Vancouver Courier February 6 2015

FRIDAY

February 6 2015 Vol. 106 No. 10

PACIFIC SPIRIT 12

Lent 101

FEATURE 14

Youth gone rural SPORTS 25

All in the b-ball family There’s more online at

vancourier.com WEEKEND EDITION

THE VOICE of VANCOUVER NEIGHBOURHOODS since 1908

Council gets raise before review Salaries below comparable Canadian cities

Mike Howell

mhowell@vancourier.com

Mayor Gregor Robertson and his 10 city councillors should know by June of this year whether they’re not earning enough money, too much money or just the right amount.

That’s because all 11 politicians unanimously agreed Tuesday to have an independent panel review their salaries — and those of park board commissioners — to see whether they’re being fairly compensated.

But amid the debate and considerable media attention paid to the issue this week, there was no mention that city council already received a pay raise this year — and the year before and the year before that.

Every January, as per a policy es-

tablished 20 years ago, a pay raise for council kicks in at the beginning of each year. This year it was 0.82 per cent, last year was 3.24 per cent.

In an email exchange with the city’s communications department this week, it acknowledged that the salaries of the mayor and councillors posted on the website did not reflect the pay increase.

The accurate annual salaries are $155,612 for the mayor, $68,551 for councillors and an additional $2,852 per month for the deputy mayor, a position held by Vision Coun. Andrea Reimer for this year; the mayor’s salary was $149,503 in 2013 and the councillors’ rate was $65,860.

The city says the increases are based on a formula that involves calculating the average weekly rate for B.C. Up until last year, the calculation was based on a formula recommended by an independent panel in 1995 that decided councillors’ salaries should reflect what the average full-time employee in Vancouver earns.

The salary would be adjusted annually to track changes in wages as reported to Statistics Canada, with the mayors’ salary at 2.27 times that of a councillor.

Last year, however, wage data was collected under the voluntary National Household Survey, which replaced the mandatory long-form census, causing Vision Coun. Raymond Louie to speak out last year on whether the new data was truly reflective of all wage earners.

Response rates to the survey, as Louie learned in reading an analysis by University of Toronto professors, varied by location, socioeconomic status, cultural origin and family status, with people with higher status jobs and higher incomes responding more than single parents and renters.

Council’s move to review its salaries was mentioned by the mayor in December and came in the form of a motion Tuesday drafted by Vision Coun. Geoff Meggs, who said it was in response to the evolving and increasing responsibilities expected of

council and park board commissioners, including Reimer and Louie appointed deputy mayor and acting mayor.

“If people are doing more work, normally they get more pay but none of us wanted to make that call on what that should be and how it should be done,” Meggs told reporters after Tuesday’s meeting.

In Toronto, city councillors earn $105,397 per year while Mayor John Tory will collect $177,499 this year. In Calgary, Mayor Naheed Nenshi pulls in $216,401 per year and his councillors earn $115,297. Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson’s salary is $176,145 and his councillors earn $99,994.

In the case of Toronto and Calgary, Meggs said it’s difficult to compare the salaries of councillors because those cities have ward systems, where councillors have their own staff. Vancouver councillors represent an at-large system and don’t have full-time personal staff to help respond to emails and requests for meetings.

Continued on page 7

Bringing art home Cheryl Rossi

crossi@vancourier.com

SINGLE HOME Jazmin Sasky surveyed 50 single mothers for her exhibition Home is Love, which will help raise money for the YWCA Cause We Care House. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

Artist Jazmin Sasky paints with a purpose.

“I didn’t want to do it just as a regular painter who [exhibits] in a gallery and gets commission, that was not the journey for me,” she said. “For me, it was more with meaning and helping and creating social effects, affecting life and people and donating the money... This project puts together all the values I believe as an artist.”

Her latest passion project, Home is Love, will exhibit paintings that reflect the stories of approximately 50 single mothers, with partial proceeds of the sales supporting the YWCA Cause We Care House under construction for low-income single mothers and their children.

Sasky asked single mothers associated with the Y to discuss their ideas about home, and then she interpreted their stories into a series of 12 paintings, which will be exhibited Feb. 12 to 15 at the donated Westside Grand gallery and event space at 1928 West Broadway. The women ranged in age from 14 to 35 and most were immigrant and aboriginal women.

“They are looking at a place to be safe,” she said.

Continued on page 13

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News

Transportation plebiscite raises questions

12TH&CAMBIE Mike Howell

mhowell@vancourier.com

Getting a yes or no answer out of a politician is like, well, trying to get a yes or no answer out of politician.

I tried Monday.

I was assembled with a gaggle of other media types at the Waterfront transit station downtown to listen to Mayor Gregor Robertson and six other regional mayors tell reporters why people should vote Yes in the spring plebiscite on transit and transportation.

This, of course, is the plebiscite that will ask Metro Vancouver residents whether they think it’s a good idea to pay another 0.5 per cent in the provincial sales tax to help pay for transit and transportation upgrades in the region. If you’re on the voters’ list, you should get a ballot mailed to you sometime in mid-March.

One after another, Robertson and the mayors from Surrey, New Westminster,

Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and the two Langleys looked into the cameras and implored people to support the tax hike to curb congestion in the region.

Electoral Area A director Maria Harris, who represents areas of Metro Vancouver that do not lie within an incorporated municipality including the University of B.C. lands and the University Endowment Lands, joined the mayors at the news conference.

You’ve probably read or heard the mayors’ pitch, the common message being one million people will move into the region over the next 30 years and upgrades to transit, roads and bicycling and pedestrian infrastructure is a must to avoid Los Angeles-like gridlock. Heck, they say, it will only cost the average household about 35 cents per day for more buses, better roads and more transit options.

Let’s get some more math out of the way before I get to that yes or no question I posed to Robertson.

(Incidentally, the irony of me asking a yes or no

Mayor Gregor Robertson acknowledged at a news conference Monday that a 10-year plan to curb congestion in Metro Vancouver cannot be fully implemented without funding from senior levels of government. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

question to a politician who wants residents to vote Yes to a Yes or No question is not lost on me.)

A 0.5 per cent increase to the existing seven per cent sales tax will translate to $225 million per year to help pay for the $7.5 billion

plan which will be built out over 10 years.

But — and it’s a big but — the plan’s implementation relies heavily on money coming from the provincial and federal governments. While Transportation Minister

Todd Stone has talked about “funding one third of major new rapid transit projects and the replacement of the Pattullo Bridge, provided that they fit within the provincial capital plan and strong business cases can be made

for the investments,” the feds have been silent.

So to the question I asked Robertson: Voters probably have a lot of questions. But can you actually guarantee if they vote Yes, that everything in the plan will be built and they’ll get what’s in the plan. Can you guarantee that?

Robertson: “This funding is specific to the operation and the capital from the local governments to make sure that this plan happens.

We still need capital from the federal and provincial governments to build out some of the major projects like Broadway [subway] and Surrey rapid transit, and the [new] Pattullo Bridge. We want to ensure though that as local governments, we’re putting our share forward and this plan funds the local needs. We’re going to need additional funding from the provincial and federal governments to finish off all the big projects.”

So was that a Yes or No on the guarantee?

Voters will have to decide. twitter.com/Howellings

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER F R I DAY, F E B RUA RY 6 , 2 0 1 5

News

Vancouver gears up for vote

Mike Howell

mhowell@vancourier.com

Thank You Vancouver!

The City of Vancouver will host neighbourhood meetings, use social media and reallocate some of its staff as part of its campaign to educate voters and help secure a region-wide Yes vote in the spring plebiscite on transit and transportation.

But the city will not spend any extra money in its drive to urge voters to support a 0.5 per cent tax hike to help pay for a $7.5 billion plan that includes a subway along the Broadway corridor, said Jerry Dobrovolny, the city’s transportation director, who outlined the city’s role in the Yes campaign at a city council meeting Tuesday.

“We’ll use existing city staff and we’ll use existing budgets,” said Dobrovolny, noting the mayors’ council on regional transportation will do “the lion’s share of the work” in engaging and educating the public about the plan.

The mayors’ council devised the $7.5-billion, 10-year plan and created a secretariat to steer a Yes

campaign that includes three staff from Vancouver.

Five other city staff continue to do presentations on the plan and will meet with groups of 10 or more, if they have questions.

“Call us and invite us out, we’re happy to meet in person,” Dobrovolny said.

“It’s a valuable way to have the conversation because we can drill down into your neighbourhood and be more specific [about the plan].”

In addition, he said, all the city’s 311 operators are equipped with information regarding the mayors’ plan, including how to access the mayors’ council website and ensure a person is registered to vote in the plebiscite.

Vision Vancouver Coun.

Andrea Reimer pointed out that in early 2013 there were 300,000 unregistered voters in B.C. Reimer said Elections B.C. was able to register 170,000 of those but she was concerned the balance never did get registered and won’t vote in the plebiscite.

“The answer from Elections B.C. is, in fact, ‘We don’t know yet,’’’ replied Michael Buda, executive

director of the mayors’ council, who was present at city council. “They’re waiting to hear final regulations from [the provincial] cabinet. They’re ready to work quite closely with us to come up with some good solutions to that.”

Vision Vancouver Coun.

Kerry Jang said he was worried the need for a Yes vote will be lost in non-English speaking communities, particularly in the Chinese community where they aren’t hearing both sides of the debate on the proposed tax hike.

“I want to make sure that we have ample opportunity to reach out to the Chinese media and that we give them plenty of opportunity to meet all sorts of folks and there’s a real strategy for ethnic media,” Jang told city staff after learning the city’s 311 system provides access to 165 languages.

The city is pushing a Yes vote because city council went on record last month of supporting the 0.5 per cent tax hike, saying there was an urgent need to cut congestion in the region.

Metro Vancouver’s popu-

lation will increase by more than 1 million people and 600,000 jobs over the next 30 years. The plan calls for a subway along Broadway, a light rail transit system in Surrey, a new Pattullo Bridge and 25 per cent more bus service, including an 80 per cent increase to night bus service across the region.

If the Yes side wins, the tax hike translates to about $125 a year for an average household and $50 per year for low-incomes households, both averages depending on how much people purchase.

The No TransLink Tax group leading the No campaign says municipalities could use revenue collected from future growth instead of pushing a 0.5 per cent hike to the seven per cent sales tax.

“TransLink, Metro Vancouver and municipal revenues are going to grow by an average of 4.8 per cent a year,” says a statement on the No side’s website.

“They can fund the whole plan if they only grow at 4.3 per cent. No programs need to be cut, spending just has to grow a little slower.”

Public Open House – February 10 University Boulevard Precinct Planning

UBC is updating plans to implement the precinct vision.

This is needed to respond to changes in the area and to guide new development and programming opportunities on the remaining sites.

Please join us at a public open to learn more about the vision and proposed uses for the remaining sites and provide your ideas on proposed ways to achieve the vision.

Date: Tuesday, February 10, 2015 Time: 11:00am – 2:00pm Place: 2nd Floor Foyer, The Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall Refreshments will be served.

Can’t attend in person? An online questionnaire will be available from February 10 – 23.

This first of public consultation also includes a public workshop. Visit planning.ubc.ca to sign up for the workshop or to learn more.

For additional information on the project, contact: Aviva Savelson, Senior Manager, Consultation, Campus + Community Planning at aviva.savelson@ubc.ca or 604-822-9984

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F R I DAY, F E B RUA RY 6 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

News

Board settles with reluctant strata

International Village school construction begins in May CLASS NOTES Cheryl Rossi

crossi@vancourier.com

The Vancouver School Board hopes to start constructing an elementary school at International Village in May, a year later than planned.

The board had hoped to see the new kindergarten to Grade 7 school open December 2015. Now it’s aiming for December 2016.

Foundations for the school need to be built through the parkade at the Firenze condo tower at the corner of Abbott Street and Expo Boulevard. Jim Meschino, VSB director of facilities, says this was included on the land title.

“It just became something that people either forgot or didn’t want to acknowledge,” Meschino said.

Firenze was completed in 2007.

The VSB filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court as a last resort after months of failing to gain access to the parkade. The board wanted to maintain an amicable relationship with the future school’s neighbours.

The board settled with the strata before their court date, Jan. 13.

Meschino only shared the aspects of the settlement that he said were “common knowledge.”

He said the board corresponded with the strata about construction in 2013.

It discussed concerns with the strata last February and hosted an open house with Francl Architects in September. He notes the school will be cantilevered five metres into the adjacent park.

