Pique Newsmagazine 3048

DECEMBER 1, 2023 ISSUE 30.48

WWW.PIQUENEWSMAGAZINE.COM

FREE HABITAT

MESSENGERS FOREST THE

OF

Inside the struggle to save Canada’s most endangered bird

14

THROUGH THE SMOKE Whistler’s cannabis retail framework under judicial review

16

SAFETY FIRST Whistler Blackcomb urges caution in early-season conditions

46

ALL ORIGINAL Jack Garton and Dino DiNicolo headline Winter Feast

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THIS WEEK IN PIQUE

38 42 46

Messengers of the forest Inside the struggle to save Canada’s most endangered bird. - By Stefan Labbé

14 THROUGH THE SMOKE

Whistler’s cannabis

28 FEES WAIVED

Pemberton’s mayor and council

retail framework is under scrutiny after an applicant triggered a judicial

voted to waive development fees for the Harrow Road affordable housing

review in B.C.’s Supreme Court.

project on Nov. 21.

15 FUNDRAISER LAUNCHED

Whistler is

42 STORM CHASERS

The Whistler Secondary

reeling after a fatal car accident on Highway 99 claimed the lives of three

School senior boys volleyball team is basking in the glory of an historic

locals and injured another last weekend.

championship.

16 SAFETY DANCE

Whistler Blackcomb is encour-

46 ALL ORIGINAL

Musicians Jack Garton and Dino

aging guests to be prepared and stay safe as they navigate the resort’s

DiNicolo headline this year’s All Original Orphans’ Winter Feast at the

early-season conditions.

Point.

COVER If humans were as good at sharing habitat as they are at taking it, there probably wouldn’t even be a housing crisis. - By Jon Parris // @jon.parris.art 4 DECEMBER 1, 2023

DELICIOUSLY

LOCAL Local means being that grocery store where you can still get fresh produce, locally raised meats and all things fresh from closer to home.

Where small BC producers can bring their goods to market. Local as in a store that’s not just made for everywhere, it’s made for Whistler.

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Publisher SARAH STROTHER - sstrother@piquenewsmagazine.com

NEW

NEW

THIS WEEK IN PIQUE

Weekend Forecast Inside

Weekend Forec Ins

SEE PAGE 11 >>

Opinion & Columns 08 OPENING REMARKS

With the holiday season fast approaching, there’s no time like the present

to buy local in Whistler.

10 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR This week’s letter writers draw attention to a local charity cam-

Editor BRADEN DUPUIS - bdupuis@piquenewsmagazine.com

paign, and call on the municipality to make space for campers and van-lifers.

Sales Manager SUSAN HUTCHINSON - shutchinson@piquenewsmagazine.com Production Manager AMIR SHAHRESTANI - ashahrestani@piquenewsmagazine.com

13 PIQUE’N YER INTEREST There’s no such thing as a “good” driver, writes Andrew Mitchell—

Art Director JON PARRIS - jparris@piquenewsmagazine.com

only safe drivers who obey the rules and reckless drivers who don’t.

Advertising Representatives TESSA SWEENEY - tsweeney@wplpmedia.com

62 MAXED OUT The federal government is dangling $16 billion in future funding for affordable housing,

GEORGIA BUTLER - gbutler@wplpmedia.com

writes G.D. Maxwell. What could go wrong?

Digital/Sales Coordinator KATIE DOUGLAS - kbechtel@wplpmedia.com

Environment & Adventure

Production - production@piquenewsmagazine.com Features Editor BRANDON BARRETT - bbarrett@piquenewsmagazine.com Arts Editor ALYSSA NOEL - arts@piquenewsmagazine.com Reporters BRANDON BARRETT - bbarrett@piquenewsmagazine.com ALYSSA NOEL - arts@piquenewsmagazine.com DAVID SONG - sports@piquenewsmagazine.com RÓISÍN CULLEN - rcullen@piquenewsmagazine.com SCOTT TIBBALLS - stibballs@piquenewsmagazine.com Classifieds and Reception - mail@piquenewsmagazine.com Office and Accounts Manager HEIDI RODE - hrode@wplpmedia.com Contributors G.D. MAXWELL, GLENDA BARTOSH, LESLIE ANTHONY, ANDREW MITCHELL,

37 RANGE ROVER As anyone who lives with one knows, the positives of dog ownership far outweigh the negatives, writes Leslie Anthony.

Lifestyle & Arts

44 FORK IN THE ROAD Wrong ingredient? Mistake measuring? Don’t worry, writes Glenda Bartosh—sometimes those mistakes turn into happy accidents.

50 MUSEUM MUSINGS Former Whistler ski patroller Yvonne Thornton was one of a lucky select group to get to work with avalanche dogs in the mountains.

ALISON TAYLOR, VINCE SHULEY Founding Publishers KATHY & BOB BARNETT Pique Newsmagazine (a publication of Pacific Coastal Publishing Limited Partnership, a division of Glacier Media) distributed to over 150 locations from Squamish to D’arcy.

The entire contents of Pique Newsmagazine are copyright 2023 by Pique Newsmagazine (a publication of WPLP, a division of Glacier Media). No portion may be reproduced in whole or in part by any means, including electronic retrieval systems, without the express written permission of the Publisher.

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OPENING REMARKS

Buy local in Whistler this holiday season EVERY SINGLE DAY , hundreds of thousands of cardboard-boxed online purchases zip their way to and fro across Canada, first sorted in massive, overstuffed warehouses and packed solid into delivery trucks before shipping out en route to so many porches.

For better and for worse, consumerism

BY BRADEN DUPUIS has never been easier, or more efficient.

We feel a familiar, primal longing, or an urge—an inner incompleteness of sorts—and with a few taps of a phone screen or clicks of a mouse we attempt to fill the hole.

Whether or not we’re successful at that in the long run is irrelevant; all that matters is we have ordered the thing, and in three to five business days we will find it on our doorstep when we return home from work.

Modern-day magic in the material world.

According to Statista, Canada Post delivered about 286 million parcels in 2022, down 20 per cent from the 361 million in 2021 (and the all-time parcel peak in the pandemic year of 2020: 389 million).

While it sure is convenient to be able to order an industrial tub of mayonnaise to your doorstep and have it arrive (discretely, hopefully) in a matter of days, online shopping through platforms like Amazon—particularly around the busy holiday period—does no favours for our local small businesses.

That’s why B.C.’s chambers of commerce and other business groups promote Buy Local Week, now in its 12th year.

Promoted by non-profit business

alliance LOCO BC and Canadian Federation of Independent Business, Buy Local Week, taking place this year from Nov. 27 to Dec. 3, encourages British Columbians to support their locally run businesses during the busy holiday season.

According to CFIB’s Small Business, Big Impact: Small Retailers’ Local Contributions report, for every dollar spent at a local independent B.C. retailer, 66 cents stay within the local economy. On the flipside, only 11 cents of every dollar stay in the community when consumers shop at a large, multinational business, and just eight cents stay local when the purchase is made at an online giant like Amazon.

“The need to support local businesses has never been more important, as our community businesses face record-high inflation, a labour

Though nine in 10 consumers say they love having small, independent businesses in their community and think they are important to the community’s future, the report found more than three in four small retailers are losing customers and revenues to big businesses.

“We encourage everyone to prioritize shopping local not just during BC Buy Local Week, but throughout the whole year,” said Emily Boston, a policy analyst at CFIB and the co-author of the report, in the release. “Even a small change in spending habits will have a positive impact on local economies.”

Here in Whistler, we’ve got no shortage of local entrepreneurs we can support—Village Stroll storefronts, local restaurants, activity providers, artists and musicians, physical

[F]or every dollar spent at a local independent B.C. retailer, 66 cents stay within the local economy. On the flipside, only 11 cents of every dollar stay in the community when consumers shop at a large, multinational business, and just eight cents stay local when the purchase is made at an online giant like Amazon.

shortage, and employee housing crisis—a triple whammy,” said Amy Robinson, founder and executive director of LOCO BC, in a release.

The CFIB report also found consumers underestimate small retailers’ contributions to local economies by almost two times, while also overestimating the contribution of multinationals and online giants by more than two times.

therapists and personal trainers… the list goes on.

One easy way to support local is to start by thinking of your friends and neighbours—how do they contribute to our community, and how can I support them?

And if that special someone in your life is especially hard to buy for, you can always make a donation in their name.

Giving Tuesday—the charitable response

This 2.5 bedroom gem of a townhouse features an updated kitchen, renovated bathroom, wood flooring, and numerous unseen improvements like new drywall, electrical, and soundproofing. Cozy up by the wood-burning fireplace in winter and relax on the spacious porch in summer. Plenty of storage with an exterior shed and a 400 sq ft crawl space.

Conveniently located near Meadow Park Sports Centre, Alpine Cafe, local high school, and the Valley Trail system for easy navigation throughout Whistler.

Ideal weekend retreat or full-time residence.

ce Pri w Ne

to Black Friday’s religious consumerism—was Nov. 28, but the need at organizations like the Whistler Community Services Society is not confined to just one day. This year’s Giving Tuesday campaign at WCSS supports its Counselling Assistance Program, which is still seeing more demand than ever before.

Is your special someone a history buff?

The Whistler Museum and Archives is seeking donations towards its new building project.

That’s barely scratching the surface—there is a long list of local non-profit organizations in Whistler and the Sea to Sky that would love your support this Christmas (find more at whistlerfoundation.com/work/non-profitnetwork/volunteer-in-whistler).

In short, there is a whole lot of good we can do with our dollars right here in Whistler this

Asking price-$999,000 2-8003 Timber Lane

holiday season rather than sprinkling them on top of Jeff Bezos’ already exorbitant wealth.

So before you hit the checkout button on that industrial tub of mayonnaise, spare a thought for our hard-working local mayo producers, sweating it out over so many hot eggs.

Your mayo may not arrive tomorrow, but you’ll sleep easier knowing your dollars are doing good for Whistler. ■

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PROTEINS

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR fun in the backcountry has been challenging.

We have had to tip-toe around avoiding hazards that are often buried by now.

This weekend, however, this pattern of warm and dry is about to change. With several pulses of snow coming, each a bit more intense than the last, it will finally start to feel like winter is back. We are confident snow will arrive, but there is some uncertainty in exactly how much. It likely won’t be enough to fully bury all the hazards we’ve been dodging out there.

This new snow will unfortunately also fall on facets, surface hoar, or a crust, depending on aspect and elevation. This means a concerning persistent slab problem is potentially on the horizon for the Whistler area.

We are all missing the deep coastal snowpack we are used to. With more intense storms in the long-term forecast, we will get there soon enough. Initially, the new snow will cause the avalanche hazard to rise, but over time, it will settle out and hopefully give way to a more typical coastal snowpack. Be patient. It is not time to go full send just yet. n

Calling all Whistler community builders As charities continue to see high need, we are working to increase granting support, so the Whistler Community Foundation (WCF) is kicking off our third-annual campaign to grow our community’s financial resilience. We’d love to take you with us on this journey.

As you may know, WCF holds donations as investments that grow over time, and proceeds are granted back to local charities who serve the community.

We are so grateful to the 11 participating Whistler businesses who have committed to donating five per cent of gross sales made between open and close on Dec. 2 to the Whistler Community Fund. Gifts to the Community Fund support flexible granting that address evolving community needs.

By shopping local on Dec. 2, you give local.

We encourage you to visit our website to find out which locations are participating, and hope you make a plan to go to as many as possible.

Personal donations to the Whistler Community Fund are also welcome. Make your online donation at whistlerfoundation.com/give or contact Claire Mozes, CEO, at cmozes@ whistlerfoundation.com to make sure your donation is included in the total.

Last year, we raised $7,332, and we hope you’ll help us surpass this amount in 2023. By

simply shopping, you’re investing in a thriving community!

Thank you for being a community builder.

Claire Mozes // CEO, Whistler Community Foundation

Whistler needs space for campers and vans Camper life seems like the best housing option in Whistler these days. Whistler muni, wake up! Create some space for everyone to camp/ van park since you’re not providing nearly the

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Peter Vogler // Whistler n

Backcountry Update AS OF WEDNESDAY, NOV. 29

You don’t need to hear it from me, but here it goes. The season has gotten off to a rough start. With a dismal base, a general lack of snow, and high freezing levels at times, having

ION

UCT R T S N

CO

CONDITIONS MAY VARY AND CAN CHANGE RAPIDLY Check for the most current conditions before heading out into the backcountry. Daily updates for the areas adjacent to Whistler Blackcomb are available at 604-9387676, or surf to www.whistlerblackcomb.com/ mountain-info/snow-report#backcountry or go to www.avalanche.ca.

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12 DECEMBER 1, 2023

*PREC

PIQUE N’ YER INTEREST

Aggravated asphalt MY JADED faith in humanity was somewhat restored this past summer when we avoided a catastrophic fire in Whistler and the Sea to Sky corridor. As busy as it was, nobody left a campfire unattended, tossed a cigarette butt out a car window into dry grass, or launched blue/pink fireworks into a tinder-dry forest at a cursed gender reveal party (at least not that

BY ANDREW MITCHELL I know about).

I’m sure some luck was involved, and I know fire crews attended minor issues all summer long, including a lightning strike, but at the end of the day we made it through a dangerous situation. It was incredibly stressful to go through the days knowing everything you own, and maybe even your life, ultimately depended on other people being safe and making good choices.

It’s amazing how much of a difference one even temporarily careless or clueless human can make.

I would argue this applies equally to our roads, although I can’t say driving the highway has done a lot for the overall faith/humanity equation. On any given day

I see pointless speeding, people driving too fast for the conditions, unnecessarily aggressive passing and lane changes, drivers following way too closely (especially at night when the overbright lights of pickup trucks bounce off my mirrors and blind me, making me slow down), drivers not signalling their intentions and forcing others to react suddenly or wait for the next stoplight, drivers veering over the centre line and cutting corners, drivers pulling out onto the highway when they don’t have enough time and forcing others to slam on their brakes, and so on.

It’s gotten to the point where it’s rare I can make a trip to Squamish or the city and not experience at least one close call. As we head into another winter driving season and conditions ramp up the risk factor, I fully expect to see the same kinds of highway closures that seemed to occur at least once a week over the last few winters.

Driving is serious business. There aren’t too many other things we do on a daily basis where a small mistake or miscalculation can kill or injure someone.

Nationally, there are roughly 160,000 car accidents every year, resulting in more than 10,000 serious injuries and almost 3,000 deaths. In B.C., there are an average of 820 crashes every single day, about 170 of which result in an injury or death. There are about 180 road deaths a year in the province,

or about one every second day.

Theoretically, almost every single one of those accidents, minor injuries, lifechanging injuries and deaths is preventable, and all it would take would be for people to take driving seriously and obey the rules of the road—including speed limits most people treat as optional.

If you applied those grim statistics to any other activity, there would be outrage.

If even a 10th of our daily vehicle injuries and deaths occurred as a result of elevator accidents, everybody would take the stairs and demand government act to make elevators safer. Same goes with foodborne illnesses or air travel or literally anything else we regulate as a society. But because all this carnage takes place on the road, it gets a pass for some reason—we have collectively decided as a society that a certain amount of carnage is acceptable and unavoidable; a fair price to pay for the convenience of our cars.

We don’t even think about driving properly. For example, consider the people you know who would consider themselves to be “good” drivers—what exactly do they mean by that?

Objectively, there’s really no such thing as a “good” driver, there are only safe drivers who obey the rules and reckless drivers who don’t. A lot of the people who consider themselves to be good drivers are

really just reckless drivers that have gotten away with it and have confused their luck with skill. Pushing the limit on corners, ignoring conditions, passing people who are already driving over the limit, following way too closely, and changing lanes every few seconds because there’s a gap you can fill doesn’t make you a good driver, it makes you the driver who is statistically most likely to ruin someone’s day. Or life.

Increased enforcement would help, but there are almost 60,000 kilometres of paved roads in this province and police can’t be everywhere. Cameras will help— speed cameras and red-light cameras—but you’d need thousands placed randomly for full effect.

When you do the math, driving recklessly isn’t worth it. Going 10km/h over the limit from Whistler to Vancouver will save you about nine minutes—and that’s only if you hit all green lights through Squamish and don’t end up in any traffic. I can’t count the number of times somebody has made a dangerous pass at the end of a merge only to be sitting all of 10 metres and five seconds ahead of me at the next set of lights.

I think about this a lot with my daughter turning 16 in a few months. Like other teens, she’s excited to get her permit and start taking lessons. Seeing what I see out there on a daily basis, I’m less excited than terrified. n

DECEMBER 1, 2023

13

NEWS WHISTLER

Whistler’s cannabis retail framework under judicial review IN LEGAL PETITION, APPLICANT CONTENDS THE RMOW DIDN’T FOLLOW ITS OWN STRINGENT CRITERIA IN APPROVING WHISTLER VILLAGE SHOP

BY BRANDON BARRETT THE RESORT Municipality of Whistler’s (RMOW) meticulous framework for approving cannabis retail has come under scrutiny after a prospective retailer triggered a judicial review of the process in B.C.’s Supreme Court.

Filed in June, the petition contends the RMOW did not adequately follow its own stringent criteria when it approved temporaryuse permits (TUP) for four cannabis dispensaries in Whistler this summer.

Petitioner Warren Hamm, owner of The Green Pineapple, which counts cannabis storefronts in Kelowna, Warfield, and Fruitvale, was one of six applicants denied by the municipality. According to court filings, Hamm’s counsel argued the granting of a specific TUP for a dispensary slated for Whistler Village was “procedurally unfair and substantively unreasonable” for several purported reasons.

Firstly, the petition alleges applicant This is Cannabis, with existing retail locations in Chilliwack and Abbotsford, did not follow the application guidelines set out by the RMOW when it applied for a provincial retail licence prior to the local government amending its cannabis bylaws.

“Any application for provincial licences made prior to the RMOW amending its bylaws will be rejected,” the municipality’s Guidelines for Prospective Cannabis Retail

UNDER REVIEW This is Cannabis is one of four applicants approved by the RMOW to operate a cannabis retail shop in the resort. Its Mountain Square storefront is pictured.

PHOTO BY BRADEN DUPUIS

14 DECEMBER 1, 2023

Businesses reads.

This is Cannabis, which was approved for a storefront at 4293 Mountain Square, submitted its application to B.C.’s Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch on May 10, 2022; the RMOW amended its zoning bylaw regulating cannabis retail on Jan. 10, 2023, according to the filing.

The petition also contends This is Cannabis’ application was not complete at the time it was submitted, contrary to the RMOW’s application form that clearly states: “Incomplete applications will not be accepted.”

The petition also claims This is Cannabis did not include proof of ownership or lease of the Mountain Square retail space by the March 2023 application deadline, contrary to municipal Cannabis Retail Policy G-27, which states that a letter of consent signed by the subject property strata corporation or registered owner authorizing the application and proof of an option for lease or purchase was required.

