Nanaimo Daily News, January 12, 2016

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PERMISSIVE EXEMPTIONS Millions of dollars in property tax breaks are given away each year — is it time for that to change?

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David Bowie remembered Born David Jones in London, the singer came of age in the early 1970s glam rock era. In his early days he was well known for changing his appearance and sounds » Nation&World, 14

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Six online cyberbully polls found in schools in N.L.

Reports of starvation and images of emaciated children have raised the urgency for new peace talks that the UN is hoping to host in Geneva on Jan. 25 » Nation&World, 12

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ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — The Newfoundland and Labrador English School District is now checking out complaints of six anonymous polls online that ranked girls based on their looks.

They involve five polls reported across the island, including one that made national headlines in Torbay, and a potential incident in Labrador.

“These are very disturbing acts and they’re complex to deal with,” said Jeff Thompson, the district’s associate director of education.

It can be tough to trace online harassment that crosses borders and can happen around the clock, he said in an interview.

Thompson stressed that there are consequences for such behaviour. He said the district is working with students, staff, parents and the police but could not immediately confirm any specific discipline taken so far.

An RCMP spokeswoman was not available Monday to update ongoing investigations.

Thompson said the most recent incident was reported last week in Bay Roberts near the capital of St. John’s. There have been other complaints in the Conception Bay area and Gander. No details or precise location were immediately available for the complaint in Labrador.

Thompson said the district set up an Internet and social media safety committee two years ago. It helped craft lessons for Grades 1 through 12 on how to be safe online. Students are also taught that the same respect for others should be shown in the cyber world as in the physical one, he added.

“One is way too many,” he said of the so-called ugly girl surveys.

High school student Lynelle Cantwell of Torbay wrote a Facebook retort that went

The Newfoundland and Labrador English School District is now checking out complaints of six anonymous polls online that ranked girls based on their looks. Lynn Cantwell, above, wrote a Facebook response that went viral after she was named in a poll last month. [THE CANADIAN PRESS]

viral after she was named in a poll last month.

“I’m sorry that your life is so miserable that you have to try to bring others down,” it said. “To the 12 people that voted for me to bring me to 4th place, I’m sorry for you too.

I’m sorry that you don’t get to know me as a person.”

RCMP in Port aux Basques have also confirmed they’re looking into a post involving the “ugliest girls” in Grade 9 at a local school.

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Subsidies for public service Money City of Nanaimo doles out could be affected by coming core review

T

ax exemptions for churches and non-profits represent only a fraction of the City of Nanaimo annual revenues — less than two per cent.

Just under $1.5 million in permissive tax exemptions was approved for religious, social and charity groups for 2016.

The grants are seen as a subsidy to groups that perform public services and are usually subject to routine approval by council. The Spencer policy was last Anderson reviewed in 2011, Reporting and the organizations that receive them come under review every three years. The last time that was done was 2014.

Permissive exemptions are set at an assumed rate 100 per cent, although that is not specifically spelled out in official policy, according to Diane Hiscock, manager of revenue at the city’s finance department.

B

ut the money the city forgoes each year will likely come under more scrutiny during a core review process currently underway.

And if council is faced with a proposal to reduce or alter those rates, they could find themselves faced with anger and anguish from the groups that receive the property tax breaks.

The City of Dawson Creek is one example.

That city’s council considered capping the amount of tax exemptions at one per cent of city revenue, or roughly $159,299, down from approximately 2.19 per cent of revenue.

The proposal followed a full staff review of the city’s policy that found the municipality was more “generous” with exemptions than other municipalities, chief administrative officer Jim Chute said in the Alaska Highway News.

But the policy changed but was stymied at a meeting last September after a number of religious and

grants. He figured the total amounted to approximately 11 per cent of the city’s tax revenue.

“I know that Victoria had some long discussions about it and I’m hoping that through the core review, we can a) see what kind of impact it has on our budget,” he said.

“And the next step of course is (determining) what percentage of your budget do you want it to be, recognizing the tremendous work that the social agencies provide for you.”

I Above, St. Paul’s Anglican Church in downtown Nanaimo. On the front page is St. Andrew’s United Church. [AARON HINKS/DAILY NEWS]

non-profit groups voiced opposition.

When it came time for a vote on the measure, it died after only Coun.

Mark Rogers moved support for the motion.

Rogers said he is disappointed with that decision, and wants to see more accountability over how those tax exemptions are awarded.

One concern he had was that the city was subsidizing groups that provide services that compete with businesses in town.

He said he was also concerned with religious groups receiving tax breaks from property other than houses of worship.

He cited an empty lot owned by a local Catholic church as an example.

“What good does that empty lot doing for the citizens of Dawson Creek?” he said. “Pretty much nothing, but because the Catholic Church owned it, we were permissively exempting that lot.”

“I was looking for accountability,” he said.

“I think the pressure came from the user groups, I don’t think the pressure actually came from the citizens,” he said of the policy’s defeat. “You know, you had a few of them saying, ‘well we won’t be able to provide this service anymore if we have to start paying the taxes.’ And I said, ‘tell me what you are doing for the community, what are the benefits that the community is receiving (from it).”

The City of Victoria also went

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through a review of its own tax exemption policy in 2013, which Coun. Chris Coleman described as a “bruising” ordeal.

Victoria ultimately adopted a cap on total permissive tax exemptions of 1.6 per cent of revenue, and also voted to phase out $300,000 in property tax breaks for 21 properties that had been ‘grandfathered’ in at a higher rate.

C

oleman, who was head of the council committee looking into the changes, said considerable opposition stemmed from the move.

But he said tax exemptions can have a significant impact on other taxpayers, adding that if one property receives a tax break, three more will have to cover the revenue the city needs.

“You’re actually doing a taxing shift onto other organizations, either residential taxpayers or commercial taxpayers,” he said.

“It’s one (issues) that usually comes up every second council, because that’s just enough time for councillors to forget how painful it was,” he said.

Nanaimo Mayor Bill McKay said he wants his city’s core review to examine how Nanaimo handles its tax exemptions compared to other cities.

McKay said he was “quite astounded” when, as a city councillor, he added up permissive tax exemptions, non-market rents and leases and

n some cases, municipalities have no choice but to provide a tax break. For example, churches and other houses of worship are given full tax exemptions under provincial statute. Municipal and provincially-owned buildings also get the statutory exemptions. The city also does not track total amounts for these tax breaks.

Nanaimo council approved $170,736 in optional tax relief for church properties, which includes lands and improvements around churches, synagogues or other places of worship.

St. Paul’s Anglican Church, received some of those exemptions.

They are a small amount of revenue to give up, said church Rector Brian Evans. Reducing those tax breaks would impact the social services that the church makes available to the community, he said.

The church holds local Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and plays host to a number of social organizations.

“To me, the tax exemption is minimal to what the cost would be to those organizations to meet or practice,” he said.

“It would affect our work, in that sense, drastically, because we wouldn’t be able to offer a facility free of charge, which we do, to a lot of those groups,” Evans said. “So then, who’s going to pick up the tab.”

But some are calling for a change in perspective on the issue. Ian Bushfield, executive director of the secular BC Humanist Association, is one of them.

“I guess the situation is that our cities and towns are under this intense financial pressure these

days,” said Bushfield. “I mean, it really only makes sense that we should be able to consider any and all possible avenues to fund the infrastructure and the general social services that are available to every citizen without discrimination.

“So I don’t personally have an issue with our society deciding collectively that we want to give some breaks that do genuinely give back to the whole community and run some important programs,” he said. “But I think we need to challenge the assumption that religious organizations have this sort of guaranteed, automatic entitlement to get out of the duty to support the broader community.”

“It’s one thing to give breaks to groups that offer soup kitchens or a homeless shelter, for example; but it’s another thing entirely to ask taxpayers to subsidize a parking lot for a mega-church.”

N

anaimo MLA Leonard Krog cautioned against the urge to reduce tax reductions for religious organizations.

“I fully appreciate there’s a significant number of people in our community (who) don’t not attend church regularly, are not people of faith, may be agnostics, may not support the concept,” he said.

“But at the same time, personally, I’m very conscious of how much good work is performed in our communities by all of these organizations, whether it be the Salvation Army, other Christian churches, the folks at the local mosque.”

“I think the fact that they receive that exemption is very good value to the community for the amount of money involved,” he added.

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BUSINESS

Busy year for film industry on the Island Variety of movies injected many millions of dollars into the economy during an impressive 2015 DARRELL BELLAART DAILY NEWS

Last year was a busy one for the film industry on Vancouver Island.

Joan Miller, film commissioner with Infilm, the North Island Film Commission, says her office received 70 serious inquiries for Island locations for movies, commercials and shorts in 2015.

A portion of those paid off, and over the course of the year many millions of dollars was injected into the Island economy.

It’s still too early to say how much was spent. That won’t be known until February.

But War for the Planet of the Apes, a made-for-television movie and the second season of Alone, the History Channel’s outdoor survival reality show are among the shoots

“We scouted everywhere from the Nanaimo River basin right through the Woss Lake area.”

Joan Miller, film commissioner

that brought jobs and money to the Island.

When a filmmaker is seriously interested in shooting on the central or North Island, they will send Miller a copy of the script, and she will reply with a “package” containing suggested locations arranged in story board fashion.

Planet of the Apes movie was one of the biggest shoots of the year.

“For that we scouted everywhere

from the Nanaimo River basin right through the Woss Lake area,” Miller said.

In Ucluelet local carpenters and other tradesmen were hired to build a major set over a six-week period and “when they arrived in October to do the filming, they came with 300 crew,” filming around the West Coast, including Long Beach.

It’s the second in the series to be shot on the Island, after Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

Its economic impact? “I guess right now, around $2 million.”

Another $1 million was spent locally on Alone’s second season, not counting the $500,000 prize for the last survivor in the reality series shot at undisclosed locations near Port Hardy.

A TV movie, with a $900,000 budget

and a working title Family Court, starring Heather Locklear was shot in the Parksville-Qualicum area.

“We tried to get into the Nanaimo courthouse,” Miller said, but actual court proceedings prevented filming inside the historic building.

Other projects include four BBC shoots, including “this crazy fishing series with bungee jumping off the Nanaimo bridge and catching a fish,” and others, plus four TV commercials, which range in cost between $75,000 and $150,000 per day.

After considerable location scouting, the Island was chosen to represent coastal U.S.A. for HBO’s Lewis and Clark miniseries, and shooting was expected to proceed last year.

Filming started in Calgary in July, then moved to Atlanta, “then they got into the middle of August and we

started getting all these weird phone calls – they had creative differences and it’s all been put on hiatus while they hire a new director.”

Miller has her fingers crossed it will happen this year.

Low taxes and a shrinking Loonie made 2015 one of the most active for the Canadian movie industry, with a shortage of trained crews now the biggest hindrance to more shoots, Miller said. The final tally of economic benefits results to the Island won’t be out until February. Film offices get provincial government funding, and when the beans are counted, the province releases the data, Miller said.

Darrell.Bellaart @nanaimodailynews.com 250-729-4235

ENVIRONMENT

King tides could cause havoc for properties DARRELL BELLAART DAILY NEWS

High winter tides could wash away property or objects in low-lying areas and near estuaries this week.

King tides are the highest tides of the season. Tides of 4.9 meters and 40 millimetres of rain are forecast for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning at between 8 and 10 a.m. Depending on wind and weather conditions, king tides it can create havoc for properties that are subject to flooding.

In especially stormy conditions, with strong winds and heavy rains it can all come together to cause flooding and loss of property, on shorelines and especially in and around river estuaries.

“It can have an effect with lots of rivers if we get high winds and large precipitation,” said John Elliot, manager of utilities.

To lessen the threat, staff have been busy checking storm drains and removing anything that can block water from draining out to sea and back up onto land, particularly around human occupied areas.

“We’re making sure those are clear of debris – leaves and stuff,” Elliot said.

“Our maintenance programs start at

◆ HEALTH

Patients admitted to NRGH can be tested for HIV Patients can now be tested for HIV testing when admitted to Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.

The service became an optional addition to routine blood work starting Monday. A quarter of people infected with HIV don’t know they carry the virus in Canada.

The initiative is to identify those

the end of summer and the beginning of fall. Most of it is just keeping up with debris.

“We’ll be monitoring outlets at the foreshore to make sure they’re not getting plugged up with debris.”

He said staff have kept a close eye for problems during especially stormy king tides in recent winters, but it’s not as bad now as it was several decades ago, before the city improved drainage systems to eliminate “bottle necks” prone to problems.

Waterfront lot owners are advised to remove belongings near the shoreline.

“From our perspective, people should store (their belongings) above the high water mark — such things as boats and kayaks and even lawn chairs,” said Toby Seward, city acting senior director of strategic operations.

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infected, to reduce transmission of the disease. First introduced at hospitals in Campbell River and Port Alberni, it is now being widened to other Island Health acute-care sites.

“The key to reducing new HIV infections is early diagnosis and treatment,” says Dr. David Forrest, infectious diseases physician for central and north Vancouver Island. “By identifying people with HIV disease and providing them treatment, we can stop HIV transmission and end the HIV epidemic.”

—DAILY NEWS

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016

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NEWS 5

NANAIMO

◆ CRIME

Search for new city manager will be ‘robust,’ pledges Coun. Fuller

Intruders use metal pipe on man during break in

Human resources manager says council has ‘decision points’ at in-camera meeting SPENCER ANDERSON DAILY NEWS

Nanaimo council met in-camera Monday night to attempt to agree upon a process for selecting a permanent city manager.

The position is currently held by Tracy Samra on an interim basis, although Samra has said she intends to seek the permanent post.

Samra took over the position late last year after the departure of former top bureaucrat and longtime city employee Ted Swabey.

Samra’s appointment resulted in some controversy, after a member of the public revealed on social media that council had voted to hire her without conducting any interviews with the approximately-20 interim candidates put forward by city staff.

(Council also launched an internal investigation over how the information came to be made public. One councillor, Ian Thorpe, issued a public apology, stating he commented on information that he did not realize was still in-camera).

Coun. Gord Fuller, the then-designated spokesman on the issue, responded by pledging a more “robust” search for a

permanent city manager would take place.

On Monday, before council went in-camera, Fuller voiced optimism that council was moving forward with that search.

“I just wanted to say that I think it’s really great that we’re actually moving ahead on this, far quicker than we would have been otherwise,” he said.

“I mean, we were looking at six months before, and now we’re looking at, like, a two-month period to move on with this.”

City human resources manager John Van Horne said outside the council meeting that there were a number of “decision points” for council to reach in-camera, “and that’s going to determine how long the process is going to take.”

“Everything is to be decided,” he added.

Mayor Bill McKay was off sick from the meeting Monday.

Samra will continue as city manager on a six-month contract until a permanent candidate is chosen.

She is the first woman and Aboriginal person to fill the role.

Spencer.Anderson @nanaimodailynews.com 250-729-4255

A 55-year-old man was knocked out when three men burst into his home and beat him with a metal pipe early Sunday morning.

The attack happened Sunday at the man’s Watfield Avenue home in Nanaimo. The man answered a knock at this front door at about 2 a.m. to find three people wearing bandanas.

One man carrying a pipe. The man was temporarily knocked out after he was struck and punched in the face.

When he came to, the three were seen running out his front door and getting into a tan-coloured car parked across the street.

The victim later discovered he was missing his black and silver Compaq computer, a black Motorola cellphone and his black leather wallet.

The man was examined at hospital for a possible concussion and later released.

The man who hit him was white, approximately six feet tall, weighing 200 pounds and walked with a noticeable limp. He wore a black skull bandana that covered his mouth. One of the other two was also white, thin with blond hair.

“Investigators are following up with the victim and will be conducting inquiries in the neighbourhood,” said Const. Gary O’Brien of the Nanaimo RCMP. “It does not appear this was a random occurrence.”

Nanaimo interim city manager Tracy Samra. [DAILY NEWS]

— DAILY NEWS

NANAIMO

Fire department aims to have new plan mid-year SPENCER ANDERSON DAILY NEWS

Nanaimo’s fire department aims to complete a new plan by mid-year that will propose fire service levels and increases over the next 15 years.

City fire chief Craig Richardson said data gathering for the plan has already been underway, which will be used to form specific recommendations to council on what resources the department should receive.

The city’s most recent 10-year plan was created in 2005, but is now largely obsolete.

It called for the construction of two new fire stations, including one in Hammond Bay. It also would have seen the number of fire fighters working for the city grow to 140 from approximately 100 currently.

Consultations for a replacement plan were put on a different track last year.

In October, council voted to formalize a policy to mandate a four-member firefighter response. Managers had been considering the use of two-member fire responses to more distant parts of the city as a cost-saving measure.

In December, interim city manager Tracy Samra moved to freeze fire and police staffing levels, a move that was subsequently endorsed by council.

Richardson said the new plan will take into account the changes, but said its too early to predict how the plan will adapt to recent city decisions.

“I think we’ll know a lot more once we get the updated data and then we can start to put before council some of the numbers.”

Craig Richardson, fire chief

“We’ve already got good risk assessment data that we’re just updating,” he said.

Richardson said the department is currently gathering 2013, 2014 and 2015 data, adding the new plan will focus heavily risk prevention measures.

“I think we’ll know a lot more once we get the updated data and then we can start to put before council some of the numbers,” Richardson said.

“I think the trend is going to be really similar, although we’ll just see an increase,” he said with respect to the Hammond Bay area calls for service.