“To keep it away, as far as possible, from the residents,” Meschino said.

“And we’re putting a green roof on so they’re looking down at something nice.”

The multi-storey school will accommodate 510 students.

The VSB secured parking with 24-hour security across the street for six months for the stalls that will be affected.

Those unconcerned with parking will receive a “token amount” of money per month instead. Residents will also be permitted to rent out VSB parking stalls earlier in the day than stated on the land title.

Meschino says residents of Firenze were concerned construction of a school adjacent to their tower would negatively affect their land values.

He said a structural engineer for the strata worked with the school board’s structural engineer and allayed residents’ concerns.

Meschino said he couldn’t disclose what the board spent on legal costs.

The resolution doesn’t solve the school board’s problems.

“Even when we finish International Village, we’re projecting that we’ll still be short school space in the West End-downtown core,” Meschino said.

“The reason schools lag is because the province won’t fund a new school until the population gets there,” Meschino said.

“We’re always trying to catch up with the school population that’s already there.”

The VSB is working with the city on the proposed site for an elementary school in Coal Harbour. Another elementary school is meant to be built in Southeast False Creek.

“The land that’s right beside the Coal Harbour Community Centre, right at the foot of Broughton, is designated for a school, a 69-seat childcare and five floors of non-market housing,” Meschino said.

“The city has never been able to move forward on the childcare and the housing because the school occupies the base.” twitter.com/Cheryl_Rossi

Construction of a new elementary school at International Village has been delayed by a year.

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News

Trucker troubles continuing at port Jen St. Denis and Timothy Renshaw

Business in Vancouver

Container trucks awaiting loads at a Port Metro Vancouver container terminal. PHOTO CHUNG CHOW

Public Hearing: February 17 Vancouver City Council will hold a Public Hearing on: Tuesday, February 17, 2015 at 6 pm City Hall, 453 West 12th Avenue Third Floor, Council Chamber to consider heritage and zoning amendments for the following locations:

1. 1601 Comox Street (Grace Court)

To add the existing building to the Vancouver Heritage Register in the ‘B’ evaluation category and designate it as a protected heritage property.

2. 1546 Nelson Street (Urquhart Residence) To add the existing building to the Vancouver Heritage Register in the ‘C’ evaluation category and designate it as a protected heritage property.

3. 1010 East 21st Avenue (Wickson House) To add the existing building to the Vancouver Heritage Register in the ‘C’ evaluation category and designate it as a protected heritage property.

4. 275 Kingsway (333 East 11th Avenue)

To rezone 275 Kingsway (333 East 11th Avenue) from C-3A (Commercial) District to CD-1 (Comprehensive Development) District to permit the development of a 14-storey mixed-use building, containing ground-floor commercial spaces and a total of 202 secured, for-profit affordable rental housing units. A height of 42.4 metres (139 feet) and a floor space ratio (FSR) of 8.66 are proposed.

A suite of measures designed to fix troubled labour relations at Vancouver’s port has instead stirred up acrimony and threats of legal action.

“This has clearly been a rushed process, and … that’s why they ran such a profoundly flawed process,” said Lisa Martz, a lawyer with Gundmundseth Mickelson who is representing several trucking companies.

On Jan. 23, Port Metro

5. 5508-5542 Oak Street To rezone 5508-5542 Oak Street from RS-1 (One-Family Dwelling) District to CD-1 (Comprehensive Development) District to permit the development of three four-storey residential buildings, containing a total of 19 dwelling units. A height of 13.1 metres (43 feet) and a floor space ratio (FSR) of 1.20 are proposed.

6. 5430-5450 Oak Street

To rezone 5430-5450 Oak Street from RS-1 (One-Family Dwelling) District to CD-1 (Comprehensive Development) District to permit the development of two four-storey residential buildings, containing a total of 12 dwelling units. A height of 12.2 metres (40 feet) and a floor space ratio (FSR) of 1.20 are proposed.

7. 6070-6090 Oak Street

To rezone 6070-6090 Oak Street from RS-1 (One-Family Dwelling) District to CD-1 (Comprehensive Development) District to permit the development of two three-storey residential buildings, containing a total of 12 dwelling units. A height of 10.7 metres (35.1 feet) and a floor space ratio (FSR) of 1.00 are proposed.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THESE APPLICATIONS: vancouver.ca/rezapps or 604.873.7038 Anyone who considers themselves affected by the proposed by-law amendments may speak at the Public Hearing.

Please register individually by 5 pm on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 by emailing publichearing@vancouver.ca or by phoning 604-829-4238. You may also register in person at the door between 5:30 and 6 pm on the day of the Public Hearing. You may submit your comments by email to mayorandcouncil@vancouver.ca, or by mail to: City of Vancouver, City Clerk’s Office, 453 West 12th Avenue, Third Floor, Vancouver, BC, V5Y 1V4. All submitted comments will be distributed to Council and posted on the City’s website. Please visit vancouver.ca/publichearings for important details.

Copies of the draft by-laws will be available for viewing starting February 6, 2015 at the City Clerk’s Office in Vancouver City Hall, 453 West 12th Avenue, Third Floor, Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. All meetings of Council are webcast live at vancouver.ca/councilvideo, and minutes of Public Hearings are available at vancouver. ca/councilmeetings (posted approximately two business days after a meeting). For real time information on the progress of City Council meetings, visit vancouver.ca/speaker-wait-times or @VanCityClerk on Twitter.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON PUBLIC HEARINGS, INCLUDING REGISTERING TO SPEAK: vancouver.ca/publichearings

Visit: vancouver.ca Phone: 3-1-1 TTY: 7-1-1

Vancouver released the list of companies it had awarded licences to, according to its revamped truck licence system. The changes reduced the number of trucks in the fleet.

The measure was intended to reduce persistent undercutting in the industry, which has eroded trucker wages. In March 2014, truckers went on strike for a month to protest low wages and long wait times at terminals.

Under the new system, truck owner-operators would no longer hold their own licences to access port terminals. Those licences instead would be held by trucking companies who would sponsor owner-operators.

Many trucking companies were caught off guard when they learned they had received no licences, which meant they had effectively been put out of business.

An estimated 600 people who work in the trucking industry could be out of their jobs.

Martz sent a letter to Port Metro Vancouver, the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and the federal Ministry of Transport outlining what she views as serious problems with the way the license reform was handled.

Those problems include the short time allocated to the companies to comply with new requirements and the lack of an appeals process.

Martz also questioned whether Port Metro Vancouver, a federal body, should have had authority over the new truck licensing system at all, given that there was a planned transfer to a provincial commissioner who will oversee the port trucking system.

That commissioner, Andy Smith, was named on February 3. Smith is currently the president and CEO of the B.C. Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA), which represents ship owners and terminal operators.

Gavin McGarrigle, B.C. director for Unifor, questioned whether Smith was the right choice for the job given his current role. Unifor represents approximately 400 of the container truckers who work at the port.

“At first glance it appears to be a blatant conflict of interest … my understanding is he’s going to continue

to serve as the chair of the BCMEA,” McGarrigle said.

“This is the group that represents terminal operators.”

Staff at the BCMEA confirmed that Smith would continue in his current role.

Smith has a lot of experience with the shipping industry, but should resign from his current position before taking on the trucking oversight role, McGarrigle said.

“Mr. Smith is giving consideration to how to conduct his role at the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) to ensure he is not in a conflict or biased situation,” wrote Ministry of Transportation staff in an email.

Shippers have also raised concerns over the new truck licensing system and the rapidly escalating costs of shipping products via containers.

Prior to his retirement at the end of June last year, Western Canadian Shippers’ Coalition (WCSC) Chairman Ian May said that 100 per cent of the coalition’s members were seeking break bulk and other container alternatives for shipping their cargo because of the added costs resulting from new pay rates for container truckers following the truckers’ strike.

Not much has changed on that front.

WCSC chairman David Montpetit said the same percentage of WCSC members, most of whom export wood products to the United States and Asia, are still pursuing alternatives to containers.

He estimated that over the past five years costs for shipping via containers has doubled.

Those rising costs will affect more than WCSC members and other exporters.

As Montpetit pointed out, the more his members divert product from containers to break bulk, the more serious the domino effect will be on importers who use containers because they’ll bear the extra costs of containers returning empty to Asia and the United States.

He said its biggest upside is the reduction in the number of licences for truckers accessing the port and a greater accountability in the system because licence ownership is in the hands of truck owners not drivers. jstdenis@biv.com twitter.com/jenstden

F R I DAY, F E B RUA RY 6 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

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News We want to hear from you. Help us to get the plan right!

East 1st Avenue

Nanaimo Street

Victoria Drive

Venables Street

Vancouver’s 2015 Budget

Review the draft budget and share your thoughts

The City of Vancouver’s annual budget outlines how tax dollars and funding will be invested to help provide the services that our residents value, such as the operations and maintenance of streets, parks, community centres, libraries and police and fire services.

Spending is aligned with the priorities of our community and City Council, with the goal of delivering a high level of services as efficiently as possible. Over the past few months, citizens have shared their views on services and priorities with us through a questionnaire to help inform the budget process.

The draft of the 2015 budget will be available online at vancouver.ca/budget starting February 11, 2015.

Learn more and provide your feedback in the following ways.

COME TO A PUBLIC DIALOGUE: Wednesday, February 18, 2015, 6 - 8 pm Vancouver City Hall 453 West 12th Avenue, Ground Floor Town Hall Meeting Room City finance staff will present an overview of the draft budget and be available for discussion.

SEND QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS TO STAFF OR COUNCIL: • Email finance staff at budget@vancouver.ca • Email Council at mayorandcouncil@vancouver.ca

The City’s Planning Department is holding a number of sub-area workshops as part of the Grandview-Woodland community planning process.

The workshop is free, but you will need to register to attend. A few days before the event, there will also be an optional walking tour of the sub-area.

Join us at the next workshop on the Hastings Street sub-area (between Clark Drive and Kamloops Street).

To sign up for the workshop and for details on the walking tour, visit vancouver.ca/gw.

Saturday, February 14, 2015 10 am - 3:30 pm Come and discuss community issues, review proposed policy options, and help plan the future of the neighbourhood.

Tuesday, February 24, 2015, 9:30 am Vancouver City Hall 453 West 12th Avenue Third Floor, Council Chamber To speak at the February 24 meeting, sign up by emailing: mayorandcouncil@vancouver.ca or phoning 3-1-1 Come to the Council meeting on March 3, 2015 to hear Council’s decision on the budget (9:30 am at City Hall, 453 West 12th Avenue, Third Floor, Council Chamber).

Questions? Phone 3-1-1

Grandview-Woodland Community Plan

The Development Permit Board and Advisory Panel will meet Tuesday, February 10, 2015 at 3 pm, Vancouver City Hall, 453 West 12th Avenue, Ground Floor, Town Hall Meeting Room to consider the following development permit applications: 8580 River District Crossing: To develop the site with a five-storey, mixed-use building containing retail on the ground floor, a three-storey townhouse podium, and a total of 65 dwelling units over two levels of underground parking with vehicle access from the lane.

8538 River District Crossing: To develop the site with a 19-storey, mixed-use building with a three-storey podium containing retail and grocery stores on the first two storeys, and a total of 296 residential units over three levels of underground parking with vehicle access from the lane.

3488 Sawmill Crescent: To develop this site with a five-storey, mixed-use building containing retail on the ground floor, a three-storey townhouse podium, and a total of 61 dwelling units over two levels of underground parking with vehicle access from the lane.

8533 River District Crossing: To develop this site with an 18-storey, mixed-use building consisting of retail use on portions of the first four storeys and a total of 258 dwelling units over three levels of underground parking with vehicle access from the lane.

Please contact City Hall Security (ground floor) if your vehicle may be parked at City Hall for more than two hours.

TO SPEAK ON AN ITEM: 604-873-7469 or lorna.harvey@vancouver.ca

Open House: OTC Bus Barns

(Oakridge Transit Centre) The Oakridge Transit Centre (OTC) at 41st and Oak is changing and we want you to be part of the process.

37th Avenue

The City, at the request of TransLink, is creating a Policy OTC SITE Statement to guide future redevelopment 41st Avenue of the site. The policy will set principles and objectives to guide land use; sustainability; transportation; density; building types and heights; public benefits; and phases of development.

Drop by an open house to learn more about the project and how ideas gathered at public events last year have influenced early concepts. It’s your chance to speak with City staff and the project team and offer your feedback.