In May, This is Cannabis co-owner Cody Les, who declined to comment for this story, told Pique they had secured a lease for 4293 Mountain Square close to a year prior and left the commercial space vacant over that span.

Around that time, the RMOW noted 10 applications had been submitted for cannabis storefronts, including one partially incomplete submission. Despite the RMOW’s application materials clearly listing a March 13, 2023 deadline, Mayor Jack Crompton told Pique in May that submissions would be accepted on an ongoing basis.

It was an issue raised by another unsuccessful retail applicant, Pemberton’s Tyler Mosher, at a council meeting this summer. Mosher argued Spiritleaf, which was granted a TUP to operate in Creekside where Mosher also applied, was incomplete at the

submission deadline.

“So, incomplete applications, although this was the most robust application process that me or any of my associates in cannabis throughout Canada have seen with respect to retail, it wasn’t followed, and you’re thinking that the recommendation and the process, even though not followed by your policy, is a reasonable recommendation?”

Mosher asked elected officials at the July 18 council meeting.

In a statement to Pique, the RMOW stood behind its approval process.

“At the June 20 Regular Council Meeting, Council approved four retail cannabis Temporary Use Permits, including a TUP for Spiritleaf in the Creekside area. Council made our decision based on a review of all the applications, the staff report with recommendations, the criteria set out in the Cannabis Retail Policy and correspondence received from members of the community,” it read. “We are confident in the decisions made through this process and thank everyone who applied. We have no further comment at this time.”

Other prospective retailers also raised issue with the process, arguing the grading criteria and application framework contained significant errors, and that the RMOW should have been more transparent throughout.

“To RMOW staff’s credit, they had come up with detailed evaluation criteria, but we feel that those criteria do not capture our operational track record of having seven licences and our First Nation relationship, and the efforts that have gone into selecting the ideal location based on ‘on the ground’ community needs and community engagement were not considered,” Vikram Sachdeva, founder of Seed & Stone Cannabis, wrote in a June email. “We believe

that these are the demonstrated aspects that capture the applicant’s potential to act in the interests of the community once approved rather than just the promises.”

Another applicant, Inspired Cannabis owner Jesse Dhami, in June said he noticed inconsistencies in staff’s dealings with applicants and a lack of transparency around the TUP process.

Hamm’s petition, which he said would be considered by the courts in the spring, highlighted another purported inconsistency in the RMOW’s approval of This is Cannabis’ storefront: its location.

According to the RMOW’s zoning amendment bylaw, a cannabis retail store “shall not be permitted to have frontage on the Village Stroll.”

The petition contends that This is Cannabis’ Mountain Square unit and entrance “can be seen directly from the Village Stroll, including from gathering places near the gondola and from natural areas of congregation, such as the public seating in the square.”

The RMOW took a decidedly cautious approach to approving legal weed, using an extensive, merit-based point system to score applicants’ submissions on a range of criteria that went well beyond provincial and federal regulations. Favour was given to, among other things, providing a living wage and housing to staff, committing to climate leadership, partnering with local First Nations, and pursuing Whistler’s community health and social strategy goals.

More than five years since legalization, only one of Whistler’s four approved cannabis shops, A Little Bud in Function Junction, is currently open for business.

None of the above claims have been proven in court. n

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TRAGIC LOSS Iris Paguia Portillo, left, with her daughter, Natalia, and husband, Josafat Portillo. Iris’ brother, James Paguia, is pictured in the righthand-side photo.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE PAGUIA PORTILLO FAMILY

Whistler reeling after fatal crash that claimed three lives, injured one NESTERS MARKET HOSTING FUNDRAISER ON DEC. 2 TO SUPPORT PAGUIA PORTILLO FAMILY

BY BRANDON BARRETT THE COMMUNITY OF WHISTLER is reeling after a fatal car accident on Highway 99 claimed the lives of three locals and injured another last weekend.

The victims of the tragic single-vehicle car crash in the early hours of Nov. 26 have been identified as 22-year-old Josafat Portillo, his two-year-old daughter Natalia, and his brother-in-law, James Paguia.

Iris Paguia Portillo, mother to Natalia and wife to Josafat, was also in the vehicle, and is currently in stable condition, according to police. The incident occurred just after midnight Saturday night, near the Daisy Lake Dam, Mounties said in a release. The vehicle veered off the side of the highway and hit a tree, police said. The collision is not believed to be criminal in any way, according to investigators.

According to a GoFundMe launched for the victims, the family members were heading home from a church gathering when the accident occurred.

Josafat, or “Jos” as he was known, was described as a dedicated family man with a heart of gold.

“The nicest kid in the world,” said Jason Stevenson, branch manager for Lordco Auto Parts in Function, where Josafat worked for the better part of two years. “He was always willing to help the customers and make their day better. He was never one to just find the parts and send them on their way.

He would talk about their day and how they were doing.”

A tight-knit family, Josafat also worked at Nesters Market alongside his brother-inlaw James and his wife Iris. Iris’ mother and another brother also work at the grocery store.

Nesters Market GM Bruce Stewart called

the Paguia Portillos “just the loveliest family, that’s the easiest way I can say it. A really kind, gentle and caring family.”

On Saturday, Dec. 2, Nesters will be raising funds for the family, with local rotary members on hand to accept donations, and live music in the afternoon. Stevenson said Lordco will also organize something to support and commemorate the family at a later date.

“Losing James, Jos and Natalie has already had a devastating effect on us here at Nesters and in Whistler, and has changed the landscape forever,” Stewart said. “We send heartfelt love and condolences to the Paguia and Portillo families, and our thanks to the first responders.”

In many ways, the Paguia Portillos exemplify Whistler’s diverse immigrant community. Active members of the church community, Josafat hails from El Salvador, while Iris immigrated to Canada from the Philippines as a child.

In a 2021 article exploring the different cultural holiday traditions celebrated in Whistler, Iris told Pique she was looking forward to exposing her then months-old daughter Natalia to the varied Christmas customs of her multicultural family.

“Half of my life was in Canada, and [my husband] grew up here, so we have the Christmas pyjamas and those Western traditions going on,” she said. “There’s definitely a pressure when we’re trying to figure out how to mix these traditions and make it work properly without overwhelming her.”

At press time, the GoFundMe campaign had raised more than $65,000 of its stated $100,000 goal—more than doubling the original target of $30,000. Donate at gofundme.com/f/josafat-portillo-nataliaportillo-james-paguia.

-With files from Braden Dupuis n

S CA N F O R M OV E - I N R E A DY L I ST I N G S

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R E A L E S TAT E I N W H I S T L E R . C O M

DECEMBER 1, 2023

15

NEWS WHISTLER

Safety comes first in Whistler’s early-season conditions OPENING DAY ARRIVES IN WHISTLER WITH LOWER SNOWPACK, HEIGHTENED NEED FOR SAFETY: PATROL

BY SCOTT TIBBALLS WITH THE SNOWPACK in the Coast Mountains is below what it has been in years past, Whistler Blackcomb (WB) ski patrol is encouraging skiers, both in-bounds and in the backcountry, to be prepared and stay safe.

WB’s senior manager of patrol Adam Mercer said ongoing fall drought conditions have changed what skiers can expect of the terrain in the early season.

“We had a great period last fall where it was quite cold; we had an arctic outbreak for a few weeks and there was a lot of snow, top to bottom, so we were skiing all the way to the valley last year,” Mercer said on Nov. 22, a day before opening.

“Whereas this season we’ve seen it being a little bit warmer, and we’re unable to make snow at the lower elevations.”

As of opening day, the in-bounds snow base at Whistler was 57 centimetres. There was only 24 cm of fresh snow in the seven days leading up to when the ski lifts started taking guests up the hill for the first time this season.

As such, most of what guests are skiing on in the open terrain is man-made.

For more backcountry skiing, Mercer explained the drought conditions that extended from summer and into fall ensured

SAFE SPACE Whistler Blackcomb’s senior manager of patrol, Adam Mercer, talks about early-season safety in front of some patchy alpine terrain.

PHOTO BY SCOTT TIBBALLS

there are more obstacles in the mountains than usual.

“This drought we’ve had here the last two falls has impacted our snowpack in the alpine environment … We typically see more snowpack develop through September, late September into October, and that snowpack kind of builds up and starts to fill in some of the areas that are a rocky, talus-y environment,” he said.

“We rely on that early-season snow to fill in all those places. We’re definitely seeing that there’s less snow in the alpine environment

than we normally see this time of year.”

It’s not all doom and gloom though— Mercer added that, given the area, it could all change in a hurry.

“The good thing is that being in the Coast range, winter can switch on very quickly for us.”

As Whistler Blackcomb’s top patroller, Mercer said safety is paramount for guests on the mountain.

“For opening weekend, we anticipate that we will have an open boundary, meaning people can ski-tour up and into the alpine terrain, (but) we’re asking people to do so

cautiously,” he said.

“It’s that time of year when we’re in an assessment mindset, kinda stepping back our normal skiing behavior in an alpine environment.

“The terrain we want people to stick to and the best skiing is indeed the snowmaking runs. We have limited terrain, anything off our snowmade runs is not recommended.

The marking will guide you into the places where there is good skiing. Again, there is no boundary, and you will see people ducking ropes and going off designated areas, but it’s a very skitty snowpack.”

To minimize risk, Mercer encouraged anyone stepping into a pair of skis or onto a snowboard to be prepared.

“I’m a big advocate for physical preparedness; Getting fit prior to the season is important; stretching and warming up; checking your equipment,” he said.

“Every year, patrol will definitely treat someone on the mountain that forgot to turn up their din setting and start skiing something and then double eject and land on their face.

“Those first few turns of the year, really slow it down. It’s a very long season here, so if you want to stick around for the entirety of it, go slow.”

Opening day at Whistler Blackcomb was Nov. 23, with 150 acres of terrain open to guests out of more than 8,000 in the resort. n

The tragedy that occurred in the early hours of November 26th has barely sunk in. Losing James Paguia, Jos Portillo, and Natalia Portillo, has already had a devastating affect on Nesters and Whistler, and has changed the landscape forever. Our hearts are broken.

Bruce, Alex, Nesters Management and staff at Nesters Market sends heartfelt love and condolences to the Paguia and Portillo families.

Please join us at Nesters Market December 2nd from 12-4 where we will be accepting donations for the families.

Or place a donation on the go fund me page listed below.

Josafat Portillo, Natalia Portillo & James Paguia https://gofund.me/3e2605c9

16 DECEMBER 1, 2023

PAUL O’MARA

310 (G3) 4653 BLACKCOMB WAY

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Why are Whistler’s Google Maps so out of date?

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE OF COMMUNITY MAPPING

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MAPS

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ARE an important tool for understanding the world around us. Whether it’s an unwieldy paper map you struggle to fold up again, a digital map in the palm of your hand, or wayfinding resources plonked around town, they give us visual data that help us conceptualize communities, understand distance and amenities nearby, and centre our mental geography.

It comes as a surprise, then, to discover that according to Google Maps and Google Earth, the Resort Municipality of Whistler is stuck somewhere around the mid-’00s.

Using data vaguely attributed as being from “2003-recent,” Google Maps satellite imagery shows a Whistler bereft of an Olympic Plaza, Audain Art Museum, Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre, or Whistler Public Library.

To the south, Whistler Creekside is dominated by construction, and Cheakamus Crossing is a patch of dirt and a shed, with not a trace of the burgeoning Athletes’ Village to be seen, while to the north, the Rainbow subdivision is a whole lot of trees.

Taken together, Google Maps gives Whistler users the opportunity to engage in a walk down memory lane.

It’s fun to look back in time, but it’s worth asking why—considering Google is one of the largest companies on the planet, with billions of dollars at its disposal, and is the default search engine for almost everyone— it has such a patchy updating schedule for its maps.

Various sources online say Google has a rolling update schedule for its satellite base maps. And you can see it clearly (depending on where you look), so, some parts of the world were last updated for mappage… yesterday.

The updates are not delivered with consistency.

Fernie, B.C. has images from September of this year, while Melbourne, Australia was last captured by Google Maps in 2015. Still, both far more recent than Whistler’s 20-yearold images.

Canadian cartographer Alex McPhee did a little explaining on the ins and outs.

“I remember assuming myself that Google satellite base maps were some kind of realtime view of the Earth,” he said in an email to Pique.

“The truth is much less glamorous. The cost of satellite imagery follows a simple formula: update frequency x resolution. Although tech companies do have billions of dollars, they don’t need up-to-date high-resolution imagery in the same way that the Pentagon needs up-to-date high-resolution imagery.

“So all of the big tech companies give us satellite base maps which prioritize high resolution at the expense of being welded together from a random assortment of yearsold sources.”

McPhee pointed to the four big players in mapping as being the go-to destinations

to cross-reference base maps: Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Esri.

Esri, or Environmental Systems Research Institute, was noted by McPhee as holding “almost every government mapping software contract in North America.”

Indeed, the Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping software used by our own Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW), is Esri.

Of the four, Google stands out as the only mapping software that isn’t even close to being up to date for Whistler when it comes to the base maps. The data is there: Google maps know that the Audain Art Museum is there, that Cheakamus Crossing exists (and has a hostel, too!), they just haven’t gotten around to showing it to you from space yet.

By comparison, Apple Maps, Microsoft’s Bing, and Esri’s data are all up to snuff—at least for Whistler.

Data is hard to come by and harder to compare, but Google declared back in 2015 that its maps were being used by more than a billion users worldwide, while Apple has claimed hundreds of millions of users.

Safe to say, a lot of people use Google maps.

As for the municipality, a communications official told Pique the RMOW’s imagery isn’t from satellites, but airplanes.

“The imagery on our web map is all collected via aircraft; this offers much higher resolution,” they said in an email.

“We aim to collect aerial imagery every two years to ensure they’re as up to date as possible. Some years, as budgets require it, we extend that timeline. In the recent past we’ve commissioned flights in 2009, 2012, 2014, 2018 and 2023.”

So, when could Whistler expect an update of the satellite images? As mentioned, the rolling schedule of updates is on the docket, but queries to Google itself are bounced around to FAQs and explainers that don’t give an answer, likely because there isn’t one. The base maps will be updated when the base maps are updated, and frankly, Google doesn’t need to update them because the vector information (streets, landmarks, etc.) is there in the default map setting—which is where users land when they open the app.

So, until the images Google uses get an update, users wanting a more up-to-date look at Whistler from above have at least three other sources to depend on. Or, you could go straight to some source material with NASA’s Landsat, or the European Space Agency’s Sentinel programs, and trawl some raw data.

“Both services are much lower-resolution than the private providers used by the tech companies, but they have a reliable two-weekish update frequency for almost everywhere on Earth,” said McPhee.

“Flipping through recent raw data Landsat/Sentinel captures is also a fantastic way to realize just how many satellite images are ruined by clouds—if you’re already annoyed by just the few wisps that make it onto the corporate base maps, you ain’t seen nothing yet!” n

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Police continue to investigate ‘senseless’ vandalism to Village 8 Cinemas ‘SIGNIFICANT’ DAMAGE COULDN’T COME AT WORSE TIME, SAYS PROPERTY OWNER, DAYS AHEAD OF RETURNING WHISTLER FILM FESTIVAL

BY BRANDON BARRETT WHISTLER’S VILLAGE 8 Cinemas were vandalized last week, causing “significant property damage” to the former theatre space just days before its planned revival for the 2023 Whistler Film Festival (WFF).

In a statement Friday, Nov. 24, WFF executive director Angela Heck said organizers were “deeply disappointed” to learn of the extensive damage.

“Many people worked hard to get the theatres back in operation for the Whistler community for the 2023 film festival and we are heartbroken with this senseless act of vandalism,” she said. “But WFF is resilient, and we are working with the property owner and manager to restore the cinemas for this year’s festival, as originally planned.”

In a statement, Whistler RCMP confirmed it received a report of a break-and-enter to Village 8 just before 9 a.m. on Monday morning, Nov. 20. Attending officers noted “multiple areas” had been spray-painted, said Cpl. Nate Miller, along with a broken window and “fire extinguishers that had [been] deployed and discarded.”

Police said investigators managed to seize “some incriminating evidence” left behind at the scene. The matter remains under investigation.

THE SHOW GOES ON The former Village 8 Cinemas sustained significant property damage last week, just days before its planned revival in time for the 2023 Whistler Film Festival, which began Nov. 29.

FILE PHOTO BY BRADEN DUPUIS

Shuttered by former operator Imagine Cinemas in January, Whistler’s sole movie theatre was set to reopen its doors in time for the 23rd annual WFF this week. Rick Amantea, VP of development and community relations for Larco, which owns the cinema space, told Pique last week assessments were still being done to determine the full extent of the damage.

“Some of it is general vandalism: things being damaged and spray-painted in the cinemas. Some of the film equipment … has been damaged as well, and we have to

ascertain to what degree that is,” he explained.

“Generally speaking, it’s significant enough to cause us a lot of concern and certainly couldn’t have happened at a worse time because of the film festival getting ready to ramp up.”

Heck with the WFF assured last week the theatre would be ready to go in time for Village 8’s first planned screening on Nov. 30, the extreme sports documentary, Human X. “The show is going on,” she said in a follow-up email.

In the meantime, Larco and the property’s

manager have agreed to waive the festival’s rental fee to utilize the space.

“Whistler Village Centre, and us as a parent company, we recognize when matters like this happen, we all need to step up and do what we can to help support and facilitate a great community cause like the film festival, so we have waived any request for the festival to pay rent,” Amantea said. “They can still operate out of the cinema and we’re supporting them in any way we can.”

While he deferred to police to determine any possible motives behind the property damage, Amantea said, despite the timing, it appears as though the vandalism wasn’t specifically targeted at the film festival.

“From our perspective, it looks like it was a random kind of nonsensical approach to damaging stuff. It does not look like it was targeted,” he noted. “We’re very disappointed in what occurred and we are going to work closely with local authorities to ensure those people involved in this matter atone for it.”

In the wake of the incident, Heck encouraged anyone looking to support the WFF to attend a screening, view the festival online from Dec. 4 to 17, or make a donation.

She also noted organizers have acquired a special occasion licence to sell concessions, including beer and popcorn, during the festival, which runs in person through Dec. 3.

Learn more at whistlerfilmfestival.com. n

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NEWS WHISTLER

SAT

DEC ROYAL ASSENT Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and founder of the Invictus Games Foundation, in Whistler last week with Whistler Blackcomb COO Belinda Trembath, left, and Invictus director of Whistler operations Chelsey Walker.

