where 8 Indian tourists died Nepal has suspended the licence of a mountainous resort for three months due to poor security management and managerial weakness at the hotel where eight Indian tourists, including four minors, died of possible asphyxiation, according to media reports. Tragedy struck a group

of 15 tourists from Kerala when eight of them died on January 21 due to possible asphyxiation after they fell unconscious probably due to a gas leak from a heater in their room at a mountainous resort in Makwanpur district. The tourists were airlifted to HAMS

Shocking Airbus scandal spurs Sri Lankan to pursue compensation The government of Sri Lanka is considering ways of recovering damages, including claiming compensation from Airbus SE, after the European planemaker admitted to bribing executives to win aircraft orders. “The reputational damage was huge, enormous,” Vipula Gunatilleka, chief executive officer of state-run SriLankan Airlines Ltd., said in

an interview at the Singapore Airshow on Wednesday. “That’s why our government is looking at certain remedial action.” Airbus two weeks ago admitted to illegally trying to sway plane sales and agreed to a record $4 billion bribery settlement. That included bribing the wife of a SriLankan Airlines official, who received $2 million through a Brunei shell company, according

India makes exemption for Nepal, allows some refined palm oil imports India, which restricted imports of refined palm oil and palmolein in January, has exempted Nepal and has started issuing licences to import some refined palmolein from the Himalayan nation, two government officials told Reuters. The move could put pressure on Indian refiners as imports from Nepal were allowed at zero duty under a regional treaty. It will also help Nepal, as refined palm oil and palmolein are its largest export earners. The initiative may also help India counter

the growing influence of China in Nepal, where Chinese investments have been climbing. Nepal, a big consumer of goods made by its bigger neighbour India, had been urging New Delhi to allow imports of refined palm oil and palmolein. India had restricted imports of the products in January, a move that targeted top supplier Malaysia, which had criticised New Delhi’s new citizenship law and its policies in Kashmir, but the measure

India constructs Rs 3.9 cr school building in Nepal India has built a school building in Nepal’s Nuwakot district with a grant assistance of Rs 3.9 crore as part of its its post-earthquake reconstruction initiatives. The new building for Aiselubhume Secondary School in Kispang was inaugurated on Monday by Nepal Communist Party chairman

Puspa Kamal Dahal Prachanda. PTI Russia jails anti-fascists in ‘terror’ case Moscow: A Russian court on Monday sentenced to up to 18 years in prison a group of young anti-fascists on the charges of terrorism and other offences. A military court in the central Russian city of Penza handed down the verdict

42

Saturday, February 15, 2020

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Saturday, February 15, 2020

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