Thursday, February 12, 2015, 5:30 - 8:30 pm and Monday, February 16, 2015, 5:30 - 8:30 pm VanDusen Garden Visitor Centre 5251 Oak Street, Vancouver FOR MORE INFORMATION: vancouver.ca/OTC or phone 3-1-1

Open House: Proposed Sign for Telus Garden

SPEAK AT A COUNCIL MEETING: Presentation of draft budget to Council

FOR MORE INFORMATION: grandviewplan@vancouver.ca vancouver.ca/gw or phone 3-1-1

Development Permit Board Meeting: February 10

Willow Street

East Hastings Street

Hastings Street Sub-Area Workshop

Oak Street

Dundas Street

Commercial Drive

Continued from page 1 “We don’t have the ability, in my view, to do the job that people expect of us in terms of replying to correspondence and things like that,” he said.

“Our clerical staff are wonderful but there’s not enough of them.”

NPA Coun. George Affleck, who operates a communications firm, said he will wait for the conclusions of the independent review of the salaries but said he is “comfortable” with his earnings as a city councillor.

Affleck said he is “the least paid councillor” in Vancouver because Robertson appointed all his Vision councillors to the Metro Vancouver board, where they earn more money as directors.

Louie, for example, is vice-chairperson of Metro Vancouver and earns more than $35,000 per year in that job.

Green Party Coun. Adriane Carr said she decided to run for council, not for the money, but to work on behalf of residents. Carr said the job of a councillor is “more than full time work” and is swamped with requests from people requiring her help.

Meggs’ motion, which Carr helped draft, asks for the independent panel to consider adding more staff to help councillors respond to citizens’ needs in a more “appropriate and timely way.”

The mayor, who said he puts in 80 to 100 hours a week in his job, wouldn’t say whether he or his councillors should be paid more and will leave that answer to the independent review. He did say, though, the job of councillors is more involved than it was 20 years ago when the last compensation review was conducted.

“Certainly with email, with cellphones, with social media and with the engagement we need around the city and the neighbourhoods, it’s important that there’s and independent look at compensation,” Robertson said.

Park board commissioners earn $8,000 per year and their compensation packages will be part of the review because the Vancouver Charter mandates council to establish the salaries. twitter.com/Howellings

Grandview-Woodland Community Plan Events

Clark Street

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Drop by an open house to learn more about a proposal to install a 7.5 x 11 metre sign on the west façade of the Telus Garden building at 520 West Georgia Street, facing Seymour Street.

St re et

The proposed sign would be located between the 16th and 18th floors of the building and is retractable. h It would be lowered from dusk to 11 pm daily and use ic R rear projection technology which is viewable in lowlight conditions. The sign would display video art and community programming and announcements, with limited brand recognition for businesses at Telus Garden. ds ar

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City staff will be at the open house to answer questions and collect your feedback.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015, 5 - 8 pm Westin Grand Hotel, 433 Robson Street, Allegro Boardroom, Vancouver FOR MORE INFORMATION: former.vancouver.ca/rezapps (see 520 West Georgia Street) or phone 3-1-1

Visit: vancouver.ca Phone: 3-1-1 TTY: 7-1-1

A8

THE VANCOUVER COURIER F R I DAY, F E B RUA RY 6 , 2 0 1 5

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149

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rmrants@outlook.com

There is a referendum coming, and we all need to vote “no.”

Well-informed citizens are privy to TransLink’s proposed infrastructure improvements that would efficiently move traffic and people throughout the city. Our knee jerk reaction is to shout, “great news,” but we need to be wiser this time.

TransLink has introduced a childish idea of increasing taxes to pay for this billion dollar project. Hmm, in a time when all low and middleincome earners are already struggling just to pay for groceries? How about the fact that Canadians have more debt per capita than our American friends?

How about the fact that TransLink’s record of capital management seems on a level with Zimbabwe? TransLink, like most Canadian government organizations, continues to lose your money, waste your money, or pay themselves highly inflated salaries.

Government institutions continue to self-endorse their very own vacation and retirement packages, far exceeding the private sector. Then, when these institutions get financially jammed, they simply ask for more. This sounds like the mafia, but without the risk of jail.

A new website has just been launched (noTransLinktax.ca, sponsored by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation) to educate voters as to why their No vote is the most ethical and truly Canadian choice. The website reveals that in 2013, TransLink’s CEO received $275,000 more

than our premier, and $140,000 more than the Prime Minister. Specific to industry, TransLink’s CEO earned $150,000 more than the CEO of the Toronto Transit Commission. We paid this man with our tax dollars while Children’s Hospital suffered, while VGH remains underfunded, and while many schools lost their physical education and music programs.

In Canada, we pay some of the highest income taxes on the planet. Consider that Hong Kong has a flat tax of 16 per cent. Yet somehow, with this ethical rate of income tax, Hong Kong has paved roads and social services that are intact. In the Netherlands and Denmark, they pay high income taxes like we do, but they actually get value for their tax dollars with excellent infrastructure, free education and a world-class healthcare system. No, Canada’s healthcare is not free. Yes, the University of British Columbia just increased their tuition, yet again.

Here in Canada, we also pay high property taxes.

And note, we were given no break on the percentage of tax paid on our homes while the values skyrocketed during a largely foreign real estate purchasing boom. Next, when we buy a bottle of booze, we pay twice what our friends down south pay, simply because of outrageous taxes. Then, we are flooded with parking meters throughout the city, and when we go to Stanley Park with our kids, we pay even more to meters to park our vehicles. We must also subsidize doctor salaries, and pharmaceutical company margins with MSP, bearing in mind that those medical premiums just went up,yet again.

Consider too, that Canada Post recently increased its postage rates by 37 per cent, vastly outpacing inflation.

It continues. Canadian institutions like ICBC and B.C. Hydro were caught in the past to be overstaffing by as much as 30 per cent. That is fraud and theft. Have any of you ever heard of FedEx, Google Inc., or any other multinational company overstaffing by 30 per cent?

B.C. Ferries has also caused declines in real estate prices for our Gulf Island residents because fares keep escalating.

Canadians are taxed to the hilt and simply cannot afford to go on vacation.

This is sad, and this is not Canadian.

Canada is quickly becoming a nation where elected officials demonstrate financial ignorance as well as disregard for their countrymen. We are $614 billion in debt, and our unions hold us ransom for $300 billion in unfunded liabilities and “benefits.”

When citizens acknowledge the political landscape as well as the attitudes of government organizations in Canada, it comes as no surprise that TransLink is on the prowl for your wallet.

Our upcoming referendum is not about having a train or not having a train.

This vote, should you choose to participate, is about ethics, financial prudence and respect for all Canadians. TransLink’s request for increased taxation is not only irresponsible and audacious, it is convincingly immature.

Ryan McCleery is a former investment adviser, venture capitalist, and a graduate of The Natural Gourmet Institute in New York City. He is passionate about topics related to ethics, finance and nutrition.

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F R I DAY, F E B RUA RY 6 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER F R I DAY, F E B RUA RY 6 , 2 0 1 5

Opinion Sloppy city hall led to Yaletown ruling

Flying the unfriendly skies in the 21st century

Allen Garr Columnist agarr@vancourier.com

Geoff Olson Columnist mwiseguise@yahoo.com

If you were still wondering what Vision Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson chose to publicly apologize for in the last few days of the municipal election campaign, go no further than Justice Mark McEwan’s Supreme Court ruling handed out last week.

That’s the decision that smacked city hall for its shenanigans surrounding a controversial and complex land swap in Yaletown and the public hearing into the deal.

Specifically, the justice said the public hearing process “the city adopted was unfairly restrictive, in presenting the public with a package of technical material that was opaque.”

The city attempted to limit the public’s engagement by limiting the public hearing to only one of the two pieces of land involved in the swap, (one owned by the developer, the other owned by the city). McEwan criticized the city for “limiting the comment on the integrated nature of the project, and in failing to provide an intelligible (i.e. where do the numbers come from?) financial justification for it.”

In fact, comparing the values assigned to the two pieces of land in the January 2013 land exchange contract between the city and the developer, Brenhill Development Ltd., and the values estimated by B.C. Assessment, there appears to be a difference of at least $50 million in the developer’s favour.

Part of the deal was a commitment by the developer to construct a building on its property at 1099 Richards St. that would replace an 87-unit social housing development on the city land at 508 Helmcken (across the street and adjacent to a public park) that the developer was about to acquire.

Brenhill would also add an additional 75 units of “low market rental” (300- to 350-square-foot units to be rented out at $1,100 a month) which would significantly increase the density allowed on the Richards Street site.

That additional density should have been approved by council before the development permit was issued. It seems it wasn’t.

To cover this apparent error, city staff subsequently slipped in a bylaw (number 10870) in an appendix to a West End Development plan series of amendments

(an area to the west of Yaletown) that removed the requirement for council to approve the density increase.

McEwan said it was asking too much of residents to expect them to pick up on that bylaw manoeuvre.

In the end, the court quashed the bylaw 10870 and the development permit on the building under construction at 1099 Richards. Construction was stopped.

By doing that, McEwan sent shock waves through the development community and the city and threw the future of more than a dozen major projects now in the works into question.

In response, the city planning department, under its director Brian Jackson, quickly produced a report on Friday to try to make changes to at least deal with the bylaw that was quashed and give more certainty to projects and decisions brought into question by the Supreme Court ruling. He wanted that approved following a new public hearing.

Between the staff report being written and it finally turning up at council on Wednesday, it had to be withdrawn and re-written at least twice.

Meanwhile, councillors were being inundated with emails expressing concern about the confusion raised by the seemingly impenetrable technical language in the document and the consequences of those proposals in the light of the court ruling.

Jackson’s defence of the report and recommendation it should go directly to public hearing were stopped dead.

A council motion wanted the report sent back to staff to, among other things as Coun. Kerry Jang said, “change the language to be more a little more accessible.” It would then come back to council.

There were also several demands to include more detail — the kind that was sadly lacking during the public hearing around the land swap — so that people could actually figure out what was at stake for them and their neighbourhoods in any future public hearing.

The kind of sloppy indifference to the public’s right to know and be effectively consulted is not unique to this land-swap case. It has been a pattern of behaviour typical of the Vision administration.

Only time will tell, as they say, whether that behaviour will change as a result of Justice McEwan’s ruling and whether Robertson will hold true to his promise. twitter.com/allengarr

When a strange craft glided over Huffman prairie in 1905, the general manager of Dayton’s rail line and his chief engineer ordered the conductor to stop the train while they and the passengers on board watched in astonishment.

Piloting the strange Ohio craft — one of the world’s first flying machines — was a man by the name of Orville Wright.

In his 1994 book Alternative Science, author Richard Milton writes: “From December 1903 to September 1908, two young bicycle mechanics from Ohio repeatedly claimed to have built a heavierthan-air flying machine and to have flown it successfully. But despite scores of public demonstrations, affidavits from local dignitaries and photographs of themselves flying, the claims of Wilbur and Orville Wright were derided and dismissed as a hoax by Scientific American, The New York Herald, the U.S. army and most American scientists.”

Cut to over a century later. In December 2014, Cho Hyun-ah, vice president in charge of in-flight service at Korean Air, had a meltdown over the way she was served macadamia nuts in a firstclass cabin of her employer’s airline.

Hyun-ah allegedly struck a flight attendant and ordered the plane back to the gate of a New York airport as it was taxiing for takeoff so she could boot out the chief flight attendant. As a result of her “nut rage,” the airline executive lost her job and was charged with endangering flight safety. South Korean prosecutors are recommending a three-year prison term.

It’s a testament to human adaptability that you can pack a few hundred people into a pressurized metal tube and fling them partway across the globe without stories of meltdowns becoming as routine as in-flight Adam Sandler films. But New York Times writer Frank Bruni suggests otherwise. In a recent article, he insists it’s bad up there and getting worse.

“There are few better showcases of Americans’ worst impulses, circa 2014, than a 757 bound from New York to Los Angeles or from Sacramento to St. Louis. It’s a mile-high mirror of our talent for pettiness, our tendency toward selfishness, our disconnection from one another and our increasing demarcation of castes. It’s a microcosm at 30,000 to

The week in num6ers...

68.5 8 225 53 In thousand of dollars, the annual salaries of city councillors. An independent review is underway to see if they are being fairly compensated.

In thousands of dollars, the annual salaries of park board commissioners.

