THE FRIDAY
CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2012
MARCH 28, 2014
TRI-CITY NEWS CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2012
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Local Balluff sure is handy Coquitlam man wins TV’s handyman challenge By Gary McKenna THE TRI-CITY NEWS
GARY MCKENNA/THE TRI-CITY NEWS
Brent Balluff of Coquitlam, a heavy duty mechanic by trade, showed his skills with a hammer and other tools while taking part in the nationally televised show “Canada’s Handyman Challenge.” The show taped over two weeks in Toronto in mid-September and his friends just learned the secret he’s been keeping since then: He won.
TransLink reform gives mayors power By Jeff Nagel BLACK PRESS
Metro Vancouver mayors are getting more power over TransLink in a legislated reform of the transportation authority unveiled Thursday by Transportation Minister Todd Stone. Stone introduced two bills in the legislature Thursday that aim to satisfy mayors’ demands for more control over TransLink spending, a precondition for their co-operation in a regional referendum promised by the government on new taxes to finance transit expansion. see MAYORS HAVE, page 13
Since September, Brent Balluff has kept a big secret. His friends and family knew he had been a contestant on the nationally televised Canada’s Handyman Challenge when it taped in Toronto in mid-September. But what they didn’t know — and only found out when the final episode of the reality television program aired Tuesday evening — is that the Coquitlam resident was the winner. “There were confidentiality agreements all over the place,” he said. “The only person that knew was my wife.” To get on the television show, Balluff had to show the judges at his audition that he knew his stuff. see ‘YOU HAVE’, page 4
Local councils red flag ambulance responses ‘Downloading,’ says Coq. mayor By Diane Strandberg THE TRI-CITY NEWS
People with serious injuries are waiting longer for ambulances, TriCity mayors say, and in some cases their family members are resorting to
driving them to hospital. The concerns are being raised by Port Moody, Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam mayors and councillors after a number of medical calls were downgraded by BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) in a reallocation of ambulance services last fall. The mayors are con-
cerned too, that the decision to downgrade 39 medical calls from Code 3 — that’s when ambulances travel above the speed limit with lights and sirens — to Code 2 — when they drive at posted speeds — is tying up fire department resources. “My main challenge with BC Ambulance is [the change] constitutes
a downloading of service, such as the cost to the taxpayer is going up but its delivery of service is not,” said Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart, who said he has had personal experience with long waits for ambulances. “I don’t think the public is well served by that.” see REDUCED, page 6
Earth Hour is on tomorrow See page 13