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NOTICE OF 2016 MEETING SCHEDULE 2016 Board and Standing Committee Regular Meeting Dates Members of the public are encouraged and invited to attend Regional District of Nanaimo meetings which are held in Board Chambers at the RDN Administration Office located at 6300 Hammond Bay Road, Nanaimo. The 2016 meeting schedule is as follows: Electoral Area Planning Committee (EAPC) – 6:30 pm Committee of the Whole (COW) – 7:00 pm Board Meeting – 7:00 pm January 12 January 26 February 9 February 23 March 8 March 22 April 12 April 26 May 10 May 24 June 14 June 28 July 12 July 26 August 23 September 13 October 4 October 11 October 25 November 8 November 22 December 6

EAPC/Committee of the Whole Board Meeting EAPC/Committee of the Whole Board Meeting EAPC/Committee of the Whole Board Meeting EAPC/Committee of the Whole Board Meeting EAPC/Committee of the Whole Board Meeting EAPC/Committee of the Whole Board Meeting EAPC/Committee of the Whole Board Meeting Board Meeting EAPC/Committee of the Whole Board Meeting EAPC/Committee of the Whole Board Meeting Inaugural Board Meeting EAPC/Committee of the Whole Board Meeting

The meeting schedule is available on the RDN website at www.rdn.bc.ca and on the Public Notice Board at the Regional District of Nanaimo Administration Office and is subject to change. Agendas and minutes for meetings are also available on the RDN website.

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016

EDITORIAL

Tread lightly on gender equity when fixing Senate Y es, it’s 2016. So why shouldn’t Prime Minister Justin Trudeau do what 80 prominent Canadian women have urged him to do, and instantly achieve gender equity in the Senate?

Of the 83 sitting senators, 30 are women. Trudeau has been asked to fill the 22 existing vacancies in the Senate with female candidates only. This would result in 52 women and 53 men, thus achieving virtual gender parity in the upper chamber.

After that point, the proposal suggests, future Senate openings would be filled equally by men and women.

The letter from the women, which is signed by a politically diverse group including former prime minister Kim Campbell, former deputy prime minister Sheila Copps, and

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former Ontario attorney general Marion Boyd, advises Trudeau that this is a “historic opportunity.” It asks, too, that these women should be from “diverse backgrounds,” including minority linguistic, racial and ethnic communities.

It is a daring proposition, and probably a tempting one for the prime minister, who has already shown himself to be fond of the grand symbolic gesture. (Asked the reason for his gender-balanced cabinet at the swearing-in last month, Trudeau replied, pointedly: “Because it’s 2015.”)

Institutions that serve a diverse citizenry are surely at their best when the people who run them have a wide variety of cultures and experiences.

Of course equity and diversity are

important. But why does gender equity matter more than making sure there are people of all religions, races, ethnic groups, sexual orientations and abilities in the Senate?

What about diversity of socio-economic class, a situation that deeply informs our life experiences? People from lower-income backgrounds, who make their living mostly with their hands instead of their minds, are severely under-represented in every area of political life — just as the privileged, university-educated elite are overrepresented.

If Trudeau seizes the genderequity formula, but ignores other under-represented areas, he will invite divisiveness and disappointment instead of the optimism and reform he undoubtedly desires.

There is another problem with this proposal: It disregards Trudeau’s existing plan to make the Senate less partisan. Trudeau already announced he would appoint new senators from a shortlist prepared by an arm’s-length advisory panel of Canadians. He has already directed that this shortlist include people from indigenous or minority linguistic or ethnic backgrounds. Is he now going to order that no men, no matter how worthy, be considered? That would be a shocking display of discrimination.

This government is still in the heady first flush of its mandate. In his personal style, and also in his plans for the country, Trudeau has signified that there will be far-reaching changes from the way his predecessor did things.

When the glow of the honeymoon inevitably fades, the man who now is seen as a fearless visionary must take care to avoid turning into a controlling ideologue. Trudeau should steer clear of social engineering and stick with his plan for an independent advisory panel. It should recommend excellent, diverse candidates for the Senate, both men and women.

Trudeau should select some of each.

With luck, he’ll leave the Senate better and more representative than he found it. That’s a good start.

— THE CANADIAN PRESS (WATERLOO REGION RECORD)

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Little has changed since the Cold War

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Opinion

S

ome good movies came out in 2015, and two that stood out for me were Bridge of Spies and Trumbo, both films set in America in the 1950s during the Cold War and the Red Scare.

Bridge of Spies, starring Tom Hanks and directed by Steven Spielberg, is a dramatization of the capture, trial and subsequent exchange of Soviet spy Rudolf Abel for Francis Gary Powers, shot down in a U.S. spy plane over the USSR in 1960.

Trumbo directed by Jay Roach, stars Bryan Cranston as screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who was blacklisted for refusing to name names for the now discredited House of UnAmerican Activities.

In those days theatres often ran “double-bills,” back-to-back movies for one price. Bridge of Spies and Trumbo would be a great double-bill as they distill a moment in history that raises still-relevant questions about rights, the rule of law, espionage and the conflict between national security and democratic freedoms.

Hanks plays James B. Donovan, the lawyer who defended Abel and then negotiated the return of Powers.

Donovan was a top-notch New York City lawyer who had been part of the Nuremberg prosecution, and subsequently provided legal advice to

“Wild” Bill Donovan, who created the Central Intelligence Agency, on the necessity of a strong firewall between intelligence work and domestic law enforcement.

“He believed,” writes James B. Donovan in his book Strangers on a Bridge, about the Abel trial and Powers exchange, “that any attempted unification of such powers in a single government agency would be dangerous in a democracy, since the temptation to ‘efficient’ methods of investigation inevitably leads to creating a Gestapo.”

Canadians, Americans, Europeans and others are still trying to figure out how to address this dichotomy: Abel was guilty but Trumbo was innocent.

Abel, as a spy for a totalitarian foreign power that presented a genuine threat to the United States, received

a trial according to due process, was found guilty and imprisoned.

Trumbo held personal political beliefs that, though many didn’t agree with them, under the United States Constitution should have been protected and were not.

There remain very real external threats in the world to democratic nations. Does that allow either intelligence agencies or law enforcement to spy on activists who are doing nothing more than exercising their democratic right to dissent?

The crux of Donovan’s defence of Abel was that the FBI could not investigate and arrest his client as an enemy alien under immigration laws, and then switch to prosecute him for the capital crime of espionage since they never obtained a search warrant.

In the end, Donovan nearly won, with the Supreme Court of the

United States upholding the warrantless search and Abel’s conviction by only 5-4.

Today, the United States is taking no chances and Guantanamo Bay, as an extra-judicial facility, is designed to avoid due process and the risks that were exposed in the Abel case: Findings of not guilty or innocent and the exposure of illegal activities

by U.S. security apparatus.

America was not at war with the USSR in the 1950s and it’s not at war now. Though we all must grapple with very real threats, external and internal, the lessons of Rudolph Abel and Dalton Trumbo remain that the loss of due process and the rule of law is as grave a threat as any other. » Paul Walton is the night editor at the ‘Daily News.’ He can be reached at paul.walton@nanaimodailynews.com

TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016

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NEWS 7

COURTENAY

Body of woman, 72, removed from car in river ERIN HALUSCHAK COMOX VALLLEY RECORD

A car is removed from the Comox River estuary along Dyke Road Sunday morning, as Comox Valley Ground Search and Rescue volunteers search the waters nearby for evidence. [CTV VANCOUVER ISLAND]

A 72-year-old Courtenay woman did not survive after being pulled from a vehicle submerged in the water off of Dyke (Comox) Road early Sunday morning.

She was transported to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Comox where she was pronounced dead.

Comox Valley Ground Search and Rescue and the Courtenay Fire Department attended the incident around 6:45 a.m., where CVGSAR members entered the Courtenay River estuary and located the woman inside her vehicle.

“We were able to reach in on

the passenger side and pull her out,” explained Paul Berry, information officer/SAR manager for the organization. He added she was not conscious when members reached her in the water.

Six swift water rescue technicians aided in the rescue, which Berry said was in “a very slow-moving tidal draw-out.”

Comox Valley RCMP reported a passing motorist spotted what they believed to be the vehicle’s hazard lights flashing in the water.

They noted it is still unknown what direction the grey 2011 Toyota Rav 4 was travelling or where the vehicle left the roadway prior to ending up in the water.

Berry added once rescuers pulled

the woman to shore, members returned for another check of the vehicle to ensure she was the sole occupant.

While he added CVGSAR members train year-round for incidents both on the ground and in water, he said most water incidents involve surface searching, and it was the first incident in his 16 years with the team which involved a submerged vehicle.

Anyone with information about the vehicle leading up to the accident or other information which may assist the investigation, is asked to contact Comox Valley RCMP at 250-338-1321.

The B.C. Coroner’s office is also investigating.

UCLUELET

Investigation continues into carcass of orca calf ANDREW BAILEY TOFINO-UCLUELET WESTERLY NEWS

Investigation continues into a dead female orca calf discovered at Ucluelet’s Mussel Beach on Dec. 23.

“The teeth weren’t erupted on this calf so it was quite young,” DFO marine mammal coordinator Paul Cottrell said.

“Typically that means that it’s likely under three months of age . . . . Of course, there’s exceptions to that but we know it’s a relatively young animal for sure.”

The animal weighed 158 kilograms — adult female orcas typically weigh around 4,000 kilograms. The fact she was a female makes the tragedy especially concerning.

“Females are so important because they’re the ones that are going to produce the calves that contribute to the population. The males are important socially but females are the ones, I think, that are especially important,” he said.

Officials don’t yet know which population the young orca belonged to.

British Columbia hosts four known populations: southern residents, northern residents, transients and offshores.

Southern residents are listed as endangered under Canada’s Species at Risk Act with the other three populations listed as threatened, according to Cottrell.

“All populations have special protection, action plans, and recovery strategies that are put in place to try to help these populations recover,” he said. “They’re very, very, different populations and they don’t tend to interact but they all are important and they all have limited numbers and we’re looking for recovery of those species, so whenever we get a dead calf, regardless of which population or ecotype, it is important that we figure out what happened.”

The endangered southern residents celebrated a baby boom in 2015 with eight new calves marking the population’s highest number of offspring produced since 1977.

A pod of transient orcas was seen swimming near Ucluelet days before a dead orca calf was found on Mussel Beach Dec. 23. [IAN RIDDICK]

Cottrell said early evidence suggests the orca found on Mussel Beach was not one of the eight and he noted a group of transients had been spotted swimming near Ucluelet around the same time the dead female was discovered.

“Killer whales were around the area for quite a few days overlapping this and those were identified as transients so we don’t know for sure but this calf coming to shore overlaps with that group of transients that were in the area,” he said.

“We’re still going to wait for the DNA because we’re not sure.”

Photos of the calf were compared to photos of the eight new southern resident babies and no match was found, according to Cottrell.

“They couldn’t find a match so I guess that’s encouraging but really

any killer whale calf from any of the populations dying is not good news,” he said.

“Having said that, killer whale calves have fairly high natural mortality rates in the first year, it can be up to 50 per cent, so it’s not unexpected to have a death but we want to know what the cause was.”

Cottrell hopes the results of a necropsy conducted on Dec. 25 will determine what population the orca belonged to and why she perished.

“It’s going to take months to get all the tissue and all the results back but there was an infection that was identified so we’ll hopefully know what bacteria or pathogen that was and work back at how that was related potentially to how the animal died,” he said.

He suggested the necropsy was successful because the surfer who first spotted the orca on Dec. 23 immediately reported his sighting.

Tofino-based fisheries officers Dan Smith and Heather Bettger arrived at the site the next morning and, with the help of equipment provided by the Mussel Beach Campground, were able to transfer the whale onto their fisheries truck, according to Cottrell.

“The animal had been scavenged on by coastal wolves; it’s amazing how quickly they can sniff out a marine mammal carcass,” Cottrell said.

“Without (the surfer) calling this in, we may not even know the animal was there. The wolves would have known, which would have been OK for food but we probably wouldn’t have been able to determine what happened.”

Smith and Bettger drove the calf to

Nanaimo where they transferred her to Cottrell who traveled with the animal on a BC Ferry out of Duke Point and delivered the orca to provincial veterinary pathologist Dr. Stephen Raverty late at night on Christmas Eve. “It was bang-bang, within a dayand-a-half from the beach to the table where Dr. Raverty did his thing, took all the samples and measurements,” Cottrell said.

Raverty and a UBC researcher conducted the necropsy on Christmas Day. “He spent his Christmas doing a necropsy on a killer whale instead of carving up a turkey; he’s an amazing, amazing, person,” Cottrell said of Raverty.

Report distressed or deceased marine mammal sightings to the BC Marine Mammal Response line at 1-800-465-4336.

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016

LADYSMITH

Aslan makes a recovery SARAH SIMPSON COWICHAN VALLEY CITIZEN

Curled up by the fire, Aslan the one-year-old German shepherd is living a quality life after being found on the brink of death. [SUBMITTED]

AROUND THE ISLAND Black Press ◆ CAMPBELL RIVER

Dam construction gets quicker and louder BC Hydro is warning residents who live near Campbell River’s John Hart Generating Station they may hear blasting now that regular operations have resumed on the project.

While blasting has been ongoing for the past several months, the noise had quieted because of an obstacle encountered while blasting into the ground to create the main access tunnel to what will be a new underground generating station.

Stephen Watson, spokesperson for BC Hydro, said crews encountered a loose rock area of cobbles and sand about 155 metres into the tunnel.

Watson said Hydro’s contractor, InPower BC — a special purchase project company of SNC-Lavalin — discovered a detour route that involved probe drilling upwards from the excavated surge chamber area.

The detour is 80 metres in length and curves around the majority of the loose rock area before continuing along the original main access tunnel alignment.

“Now with the ability to go around this area, our contractor, InPower BC, has resumed blasting where they can go through about three to four metres of rock mass per blast — a blast per day,” Watson said.

“Much better than the metre of tunnel advancement in a week or so through that loose rock area.”

◆ DUNCAN

Design work scheduled for new police station The new year is expected to see work begin on designing the new North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP detachment slated for construction on Ford Road.

“That will be probably our biggest project in the history of North Cowichan,” Mayor Jon Lefebure said.

“At this stage we have an estimate of about $23 million, so it’s a big project.

They are very particular about their design. It’s going to be an expensive building, I don’t think there’s any way around that.”

It was a merry Christmas and a happy new year for Aslan the German shepherd who was found emaciated in Ladysmith on the evening of Nov. 25.

Having spent the holidays with his foster family, the one-year-old pooch now tips the scales at close to 60 pounds — a far cry from the skeletal 41.8 pounds he was when first rescued.

“Aslan is our holiday miracle — he’s doing incredibly well,” Cowichan SPCA manager Sandi Trent said in a press release. “He’s able to walk now and is terrific with all

of his foster fur-siblings — dogs and cats too!”

Photos of the dog walking outdoors surfaced online over Christmas — not a big deal for many dogs but a significant achievement for Aslan, who when found wasn’t able to bear his own weight or maintain his body temperature.

In the months since his rescue, Aslan’s weight and mood have both been on the rise, Trent reported.

“He was fighting for his life from the start, yet even in his weakest state, he was such a kind and gentle soul who would struggle to wag his tail just to greet us,” Trent said. “He’s blossoming into a play-

ful, happy boy as each day passes, and we couldn’t be happier.”

Aslan started on his long road to recovery at the Central Cowichan Animal Hospital, where it took days for him to even lift his head off his bed. Slowly he began to improve and it couldn’t have been done without the loyal vet staff and the strong support of local animal lovers who raised $7,000 toward the dog’s care.

“Our heartfelt thanks go out to everyone who donated to help Aslan, to the Central Cowichan Animal Hospital, and to all of his many well-wishers,” Trent said.

“He’s such a magnificent fellow! A true survivor!”

DUNCAN

Deer that fell through ice rescued SARAH SIMPSON COWICHAN VALLEY CITIZEN

A morning walk on New Year’s Eve began uneventfully for North Cowichan residents Garry and Sheila Kerr.

“My wife and I were out for a walk on Mays Road with our dog,” Garry Kerr said. “We have a big German Shepherd and we were just walking down Mays Road and the dog kind of indicated something off to my left.”

Something had caught the curious pooch’s eye.

“I stopped,” Kerr said. “At first I didn’t see anything. Once I saw it, it was a big pond or slough there. A young deer there that had obviously been walking across the ice because it had frozen pretty hard that night and he had fallen through the ice.”

Kerr could see the animal was standing up but the frigid water was up past its belly.

“He kept thrashing and thrashing and thrashing and he was still quite a ways from the shore,” Kerr recalled.

The retired RCMP officer knew the deer wouldn’t survive if left to its own devices so he tried to call a couple of buddies to see if he could borrow a canoe.

Nobody was home.

Kerr called the fire department but they couldn’t help.

“I didn’t know what else to do, I spent 32 years in the RCMP, so I phoned the RCMP to see if they could call a conservation officer.”

Within minutes Const. Erin Stevenson arrived and was able to contact CO Mark Kissinger.

“Mark came down there right away

Garry Kerr carries a stunned deer to the North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP Const. Erin Stevenson’s police cruiser after it was rescued from being trapped in the ice by Conservation Officer Mark Kissinger. [SUBMITTED]

and put on his big chest waders and just marched right out there and got the little guy out of the ice.”

Once back on shore the deer was wrapped in an RCMP emergency blanket to keep him warm.

After a call to Sandi Trent at the SPCA, the animal was brought to that facility where freshly warmed blankets were waiting.

“They were awesome to deal with,” Kerr said. “We kept him there for maybe an hour or so until he was dry

and they felt the best thing to do was try to get him back as quickly as possible to an area he would be familiar with.”