An independent review is underway to see if they are being fairly compensated.

In millions of dollars, the annual amount a 0.5 per cent increase to the current seven per cent sales tax is expected (if approved) to raise for transit upgrades.

According to a recent poll, the percentage of Canadians who think Liberal leader Justin Trudeau probably has good taste in movies.

45,000 feet,” he writes.

I haven’t flown either route but I’ve done a fair bit of airline travel across the U.S. and Canada and have very rarely witnessed the kind of behaviour that Bruni infers as typical for the Orcs in couch class.

“Courtesy is dead. The plane is its graveyard,” he concludes, working the rhetorical wa-wa pedal harder than Rex Murphy on Screech. Sure, it’s easy to insist that U.S. passengers deserve better from the airlines and each other, when in fact their plane ticket prices have dropped 50 per cent in real dollars since 1978. On both sides of the border, passenger flight has become the aerial equivalent of bus rides to middle-class customers. The sense of entitlement in first class is correspondingly higher.

In the public mind, it’s not just normal but necessary for relatives to jet across the country for Thanksgiving and Christmas. As a result, what was once breathtaking has become banal. In a much-viewed comedy routine on YouTube, Louis C.K. mocks an imaginary passenger who complains of waiting on a runway for 40 minutes: “Oh my God, really? What happened then, did you fly through the air like a bird, incredibly?

Did you soar into the clouds, impossibly? You’re sitting in a chair in the sky.

You’re like a Greek myth right now.”

Myths are impossible by definition.

According to Richard Milton, a main road and a rail line bordered the Wright brothers’ testing ground in Dayton. So for years, thousands of people had witnessed their flying experiments.

It didn’t matter — experts had concluded that heavier-than-air flight was the stuff of Icarus and other fictional frequent flyers. Ergo, there was no need to investigate claims of success.

Eventually, U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt ordered public trials at Fort Myers, to settle the rumours once and for all. In 1908, the Wright brothers won official credibility when the army and scientific press accepted their flying machine as reality rather than myth.

Two brothers taking turns in chairs in the sky. And a hundred years later, millions of people follow their lead, spewing carbon compounds and complaining of cattle-car conditions, with the occasional tantrum over service. But mostly, politely enduring what was once considered impossible. geoffolson.com

5

The number of Oscarnominated animated short films, as well as four more that were runners-up, being screened at Vancity Theatre beginning Feb. 6.

5.5

In hundreds of thousands of dollars, the amount of money raised for children’s charities at the latest instalment of Vancouver Canucks’ annual Dice and Ice Gala.

F R I DAY, F E B RUA RY 6 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

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Inbox LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Hail to the chief

CO U R I E R A R C H I V E S T H I S W E E K I N H I S T O R Y

Lights switched on for the first time

Feb. 4, 1885: Moodyville, a former sawmill on Burrard Inlet located on what is now the North Vancouver waterfront, installs the first land-based electric lights north of San Francisco. The alcohol-free company town, which was once the biggest logging exporter in the new province of British Columbia, saw many other firsts in the region, including the first wedding and first school. By the early 1890s, however, heavy logging and a global depression had depleted both available trees and fortunes, and the mill closed in 1901.

MP defects days after re-election

Feb. 6, 2006: On the same day Stephen Harper was sworn in as Canada’s new prime minister, re-elected Vancouver Kingsway Liberal MP David Emerson crossed the floor to join the Conservative Party’s minority government and was promptly named the new Minister of International Trade. The cabinet position added another $71,322 to his base salary of $144,300. Emerson was also given responsibility for the Pacific Gateway trade initiative and the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Although a grassroots “De-elect Emerson” campaign was quickly launched and the Liberal Party asked him to repay the nearly $100,000 in campaign donations he had received. Emerson remained defiant in the face of public outrage. He chose retirement rather than seek re-election in the 2008 federal election.

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Re: “Search for Vancouver’s next police chief begins,” Jan. 30.

Firstly, I would like to thank Chief Constable Jim Chu for his many years of service to the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Police Department. He is, hands down, the best chief of police this city has ever seen. May the policies that have been instituted under his tenure be continued by the new chief.

I sincerely hope the Vancouver Police Board disregards the questionable advice of former mayor Sam Sullivan that they consider hiring a non-police officer to lead the department.

Any new recruit, and any present member of the police department must have the opportunity to aspire to become the chief constable. Clearly, hiring outside the force didn’t work for the RCMP because career bureaucrat William Elliott never grasped what it meant to rise through the ranks.

I worked as a civilian at the VPD many years ago and remember clearly how one high ranking officer, who was never a rank and file police officer, being elevated from a civilian position at the station, never garnered much respect from the police officers because he had never walked in their shoes.

Linda Hull, Vancouver

ONLINE COMMENTS Former director of planning responds to column

Re: “Building form should follow ‘fit’ not ‘finance,’” Feb. 4.

I think it might be important to clarify something in Michael Geller’s article regarding his reference to me.

I participated in the “When is big too big” event Michael mentions after recommending to SFU that it was a critically important subject to discuss. For many years before that event, and in the years since, I’ve stressed the importance of ensuring as part of “density done well” that the city not allow overbuilding of development relative to a site’s urban design context.

I’ve stated on the record on many occasions that answering the “how big is too big” question is the most important issue in urban design in Vancouver today.

One of my most important messages over the years to Vancouver city council, and now to cities around the world, is that you never let the aspiration for public benefits through density bonusing determine the right level of density.

You always do the proper urban design first and then do the math to determine

Barry Link

ddhaliwal@vancourier.com

blink@vancourier.com

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Tara Lalanne

DIRECTOR SALES & MARKETING

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Yaletown and commentary

Re: “Yaletowners beat city hall in court,’” Jan. 30.

This decision highlights yet again the shortcomings of the spot rezoning, backroom dealing, CAC anti-planning process. All of these deals are “done deals” long before the posturing public hearing. This is an inherent flaw.

Perhaps this process itself can be challenged. Isn’t it sad that the city that has had a worldwide recognition for enlightened planning is now forcing its residents to conduct the planning and development process in the courts?

Bill McCreery, via Comments section ••• Great, another victory against social housing in Vancouver. Good work everyone!

Big J, via Comments section ••• While the city claimed in the public hearings that these developments would provide much-needed social housing, this was simply not true. No social housing was ever involved in any of these developments.

No increase in “affordable” housing was planned either.

All that was planned was a replacement of the 87 existing units at Jubilee House. Note that in their public statements now, the city and developer Brenhill no longer refer to these developments as providing social housing.

That too was a sham.

CityHallWatch, via Comments section

have your say online...

FLYER SALES

Dee Dhaliwal

what level of public benefits that density will provide for. It’s never the other way around, which I refer to as “letting the tail wag the dog.”

Michael’s comments suggested that I believed that planners and politicians “would never let the tail wag the dog.”

To be clear, my comments at the event were that I, and in my observation my predecessors Larry Beasley and Ray Spaxman, didn’t let public benefits determine the appropriate density.

For all three of us, it was a first principle. I suspect all three of us and our staff teams got significant pressure to do so on a regular basis, but we didn’t bend to that pressure. We always determined the level of density and urban design we were prepared to support first.

To be clear, some might disagree with the level of density we were prepared to support based on our urban design analysis, and that’s fair, but the point is we didn’t let the public benefits influence or drive that decision. I continue to remind politicians that I work with of the big dangers of letting that happen.

So saying that dismissing Michael”s comments was “precisely what I did” doesn’t really do justice to the conversation.

Brent Toderian, via Comments section

604.738.1412

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A12

THE VANCOUVER COURIER F R I DAY, F E B RUA RY 6 , 2 0 1 5

Community

The cross on which Jesus was crucified, depicted here in stained glass at Christ Church Cathedral downtown, is reproduced in ash on the foreheads of the faithful to mark the start of Lent. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

Ancient Christian ritual goes public Lent marks the start of a spiritual journey of abstinence and fasting for many Christians PACIFIC SPIRIT Pat Johnson

pacificspiritpj@gmail.com

An old joke has a father asking his son what he will give up for Lent. The kid replies “spinach,” to which the father says that the purpose of the exercise is to deny oneself something enjoyable, like candy.

“Your mother and I have given up alcohol for Lent,” the father says.

“But I saw you drink wine with dinner last night,” the son rejoinders.

“Yes, well, we gave up hard liquor,” says the father.

“OK,” says the son, “I’ll give up hard candy.”

Beyond this joke and a vague awareness of the concept, I can’t say that I

was ever really conscious of what Lent is all about, or notice any of my friends behaving differently during this period.

But I’ll admit it was a bit jarring for me the first time I saw people walking around with crosses drawn on their foreheads with ash. It is a tradition I had never encountered before a couple of years ago, when some outreaching Catholics decided to celebrate the beginning of Lent in a public way, by offering passersby the ancient rite.

Ash Wednesday — this year on Feb. 18 for Catholics — marks the beginning of the Lenten season.

Lent is a 40-day period of repentance, prayer, fasting, confession and other preparations that Christians undertake in advance

of Good Friday and Easter Sunday, the most sacred days in the Christian calendar. (That calendar, of course, differs between Christian groups, primarily the Eastern Orthodox, who use the Julian calendar, and Roman Catholics and other “Western” Christians, who follow the Gregorian.)

The traditional ritual on Ash Wednesday is that the faithful come forward during the celebration of mass and a priest dips his thumb in ashes (made from the palm fronds distributed at the previous year’s Palm Sunday services) and creates the sign of the cross on each forehead, while saying something to the effect of “Thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return.”

The intention is clear: to

remind the faithful of their mortality as they begin six weeks of contemplation and repentance. Believers will leave the ash cross on their faces all day as a sign of humility.

Even now that I understand its roots and meaning, I admit I still find it odd and fascinating to see a human being with an ashen cross drawn on their forehead. It is such a primitive act, using the most basic of tools — a thumb and some ash — at once so overt, yet evocative of an apparent spiritual devotion most people do not wear so openly in contemporary society.

According to the Christian Gospels, the 40-day period of Lent symbolizes, at least in part, the 40 days that Jesus is said to have spent fasting in the desert

and being tempted by the devil. The word “Lent” in English basically means simply “spring,” based on a Germanic root word for long, in the sense that this is the time in late winter when the days begin to lengthen.

Because this 40-day period involves abstinence and fasting, many Catholic societies initiate a last hurrah before the beginning of Lent. Most familiar may be Rio’s Festival or Mardi Gras in New Orleans, which means simply “fat Tuesday,” the last day before the observant cut back on food, particularly meat, and some other joys of life. Eastern Christians tend to be stricter, generally speaking, some eliminating all animal products from their diets for the Lenten period.

Each Sunday in Lent has special meaning, as do several other days, with the intensity increasing as Easter nears. In Britain, the fourth Sunday has become Mothering Sunday — what we call Mother’s Day — a derivative of a 500-year-old celebration of the “Mother Church.”

Then Holy Week is the culmination, leading up to Easter Sunday on April 5.

For observant Christians, the coming weeks are a time of reflection and self-denial. For others … well, don’t be surprised if, later this month, you see a neighbour walking by with a cross on their forehead.

They are perpetuating an ancient ritual that outwardly symbolizes the beginning of a significant spiritual journey. twitter.com/Pat604Johnson

F R I DAY, F E B RUA RY 6 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

A13

News

‘She had no clue how to be a mother’

Continued from page 1 Sasky’s canvases have been likened to windows in homes to reflect scenes of love, resolve and tenderness.

One of Sasky’s vibrant paintings depicts a mother sitting on a bathroom floor with her child, holding her hand up, signalling stop.

“That’s the strongest piece in the exhibition,” Sasky said. “One of moms told me that when she decided to leave her husband, she was very, very calm, after all the storm and the feelings, she was very

calm.”

That resonated with Sasky, who was raised by a single mother in Buenos Aires after her father, who was verbally and physically abusive to her mother, left the family. (She says her father has come a long way and she enjoys a great relationship with him today).

Another painting portrays a mother sitting on the floor, playing with her daughter. This image was inspired by the story of an aboriginal woman whose parents hadn’t known

how to raise her because they had been taken away to residential schools as children.

“She had no clue how to be a mother,” Sasky said.

Sasky invited representatives of the Y to her first foray in telling women’s stories through art, the Honouring Women: Every Woman, a Life Story to Tell exhibit she mounted at the Jewish Community Centre in 2013.