PHOTO BY JEREMY ALLEN / COURTESY OF THE INVICTUS GAMES FOUNDATION

On heels of Prince Harry’s visit, Invictus Games inks partnership with Whistler Blackcomb THE DUKE OF SUSSEX JOINED OPERATIONAL TEAM ON TOUR OF LOCAL ADAPTIVE VENUES AHEAD OF 2025 GAMES

BY BRANDON BARRETT AS

Whistler

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22 DECEMBER 1, 2023

PRINCE HARRY, the Duke of Sussex and founder of the Invictus Games Foundation, was touring around Whistler Village last week, he stopped at one point to marvel at what the resort will offer the hundreds of wounded, injured and sick military service personnel and veterans taking part in the 2025 Invictus Games. “‘Do you understand that you are going to be giving people an experience of a lifetime that they would never have access to otherwise?’” recalled Robyn McVicker, COO and deputy CEO of the Invictus Games. “That just did me in.”

A delegation of senior representatives from the foundation were in Whistler and Vancouver last week, alongside Prince Harry, to review operational plans and tour the venues that will host the Games from Feb. 8 to 16, 2025, the first Invictus to feature winter adaptive sports.

Locally, Whistler Blackcomb (WB) will host alpine skiing and snowboarding events; Whistler Olympic Park in the Callaghan will be home to Nordic skiing and biathlon; and the Whistler Sliding Centre will host skeleton.

Vancouver, meanwhile, will host a range of indoor sports, such as wheelchair curling, rowing, sitting volleyball, swimming, and more.

While there will be improvements made to the venues to make them more accessible for adaptive athletes, McVicker said Whistler is already well set up to host Invictus.

“We’re absolutely benefiting from the investment that has been made in Whistler over the years, and not just Vail Resorts, but also what was created for the 2010 Olympics and its legacy,” she said.

This week, Invictus announced it had finalized a partnership with Vail Resorts, WB’s parent company, a collaboration that will see the ski resort encourage more people to participate in adaptive sports through WB and the Whistler Adaptive Sports Program.

“Inclusivity and accessibility are core

to our culture at Whistler Blackcomb,” said Belinda Trembath, COO and VP of Whistler Blackcomb, in a release. “Our partnership with Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025 underscores the commitment we have made to these values, and we are honoured and excited to not only serve as a host venue, but to support the growth and adoption of adaptive winter sports throughout the world.”

The Games also offer an opportunity to raise awareness of the adaptive sport opportunities available locally for military veterans, an underserved market for Whistler, McVicker said.

“That’s a big community in the U.S.,” she said, highlighting the discounted Military Epic Pass offered by Vail Resorts. “Having veterans understand the access they could get to come and use one of these world-class ski resorts as part of the Vail pass, that’s a whole new market and one that isn’t hugely accessed right now.”

Part of the goal of offering winter sports at Invictus for the first time is to help participating nations develop their own winter adaptive programs. McVicker said about half of the 25 nations taking part don’t have a formal winter adaptive program for their veterans. In February 2024, Whistler will host a training camp to introduce the teams to snow sports, paid for by the foundation.

“We will work with Whistler Adaptive and Whistler Blackcomb to actually build that training program that would help them understand how they are going to equip their team with this and how they can start to build the capacity to train,” she said. “And if they don’t have snow, what can they train on? …

What are the different elements that they can use for winter training all summer long in, say, Jordan?”

The Whistler Conference Centre was also recently pegged to serve as the family-andfriends area for the 2025 event, an important component of any Invictus Games.

“With Invictus, family and friends are critical to the recovery of our veterans. They play a huge part in the event,” McVicker said.

To learn more, visit invictusgamesfoundation.org. n

Hey, WHistler! join us on

SATURDAY, DEC. 2 12-4PM for a

TASTE OF LOCAL Discover great deals on delicious local products and enjoy some fun activities during our Taste of Local event: • Product sampling from local vendors • Spin the wheel and win • Fun activities for the kids • Local gift basket give-aways • Santa and Elves 1:00 to 3:00 • Hot Apple Cider • Music by Doug Kerr and Friends Donations accepted for the Portillo and Paguia family for their tragic and sudden loss of Jos Portillo, Natalia Portillo and James Paguia

Whistler 7019 Nesters Road

™

NEWS WHISTLER

Zero Ceiling launches matching fundraising campaign after anonymous $10K donation THE SUPPORTIVE YOUTH HOUSING PROVIDER IS CHALLENGING SEA TO SKY TO RAISE ANOTHER $10K BY DEC. 5

BY BRANDON BARRETT AS WE APPROACH the holidays, Whistler’s Zero Ceiling is challenging the Sea to Sky to get in the spirit of giving, inspired by a recent generous donation to the socialservice non-profit.

This fall, the organization dedicated to fighting youth homelessness received an anonymous donation of $10,000. Now, it’s inviting Whistler and the rest of the corridor to double it.

“We often look at these as an expression of people’s dedication to our work, and also a vote of confidence. I think a lot of our donors want their money to go towards something that has impact, so we always look at it as a compliment,” said co-executive director Sean Easton of the donation. “We’ve only been able to support all the young folks in our program because of our community’s support, and this is a continuation of that.”

Founded in 1997, Zero Ceiling serves youth and young adults facing homelessness in the Sea to Sky and Metro Vancouver. Its award-winning core program, Work 2 Live, offers supportive housing and employment opportunities to young adults experiencing

homelessness or precarious housing.

This fall, the organization welcomed six new Work 2 Live participants, who are all working for employment partner Whistler Blackcomb this winter.

Its other main program, Adventure Sessions, offers a no-cost outdoor adventure day camp for young people experiencing homelessness, giving them a chance to connect with nature and each other in a safe environment. In 2024, Zero Ceiling anticipates welcoming 300-plus young people through the program to experience skiing, snowboarding, hiking, ziplining, and mountain biking in Whistler.

Zero Ceiling’s matching fundraising campaign, launched on Nov. 21, challenges supporters to raise another $10,000 by Dec. 5.

Anyone who donates by then will be entered into a draw to win a family day pass at the Sea to Sky Gondola in Squamish.

Easton said he’s always impressed by the community’s outpouring of support, especially as many have seen their finances strained in recent years.

“To date, we’ve seen where some donors that have historically contributed on an ongoing basis, where they might be tightening their purse strings so they can support their loves ones, we’re seeing others

IN SESSION Zero Ceiling has been supporting at-risk youth and young adults for more than 25 years.

FILE PHOTO COURTESY OF ZERO CEILING

step up in their place,” he said. “In those times, we see an increase in empathy, and I think that translates to continued support.

We really feel our community coming in around us and we still really feel that.”

It’s been a period of transition for Zero Ceiling. In May, co-executive director Chris Wrightson announced her resignation after seven years with the non-profit. In June, former development manager Lizi McLoughlin was promoted to the executive director role, which she shares with Easton.

That’s on top of an internal restructuring and the continued growth of the organization, in budget, programming and staff.

“We were really excited to be able to mentor and promote from within, and I was really excited to provide an opportunity to Lizi,” Easton said. “She has surpassed all of our high expectations of her.”

McLoughlin, who was unavailable for comment, recently helped Zero Ceiling replace an existing skills-training contract it had with B.C.’s Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills.

“It’s just an example of her stepping into the role and achieving right out the gate,” said Easton.

Emily Suckling, formerly of Arts Whistler and Whistler Animals Galore, is Zero Ceiling’s new development manager.

Learn more, and donate, at zeroceiling. org/donatetodouble. n

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NEWS WHISTLER

Whistler’s MP urges immediate emissions cap on oil and gas sector IN A LETTER TO CABINET, LIBERAL MP PATRICK WEILER CALLED ON GOVERNMENT TO SET AN EMISSIONS CAP THAT ‘DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY EXTENSIONS, EXCEPTIONS OR LOOPHOLES’

BY STEFAN LABBÉ A LIBERAL MEMBER of Parliament in British Columbia has called on his own governing party to quickly set a cap on oil and gas emissions without any loopholes.

MP Patrick Weiler, who represents West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, sent a letter to federal cabinet challenging Canada to impose an emissions cap ahead of the 28th annual United Nations climate change conference scheduled to kick off in Dubai Nov. 30.

“I don’t think it’s going rogue or against the party,” Weiler said. “This is something that we campaigned on. It’s in mandate letters.

“Even as a member of the governing party, we have a role of holding our own government accountable.”

Weiler’s letter comes two years after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mandated his environment and natural resources minister establish an emissions cap on the oil and gas sector so Canada can meet its emissions targets.

In July 2022, Ottawa circulated a discussion paper outlining two potential regulations for the cap—one that would build off current carbon pricing requirements and another cap-and-

trade system that would allow facilities to trade unused emission surpluses on an open market.

Draft regulations, which would provide evidence of the effectiveness of those plans, are expected to be released before the end of 2023, according to Weiler.

“I really have been urging for our government to move on this,” said the MP in an interview. “It now has been two years, so I want to make sure that we follow through on this, and ideally, have something that we can talk about when the world gathers next week.”

In May 2023, Weiler was among dozens of MPs targeted by protesters demanding politicians impose an emissions cap on the fossil fuel industry.

The protests coincided with a World Energy Investment report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) showing that in 2022, many fossil fuel producers made record profits because of higher fuel prices.

Most of the cash went to dividends, share buybacks and debt repayment. The industry’s spending on low-emissions alternatives— including clean electricity, clean fuels and carbon capture technologies—was less than five per cent of what it spent on fossil fuel production, said the IEA. “We are seeing that play out in Canada,” Janetta McKenzie, a senior analyst at the

Pembina Institute, said at the time. “Despite record profits over the last few years, those profits aren’t being put back into decarbonization.”

In his letter, Weiler urged government to set an emissions cap that “does not contain any extensions, exceptions or loopholes that will water down its impact.” He also called on cabinet to learn from B.C.’s fossil fuel emissions cap to apply effective plans in Ontario and Quebec.

“It’s important that it’s not watered down, that it’s not unambitious,” Weiler said.

Announced in the spring of 2023, B.C.’s new energy action framework includes an oil and gas emissions cap that would force down the sector’s carbon pollution 33 to 38 per cent below 2007 levels by 2030. That’s largely expected to be achieved through making the extraction process more efficient so it doesn’t release as much methane, and electrifying the liquefaction process with hydro power.

Weiler said a national oil and gas emissions cap should align with the Canada’s Emissions Reduction Plan. Passed under the Net Zero Accountability Act in 2021, that plan requires emissions from the oil and gas sector to drop 42 per cent below 2019 levels by 2030.

Canada is far from reaching that goal.

The country’s latest greenhouse gas emissions inventory found the oil and gas sector makes up 28 per cent of the national total, making

it the largest and fastest-growing source of carbon pollution in the country. In his letter, Weiler cited estimates from the Canadian Climate Institute suggesting Canada’s 2022 emissions have risen further since then.

Weiler said the lack of progress on reducing emissions in the oil and gas sector comes after big industry players pledged to decarbonize through the Pathways Alliance, a collaboration of the five largest fossil fuel producers in Canada.

In May, Canada’s Competition Bureau launched a formal inquiry into the advertising practices of Pathways Alliance following allegations the group made “misleading” claims about its plan to achieve net-zero emissions. At the time, Pathways Alliance vice-president of external relations Mark Cameron said “we strongly disagree” with the assertions made in the complaint.

But in his letter to cabinet, Weiler claimed that to date, 2022 and 2023 are “the two most profitable years for oil sands companies,” and that in the two years since the Pathways Alliance has been launched “there have been no new investments in reducing oil sands emissions.

“It is becoming increasingly clear that industry will not make the necessary investment unless regulated to do so,” Weiler wrote to cabinet. n

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NEWS PEMBERTON

Pemberton council waives development fees for Harrow Road affordable housing project SEA TO SKY COMMUNITY SERVICE BUILDING EXPECTED TO BE COMPLETED WITHIN FIVE YEARS

BY RÓISÍN CULLEN Local Journalism Initiative Reporter AN AFFORDABLE HOUSING project in Pemberton is getting an assist after council agreed to waive associated development fees.

The request from Sea to Sky Community Services for the project on Harrow Road was considered at the Village of Pemberton’s (VOP) Nov. 21 council meeting.

With council’s approval, the VOP will waive development fees associated with the project totalling $311,383.

Sea to Sky Community Services (SSCS) submitted the request in June 2022, along with a rationale letter detailing the benefits the project will bring to the community.

The community service provider first opened a small office in Pemberton in 1992, the letter said.

“Today, SSCS operates 32 programs locally in Pemberton serving 2,241 individuals,” it said. “We invest $2 million

RIDING THE WAIVE An artist’s rendering showing what the Harrow Road apartment complex will look like after completion.

IMAGE COURTESY OF SSCS

28 DECEMBER 1, 2023

(2022 budget) in programs and services in Pemberton and currently employ 15 fulltime employees.”

Located at Harrow Road and Highway 99, the 63-unit, five-storey building will feature a mix of one-, two-, and threebedroom units, with 30 per cent allocated for market rentals, 50 per cent for “rent

A two-year permissive tax exemption was previously adopted at a council meeting on Oct. 31. In 2024, the estimated amount of foregone municipal tax stemming from the Harrow Road project will be $4,691. In 2025, it will be $5,066.

McCrae explained the development application fees of $35,350 were already paid,

“We are just so excited to bring this incredible resource to the community that will have such a great impact in the short and long term.”

- JAYE RUSSELL

geared to income” and 20 per cent for lowincome households. The 9,000-square-foot bottom floor will be used for SSCS’ new offices—in which they will run 28 of the 40 programs they offer throughout the Sea to Sky—with the rest of the space slated for commercial uses. The project is “highly likely” to be completed within five years.

so they will have to be refunded. Building permit fees are still due, and total $250,833, while water and sewer connection fees will come to $25,200.

Council was presented with two options: Either grant 100 per cent of the fees requested for refund and waiver by SSCS, or refer the request back to staff with considerations.

Councillor Ted Craddock put forward a motion to move forward with Option 1, which was carried.

Coun. Katrina Nightingale asked if there is a best practice when it comes to deciding which projects qualify for their fees to be waived.

Manager of development services Scott McCrae said Pemberton is off-market for projects like this, and therefore different to larger cities with tier systems.

“There are a variety of ways to approach this,” he said. “We looked at Squamish for our waiver policy. It would make sense to keep this as a largely discretionary thing for council.”

SSCS is eyeing 2025 as a possible move-in date for the new building.

“It has been an incredibly rewarding process for us,” said Jaye Russell, executive director of SSCS, after the project’s approval in October 2022. “We’re so proud of the community, we’re so grateful for the support of mayor and council … We are just so excited to bring this incredible resource to the community that will have such a great impact in the short and long term.

“Above all, we’re so committed to being a good neighbour and continuing to be of service to the community.”

Read more at sscs.ca/harrowroad. n

NEWS PEMBERTON

‘Something serious is going to happen—these are apex predators’ PEMBERTON LOCALS AND LEADING EXPERTS CALL FOR DESIGNATED GRIZZLY BEAR MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST IN THE SEA TO SKY

BY RÓISÍN CULLEN Local Journalism Initiative Reporter CONCERNED PEMBERTON locals and bear experts are calling for the creation of a designated Grizzly Bear Management Specialist position in the Sea to Sky corridor.

The call comes as families in Pemberton Meadows say they are living in fear of a nearby grizzly and her cubs, after children in the area have reportedly come face to face with the bear while playing outside.

At a Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) board meeting on Nov. 22, the board considered a small batch of letters addressed to provincial environment minister George Heyman, eventually deciding to refer the concerns to staff and liaise with the RCMP about public safety issues and future steps.

In the letters, two Pemberton residents noted an “evolving societal view” towards grizzly bears in B.C. has led to positive co-existence efforts, and applauded the work non-governmental organizations have done to educate and help locals.

But the residents of Whistler, Pemberton, Birken and D’Arcy have had their daily lives altered by the presence of grizzly bears over the past three years, they said.

“While Sea to Sky residents are generally (but not unanimously) in favour of grizzly bear recovery, we must point out that co-existence is costly, nerve-wracking and potentially dangerous,” the letters read.

“We should not be expected to shoulder the full burdens of co-existence, which include crop losses, livestock degredations and the potential threat to our family’s safety.”

The locals insisted that if the province wants to see grizzly bears on the landscape, it should do more to help people affected by co-existence stumbling blocks.

Area C Director Russell Mack said the province needs to take action during the bears’ hibernation period. He pointed out a grizzly bear was frequenting his backyard at the time of the meeting.

“Something serious is going to happen,” he said. “These are apex predators. They are not pets as people are making them out to be. Somebody is going to walk into one at the wrong time.”

While local conservation officers have done their best to deal with ongoing issues, they are experiencing serious staff shortages and have to cover a “huge area of responsibility,” the letter-writers noted, adding the province’s approach appears to lack direction.

“The response [from COS] has also been inconsistent—which, in our view, may reflect a lack of clear provincial objectives for grizzly bear recovery/co-existence,” they said. “We require a proactive approach that supports those navigating the complexities of coexistence, rather than reacting to situations as they arise.”

The residents asked the province to hire a

RAPID RECOVERY A grizzly and her cubs spotted in front of a Pemberton farmer’s tractor this fall.

PHOTO BY BRUCE RONAYNE

dedicated grizzly bear specialist to start in the corridor in the spring of 2024.

A letter from grizzly bear experts Lana M. Ciarniello, Bruce McLellan and Michelle McLellan noted some bears are spending “considerable time” in areas where people live, including Pemberton Meadows, Whistler, Birken and D’Arcy.

“The number of grizzly bears, in some, but certainly not all, populations in the south Coastal Mountains of British Columbia are increasing,” they wrote. “In particular, populations to the north of Anderson Lake, northwest of Pemberton, and west of Whistler have been growing at about three per cent a year for the past few decades.”

The experts noted the populations south of Anderson Lake and south east of Pemberton and Whistler are “very small, highly inbred, and barely hanging on.”

“These bears are needed to gradually and naturally augment the adjacent small and struggling populations,” stressed the scientists. “But people living in the valleys are not accustomed to having grizzly bears living amongst them; many are highly concerned and need help.”

The group added the Sea to Sky corridor can learn from other parts of the world that have dealt with similar problems, noting people have learned how to coexist with grizzly bears in Rocky Mountain National Park, northern Montana and around Yellowstone National Park.

“In these areas, experts on localized bear management are employed to educate and help people secure or remove attractants, aversively condition bears (rubber or beanbag bullets, trained dogs, or bear capture) that are pushing boundaries, and remove, by capturing or euthanizing, bears that have crossed the line of human safety,” they wrote.

Given the recent issues surrounding grizzlies in the corridor, the recovery is now “clearly at the stage when at least one dedicated, on-site bear management expert is needed,” they concluded. n

DECEMBER 1, 2023

29

NEWS PEMBERTON

SLRD earmarks $725,000 of provincial grant for regional transit THE REGIONAL DISTRICT RECEIVED $1.5 MILLION IN A ONE-TIME GRANT, AND CHOSE TO FUNNEL IT INTO REGIONAL PROJECTS THAT BENEFIT THE ENTIRE DISTRICT

BY SCOTT TIBBALLS THE SQUAMISH-LILLOOET Regional District (SLRD) is allocating $1,525,000 given to it as a one-time grant from the province.