Packed into a large dog crate stuffed with warm blankets, Kerr brought the deer back to the area where it was found, on the south side so the sun would shine on it.

A herd of deer was nearby.

“I went back just before dark and he was still in the crate but I was a little leery about leaving him there for the night.”

Kerr instead brought the animal to an old barn on the property and made up a cozy space.

“I carried him in and just put him in a big bed of straw for the night so he’d be nice and warm. The next morning I went to check on him and he was gone.”

A half dozen deer were in the field just a couple hundred yards away, however. “I’m guessing he was one of them,” Kerr said. “It’s a good news story.”

Cumberland dump gas flare project to start this month SCOTT STANFIELD COMOX VALLEY RECORD

A new landfill gas flare system is expected to begin operating this month at the Cumberland dump, part of the first phase of the Comox Valley landfill closure project.

“It’s a partial closure of the landfill, which also incorporates the landfill

gas collection system that we are completing by the end of this month, and commissioning this system to start extracting the gas from the current landfill,” said James Mathers, senior manager of solid waste services at the Comox Valley Regional District. “That represents about 65 to 70 per cent of the closure of the

existing landfill.

“Looks like we have until September of 2017 to continue to use that landfill. By then we need to construct the new engineered landfill for future use of waste disposal.”

The gas flare system includes two large blowers that act as vacuums, pulling gas away from the landfill to

a candlestick flare, where gases are ignited in controlled conditions.

The second phase of the closure might require additional wells, and the final cover.

The cost to close the Cumberland dump is estimated at $10,620,000.

Replacing it with a state-of-the-art site is projected at $21,550,000.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016

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NEWS 9

◆ LANGLEY

Drugs linked to fire An accidental fire linked to drug use sent two people to hospital, one with second-degree burns in Langley City on Sunday night.

Firefighters were call at 10:34 p.m. to a

downtown apartment building. Neighbours heard a loud boom followed by screaming, said deputy Langley City fire chief Peter Methot.

Firefighters arrived to find that three people, including an infant, had been inside the third-floor apartment.

— BLACK PRESS

• Nanaimo’s only hearing clinic staffed by a full-time audiologist • Call for a free hearing test A tanker approaches Westridge terminal in Burnaby, near the oil refinery also supplied by the Trans Mountain pipeline. [KINDER MORGAN CANADA]

Province stands behind its pipeline opposition TOM FLETCHER BLACK PRESS

The B.C. government is close to releasing its plan to provide “world-leading” prevention and response to land-based oil spills, but that progress isn’t enough to change its opposition to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

Environment Minister Mary Polak announced Monday the province’s final submission to the federal review of the project confirms it still has not met B.C.’s five conditions for approval of heavy oil pipelines.

Polak said she is preparing to present legislation this spring to establish new standards for land protection, after discussions with Trans Mountain operator Kinder Morgan Canada and other companies. B.C.s final submission to the National Energy Board continues

to recommend the pipeline twinning not be approved, but Polak said that is not the final word.

“We have been encouraged by the number of government and industry leaders who have also taken up the challenge and accepted the need to proceed along our five conditions, but we have not at this time seen evidence in the NEB hearing process that those conditions can yet be met,” Polak said.

B.C.’s five conditions, presented in 2012, include NEB approval, “world-leading” land and marine spill prevention and response, meeting legal obligations to aboriginal communities and an unspecified “fair share” of provincial benefits from any new heavy oil pipeline project.

Kinder Morgan issued a statement Monday saying it continues to work with B.C., but require-

ments for aboriginal consultation, spill prevention and revenue sharing can’t be met by the company alone.

The project already faces 150 draft conditions from the NEB, in what Kinder Morgan Canada president Ian Anderson has called “the most highly scrutinized pipeline project by the NEB in history.”

The NEB is expected to hear intervenor arguments starting Jan. 19 in Burnaby, including affected municipalities. Vancouver is also opposed, arguing that a seven-fold increase in crude oil tanker traffic on Burrard Inlet represents an unacceptable risk.

The Trans Mountain pipeline has been operating one line for 60 years, running from northern Alberta through the B.C. Interior at Kamloops to its marine terminal in Burnaby.

Water concerns accompany project JENNIFER FEINBERG CHILLIWACK PROGRESS

Kinder Morgan should change the route of its proposed Trans Mountain pipeline to better protect Chilliwack’s drinking water sources, according to WaterWealth Project.

It should be a condition of project approval, and the new pipeline route should be directed away from the aquifer, according to WaterWealth spokesperson Ian Stephen.

Stephen fired off a letter to Chilliwack mayor and council this week, emphasizing the risks posed to Chilliwack and Yarrow water supplies by the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

“Risk to Chilliwack’s water supply could be eliminated by having Trans Mountain dig that new trench further north, off of the

aquifer, away from City of Chilliwack and Yarrow Waterworks wells, and for a relatively small additional cost decommission the 60+ year old pipeline that lies across the aquifer now and run it along the new route also, rejoining the original route at points east and west of Chilliwack’s water supply.

“Identification of the new route is of course Trans Mountain’s responsibility, but considering that the pipeline crosses and in places runs under Highway 1 both east and west of Chilliwack, a new route following Highway 1 seems like an option.”

Trans Mountain officials said however that following existing right-of-way for the expansion is something they’ve pledged to do.

“Through our engagement with local residents and ongoing discussions with the City of Chilliwack,

we understand the protection of the aquifers in the community is of high interest to the Fraser Valley,” said Trans Mountain officials in a statement.

“In response and recognition of the significance of the aquifer, and as part our risk-based design approach, Trans Mountain has committed to additional valves and increasing the wall thickness of the new pipeline in this sensitive area.”

In terms of routing principles, they will follow the existing rightof-way where practical.

“Through Chilliwack, we propose to use the existing pipeline corridor,” according to Trans Mountain reps. “We believe that expanding the pipeline along the existing footprint will minimize impact to the community while operating the pipeline system responsibly as we have for more than 60 years.”

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10

AROUND THE ISLAND Black Press ◆ CRANBROOK

Charges pending after infant inside stolen car An infant was returned to her mother unharmed Saturday after being taken for ride by an allegedly impaired driver in a stolen car.

On Jan. 9, 2016 at 10:47 a.m. Cranbrook RCMP received a frantic report of a stolen vehicle with a four-month old inside.

A woman told police was travelling from Trail to Kimberley when she ran into a female acquaintance in Fruitvale who requested a ride.

The complainant left the vehicle running with both passenger and her daughter inside as she briefly attended a Cranbrook residence. When she returned, it was gone.

Shortly after, Cranbrook RCMP received a report of an impaired driver with fresh vehicle damage at the Tamarack mall parking lot which turned out to be the same stolen vehicle.

RCMP are recommending several charges including child abduction and impaired driving against 24-year-old Fruitvale resident.

◆ SURREY

Charges expected after man tries border jump A Surrey resident is expected to face charges following an incident in which a car drove into a restricted area at the Pacific Border Crossing Wednesday night.

It occurred around 9:30 p.m. Jan. 6, and ended when the car struck a Canadian Border Services Agency vehicle while attempting to flee north into Canada — in a southbound lane.

Police believe that drinking and driving was a factor in the train of events that started when the driver drove into a restricted area reserved for trucks exporting goods.

Confronted by two CBSA officers in a marked vehicle, Hayes said the man tried to escape by driving north into Canada in a lane for U.S.-bound commercial traffic.

A 46-year-old man was taken into custody following the collision — which did not result in serious injury — and later released on a promise to appear in court.

◆ TERRACE

School district debates alcohol sales at events The Coast Mountains School District is moving toward a policy shift to allow alcohol sales at public events held at the REM Lee Theatre in Terrace and at the Mount Elizabeth Theatre which is located in Kitimat.

The move was initiated by the theatre coordinators at both facilities to accommodate various user group requests, and went through the first reading by school trustees at their December 2015 meeting.

The policy would be in place for all adult-sanctioned events where groups wish to serve alcohol during intermissions, not school district events, and would result in additional outside revenues for the school district.

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016

VANCOUVER

Judge rules terror trial info is public Redacted transcripts to be released in Nuttall/Korody case, despite concerns of CSIS GEORDON OMAND THE CANADIAN PRESS

Canada’s spy agency has lost a fight to keep information from a closeddoor hearing out of the public’s eyes in a court ruling expected to provide a deeper look into the organization’s involvement in a British Columbia terrorism probe.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Bruce ruled on Monday that it is possible to protect the privacy and safety of a Canadian Security Intelligence Service source without the need to keep a hearing entirely confidential in connection to the investigation of John Nuttall and Amanda Korody.

The fundamental principle of open court means that in-camera hearings should only be used as a last resort

when other security measures won’t work, Bruce said in her ruling.

“I find there is scope for a more limited order than was originally proposed.”

Nuttall and Korody were found guilty of planting bombs at the B.C. legislature in 2013. The conviction has been put on hold while their lawyers argue the couple were entrapped by police in an elaborate undercover sting.

Part of the trial was held in camera last week, and lawyers for the Crown and CSIS argued that any information revealed during the hearing would risk identifying the alleged spy-agency operative who may have been connected to the investigation.

Bruce’s ruling came after several media outlets, including The Can-

adian Press, filed a motion opposing the in-camera order.

The judge said redacted transcripts of both the hearing and her ruling would be released by Wednesday after she had removed any sensitive information.

“Editing out the material that could identify the human source deals with the concern raised by CSIS,” she said.

Lawyers for both the agency and the Crown argued last week that an in-camera hearing was essential because anyone present for long enough in the courtroom’s public gallery could readily identify the individual in question.

In her ruling, Bruce emphasized the importance of safeguarding public access to the courts while also

protecting the privacy and safety of CSIS sources whose lives could be endangered if identified.

She rejected the spy agency’s argument that last year’s changes to the CSIS Act granting human sources the same protection as police officers applied in this case.

Bruce referenced a federal court decision that found the legislation isn’t retrospective, meaning it didn’t affect the events discussed during the in-camera hearing, which took place prior to the law’s enactment.

Lawyer Dan Burnett, who represented the media outlets, described the ruling as a win for the opencourt principle.

“Courts are the public’s business,” he said, speaking outside the courthouse.

VICTORIA

Courthouse campers will fight eviction DIRK MEISSNER THE CANADIAN PRESS

Offers of legal help and church support have rallied dozens of homeless people camped at Victoria’s law courts who say they are preparing for a standoff with British Columbia’s government.

The campers held a news conference Monday at the entrance to their campsite announcing that they will reject plans to break up a community that has become a public example of the province’s lack of affordable housing.

The City of Victoria has been wresting with the homeless issue since a 2008 court ruling allowed people to put up tents in city parks when shelters were full.

B.C.’s ministry of technology, innovation and citizens’ services, which is responsible for the courthouse property, sent a letter to the camp in concern that the growing number of people at the site has created health and safety concerns.

A 40-bed homeless shelter opened last week to take in some of the campers, but up to 100 people remain at the site, which has been steadily growing since last spring.

“We believe this is an effort to hide homelessness and not solve it,” said camp supporter Ashley Mollison about the government actions.

She said the government is attempting to impose a one-size-fits-all solution on the homeless without addressing the diverse needs at the camp, which the campers are calling Super InTent City.

“We’re here to speak out against the displacement of the Super InTent City residents ... and also to say the solutions are here in the tent city,” said Mollison.

Mollison said the campers reject the government letter which suggests they seek alternate shelter arrangements.

Ron Crossman, from New Brunswick, joins fellow campers at the homeless camp who are vowing to stay despite the B.C. government’s offer of alternate shelter during a press conference in Victoria on Monday. [THE CANADIAN PRESS/CHAD HIPOLITO]

The letter, delivered to campers on Friday, encouraged those living at the site to work with outreach employees to find alternative shelter.

“While the province appreciates the complex issues facing campers at the site, a growing number of campers over the past month has created an increasing number of health and safety concerns, making the courthouse property not a viable location for campers,” stated the letter.

A man died of a suspected drug overdose at the camp last month, and another man was taken to hospital after a stabbing at the camp last

month. Police caught the suspect in the stabbing incident after chasing a man through the downtown neighbourhood where the camp is located.

Citizens’ Services Minister Amrik Virk could not be immediately reached for comment about the government’s plans for the camp and its residents.

The City of Victoria has supplied portable toilets and a dumpster at the camp site.

Camp resident John Lafrance said people are preparing for long-term stays at the camp, calling it a permanent home that puts a public face

on homelessness. He said the sight of homeless people camping in large numbers in public may be enough to spur governments to address homelessness issues.

“We’re unified and we’re going to stay here until someone shows us different who can help us,” he said.

Victoria’s Together Against Poverty Society said it has retained lawyers who are prepared to fight government eviction moves.

Victoria street preacher Rev. Al Tysick called on the city’s faith community to pitch tents at the courthouse if evictions are issued.

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016

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NEWS 11

CHILLIWACK

VERNON

Teens turn school parking lot into memorial service for fallen pair

Feds pay developer to clear explosives from site

Tributes pour in for two young friends killed when truck drives into the Fraser River JESSICA PETERS CHILLIWACK PROGRESS

They sent them off like only friends could.

On Monday morning, hundreds of mourners gathered in Chilliwack secondary school’s parking lot to grieve the loss of Connor Dash and Gerritt Niessen.

They surrounded Dash’s unofficial parking stall, which had been marked off in stones and filled with flowers and candles on Sunday. Dash and Neissen died early Sunday morning when Dash’s truck left Ballam Road and slipped into the Fraser River.

The boys had crossed the stage together at the CSS commencement in June, but Dash hadn’t graduated and returned to the school in September for an apprenticeship program. They were good friends, and shared a love of trucks, motocross and spending time at the river.

On Monday, friends, many of them from the 2015 grad class, came together to share memories, and comfort each other. Shortly after the morning bell ran, automotive teacher Kevin Moore choked back tears and addressed the students.

“The best way we can honour these boys, is to come inside and further your education,” he said, asking them to follow him inside the school.

However, nobody was being ordered to get to class, and the boys’ close friends were given space to grieve.

They added empty liquor bottles, beer cans, and chewing tobacco to the memorial. And once the crowd was down to just a few dozen, they lined up their cars and trucks in the parking lot and proceeded to “roll coal” for several minutes, along with plenty of brake stands.

RICHARD ROLKE VERNON MORNING STAR

Davin Padgham leaves a container of chewing tobacco at a parking lot memorial for Connor Dash at Chilliwack secondary on Monday morning. [JESSICA PETERS]

They took two slow, noisy, smoky laps around the parking lot, crying, smiling and remembering their friends.

School administration watched silently, as the procession filled the parking lot with smoke and the remnants of tire burnouts.

After an hour of congregating together, they moved onto the riverside for another farewell.

A memorial with two crosses has been growing in size there since Sunday.

For students left to grieve inside the classroom, counsellors were made available. School staff had also set aside a room for students to gather, and talked about moving a memorial into the school.

CSS principal David Manuel and district principal Nathan Ngieng, said they are working closely with student, staff, and teachers as they grieve. Inside, a room was set aside for students to mourn away from class.

Both Dash and Niessen were well

known at the Popkum Motor Park, who announced the deaths Sunday afternoon on their Facebook page.

“Unfortunate news has been received that local MX rippers Gerritt Niessen & Connor Dash have passed away in an accident early this morning.

“Gerritt & Connor were regulars at Popkum practicing their craft and enjoying their love of moto. The motor family is saddened by the loss of such amazing kids. Gone to soon but never forgotten.

PRINCE RUPERT

Report says expanded B.C. port could create 5,000 direct new jobs for the community KEVIN CAMPBELL THE NORTHERN VIEW

Nearly 5,000 new jobs in northern British Columbia, directly related to Port of Prince Rupert activity, will be created should the Prince Rupert Port Authority realize its full-buildout of planned infrastructure and terminals through 2025 and beyond.

The PRPA made the announcement on Monday as it released the Economic Impact of Capital Expansion Plans forecast, outlining everything from job growth numbers in the region to wage statistics to municipal taxes to the City of Prince Rupert and the District of Port Edward.

“An additional 2,090 indirect jobs are also expected to be created, as well as 1,580 induced jobs .”

Prince Rupert Port Authority

The study, sourced from the port itself, its partners and project proponents, states that 4,780 full-time equivalent jobs will be created, directly related to port activity. An additional 2,090 indirect jobs (generated by industries that supply and support the port business) are also expected to be created, as well as 1,580

induced jobs (impact of employee-spending in the community).

This equates annually to $310 million in additional wages, $59 million in additional taxes for the municipalities of Prince Rupert and Port Edward, $178 million in combined taxes to all levels of government and $400 million annually in additional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for Canada.

The forecasted development plan takes into account both current and proposed projects related to the Port’s 2010 Land Use Plan, its 2020 Gateway vision and its ideal diversified cargo breakdown by 2024 consisting of coal (25 per cent of cargo handled), LNG (24 per cent), con-

tainer (14 per cent), potash (13 per cent), other bulk/break bulk (13 per cent), grain (seven per cent), project cargo (two per cent), pellets (two per cent) and other (0.4 per cent).

This volume would total an anticipated 76,610,000 tonnes of cargo.

Comparatively, PRPA handled 20,160,000 tonnes in 2014 (with coal, grain and container cargo making up a collective 96 per cent of traffic).

The study makes assumptions for capital investments, and average employment levels and wages, and is predicated on positive final investment decisions, and buildout of two LNG terminals, among other terminal creations and expansions.

Government has handed over millions of dollars to a developer.

Documents indicate that Ottawa paid $11 million to settle a legal dispute with K&L Land Partnership, which sued the federal government over 1,349 acres above Kalamalka Lake containing explosives.