Chantelle Krish, manager of advocacy and public relations for the YWCA

Metro Vancouver, says she and others were impressed

by Sasky’s passion, paintings and approach, so they asked her to work with the Y on a fundraising campaign.

Sasky’s paintings will be priced from $2,000 to $4,000, and one-quarter of their sale will support Cause We Care House.

Cause We Care House is an initiative of the Y, the Vancouver Public Library and the City of Vancouver, with a budget of $25 million. The Y’s capital

contribution is $10.08 million and as of Wednesday afternoon, the non-profit needed to raise $650,000 for the project that saw its groundbreaking last month.

Located at 720-730 East Hastings St., it will be located atop a new library and will include 21 units of housing alongside space for medical services, employment services and a mom-and-tot program. The building is expected to open in spring 2016 and Krish says priority will be given to low-income single mothers.

“We run seven affordable housing communities for single mothers and their children across Metro Vancouver and there’s always waitlists,” Krish said. “So there’s definitely a need.”

The opening night reception runs from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Guests can RSVP to vwellington@ ywcavan.org or 604-8955826. Visitors can also view the paintings Feb. 13 to 15 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. To preview the paintings, visit jazminsasky.com.

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER F R I DAY, F E B RUA RY 6 , 2 0 1 5

Feature

Young Vancouverites flee city ‘I don’t have a PhD and I don’t care’ Rob Mangelsdorf

editor@westender.com

It’s a view Matt Cavers never gets tired of.

As he pedals to work at the Persephone Brewery in Gibsons down the back roads of the Sunshine Coast, a quick glance up reveals the soaring heights of Mt. Elphinstone looming overhead.

“Seeing that,” he says, “it means so much to me.”

His life today in the rural community is simple and fulfilling. He makes a modest wage as an assistant brewer. He grows fresh vegetables in his backyard.

It couldn’t be further from the life he left behind.

Cavers grew up in Richmond and attended UBC, where, up until a few years ago, his focus was on finishing his PhD in human geography.

“I always assumed I’d make my livelihood in the city,” he says. “The plan was to be an academic or some type of intellectual worker.”

During his Masters program, Cavers began splitting his time between Vancouver and the Sunshine Coast, where his wife Sheena grew up. By 2013, three years into his PhD and with a baby on the way, he decided he wasn’t coming back.

And so Cavers, much to the chagrin of his parents, gave up a bright academic career to drive a delivery truck, paint kegs and brew beer in the country.

“I don’t have a PhD and I don’t care,” says Cavers.

“I’m happy, my family is happy. That’s more important.”

Cavers is one of a growing number of young Vancouverites who are fleeing the city not for the suburbs, as in previous generations, but for a humble, bucolic existence in the country.

According to B.C. Stats, Vancouver has seen young people aged 20 to 30 leave the city in recent years, despite the overall population growing. Between 2010 and 2013, the city saw a net loss of 1,125 young people in that age bracket, while simultaneously growing by more than 20,000 people.

While B.C.’s rural population fell sharply after a peak of 667,112 in 1996, it

Facing a climate of economic and environmental uncertainty, many young people are exploring self-sufficient rural lifestyles, intent on working less and having more control over their own lives. ILLUSTRATION ROB MANGELSDORF

has climbed steadily from 2006 to 2011, growing from 602,187 to 609,363, according to Statistics Canada’s census data.

For Todd Serious, lead singer of punk rock band The Rebel Spell, the ridiculous cost of living in Vancouver prompted him to leave the city behind and move to the tiny town of Lillooet.

According to the Real

Estate Board of Greater Vancouver’s year-end stats, the average price for a detached home in the City of Vancouver topped $1 million in 2014. By comparison, Lillooet’s median home price is just $198,000.

“It was a fight to find a place that was affordable [in Vancouver], it was a fight to find a job with so many other qualified people compet-

ing for the same job,” says Serious, who is a youth care worker when not on tour with his band. “It wore me out.”

For $600 per month, Serious and his partner rent a two-bedroom detached house sitting on two acres of land, surrounded by nature.

“There’s no mould, no bed bugs, and the landlord’s not going to bulldoze it and build condos,” he says.

“We’ve even got a decent garden going.”

Serious says he had no difficulty finding work in town, where he works parttime at the local rec centre.

“As soon as I moved here… I started getting recruited to do jobs, and I could ask for the money I wanted,” he says.

“You don’t need to work as much here, and you’re not

giving up hours of your day to run errands, because all you have to do is cross the street.”

Today, Serious’ commute is a 10-minute bike ride into town. When he does have to drive — like when his band is on tour, for instance — he has a van that he’s converted to run on recycled vegetable oil.

“I’m much better, healthwise,” Serious says.

F R I DAY, F E B RUA RY 6 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

A15

Feature

to head back to the land “I’m outdoors all the time, I spend a lot of time in the mountains.”

Not long after Serious and his partner moved to Lillooet two years ago, his drummer followed suit.

“There’s a little cluster of freaks in town now,” says Serious. “There’s a reconfiguration going on. People are feeling ground down by the city, and they’re starting to realize there’s more out there. Life is a lot less competitive here.”

Of course, if there’s a downside to rural life, it’s the lack of excitement. Unlike Vancouver, there aren’t dozens of bands playing shows at dozens of bars every night, nor are there restaurants open around the clock in every direction.

But small town life is not that bad a deal, Serious insists.

“It’s probably not what you think at all,” he says.

“There’s culture reaching out of the city.”

This isn’t the first wave of young people to turn their back on the many trappings of urban life in favour of a simpler rural existence, and it most certainly won’t be the last. The counter culture movement of the 1960s and ’70s saw thousands of young people moving “back to the land” to pursue an idealistic goal of self-sufficiency and environmental connectedness.

But Dona Brown, a history professor from the University of Vermont, says the movement started much earlier. In her book, Back To the Land: The Enduring Dream of Self-Sufficiency, Brown argues the movement began as early as the 19th century as city dwellers sought an escape from the grind of city life.

The movement has its roots in “a deep lack of confidence in the structures of society as [they] exist, whether that’s [now] or back in 1907, or all these different time periods,” she explains in a recent YouTube interview.

“If you could take some control of your own life in your own hands, you could feel safer and more secure,” Brown says.

“It’s almost always been about self-sufficiency.”

While the “hippie” generation may have held lofty utopian goals of starting communes and radically restructuring society, the current crop of young

people fleeing the city are, once again, realists. Facing a climate of economic and environmental uncertainty, many young people are exploring self-sufficient rural lifestyles, intent on working less and having more control over their own lives.

Clare Kenny is one of them. A bookseller living in Vancouver, her and her partner began exploring the possibility of leaving the city for an idyllic life in the middle of nowhere almost 10 years ago.

“City living didn’t make any sense to us, we felt like we didn’t have anything more to learn,” she says.

“And we felt demoralized about what our culture is doing to the planet.”

Vancouver’s rapidly increasing cost of living meant staying here would be a life of wage slavery. So Kenny and her partner decided to see if it was possible to somehow build a house for free.

“Our culture teaches us to separate our real lives from our work lives and houses are such intimate parts [of our lives]. We live in them and for them. So everyone’s life is structured around a mortgage,” she says. “We wanted to explore other options, but we were urban people, we didn’t have any skills.”

So the couple took a 10-day workshop to learn how to build all-natural cob houses, made from clay, sand, straw and water.

“It totally changed my life,” she says. “It was so incredibly empowering.”

Cob homes can be built for next to nothing, incorporating only the materials found on the building site.

They take time and labour, but little in the way of expensive building materials.

“This is something you can do with your hands and feet, you don’t even need power tools,” says Kenny.

Kenny and the other workshop participants decided to pool their efforts and create the Mudgirls Natural Building Collective in an effort to help each other get free of the city and get homesteading. The group is proudly anti-capitalist, and offers workshops, labour and advice on a sliding scale to anyone interested in building a cob house, so they have the power and knowledge to exercise their right to provide themselves with shelter.

“Our approach is more

the activist/education model,” says Kenny. “We want you to learn how to do it, and do it for yourself.”

The time is right to leave the city, says Kenny.

Advances in technology have enabled people to live off-the-grid and off the land with little impact to their standard of living. Solar and micro-hydro systems — necessary for life in many infrastructure-free rural areas — are cheaper and more efficient than ever, while telecommuting allows workers to earn an income from just about anywhere in the world.

After helping build more than 20 cob houses as part of the Mudgirls Collective, Kenny is finally getting around to building her own home on Lasqueti Island, where she and her partner plan to move in the next couple of years once it’s completed.

Despite the similarities to back-to-the-land movements of the ’60s and ’70s, Kenny sees the current wave as somewhat less naive.

“It strikes me that I don’t know anyone who is doing a neo-commune thing, which is interesting. Communes were such a big part of the homesteading wave in the ‘60s,” she says. “The preciousness and power of the idea of real estate has something to do with it, I think, and a modern aversion to anything deemed “hippy.”

“It’s a less idealistic wave, to be sure.”

For Cavers at least, the decision simply came down to how he could provide the best, happiest life for himself and his family. A busy career that monopolized his time in a claustrophobic city that drained him of his energy didn’t have much appeal.

“It’s not as driven by idealism, getting in tune with nature and all that,” he says.

“People want to be in a beautiful, more peaceful place.”

Far from being isolated in his comparatively small community, Cavers says he feels more connected.

“I walk around and I know lots of people here. I go to the grocery store and I’ll recognize someone, and they’ll recognize me. It’s great to have these connections, I don’t feel so anonymous here.”

And for anyone thinking about making the move, Cavers has one piece of advice: “Just do it.”

1

2

1. Clare Kenny of the Mudgirls Natural Building Collective shows off her muscles earned constructing a cob home. 2. Matt Cavers brews a pilot batch of beer on Persephone Brewery’s test system. Cavers decided to leave his PhD program to take the assistant brewer position at the Gibsons craft brewery.

A16

THE VANCOUVER COURIER F R I DAY, F E B RUA RY 6 , 2 0 1 5

Protect your crocuses from attackers

Squirrel! It wants your bulbs

summer one of them didn’t have very many berries on it — and it is the tallest about 1.2 m including the pot. When is the best time/way to prune them. They are not very bushy-looking, more tall and spindly.

Maureen Kitto, Langley

Anne Marrison

amarrison@shaw.ca

Q: Am enjoying the mild winter so far, but have noticed that most of my crocus have been dug up with the sprouts left on the ground. I covered them with screen but something just digs under and eats the bulbs.

I can understand newly planted bulbs being more vulnerable, but I have areas in the garden where crocus have been for several years without any problems until this year. Do you think it’s squirrels?

Jean Lee,Coquitlam A: Squirrels are more likely than any other animals to attack crocus (and tulip bulbs) — but voles also dig and eat bulbs.

Sometimes voles venture into mole tunnels and are hugely difficult to deter because they attack bulbs

Crocus bulbs need to be protected from critters like squirrels and voles.

from underneath.

Squirrels can usually be thwarted by placing a sheet of wire on top of the bulbs and weighing it down with a rock or something else heavy. But once they get established, crocuses do indeed resist being dug up because they work their way down into

the ground.

Vegetable mesh bags are safe places to plant new crocus bulbs inside. Cayenne pepper might be another deterrent. Last year I scattered pepper thickly within the earth all down a wide row of early pea seed. I wondered whether the cayenne would burn

the pea seed but instead all the peas came up and the voles ate none.

I haven’t tried cayenne on crocus bulbs but it should work equally well.

Q: I have three blueberries in pots. They are about three to four years old now, and last

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A: Blueberries are best pruned in late in late winter — so you can do it any time now. Because they’re in containers, they’ll need to be taken out every few years and their roots pruned as well as the branches.

But don’t feel you have to prune all your bushes right now. Your largest blueberry bush that had very few berries last year should be pruned, but if the other two are still doing well, you could leave them until their berry crop dwindles.

It’s best to prune out any weak straggly stems or any stems growing horizontally. Cut these weak stems down to strong, new buds. Any old, low, un-

productive growth at the base of the plant should also be cut back.

It’s best to keep the centre of blueberry plants open. If your largest blueberry bush is very tall and spindly, there may not be enough space or stem to open-up the centre. But if any of your plants are quite bushy, it’s something to aim for.

I wonder how big the containers are that hold your blueberries. The bigger your containers, the bushier your blueberry plants will be and the more berries you’ll get.

Half-barrel size would be ideal.