The money will be split between five projects: Four recommended by staff, and one inserted by board members at the Nov. 22 board meeting—regional transit.

The district received the money as part of the province’s Growing Communities Fund, a billion-dollar cash-splash for all local governments across the province to “support the delivery of infrastructure projects necessary to enable community growth,” according to a government release.

Of the grant funding, $300,000 will be used to develop a corporate asset management plan for the regional district; $100,000 will be spent gearing staff up with the resources they need in asset management software; $150,000 will improve radio coverage in the Howe Sound East area; and $250,000 will go towards improvements at the Lillooet landfill—leaving $725,000 to go towards the SLRD’s efforts to

develop regional transit.

But that allocation came after the board originally sent staff back to provide more information on the funds and their initial list of projects identified back in October, more than an hour of discussions at the November meeting, and a rejection of the staff report in a split vote.

The $725,000 pushed into the column for regional transit was earmarked by staff for three other high-priority projects under the rationale they were critical community services under financial strain with no capital funding: $400,000 for the Bralorne sewer service, which staff noted was incomplete and lacked system tieins despite works between 2016 and 2021; $175,000 for Gold Bridge transfer station service improvements off the back of a risk assessment that identified critical capacity shortages in the facility; and $150,000 for wastewater treatment plant repairs at Furry Creek and Britannia Beach.

In the staff report board members were discussing on Nov. 22, regional transit was listed as a project that was considered, but not included “due to staff capacity constraints ...

therefore infrastructure projects could not be developed.”

In discussing the projects recommended, board members debated the spirit of the intention of the funds.

Area C Director Russell Mack and Pemberton Mayor Mike Richman, in particular, expressed disappointment with the staff report that there were no projects specific to Area C (north of Whistler, surrounding Pemberton)— an issue they both brought up at the October board meeting when the board voted to send it back to staff for more information.

“I thought it was supposed to be allocated for the whole region and not just for specific projects that staff decided to pick out,” said Mack at the meeting, adding he would have liked the board to have had more input in identifying high-priority projects.

Richman talked along the same lines, and noted that given the funds were for “growing communities,” and Area C has seen a lot of growth in recent years, he would have expected the area to get a bigger slice of the pie if the funds were distributed regionally.

During discussion, board members expressing opposition to the staff

recommendations coalesced around a common theme in preferring more regionallyoriented projects, with regional transit coming out of the end of drawn-out discussion as a preferred option despite staff explaining there were no regional transit projects on the go to capture the funds. Staff, however, added the funds do not have to link to shovel-ready projects, but need to be allocated to projects that can be completed within the province’s timeframe of five years.

While board members voted down the original list of seven projects 7-4, a larger majority of 9-2 supported picking out the four more regional projects with the addition of regional transit soaking up the funds that the three more targeted projects missed out on.

Whistler Mayor Jack Crompton said he believed the funding allocation was “well considered” by the board.

“I understand the disappointment and I think it’s important to note that the things that haven’t been included here will remain high priorities for our team as we go and look for money through other processes,” he said.

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NEWS PEMBERTON

Pemberton’s mayor and council hear update on 2023 Climate Action Plan MORE THAN 80% OF GHG EMISSIONS IN PEMBERTON COME FROM VEHICLES

BY RÓISÍN CULLEN Local Journalism Initiative Reporter THE VILLAGE of Pemberton’s (VOP) mayor and council heard an update on 2023 climate action last week, as the village works towards targets set out in its 2022 Community Climate Action Plan.

The update was presented by manager of development services Scott McRae at a Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 21, and allowed council to reassess where the VOP stands in relation to those goals and reflect on work already done.

The VOP aims to meet a goal of a 50-percent reduction in territorial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions below 2007 levels by 2030, and a 100-per-cent reduction below 2007 levels by 2050.

McRae admitted Pemberton needs to prepare for the “inevitable impacts of climate,” and stressed the need to be able to deal with simultaneous hazards and rare weather events.

Given that 83 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions in Pemberton come from vehicles, the VOP aims to encourage alternative transportation options and the use of zero-emission vehicles.

The Village and its partners have formally submitted a funding request to the province

through BC Transit to increase service hours on the 99 Commuter bus route. Electricvehicle charging stations are also in place on Aster Street at Pioneer Park.

Further to that, the Pemberton Valley Dyking District is working with council on mitigating the risk of major flooding in the village. The need for an update of the 2013 corporate emissions plan was also highlighted.

Councillor Katrina Nightingale asked for a status report on a much-needed climate action plan coordinator for the Village. Staff said the budget is still being figured out to create and keep a coordinator employed, noting they hope to avoid a revolving-door situation in the role seen in neighbouring communities.

Mayor Mike Richman said the report suggests council is moving in the right direction.

“Seeing 83 per cent of our emissions attributed to vehicles is just mind-blowing,” he said. “It really, really reaffirms for me a bunch of the stuff that we are doing. As we are looking at developing all of these hip neighbourhoods, it is one of those more important things that we can look at.”

He added the figure should stick in people’s minds when thinking about new housing developments in the area.

“It also makes me think about when we are talking about the single biggest problem we face, which is housing,” he said. “So often,

that conversation comes down to cars and how many cars we can accommodate.”

Pemberton’s mayor and council officially adopted the Community Climate Action Plan in March of 2022.

The plan outlines six “big moves” to achieve Pemberton’s climate goals: shift beyond the car—to encourage active and accessible transportation and transit; electrify transportation—to accelerate the adoption of

zero-emission vehicles; step up new buildings— to enhance energy efficiency and low-carbon heating in new buildings; decarbonize existing buildings—to support deep energy retrofits and fuel switching; close the loop on waste—to divert organics and capture value from waste; and organizational leadership—to ensure climate action becomes part of regular decision making and operational processes within the Village of Pemberton. n

REGIONAL TRANSIT GRANT FROM PAGE 30 He added he believes allocating the $725,000 towards the SLRD’s long-term goal of developing regional transit takes the money “in the right direction as far as what the funds are intended to do.”

The funding was required to be allocated

by Dec. 31, and is intended for projects that can be completed within five years from the province’s allocation, putting the final deadline to spend the money at March 23, 2028—essentially meaning the SLRD expects to have spent the $725,000 on developing regional transit by then.

The allocation will be reviewed by the province for approval, and the SLRD will be required to provide an annual report on how it is being spent.

The money for regional transit will flow

into the SLRD’s Regional Transit Planning and Infrastructure service, which is intended to plan and deliver improvements to public transit in the SLRD. Prior to the allocation of the $725,000, the service had a $71,190.46 operational reserve, and a $3,934 capital reserve—meaning the new funds increase the money available for developing regional transit by 10 times (should it be approved by the province).

The Growing Communities Fund was divided between every local government in the province. Of the municipalities within the SLRD, Squamish got the most cold hard cash at $6,285,000, while Whistler received $4,962,000, Pemberton received a little over $2 million and Lillooet pocketed $1,282,000. n

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The world is counting on COP28 climate summit to yield results THE NEWS is more alarming every day:

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Heat records breaking worldwide. Greenhouse gases soaring to unprecedented levels. Sea levels rising at distressing rates. Record heat fuelling disease outbreaks. World facing 3 C of warming. Scientists’ warnings becoming increasingly urgent.

Despite global agreements and rapid progress in renewable energy technologies, the world is nowhere near on track to meet climate goals agreed to at the 2015 Paris COP21 climate summit. Why do so many insist on continuing with business as usual in the face of such a crisis? Why can’t we agree that our fossil-fuelled consumer economic

BY DAVID SUZUKI system is failing and that we need new ways of seeing and acting?

Can we expect ambition to increase as delegates from the world’s nations gather for the 28th Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) in the United Arab Emirates? It’s easy to be cynical: this year’s conference is being held in an oil-producing country and is headed by an oil industry executive.

But it does present opportunities, especially in light of recent pledges by the world’s biggest climate polluters, the United States and China, to work together to accelerate climate action. It’s also a great opportunity for our own oil-producing country to play a leading role in answering the urgent call for plans and solutions to address a problem mainly caused by a few industrialized countries—especially those

Industry exerts enormous influence over governments in Canada and elsewhere.

Despite annual promises from industrialized countries dating back to 2009 to end them, worldwide subsidies for the most profitable industry in history are rising, up to about US$7 trillion a year—or $13 million a minute!

Ultimately, we need to shift to new systems, but world leaders must also focus on immediate problems and solutions. The benefits to rapidly phasing out coal, gas and oil are indisputable, especially if attention is paid to ensuring a just and equitable transition to less wasteful ways of living and cleaner energy sources.

The most critical aim is to slow and prevent the ever-worsening impacts of a heating climate—from droughts and floods to heat domes and hurricanes—so humans are able to survive and live well. Shifting away from fossil fuels will also reduce pollution and related health issues and costs. And it will help tackle the growing affordability crisis. Power from sources like wind and solar, even with storage technologies, now costs less than power from gas, oil and coal— and prices continue to drop.

Fossil fuel markets are notoriously volatile, with industry taking advantage of global crises like war and economic desperation to reap even greater profits.

And as supplies start to diminish, costs rise, especially as industry has to rely increasingly on dirtier fuels that are more difficult and expensive to extract and process, such as oilsands bitumen. Renewable energy never runs out, and improving storage technologies and updating power grids make it even more stable and viable.

Done right, ending the fossil fuel era will also create greater economic equality, as fossil-fuelled consumerism mainly rewards those who produce the most wasteful

A new study shows the wealthiest one per cent of humanity is responsible for more carbon emissions than the poorest two-thirds!

Connect with me today.

Ryan Eisenbock, CIM® – Portfolio Manager

T: 604 844 5607 | TF: 1 800 663 0706 reisenbock@odlumbrown.com odlumbrown.com/reisenbock

ODLUMBROWN.COM Member-Canadian Investor Protection Fund

36 DECEMBER 1, 2023

at the top of the economic ladder. (A new study shows the wealthiest one per cent of humanity is responsible for more carbon emissions than the poorest two-thirds!)

People in Canada and around the world are demanding action through protests, petitions, letters, votes and lawsuits. We can’t let the fossil fuel industry drown out our voices. That COP28 is being hosted by oil profiteers highlights Big Oil’s influence, as does an outsized lobbying effort. Last year’s conference was attended by more than 600 oil and gas industry lobbyists, an increase of 25 per cent from the previous year, dwarfing representation from Indigenous Peoples, African nations and environmental organizations.

products and disproportionately harms those at the mercy of fluctuating markets and rising prices.

This isn’t something we can just put off, or leave to the children and those yet to be born. The climate crisis is here, and it’s causing numerous other crises, from affordability issues to species extinction. We need governments at all levels to join with industry to heed the call from scientists and citizens to act quickly to reduce emissions.

That means leaving fossil fuels in the ground!

David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation.

Written with David Suzuki Foundation Senior Writer and Editor Ian Hanington. ■

RANGE ROVER

The wisdom of ancient BFFs ABOUT 30,000 years ago, humans contrived to bring an object into their lives that acts like a “reverse mop,” sponging up mud, dirt, leaves, spores, animal poop and all manner of natural bricolage from the great outdoors and transporting it directly into their dwellings to be wrung out. During the process, this highly efficient tangle of fibres also sheds multitudinous bits of itself which, along with the aforementioned debris, is distributed in

BY LESLIE ANTHONY record time to all surfaces, nooks and crannies.

We call this marvel of unwitting environmental engineering a dog.

As anyone who cohabits with one knows, a range of positive attributes and noble qualities allow us to magically overlook the dog’s basic function as a subsonic agent of entropy.

When North Americans weaned on Rockwellian idyll bring a new dog home, they can’t help but nurture tableaux of all the iconic things they’ll do with said animal.

Of course, the dog has other ideas, or, less anthropocentrically put, the “ideas” instinct delivers to the business of doginess. Thus, you can’t expect it will find all or even any of the conceptual vignettes you expend considerable energy on appealing. The dog presages this imminent demonstration of decision-making by immediately putting you on its poo-pee-

ANCIENT ALLIES Saharan “Pastoral Neolithic” rock art painted somewhere between 5000 and 2000 BC. PHOTO BY JOE & CLAIR CARNEGIE / LIBYAN SOUP / GETTY IMAGES

play-walk-anxiety schedule. Though this may seem benign, it’s actually insidious. Thought you were beholden to family, work or your own hedonistic pursuits? Perhaps once upon a time. But falling in thrall with this craftiest of inventions, you’re captured in a way that makes previous captures in your life appear like casual flirtations. You are now living in a dog’s world.

As you joyously shout “We got a dog!” to all and sundry, the animal silently basks in its own considerably more impressive acquisitions: a cadre of fawning servants catering to its every whim including cleaning up vomit and feces; an extended group of human friends only too happy to likewise

adoption from WAG (amazing folks doing amazing work while severely understaffed and underfunded—please donate and/or push for more funding where and when you can) we were looking at a slow process.

As that accelerated into a now-or-never scenario, we pulled the trigger with little idea of the swiftness of impending change. Pockets of multiple garments now hemorrhage dogpoo bags, treats and remnants of things no human would ever imagine consuming.

Ditto the car, an instant four-star disaster decorated with a potpourri of autumnal leftovers and snow-removal detritus; in the vehicle’s eight-year life, five cross-Canada trips, megatons of transported burdock

Pockets of multiple garments now hemorrhage dog-poo bags, treats and remnants of things no human would ever imagine consuming. indulge; food forever (and what food!); warmth, bedding and an endless wake of interesting discards; their own frickin’ car with chauffer and ownership of an entire house for gawdsake.

The 21st century has turned the original intent of “It’s a dog’s life” on its head.

I had dogs most of my childhood, yet didn’t feel the same servitude (though perhaps my parents did). As an adult, I spent 14 years as activity and social coordinator to an über-intelligent husky-border collie cross called Mosquito (there’s a long story behind the name) who became a nationally known, much-loved frisbee dog. Since his passing in 1995, however, I’ve remained dogless due to work-dictated travel. When my partner and I recently began contemplating dog

and smears of everything from snake-shit to chocolate could not accomplish what an hour of intermittent backseat riding by a dog managed.

Previously, I used a vacuum cleaner once a month. Now, with dog hair (a marvel of electrostaticity) on my stove and computer screen? Every. Single. Day. The house smells alternately of wet, salivasoaked fur and microwaved hotdogs.

(Don’t worry, if you’re coming over we’ll air it out first). The cost of pet food and veterinarians? HFS. And there’s even more impact than you actually see. As one friend remarked when I mentioned the new addition, “A dog? Dogs aren’t green, buddy.”

He had a point. I have a sustainability

reputation to uphold and, next to having a baby, a dog is the easiest way to increase your carbon footprint by orders of magnitude overnight. Buy all the sustainably made 100-mile food and local treats you want, but you’re still the final stop on a largely untraceable carbon trail for reams of small plastic bags, pouches and cans of who-knowswhat. Then there’s dog dishes, brushes, toys, bed, leashes, collar, harness etc. etc. Even if some of these involve recycling, upcycling or repurposing, you’re facing down a carbon bomb that makes a flight to Maui seem like a donation to the Suzuki Foundation.

As someone in charge of a non-human life, you find out more about things you were already questioning. Like one of myriad reasons the Resort Municipality of Whistler needs to ban all fireworks, and why off-leash dogs you already thought were a problem for walkers and cyclists are even more so for law-abiding owners trying to train new pets—particularly rescue animals with special needs. Consider, for instance, where one might go in Creekside (or anywhere in Whistler for that matter) to not encounter off-leash dogs. Nowhere! Which means you need to get in the car (carbon bomb again) to seek the least-likely places at the least-likely times of day.

Of course, this litany is all in good fun, meant to highlight why it’s actually awesome to have a dog again. Positives—like getting more exercise than you’ve ever thought possible. And so much love, as nothing can melt the human heart like a wagging tail, questioning eyes or a gentle paw on the arm.

As it turns out, our 30,000-year-old ancestors were onto something when they embarked upon the one adage that will never change: dogs truly are humans’ best friends.

Leslie Anthony is a Whistler-based author, editor, biologist and bon vivant who has never met a mountain he didn’t like. ■

DECEMBER 1, 2023

37

FEATURE STORY

Inside the struggle to save Canada’s most endangered bird

BY STEFAN LABBÉ

H

igh above the waters of the Fraser Canyon, James Hobart trudges up an old logging road and into the territory of the last wild-born northern spotted owl in Canada.

Chief of the Spô’zêm First Nation, Hobart has put his people’s weight behind saving the owl, the country’s most endangered bird.

He steps over a downed tree trunk, and wades through a trench—part of a series of barriers British Columbia’s government installed to block passage into this patch of old-growth forest.

Around a bend, six storey-high caged aviaries rise among trunks of Douglas fir and cedar. A year ago, government biologists released two male owls here in the first-ever attempt at captive breeding. The owls never made it through the first winter, their GPS collars found among their starved remains.

Hobart looks up at the empty cages. The first snowfall of the year crunches under his feet.

“We’re living on dead land,” he says. “And we don’t even know it.”

About 40 centimetres tall with dark plumage, dark eyes and no ear tufts, the northern spotted owl was first listed as endangered under Canada’s Species at Risk Act in 2008.

Ranging from southern B.C. to northern California, biologists consider the owl an umbrella species, one whose home-range is so sweeping that to protect it means offering shelter for dozens of other species that call old forest home.

Known as skelúle in the Nlaka’pamux language, First Nations consider spotted owls “messengers of the forest,” a signal whose health reflects the wider ecosystem.

“This is an anchor relative for our nation,” Hobart says. “It’s a legacy.”

Today, that legacy is dangerously close to extinction.

Before European colonization, 500 breeding pairs once extended across nearly a million hectares of southwest B.C. The owls thrive in steep old-growth terrain, with their core critical habitat thought to have stretched in a triangle from Metro Vancouver as far north as Lillooet, and then back down the Fraser Canyon into the woodlands of the Fraser Valley.

Where once that territory supported upwards of a thousand owls, today, the survival of Canada’s wild-born population has dwindled to a single female, who lives high up

38 DECEMBER 1, 2023

MESSENG FORE THE

in the Spô’zêm watershed in the territory of Hobart’s people.

Early failures to reintroduce captive bred owls have revealed duelling visions over what’s causing the bird’s near extinction— and how best to pull it back from the brink.

On one side, B.C.’s provincial government says it’s focused on the culling and removal of invasive barred owls, while breeding the endangered species back; on the other, a federal ministry and its backers, who say it makes no sense to release owls into a forest ecosystem when its integrity remains shattered.

For others, the owl’s fractured and faded habitat represents something bigger—a nation whose species-at-risk laws have failed the most obvious candidate for protection at a time scientists warn of a growing biodiversity crisis.

‘They chopped us up’

Over the last century and a half, the transitional old-growth forests where the owls have evolved have been eaten away to feed the development of cities and an endless rush for riches.