Aquilini Development and Construction, which owns K&L, is currently clearing the property south of Bench Row Road and west of Commonage Road to make sure any possible explosives are removed.

“That’s ongoing for some time,” said Kevin Clarke, with Vancouver-based Aquilini.

“It could be another year-and-a-half.”

Parts of the Greater Vernon area were used for explosives training during the Second World War. K&L initiated the legal action in 2013 after purchasing the land from its previous owner in 2005 for $15 million.

At the time the court case was initiated, K&L stated that the Department of National Defence had not detailed the potential hazards related to explosives.

It’s not known when actual development of the K&L property could take place.

The lands are in the City of Vernon and they are designated largely rural/ agricultural and zoned non-urban.

“The property owner has submitted an application to subdivide the property under the current applicable zoning provisions. The application proposes a bare land strata lot subdivision for single family dwellings,” said Dale Rintoul, the city’s manager of current planning.

On Tuesday, the city referred the subdivision application to utility companies and government agencies for review and comments. A public hearing may not be required if the subdivision application doesn’t require rezoning approval or a bylaw variance.

“If the property owner’s proposed subdivision meets all of the applicable bylaws, policies and guidelines, then the subdivision would be approved subject to a list of conditions,” said Rintoul.

Because of a confidentiality agreement with K&L, DND would not comment about the settlement except to say, “The property in question was set aside as a range and training area during the Second World War. Although DND occupied the site beginning in July 1941, the site was not used extensively.” » We want to hear from you.

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12

ECONOMY

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MIDDLE EAST

NEWS IN BRIEF The Canadian Press

Economic message of finance minister is bleak

◆ CALGARY

Massage therapist faces new sex assault charges A Calgary massage therapist is facing more charges of sexual assault.

Three women came to police after a news release Dec. 17 about a man being charged with sexual assault involving a 25-year-old woman.

The women allege they were sexually assaulted during a massage appointment.

The assaults are alleged to have taken place between September and December 2015 at the Centennial Wellness Clinic and Pro Active Health Group.

Brad McLellan is scheduled to appear in court to speak to four charges on Feb. 12.

MICHAEL TUTTON THE CANADIAN PRESS

HALIFAX — The federal finance minister spoke of pitch-black moments in his morning shower and some darkening clouds for the Canadian economy as he kicked off his national budget consultation tour in Halifax on Monday.

Bill Morneau drew chuckles from a business audience at the Halifax Chamber of Commerce as he described a morning power outage that occurred while he was covered in soap lather.

The minister said it’s just the latest in a series of challenges he’s facing as he sets out to prepare his first budget amidst a declining economy.

Within a few minutes of beginning his speech, Morneau launched into a series of slides that painted a bleak picture of economic growth hampered by plunging commodities prices.

“We knew when we were campaigning we were facing a slow-growth environment,” he said.

“The challenge is greater than we expected.”

The minister said there’s hope that oil prices will improve, but as it stands a declining tax base means his department is expecting a $15 billion per year reduction of GDP beginning this year, compared with what was projected in the last budget.

“It’s important to have a frank view of where we’re starting from,” he said.

Morneau is travelling across the country this week to seek input as he draws up his first federal budget.

The finance minister spoke on the same day as the Bank of Canada’s latest business outlook survey was released indicating companies’ investment in equipment and hiring intentions for the next year are tumbling to their lowest levels since the 2009 recession.

During a news conference, the federal minister was also asked whether Ottawa will continue efforts by the former Conservative government to create a national securities regulator.

He said his government will work with provinces who want to create the regulator, but respected that Alberta and Quebec weren’t interested in proceeding with the plan.

“We do favour a collaborative national securities regulator,” he said.

“We recognize we’ll do this together with those provinces willing to be part of this initiative. We think it’s important for Canada find a way to be efficient in all things we do.”

TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016

This picture provided by The International Committee of the Red Cross, working alongside the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and the United Nations, shows a convoy delivering to the town of Madaya in Syria, on Monday. [ICRC VIA AP]

Help for starving in besieged city arrives UN says 4.5M people still desperately need humanitarian aid ALBERT AJI THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DAMASCUS, Syria — Aid convoys delivered long-awaited food, medicine and other supplies to three besieged communities Monday, part of a UN-supported operation to help tens of thousands of civilians cut off for months by the war in Syria.

Reports of starvation and images of emaciated children have raised concerns and underscored the urgency for new peace talks that the UN is hoping to host in Geneva on Jan. 25.

The UN Security Council took up the issue Monday. The UN says 4.5 million Syrians are living in besieged or hard-to-reach areas and desperately need humanitarian aid, with civilians prevented from leaving and aid workers blocked from bringing in food, medicine, fuel and other supplies.

It will take several days to distribute the aid in the town of Madaya, near Damascus, and the Shiite villages of Foua and Kfarya in northern Syria, and the supplies are probably enough to last for a month, aid agencies said.

“It’s really heartbreaking to see the situation of the people,” said Red Cross spokesman Pawel Krzysiek, who oversaw the distribution in Madaya. “A while ago, I was just approached by a little girl and her first question was, ‘Did you bring food?”’

Added Sajjad Malik, a representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees who took part in the operation: “It’s cold and raining, but there is excitement because we are here with some food and blankets.”

“I want out. There is nothing in Madaya, no water, no electricity, no fuel and no food.”

Safiya Ghosn, teacher

The operation marked a small, positive development in a bitter conflict now in its fifth year that has killed a quarter of a million people, displaced millions of others and left the country in ruins.

Rebels opposed to President Bashar Assad are in control of Madaya, a mountain town about 24 kilometres northwest of Damascus. Government troops and fighters from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have surrounded the town. Opposition activists and aid groups have reported several deaths from starvation in recent weeks.

Syria’s UN Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari denied anyone was starving in Madaya and blamed Arab television especially “for fabricating these allegations and lies.”

Speaking at UN Headquarters, he blamed “armed terrorist groups” for stealing humanitarian aid and reselling it at prohibitive prices.

“The Syrian government is not and will not exert any policy of starvation against its own people,” Ja’afari said.

An Associated Press crew saw the first three trucks cross into Madaya on Monday, although journalists were not allowed to accompany the aid workers. At the town’s entrance, several civilians — including five

children shivering against the cold — said they were waiting to be taken out.

“I want out. There is nothing in Madaya, no water, no electricity, no fuel and no food,” said Safiya Ghosn, a teacher who stood at the entrance of the town hoping to be evacuated.

Simultaneously, trucks began entering Foua and Kfarya, which are both under siege by rebel groups hundreds of kilometres to the north.

Tales of hunger and hardship have emerged from those inside all three communities: Pro-government fighters recently evacuated from inside Foua and Kfarya have said some residents are eating grass to survive.

Residents of Madaya similarly have reported living off soup made of leaves and salt water.

Madaya has attracted particular attention in recent days because of reports of deaths and images in social media of severely malnourished residents.

The aid operation, which is being facilitated by the UN, was agreed on last week.

Some Assad supporters have said the photos were faked, and others alleged the rebels were withholding food from residents.

The aid group Doctors Without Borders says 23 people have died of starvation at a health centre it supports in Madaya since Dec. 1, including six infants and five adults over 60.

Krzysiek, the Red Cross spokesman, said in a statement that he saw a lot of people on the street, “some of them smiling to us and waving to us, but many just simply too weak.”

◆ REGINA

Contractor was having sex with inmate: Report A media report says an employee of a company hired to provide food services at Saskatchewan provincial jails has been caught having sex with a Regina Correctional Centre inmate.

CTV says the pair were discovered in a walk-in cooler, but police were not called in to investigate.

The Compass Group employee’s security clearance to work at the jail has been revoked.

Saskatchewan Corrections says Compass addressed the incident and the department is happy with the outcome.

It’s the latest controversy involving the company.

Last Friday, Regina inmates ended another rotating hunger strike staged in protest over food quality.

“We take all security concerns seriously. When the issue was raised with the ministry, we immediately took it to Compass,” said Saskatchewan Corrections spokesperson Drew Wilby.

“Compass addressed that in a timely manner. The ministry is happy with how the company addressed that.”

◆ EDMONTON

Man charged in murder case that is five years old Mounties have made an arrest in a five-year-old homicide in east-central Alberta.

A passerby found the frozen body of 53-year-old Ronald Hillinger of Edmonton on the side of a rural road near Mundare in February 2011.

The RCMP’s historical homicide unit had been working on the case since then.

Riley Matthew Pearson, who is 31 and from Edmonton, faces a charge of first-degree murder.

Police say they are not able to release many details, but confirm that Pearson and Hillinger knew one another.

No court date has been set for Pearson.

www.nanaimodailynews.com

TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016

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NATION&WORLD 13

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

MILITARY PROCUREMENT

Minister concerned about safety of sources on rights

$3B contract to build search planes nears MURRAY BREWSTER THE CANADIAN PRESS

MIKE BLANCHFIELD THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion says he doesn’t want to risk the safety of sources who give the government sensitive information on human rights conditions in their countries.

And one of the world’s leading human rights organizations says the minister is being justifiably cautious in protecting the well-being of people willing to speak out and report on abuses.

Dion was responding to the growing clamour over the government’s decision to allow an Ontario company to sell $15 billion worth of light armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia in spite of its questionable human rights record.

Amnesty International has called on the government to release an internal federal human rights assessment on Saudi Arabia in light of the deal.

Dion said Monday he wants to make public a redacted version of the report, and has asked for advice from his officials on how to do so.

“The documents are intended for internal use and are classified. I would be pleased to release, upon request, unclassified versions,” he said in a statement. “I want to ensure that we respect the safety and security of identified sources.”

Dinah PoKempner, the general counsel of New York-based Human

DION

Rights Watch, said it is quite common for governments to take steps to protect sources of sensitive of human rights abuse information.

“Non-governmental organizations try to protect the confidentiality of their sources,” PoKempner said in an interview.

“One would hope that governments of good faith trying to gather accurate information about human rights violations would similarly be sensitive to the vulnerabilities their sources might experience,” she added.

“Generally, the public and the press ought to know the sources a government goes to when it makes decisions, but there are some situations when those sources might be put at grave risk.”

Global Affairs Canada is in the process of updating its 2011 assessment on Saudi Arabia. Canada conducts

regular human rights assessments of foreign countries, but doesn’t do new reports every year, in part because of the slow pace of change in many countries.

Canada’s missions abroad provide human rights updates on a continual basis. But formal country-specific reports are done on a rotating basis because the human rights situation in any given country does not change overnight, said a Canadian government official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The current one in progress on Saudi Arabia could be in excess of 50 pages, said the official, who wasn’t authorized to disclose details.

The Liberal government has inherited a human rights reporting process from the Conservatives that encourages frank reporting from inside countries, one that names individuals and organizations in the countries being studied, the official added.

That’s why the reports have been labelled classified to protect sources from retaliation.

Depending on the country being examined, directly quoting specific people and organizations would put their personal security at risk, which is a primary concern for Dion, the official said.

“The minister has asked for recommendations and his goal is to make the process more transparent moving forward.”

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OTTAWA — The jockeying to build Canada’s long-awaited, fixed-wing, search-and-rescue planes has begun with Monday’s deadline for the submission of bids in the estimated $3.1 billion program.

With the ink barely dry on its proposal, Airbus Defence is saying that should its C-295 transport be selected, it will partner with Newfoundland-based Provincial Aerospace, to provide long-term maintenance and support to the fleet.

The program, which has been over a decade in the making, is expected to be first significant military procurement decision by the new Liberal government.

It is a complex bid and a decision is not expected until the summer at the earliest.

Airbus and its competitors — U.S. defence giant Lockheed Martin and Italy-based Alenia Aermacchi — were asked to submit two proposals for consideration in a hybrid procurement intended to deliver not only aircraft, but recommendations on how many planes are needed and where to station them.

Pablo Molina, head of Airbus Defence in Canada, said it was a challenging process, but one that made easier for his company by the fact that the C-295 has a long service history and the detailed sort of service and reliability data required by the federal government was easily available.

“Our analysis says we have the best aircraft and the best solution for Canada in every aspect.”

Pablo Molina, Airbus Defence Canada

“We are absolutely optimistic about our chances,” Molina said in an interview Monday. “Our analysis says we have the best aircraft and the best solution for Canada in every aspect.”

He declined to discuss how many aircraft — or what kind of basing — the company proposed, saying the federal government deserves an opportunity to review the bids.

Brian Chafe, the CEO of Provincial Aerospace, underlined that the skills and technology required to service Canadian C-295s will reside in Canada to the benefit of the country’s industry and workers.

The companies submitted prices and aircraft numbers for a fleet that would operate out of four bases across the country — Greenwood, N.S., Trenton, Ont., Winnipeg, and Comox — and a separate proposal using only three airfields.

The bids were supposed to be submitted by the end of September but the program was kicked forward into January during the federal election.

Alenia is proposing to offering its C-27J aircraft and Lockheed Martin is interested in offering C-130J transports.

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14 NATION&WORLD

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

IMMIGRATION

Canadian caught by Taliban in 2010 is freed

Number of Syria refugees to hit 10K today

THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA — A Canadian man captured by the Taliban in 2010 has been freed.

Colin Rutherford was on a private vacation in Afghanistan when he was seized by the militant group in November of that year.

The last indication the Toronto man’s family had that he was alive came in a 2011 video released by insurgents where he answered questions; an accompanying email accused Rutherford, then 26, of being a spy.

In the video, Rutherford insisted he was not a spy and had travelled to Afghanistan to study historical sites, old buildings and shrines.

Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion announced Rutherford’s release in a brief statement, but did not explain what steps were taken to secure his freedom — only that it

“As minister of foreign affairs, I extend my heartfelt thanks to the government of Qatar for its assistance in this matter.”

Stephane Dion, foreign affairs minister

involved the government of Qatar.

He says he was “very pleased that efforts” undertaken to get him out proved successful.

“We look forward to Mr. Rutherford being able to return to Canada and reunite with his family and loved ones,” Dion said.

“As minister of foreign affairs, I extend my heartfelt thanks to the government of Qatar for its assistance in this matter.”

Rutherford was working as an auditor with the Canadian Circulations Audit Board in Toronto when he went on vacation to Afghanistan in 2010.

“This is great news,” said Tim Peel, the company’s vice-president said in an email. “We wish him a safe and speedy return and would like to thank all the parties involved in securing his freedom.”

Peel did not respond to questions about whether Rutherford’s job still exists.

The involvement of Qatar in Rutherford’s release is not entirely surprising. The Persian Gulf country has at times quietly played mediator between western governments and the Taliban — even helping to facilitate peace negotiations between governments in Kabul and the hardline insurgency.

The Taliban have openly maintained a political office in the capital

of Doha since 2013.

Whether any ransom was paid is an important question.

In securing the release of Canadian diplomats Bob Fowler and Louis Guay from the clutches of al-Qaida’s North African branch in 2009, the previous Conservative government denied making any payment. But an al-Qaida letter to the original kidnappers, obtained by The Associated Press in northern Mali in 2013, said it received $1 million for the pair.

The Obama administration used the Qataris to help facilitate secret negotiations with the Taliban in 2014 for the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the only U.S. Army soldier to be captured during the Afghan war. » We want to hear from you.

Send comments on this story to yourletters@nanaimodailynews.com.

Letters must include daytime phone number and hometown

ASIA

Interview with Canadian held in N. Korea gives supporters hope TV appearance has also assuaged concerns by family about Hyeon Soo Lim’s health PAOLA LORIGGIO THE CANADIAN PRESS

A CNN interview with a Canadian pastor serving a life sentence in North Korea is giving his supporters hope that his release can be negotiated, a spokeswoman for his family said Monday.

That the network was granted “unprecedented” access to Hyeon Soo Lim — a pastor with the Light Korean Presbyterian Church west of Toronto — suggests North Korean authorities may be softening their stance, Lisa Pak said.

“We’re wondering, again, if the Canadian government could just step up their game a little and just really use this as an opportunity to see that perhaps North Korea is now willing to come to the table to negotiate something,” she said.

“Because, you know, if you weren’t willing to release (him) then why the interview? Why this?”

Lim’s TV appearance has also assuaged some of the family’s concerns about his health, since he reports receiving medical care and three meals a day, Pak said.

Others suggested the interview, which appeared to be monitored by North Korean authorities, was meant to deceive the public as to his living conditions.

“Considering that Pastor Lim’s responses were most likely orchestrated by the government, this is probably an effort to propagate a false image of its treatment of Pastor Lim and other prisoners,” wrote the Free Pastor Lim group, which has launched an online petition pushing for his release.

Hyeon Soo Lim, pastor from the Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Toronto, is escorted to his sentencing in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Dec. 16. [THE CANADIAN PRESS]

The petition has drawn more than 120,000 signatures in four weeks.

In the interview, Lim described toiling in a labour camp, digging holes to plant trees for eight hours a day, six days a week, completely cut off from the outside world except for two letters sent by relatives.

“I wasn’t originally a labourer so the labour was hard at first but now I’ve gotten used to it,” he said in Korean, which the network translated.

Lim, who is in his 60s, said he is desperate to hear from his family and has only been able to send them

one letter so far. He also said he has requested a Bible from North Korean authorities, but has yet to obtain it.

Lim was sentenced in December to life in prison with hard labour by North Korea’s Supreme Court for what it called crimes against the state.

The crimes Lim was charged with included harming the dignity of the supreme leadership, trying to use religion to destroy the North Korean system, disseminating negative propaganda about the North to overseas Koreans and helping U.S. and the South Korean authorities lure

and abduct North Korean citizens, along with aiding their programs to assist defectors from the North.

He said his experience has not shaken his faith, and he continues to pray.

