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Monday, April 9, 2012 Trail Daily Times
PROVINCIAL THE FEATHERS FLY
RCMP cost confusion to be clarified THE CANADIAN PRESS VANCOUVER British Columbia’s attorney general and minister of justice says the provincial and federal governments are trying to clear up confusion about RCMP pay hikes. Municipal and provincial officials announced Thursday they only found out about the increases earlier this week. Surrey, B.C. Mayor
Dianne Watts has said the wage increases could cost her city more than $6 million. But the federal government said Friday the province was informed about the raises last year. Attorney General and Minister of Justice Shirley Bond says B.C. is encouraging the federal government to sit down with the provinces and work through the raises.
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In March, the federal government, six provinces, including B.C., and three territories, signed a new 20-year policing contract for the RCMP.
ARMSTRONG
Police make arrests in Halloween murder BY ROGER KNOX Vernon Morning Star
Marie Van Diest believes her family can finally direct its anger at a face. The mother of murdered Armstrong teenager Taylor Van Diest was reacting to news that RCMP had arrested not one, but two individuals in connection with the death of her daughter Halloween night, and that a photo of the man suspected of killing her daughter was being released by police. Insp. Brendan Fitzpatrick, operations officer for B.C. RCMP’s major crime section, announced that Matthew Stephen Foerster, 26, a former resident of Cherryville, is facing a charge of second degree murder in connection with the death of Van Diest. Foerster’s father, Stephen Roy Foerster, 58, of Cherryville, has been charged with obstruction of justice and accessory after the fact to murder in connection with Van Diest’s death.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/DARRYL DYCK
Dozens of people take part in an organized pillow fight in downtown Vancouver on Saturday. Saturday was International Pillow Fight Day.
NORTHERN GATEWAY
Minister comfortable with pipeline timeline THE CANADIAN PRESS VICTORIA - The federal government’s decision to put a cap on how long environmental assessment hearings can drag on isn’t expected to affect the Northern Gateway pipeline project, but aboriginal reaction to the change probably will. Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver says Ottawa isn’t planning to fast-track the approval process for the proposed $5.5 billion pipeline, despite his government’s announcement in last month’s budget they would limit project reviews to 24 months. The Gateway assess-
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ment was always scheduled to be completed within that time frame. But aboriginal leaders in British Columbia say they are becoming increasingly dismayed with the public hearing process and are now seriously considering bypassing the hearings and heading straight to court. Coastal First Nations spokesman Art Sterritt said the cancellation of a day-and-a-half of scheduled review panel hearings in the central B.C. coastal community of Bella Bella last week signalled to many aboriginals that Ottawa has already heard enough from Northern Gateway’s opponents. “My guess is they are now going to try and shut it down by the fall,” said Sterritt, whose organization is an alliance of about a dozen First Nations along B.C.’s north and central coasts and
Haida Gwaii. “We are not now going to try and educate the panel as well as we had hoped we would. “We are now going to review our legal options because that’s where we are going to end up, no doubt about it.” The three-member panel, which held its first public hearings at Kitamaat Village in January, is assessing the environmental effects of the project and is reviewing the Enbridge Inc. application under both the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and the National Energy Board Act. Under the National Energy Board Act, the panel will decide if the project is in the public interest. It will assess its environmental effects under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and
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make recommendations to the Conservative government. “We’re not ramming anything through,” Oliver told The Canadian Press. “We don’t want any project to proceed unless it’s safe for the environment and safe for Canadians.” He said the Conservatives have not spoken to the panel members about altering the hearing process. But he said he believed they are aware of the government’s plans to modernize the regulatory review process, including keeping project reviews to two years. The panel estimates hearings will conclude in April 2013, with the release of the Environmental Assessment Report in the fall of 2013 and the final decision on the project at the end of 2013.
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