KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK TUESDAY
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SEPTEMBER 22, 2015 | Volume 28 No. 114
TRIUMPH & TRAGEDY TODAY’S WEATHER
Part 2 of a two-part series on the life and playing career of Rudy Poeschek, a former NHL enforcer who suffered a brain injury
It does cross my mind. I try “not to think about it too much. I probably hide what I’m thinking a lot of the time.
”
— RUDY POESCHEK, DISCUSSING THE PREMATURE DEATHS OF NHL ENFORCERS
STORY/A6
Sunny High 20 C Low 5 C
All four candidates square off in debate
City to appeal ruling CAM FORTEMS
STAFF REPORTER
cam@kamloopsthisweek.com
ANDREA KLASSEN
The City of Kamloops is appealing an arbitrator’s decision requiring it to return an employee to work who failed to complete duties and was dishonest when asked about them. The appeal is a first for the city, which has never before appealed a decision by a Labour Relations Board arbitrator. David Trawin, the city’s chief administrative officer, confirmed the Labour Relations Board has agreed to hear arguments on the arbitrator’s ruling. Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 900 grieved the firing of parks worker Joe Cupello, who had a previous record of four instances of misconduct on the job. The B.C. Labour Relations arbitrator who made the order ruled the city breached the collective agreement in dealings with the worker and ordered it reinstate him on the workforce.
andrea@kamloopsthisweek.com
See CITY WORKER, A5
STAFF REPORTER
DAVE EAGLES/KTW
FISHERY FUSS
Chinook are pulled from Kamloops Lake on Friday during the Secwepemc Fisheries Commission’s inland fishery, which wraps up today and is contracted to the Skeetchestn Indian Band. The fishery is not without its opponents, as KTW reporter Cam Fortems learned. Turn to page A4 for the full story.
• Better Construction • Juicier • Flare-Ups eliminated • Commercial grade steel parts • Patented infrared system
New Democrat Bill Sundhu accused the Conservatives of sowing fear among senior citizens during an all-candidates debate yesterday, after an audience member questioned his party’s stance on income-splitting. The debate, held in front of Rotary Club members at Hotel 540, was the first time all four federal election candidates have squared off on Kamloops soil. An audience member said he had heard the NDP plans to end income splitting for seniors from a Conservative campaign mailout. “That’s false,” Sundhu said. “It is not our policy. We will keep income splitting for seniors,” Sundhu said the NDP plans to get rid of income splitting for working Canadians because of its expense and criticized the Conservatives for sending out the flyer. “It distorts the truth,” he said. Conservative Cathy McLeod said the flyer was from the national arm of her party, not her campaign, but highlights “discrepancies” in statements the NDP has made on pensions since the policy was introduced. “I’ve heard the leader of the opposition [NDP leader Thomas Mulcair] criticize income splitting,” she said. Both Liberal Steven Powrie and Green Matt Greenwood said their parties have stances similar to the New Democrats on the pension issue and would roll back income splitting
for Canadians who are not senior citizens. Other topics during the lunchtime debate included Syria and what social issues the party leaders ought to tackle in their next debate. But, it was the Rotary Club’s own four-way test that got a hefty slice of airtime as Sundhu, Greenwood and Powrie argued the Conservative government has hurt democracy and turned Canadians off of federal politics. “I feel like the Green party is the party that’s seriously saying we need the four-way test in government again,” said Greenwood in his opening statements. “Is it fair, is it true, does it create goodwill and friendship and is it beneficial?” Powrie picked up the thread and said his party would take a Rotary approach to bring advocacy and civility to an “acrimonious, adversarial and hyper-partisan” political system. Sundhu also criticized the governing party for what he called a “growing rancour” in Parliament, pointing to a list of Conservative decisions, from axing the long-form census to attack ads, as reasons to turf the Harper government. McLeod pointed to her own record in Ottawa where, as parliamentary secretary to the minister for health, her all-party committee was able to produce reports that garnered unanimous support. “The clerk of the committee said, ‘Wow, I haven’t had a unanimous report in 10 years.’ So, that’s what I feel I bring,” McLeod said.
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