“I hope I can go home some day,” he told CNN. “Nobody knows if I will ever go home, but that is my hope. I miss my family. I am longing to see them again, and my congregation.”

A spokesman for Global Affairs Canada said the federal government is concerned for Lim’s rights and well-being and is “working towards a resolution in his case.”

STEPHANIE LEVITZ THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA — Today could be the day that the influx of Syrian refugees hits the 10,000 mark, but resettlement groups are now looking far beyond that milestone.

Flight arrival data on the Immigration Department’s website suggests the 10,000th Syrian will arrive on one of two flights bound for Toronto today, though the department could not confirm that number.

“We expect to achieve our goal of welcoming 10,000 Syrian refugees to Canada this week,” said spokesman Remi Lariviere in an e-mail, but he added that information online is still subject to change.

In November, the Liberals said 10,000 Syrians, mostly privately sponsored, would arrive by the end of 2015, but failed to meet that target.

They say 25,000 Syrians in total should be here by the end of February and then a further 10,000 government-assisted Syrian refugees will come by the end of 2016.

What’s unclear is how many more privately sponsored refugees will be accepted after the end of February.

There are upwards of two hundred applications a week being submitted by private groups looking to sponsor Syrians, said Chris Friesen, the president of the Canadian Immigration Settlement Sector Alliance.

But nobody knows how those applications will be treated without knowing the government’s overall immigration plan for 2016, he said.

Ordinarily, the government sets a range of privately sponsored refugees it will accept from around the world each year, but it’s unclear whether the Syrian program will be part of that or on top of it.

“I’m assuming the government has a range, a target, as part of the 2016 plan but all of this impacts funding going into the next fiscal year, particularly settlement support, because some regions of the country have significant wait-lists for some or all settlement programming,” he said.

A spokesperson for Immigration Minister John McCallum did not return a request for comment.

Opposition immigration critic Michelle Rempel said the complex nature of the plan makes consultation essential.

The number of immigrants affects everything from schools to the labour force and consultation is necessary to know what the system can absorb, she said.

“It’s surprising that they wouldn’t consult but it’s not surprising that they’re flying by the seat of their pants on the immigration portfolio and I think this is indicative of things to come,” she said.

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016

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NATION&WORLD 15

JUSTICE

MEDIA

Revoking airport security clearance unfair, says court

N.S. newspaper may see work stoppage MICHAEL MACDONALD THE CANADIAN PRESS

COLIN PERKEL THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO — Stripping a woman of her airport security clearance based only on contacts police say she had with criminals they would not identify was unfair and unreasonable, Federal Court heard Monday.

The government’s decision, which cost Ayaan Farah her US Airways job at Toronto’s international airport, should be set aside, her lawyer argued.

“My client was an upstanding employee. She was never arrested.

She was never charged with anything. There was nothing that occurred while at her work or outside her work that would have yielded any kind of skepticism or concern about any of her actions,” Mitchell Worsoff told the court.

“My client was essentially castigated because, in her network, some of those individuals had brushes with the law. One or two of those had very serious records.”

In April 2014, the government noti-

FARAH

fied Farah, a customer service rep and ticketing agent, that the RCMP reported she had associated with criminals identified as subjects A, B, and C. Police, citing privacy concerns, have refused to name them.

Farah says she does not know who they are, although her lawyer suggested one may be her brother.

According to police, two of the individuals used Farah’s car to go to a funeral for a known gang member.

She was not in the car and did not attend the service. Police also said they interacted with her while she was in A’s company. She says she can’t remember ever being stopped by police.

Based on the RCMP information, the government revoked her transportation security clearance, prompting her dismissal from a job she’d had for eight years and used in part to help her sister through university.

“I didn’t do anything wrong — I’m not a criminal, I’ve never broken the law,” Farah said outside court.

“If you’re going to lose your job because you know someone with a criminal record, then a lot of people need to lose their jobs, too.”

In court, Worsoff said his client had been found “guilty by association” without an oral hearing or proper chance to explain away the vague allegations against her.

Anyone working at an airport, he said, could lose a job through an inadvertent association and without evidence of wrongdoing.

Three years prison for fatal work accident THE CANADIAN PRESS

A Toronto construction manager convicted in a 2009 scaffolding collapse that left four members of his crew dead was sentenced to three and a half years behind bars Monday.

Vadim Kazenelson was found guilty last June on four counts of criminal negligence causing death and one count of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.

The judge presiding over the case

found the 40-year-old was aware that protections against falls were not in place, but still allowed his workers to board a swing stage that broke in half, causing five workers to plummet to the ground. Only one of them survived.

Justice Ian MacDonnell said the sentence he imposed was proportionate to the gravity of Kazenelson’s offences.

“The seriousness of the offences committed by Mr. Kazenelson and their consequences cannot

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be doubted,” he said. “A significant term of imprisonment is necessary to reflect the terrible consequences.”

Notwithstanding his actions on the day of the scaffolding collapse, MacDonnell said Kazenelson was “unquestionably a man of good character.” But his breach of duty that day was more than a momentary lapse, MacDonnell said, noting that he had to deliver a sentence that would deter others from making the same errors.

Jan. 8-14 STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (PG) NO PASSES FRI 3:35, 6:50; SAT-SUN 12:20, 3:35, 6:50; MON,WED-THURS 6:40; TUE 3:25, 6:40 STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS 3D (PG) NO PASSES FRI 3:05, 4:05, 6:20, 7:20, 9:30, 10:00, 10:30; SAT-SUN 11:50, 12:50, 3:05, 4:05, 6:20, 7:20, 9:30, 10:00, 10:30; MON,WED-THURS 6:10, 7:10, 9:15, 9:45, 10:15; TUE 3:00, 3:55, 6:10, 7:10, 9:15, 9:45, 10:15 THE FOREST (14A) NO PASSES FRI 3:55, 7:30, 10:20; SAT-SUN 12:00, 2:30, 4:50, 7:30, 10:20; MON,WED-THURS 7:20, 10:10; TUE 3:50, 7:20, 10:10 THE REVENANT (14A) NO PASSES FRI 3:20, 7:00, 9:55; SAT-SUN 11:40, 3:20, 7:00, 9:55; MON,WED-THURS 6:50, 9:50; TUE 3:10, 6:50, 9:50 BROOKLYN (PG) FRI-SAT 3:45, 6:40, 10:05; SUN 12:00, 3:45, 6:40, 10:05; MON,WEDTHURS 6:30, 9:55; TUE 3:35, 6:30, 9:55 THE BIG SHORT (14A) FRI 3:55, 7:10, 10:10; SAT-SUN 12:35, 3:55, 7:10, 10:10; MON,WED-THURS 7:00, 10:00; TUE 3:45, 7:00, 10:00 THE HATEFUL EIGHT (18A) FRI 3:15, 6:30, 9:40; SAT 2:45, 6:30, 9:40; SUN 12:10, 2:45, 6:30, 9:40; MON,WED-THURS 6:20, 9:30; TUE 3:20, 6:20, 9:30 THE METROPOLITAN OPERA: TANNHäUSER ENCORE SAT 9:00 MINIONS (G) SAT 11:00

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HALIFAX — Canada’s largest independently owned daily newspaper, the Halifax Chronicle Herald, is bracing for a work stoppage in less than two weeks.

Management filed a notice Monday that gives the company the option to lock out its newsroom staff with 48 hours notice — a pre-emptive legal move that doesn’t necessarily mean a lockout will happen.

Two days have been set aside for last-ditch, conciliated talks next week, but a union spokesman said there’s only a slim chance of averting a legal lockout on Jan. 23.

Francis Campbell, vice-president with the Halifax Typographical Union, says 61 unionized workers in the newsroom will be in a legal position to strike that day, but none of them intends to walk off the job.

Instead, Campbell said the 140-year-old company has made it clear it is getting ready to lock out the employees to press its proposals to reduce wages, lengthen working

hours, shrink future pension benefits and lay off up to 18 workers.

Mark Lever, CEO of The Halifax Herald Ltd., could not be reached for comment.

However, the company released a statement Friday saying that even with the proposed reductions, the Herald would remain the largest media company in Atlantic Canada, with wages and benefits that surpass other outlets.

Nancy Cook, the Herald’s vice-president of administration, said the newspaper must cut costs to remain competitive.

“There is no denying that we are in a challenging business,” Cook said in the statement. “The company’s proposals come from contracts the union representing the Herald newsroom has already agreed to at other media companies.”

The union’s opening proposal was a 7.5 per cent wage increase over three years. Campbell said the union was willing to negotiate but it never got the chance.

Just over 300 people work at the daily.

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16 NATION&WORLD

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016

CRIME

PSYCHOLOGY

Sean Penn says he has nothing to hide in interview with ‘El Chapo’

Theory of mid-life crisis put in doubt by study

Actor and ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine dismiss various criticisms over 10,000-word article MARIA VERZA AND FRANK BAJAK THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MEXICO CITY — Actor Sean Penn said he has “nothin’ to hide,” after images published Monday indicated he was under surveillance when he met with the Mexican actress who led him to Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman — and the pair was apparently followed and photographed as they set out for the supposedly secret meeting with the drug lord.

In a brief email exchange with The Associated Press, Penn also dismissed criticism over his interview with the fugitive, who was captured on Friday, a day before Penn’s 10,000-word story was published in Rolling Stone magazine.

Mexican officials have said that contacts between Guzman’s lawyers and Penn and actress Kate del Castillo helped them track down the fugitive and they raided his hideout in rural Durango state a few days after their Oct. 2 meeting. Guzman evaded authorities then, but was finally captured after a shootout Friday in the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa.

Penn wrote in the Rolling Stone article of elaborate security precautions, including switching phones.

As he flew to Mexico for the meeting, he wrote, “I see no spying eyes, but I assume they are there.”

He was right — and they had apparently been following del Castillo for months based on contacts with Guzman’s lawyers.

The Mexican newspaper El Universal published 10 images Monday that appeared to show Penn being monitored as he arrived in Mexico.

In the photographs, Penn, wearing dark glasses and a baseball cap, is shown arriving with del Castillo at an airport, then at a hotel, and greeting the men who apparently took them

CHRIS PURDY THE CANADIAN PRESS

Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman faces the media on Friday as he’s escorted to a helicopter in handcuffs by soldiers and marines at a federal hangar in Mexico City. [AP PHOTO]

to a small airstrip, from which they flew to the jungle camp to meet Guzman. The newspaper said the photos were part of a Mexican government intelligence file it had obtained.

Asked about the images Monday, Penn would only say: “I’ve got nothin’ to hide.”

The actor also shrugged off a suggestion that he was “taking hits” for agreeing to submit his article to Guzman prior to publication by Rolling Stone.

“No, you’re reading hits,” he said in the email exchange with the AP. In the article, Penn said Guzman requested no changes.

Penn stressed that he doesn’t think his communications were tracked, and in an interview with a local radio station, Mexican Attorney General Arely Gomez said that Mexican inves-

tigators were following the movements of one of Guzman’s lawyers, not necessarily Penn or del Castillo.

Asked whether Penn or del Castillo were under investigation, Gomez said a “new line” of inquiry had been opened that could include them or Guzman’s lawyers, and could involve “covering up” for Guzman “or something bigger.”

In an article accompanying the photos, El Universal said Mexican agents were aware of and following del Castillo’s contacts with Guzman’s lawyers since at least June. Del Castillo has not commented, but Penn wrote in Rolling Stone that Guzman was interested in having a movie made of his life and wanted del Castillo, who had portrayed a drug trafficker in a Mexican television series, involved in the project.

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Guzman’s capture came six months after his dramatic escape through a mile-long tunnel he dug from his cell at the maximum-security Altiplano prison, west of Mexico City.

Mexico has begun the process of extraditing Guzman to the United States, where he faces drug-trafficking charges, but that could take “a year or longer” because of legal challenges, said the head of Mexico’s extradition office, Manuel Merino. He cited one extradition case that took six years.

On Monday, the prison was ringed by soldiers, some riding in armoured personnel carrier, as well as marines and federal police.

Guzman’s attorney Juan Pablo Badillo has said the defence has already filed six motions to challenge extradition requests.

EDMONTON — No need to buy that Porsche if you’re pushing 40.

New research from the University of Alberta suggests there’s no such thing as a mid-life crisis. It’s more like mid-life bliss.

The “Up, Not Down” study was published in the academic journal Developmental Psychology.

It challenges the belief that happiness declines between a person’s teens and early 40s — or mid-life.

Lead researcher and psychology professor Nancy Galambos says she found the opposite — that people in her study were happier in their early 40s than when they were in their late teens and early 20s.

“I think it’s because life is more difficult for younger people than for people in middle age.”

She said some young adults are depressed, have trouble finding work and sorting out their lives.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty. But by middle age, a lot of people have worked that out and are quite satisfied through the earliest child-bearing years.”

Galambos said most studies looked at a groups of people of various ages.

She says the U of A study surveyed the same people — 1,500 of them — over many years, and is more reliable.

A group of Edmonton high schools students were tracked for 25 years and another group of graduating university students were followed for 14.

The study found happiness was higher in years when participants were married, in better health and had jobs.

Last survivor of ‘06 San Fran quake dies THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN FRANCISCO — The last survivor of the devastating San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906 has died, a relative confirmed Monday.

William A. “Bill” Del Monte died at a retirement home in nearby Marin County on Monday.

He was 11 days shy of his 110th birthday. His niece, Janette Barroca of San Francisco confirmed his death of natural causes.

He’d been doing “great for 109 years old,” Barroca said Monday.

Del Monte was just three months old when the quake struck, forcing his family into the streets to escape in an open horse-drawn carriage with fire burning on both sides, Barroca said. The family crossed the bay to Alameda County but eventually came back to the city after the home was rebuilt, Barroca said.

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016

Iran denies nuke weapon work in past THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

VIENNA — Iran has rejected an assessment by the UN nuclear agency that it did past work on nuclear arms but is praising some aspects of the agency’s investigation of the issue, reflecting satisfaction that the more than decade-long probe has ended.

Closure of the file means that some questions about the alleged weapons work may never be resolved. Before the 35-nation board of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency adopted a resolution last month ending the investigation, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano told the meeting that his investigation couldn’t “reconstruct all the details of activities conducted by Iran in the past.”

But both Iran and the international community are eager to put the issue behind them in order to be able to implement a landmark nuclear deal that commits Tehran to significant limits on its nuclear activities for over a decade in exchange for relief from crippling economic sanctions.

The IAEA board closed the books on the investigation last month, even though Amano repeated an assessment he made in his final report on the issue in November that Iran worked on “a range of activities relevant” to making nuclear weapons, with co-ordinated efforts up to 2003.

@NanaimoDaily

NATION&WORLD 17

INFRASTRUCTURE

Damaged Ontario bridge dividing east and west partially reopened THE CANADIAN PRESS

NIPIGON, Ont. — A multimillion-dollar bridge offering the sole east-west route across part of northern Ontario has been partially reopened after sustaining serious damage over the weekend, provincial officials said Monday.

Both the Ontario Provincial Police and the Ministry of Transportation confirmed that one lane of the Nipigon River Bridge has reopened.

A statement from Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca says the lane is available to cars and regular-weight transport trucks, but said engineers are still working to determine whether it can sustain the weight of oversized trucks.

Del Duca said staff worked through the night in order to reopen a route that the province’s premier described as critically important.

“As soon as I heard about the closure of the bridge I was concerned because it is the lifeline in terms of product and transportation in northwestern Ontario,” Kathleen Wynne said. “It connects the east to the west, and there is only that one route.”

Damage to the newly built Nipigon River Bridge in Nipigon, Ont., cut traffic on the Trans-Canada Highway in both directions on Sunday. [THE CANADIAN PRESS]

The OPP closed the bridge indefinitely on Sunday afternoon when part of the steel decking on the western side separated about 60 centimetres from the rest of the structure. There were no injuries reported, and pedestrians were still able to make use of the bridge.

Word of the partial reopening came as a relief to local businesses, said Dan Bevilacqua, manager of the

MIDDLE EAST

Bid to reconcile Afghan government and Taliban KATHY GANNON THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ISLAMABAD — Four countries —— Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States —— were cloistered away late into the night Monday trying to lay a foundation they hope will eventually lead to peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban fighters. But in the end, the biggest decision that appeared to be reached was to meet again.

Still an Afghan official, who was in the meeting but did not want to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said, “some good progress” was made during what turned out to be a marathon session.

The Taliban were not invited to the talks and a Taliban official, in a rare face-to-face meeting with The Associated Press, said there would be no direct talks with the Afghan government without first talking to the United States.

The final communique, however, seemed to rule that out.

“The participants emphasized the immediate need for direct talks between representatives of the Government of Afghanistan and representatives from Taliban groups in a peace process that aims to preserve Afghanistan’s unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” said the communique.

A small breakaway Taliban group said Monday it was ready for talks. The faction, which emerged following the rev-

elation last year that the Taliban leader and founder Mullah Mohammed Omar had died two years ago, is believed to be relatively small and its absence from the battlefield is unlikely to be a game changer.

The Taliban have stepped up attacks across the country and while they have been unable to hold urban centres, the religious militia has operated in rural areas, often dispensing justice and challenging the government’s authority.

Afghan security forces have taken heavy casualties, particularly since the withdrawal of NATO-led forces from Afghanistan last year. They complain bitterly about inadequate supplies and still rely heavily on U.S. airpower.

Though the Taliban were not invited to Monday’s talks, a senior Taliban official, who spoke on condition of anonymity fearing exposure and capture, told the AP that two Taliban delegates, currently headquartered in Qatar, will meet “soon” with China’s representatives. The meeting, which will also include Pakistan, is to be held in Islamabad, said the official.

