THURSDAY, October 02, 2014
Volume 40, Issue 40
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Vandercamp wins at Provinical Winter Fair Walter Vandercamp parts company with his bronc after scoring a 74 point ride which clinched him a win in the Kamloops Top Hand Bucking Horse competition during the 76th annual Provincial Winter Fair held at the North Thompson Fairgrounds in Barriere last weekend.
Lower North Thompson Community Forest Society announces 2014 grants
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Christy Clark questions municipal pay and wants this be an election issue
STAR/JOURNAL photos: Jill Hayward
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Cities want medical pot grows revealed
76th Annual Provinical Fair
Jeff Nagel Black Press
scrapbook
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B.C. cities are once again demanding Health Canada give them the addresses of licensed medical marijuana growers so they can mount inspections in the name of public safety. The resolution from Abbotsford – a repeat of past years’ requests – was passed Wednesday by the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention in Whistler, despite op-
position from some delegates over privacy concerns. Cities fear unpermitted alterations, illegal rewiring and mould pose a risk not just to current residents but those who may in the future buy former grow-ops that aren’t remediated. “The safety of our residents and the safety of people buying these homes has to be paramount,” Abbotsford Mayor Bruce Banman told the convention. The federal government is
moving to a commercial mail order model of medical marijuana production, but that strategy is on hold pending court challenges from medical pot users. While Ottawa expects the legacy medical pot growers to voluntarily comply with the change and stop growing their own plants – if the new system is upheld – many cities doubt that will happen given the number of licensed users. Banman said there are 829 licensed medical growers in
Abbotsford and more than 900 – representing 20 per cent of the homes – in nearby Mission. “That’s a lot of glaucoma in my books,” said Banman, who has been a steady critic of the federal government’s refusal to identify the sites. He said there are just four Health Canada inspectors to check licensed medical home grows in all of western Canada, adding they could not inspect all of the licensed sites in Abbotsford alone if they
were dedicated to his city for a year. Metchosin Coun. Moralea Milne said if the more than 1,700 licensed medical growers in Abbotsford-Mission are an indication that “we should be legalizing that stuff if that many people are growing it.” Central Kootenay Regional District director Andy Shadrack agreed with calls for legalization and concerns around privacy.
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