A highway sign leading into Spô’zêm territory reads “Gold Rush Trail.” Logging road switchbacks zigzag up the steep canyon valleys. Like the owl’s thick forest territory, the Spô’zêm people paid the price. The community now lives on a reserve made up of 16 disparate parcels of land, a colonial legacy leaving them caught between the highway and the railroad.

“They chopped us up, put us on both sides of the river,” Hobart says, sipping on a cup of coffee at the band office.

Dispossessed of their territory, the

Spô’zêm held on to their stories. On camping trips with his siblings, Hobart’s mother would tell them bedtime stories about how spotted owls used to be human-like creatures who would carry off children who refused to go to sleep.

“It took too many kids and was turned into an owl,” says Hobart. “Now, it can only make the sound of a larger beast.”

In the decades since, that sound has gone largely quiet across the owl’s Canadian range, prompting the Spô’zêm to do whatever they can to save what habitat is left. That includes leaving gaping sections of road washed out after catastrophic floods hit the area in 2021.

A few kilometres from the band office, the thick forests of the Spô’zêm watershed scale the valley’s peaks. Somewhere in the trees above, skelúle , the last wild spotted owl in Canada, endures.

FEATURE STORY Hobart stands on the edge of the road, cratered by a washout. This is where the logging trucks used to come, he says.

“We’ve been trying to make sure people don’t fix them,” says the chief, “so people don’t go up.”

It’s a small gesture in the last refuge of the species. Together with biologists and the environmental group the Wilderness Committee, Hobart has pushed Canada to stem what they say has been a provincial government “talk and log” approach to saving the spotted owl.

In February 2023, federal biologists presented Canada’s environment minister Steven Guilbeault with a threat assessment concluding that without an emergency order halting the issuing of logging licences, the survival and recovery of the spotted owl would become “highly unlikely” within less than a year.

Guilbeault, who concurred with the assessment, said he would flex his authority under the Species at Risk Act and recommend an emergency order to cabinet to suspend logging on 2,400 hectares of critical spotted owl habitat scattered like shotgun pellets across the region.

When, three months later, the environment minister had still not recommended the order, the Wilderness Committee sued Guilbeault, claiming the delay was unlawful. A week before the case

was to be heard, court documents and a letter to First Nations revealed the minister had finally made his recommendation. Federal cabinet, whose deliberations are secret, had turned it down.

A week later, Wilderness Committee lawyer Kegan Pepper-Smith stepped into a Vancouver federal court and asked the judge to set future limits on how long Canada’s environment minister could delay a recommendation for an emergency protection order under the Species at Risk Act. The ruling, which won’t be handed down until sometime in 2024, will likely come too late to impact spotted owl habitat, says Pepper-Smith.

Meanwhile, a growing body of evidence suggests logging continues on land the federal government has flagged to help recover the species.

‘That’s devastation’ West of Harrison Lake, a logging road slaloms through forested terrain, past a small lake, and up a series of steep switchbacks. To the left, burn scars from a recent wildfire obscure evidence of logging in 2022.

Minutes later, the washboard dirt roads flatten and the forest opens. Heavy machinery and trucks are perched on landings of freshly churned soil.

GERS OF

EST

Nearly all the trees of cutblock CH826A, designated as a potential future home for owls, lie on their side—cut.

“To look at what they’re calling managed?” says Hobart. “That’s devastation.”

While Minister Guilbeault waited to recommend an emergency protection order to cabinet, documents show the B.C. government handed out a permit to a numbered company to log the cutblock on June 14, 2023.

The Wilderness Committee’s Joe Foy, who has spent decades monitoring logging in spotted owl habitat, says it’s just one more data point showing an increasingly fragmented owl habitat.

On the hood of his pickup truck, Foy spreads out a map of southwest British Columbia. He points to where we are: Chehalis Wildlife Management Area, a provincially designated area also flagged by the federal government as future critical habitat for spotted owls.

“This would have been ready for owls in 50 years, but you have to make the decision now to protect it,” says Foy. “The province is not f**king listening to the feds.”

A Ministry of Forests spokesperson acknowledged CH826A is part of core critical spotted owl habitat outlined in the federal government’s draft recovery plan.

The cutblock, added the spokesperson, also falls within future habitat for spotted owl managed by the province, but that “some timber harvesting is allowed provided it maintains attributes for spotted owl,” such as large-diameter trees.

Managed Future Habitat Areas, including CH826A, “were established as a contingency,” says the spokesperson in an email. “They use conditional harvest measures to safeguard options for future protections.”

In an interview, Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship Nathan Cullen says the province has protected more than enough old-growth forest to support the reintroduction of spotted owls for several years.

“Clearly, the limitation on our success right now is not limited by territory, because with 280,000 hectares—700 Stanley parks—that’s a sufficient territory to happily support the owls,” he says.

Cullen says he will “look into” any allegations that logging is occurring in land set aside for spotted owls. He says decisions

Spô’zêm First Nation Chief James Hobart near the site of several wild aviaries where captive bred spotted owls are released PHOTO BY STEFAN LABBÉ

on whether to log or protect future owl habitat would be part of “forest and landscape planning tables” announced in February 2023.

“That has always been my particular view.

It’s a better way to go about things rather than polygon by polygon,” the minister says.

How much suitable forest B.C. sets aside for spotted owls has been grossly overestimated, says Jared Hobbes, a biologist and former scientific advisor of B.C.’s spotted owl recovery plan.

In a 2019 analysis, Hobbes found only half the forests B.C. said it was protecting for owls was actually suitable habitat.

“What they’ve done is they’ve drawn these big boundaries that include a whole bunch of previously clear-cut areas that are not suitable for use by spotted owl right now,” Hobbes says.

Hobbes estimates that within the range of spotted owl, the province continues to approve logging on about 3,000 hectares of old growth every year. Aside from losing habitat, the industrial activity has also left fragmented islands of old growth with few connections to allow offspring to carve out new territory for the next generation, he says.

“I can find you hundreds of examples. But the point is the same: they’re logging habitat that is needed for the recovery of this species,” says the biologist.

Federal biologists recognized the gap between what the owls need and what was being logged in their threat assessment.

And while it failed to convince cabinet, Foy said it ultimately addressed the question: if everything is OK in the forest, why are we down to one owl?

“It’s a very simple answer,” Foy says. “We broke the forest.”

Governments advance duelling views on what’s killing owls Behind closed doors, a growing battle over how to protect and recover the spotted owl has played out in a flurry of correspondence between the federal government—which has recognized logging as the primary threat to the owl—and the B.C. government, which says invasive species and breeding more owls are the biggest hurdles.

According to federal court affidavits, a month after Guilbeault said he would issue an emergency order recommendation, the provincial government responded, offering a two-year extension on logging deferrals in the Spô’zêm and Utzlius watersheds.

Shortly after, Cullen wrote to Guilbeault to end his position that the spotted owl faces “imminent threats to its survival.”

In a memo, Guilbeault agreed and dropped his immediate concerns around “survival.”

The “recovery” of the species, however, still faces an imminent threat as long as the B.C. government continues to hand out “forestry licences and authorizations in areas of suitable future habitat,” the document says.

The closed-door conversations continue.

In one letter, Cullen claims the federal government is relying on science “our ministry experts have found questionable” and that “habitat is in no way limiting or risking our recovery efforts for spotted owl.”

The biggest concern, says Cullen, are impacts from the Trans Mountain expansion

DECEMBER 1, 2023

39

FEATURE STORY project, which passes next to the Northern Spotted Owl Breeding Centre. Cullen writes that between 2019 and 2023, owl egg fertility at the breeding centre went down 39 per cent.

On May 12, B.C. filed a formal complaint to the Canada Energy Regulator, despite a December 2022 federal threat assessment that concluded construction on the pipeline was not producing acoustic disturbances that threaten the survival or recovery of the species.

When asked in an interview whether habitat destruction, and logging in particular, continued to threaten the owl’s recovery, Cullen did not waver.

“The measures in place right now are sufficient,” says the minister. “Right now, owl habitat is not the limiting factor on spotted owl recovery—getting more owls into the wild is.”

‘You grieve for them’ Somewhere on a 10-hectare plot of farmland in Langley, B.C., 34 endangered owls swoop, perch and nest within the confines of cages.

Some are only a few months old, still covered in downy white plumage. Others are old enough to sport their namesake spotted feather coat and are given room to practice hunting.

Like much of the carefully guarded facility, artificially incubated eggs are carefully monitored by camera. Once hatched, biologists and experts in husbandry begin to hand-rear the owls, says Jasmine McCulligh, who as facility coordinator, manages the dayto-day operations at the Northern Spotted Owl Breeding Centre.

Deciding which owls should be released only comes after they have survived their first year. At that point, they go through a battery of tests to narrow down the healthiest, most genetically diverse, and best hunters. The long-term goal is to release up to 20 owls from the breeding facility per year for the next 50 years.

“It’s never been tried before, except here,” says Foy. “This is the only one in the known universe. If it’ll work? Don’t know.”

The live breeding program has been a long time in the making. After the first six owls were brought to the centre from the wild in 2007, it took 16 years to release the first two males (the same ones that died last year). Another released owl was injured and returned to the centre after it collided with a train in the Fraser Canyon. Two more were released in September and will soon face their first winter in the wild.

“You grieve for them,” McCulligh says of the dead owls. “I was there for their first heartbeat.”

It’s hard to know what went wrong.

“No one has ever bred spotted owls,” says McCulligh. “We are trying to learn as much as we can from those individuals.”

The centre is now introducing live prey much earlier. But whether the latest changes will lead to greater success remains an open question.

McCulligh says the team still doesn’t have enough people to care for hatching owls in the spring while releasing older owls into the outdoor cages—the latter, a move that would give them more warm months to get used to the forests of the Fraser Canyon.

The species has shown a genetic instinct for hunting, according to McCulligh. But she says growing up in a crowded and closed

40 DECEMBER 1, 2023

environment can make adjusting to life in the forest difficult.

“Do you sit and wait here for X number of days? Or is it X number of days? They don’t necessarily know that quite yet,” McCulligh says.

Echoing Minister Cullen, McCulligh says successfully releasing more owls and hitting back against invasive species—not a lack of habitat—is holding back the owl’s recovery.

Between 2007 and 2021, the province has culled or relocated 150 barred owls, what McCulligh describes as a hearty, highly reproductive invasive species that outcompetes the spotted owl for food and habitat.

“They’ll eat everything that moves,” says McCulligh.

A 10-day-old spotted owl embryo is illuminated at B.C.’s captive breeding centre. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE NORTHERN SPOTTED OWL BREEDING PROGRAM

Logging led to owl’s downfall long before invasive species arrived, says biologist In 1997, Hobbes was camping at S&M Creek, about 40 kilometres east of Pemberton, when a northern spotted owl swooped down out of the forest and alighted on an old-growth branch next to a logging road.

Hobbes turned his headlamp toward the bird, bathing it in a white light and illuminating its big round eyes.

“I was humbled by it. And I was honoured to see it. And I just wanted to share that feeling with people,” he says.

More than 25 years later, Hobbes has likely seen more wild northern spotted owls than anyone else in Canada. He has published everything from coffee-table books filled with photos of the owl to academic papers and sweeping habitat maps for government.

For 15 years after that first encounter, Hobbes mapped protected areas for species at risk in B.C. and was the scientific advisor for the province’s spotted owl recovery program.

One person who knows the biologist described how he used to track young owls through steep forest at night tens of kilometres at a time just to make sure they were healthy.

But in 2013, he left government, frustrated over what he says was an emphasis on captive breeding and a consistent misrepresentation of scientific consensus.

“They asked me to kill barred owls and they kept logging habitat. I said, ‘I can’t do this. This is disingenuous. It’s not good science,’” Hobbes says.

The B.C. government’s argument falls down, says Hobbes, when you consider research on the U.S. side of the border, where declines in spotted owls tracked with habitat loss long before the arrival of the invasive barred owl.

He says when spotted owl forest habitat is destroyed or degraded, the bird is forced to increase its territory size, and burn more energy to hunt. Eventually, that leads owls to starve and wink out.

Those who survive find it increasingly hard to find a mate, Hobbes says.

“They keep moving the barred owl to primary threat and logging to secondary, and I keep saying, ‘Nope, put it back. Logging, primary. Barred owl, secondary,’” the biologist says in a recent interview. “There’s been decades of research.”

“We don’t know why they won’t acknowledge the evidence that’s in front of us.”

A recently hatched chick at a captive breeding centre in Langley, B.C. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE NORTHERN SPOTTED OWL BREEDING PROGRAM

When needed most, Canada’s Species at Risk law failed In recent weeks, the B.C. government said it would put up hundreds of millions of dollars to redefine how forestry is done in the province in what one environmentalist described as the “missing ingredients” in protecting old-growth forests in B.C. On Oct. 26, $300 million was set aside for a conservation financing mechanism that will help build alternative economies so First Nations can make money without harvesting old-growth trees.

Last month, the federal and B.C. governments, along with Indigenous leaders, said they had agreed on a $1.1-billion deal to finance the protection of 30 per cent of B.C.’s land by 2030.

“In B.C., we may have burst a dam,” says Ken Wu, executive director of Endangered Ecosystems Alliance.

On big-picture conservation targets, Wu says B.C. has made “leaps and bounds” in recent weeks. But big loopholes remain, he says. The province has not set conservation targets for medium-scale ecosystems, let alone species.

“If you don’t have ecosystem-based targets, it’s like a surgeon that doesn’t distinguish between organs,” Wu says.

That approach risks protecting uncontested landscapes, like alpine and subalpine environments, over the big-treed forests of lowland valleys where industry and conservationists often collide.

“It’s on the species level where the province has been the absolute worst,” Wu says.

More worrying, says Hobbes, is that those advocating for endangered species have nowhere left to go. He always saw Canada’s Species at Risk Act as a last backstop, a big red button that when pressed would trigger a sweeping response for any creature at risk of disappearing forever.

The owl tested that law, ultimately revealing it has the weight of a “paper tiger” when it was needed most, Hobbes says.

If the federal law won’t trigger protections for spotted owl—the “bestcase” candidate, according to Hobbes—he says there’s no hope for all the other less enigmatic species like the Haida Gwaii slug or more complicated endangered species like caribou.

“If we can’t win this battle for spotted owl, we’re done,” says the biologist.

“We need to rewrite the law.” n

Market at the Helmer Farmstand 8358 Pemberton Meadows Road Sunday, December 3 11-2pm rain snow or shine

Stock up for Winter Featuring a stellar line-up of growers, crafters and producers from Pemberton and area.

Visit helmersorganic.com for the latest vendor list and follow the links to our on-line store for our tasty potatoes, carrots, beets, garlic and parsnips all winter long.

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DECEMBER 1, 2023

41

SPORTS THE SCORE

Whistler Secondary School senior boys clinch North Shore AA volleyball banner THE STORM DID NOT DROP A SINGLE POSTSEASON SET EN ROUTE TO THEIR HISTORIC CHAMPIONSHIP

BY DAVID SONG A STORM HAS ARRIVED, the likes of which this town has never seen before.

On Thursday, Nov. 9, the Whistler Secondary School (WSS) senior boys volleyball team locked up the North Shore AA volleyball championship. They went in loaded for bear, sweeping their semifinal 3-0 (25-19, 25-13, 25-18) over Chatelech and breaking out the brooms again to defeat Bodwell 2-0 in the final (25-19, 25-18).

It is not only the Storm’s first-ever North Shore volleyball banner, but the inaugural WSS title in any sport outside of skiing, snowboarding and mountain biking.

“I’ve always wanted to leave a lasting mark on my school,” said team captain and outside hitter Rowan Hardie. “And I love volleyball—I have for quite a few years now, so just winning that banner meant so much.

I remember holding my teammate while he was crying, and it was just such a surreal moment.”

Setter Ben Unruh is likewise on Cloud 9.

“It’s unreal to end the season off on such a high note,” he said. “It’s so significant because it really shows the hard work and dedication we’ve put in.

We’ve been practising for maybe four hours on Saturday and Sunday, and then four hours in the week, so like, eight hours a week.

“It’s just so great to see that all of our hard work has paid off.”

Joining Hardie and Unruh atop the peak of victory are their teammates: Cooper

“It’s just so great to see that all of our hard work has paid off.”

- BEN UNRUH

STORM WARNING The 2023 Whistler Secondary

Sampaio, Taje Hansen, Tyler Sopp, Teppei Onishi, Kento Takada, Sean Felius, Will Evans and Chase Kopek. They’ve become a seasoned group, with all except 10th-graders Hansen and Takada in the midst of their Grade 12 year.

WSS didn’t stop at a banner. They rolled into zone playoffs and upset Saint Patrick (the No. 16-ranked high school team in all of British Columbia) in another commanding 2-0 performance, then took a set off of Windermere in an eventual 3-1 semifinal loss.

School senior boys volleyball team won the North Shore AA banner by sweeping Chatelech and Bodwell in North Vancouver.

HIGH EFFORT, HIGH ENERGY

PHOTO BY MEGUMI TAKAISHI

42 DECEMBER 1, 2023

fall of 2021. The boys didn’t have a district league to play in, and two exhibition outings comprised the extent of their game action that year. Regardless, Niwinski saw in his juniors a palpable enthusiasm for the sport of volleyball—and for working with each other.

They jumped at an opportunity to join the North Shore League for 2022… and wound up dead last.

Volleyball is a game of momentum, and

WSS volleyball coach Conor Niwinski became acquainted with most of his team in the

last year the Storm were full of young athletes entering their first or second competitive campaign. Naturally, they struggled at times to remain poised in the face of a decisive opposing kill or a preventable error. Hardie admits that, even near the beginning of this season, his team was prone to 10-point hot streaks and 10-point cold streaks in equal measure.

The squad that rolled into North Vancouver to vanquish Chatelech and Bodwell a few weeks ago was anything but inconsistent. Numbers don’t tell the full story, but the scoreboard shows a well-oiled unit that was never in true danger of losing either game at host venue Sutherland Secondary.

Make no mistake: the Storm expected to

go home with a championship.

“To be honest—not to sound cocky—but I think we knew we were going to win,” Unruh said. “Losing wasn’t even a thought to us. We were so dedicated to winning this banner that we wouldn’t take losing as an option.”

The team’s mentality was high energy, Hardie explained.

“I remember telling the team: win or lose, we’re cheering,” he said. “Even if we lose a point, if someone made a good pass then we’re cheering about that pass. Just don’t let your energy go low, play as hard as you can, and never let the ball drop.”

They came, they saw, and they did just that.

TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK

Dramatic one-year turnarounds are rare in sport, and that’s what makes them special.

You have, for instance, the 1999 St. Louis Rams, who followed up a 4-12 campaign with a Super Bowl win and 526 points scored— the third-highest total in NFL history. The 2013 Towson University men’s basketball team finished the NCAA season 18-13: a monstrous improvement from 1-31 in 2012.