Still, there seems little to no chance for early peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government.

Maulvi Shazada Shaeid, a representative on Afghanistan’s High Peace Council, tasked with seeking peace with the Taliban, said the distance between the two sides is vast, holding out little hope for peace.

North of Superior Travel Association.

He said companies were bracing to function without bridge access for anywhere from two days to a full month, adding that the flow of supplies wasn’t even the main concern.

“I think what people were worried about is just essentially the country being split in two,” he said. “Here in Nipigon, we are at the middle of the country. Everything has to come

through this area. . . . It was more concern for travellers.”

No one has yet offered an estimate as to when the bridge, which is part of the Trans-Canada Highway and spans the Nipigon River, will be fully functional.

Nor is there any word as to what caused the separation, an issue Wynne said the government is determined to “get to the bottom of.”

The Ontario government began building what it touts as the province’s first cable-stayed bridge in 2013 and opened westbound lanes to two-way traffic in November. The project, which the government pegs at $106 million, is due to be completed in 2017.

Ontario Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle is planning to visit the site on Monday to assess the extent of the damage, and Del Duca is planning to inspect the site on Wednesday.

The nearby municipality of Greenstone declared a state of emergency on Sunday after the bridge was closed. There was no immediate word as to whether it had been lifted in light of the partial reopening.

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18 NATION&WORLD

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EUROPE

Member of Spanish royal family in court on corruption charges Princess Cristina, 50, the sister of King Felipe VI, being tried on two counts of tax fraud ALAN CLENDENNING AND EMILIO MORENATTI THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PALMA DE MALLORCA, Spain — Spain’s Princess Cristina spent 12 hours in court Monday at the start of her landmark criminal case, confronting accusations of bankrolling a lavish lifestyle with funds her husband received from an alleged scheme to embezzle millions from public contracts for conferences and sporting events.

Cristina and her husband, Inaki Urdangarin, said nothing during the opening of their trial as their lawyers and attorneys for 16 additional defendants argued why their clients should have charges dropped and made requests about evidence and witnesses for a trial expected to last six months.

One lawyer asked to call Spain’s current and former kings as witnesses and another accused him of trying to turn the trial into a reality show.

The judge ended the proceedings by saying the trial would resume in February — when a decision will be made as to whether Cristina will remain among the defendants or not.

The 50-year-old Cristina, the sister of King Felipe VI, faces two counts of tax fraud, carrying a maximum prison sentence of eight years, for allegedly failing to declare taxes on personal expenses paid by a real estate company she owned with Urdangarin, an Olympic handball medallist turned businessman.

Her lawyer, Jesus Maria Silva, was

Suspect who put snake in pants sought THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A snake thief smuggled a half-metre-long python from a Portland pet store by stuffing it down his pants.

Sgt. Greg Stewart said no arrests have been made in Friday’s theft. But Christin Bjugan, an owner of A to Z pet store, said video surveillance has helped viewers and police detectives identify a suspect, and she expects to have the snake returned soon.

“We know who did it,” she said Monday. “We know where he lives, we know where he works, we know all about him and his girlfriend.

We’re just waiting to get our snake back.”

The video shows the suspect with a blue-haired woman who appeared to be in on the theft. He handed her some keys before taking the snake from a tank and shuffling out of the store.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016

NEWS IN BRIEF The Associated Press ◆ CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA

Pilot injured after falling into Antarctic crevasse Officials say a helicopter pilot is in a critical condition at an Australian Antarctic base after falling into a crevasse.

Australian Antarctic Division said in a statement Tuesday that the pilot fell 20 metres into the crevasse after landing on a remote ice shelf 167 kilometres northeast of Australia’s Davis Station late on Monday.

A three-member rescue team from Davis was able to retrieve the pilot who was then flown by helicopter to a medical facility at Davis where his condition remained critical.

The division did not release any details about the injured pilot’s identity.

◆ BEIJING

Chinese president reorganizes military HQ

Spain’s Princess Cristina and her husband Inaki Urdangarin leave court on the first day of a corruption trial, in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, on Monday. [AP PHOTO]

joined by a prosecutor and a state attorney representing Spanish tax authorities in saying the charges against Cristina should be thrown out because government officials agreed she committed no crimes and should face at most an administrative fine for tax evasion.

The three-member panel of judges hearing the case will decide in coming weeks whether to side with her supporters or with an investigative judge who spent four years probing the case and ruled it could go forward because of evidence presented

by a private anti-corruption group.

The judges will have to weigh whether the couple criminally abused the Aizoon real estate consulting firm described in court papers as a “front company” to fund luxury vacations, throw parties at their modernist Barcelona mansion and pay for salsa dancing classes.

Under Spanish law, groups like the Manos Limpias (Clean Hands) organization involved in the princess’ trial can pursue criminal charges against people when authorities decide against doing so.

Urdangarin and others are accused of embezzling up to $6.8 million from contracts which were allegedly inflated or never performed.

The princess’ husband, formerly the Duke of Palma, is accused of using his title to land the deals for the Noos Institute he ran with business partner Diego Torres.

Details about the couple’s lifestyle that emerged from a pre-trial investigation from 2011-2014 outraged Spaniards as the country teetered on the edge of an economic crisis and unemployment hit 27 per cent.

EUROPE

German government condemns Cologne sex assaults, retaliation GEIR MOULSON THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BERLIN — A string of attacks on women in Cologne on New Year’s Eve blamed largely on foreigners was “intolerable,” Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman said Monday, but added nothing excuses retaliatory assaults on immigrants.

Merkel has proposed making it easier to deport immigrants involved in crimes, and her spokesman Steffen Seibert emphasized the government is looking into both “possible consequences for criminal law (and) possible political consequences for the intolerable crimes.”

But after Cologne police said a group of Pakistanis and a Syrian were attacked in the city on Sunday, Seibert said Germans must not blame all the nearly 1.1 million migrants who entered the country last year, and

MERKEL

said the government is also focused on their welfare.

“We’re doing all of these things to protect the population in Germany,” he said. “We are also doing this for the great majority of innocent refugees who have sought refuge from bombs and war in our country, and

who should get this protection and who are prepared to adapt to the rules and values in our country.”

The six Pakistani nationals were attacked Sunday by around 20 people, and two of them were briefly admitted to a hospital, police said. Also Sunday evening, five people attacked a Syrian man, who was injured but didn’t need treatment.

Police official Norbert Wagner said authorities are treating those attacks as anti-foreigner crimes and believe the assailants arranged to meet via social media, news agency dpa reported.

The New Year’s Eve assaults stoked tensions over Germany’s open-door policy to refugees and prompted politicians to call for tougher laws against migrants who commit crimes.

Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered a reorganization of the military headquarters’ structure on Monday in a sign of his firm control over the 2.3 million-member armed forces.

Xi ordered the elimination of the four headquarters responsible for staff, politics, logistics and armaments and their replacement with 15 new agencies under the direct authority of the ruling Communist Party’s Central Military Commission, state media reported.

The move is part of a push to reassert the absolute authority of the party commission headed by Xi and modernize the military’s organizational structure.

Xi is also pressing ahead with the downsizing of the military by 300,000 members to eliminate many non-combat-related functions.

China’s military has benefited from near annual double-digit percentage increases in its budget, now the world’s second largest after the United States.

◆ CARACAS, VENEZUELA

Court orders barred lawmakers ousted Venezuela’s Supreme Court has ordered the country’s new opposition congress to unseat three barred lawmakers and is declaring that any action the body takes in the meantime is null.

The court published a decision Monday that said the congress’ acts would be void while the three lawmakers were seated.

Supporters of the ruling socialist party challenged the election of three opposition lawmakers from the remote state of Amazonas after the government critics swept legislative elections in December.

The election gave the opposition control of congress for the first time in 17 years.

The Supreme Court ordered that the three lawmakers in question not be seated until allegations of elections fraud had been addressed.

But the opposition leadership swore them in anyway.

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016

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NATION&WORLD 19

Oil dips once more on China fears, TSX slips a further 126.20 points

POLITICS

ALEXANDRA POSADZKI THE CANADIAN PRESS

B.C. lawyer Joe Arvay told the Supreme Court of Canada on Monday that the government may have no intention of bringing right-to-die legislation before Parliament, seen above. [THE CANADIAN PRESS]

Right-to-die issue may languish, fear activists Lawyer fears Ottawa has no intention of creating new law KRISTY KIRKUP THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA — The new Liberal government may be taking the same laissez-faire approach to doctor-assisted death as its Conservative predecessors did, a lawyer for one of Canada’s best-known right-to-die crusaders argued Monday.

The government may in fact have no intention of drafting an assisted-suicide law, Joseph Arvay, who represents the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, told the nine-judge Supreme Court panel.

Gloria Taylor and Kay Carter originally sought a B.C. court’s help to end their suffering, but neither lived long enough to see the high court’s landmark decision last February, which recognized the right of consenting adults enduring intolerable physical or mental suffering to end their lives with a doctor’s help.

The high court suspended its decision for a year to give Parliament a chance to figure out how to respond to the ruling; the government is now asking for a six-month extension on that deadline, which is Feb. 6.

Arvay told the panel the new government, which was elected Oct. 19, may be pursuing their response “in the same way as the past government which is not how to implement the Carter decision but whether to.”

Arvay also shot back at the government’s suggestion that the arguments of civil liberties associations “demonstrate a striking naivete concerning the policy development and legislative process.”

“I don’t think I’m naive,” he said.

“If I’m naive, it’s naive in thinking

“Surely, in deciding whether to grant the extension, you have to decide whether the government’s request for an extension, in any way trumps that suffering.”

Joe Arvay, BCCLA lawyer

that the . . . Department of Justice has read the Carter decision.”

Any unnecessary delay in dealing with the issue will do little more than extend the suffering of countless Canadians, he noted.

“Surely, in deciding whether to grant the extension, you have to decide whether the government’s request for an extension, in any way trumps that suffering.”

In his submission to the court, government lawyer Robert Frater said six more months is not a long time in terms of the democratic process, noting that the government is aware its request is unusual — but not unprecedented.

“Parliament can choose to do any number of things,” Frater said.

“I think the government has been quite clear that it is trying to be open to all options. The difficulty in this case is that the issues are so enormous and so complex ... it is a new Parliament, they have to grapple with the issues.”

Last month, the Liberals established a special Commons-Senate committee to explore the issue of doctor-assisted death in hopes of drafting a new law ahead of its prospective new August deadline.

The committee is to report with legislative recommendations by Feb. 26, according to the motion that sparked its creation, though MPs have not yet been assigned to it.

Committee members from the Senate are free to start their work now and the group will have to meet the deadline set out, Frater told the court.

Arvay said the right-to-die issue has already been studied exhaustively.

“This parliamentary committee apparently is planning to tour across the country to consult with Canadians . . . what is that about? . . . There’s 15,000 pages of all of that there if they only bothered to read the record.”

The federal government maintains it is not seeking to change the landscape in Quebec as it pursues its extension.

Frater acknowledged the rule of law requires the government respect the judgment handed down by the Quebec Court of Appeal which “brought clarity to the situation” in the province.

It overturned a lower court decision aimed at suspending the implementation of Quebec’s law on assisted-death.

“If this further six months is granted, the rule of law will mean that that conduct is not a crime in Quebec,” Frater said.

The Supreme Court is still considering whether to green-light the government’s request for more time. » We want to hear from you.

Send comments on this story to yourletters@nanaimodailynews.com.

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TORONTO — Lingering concerns about the Chinese economy dragged down the price of oil and again weighed on the Toronto stock market, which finished in the red for a ninth consecutive trading day.

The S&P/TSX composite index, which has lost more than seven per cent of its value since Christmas Eve, slipped 126.20 points on Monday, closing at 12,319.25. Metals and mining stocks were the biggest losers on the TSX, losing 7.5 per cent, while the energy sector closed nearly four per cent lower.

Meanwhile the commodity-sensitive loonie, which has been on a steep slide since the start of the year, fell 0.37 of a U.S. cent to 70.31 cents US. The last time the loonie closed below that was on April 30, 2003, when it finished at 69.76 cents US. Craig Fehr, Canadian market strategist at Edward Jones in St. Louis, said the slump in China and its knock-on

effects on commodity prices, especially oil, were responsible for the weakness in the Canadian dollar and the TSX. “We’re seeing a continuation of the weakness that started the year,” said Fehr.

“The key drivers are pretty much the same. We’re seeing further concerns about growth in China. . . . That’s leading to further declines in oil prices, and that obviously is having an impact on the domestic market as well as global markets as a whole.”

The February contract for benchmark crude oil fell $1.75 to US$31.41 a barrel, while February natural gas lost 7.6 cents to US$2.396 per mmBtu. February gold fell $1.70 to US$1,096.20 an ounce, while March copper lost five cents to US$1.97 a pound.

Chinese markets endured big drops last week, roiling markets worldwide, before rebounding Friday. But the Shanghai composite, China’s main index, plunged again Monday, falling 6.3 per cent.

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STREAK OVER Canuck goalie Jacob Markstrom keeps his eye on the puck during third-period NHL action against the Florida Panthers on Monday. [THE CANADIAN PRESS]

Daniel Sedin ends Panthers’ streak at 12 JOSHUA CLIPPERTON THE CANADIAN PRESS

VANCOUVER — Daniel Sedin scored his second of the night on the power play at 2:21 of overtime as the Vancouver Canucks snapped the Florida Panthers’ 12-game winning streak with a 3-2 victory on Monday.

Sedin snapped a shot past Roberto Luongo with Jaromir Jagr off in the box for hooking to tie Markus Naslund’s franchise record for goals with 346.

With the Canucks celebrating on the ice, the teams came together near the benches with a lot of pushing and shoving. It appeared to start when Vancouver’s Derek Dorsett approached the Panthers’ bench after Sedin scored the winner.

Florida players were making their way to the locker-room but turned

SPORTS INSIDE Today’s issue

BCHL NCAA football NFL playoffs Scoreboard

21 21 23 24

back after Dorsett shoved back-up goaltender Al Montoya. A number of players from both teams then began throwing punches as referees tried to break up the fights.

Jake Virtanen also scored for Van-

couver (17-16-10), which got 26 saves from Jacob Markstrom.

Jussi Jokinen and Jonathan Huberdeau scored for the Panthers (26-12-5). Luongo made 27 stops, but saw his personal nine-game winning run come to an end.

Trailing 2-1 in the third without much offence to speak of, Virtanen got the Canucks level with 2:38 left in regulation on a shot shortside on Luongo.

The rookie’s second goal of the season came after Markstrom made a couple of great saves to keep his team in it, including a stop on Steven Kampfer on a 3-on-1 moments before the equalizer.

Down 2-0 after the first, the Canucks got one back at 5:41 of the second when Daniel Sedin finished off a nice passing play with his broth-

er Henrik by whipping a backhand past Luongo for his 18th goal of the season.

Part of the trade that sent Luongo back to Florida from Vancouver in March 2014, Markstrom made a nice pad stop on Aleksander Barkov later in the period to keep his team down one heading into the third.

The Panthers, who were coming off a 2-1 victory in Edmonton on Sunday, opened the scoring just 80 seconds into the first when Reilly Smith jumped on a poor Markstrom clearing attempt and fed Jokinen, who buried his sixth of the season.

Luongo spent parts of eight seasons in Vancouver and was serenaded with familiar “Luuuu” chants from the crowd periodically throughout the night, especially after great saves on Daniel Sedin, Bo Horvat, Emerson

Etem and Jared McCann to keep his team in front.

The Panthers rewarded that strong play with 32.3 seconds left in the period when Huberdeau beat Markstrom upstairs off the rush to make it 2-0.

Notes: Panthers defenceman Aaron Ekblad missed the game with an upper-body injury after taking a hard hit from Oilers forward Matt Hendricks on Sunday. The NHL announced late Monday that Hendricks has been suspended three games. ... Etem made his debut after coming over in a trade with the New York Rangers on Friday. ... Markstrom made his eighth straight start in place of Ryan Miller, who dressed as Vancouver’s backup for the second game in a row after missing six with a groin injury.

NHL

Sheepish Subban berated by parents for foul language BILL BEACON THE CANADIAN PRESS

LAVAL, Que. — P.K. Subban’s parents weren’t impressed with his profanity-laced comments after the Montreal Canadiens’ latest defeat.

“I got in a lot of trouble,” the Canadiens star defenceman said with a smile. “My parents weren’t too happy about that, so they gave me a little slap on the wrist.

“But sometimes that’s the way it is. It’s just frustration. Usually I do a good job of controlling that but I guess it sort of boiled over. When you see guys like (Sidney) Crosby and (Evgeni) Malkin out there dan-

cing around and having their own way, it’s a little frustrating.”

All the Canadiens were on best behaviour Monday as they inaugurated a new outdoor rink built by the Montreal Canadiens Foundation in suburban Laval, Que., by skating with kids from nearby school, before holding a short practice.

After their 3-1 loss on home ice to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night, Subban lost his composure when asked about scoring his first goal in 34 games. To paraphrase, he said a goal didn’t matter if the team didn’t win.

“The only thing I hope is that no

little kids saw or heard what I said,” he added.

Perhaps more alarming was Subban saying it’s not his job to score goals.

He may not be expected to fill the net, but at an average of US$9 million per year over eight years and leading the team in ice time, the Canadiens may hope for more than two in 43 games.

He said he meant he was not the only player whose job is to score.

“As a group it’s our job to create offence.” he said. “I couldn’t care less if I score the goal or if I set it up. It doesn’t matter to me.