Generally, blueberries don’t need a lot of pruning. But once they are three or four years old, it’s useful to remove one branch a year — this will stimulate the roots to keep new stems emerging.

Anne Marrison is happy to answer garden questions.

Send them her via amarrison@shaw.ca. It helps if you can mention your city or region.

February 26, 2015

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER F R I DAY, F E B RUA RY 6 , 2 0 1 5

Community

ICE BREAKER: A capacity crowd gathered for the Vancouver Canucks 15th annual Scotiabank Dice and Ice Gala staged at the Hotel Vancouver. Players and senior brass once again fronted the gaming tables for the off-ice fundraiser benefitting the Canucks for Kids Fund. Daniel and Henrik Sedin and Kevin Bieksa mugged for photos while winger Alex Burrows held court in the VIP poker room. Funny money in hand, attendees mingled with their favourite players before sitting down to a sumptuous dinner and auction. Hosted by Corner Gas creator Brent Butt, the evening generated more than $550,000 for local children’s charities including the Canuck’s Autism Network, B.C. Children’s Hospital and the Canuck Place Children’s Hospice. The impressive results fuelled a win for the club the next day skewering the hapless Buffalo Sabres.

INSPIRED HEALTH: Hundreds came together for the annual Taste the World fundraiser, a signature event for Angkor Children’s Hospital. Party founders John and Nina Cassils welcomed a capacity crowd to the sixth running of the food and wine grazer held in collaboration with the Import Vintners and Spirits Association.

Chaired by Cinnamon Russell and Dianne Carruthers-Wood, the charity event, which raised a reported $125,000, will provide health care to millions of disadvantaged kids and their families in Cambodia and Myanmar. An appreciative Helen Catton, clinical director of the hospital, thanked the room of oenophiles, tastemakers and philanthropists for their generous support, sharing more than 20,000 kids will benefit from the six-figure haul.

WINE WARS: Wine enthusiasts and industry professionals converged at Science World for the third annual Grape Debate presented by alumni UBC, Wines of B.C. and Tourism Vancouver. A panel of wine experts representing the trends and terroir camp came well equipped with arguments to defend their position on what should drive a winery’s decisions. While it was clear the terroir side would rule the night, the biggest celebration came hours earlier with news the B.C. government would reduce the wholesale markup of higherpriced wines under new liquor reforms announced last fall. News spread throughout the geodesic dome with industry leaders, wine fans and more than 30 B.C. wineries raising their glass at the post-debate tasting.

Among attendees were John Clerides and Mark Hicken, who led the public outcry.

email yvrflee@hotmail.com twitter @FredAboutTown

Sisters Sharon and Leanne Chan were among the Canadian friends and donors helping children access healthcare in Cambodia and Myanmar. A reported 20,000 children will benefit from the net proceeds.

Canucks forward Zack Kassian fronted the games table at the hockey club’s annual Dice and Ice Gala held at the Hotel Vancouver and presented by Scotiabank.

From left, gala co-chair Dianne Carruthers-Wood, event founder Nina Cassils and clinical director Helen Catton saw $125,000 raised at the sixth Taste the World fundraiser, benefitting Angkor Children’s Hospital.

Marquis Wine Cellars owner John Clerides and wine industry lawyer Mark Hicken welcomed news of the B.C. government’s about-face on wholesale wine prices. The markup planned for April has been scaled back.

Canucks brass Todd Jeannotte and Canucks for Kids Funds’ Alex Mitchell welcomed a capacity crowd to the off-ice charity event that generated $550,000 for local kids charities.

Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini and his partner, Martine Argent, tested their luck at the blackjack tables. The biggest winners of the night were the event’s beneficiaries, including Canuck’s Autism Network, B.C. Children’s Hospital and the Canuck Place Children’s Hospice.

Tinhorn Creek’s Sandra Oldfield tackled whether wine producers should follow trends — cultivating different varietals in response to consumer preferences — or let the land dictate which grapes will produce the best wines.

Lugaro’s Clara Agopian opened her newest boutique Global Watch Company. The West Georgia Street concept store specializes in timepieces by Longines and Glashütte Original.

F R I DAY, F E B RUA RY 6 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

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Kidding Around Advertisement

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Canada’s Online Lifestyle Magazine

CUBA LIBRE

By Sarah Bancroft

Cruise Cuba before it’s too late. We circumnavigated the country—and discovered uncharted waters—aboard the Canadian-owned Louis Cristal.

Read more on www.vitamindaily.com

START NOTHING: 3:58 a.m. to 11:05 p.m. Monday, 9:32 p.m. Wednesday to 8:46 a.m. Thursday, and 7:15 a.m. to 2:24 p.m. Saturday.

PREAMBLE: Having said last week that Hillary Clinton should not run for president for personal reasons, she might win a July 25 (not 26, perhaps) nomination. But she will probably lose the federal election, especially if Jeb Bush opposes her. More later.….

THE SARAH FILE

There’s a degree in the zodiac that describes a person “surrounded by servants, never friends.” I had a client the other day born in this degree. I didn’t mention this interpretation because it’s too negative. But near the end of our session, she said, “Let me tell you something. You won’t believe this,” and I almost blurted out, “You have no friends!” But she continued, “I’m surrounded by people Monday to Friday” (she ran a fairly large supply firm) “but on the weekend: no one. I have no friends.”

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You remain popular, ready for life and adventure, flirty and optimistic…socially, you’re a winner! You could meet someone in a group who later becomes a romantic partner, even a lifetime love (especially Feb. 8 — if an old flame — or Feb. 12, 13, or 17).

But avoid belligerent people, dark alleys and biker clubs…don’t be lured to danger by a sweet (or lustful) notion.

Love, romance, creativity, speculation, beauty and pleasure call you for 10 more days. You might be attracted to a co-worker. Gemini and Aquarius play key roles. Great week for a family vacation.

By Wednesday, recent mistakes, false starts and delays fade, freeing you to march forward. Your energy and charisma blossom Sunday/Monday.

Remain ambitious, clean and dutiful, Taurus.

By Wednesday onward you can charge forward once again: delays and mistakes end, especially in career zones. People are talkative and friendly toward you all week. For three years (‘15 through 2017) your assets will grow more slowly, investments need to be made with care and study.

Recent delays, mistakes and misdirection fade away Wednesday — from this day on, you can march forward without lingering vines holding you back.

The 10 days ahead continue to feature home, family, security, food and shelter, retirement and lots of rest and relaxation. (My apologies to single parents among you: in your case, my advice is to bond with your oldest child, put some duties on his/her shoulders.)

Wednesday ends three weeks of mistakes, false starts, confusion and delay. It hasn’t been a difficult time, though, as February is almost always a month of expanded thoughts, understanding and mellow mood. You might have been so lost in your thoughts you didn’t even notice the slow-downs.

In your career, someone is criticizing your efforts; someone else is supporting you.

Errands, travel, communications, paperwork, siblings and casual friends fill this week. Your home life mixes the sharp and the sweet. Wednesday ends recent delays and mistakes — you can charge ahead without worry. Wishes can come true Sunday/Monday.

Many others feel frustrated or “alone” Sunday, but your mood is bubbly, optimistic — life’s fresh, you’re popular, and a friendly romance might arise.

Your subconscious rises to the surface; hunches increase, intuition deepens. But this is not always a good thing. Look skeptically at yourself: do you detect greed, lust, a hunger for power? If so, lighten up, dance away from deeper thoughts. (Somehow they follow a downward path — have for a year now; soon, this will end.) On a brighter note, Wednesday ends three weeks of delays, confusion and false

Recent delays and confusions end Wednesday, so get ready to charge ahead. The main accent lies on possessions, money, rote learning and sensual relationships. (Take care with the last — unions formed from mere sensuality usually turn to boredom.) You’ll spend lots of time socializing, chatting, dealing with paperwork, perhaps you’ll take a short trip out of town.

Three weeks of delays, mistakes and false starts ends Wednesday, so you can charge ahead with anything new. This “restart” of your projects begins in a way that hints you’ll drop something or someone, and begin with something/someone new — on a solid basis. Relationships are the prime focus this week and next. Sunday/Monday bring casual friends, errands, trips, visits and communications.

Your energy, magnetism and clout remain high —and by Wednesday, when three weeks of delays and mistakes end, your effectiveness soars also. Prepare to start something significant, a relationship or a project, from Feb. 11 to 17. Your money picture continues to be active and fortunate — unless you spend. (As soon as you spend, you’ll overspend.)

Ten more days of drudgery, chores and niggling health problems, Virgo, then a fresh breeze will bring opportunities, new horizons and relationships.

Sunday/Monday bring money matters — unprofitably to Sunday afternoon, then profitably this eve/night.

Buy only routine items Monday. Errands, trips, visits, communications and paperwork fill Tuesday/ Wednesday — most things go quite well, but avoid legal, political arguments.

Continue to lie low. You can learn a new psychic method now, or discover that you “have it.” Be spiritual, charitable. Wednesday ends three weeks of slowdowns and confusion (though these didn’t affect you a lot). You might discover, midweek, that you have a neglected, government-admininstitutional chore to perform, such as paperwork, tax forms, etc. Well, dive in and do it, either Tuesday/Wednesday or Friday.

Monday: Joe Pesci (72). Tuesday: Laura Dern (48). Wednesday: Burt Reynolds (79). Thursday: Judy Blume (77). Friday: Peter Tork (73). Saturday: Florence Henderson (81). Sunday: Matt Groening (61).

F R I DAY, F E B RUA RY 6 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

Arts&Entertainment

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GOT ARTS? 604.738.1411 or events@vancourier.com

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Feb. 6 to 10, 2015 1. We’ve said it here before, the premise to Vancouver filmmakers Joel Ashton McCarthy and Bryant Boesen’s documentary Taking My Parents to Burning Man could easily be a horror movie. Turns out attending a debaucherous, drug-fuelled arts festival in the middle of the desert with your nearly retired mom and dad can also be a heartwarming and bonding experience. The film screens Feb. 7 at the Rio Theatre along with Ashton McCarthy’s feature length comedy After Film School (Feb. 6 and 7) as part of a fundraiser to send both films to festivals. Details at riotheatre.ca.

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2. Fusing Chinese, Indian, Jewish and Central Asian music in the spirit of improvisation, the genre-defying Orchid Ensemble presents From A Dream for an early celebration of the 2015 Chinese New Year. It all goes down Feb. 8, 2 p.m. at Pyatt Hall.

Tickets at brownpapertickets.com. Details at orchidensemble.com.

3. Gentle giant Ron Funches brings his standup act to the Rickshaw Theatre, Feb. 7, along with his co-stars in the NBC comedy series The Undateables, Brent Morin and Rick Glassman. Local funny dude Dino Archie hosts the event, which is part of the monthly Is This a Joke? comedy series.

Tickets at Highlife, Red Cat, Zulu or ticketweb.ca. Details at rickshawtheatre.com.

4. It’s one of the categories that will sink or propel you to greatness in your office’s Academy Awards pool — Best Animated Short Film. Bone up on the nominees as Vancity Theatre screens all five of this year’s Oscar-nominated Animation Shorts, including A Single Life from the Netherlands, as well as four runners-up, Feb. 6 to 21. If you really want to dominate, Vancity is also screening this year’s Oscar-nominated live action shorts. Details and show times at viff.org.

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER F R I DAY, F E B RUA RY 6 , 2 0 1 5

Arts&Entertainment PHOTO BY: RICH WHEATER | DESIGN BY: ANNA SOBIENIAK

KUDOS & KVETCHES Poll position

When Canadians head to the polls, perhaps in the fall or even sooner, they’ll have a lot to consider. Do they want the handsome but unproven offspring of a former prime minister running the country? Or the unicorn-like rarity of a bearded NDP leader? Or a return to status quo with a Beatles-loving Conservative paradox who once shook his young son’s hand when he dropped him off at school?

A new poll released this week helps make the decision a little easier by clarifying the issues that really matter.

According to an article in the National Post and several other news publications in need of quirky, fun-loving content to fill their depleted pages and generate desperately needed web clicks, Canadians feel Stephen Harper is the best candidate to run a corporation, Justin Trudeau would make a great travel buddy, and Thomas Mulcair would be the candidate most likely to lend them $100.

Abacus Data, “an innovative, fast growing public opinion and marketing

research consultancy” that somehow gets paid to come up with these kinds of polls, surveyed 1,005 Canadians about which of the three federal politicians best fit a number of descriptors.