Earlier this year, the New Jersey Devils tied for the NHL’s best single-season resurgence with a franchise-record 52 wins for 112 points (compared to 27 wins and 63 points the season before).

Each time something like this happens,

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SPIKE IT Rowan Hardie leaps to spike a volleyball as Whistler Secondary School teammates Sean Felius and Ben Unruh look on.

PHOTO BY MEGUMI TAKAISHI

there’s a rich story behind it, and the Storm are no exception. So how was this humble high school program able to right the ship so compellingly, despite being located in an area where volleyball never takes centre stage?

Niwinski figures it has something to do with how closely knit the team is.

“They just came together—by far one of the best teams I’ve ever worked with as far as teamwork and camaraderie goes,” he said. “Volleyball truly is a team sport, and we couldn’t have done it without help from every player. It was an honour to get to work with a team that was so committed and dedicated.

They were always coming in with an attitude of wanting to work well with each other.”

Hardie is one of a few on the roster with substantial volleyball experience in his younger days. He’s also an avid mountain biker and snowboarder who has played competitive basketball before. Yet, the WSS senior boys volleyball group is the only place where he’s ever become fast friends with all of his teammates.

That experience impacts Hardie’s philosophy as a captain, too. Volleyball—like any sport—is fun if practised in the right atmosphere, and all season long he tried to make sure everyone was put in position to succeed. His upbeat demeanour went a long way in exhorting his teammates to new heights.

“Rowan’s a steady leader,” said Unruh.

“He’s the backbone of the team, not just in skill but also in perseverance. He’s getting everybody to show up at practice, and he led the team in a way that’s positive.”

While Unruh frequently tees up Hardie for court-cracking kills or shrewd roll shots from the left side, the captain looks to his playmaker for other reasons as well.

“Ben has probably the highest energy out of anyone I know,” Hardie revealed. “When I ask myself: ‘I need to keep the energy up, who should I act like?’ I look straight at Ben. He’s a phenomenal player, probably one of my best friends … and he’s such a nice dude.”

‘WHAT CAN BE ACHIEVED’

Storm players are feeling the love from their community. Many have received complimentary texts from folks they know little, as well as warm hugs and high-fives from classmates and faculty. A local doctor even congratulated Hardie for the win during a recent medical appointment—not bad for a place so in love with skiing and biking.

In fact, the last time WSS won a banner, it was in the 2018-19 season for bantam and junior-level mountain biking.

Post-secondary life is fast approaching for this team of destiny. Hardie wants to give the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds program a shot, though he acknowledges the stiff spike in competition found there. Unruh is content with playing intramural games at whatever school he ends up in. Both hope their team’s milestone victory can leave an impact on other students.

“I think this banner is a testament to what can be achieved in three years,” said Unruh. “Since we’ve started playing volleyball, we’ve had some younger people that have taken an interest, so my hope is that they see that banner and can [be inspired] to continue loving the sport as I have loved the sport.”

Most importantly, volleyball has in this case helped develop a crop of potentialfilled young men. Hardie, Unruh and their peers are active in their community, whether it’s joining leadership teams, participating in assemblies, writing poetry or serving at non-profit summer camps. Niwinski— himself only a third-year coach—believes they all have bright futures.

“They made it very easy this season to want to be their coach,” he said. “I’m confident that wherever they decide to go after high school, they just continue to develop those skills and hopefully find a place that they feel fits them well.” n

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DECEMBER 1, 2023

43

FORK IN THE ROAD

Call it a happy accident WRONG INGREDIENT? MISTAKE MEASURING? DON’T WORRY, IT CAN BE LEAVENING ‘TIS THE SEASON, for... Well, baking and cooking, and cooking and baking, may well top the list.

We pretty much love all kinds of homemade goodies this time of year, and unless you’re the staunchest of Zen Buddhists or simply let everyone else knock their socks off and do the work, you might find yourself getting a little worked up this time of year.

My advice: Don’t. Don’t fuss, don’t fret,

BY GLENDA BARTOSH and especially don’t get all steamed up if you make a mistake or run out of time and the guests are knocking on the door.

If the tales below are any indication, chances are it will all turn out better than ever. Even if it doesn’t, remember—the age of Perfect Polly Homemaker is long gone and you’ll have a good laugh or, as Max points out, below, just head out for dinner. (We’re apparently still working on the Perfect Paul trope, but I’m hoping this is one worn-out cultural stereotype that doesn’t transfer any further down the line.)

The idea for this column lies squarely at the feet of one of my best pals from Whistler.

IN YOUR FACE! Mistakes happen, in life and in baking—but there’s no reason we can’t lighten up those happy accidents in the kitchen.

PHOTO BY WILLSIE / ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS

44 DECEMBER 1, 2023

We stopped by for a cosy afternoon visit not long ago, and she’d whipped up a pumpkin loaf to use up that last bit of pumpkin left over from Thanksgiving.

The house smelled delicious, and as we all dove in she cautioned she’d accidentally grabbed both baking powder and baking soda from the pantry in a moment of distraction. (“I was talking or listening to the radio at the same time.”) In went the baking soda, but once she realized it should have been baking powder (or vice versa, life’s too short to dig out the recipe and check) she put that in, too, effectively doubling the leavening.

The result? One of the best pumpkin loaves ever! Nice and light; a beautiful texture packed with flavour.

On that encouraging note, here are a few more “happy accidents” and ideas on how to deal with them, all from locals and all of them authentic, to use Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s word of the year for 2023—no doubt in light of A.I. and all the other sub-par entities trying to write and create.

HERE’S TO PIE IN YOUR EYE!

“As a pie lover, I’m always pretty amped on autumn because it’s a chance to dust off my old pumpkin pie recipe. I remember a few years ago I was in a rush (surprise, surprise) and bought condensed milk instead of evaporated milk, so of course the four pies I made were waaaaayyyy too sweet—diabetic levels of sweet. The silver lining (and there almost always is one if you aren’t afraid to look) was that this meant my eight-year-old son and I got to go out into the yard and have a legitimate pie fight.

“Few things get a kid amped like smashing

a full, warm pie into his father’s face. I had to redo all the pies, but we built some core memories that would never have happened otherwise.”

-FEET BANKS: ex-hay farmer, longtime local and one of my favourite film reviewers/makers and writers, and not only because he doesn’t believe in social media. Feet is also the creator of the online zine Pie Quarterly. (Definitely “not for minors, pearl-clutchers, or the weakwilled and easily offended,” so sign up for it now!) His pumpkin pie recipe is first in the list of recipes. Feet also had a not-so-happy accident once while trying to elevate the crust for same to a butter lemon cardamom one, but messed up converting Imperial measurements to metric, effectively doubling the butter.

Oops… crust soup.

WHEN IN DOUBT, DOUBLE DOWN

“Not too long ago, an older ‘friend’ of a certain vintage presented a lovely looking bocconcini salad to her guests. Everyone dug in only to find out that she had substituted the balsamic vinegar with soy sauce because, quote, she was out of vinegar and they look the same. When one guest seriously balked at the taste and the generally dubious thinking, the hostess fired back, ‘Ya, well, I prefer it this way.’ She’s an awesome but stubborn lady—the bocconcini soy sauce special still shows up.”

-MO DOUGLAS: longtime supporter of arts, culture and tourism at Whistler and current executive director of Arts Whistler at the Maury Young Arts Centre.

DECADENCE BY A DESPERADO

“It was late, I was alone, jonesing, no—willing to kill for chocolate. The only thing I could find was a handful of chocolate chips, not particularly appealing, although it wouldn’t have been the first time I’d resorted to that option. Staring into the fridge, as though by staring I’d conjure up something, I spotted an aerosol container of whipped cream someone had brought over for a dessert and left behind.

“I put the chocolate chips in a coffee mug, added a few drops of milk and nuked ‘em for 30 seconds. Stirred, added a few more drops of milk, nuked it for another 15 seconds.

Stirred until smooth, adding a bit more milk to the point it was still thick but a bit fluid, then popped it into the freezer for about six minutes to cool it down a little. Shot some of the whipped cream in, stirred frantically, added more whipped cream, more stirring, more cream, more stirring until I had about half a mug of semi-solid, chocolatey-looking stuff. Back in the freezer for five minutes.

Took it out and tried it.

“Heavenly. Instant chocolate mousse. Or, if you prefer, Desperation Chocolate Mousse.”

-G.D. “MAX” MAXWELL: Pique’s inimitable columnist who always has the last word, and once so oversalted a one-pot “put the paper to bed” meal for Bob Barnett and other Piquers of the day that, after two bites, they just went out for dinner.

Glenda Bartosh is an award-winning journalist who bids a fond farewell to another longtime Piquer, Brandon Barrett—who’s happily been a part of this newsmagazine for years, and whose talent is no accident. n

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DECEMBER 2

DECEMBER 3

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ARTS SCENE

All Original Orphans’ Winter Feast takes place Dec. 9 at the Point CATCH MUSICIANS JACK GARTON AND DINO DINICOLO WHILE ENJOYING A TURKEY DINNER WITH FRIENDS

BY DAVID SONG SINCE TIME immemorial, human beings have gathered together in winter months to share two things: food and music. The days get short, dark and cold this time of year, and we haven’t always had furnaces and fibre-optic internet to stave off the elements.

Meals and music nourish both body and soul, yet those without friends or family at hand can often miss out on this key source of community.

That’s why Stephen Vogler, founder and artistic director of the Point Artist-Run Centre, is resurrecting a beloved community tradition come Dec. 9: the All Original Orphans’ Winter Feast.

Good food, good music and good friends are the key ingredients for this event. A full turkey dinner and cash bar will be on tap, along with vegetarian options. As guests chow down, they’ll be able to take in a pair of eclectic Lower Mainland musicians: opening act Dino DiNicolo and headliner Jack Garton.

UNIQUE TALENTS

Both men are unconventional in their craft, to say the least.

DiNicolo has left his past on the electric organ behind to carve out his own style, one seasoned by the likes of funk, R&B, soul and jazz, but resists falling into any of those

ALL ORIGINAL Jack Garton performs on stage with his band.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JACK GARTON

46 DECEMBER 1, 2023

categories neatly. He brings a stage to life using a bass and his own voice—that’s it. No guitar, no drums, no keyboard.

DiNicolo has become so proficient at his one-man show, viewers sometimes mistake him for a live looper, yet he uses no looping tool: just an effects pedal and his own abilities.

Years of experimentation have led him to a curious discovery: many forms of music can be made to sound like jazz. Take everything away from your average pop song except the

Garton says. “That’s kind of the thing I really like: connecting with an audience.

All my songs are really personal stories— the things that I’ve found funny or sweet or heartbreaking in my life.”

Garton has heard many positive things about the Point. His friends in the Vancouver music scene, Carolyn Mark, Geoff Berner, and Kitty and the Rooster, have encouraged him to play in Whistler for some time. Busy schedules prevented Garton from dropping

“I like to get people dancing and singing along, and sharing great songs together.”

- JACK GARTON

bass and vocals, and you’re left with something awfully like a member of the jazz family.

“You start to go long enough in your own direction, you start to realize that you’re the only person or group of people doing this style and it hasn’t really been invented yet, even though I’ve been doing it since 2008,” says the Vancouver native about his career. “I’ve often used the phrase ‘rhythm and groove’ [to describe my music].”

Likewise, Garton finds it hard to put his artistic approach into words. He’s an accordion player, but his act tends toward all kinds of folk and roots music: Cajun, rockabilly, doo-wop, blues, the works.

“I like to get people dancing and singing along, and sharing great songs together,”

by last summer, but when Vogler called again this year, he jumped at the opportunity.

DiNicolo also found his way to the Winter Feast gig through a mutual connection. He frequents the Fairmont Chateau Whistler’s Mallard Lounge and encountered one of the bartenders’ dads. The man, who is involved with the Point, recommended DiNicolo contact Vogler about performing.

ON POINT

From 2013 to 2019, Vogler and his team put on a popular Thanksgiving Feast at the Point, which met an untimely interruption due to COVID-19. They looked forward to bringing the event back after three years away, but on-site

infrastructure upgrades prevented them from doing so over Thanksgiving. Thus they decided on a Winter Feast instead.

“When I heard some of [Garton’s] recordings and then saw him live, I realized his music is really great,” Vogler says. “He plays accordion, trumpet and guitar, and writes really great songs, so that just fits in well. When we started this thing in 2013, it was the All Original Orphans Thanksgiving, so we thought: let’s focus on original music for this event. “[Dino’s] a really unique musician, too.

Even though he does like a lot of small, loungy gigs, he plays all original music all the time, which kind of blew my mind, so I thought he’d be perfect.”

The Point has facilitated a variety of local events for well over a decade, from dinner shows and live theatre to art workshops and music camps. Vogler first pitched the idea of an artist-run centre in the Sea to Sky to a group of his peers in 2009, and they’ve been giving their cosy heritage lodge a purpose since opening its doors in 2010.

“It brings a real sense of community, because for one thing, it’s the only old lodge left from that era when the town was called Alta Lake and there were fishing lodges all around. It’s a bit of history, which is not easy to find in this town,” Vogler says. “Then also, it combines the contemporary art scene with that historic building and lets the community experience what local artists and visiting artists have to offer.”

The 2023 Winter Feast takes place Saturday, Dec. 9 at 6 p.m. Dinner and show tickets are $45 apiece ($30 for guests aged 12 and under), while those only planning on catching the show pay $20. Find out more at thepointartists.com. n

ARTS SCENE

Whistlerite Tara Newell wins a capella world title with Lions Gate Chorus NEWELL AND HER FELLOW SINGERS PREVAILED IN THE 2023 SWEET ADELINES INTERNATIONAL

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In the wake of her greatest artistic achievement to date, Newell looks back to where she came from. Her family moved to Whistler in 1995, and her grandfather once travelled the world as a singer. Yet it was the WCC that kept Newell involved with music, granting her opportunities to perform from Ottawa to Montreal to Nova Scotia. Newell credits WCC instructors Alison Hunter and

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as a first-grade student with the Whistler Children’s Chorus (WCC), she hardly imagined she would receive international recognition somewhere down the line.

Music for her was but a passion and a source of fellowship with like-minded people. It continues to be those things—but it has also brought her to new heights.

On Nov. 4, Newell and approximately 100 other a capella singers in the Lions Gate Chorus were named victors at the 75th annual Sweet Adelines International Convention and Competition in Louisville, Ky. It is the first such title in the Vancouver-based choir’s nearly 70-year history, and they earned it in style: becoming the first group ever to receive a perfect score in any category from the judges.

Understandably, Newell is over the moon.

“I’m still probably in shock,” she admits.

“While I’ve been in the chorus for nine years, this is my fourth International. We’ve won second twice and fifth once, and it’s a huge achievement.

“There’s so much hard work that goes into this win, not only from each individual chorus member, but behind the scenes from our production team, our music team and our artistic team. We have so many different leaders in the chorus that have put so much time into this. Our director has been here 32 years, so she’s wanted this for 32 years.”

The director in question, Sandy Marron, was indeed ecstatic.

“As soon as they announced second place and it wasn’t us, I knew that after 32 years of directing this fabulous group of singers we had finally achieved ‘the impossible dream’ of becoming world champions,” Marron says in a press release. “This was a life goal for me, and I couldn’t be any happier. These singers are not only my chorus members, they are my best friends.”

Fellow Lions Gate member Cammi MacKinlay likened the Sweet Adelines International to “the Olympics of a capella singing,” and Newell agrees with that sentiment. She likens the in-depth rehearsals and committed mental preparation undergone by chorus members to the training of an athlete, and as a longtime Whistler resident, she’s seen her fair share of athletes.

BE

WHEN TARA Newell first began singing

Janet Hamer for playing key roles in her development—though she perhaps was not always a model student.

“There’s some really good photos from when I was little in either the Whistler Question or Pique, of me just not paying attention to Janet and completely singing with my mouth wide open,” Newell reminisces. “I always thought I knew the music and never paid attention. That was something I had to work on when I joined the Lions Gate Chorus.”

Though Newell’s dad, a ski instructor, still lives in Whistler, she moved to Vancouver after high school to attend Simon Fraser University (SFU). Afterwards, she found employment at the University of British Columbia (UBC), where she is now the interim associate director of alumni engagement for the Faculty of Medicine. Newell’s continuing interest in singing brought her to Lions Gate, where she acts as the diversity, equity and inclusion coordinator.

“We call it a ‘hobby’ with quotation marks because it’s more of a lifestyle than anything,” she says. “I have to rehearse on my own during the week. I also dance in the front row with Lions Gate, which means extra rehearsals and extra practice time on my own. I would say it’s like a course you’re taking externally from work. So it definitely is quite time-consuming, but the course is also very flexible because we also know that life happens.

“My managers [at UBC] have been very supportive, which has been fantastic.”

M

BY DAVID SONG

TRADITION AND INCLUSION

What keeps bringing Newell back to the Lions Gate Chorus? For starters, it is rich in tradition: chartered in 1954, Lions Gate is Canada’s oldest Sweet Adelines choir.

The group performs at all kinds of concerts and local community events, in addition to regional and international contests. By winning the Canadian Maple Leaf Region 26 competition in 2022—delivering their performance virtually due to COVID— Lions Gate earned a berth at November’s International in Louisville.

The group’s reputation as inclusive and inter-generational reflects Newell’s overall experience with singing.

“It’s been my community the whole time.

It has brought so many wonderful people into my life,” she says. “I actually met my husband through someone in the chorus, and I have so many fantastic friends that I have gained through this. It is a stress reliever, it is something to achieve, and as a competitive person, it is something that I can constantly work towards.

“A lot of the things I’ve learned in the chorus, I can actually apply to my job.

For example, I was marketing coordinator at one point, and I was learning certain things that I’ve applied to my work at UBC. I hope that I bring a sense of community and [make it known] to the community that everyone is welcome.” n

DECEMBER 1, 2023

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ARTS SCENE PIQUE’S GUIDE TO LOCAL EVENTS & NIGHTLIFE Here’s a quick look at some events happening in Whistler this week and beyond.

FIND MORE LOCAL EVENT LISTINGS (and submit your own for free!) at piquenewsmagazine.com/local-events

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We’ve got you covered.

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Pick up the latest issue of your favourite read on stands throughout Whistler every Friday

WHISTLER FILM FESTIVAL 2023 CREEKSIDE VILLAGE The 23rd edition of the Whistler Film Festival and CHRISTMAS MARKET Content Summit is back, offering in-person and online experiences for audiences, filmmakers, and industry guests. Enjoy a diverse lineup of films, conversations with top talent, après events, and more in the stunning setting of Whistler’s world-class ski resort. It’s the perfect blend of cinema and leisure.

