EAGLE VALLEY
NEWS
Rink renovation among projects underway Page 3
District hires new program and events manager Page 7
Wednesday, May 28, 2014 PM40008236
Vol. 59 No. 22 Sicamous, B.C., • 1.25 (GST included) • www.eaglevalleynews.com
Province locks out teachers in job action By Chelsea Grainger Eagle Valley News
The B.C. government responded to the strike action that School District #83 has participated in by issuing a partial lockout to teachers in the province. The lockout, which was issued on May 26, prevents teachers from being at work prior to 45 minutes before classes begin and no later than 45 minutes after classes are dismissed. Teachers will also be unable to provide supervision to students during the lunch hour and recess. The B.C. Teachers Federation made the decision to proceed with rotating strikes across the province as they have been at the bargaining table for the past 16 months, asking the government for smaller class sizes, more support for students and a salary increase of 13.75 per cent over the next four years. Teachers in School District #83, who were behind picket lines on Tuesday, say they are also taking action because the district has seen $650,000 in budget cuts that directly relate to teachers and service levels for the 2014-2015 school year. The strikes are part of a two-stage plan that was voted on in March and began with teachers deSee No plans on page 2
Locked out: Teachers and supporters take part in a rotating strike sanctioned by the B.C. Teachers Federation on Tuesday morning in front of Eagle River Secondary School. The B.C. government issued a partial lockout to teachers on Monday. Photo by James Murray
Mayor and council share this year’s SILGA experience By Lachlan Labere Eagle Valley News
It is sometimes OK for municipal politicians to break the rules so long as they’re not following Rob Ford’s example. This represents a couple of the more entertaining takeaways for Sicamous councillors who attended the recent Southern Interior Local Government Association convention. The district’s political representatives introduced two resolutions at the convention. The first, to amend the province’s Mines Act to first require a mines permit applicant to confirm proposed activity is within an appropriately designated area in a municipality’s official community plan (OCP), was passed, and will be forwarded to the
Union of B.C. Municipalities for its support. The second, asking the province to amend regulations so that decisions by the Agricultural Land Commission align with a municipality’s OCP, was not successful. A highlight of past SILGA conventions has been the guest speakers, and Couns. Fred Busch, Joan Thomson, Don Richardson and Terry Rysz were impressed with this year’s slate, including Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, WestJet vice-president Mike McNaney, Jeff Locke of Fulton and Co. and economist Bryan Yu. Busch said Yu’s speech focused on the economic outlook for B.C. and, specifically, the Southern Interior, and the general gist of his message was that things look OK.
I guess it was a lesson for all of us… that sometimes the rules and regulations that we lay out for ourselves have to be disregarded. Fred Busch Councillor
“He didn’t say it was fantastic, that we’ll be able to sell our properties for three-zillion dollars and all retire to Victoria or anything like that, but he certainly wasn’t preaching doom and gloom,” said Busch. Busch also enjoyed hearing McNaney’s speech and about WestJet’s unusual corpo-
rate structure where all employees are part owners. But it was Nenshi’s speech that really seemed to leave an impression. Busch said the mayor’s speech revolved around last year’s flooding event and how he found himself in a situation where the rules had to be ignored. One example was how people wanted to help with the cleanup effort in areas that had been flooded. At first the mayor and city staff were reluctant, but then agreed to allow it. The next day the mayor met with volunteers at McMahon Stadium. He had expected maybe 100, but about 3,000 showed up. “They didn’t have enough forms for everybody to register, so what was the mayor going to do? Was he going to call it off beSee Sicamous mayor on page 2