Here, kitty. The Coquitlam animal shelter has too many cats See page 6
THE FRIDAY
CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2012
TRI-CITY NEWS
AUG. 8, 2014 www.tricitynews.com
CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2012
KidSport gears up for sale
Movies in the fresh air
SEE PAGE 4
SEE THINGS-TO-DO GUIDE, PAGE 14
Meet the bat man: story on page 3, video at tricitynews.com
INSIDE
Letters/11 Tri-City Spotlight/15 Market Fresh recipes/16 Sports/31
2 Bailey bridges in the works By Grant Granger BLACK PRESS
The cities of Coquitlam and New Westminster have agreed on the Braid Street Bailey bridge. Yesterday (Thursday), the two cities announced an agreement to replace the existing one-lane structure with two single-lane Bailey bridges, with one of them having pedestrian and bicycle pathways. The existing bridge has been declared unsafe and has been closed since March. New Westminster wanted to replace it with another single-lane bridge while Coquitlam wanted two. New West balked because council said two lanes would add to congestion at the busy Braid and Brunette Avenue intersection. Still, Coquitlam contended two lanes were needed for the proper movement of goods and for emergency reasons. GARY MCKENNA/THE TRI-CITY NEWS
Coquitlam craftsman Bruce Campbell checks the progress of one of the 500 wooden baseball bats he makes each year. For more, see article on page 3.
see 2 BRIDGES, page 4
Kwikwetlem chief says band is behind him Band is in great financial shape, says Giesbrecht By Janis Warren THE TRI-CITY NEWS
The chief of the Kwikwetlem First Nation says he won’t resign — and he claims he has the backing of most of his
Coquitlam band members to stay in his elected position. Thursday, Chief Ron Giesbrecht addressed his 82 members in a notice on the band website, saying he has spoken or tried to talk with all of them since his lucrative pay last year was disclosed last week. According to the papers released under
the new First Nations Financial Transparency Act, in the last fiscal year ending March 31, 2014, Giesbrecht earned $914,219 in remuneration as chief and economic development officer plus another $16,574 in expenses. About $800,000 of his economic development officer wage was tied to a Burke Mountain land
deal with the provincial government — worth $8.2 million — of which Giesbrecht received a 10% “economic development benefit.” The 10% bonus structure was terminated on April 1, 2014. The Tri-City News has attempted to reach Giesbrecht repeatedly over the past week but he has not responded to
requests for comment. In his latest written statement, Giesbrecht said some Kwikwetlem members wanted to show their support for him and their video testimony has been uploaded to a YouTube channel (go to youtube.com and search “Kwikwetlem channel”). see ‘ONE OF’, page 13
IN QUOTES
CHIEF RON GIESBRECHT
“I did not expect our nation to be as successful as it was and it means that Kwikwetlem First Nation is in a better position than it has ever been before.”