“People are going to look at numbers and stats and I expect that. When you’re the highest paid player on the team and one of the highest paid players in the league people are going to do that. That’s fine with me. But it’s important for people to know that all I care about is winning.”

Swear words have crept more and more into Canadiens comments as the team that started the season with a team-record nine straight wins endures a funk that has produced only five wins in their last 18 games in the absence of injured goalie Carey Price.

Some were shocked when captain Max Pacioretty blurted out some foul language after a loss last week.

The grief he took for that from fans and media was likely what caused him to cast a wary glance when Subban launched into his tirade.

Pacioretty scoffed at speculation that was a sign of bad blood between two of the team’s top players.

“Today’s about a good cause and to try to spoil that over a non-story is just a shame,” he said.

Indeed, it was a day for putting on-ice troubles aside to have some laughs with the kids.

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SPORTS 21

BCHL

Rempal powers Clippers past Powell River Sheldon Rempal delivered again for the Nanaimo Clippers.

The B.C. Hockey League’s leading scorer netted a pair of goals, including the winner late in the third period, lifting the host Clippers to a 3-2 win Saturday over the Powell River Kings at Frank Crane Arena.

Rempal’s 47th goal of the season, past Powell River goalie Stefan Wornig, came at the 15:09 mark of the final frame.

Nanaimo jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from Rempal and Will Reilly. Carter Turnbull and Chris Protopoulos pulled the Kings even in the second period, setting the stage for Rempals heroics.

Matthew Hoover assisted on both of Rempal’s goals for Nanaimo, with Evan Johnson making 28 saves for

the goaltending win. Wornig relieved starter Jeff Smith late in the first period for the Kings.

With the win, Nanaimo moved to 27-14-1 on the season, good for top spot in the league’s Island Division, eight points up on the second-place Cowichan Valley Capitals. Powell River (22-17-2) sits a point back of the Caps in third spot.

The Clippers now head out on the road for a three-game weekend swing, visiting the Wenatchee Wild in Washington state on Friday, before games Saturday (Langley Rivermen) and Sunday (Coquitlam Express) on the Lower Mainland.

Nanaimo’s next home game is Jan. 22 against the Surrey Eagles.

CLIPPER NOTES: The league’s Sunday (Jan. 10) trade deadline passed quietly, with the Clippers making no moves.

HIGH SCHOOL HOOPS

NCAA FOOTBALL

Wildcats beat Dolphins in title contest

Alabama coach Nick Saban successful with fourth-quarter gamble against Clemson

DAILY NEWS

AARON HINKS DAILY NEWS

The Wellington Secondary Wildcats made the most of their home-court advantage.

The Wildcats beat the Dover Bay Dolphins 70-63 over the weekend in the championship game of the Superball high school basketball tournament hosted at Wellington Secondary.

Hayden Jeffrey led the Wildcats with 21 points, six rebounds and four assists. Teammate Ryder Jenks netted 15 points and Alex Staniforth scored 13.

“What set us apart was probably our defensive intensity. It came out right away, got some stops, steals and led to our fast breaks which we got quite a few points out of,” said Wildcats coach Luke Letham.

“We made them feel uncomfortable and took away things they normally did.”

Kwalikum Kondors finished third by beating DW Poppy Redhawks.

R.E. Mountain Eagles finished fifth beating Carson Graham Eagles.

Jeffrey was named tournament MVP, while Wildcats Jenks, Daniel Goodman and Joseph Almoete made the tournament all-star team.

This is the second consecutive year Wellington defeated Dover in the final to win the tournament.

Aaron.Hinks @nanaimodailynews.com 250-729-4242

Nanaimo Clippers forward Sheldon Rempal rushes toward the net past Powell River Kings player Nick Nonis in B.C. Hockey League action Saturday night at Frank Crane Arena. [AARON HINKS/DAILY NEWS]

“I think that changed the momentum of the game, and our guys finished it.”

RALPH D. RUSSO THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Alabama needed it all to win the toughest national title game it had ever played during the Nick Saban dynasty. All of its power. All of its speed.

Even one gutsy trick.

Derrick Henry, O.J. Howard and Kenyan Drake hit No. 1 Clemson with long touchdowns, and Alabama outlasted the dynamic play of dualthreat quarterback Deshaun Watson to win the College Football Playoff championship 45-40 on Monday night.

The Crimson Tide (14-1) won its three previous championship game appearances in runaway fashion. This game was an instant classic — a welcome relief for fans who sat through the blowouts that turned the New Year’s Six lineup into a dud.

It finally turned on maybe the boldest call of Saban’s career.

“This was a great challenge for us,” Saban said.

With 10:34 left in the fourth quarter and Alabama having just tied the game with a short field goal, Saban took a gamble to try to keep the ball away from Watson and the Tigers.

He called for a high-bouncing onside kick that Tide defensive Marlon Humphrey caught over the shoulder at midfield.

Tide ball.

“I think that changed the momentum of the game, and our guys finished it,” Saban said.

Moments later, Alabama took back the lead. For the second time, Clemson (14-1) lost track of the tight end Howard in coverage and Jake Coker hit him in stride deep for a 51-yard touchdown to make it 31-24 with 9:45 left.

Clemson and Watson proved to be every bit Alabama’s equal. The Tigers just kept coming.

NIck Saban, Alabama coach

Alabama’s O.J. Howard kisses the championship trophy after the NCAA college football playoff championship game against Clemson Monday in Glendale, Ariz.

Alabama won 45-40. [DAVID KADLUBOWSKI/THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC VIA AP]

Watson led Clemson to a field goal to make it 31-27, and boom! Another Alabama big play. Drake broke free and streaked down the sideline for a 95-yard kickoff return touchdown, diving the last 5 yards to the pylon.

Watson threw his third touchdown pass to make it 38-33 with 4:40 left, and then Alabama went back to its workhorse Heisman Trophy winner.

Derrick Henry plunged into the end zone for his third touchdown of the game to make it 45-33 with 1:07 left.

Watson threw another touchdown pass, but would not get another chance. Clemson’s onside kick went out of bounds. Coker took a knee and after a two-year drought that felt like eternity in Tuscaloosa, Alabama was back on top.

The Crimson Tide became the second team in college football’s poll era, dating back to 1936, to win four titles in seven seasons.

Alabama joins Notre Dame, which won four titles from 1943-49. For

Saban, it is his fifth national championship — four in his nine seasons at Alabama — leaving him only one short of former Tide coach Bear Bryant for the most titles in history.

Watson gave the Tide all it could handle, throwing for 405 yards and four touchdowns, and conjuring up memories of Vince Young’s miraculous performance for Texas in the 2006 Rose Bowl that derailed Southern California’s dynasty.

The sophomore, who finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting, had 478 total yards against a loaded Tide defence that was the toughest in the country and bested Young’s 467 yards against the Trojans. But Watson couldn’t finish the job the way Young did in Pasadena, California.

Instead, Saban and the Tide raised another trophy, its first in this new playoff system, and got another confetti shower. It is the Tide’s 10th national title in the poll era, more than any other school.

The Tide hit Clemson early with Henry, who scored the game’s first touchdown on a 50-yard burst through the middle. He finished with 158 yards on 36 carries. Howard was the offensive player of the game with five catches for 208 yards, including a 63-yarder that set up Alabama’s final score.

After Watson and walk-on Hunter Renfrow hooked up for two touchdown passes to give Clemson a 14-7 lead at the end of the first quarter, Henry tied it up with a 1-yard plunge.

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TENNIS

Bouchard dumps Mattek-Sands at Hobart THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SYDNEY, Australia — Eugenie Bouchard provided relief from a deluge of bad injury news in the women’s game ahead of the Australian Open, as the Canadian won 6-2, 6-1 against Bethanie Mattek-Sands at the Hobart International on Monday.

The former No. 5 is on the comeback trail since sustaining a concussion when she fell in the dressing

room during last year’s U.S. Open, with the Shenzhen Open last week being her first tournament since.

Bouchard, from Westmount, Que., said before her first match in Hobart she had “zero expectations” for the tournament as she eases back into competitive tennis after the fourmonth layoff.

However she was impressive against American veteran MattekSands, just as many leading Austral-

ian Open deal with injuries.

Daria Gavrilova, who teamed with Nick Kyrgios to win Australia’s first Hopman Cup title in Perth last week, became the latest player to withdraw from the Sydney International on Monday, due to an abdominal injury.

“If I had a bit more time, I would be fine,” Gavrilova said. “But it’s just a bit sore, so it’s a bit of a precaution.

“It’s not great timing, but I’m not too worried because it’s early days. I

should be fine for Australian Open.”

Defending champion and world No. 5 Petra Kvitova withdrew from the tournament on Sunday due to a stomach virus and was joined a few hours later by No. 2-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, who cited a leg injury.

Last week, the world’s four topranked women retired or withdrew from tournaments due to injuries: No. 1 Serena Williams (Hopman Cup/knee), second-ranked Halep

(Brisbane/ankle), No. 3 Garbine Muguruza (Brisbane/foot) and fourthranked Maria Sharapova (Brisbane/ forearm). The addition of Kvitova and Radwanska leaves the six top-ranked women all under injury clouds ahead of the Australian Open which starts Jan. 18.

Germany’s Angelique Kerber, ranked 10, won her first round match in Sydney, beating Ukraine’s Elona Svitolina 4-6, 6-0, 6-3.

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SPORTS 23

NFL PLAYOFFS

Divine intervention? Seahawks earn crazy win The key aspect of any religion is belief. Wilson, who’s renown for his faith, talks about his belief on a regular basis, and he was at it again following Sunday’s game. “We kept believing in one another,�

Wilson said. “The commitment to each other, the commitment to play for 60 full minutes, the mental fortitude it took to come into a tough environment, it wasn’t easy. But that’s playoff football, anything can happen, and we kept believing in one another.�

Wilson’s words can often seem rote and repetitive when they’re heard each and every week. But they sure felt appropriate Sunday.

Seattle now heads to Charlotte, N.C., next Sunday to take on the NFC’s top seed, the Carolina Panthers. The same Carolina Panthers who finished the season 15-1 and beat the Seahawks 27-23 at CenturyLink Field when the teams met in October.

But Seattle will head to Carolina with no fear. The Seahawks are on a roll, having won seven of their past eight.

They have the playoff experience from having reached the Super Bowl each of the previous two years. They even have confidence from having had the Panthers beat in Week 6, only to succumb to the type of dramatic fourth-quarter collapse Seattle has since stamped out of its game.

And now the Seahawks head there with the knowledge that someone up above is watching out for them, too.

NICK PATTERSON EVERETT HERALD

I

n the history of the United States, Sunday has traditionally been the day for church, a time for those of a Christian persuasion to rest, reflect and worship.

In the last 50 years that’s changed.

The church has lost some of its grip on Sunday, being forced to share the day with the NFL. Much of the nation has traded its pews and hymnals for couches and television remotes.

I’m hesitant to compare football in any way to religion, despite the fervour with which some approach the sport. But watching the Seattle Seahawks’ game against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday was a spiritual experience. It’s hard not to think some higher power intervened in Seattle’s 10-9 wild-card playoff victory over Minnesota on Sunday at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. “Thank you, Jesus!� Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman bellowed during his postgame press conference.

It felt like there was more than a touch of divine intervention on Seattle’s side Sunday.

How else to explain Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson’s crazy play early in the fourth quarter? Sure, Wilson is known for his ability to improvise something from the direst of circumstances. But when the ball was snapped 15 yards past him, even the most devout of followers would have struggled to believe Wilson had the power to slide and corral the ball, get back to his feet, scramble away from the oncoming defenders, and deliver an awkward pass to Tyler Lockett for a

Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman points up during a post game news conference after an NFL wild-card football game against the Minnesota Vikings Sunday in Minneapolis. The Seahawks won 10-9. [JIM MONE/ASSOCIATED PRESS]

35-yard gain to set up the game’s only touchdown.

Which deity aligned all the circumstances perfectly for the Seahawks to pull that play off?

How else to explain the improbable events at the game’s end? Minnesota kicker Blair Walsh had the easiest of 27-yard chip shots to win the game.

Walsh had made all three of his field goals earlier in the contest, including two much more difficult kicks from 40-plus yards. Did a hand from above reach down to help usher the fieldgoal attempt wide left? “God showed us tons of grace,� Seahawks strong safety Kam Chancellor

said while being interviewed on the television broadcast. “We stand committed, love one another, and we’re just keeping the faith alive.�

For most of Sunday’s game it seemed Mother Nature was the supernatural being who was going to have the final say in the result. The historically cold temperatures — the minus-6 degrees at kickoff tied it for the third-coldest game in NFL history — favoured the home side. Minnesota, which was slapped down by Seattle 38-7 five weeks earlier when it was a relatively balmy 36 degrees at TCF Bank Stadium, was the beneficiary as Seattle’s offense seemed incap-

able of handling the harsh conditions.

Wilson’s passes sailed high in the chilly midwest air. The receivers’ freezing hands had difficulty gripping the ball. Even the Seattle’s equipment couldn’t handle the conditions, as the Seahawks’ headset radios malfunctioned, forcing Seattle to burn timeouts as the play clock wound down.

The weather was the price Seattle paid for starting the season 2-4, thereby having to hit the road for the playoffs, and it seemed the collection date had arrived on those debts.

But, at least on this day, the power of the spiritual was greater than the power of the temporal.

 Check out Nick Patterson’s Seattle Sidelines blog at http://www.heraldnet. com/seattlesidelines, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.

NFL PLAYOFFS

NFC divisional round set: Seattle takes on Carolina; Green Bay visits Arizona

January 4 - March 10, 2016 Schedules are subject to change without notice.

VANCOUVER ISLAND - LOWER MAINLAND DAVE CAMPBELL THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Welcome back from those bye weeks, Carolina and Arizona.

Perhaps the Panthers or the Cardinals, or both of the NFC’s top two seeds, will be able to defend their home fields.

No pressure, guys.

The visiting teams mirrored their AFC counterparts by winning the wild-card round games on Sunday, in Seattle’s case on a missed 27-yard field-goal attempt by Minnesota with 22 seconds left and for Green Bay with a rally at Washington from an early 11-0 deficit.

Now the two-time defending conference champion Seahawks will take the cross-country trek to face Carolina next Sunday afternoon, and the Packers will travel southwest to play Arizona on Saturday night. Each NFC semifinal game is a rematch of a matchup from the regular season, won by the Panthers and Cardinals, respectively.

A closer look: SEATTLE at CAROLINA, Sunday, 10:05 a.m., PST, FOX Maybe this one should be called the Bravado Bowl.

The Seahawks are the least-likely lower seed to be intimidated on the road, with the swagger built by those consecutive Super Bowl appearances, that wealth of Pro Bowl players discovered later in the draft and the momentum this season they rode to an 8-2 finish.

Then there’s that last-minute loss to New England in the Super Bowl last season they’ve been determined to move past.

The last game the Seahawks lost before they started to hit their stride in late October was, interestingly, at home against the Panthers, when they squandered leads of 20-7 in the third quarter and 23-14 in the fourth quarter in a 27-23 defeat. Russell Wilson was sacked four times that day by a defence that ranked sixth in the league and first

in the NFC with 44 sacks this season, but the protection down the stretch was much better as Wilson flourished with the best passing performances of his stellar career.

The ground game is a bit of a mystery, with Marshawn Lynch concluding he wasn’t ready to return this week from the abdominal injury that has kept him out since mid-November.

The Panthers strutted their way to a 15-1 record, ruffling some feelings by their opponents along the way while scoring a league-most 500 points. Cam Newton made a strong case for the NFL MVP award, totalling 45 touchdowns and adding some flamboyant end zone dances.

GREEN BAY at ARIZONA, Saturday, 5:15 p.m. PST, NBC The Packers can at least count on this: They’ll have plenty of their foam-cheese-head-wearing fans in attendance in the desert, where they appear for road games as much as anywhere.

Beyond that, the odds of a return trip to the NFC championship game are stacked against them in the form of a Cardinals team that beat them 38-8 just two weeks ago. “We kind of felt like this was a possibility,� Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. “It’s going to be one more competitive game, I bet.�

As the Seahawks found out against the Vikings, though, a blowout win earlier in the season can bring a well-prepared, pride-filled opponent. Thus, the Cardinals can’t be expecting another 30-point margin of victory, particularly after Rodgers and the Packers found some much-needed momentum in a 35-18 victory over the Redskins after a flat first quarter.

As long as Rodgers is running the offence, discounting the Packers would be unwise no matter how unorganized and punchless they’ve looked at times this season.