For instance, Liberal leader Trudeau rated high in the allimportant categories of “trust to choose a good movie to watch (53 per cent), prefer to have babysit your kids (44 per cent), most able to survive in the wilderness (42 per cent) and trust to look after your pet (40 per cent).”

Not surprisingly, Harper got top marks for “best suited to be the CEO of a large company (47 per cent), give investment advice (46 per cent), give career advice (41 per cent), give advice to your children about their future (37 per cent) and negotiate a contract on your behalf (38 per cent).” While Mulcair rated somewhere between the two, scoring well on the caring, generosity and, we’re guessing, manscaping front.

However, in our opinion, the survey did not go far enough in asking irrelevant yet revealing questions about the candidates. For instance, who would you rather sleep with if you bumped into them in the chill-out room

of a Skrillex concert and you felt in a vulnerable place personally but conversely untethered by society’s constraints and judgement due to the fight you had with your partner and the kaleidoscope of drugs you had ingested hours before?

Or which federal leader is most likely to wear boxers, briefs or go commando?

We also think it’s important to consider which candidate you would enlist to recreate the handheld 1989 music video for the Zit Remedy’s “Everybody Wants Something” from the TV show Degrassi High? Who would be Snake, Wheels (RIP) or Joey Jeremiah?

These are the things that need to be considered when eligible voters (all 61 pathetic per cent of you) head to the polls. Although, of course, one doesn’t vote directly for the prime minister but an MP who represents their party for your constituency. And what if that MP is totally not nearly as good at choosing a movie to watch or would make a totally lame babysitter or would probably get eaten by a bear if stranded in the wilderness for too long… oh man. twitter.com/KudosKvetches

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F R I DAY, F E B RUA RY 6 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

Arts&Entertainment

“Breathtaking, hilarious, and heart-stopping”

—The Independent

A23

EVERY SHOW

Starring Crystal Balint and Dion Johnstone as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Love, Rosie only likeable MOVIE REVIEW

ARTSCLUB.COM 604.687.1644 playing at

photo by david cooper

Julie Crawford

jcrawfordfilm@gmail.com

Fairytale locales, gorgeous characters and charmed circumstances: Love, Rosie is the perfect tonic for all the heavy viewing you’ve been doing over the holidays, so long as you’re not expecting much.

Alex (Sam Claflin of Hunger Games fame) and Rosie (Lily Collins) have been friends forever and ever. They’ve spent years avoiding what is patently, maddeningly obvious to everyone else: that they are meant to be more than buddies.

The film opens with a 30-year-old Rosie about to give a speech that she’ll regret forever. Flashbacks to her drunken 18th birthday — and the kiss that started it all — set the scene of miscommunication and missed opportunities.

Alex and Rosie make a pact to head to to Boston to attend med school and a hotel management program, respectively. A bad decision on grad night ruins everything for Rosie, who somehow keeps a very big secret (impossible in this age of technology) from her very hurt best friend.

The film is a lesson on safe sex if ever there was one.

It seems that whenever one of them is free and

shots of a bucolic England, which is actually County Wicklow, Ireland. It’s all very pretty.

So what if some of the cars are of the wrong vintage and Rosie’s friend (Jaime Winstone) sports the same haircut for a decade? The target audience of young adults and women-of-a-certain-age-who-are-satisfiedjust-staring-at-Sam-Claflin’s-pillowy-lips won’t care.

Thank goodness for Collins, who by now is tired of the Audrey Hepburn comparisons, I’m sure.

She’s beguiling even when the originality of the script — adapted from Cecelia Ahern’s novel Where Rainbows End — is not. Collins and Claflin share a workable chemistry that beefs up the story.

It is what it is: a predictable rom-com with lovely locales and winningly sweet characters; the perfect choice pre-Valentine’s Day. Love, Rosie opens Friday.

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Lily Collins and Sam Claflin star in the good-looking but predictable rom-com Love, Rosie.

single, the other is spoken for. Alex gets involved with a series of blonde mistakes (Tamsin Egerton and Bradley Cooper’s current sweetheart Suki Waterhouse), while Rosie’s attempt to make a real family results in a relationship with Greg (Christian Cooke), a man who is all abs, no substance. It takes some continent-hopping and a few failed marriages to get them in sync.

The film’s soundtrack is too literally tied to the narrative (Salt N Peppa’s “Push It” plays during a childbirth scene, while Lily Allen’s “F*** You” accompanies a breakup tantrum).

And occasionally the film forgets itself and falls into a Bridget Jones brand of farce: an S&M scene, which results in Rosie dragging a bedframe through town is starkly out of place.

Director Christian Ditter (French for Beginners) fancies backlit kissing scenes and

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Arts&Entertainment

Posters of the week

Show: Petunia and the Vipers, Feb. 6 at the Imperial with Miss Quincy and the Showdown.

Poster artist: Local artist/musician Jenny Ritter produced the original painting for this poster, which will be on sale in a limited print run at the gig.

Show: Funk Schwey, Magik Spells, Disco Funeral and Highland Eyeway, Feb. 7 at the Emerald.

Poster artist: unknown.

Show: South Van Big Band, Feb. 7 at Pat’s Pub. Poster artist: SVBB’s bassist Paul Freeman selflessly featured a tenor saxophone in the gig poster he designed for his band’s upcoming show.

The Lover’s Art

Valentine’s Eve Concert

8 pm | Friday, February 13, 2015 Ryerson United Church (Kerrisdale)

Vancouver Chamber Choir | Linda Lee Thomas, piano Terence Dawson, piano | Jon Washburn, conductor An early Valentine’s treat, with lovesongs and lifesongs from Johannes Brahms, Alice Parker, Leonard Bernstein and Carl Orff. Wonderful duo-pianists Terence Dawson and Linda Lee Thomas join Jon Washburn and the Vancouver Chamber Choir for a delightful evening of musical highlights. Bring your sweetheart!

www.vancouverchamberchoir.com

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Send high-res jpegs or PDFs for Poster of the Week consideration to mkissinger@vancourier.com.

F R I DAY, F E B RUA RY 6 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

GOT SPORTS? 604.630.3549 or mstewart@vancourier.com

By Megan Stewart

A25

Sports&Recreation UBC brings in another Hanson

Jessica Hanson commits to T-Birds BASKETBALL

1

Megan Stewart

mstewart@vancourier.com

Tupper Tigers Niko Mottus (No. 22) and Santi Ubial (No. 20)

Senior B.C. basketball rankings

In senior boys AAAA for the final week before city and zone playoffs begin, Vancouver College hung on to No. 1 while the tie for second also returned for another week. Terry Fox and Oak Bay share the No. 2 spot. Port Moody, last week’s second No. 2, slips to No. 4 only to share it with Heritage Woods. The Churchill Bulldogs climbed one to No. 5, Mt. Boucherie is No. 7, Walnut Grove is No. 8, Kelowna is No. 9 and the Kitsilano Blue Demons return to the top 10 in the final slot.

In boys AAA, the Tupper Tigers cap off a meaningful, emotional week by jumping from No. 4 to clinch No. 1.

McMath is No. 2, followed by Abbotsford, St. Tomas More, Charles Hays, Fleetwood Park, McNair, South Kamloops, Robert Bateman and Nanaimo.

No Vancouver teams are ranked in boys AA, but four teams crowd the single-A table, leading with St. Patrick’s, which is No. 1 for the third week in a row. Immaculata, Maple Ridge and Richmond follow in order for a second week. St. John’s gave up sole possession of No. 5 to share it with West Point Grey Academy, jumping up from No. 8. Credo Christian is No. 7 and Vancouver’s King David is tied at No. 8 with Duncan Christian. Abbotsford Christian is No. 10.

No Vancouver teams are ranked in girls AAA or single-A this week. In AA, the No. 4 Notre Dame Jugglers have the edge on No. 5 Little Flower Academy for the second week. Duchess Park is No. 1, followed by Immaculata and Holy Cross. St. Thomas More is No. 6, followed by Vernon.

JerseyoftheWeek:WetheEastVan

Drummed up in a genius marketing campaign to unite an entire country around a city most of the population loves to hate (but love to see the Leafs suck, year after year after year), the Raptors slogan We The North, has also been appropriated here. Repurposed by a Kingsway graphic designer, We The East Van appeared this season on the warm-up gear of the Tupper Tigers. Just three blocks east of Main Street on King George Avenue, Tupper runs a proudly hardworking basketball program. And now that I’ve saturated two issues with coverage of the Tigers, I’ll let you know this will likely continue since they’re ranked No. 1 in the province (see above) heading into the city championships next week.

Jessica Hanson is one of those enviable athletes who comes by her talent and passion honestly.

Recruited by universities on both sides of the border, the senior at Little Flower Academy has been blessed by nature and, having grown up courtside with one of Canada’s most successful basketball coaches, the 17-year-old has also been nurtured.

She is the daughter of two sports professionals — mom Theresa played basketball and is the director of athletics and recreation at the University of B.C. Dad Kevin also played elite basketball, is now the head coach of the men’s UBC Thunderbirds and is one of the winningest coaches in Canadian college and university history.

Last week Hanson announced she, too, will be a Thunderbird and had accepted an offer from UBC women’s basketball head coach Deb Huband.

“At first, I really wanted to go away and kind of get out of Vancouver but when it came down to my decision, I realized I don’t want to leave what I have here. It’s special, the connections I have, and Vancouver is a great city,” Hanson said this week.

She is also being pursued by the UBC track and field team, which competes in the U.S.-based NAIA in a competitive season that doesn’t overlap with the winter basketball schedule.

Hanson, a high jumper, competed at the 2013 Canada Summer Games and is one of Canada’s top 10 high jumpers for her age group.

Although her parents have a deep connection to UBC, the decision about Hanson’s future was entirely up to her.

“One hundred per cent,” said Kevin, who has coached his daughter since Grade 3 at Kerrisdale Annex and will see her through the playoffs one last time with the LFA Angels.

“I’m really happy she chose UBC. She had opportunities at several schools, there were five Division 1 schools that had talked to her in the States. One, the Uni-

2

1. Jessica Hanson (No. 11) is coached at Little Flower Academy by her father Kevin Hanson, who is also the head coach of the men’s basketball team at the University of B.C. 2. The coach, seated, addresses the LFA Angels during a timeout Feb. 3. PHOTOS DAN TOULGOET

versity of Portland, was quite seriously looking at her. They signed another guard.”

In Canada, the University of Alberta and University of Saskatchewan, where national team coach Lisa Thomaidis leads the program, were also very interested.

“Education for her has been number one for her the whole time so it’s very impressive that her grades have now shot up. She’s very focused that way,” said her father, who now appreciates what families experience when recruiters come knocking.

“As a parent, you really want the head coach to be talking to you, to get to know you because you’re trusting that coach, that person to be in charge of your kid’s life for five more years, basically,” he said.

Still, the decision was all hers.

“I did not know what she was going to do until she left the room, came back in and said, ‘I’m going to UBC,’” said Kevin.

Hanson was shooting hoops at UBC’s War Memorial Gym as soon as she could handle a ball. She was two years old when her dad moved

from the Langara Falcons to the T-Birds, and in his office is a photo of her wearing the No. 6 jersey of Erica McGuinness, the all-time leading scorer at UBC, and the daughter of T-Birds assistant coach Shaun McGuinness.

“I’ve grown up in that gym, my earliest memories are watching there.

Erica McGuinness, she was like my role model,” she said. “I think I’ll get that number next year.”

In the photo, the oversized jersey reaches Hanson’s feet. She hopes to wear it again now that it fits. twitter.com/MHStewart

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER F R I DAY, F E B RUA RY 6 , 2 0 1 5

Sports&Recreation 1

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Bruins gun for fourth city title Britannia hosts senior girls city final Saturday night BASKETBALL Megan Stewart

mstewart@vancourier.com 1. John Oliver Joker Amarpreet Randhawa (No. 9) protects the ball under pressure Hamber Griffin Shrina Guia (No. 7) in a senior girls basketball playoff game at Britannia secondary Feb. 3. The Griffins won 50-41 but were eliminated in a semi-final by the host Bruins. 2. Jokers coach Pat Lee. 3. Griffins coach Jill Polukoshko.

PHOTOS DAN TOULGOET

The No. 1 and No. 2 senior girls basketball teams vying for city supremacy will meet Saturday night in the VSSAA championship final at Britannia

Über Buffet Featuring Prime Rib, Fresh Fish & Chicken

secondary. For the first time in three years, the title won’t be a contest between Britannia and Kitsilano.

