Wednesday April 8 2015
▼ Surrey’s all-stars to play Friday 23
Hear Spring
HEARING AIDS STAR TING AT
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The
Leader
HURDLES HOLD BACK COAL PROJECT
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FLEETWOOD 778-565-4327 SCOTT ROAD 604-593-5284 GUILDFORD 604-496-3338 Vikki MacKay
B.G.S., R.H.I.P
A+ RATED
Maria Santos-Greaves
Clinic Manager
www.surreyhearingcare.com
▶ COURT BATTLES, REGULATORY DECISIONS STALL TERMINAL AT FRASER SURREY DOCKS JEFF NAGEL
Opponents of a proposed new coal export terminal on the Fraser River in Surrey have lost one legal challenge, but other court battles and regulatory decisions continue to hold up the project. Fraser Surrey Docks got approval last summer from Port Metro Vancouver to build the $15-million facility to reload
four million tonnes of coal per year from trains rolling through White Rock and South Surrey onto barges, but it has yet to begin construction. Climate change activists fighting the project tried to overturn the province’s approval of increased coal storage on Texada Island – where the barges are to be emptied and ocean-going freight-
ers loaded – but a B.C. Supreme Court judge last week upheld the government decision. Another court case filed by Fraser Surrey Docks challenges Metro Vancouver’s jurisdiction over regional air quality on federally regulated port lands. continued on page 4
▶ KICKING UP THEIR HEELS Members of Encore Dance Academy perform ‘Unstoppable’ in the Group Acrodance (13-15) category on March 28 during the opening weekend of the 49th-annual Surrey Festival of Dance at the Surrey Arts Centre. The competition, featuring 10,000 dancers, continues until April 28. For more photos, see page 25. BOAZ JOSEPH
DRUGGED DRIVERS A TOP PRIORITY FOR B.C. POLICE CHIEFS ▶ 7.3% OF DRIVERS SMOKED POT PRIOR TO CRASH INJURY, STUDY SHOWS
JEFF NAGEL
Drug-impaired drivers who roam the roads mostly undetected are a top traffic safety priority for B.C. police chiefs.
Their association wants the federal government to approve a roadside testing device that would make it easier for officers to arrest stoned and otherwise drugged drivers.
“Whether it’s marijuana or prescription drugs, there are people that are driving high and for a large part it goes undetected because we don’t have a really good tester
and we don’t have many drug recognition experts,” said Transit Police hief Neil Dubord, who chairs the traffic committee of the B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police.
Officers can arrest and usually issue a 24-hour suspension to a driver who is seriously drug-impaired. continued on page 4