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VICTORIANEWS VICTORIA Friday, February 15, 2013
www.vicnews.com
Area tourism stakeholders call for better bus service
New bronze memorial installed at legislature Daniel Palmer
Lack of connecting infrastrucure sends visitors home early: Tourism Victoria CEO
News staff
Daniel Palmer News staff
Sharon Tiffin/News staff
Bev Jennings Bazin, left, Cindy Bourgeois and son, Caleb, 4, Lorraine Jennings and Norma Jennings admire the firefighter’s memorial behind the legislature. Family member Thomas William Jennings was a Saanich firefighter who died on the job on Christmas Day 1968, the day his granddaughter Cindy was born. fell from a ladder during a training exercise at the Yates Street fire hall. There have been four VFD deaths since its inception in 1858. Birtwhistle said firefighters have fought hard recently to gain recognition for particular cancer-related deaths due to fire exposure.
“If we do get certain types of cancers, it is presumed to be part of our occupation,” he said. “It means a lot to us that it was presumed to be in the line of duty. I’d say we still get one guy a month passing away from cancer.” dpalmer@vicnews.com
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Greater Victoria needs better transportation infrastructure to meet the increasing number of tourists who are travelling outside the downtown core, say industry stakeholders. Visitor numbers are expected to increase by about 1.5 per cent this year over 2012, but certain businesses are missing out due to a lack of frequent bus service between the region’s biggest tourist draws, said Tourism Victoria president/CEO Robert Gialloreto. “We’ve got great product throughout Greater Victoria, but we just can’t access it as seamlessly as we want for our tourists,” he said. “So, a lot of our tourists come here, they’re in the Inner Harbour, they might take a bus trip to Butchart Gardens, they walk around and they leave, when they should be spending four or five days here.” While the industry runs its own Peninsula bus service to attractions such as Butchart Gardens, Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre, Victoria Butterfly Gardens and Sea Cider Farm and Ciderhouse, it isn’t enough to encourage mass tourism visits throughout the region, Gialloreto said. PLEASE SEE: Stable funding sought, Page A10
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Fallen firefighters remembered There are few professions more dangerous than firefighting, and even fewer that create a universal bond transcending cities, provinces and international borders. Victoria Fire Department Lt. Gary Birtwhistle recalls that many of his colleagues flew to Manhattan in the wake of 9/11 to offer support to the hundreds of families attending funerals. “It’s very moving, especially for us, because you obviously relate it to your brothers and sisters that you work with,” said Birtwhistle, who also serves as secretary-treasurer of the B.C. Fire Fighters Union local 730. On Wednesday, more than 500 firefighters from across B.C. marched proudly and sombrely down Belleville and Government streets for their biennial commemoration of those lost in the line of duty. Premier Christy Clark and the B.C. Professional Fire Fighters Association then unveiled a bronze fallen firefighter statue that will permanently stand on the rear legislature grounds. A national firefighters memorial was created last year in Ottawa at the site of that city’s great fire of 1900, but B.C. had no formal recognition of the sacrifices made by the province’s firefighters until now. B.C. artist Dean Lauze was commissioned by the provincial government to create the work. “It’s important for both paid and unpaid firefighters,” said Darren Blackwell, local 730 president. “It’s honouring our fallen brothers and sisters.” While more than 1,000 on-duty deaths have been documented in Canada over the past 160 years, Victoria hasn’t suffered a fatality since 1947, when Leonard Harper
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