Instead, the undefeated Britannia Bruins host the Churchill Bulldogs (6-1 in the regular season) at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 7.

The Bruins finished the Tier I public school

league (the Vancouver Secondary School Sports Association) with an unblemished 7-0 record and in two playoff games this week, outscored their opponents by an average 30.5 points on their way to the final.

This season marks the fourth consecutive year Britannia will play in the

senior girls city championship. From 2012 through to last year, the Bruins met and defeated the Kitsilano Blue Demons. Before that, Kits met Point Grey two years running.

The Bulldogs one loss came at the hands of Britannia, who trounced Churchill 67-38 on Jan. 14.

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F R I DAY, F E B RUA RY 6 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

Sports&Recreation

Cycling innovations you can plug in

Helmet for safety, pedals for security

WHEEL WORLD Kay Cahill

kay@sidecut.ca

As a technology and gadget junkie, I’m never happier than when new tech collides with the sports I love the most.

New gear, especially when it delivers innovation, is something I get very excited about. And I was especially happy the Consumer Electronics Show, one of the biggest industry showcases for tech developments, included many cycling tools and products this year.

A caveat here is that new tech isn’t always realistic and definitely isn’t always realistically priced.

But it’s fun to peek and imagine where the early adopters are going and then follow the story as bleeding-edge innovation transforms to leading edge and into a form that works for consumers.

On show last month at CES, which is held annually each January in Las Vegas, were a few items that addressed both safety and security, two concerns important to most cyclists.

My favourites were the Volvo smart helmet and the Connected Cycle pedal.

The helmet is a perfect marriage of the current keenness for fitness tracking apps and ongoing safety concerns. Volvo created a prototype that lets drivers

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Developed by Volvo, a smartphone-enabled helmet could warn motorists and cyclists when they are too close to each other.

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know when a cyclist is getting too close for comfort.

The helmet uses fitness tracking apps on the cyclist’s smartphone to communicate with Volvo cars in the immediate vicinity. The system lets drivers know when cyclists are close, including when they’re in the car’s blind spot.

Conversely, the helmet alerts cyclists when they’re in a risky spot too close to the car. Perhaps most impressively of all, the system can actually take control of the car and put on the brakes if a collision is imminent.

This is very impressive tech indeed, and the innovation speaks to the possibility of a time when, instead of jostling for space on the road, different users maintain a constant awareness of one another and an appreciation of respective spaces.

Not quite so overtly impressive but also very useful is the Connected Cycle pedal, which aims to address the perennial urban

problem of bike theft. The pedal, which is completely self-powered, contains a GPS sensor that means the bike can be tracked if it’s ever stolen.

An encrypted key means it’s only possible for the bike to be used and tracked by its owner. The pedal will also track the rider’s activity while he or she is out and about.

As someone who’s lost three bikes to theft over the years, I particularly like this idea — an anti-theft device that’s essentially built into the bike. The pedal is currently a prototype, but the company behind it is planning a crowd-funding drive to make it a reality.

This is one I’ll definitely be chipping in for.

It’s nice to see tech applied to cycling in ways that are practical, sensible and address real concerns for those of us who are out on the road day in and day out.

Kay Cahill is a cyclist and librarian who believes bikes are for life, not just for commuting.

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A27

A28

THE VANCOUVER COURIER F R I DAY, F E B RUA RY 6 , 2 0 1 5

Today’shomes Rising River District ramps up residential development 120-acre site has hundreds of homes and more than 1,250 new ones in the development stage

Glen Korstrom

gkorstrom@biv.com

Vancouver’s newest riverfront community is rapidly taking shape on a 120-acre site in southeast Vancouver with hundreds of homes built, more than 1,250 in development and thousands more anticipated.

Approximately 7,000 homes, housing up to 17,000 people, are expected eventually in the River District, which is bounded

by Boundary Road, Marine Way, Kerr Street and the Fraser River.

Developers earlier this year spent millions of dollars to complete improvements to Marine Way, including new traffic signals and more than a kilometre of medians with shrubs.

They’re now poised to develop a town square that will add 160,000 square feet of retail space.

“This site was one of the largest, if not the largest, rezoning since the Expo lands,” said Wesgroup senior vice-presi-

Housing for around 17,000 is expected to be built in the new neighbourhood. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET

dent Beau Jarvis. “It took about 10 years to obtain the zoning and get an official development plan with the City of Vancouver while working with the community.”

Polygon Homes bought about 15 acres of the site in 2010.

In 2012, it was first off the mark by selling and recently completing 234 homes in the area once

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known as East Fraserlands.

Polygon expects to finish building another 156 pre-sold homes by summer and recently started selling another 145 homes

in a development it calls Rhythm. The company expects to break ground on that project in the spring.

Polygon is also in the early planning stages of two more River District projects that combine to have 250 homes.

The site’s master developer, Wesgroup, has even more ambitious plans.

While most of Polygon’s homes are townhomes or in low- to mid-rise buildings, Wesgroup’s near-term plans include developing 700 homes in two towers – a mid-rise and one that is slated to be 18 storeys.

“We’re moving forward with the town square,” Jarvis said. “Maybe a quarter of the land is developed, but, in terms of density, there’s much less than a quarter of the site developed because there’s some higher-density stuff that we get into as we get closer to the town square.”

The town square will

be accessible from Marine Way and include about 140,000 square feet of retail space with 20,000 additional square feet on a second floor, making it potential office space.

Wesgroup has yet to receive its development permits but Jarvis expects “prior-to” letters from the city some time this month. Wesgroup could then file disclosure statements, launch its project and start marketing real estate.

Its 700 homes are likely to be a mix of townhomes and units with one, two and three bedrooms.

While Wesgroup is the site’s overall master developer, its ParkLane Homes sister company was a partner on Polygon’s projects and has the same principals as Wesgroup.

“To date, most of our buyers come from the immediate neighbourhood of South Vancouver,” said Polygon CEO Neil Chrystal . twitter.com/GlenKorstrom

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F R I DAY, F E B RUA RY 6 , 2 0 1 5 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

A35

Automotive New Mustang Shelby GT350 might be a monster BRAKING NEWS Brendan McAleer

brendanmcaleer@gmail.com

Ordinarily, Nurburgring lap times are like a properly prepared steak: best taken with a grain or two of salt.

A lot can happen in the Green Hell’s hundred odd corners, with so many variables that it’s hard to judge performance. Add in that many manufacturers fudge the numbers with shaved tires and the like, and you get a free-for-all that deserves a little suspicion.

However, when it comes to the above headline, well, some stories are just too delicious not to believe.

A 50-year-old American pony car just spanked a quartermillion-dollar Italian stallion around the world’s most infamous circuit. Film at 11.

The Shelby GT350 was first shown at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November, with a raceprepped version revealed at the North American

International Auto Show earlier this month in Detroit. Both machines are powered by a flat-planecrank 5.2-litre V-8 (the crankshaft appears flat in cross-section, as opposed to the “+” shape normally required for balance) producing somewhere around 500 horsepower and 400 footpounds of torque.

Flatplane-crank V-8s produce a characteristic harsh sound, and were only really previously found in small displacement Ferraris. Well, looks like Henry Ford’s old grudge match against Maranello ain’t over. Performance magazine EVO is claiming that the GT350R has just posted a 7:32 around the Nurburgring, which is ahead of the 458 Italia’s unofficial time.

What does this mean to you? First, it shows just how good the new Mustang can be as a track car. Second, and maybe I should throw in the old professional-driver closedcourse disclaimer, perhaps it’s time to see what your next convertible Mustang

the increasing amount of telematics carried by the average car. “If you’ve nothing to hide, what’s the problem?” is the common refrain, but being constantly tracked by law enforcement is disconcerting, to say the least.

Meanwhile, if you’ll excuse me I’ve just got to go post all the places I’ve been last week on Facebook, a surely more benevolent institution. Oh wait.

Performance magazine EVO is claiming that the GT350R has just posted a 7:32 around the Nurburgring, which is ahead of the 458 Italia’s unofficial time.

rental car can really do.

DEA collects huge licence plate database

It’s for your own good.

You have nothing to fear.

Now, pass the tinfoil, please. I need to make a protective hat.

Earlier last year, it was revealed that the U.S. Department of Justice was seeking to house a huge database of licence plate images, showing date and time of travel. Now it looks like the DEA already has that database, with hundreds of millions of licence

plates collected and stored in records going back to 2008.

The images are collected in a variety of ways, including automated licence plate readers used along the U.S.Mexico border, and the program is reportedly used to fight cross-border drug trafficking. Data can be analyzed to show the flow of traffic to and from Mexico, and track the previous paths of suspicious cars.

Sounds fair enough, but somewhat unnerving, especially when you consider

MTV report: Millennials actually like cars

For those of us old enough to remember a time when MTV had even the slightest relation to music, the current trend among young people to defer getting their licence and otherwise ignore the automobile is somewhat disturbing.

The headlines come fast and furious, assuring us that the age of car culture is over. There’s just one tiny problem: it’s not.

According to a study done by MTV (no, I don’t know why they don’t show music videos anymore),

three out of every four millennials aged 18-34 would rather give up social media for a day than their car.

Also, they’d rather give up texting for a week instead of driving. Wait, can that be right? But it interferes with all that Grandpa Simpson rhetoric about car-hating young whippersnappers!

Truth be told, these results should be surprising to no one. Everywhere I go in this industry, I see kids still interested in cars, just in different ways. We have young racers like Scott Hargrove, the whole “stance” movement, drift culture, a greater interest in automotive photography, and then the whole digital side of things that lets you own and drive highly detailed supercars in video games even if your real-life wheels are Mom’s Corolla.

No matter how difficult and expensive it is to own a car, there’s still a freedom that comes with it, so while car ownership is perhaps less a rite of passage than it once was, it’s still important to the young. And that’s good news indeed.

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MSRP of advertised 2015 GLK 250 BlueTEC™ 4MATIC™ Avantgarde Edition/2015 GLA 250 4MATIC™ is $48,600/$37,200. *Total price of $51,660 /$40,260 includes freight/PDI of $2,295, dealer admin fee of $595, air-conditioning levy of $100, PPSA up to $45.48 and a $25.00 fee covering EHF tires, filters and batteries. **Vehicle options, fees and taxes extra. Vehicle license, insurance, and registration are extra. 1 Lease offer based on the 2015 GLK 250 BlueTEC™ 4MATIC™ Avantgarde Edition/2015 GLA 250 4MATIC™. Available only through Mercedes-Benz Financial Services on approved credit for a limited time. Lease example based on $498/$398 (excluding taxes) per month for 45/39 months (STK# V1537744/1537632), due on delivery includes down payment or equivalent trade of $7,921/$7,203, plus first month lease payment, security deposit, and applicable fees and taxes. Lease APR of 2.9%/3.9% applies. Total cost of borrowing is $3,689/$3,771. Total obligation is $33,971/$25,452. 12,000/year allowance ($0.20/km for excess kilometres applies.). Please note a credit has been applied/included in the calculation of the monthly lease payment on the 2015 GLK 250 BlueTEC™ 4MATIC™ Avantgarde Edition. It is a one-time credit for deals closed before February 28th, 2015. See in-store for full details.

2 Receive up to a $750 credit on Mercedes-Benz Financial Services protection products, available only through Mercedes-Benz Financial Services. Not all protection products are available in all provinces, on all vehicles or at all dealers. All products and services of Mercedes-Benz Financial Services and its affiliates are subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable governing agreements. Please contact your authorized Mercedes-Benz dealer for a full list of limitations and exclusions. Credit is only applicable on the lease or finance of a new 2015 B/C/CLA/GLA/GLK model and must be applied at the time of sale. No cash value. 3 Three (3) month payment waivers are only valid on 2015 GLK 250 BlueTEC™ 4MATIC™ Avantgarde Edition/2015 GLA 250 4MATIC™ for deals closed before February 28th, 2015. First, second, and third month payment waivers are capped at $550/$400 per month for lease. Only on approved credit through Mercedes-Benz Financial Services. Dealer may sell for less. Offers may change without notice and cannot be combined with any other offers. See your authorized Mercedes-Benz Vancouver dealer for details or call the Mercedes-Benz Vancouver Customer Care at 1-855-554-9088. Offer ends February 28th, 2015.

A36

THE VANCOUVER COURIER F R I DAY, F E B RUA RY 6 , 2 0 1 5

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