Find more info and tickets at whistlerfilmfestival.com. > Nov. 29 to Dec 3 > Multiple venues > $25 to $160

PET PHOTOS WITH SANTA (A WAG FUNDRAISER)

STARTS DECEMBER 1ST 8AM - NOON SERVING YOU A PREVIEW OF WHISTLERS NEW RESTAURANT

RESERVATIONS AVAILABLE SCAN HERE

Join the WAG team for Pet Photos with Santa happening at the Westin Hotel in Whistler. A $20 donation to the animals at WAG will get you a picture snapped with Old Saint Nick as well as an entry into WAG’s Christmas Gift Raffle. Photography services will be done by the Kasselman Creative Crew and will be available online a few days after the event. WAG staff will have calendars and other swag for sale, and Bandanas by Denise will have a selection of bandanas available with proceeds going to the animals at WAG! > Dec. 2, 1 to 4 p.m. > Westin Hotel > $20

FOR SALE

Stroll through the Creekside Village Christmas Market, filled with local vendors offering unique, handcrafted gifts and delicious seasonal treats. Santa’s Village adds an extra touch of wonder, with Santa himself making an appearance. > Dec. 3, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. > Creekside > Free

RCMP FOOD AND TOY DRIVE Whistler RCMP alongside the Whistler Fire Rescue Service is pleased to host the 3rd Annual Holiday Food and Toy Drive on Dec. 7 at Fresh St. Market. All toys and food will be donated to the Whistler Food Bank and Whistler Community Services Society for distribution to the Whistler community.

Bring a donation in the form of new toys, food, or gift cards, and cram our police cruiser and stuff our fire truck! RCMP will be there in Red Serge, and Safety Bear will also be onsite.

Challenge your coworkers or other businesses, and let us show everyone how great the community of Whistler is! > Dec. 7, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. > Fresh St. Market > Free

1 Bdrm, 1 Bthrm townhome in desirable Alta Vista neighbourhood a short walk to both Lakeside Park & Wayside Park on Alta Lake

Zoning permits both weekend Cottage Use by an out-of-town owner or full-time occupancy by an owner or long-term renter.

In-Unit Washer & Dryer. Gas Fireplace. Balcony faces to the sunny south. On the Valley Trail between Village & Creekside, below Whistler Mountain, close to Alta Lake.

On-site mail delivery. Re-cycling & Waste Shed. Storage Locker. Ideal for lake lovers.

ASKING PRICE REDUCED TO: $775,000 (GST not applicable).

Duane Kercher, Real Estate Agent & Managing Broker

Real Estate Sales & Long-Term Rental Management Cell: 604-932-7849 Email: duane@whistlerproperty.com

48 DECEMBER 1, 2023

Space Available!

YOUTH SKI PROGRAMS Fresh.

Fun. Friends.

• Dec 9th start Saturday 10:00 am - 11:30 am at Whistler Olympic Park Ages 6 - 8 and 12 - 15 • Jan 11th start Thursday 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm Lost Lake Ages 8 - 10 and 12 - 15 Check it out at whistlernordics.com

The Four Seasons Whistler is looking to add to our employee housing inventory!

We are fortunate to have existing, long term relationships with many local home and property owners and are continuing to expand our housing inventory.

What can we offer?

Commitment from the Four Seasons on ensuring your property is well looked after, secure, long term rental, management of tenancy by dedicated Housing Team, with the peace of mind knowing your property is in good hands.

Does this sound like it could be a fit?

Please email Odeta.Bartasiute@fourseasons.com

THE 2023-2024 PEMBERTON GUIDE on stands now!

EVENTS THINGS TO DO MAPS BUSINESS DIRECTORY

AN OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF

DECEMBER 1, 2023

49

MUSEUM MUSINGS

RUFF LIFE Canadian Avalanche Rescue Dog Association recruits training on Whistler Mountain in 1991.

Dog days

NEW WINTER WHISTLER MAGAZINE IS OUT! WHISTLER’S PREMIER VISITOR MAGAZINE SINCE 1980 Get your new edition in hotel rooms and select locations around Whistler.

/whistlermagazine

50 DECEMBER 1, 2023

BY ALLYN PRINGLE THE OPENING of the Peak Chair on Whistler Mountain in 1986 opened up more than just lift-accessed alpine terrain; the increase in patrolled terrain also meant more positions on Whistler Mountain’s ski patrol, a team that usually had low turnover and therefore didn’t hire new patrollers very often. After hearing about these new positions from a friend on patrol, Yvonne Thornton drove her Volkswagen van to Whistler and was hired by Brian Leighton.

Even though she had never skied Whistler Mountain before, Thornton had been a patroller at Panorama and Big White, as well as volunteering on the patrol at Red Mountain.

She’d spent the previous summer working for the forest services, and so had rope skills. In an oral history interview in January 2023, she recalled Leighton appreciated that, as the terrain opened by the Peak Chair would need more “rope people.” Thornton began her first season with “a lot of figuring out the terrain,” getting to know the mountain, and avalanche control. Over the following years, she took on other positions as well, including volunteer ski patrol coordinator and dog handler.

By the time Thornton arrived in 1986, Whistler Mountain already had an avalanche rescue dog program established by Bruce Watt and his dog Radar. In 1985, another patroller, Anton Horvath, also became an avalanche rescue dog handler (Horvath is currently a Canadian Avalanche Rescue Dog Association, or CARDA, instructor). During her second season, Thornton decided she wanted to become one as well, and got approval from Horvath to start the process.

Like Watt before her, Thornton recalled she didn’t know anything about picking a dog.

She ended up getting a border collie from the Fraser Valley, and the two began working their way through the required courses.

CARDA’s program and courses at the time were closely aligned with the Bergwacht, a part of the German Red Cross that focuses on mountain rescue. As part of their training, Thornton and her dog went to Germany.

She flew into Munich and then had to take

WHISTLER QUESTION COLLECTION

multiple trains, which got slower and smaller as she got further from the city, all while keeping track of multiple bags, boots, skis, and, of course, her dog. On the journey back to Munich, she accidentally got on the wrong train and, when the conductor noticed, the train was stopped. Thornton had to get off and board another train that was passing back the other way to go back to the station and try again.

As far as Thornton is aware, she was the first woman to take one of the Bergwacht courses. Thornton remembered that “it was really fun” and she “cruised around, did some search training, ate a lot of meat and cheese and bread,” but, looking back, she also isn’t entirely sure how she did it.

The mountains, ski patrol and the avalanche rescue dog program have changed a lot since 1986. Interested patrollers now require five years of patrol experience, and Thornton described the current interview process as “intense.” CARDA has also introduced more requirements over the years, and handlers now must have their Level 1 instructing certification and be part of a search and rescue group involved in mountain rescue or a ski hill that has avalanche control and mountain rescue. (Thornton is currently involved in both Whistler SAR and ski patrol.) As the organization and specific programs have gotten more established, she has also seen more mentorship and education when it comes to picking dogs to train as avalanche rescue dogs. Since her first border collie, Thornton has worked with two Malinois, a shepherd, and her current dog, a lab named Dyna, with whom she has also trained for wilderness searches and tracking.

According to Thornton, the avalanche rescue dogs on Whistler are an accepted operational part of the team and, when seeing the dogs on the mountain, it is important to remember they are working, not part of a “petting zoo or bring-your-pet-to-work day.”

Thornton did admit, though, that it is pretty fun to be able to work with her dog. It also seems to be pretty fun for the dogs.

“All of my dogs have just loved going up there,” she recalled.

“Like it’s always, ‘Best day ever.’” n

PARTIAL RECALL

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1

3

4

5

1 LET IT SNOW Another opening day at Whistler Blackcomb is in the books, and the mountain operator is hard at work making snow to compensate for Mother Nature’s stinginess so far this ski season. PHOTO BY MATT SYLVESTRE / COURTESY OF GOING UP Members of the media were invited for a pre-season ski around the day before Whistler Blackcomb’s opening day. Pictured are Mia Gordon, Steven Threndyle and Scott Tibballs. PHOTO BY SCOTT TIBBALLS 3 FULL IMMERSION Spring Creek Community School’s French Immersion Grade 6/7 class took a field trip to visit the Adele Campbell Art Gallery last week. PHOTO COURTESY OF ADELE CAMPBELL ART GALLERY 4 BACK IN BUSINESS The Bratz Biz Youth Artisan Market returned to Whistler Nov. 25 and 26 at the Westin Resort and Spa. This year’s market once again featured dozens of handmade offerings from young entrepreneurs in the Sea to Sky. PHOTO BY JOERN ROHDE / COURTESY OF BRATZ BIZ 5 HAPPY ANNIVERSARY Gallery artist Mike Svob paints during the Adele Campbell Art Gallery’s Art of Winter/30th-anniversary celebration event. PHOTO COURTESY OF ADELE CAMPBELL ART GALLERY WHISTLER BLACKCOMB 2

SEND US YOUR PHOTOS! Send your recent snaps to arts@piquenewsmagazine.com

Recycle? Yes or no?

Get the BC RECYCLEPEDIA App

www.rcbc.ca RECYCLING COUNCIL OF B.C. MEMBER

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NFL IS BACK! Stay Stinky!

21-4314 Main Street DECEMBER 1, 2023

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ASTROLOGY

FOOTBALL IS BACK! Catch all the games on Thursdays, Sundays & Mondays (with volume) Join us for Monday Night Football when our dinner special is MNF Flatbread!

$19.50 plus tax with a choice of 3 toppings.

Buckets of 4 Budweiser, Bud Light, or Moosehead for $32 including taxes on Sundays & Mondays

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Whistler Valley Housing Society’s Notice of Annual General Meeting Who:

Notice to Members

When:

December 13th, 2023 1:00pm - 1:45pm

Where:

Virtual via Zoom Please email WVHS.info@gmail.com for Zoom call in information, a copy of the agenda and the proposed Bylaws to be adopted at the AGM.

The Whistler Valley Housing Society is a not-forprofit established in 1983 and is the owner of Whistler Creek Court, a 20 unit affordable rental housing project for Whistler employees.

Our Vision

To provide, and advocate for, a broader spectrum of housing opportunities for the Whistler community

Contact WVHS.info@gmail.com for additional information.

52 DECEMBER 1, 2023

Free Will Astrology WEEK OF DECEMBER 1 BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES (March 21-April 19): As a child, I loved to go to a meadow and whirl around in spirals until I got so dizzy, I fell. As I lay on the ground, the earth, sky, and sun reeled madly, and I was no longer just a pinpoint of awareness lodged inside my body, but an ecstatically undulating swirl in the kaleidoscopic web of life. Now, years later, I’ve discovered many of us love-spinning. Scientists postulate humans have a desire for the intoxicating vertigo it brings.

I would never recommend you do what I did as a kid; it could be dangerous for some of you. But if it’s safe and the spirit moves you, do it! Or at least imagine yourself doing it. Do you know about the Sufi whirling dervishes who use spinning as a meditation? Read here: tinyurl.com/ JoyOfWhirling and tinyurl.com/SufiSpinning.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Your power creature in the coming weeks will not be an eagle, wolf, bear, or salmon.

I don’t advise you to dream of being a wild horse, tiger, or crocodile. Instead, I invite you to cultivate a deep bond with the mushroom family. Why? Now is a favourable time to be like the mushrooms that keep the earth fresh. In wooded areas, they eat away dead trees and leaves, preventing larger and larger heaps of compost from piling up. They keep the soil healthy and make nutrients available for growing things. Be like those mushrooms, Taurus. Steadily and relentlessly rid your world of the defunct and decaying parts—thereby stimulating fertility.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Gemini novelist Geraldine McCaughrean wrote, “Maybe courage is like memory—a muscle that needs exercise to get strong. So I decided that maybe if I started in a small way, I could gradually work my way up to being brave.” That is an excellent prescription for you: the slow, incremental approach to becoming bolder and pluckier. For best results, begin practising on mild risks and mellow adventures. Week by week, month by month, increase the audacious beauty of your schemes and the intensity of your spunk and fortitude. By mid-2024, you will be ready to launch a daring project.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian neurologist and author Oliver Sacks worked with people who had unusual neurological issues. His surprising conclusion: “Defects, disorders, and diseases can play a paradoxical role, by bringing out latent powers, developments, and evolutions that might never be seen in their absence.” In not all cases, but more often than seemed reasonable, he found that disorders could be regarded as creative—”for if they destroy particular paths, particular ways of doing things, they may force unexpected growth.” Your assignment is to meditate on how the events of your life might exemplify the principle Sacks marvels at: apparent limitations leading to breakthroughs and bonanzas.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): I am falling in love with how deeply you are falling in love with new ways of seeing and understanding yourself. My heart sings as I listen to your heart singing in response to new attractions. Keep it up, Leo! You are having an excellent influence on me.

My dormant potentials and drowsy passions are stirring as I behold you waking up and coaxing out your dormant potentials and drowsy passions. Thank you, dear!

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo journalist Sydney J. Harris offered advice I suggest you meditate on. He wrote, “Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.”

I bring this to your attention because now is a favourable time to take action on things you have not yet done—and should do. If you put definitive plans in motion soon, you will ensure that regret won’t come calling in five years. (PS: Amazingly, it’s also an excellent time to dissolve regret you feel for an iffy move you made in the past.)

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In contrast to false stereotypes, Medieval Europeans were not dirty and unhygienic. They made soap and loved to bathe. Another bogus myth says the people of the Middle Ages believed the Earth was flat. But the truth was most educated folks knew

it was round. And it’s questionable to refer to this historical period as backward, since it brought innovations such as mechanical timekeepers, moveable type, accurate maps, the heavy plow, and illuminated manuscripts. In this spirit, and in accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to strip away misconceptions and celebrate actual facts in your own sphere. Be a scrupulous revealer, a conscientious and meticulous truth-teller.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio poet John Berryman said, “To grow, we must travel in the direction of our fears.” Yikes! I personally wouldn’t want to do that kind of growth all the time. I prefer travelling cheerfully in the direction of my hopes and dreams. But then, I’m not a Scorpio. Maybe Berryman’s strategy for fulfilling one’s best destiny is a Scorpio superpower. What do you think? One thing I know for sure is that the coming weeks will be an excellent time to re-evaluate and reinvent your relationship with your fears. I suggest you approach the subject with a beginner’s mind. Empty yourself of all your previous ideas and be open to healing new revelations.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian poet Nina Cassian said, “I promise to make you so alive that the fall of dust on furniture will deafen you.” I think she meant she would fully awaken the senses of her readers. She would boost our capacity for enchantment and entice us to feel interesting emotions we had never experienced. As we communed with her beautiful self-expression, we might even reconfigure our understanding of who we are and what life is about. I am pleased to tell you, Sagittarius, that even if you’re not a writer, you now have an enhanced ability to perform these same services—both for yourself and for others.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “Sometimes I get lonesome for a storm,” says Capricorn singer-songwriter Joan Baez. “A full-blown storm where everything changes.”

That approach has worked well for her. At age 82, she has released 30 albums and is a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. She has recorded songs in eight languages and has been honoured by Amnesty International for her work on behalf of human rights. If you’re feeling resilient—which I think you are—I recommend that you, too, get lonesome for a storm. Your life could use some rearrangement. If you’re not feeling wildly bold and strong, maybe ask the gods for a mild squall.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Science educator Neil deGrasse Tyson tells us that water molecules we drink have “passed through the kidneys of Socrates, Genghis Khan, and Joan of Arc.” The same prodigious truth applies to the air we breathe: It has “passed through the lungs of Napoleon, Beethoven, and Abraham Lincoln.” Tyson would have also been accurate if he said we have shared water and air that has been inside the bodies of virtually every creature who has ever lived. I bring these facts to your attention, Aquarius, in the hope of inspiring you to deepen your sense of connectedness to other beings. Now is an excellent time to intensify your feelings of kinship with the web of life. Here’s the practical value of doing that: You will attract more help and support into your life.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I am saying a prayer for you. I pray to the Fates that you will not accept lazy or careless efforts from others. You won’t allow their politeness to be a cover-up for manipulativeness. I also pray that you will cultivate high expectations for yourself.

You won’t be an obsessive perfectionist, but will be devoted to excellence. All your actions will be infused with high integrity. You will conscientiously attend to every detail with the faith that you are planting seeds that will bloom beautifully in the future.

Homework: Read inspirational insights about your astrological sign in my new book: https://bit.ly/AstrologyReal.

In addition to this column, Rob Brezsny creates

EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES In-depth weekly forecasts designed to inspire and uplift you. To buy access, phone 1-888-499-4425. Once you’ve chosen the Block of Time you like, call 1-888-682-8777 to hear Rob’s forecasts. www.freewillastrology.com

SEPTEMBER 23, 2023 to JANUARY 29, 2024

GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY: JANET & CHRIS BOWELL ANNE FERREIRA JANE IRWIN & ROSS HILL Karin Bubaš,Woman with Hollowed Tree (detail), 2016 archival pigment print, 60 × 60 inches Collection of Ross & Melissa Bonetti

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Winter 2024 Issue on select stands and in Whistler hotel rooms.

Accommodation

VACATION RENTALS ACCOMMODATION EXCHANGE

Fairmont Chateau Whistler Resort is growing its Housing portfolio and sourcing additional Chalet and Condo Rental contracts for our Hotel Team Members. Our leaders are mature, career driven drivers that know the word respect. Contract terms for property Owners are stress free with no commissions and includes representation from our 4 person fulltime Housing Department working with you 24/7; maintaining all aspects of the tenancy including quarterly inspections.

A great next move for Whistler property Owners that have tired with the Airbnb game or Property Fees. Let’s see if we can make a match and develop a long-term relationship here. General inquiries please email mark.munn@fairmont.com

Hi, we’re Hallie and Annie!

We are WAG’s youngest residents who are now ready to find separate loving homes of our own! If you would like to learn more about us and our ideal families, please check out our profiles online at www.whistlerwag.com and those of other animals currently available.

Breed: Mastiff Mixes Gender: Both Female D.O.B: September 2023 Size: Little but growing fast - will be XL! Visit whistlerwag.com to learn more about me and donate towards my much needed specialist dental procedure to give me a second chance at health and happiness.

www.whistlerwag.com

HOME SERVICES BUILDING AND RENOVATIONS

Whistler Home Exchange -your home for ours on the beautiful beaches of Gold Coast in Australia’s tropical holiday city.

From 18th January, for 3 -4 weeks, relax on golden Beaches, Golf courses and Theme Parks for kids.

Car included.

Call +61 0412 450 826 bjbeban@gmail.com

Wiebe Construction Services Serving Whistler for over 25 years

• Kitchen and Bath • Renovations & Repairs • Drywall • Painting • Finishing • Minor Electrical & Plumbing

Ray Wiebe 604.935.2432 Pat Wiebe 604.902.9300 raymondo99.69@gmail.com

Services

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HEALTH & WELLBEING

HANDYPERSON

SPORTS & ACTIVITIES

Putting people first, every day

Woodworker & Handyman

Your opportunity Our Whistler office is looking for an Administrative Assistant to support the team. This is a full time in-office role, and the successful candidate will own the following responsibilities: • Assemble and file personal and corporate tax returns • Photocopy, scan, file, data entry, update & maintain records • Write & distribute correspondence, assist clients • Reception coverage, greet clients, maintain tidy office/kitchen • Provide administrative support to staff as required

Group Fitness Classes

.Updating kitchen cabinet ,Vanity .Repairs and Reno .Casing .Finishing .Painting .Custom Cabinet,Vanity,Furniture .Ikea stuff assembling .Installing kitchen cabinet 604-5187525 sekechin@gmail.com

MOVING AND STORAGE

big or small we do it all!

Call 604-902-MOVE www.alltimemoving.ca

Fridays – Pilates 10:30-11:30 am w Liv Sundays – Vinyasa Flow 9:15-10:15 am w Nicki Mondays - TRX Mixer 5:15-6 pm w Andy Tuesdays – Low Impact 9-10 am pm w Anna Wednesdays – Spin Mixer 7:30-8:30 am w Sylvie Thursdays – Prenatal Fitness 5:30-6:30 pm Sara

Your experience and education • Previous administrative/office experience • Strong proficiency with Microsoft Office programs • Ability to work under pressure, manage deadlines and prioritize workload • Be very detail-oriented - we mean meticulous!

See our full page schedule ad in this issue of Pique for details

Why BDO? Our people-first approach to talent has earned us a spot among Canada’s Top 100 Employers for 2022. This recognition is a milestone we’re thrilled to add to our collection of awards for both experienced and student talent experiences.

Total rewards that matter: We pay for performance with competitive total cash compensation that recognizes and rewards your contribution. We provide flexible benefits from day one, and a market-leading personal time off policy. We’re committed to supporting your overall wellness beyond working hours, and provide reimbursement for wellness initiatives that fit your lifestyle.

Dont forget to scoop the poop!

It’s not fun to step in, or to see around town.

Help keep Whistler clean and pick up after your dog.

Everyone counts: We believe every employee should have the opportunity to participate and succeed without barriers.

Ready to make your mark at BDO? Please send your up-to-date resume to rsingh@bdo.ca or apply on-line at www.bdo.ca/careers

www.whistlerwag.com

Thank you to all applicants that apply. We will contact you if you are selected for a personal interview. No phone calls and/ or agencies please. If you are applying for this role, you should have current legal working rights in Canada. As part of our interview process, you may be subject to background inquiries.

Community

NOTICES LEGAL/PUBLIC NOTICES Warehouse Lien Act

604.932.1968

office@northlandstorage.ca

Whereas the following registered owners are indebted to Cooper’s Towing Ltd. for unpaid towing and storage fees plus any related charges that may accrue.

Notice is hereby given that on December 15, 2023, at noon or thereafter the goods will be seized and sold.

1. Brian Neil Ferguson 2014 Ubilt Boat Trailer Plate # WDD55F $9644.55 2. Owner : Unknown Boat 13K-46124 T.A.C $9408.00 3. Jonathan Boyce 2003 Chevrolet Venture VIN: 1GNDX03E23D275328 $4053.00 4. Webb Wilkinson Riley Jackson – 2006 Audi A3 VIN: WAUMF78P76A203199 $4084.50 5. Matterson Grace 2002 GMC Envoy VIN: 1GKDT13S222418521 $4966.50 6. Lundrigan Shawn 2002 Dodge/Ram Dakota Vin: 1B7GL42XX2S685946 $2730.00 7. Owner: unknown 2011 Dodge/Ram Avenger Vin: 1B3BD1FB1BN564128 $2252.26 8. Nicole Clarke 1994 Toyota Corolla VIN : JT2AE09V5R0055991 $1659.00 The vehicles are currently being stored at Cooper’s Towing Ltd 8065 Nesters Road Whistler, BC, V8E 0G4

For more information, please call Cooper’s Towing Ltd. @ 604-902-1930

EMPLOYMENT EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES Part Time Work at Recycle Depot Sites – Nesters/Function – Training provided – send resume to denise.imbeau@gflenv.com

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Lil’wat Nation

Child and Youth Therapist- Maternity Leave Department: Special Needs Status: Contract Full-time Start Date: November 2023

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End Date: June 20, 2024 Pay Grid: $57,330 to $80,080 per year.

Reporting to: School Admin team Summary of Duties: The Child and Youth Therapist works with students aged 4-18 within a school-based setting. The child and youth therapist uses trauma-informed and therapeutic modalities including narrative therapy, expressive arts, and CBT. The child and youth therapist will report to the school admin support team.

For more information, or to apply for this position please visit our careers page https://lilwat.ca/careers/

DECEMBER 1, 2023

55

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COORDINATOR, CONTENT MARKETING ASSOCIATE, TRAVEL TRADE Full Time, Year Round

Love a good challenge? Passionate about the place you call home? Tourism Whistler is looking for community-loving, mountain-appreciating, environment-respecting people to join our team.

Tourism Whistler’s Travel Trade team works with third party trade partners to drive overnight visits from key markets. The Associate, Travel Trade supports the fulfillment of Tourism Whistler’s goals and objectives through building relationships with our clients and developing and maintaining our client base. With outstanding communication and interpersonal skills, and a high level of enthusiasm and initiative, the Associate will deliver superior service to our clients with a strong passion for our industry and purpose.

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TO VIEW OUR CAREER OPPORTUNITIES, AND TO APPLY, VISIT US ONLINE AT: WHISTLER.COM/CAREERS.

Part Time, Year Round

Love a good challenge? Passionate about the place you call home? Tourism Whistler is looking for community-loving, mountain-appreciating, environmentrespecting people to join our team.

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22

WEDGE ISSUE Backcountry skier reflects on near-death experience

BLOWING UP Gauging the risk

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Sea to Sky’s volcanoes

BEST IN SHOWDOWN 72-Hour Showdown returns with a bang

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APRIL 21, 2023 ISSUE 30.16

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The Coordinator, Content Marketing supports the Content Team in the ongoing management and development of social, blog and app content. The ideal candidate will have an interest and experience in marketing and content creation, strong communication and written skills, and be organized and able to manage a diverse range of tasks.

What we offer: part time flexible schedule (20 hours per week) with a hybrid approach that balances in-office and remote work, an excellent benefits package, a commitment to health and wellness, and a fun and supportive team environment.

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SPRING OOPS WB apologizes for rocky start to spring season

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ENGAGE THIS Whistler council to limit input at meetings

APRIL 28, 2023 ISSUE 30.17

LIGHT IT UP Gordon Lightfoot tribute act Early Morning Rain plays Whistler

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Free Housing

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SAFETY FIRST? Whistler Blackcomb weighs in on safety

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BEAR SEASON Old, emaciated bear euthanized near Whistler Village

HIT PARADE Introduce Wolves launch new multifaceted music company

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MAY 5, 2023 ISSUE 30.18

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15

GET REAL Demand for recreational properties heating up

MAY 12, 2023 ISSUE 30.19

40

POINT TAKEN Singer-songwriter Jill Barber plays The Point May 6 how Whistler stacks up on bikeability WWW.PIQUE NEWSMAGA ZINE.COM

BIKE CHECK National dataset shows

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Quest University closes its doors with a Tantalus Twist

14

Resort Municipality of Whistler Resort Municipality of Whistler

MIND THE GAP Whistler Valley Society looks to fill in housing

Housing

gaps

15

POT OF GOLD Whistler has its

34

first

cannabis retail applicants

FOR THE CHILDREN Whistler Children’s Festival celebrates

Employment Opportunities Employment Opportunities

40 years

FRE E

CLOSET SPACE

·· Legislative and Privacy Coordinator Lifeguard/Swim Instructor

We are growing our team!

Competitive wages, unique bonus program, extended benefits, team building days, supportive work environment and lots of opportunity for growth and leadership.

Journeymen/women and apprentices

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Leader •·· Program Supervisor, Roads, Drainage & Flood Protection Skate Host the starting wage for this position is $43.80Supervisor per hour ·· Lifeguard/Swim Instructor Wastewater Treatment Plant Process · Solid Waste Technician I – Village Maintenance •· Labourer Wastewater Chief Operator ·· Accountant the starting forServices this position is $42.94 per hour Youth and wage Public Specialist

Resort Municipality of Whistler whistler.ca/careers

14

INTO ACTION Whistler’s new Housing Action Plan revealed

15

RAINBOW

REVISITED Popular park set to close for construction

56

ARTNERS

IN CRIME Cary and Paulo Lopes launch new exhibit, ‘ARTnership

Lil’wat Nation

Employment Opportunities Ullus Community Centre • • • • • •

Financial Reporting Manager ($93,475.20 - $101,556 per year) Family Enhancement Worker ( $38,038 - $53,599 per year) Band Social Development Worker Assistant( $17.10-$20.90 per hour) Communications coordinator ( $38,038 - $53,599 per year) Administrative Assistant, Community Services ( $38,038 - $53,599 per year) Accounts Receivable coordinator ( $38,038 - $53,599 per year)

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Want a job with PURPOSE? Help your community!

Xet’olacw Community School • High School Principal ( $88,015.20- $101,556.00 per year) • Education Assistant ( $38,038 - $53,599 per year)

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Coordinator, Accounts Manager, Safety and Receivable – Maternity Leave Compliance

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We’re Hiring! Experienced Carpenters

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2 7 3 1 5 2 1 9 8 9

3 9 4

•

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•

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•

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•

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DECEMBER 1, 2023

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59 4/11/2005

CALL THE EXPERTS

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PUZZLES ACROSS 1 6 10 15 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 31 33 35 36 37 39 41 44 45 48 53 54 55 57 58 59 60 61 63 64 65 66 68 70 71 72

74 76 79 81 83 87 88 89 91 92 94 96 97 98 100 102 104 107 109 110 111 114 116 118 119 120 121 123 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 133 136 137 141 144 145 146

Buffalo wing coating Ripens Harsh The Mamas & the -Inert gas -- monster Took the wheel Flashing lamp Start of a series Arabic letter Alloy Fishing gear Recite Footnote abbr.

Somersault Victory goddess Attention Diagnostic picture Ancient Greek bowl Rascal Cover with soap Hoodwink Actor Alda Snake that constricts Hurt Before much longer Careless Be indecisive Require Tree part Scottish cap Slightly wet “La Boheme” role Eagle Roofed stadium Tear to pieces Quick look Qty. of eggs Broth Multiplied by itself

DEA agent As clear as -- -Aquatic plant Grassy area Pestered in fun Slacken (2 wds.)

Cleveland’s lake Crucifix Demonstrate Showy Spill the beans Meaning Range in South America Hurried Satellite’s path Swamp Not quite right Hardware item Wooden shoe Lion’s locks Energy Duo Actor -- Julia Sch. in Cambridge Drive-through business Container Item in a quiver Scrapes harshly Fishing spot Archaeologist’s find Therefore Singer -- McEntire Cry at sea Brass instrument Ovine cry Sitting room Soliloquy start (2 wds.)

Cabbage salad Air pollution Scruff of the neck Consequently Flop

149 151 153 155 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164

Waterways -- the Hedgehog River in Africa -- Haute Source Recipe direction Ait Photograph “The Canterbury --” Rose oil Winter holiday, briefly Diced

DOWN 1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 23 30 32 34 36 37 38 40

Drains of energy Elaborate song “The Good, the Bad and the --” Cry softly Tempted Another time Embellish Whitney or Manning Expensive spice Allow Crinkled fabric Decompose Director Reitman Lunchtime destination School org.

Chief Jab Sufficiently skilled Pip Plant part Exclude Attorney’s expertise Relatives Storage structure Handle Butt Dog’s foot

41 42 43 44 46 47 49 50 51 52 54 55 56 59 60 62 65 66 67 69 71 72 73 75 76 77 78 80 82 84 85 86 90 93 95 96 99 101 103 104 105

Place to bowl Maple genus In that case “-- Came Running” Top “Right away!”

Emeril’s exclamation Old Roman poet Note for a co-worker N.M. neighbor Uncomplicated -- avis Kind of board Grant or Reed In the way shown Earthy fuel Aquatic mammal Turns informant Most cherished Ready Watery snow Set of steps Hum Chili con -Sitcom E.T. “The Fresh Prince of --Air” Airport abbr.

Sphere Two, in Tijuana Turf Night before -- Plaines Claim 365 days Accuse Blemish Technical drawing Leggy bird Pen filler Silvery fish Get along

106 108 110 111 112 113 115 117 119 120 122 124 125 126 129 130 132

Snow field Enticing thing Quite a few Ache Medieval laborer Nuisance Bird of legend Dog breed, for short Churl Remedy Delicate trap Spigot Bird that rises from ashes Mechanical High mountain Wheel tooth Org.

134 135 136 137 138 139 140 142 143 145 146 147 148 150 152 154 156

Loos or Ekberg Fast car Shade sources Edinburgh native “-- Croft: Tomb Raider” Indigo Conduct Greek mountain Farm denizen “-- Enchanted” Dull Encourage Ownership document Fleur-de- -Granola bit Doctrine Down Under bird

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Enter a digit from 1 through 9 in each cell, in such a way that: • Each horizontal row contains each digit exactly once • Each vertical column contains each digit exactly once • Each 3x3 box contains each digit exactly once Solving a sudoku puzzle does not require any mathematics; simple logic suffices.

LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM

8 4

9

9 5

1 3 2 5 9 5

8 6

7

1 9

6 4

9 6 4 7 3 6 8

3

1 3

MEDIUM # 30 Solution, tips and computer program at www.sudoku.com

ANSWERS ON PAGE 59

DECEMBER 1, 2023

61

MAXED OUT

Future promises “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.”

-J. Wellington Wimpy “The sun’ll come out... Tomorrow” -Andrea McArdle

PROMISES for the future. What could go wrong?

Well, Wimpy—of Popeye fame—made it a point to never go to the diner on Tuesdays to pay for his mooched hamburgers. And as Annie sang, “Tomorrow’s just a day away.”

By the time tomorrow rolls around, it’s today, and there’s another tomorrow sitting on the horizon like a mirage.

These two snippets seem to encapsulate the essence of the Minister of Finance’s

BY G.D. MAXWELL fall economic statement last week.

Acknowledging her government’s concerns were aligned with the biggest concern of most Canadians, Chrystia Freeland assured us all help was on the way.

As the Titanic was sinking in the middle of the night on April 15, 1912, two ships responded to her initial calls of distress. The Frankfurt and the Olympic said, “Help is on the way,” or words to that effect. Problem was, the Frankfurt was 170 miles away, the Olympic almost 500 miles. The Carpathia, much closer, finally rescued 700 passengers, most freezing their bums off in lifeboats. Fifteen hundred drowned before help arrived.

And what was, you might wonder, the biggest concern of Canadians, at least as divined by the finance minister? If you guessed housing, give yourself a Sun Rises in the East award.

Government: What do you want?

Canadians: Housing.

Government: When do you want it?

Canadians: Yesterday.

Government: How does $16 billion for housing initiatives sound?

Canadians: Great.

Government: In 2025-26?

Canadians: ?

The timing of the promises in the mini budget bring to mind, in addition to Wimpy and Annie, another cartoon icon: Lucy Van Pelt, of Peanuts fame, and her never-fail, pullthe-football-away trick. Charlie Brown always fell—literally—for it, and the Liberals hope Canadians will fall for their future promises one more time.

The dangled funds consist of $1 billion for affordable housing. The money will be directed toward more non-profit, public housing and co-op housing projects.

The much larger pledge of $15 billion was targeted at the Apartment Construction Loan Program, to create much-needed, purposebuilt rental apartments. Canadian developers used to build apartment buildings, but several

62 DECEMBER 1, 2023

PHOTO BY ZIMMYTWS / ADOBE STOCK

decades ago, the government of the day dismantled the favourable tax structure and other inducements and, poof, nothing got built after that except condos. We know how that turned out.

The money for affordable housing, et. al., will, in government math, help fund 7,000 new homes by 2028. The funds earmarked for new apartments will spur construction of an additional 30,000 housing units, time horizon not specified.

The goal, in the minister’s words, is to “once again make Canada ... a place where if

3.5 million homes shy of what the projected population needs by 2030.

Perhaps rather than promising money that may never come, the government might want to go back to the future and change the tax system to, once again, encourage the construction of rental apartment buildings.

It worked once. And the most encouraging step the government has taken recently has been to forego the GST on the construction of purpose-built rental units, a step roundly applauded by developers.

Instead, in addition to the promised

According to a recent report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the country is likely to be around 3.5 million homes shy of what the projected population needs by 2030.

you worked hard there would be a home that you could afford.” The cartoonish aspect is the timing. The promised funds won’t be available until 2025-26. If memory serves, there will need to be an election some time in 2025. If that election goes the way current polls and current thinking go, all those good intentions may well vanish... or maybe PM-PP will roll the dice and invest those funds in crypto to support an even bigger program.

Either way, like some of the Titanic’s survivors, Canadians will be treading water awaiting rescue. According to a recent report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the country is likely to be around

funding—tomorrow—the feds will erase tax deductions for people who have invested in properties with the intention of running them as Airbnbs. This will be narrowly targeted at people who are doing this in areas local governments have prohibited short-term rentals. Perhaps laudable, but with no real idea of whether this step will do anything constructive to ease the countrywide housing shortages.

But if you focus on the minister’s right hand, you’ll see a promise to help people who do, in fact, have housing, but are in danger of losing it to rising mortgage costs.

Right hand. I said look at her right hand.

That’s the promise.

If, however, you look at her left hand, you’ll find the promise illusory. There’s no hammer coming down on banks, just an expectation they’ll help folks having difficulty meeting their mortgage payments. Lower payments?

Well, no. But maybe temporary extensions to the length of mortgages. Or if they’re struggling with mortgage payments but can make a lump-sum payment of principal that can be arranged without penalties... maybe.

As if folks who can’t make monthly payments have a mattress full of money to slap down on principal. Or, hey, they’ll be able to sell your house without prepayment penalties. And join the homeless.

If all those measures don’t relieve Canadians’ stress around housing, there’s even something for them in the mini budget. If their housing angst has put them in a place where they have a crying need to seek counselling, if they’re going bonkers every time they go to the grocery store because everything they buy is either a lot more expensive or comes in a much smaller package, if they’re feeling bad about having to visit the local food bank to keep their family eating, or if life in general is really just grinding them down, their government cares.

Deeply. So much that they’re going to waive the GST on the cost of psychotherapy and counselling.

You may be forgiven if you think I’m making this up. I’m not. I’ll leave that level of cruel irony to others.

In a town, our town, long on multimilliondollar houses that aren’t really homes and short on housing people who live here can afford, there are no ships steaming to the rescue. But then, we really weren’t expecting any, were we? ■

T KE AR M TO EW N

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CONDO

Sherry

3 | 840 SQFT

604.932.131

$979,000

Baker

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR OPEN HOUSES: TEXT Open to : 604.229.0067

Theresa McCaffrey

604.902.1700

3.5 | 1,617 SQFT

$2,699,000

Ursula Morel*

604.932.8629