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EAST DIVISION

Cleveland Toronto Chicago Atlanta Miami Indiana Detroit Orlando Boston New York Washington Charlotte Milwaukee Brooklyn Philadelphia

26 24 22 23 22 21 21 20 19 19 17 17 15 10 4

9 15 14 15 16 16 16 18 18 20 19 20 24 28 36

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— 4 41/2 41/2 51/2 6 6 1 7 /2 8 9 1 9 /2 10 13 171/2 241/2

ATLANTIC DIVISION Florida Detroit Montreal

GP 43 42 43

W L OL SL GF GA Pts Home Away Last 10 Strk 26 12 4 1 118 92 57 13-6-2-0 13-6-2-1 9-0-1-0 L-1 22 13 5 2 105 108 51 11-8-3-1 11-5-2-1 6-4-0-0 W-4 23 17 2 1 122 107 49 12-7-2-0 11-10-0-1 3-7-0-0 L-1

METROPOLITAN DIVISION Washington NY Rangers NY Islanders

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W L OL SL GF GA Pts Home Away Last 10 Strk 32 7 2 1 139 90 67 16-3-1-0 16-4-1-1 8-1-0-1 W-4 23 14 3 2 123 110 51 16-5-2-0 7-9-1-2 4-5-1-0 W-1 22 15 3 2 114 107 49 13-7-2-0 9-8-1-2 4-6-0-0 L-2

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GP W L OL SL GF GA Pts Home Away Last 10 Strk 41 21 15 4 1 124 110 47 9-11-2-0 12-4-2-1 3-6-1-0 L-2 43 21 17 1 4 97 102 47 9-10-1-2 12-7-0-2 5-4-0-1 W-1

Tampa Bay Ottawa Pittsburgh Philadelphia Carolina Toronto Buffalo Columbus

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21 20 20 18 18 16 16 15

17 17 16 15 18 17 22 24

1 2 2 4 6 3 1 3

3 4 3 3 1 4 3 1

107 119 97 91 102 104 97 109

102 131 100 108 118 112 115 139

46 46 45 43 43 39 36 34

10-8-0-2 11-6-1-3 10-7-1-3 10-5-2-2 9-8-3-1 7-6-3-2 8-13-1-1 7-9-3-1

11-9-1-1 9-11-1-1 10-9-1-0 8-10-2-1 9-10-3-0 9-11-0-2 8-9-0-2 8-15-0-0

5-4-0-1 3-6-0-1 5-3-1-1 6-3-0-1 5-3-2-0 6-4-0-0 3-6-0-1 4-5-1-0

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W L OL SL GF GA Pts Home Away Last 10 Strk 26 12 1 2 108 90 55 13-6-0-1 13-6-1-1 6-3-0-1 L-1 21 16 3 1 116 125 46 11-6-2-0 10-10-1-1 7-1-1-1 W-3 17 16 8 2 105 120 44 9-8-4-0 8-8-4-2 6-2-1-1 W-1

WILD CARD Minnesota Nashville

GP W L OL SL GF GA Pts Home Away Last 10 Strk 42 22 12 7 1 111 99 52 14-6-2-0 8-6-5-1 5-3-1-1 L-1 42 19 16 6 1 107 115 45 12-6-2-1 7-10-4-0 4-5-1-0 L-3

Colorado San Jose Anaheim Winnipeg Calgary Edmonton

43 40 41 42 41 43

21 20 17 19 19 17

19 18 17 20 20 23

3 2 5 1 1 3

0 0 2 2 1 0

125 114 78 111 109 105

123 112 99 121 129 127

45 42 41 41 40 37

9-9-3-0 6-12-0-0 11-7-3-1 11-6-1-0 13-9-0-0 12-9-1-0

12-10-0-0 14-6-2-0 6-10-2-1 8-14-0-2 6-11-1-1 5-14-2-0

5-3-2-0 5-4-1-0 5-3-1-1 4-5-0-1 4-6-0-0 3-6-1-0

L-1 W-2 L-1 L-2 L-2 L-2

Note: winning team is credited with 2 points and a victory in the W column; a team losing in overtime or shootout receives 1 point in the respective OTL or SOL column.

0RQGD\¡V UHVXOWV NY Rangers 2 Boston 1 San Jose 5 Calgary 4 Vancouver 3 Florida 2 (OT) Detroit at Los Angeles 6XQGD\¡V UHVXOWV Florida 2 Edmonton 1 Washington 7 Ottawa 1 New Jersey 2 Minnesota 1 Chicago 6 Colorado 3 Buffalo 4 Winnipeg 2 Detroit 2 Anaheim 1 7XHVGD\¡V JDPHV Columbus at NY Islanders, 7 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Carolina, 7 p.m.

Buffalo at Minnesota, 8 p.m.

New Jersey at St. Louis, 8 p.m.

San Jose at Winnipeg, 8 p.m.

Nashville at Chicago, 8:30 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Colorado, 9 p.m.

Edmonton at Arizona, 9 p.m. :HGQHVGD\¡V JDPHV Columbus at Toronto, 7 p.m.

Boston at Philadelphia, 8 p.m.

Florida at Calgary, 9:30 p.m.

Ottawa at Anaheim, 10 p.m.

7KXUVGD\¡V JDPHV Vancouver at Washington, 7 p.m.

NY Rangers at NY Islanders, 7 p.m.

Chicago at Montreal, 7:30 p.m.

Carolina at St. Louis, 8 p.m.

Nashville at Winnipeg, 8 p.m.

Detroit at Arizona, 9 p.m.

New Jersey at Colorado, 9 p.m.

Edmonton at San Jose, 10:30 p.m.

6+$5.6 )/$0(6

5$1*(56 %58,16

)LUVW 3HULRG 1. San Jose, Thornton 8 (Pavelski) 5:07.

2. SJ, Donskoi 6 (Dillon, Tierney) 9:27.

3. Cal, Monahan 13 (Ferland, Gaudreau) 13:45.

3HQDOWLHV — None.

6HFRQG 3HULRG 4. San Jose, Couture 1, 1:53.

5. Calgary, Wideman 2 (Gaudreau, Giordano) 11:12 (pp).

6. Calgary, Bennett 6 (Backlund, Brodie) 11:27 (pp).

3HQDOWLHV — Brown SJ (high-sticking) 8:33; Burns SJ (tripping) 10:08.

7KLUG 3HULRG 7. San Jose, Burns 18 (Marleau, Thornton) 5:12 (pp).

8. San Jose, Ward 12 (Burns) 10:21.

9. Calgary, Ferland 2 (Backlund, Hamilton) 16:19 (pp).

3HQDOWLHV — Backlund Cgy (stick holding) 4:38; Dillon SJ (tripping) 15:42; 9ODVLF 6- %HQQHWW &J\ ÀJKWLQJ

6KRWV RQ JRDO San Jose 8 5 5 —18 Calgary 12 8 14 —34 *RDO — San Jose: Jones (W, 18-13-2); Cal: Ramo (L, 15-14-1). 3RZHU SOD\V (goal-chances) — SJ: 1-1; Calgary: 3-4. $WWHQGDQFH — 19,227 at Calgary.

)LUVW 3HULRG Âł No Scoring.

3HQDOW\ — Megna NYR (high-stick) 8:56.

6HFRQG 3HULRG 1. Bos, Hayes 10 (Spooner, Chara) 9:04.

3HQDOWLHV — None.

7KLUG 3HULRG 2. NY Rangers, Brassard 15 (Zuccarello, McDonagh) :35.

3. NYR, Fast 7 (Yandle, Klein) 18:18.

3HQDOWLHV — None.

6KRWV RQ JRDO Boston 11 11 11—33 NY Rangers 10 12 8—30 *RDO —Bos: Rask (L, 14-12-4); NYR: Lundqvist (W, 19-11-4). 3RZHU SOD\V (goal-chances) — Boston: 0-1; NYR: 0-0. $WWHQGDQFH — 18,006 at NY Rangers.

SCORING LEADERS Kane, Chi Benn, Dal Seguin, Dal Karlsson, Ott Tarasenko, StL Hall, Edm Backstrom, Wash

EAST DIVISION GP W Brandon 42 26 Prince Albert 42 24 Moose Jaw 42 22 Regina 42 18 Saskatoon 41 15 Swift Current 42 12

L OL SL GF GA Pt 12 2 2 162 126 56 14 3 1 142 135 52 15 4 1 149 135 49 18 3 3 135 151 42 23 3 0 124 171 33 25 4 1 99 139 29

CENTRAL DIVISION

WILD CARD

Dallas Chicago St. Louis

EASTERN CONFERENCE

G 25 25 24 9 24 16 13

A 37 28 27 36 20 25 28

0RQGD\ V JDPHV QRW LQFOXGHG

Pt 62 53 51 45 44 41 41

&$18&.6 3$17+(56 27

)LUVW 3HULRG 1. Florida, Jokinen 8 (Smith) 1:20.

2. Fla, Huberdeau 7 (Barkov, Jagr) 19:27.

3HQDOWLHV — Kampfer Fla (holding) 4:25; Vcr Bench (too many men) 6:32; Campbell Fla (tripping) 15:30.

6HFRQG 3HULRG 3. Van, D.Sedin 18 (H.Sedin, Vrbata) 5:41.

3HQDOWLHV — None.

7KLUG 3HULRG 4. Van, Virtanen 2 (Baertschi, Horvat) 17:22.

3HQDOW\—Mitchell Fla (high-sticking) 1:05.

2YHUWLPH 5. Vancouver, D.Sedin 19 (H.Sedin, Edler) 2:21 (pp).

3HQDOWLHV — Jagr Fla (hooking) 2:07.

6KRWV RQ JRDO Florida 7 8 11 2 —28 Vancouver 13 8 8 1 —30 *RDO — Florida: Luongo (LO, 19-11-4); Van: Markstrom (W, 6-5-4). 3RZHU SOD\V (goal-chances) — Fla: 0-1; Van: 1-4. $WWHQGDQFH — 18,570 at Vancouver.

Lethbridge Red Deer Calgary Edmonton Medicine Hat Kootenay

GP W 42 30 43 28 44 26 42 17 41 15 43 8

L OL SL GF GA Pt 12 0 0 182 126 60 13 1 1 166 128 58 16 1 1 146 137 54 20 5 0 118 137 39 22 3 1 132 161 34 32 3 0 88 182 19

6XQGD\ V UHVXOWV Green Bay 35 Washington 18 Seattle 10 Minnesota 9 6DWXUGD\ V UHVXOWV Kansas City 30 Houston 0 Pittsburgh 18 Cincinnati 16

DIVISIONAL 6DWXUGD\ -DQ Kansas City at New England, 4:35 (CBS) Green Bay at Arizona, 8:15 p.m. (NBC) 6XQGD\ -DQ Seattle at Carolina, 1:05 p.m. (FOX) Pittsburgh at Denver, 4:30 p.m. (CBS)

CONFERENCE FINALS

WESTERN CONFERENCE

6XQGD\ -DQ AFC, 3:05 p.m. (CBS) NFC, 6:40 p.m. (FOX)

B.C. DIVISION

PRO BOWL

GP W Kelowna 42 29 Victoria 44 25 Prince George 42 25 Kamloops 41 21 Vancouver 43 17

L OL SL GF GA Pt 10 3 0 154 121 61 15 1 3 146 111 54 15 1 1 141 122 52 14 4 2 142 123 48 21 3 2 130 149 39

U.S. DIVISION Everett Seattle Spokane Portland Tri-City

GP W 39 24 39 22 41 19 41 20 42 17

L OL SL GF GA Pt 12 1 2 108 85 51 14 3 0 124 114 47 17 3 2 132 142 43 19 2 0 138 134 42 23 2 0 133 162 36

Note: Division leaders ranked in top 2 positions per conference regardless of points; a team winning in overtime or shootout gets 2 pts. & a victory in the W column; team losing in overtime or shootout gets 1 pt. in OTL or SOL columns 6XQGD\¡V UHVXOWV Moose Jaw 4 Swift Current 3 Kamloops 3 Portland 0 Everett 3 Spokane 1 7XHVGD\¡V JDPHV $OO WLPHV /RFDO Saskatoon at Kootenay, 7 p.m.

Seattle at Prince George, 8 p.m.

Regina at Everett, 8:05 p.m. :HGQHVGD\¡V JDPHV Lethbridge at Swift Current, 6 p.m.

Red Deer at Moose Jaw, 6 p.m.

Kamloops at Medicine Hat, 7 p.m.

Prince Albert at Edmonton, 7 p.m.

Regina at Portland, 8 p.m.

Seattle at Prince George, 8 p.m.

Saskatoon at Spokane, 8:05 p.m.

BCHL

SUPER BOWL 6XQGD\ )HE $W 6DQWD &ODUD &DOLI TBD, 6:30 p.m. (CBS)

FOOTBALL NCAA BOWLS 0RQGD\ V UHVXOW

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME $W *OHQGDOH $UL] Alabama 45 Clemson 40 6DWXUGD\ -DQ $W 6W 3HWHUVEXUJ )OD East vs. West, 4 p.m.

NFLPA COLLEGIATE BOWL $W &DUVRQ &DOLI National vs. American, 6 p.m.

6DWXUGD\ -DQ

SENIOR BOWL $W 0RELOH $OD North vs. South, 2:30 p.m.

RINGETTE

GP W 40 34 38 24 40 23 41 18 42 17 42 14

L 5 10 15 22 22 25

T OL GF GA Pt 1 0 168 82 69 2 2 156 107 52 0 2 154 138 48 0 1 123 162 37 0 3 168 144 37 0 3 144 182 31

L

14 17 20 22

T OL GF GA Pt

2 3 141 164 47 0 2 143 118 46 0 4 112 115 36 2 3 110 156 33

ISLAND DIVISION GP W 1DQDLPR

Cowichan Vally 40 21 Powell River 41 22 Victoria 40 16 Alberni Valley 41 14

MAINLAND DIVISION GP W Chilliwack 40 27 Wenatchee 39 23 Langley 40 22 Coquitlam 41 18 Prince George 42 10 Surrey 39 6

L 8 11 17 18 29 31

T OL GF GA Pt 1 4 162 95 59 3 2 130 93 51 1 0 149 128 45 1 4 137 158 41 1 2 97 187 23 2 0 99 198 14

6XQGD\¡V UHVXOWV Alberni Valley 6 Powell River 1 Victoria 5 Langley 0 Surrey 9 Trail 5 Chilliwack 7 Prince George 3 7XHVGD\¡V JDPHV $OO WLPHV /RFDO Victoria at Cowichan Valley, 7 p.m.

Vernon at West Kelowna, 7 p.m. :HGQHVGD\¡V JDPH Wenatchee at Penticton, 7 p.m.

7KXUVGD\¡V JDPH Trail at Prince George, 7 p.m. )ULGD\ V JDPHV Langley at Coquitlam, 7 p.m.

Alberni Valley at Cowichan Valley, 7 p.m.

Victoria at Prince George, 7 p.m.

Vernon at Salmon Arm, 7 p.m.

Powell River at Surrey, 7 p.m.

Trail at West Kelowna, 7 p.m.

1DQDLPR at Wenatchee, 7:05 p.m.

Penticton at Merritt, 7:30 p.m.

Montreal Atlantic Cambridge Richmond Hill Gloucester Gatineau Ottawa Royal Bourassa Waterloo Lac St. Louis Rive Sud

GP 18 18 16 20 16 18 17 15 17 17 18

W 16 15 13 12 10 9 9 4 3 4 1

L 0 3 1 7 5 8 8 11 12 13 16

SL 2 0 2 1 1 1 0 0 2 0 1

PT 34 30 28 25 21 19 18 8 8 8 3

WESTERN CONFERENCE GP W L SL PT Edmonton WAM 13 10 1 2 22 Calgary 13 7 6 0 14 Edmonton Rush 14 5 7 2 12 B.C. 14 4 10 0 8 6XQGD\ V UHVXOWV Cambridge 9 Montreal 8 (SO) Richmond Hill 9 Gatineau 7 Le Royal de Bourassa 7 :DWHUORR (SO) Edmonton WAM 8 Edmonton Gold Rush 1 6DWXUGD\ V UHVXOWV Cambridge 11 Gatineau 1 Montreal 11 :DWHUORR Richmond Hill 7 Le Royal de Bourassa 1 Lac St. Louis 4 Rive Sud 3 Gatineau 8 Waterloo 6 Le Royal de Bourassa 6 Cambridge 5 (SO) Montreal 8 Richmond Hill 5 6DWXUGD\ -DQ Edmonton WAM at Calgary (2), 12:01 a.m.

Waterloo at B.C. (2), 12:01 a.m.

Richmond Hill at Cambridge, noon.

Atlantic at Rive Sud, noon.

Atlantic at Montreal, 4 p.m.

Ottawa at Gatineau, 6 p.m.

6XQGD\ -DQ Edmonton WAM at Calgary, 12:01 a.m.

Waterloo at B.C. (2), 12:01 a.m.

Atlantic at Lac St. Louis, 10:30 a.m.

Gatineau at Gloucester, 11:00 a.m.

Atlantic at Le Royal de Bourassa, 2:30 p.m.

/ 3FW 0 1.000 0 1.000 1 .500 1 .000 1 .000

*) 17 10 27 14 7

*$ *% 7 — 9 — 23 1/2 16 1 12 1

: 2 1 0 0

/ 3FW 0 1.000 0 1.000 1 .000 2 .000

*) 32 10 7 17

*$ *% 29 — 8 1/2 17 11/2 20 2

WEST DIVISION

*3 Colorado 2 Saskatchewan 1 Vancouver 1 Calgary 2

:((.

7KXUVGD\ V JDPH Rochester at Toronto, 7:30 p.m. )ULGD\ V JDPHV Calgary at New England, 7 p.m.

Vancouver at Saskatchewan, 8:30 p.m.

6DWXUGD\ V JDPHV Toronto at Rochester, 7:30 p.m.

Buffalo at Colorado, 9 p.m.

6XQGD\ -DQ New England at Georgia, 2:05 p.m.

SOCCER CHILE PRIMERA Santiago 2 Colo Colo 1

GREECE SUPER LEAGUE Kalloni AEL 0 Panathinaikos 2

(Through Jan. 10) 1. Novak Djokovic 2. Rafael Nadal 3. Stan Wawrinka 0LORV 5DRQLF 5. Tomas Berdych 5. Illya Marchenko

&' 1DFLRQDO GH 0DGLHUD %HPĂ€FD Pacos de Ferreira 2 Vitoria Setubal 1

MOVES BASEBALL NATIONAL LEAGUE ST. LOUIS CARDINALS — Agreed to terms with RHP Seung Hwan Oh on a 1-year contract.

FOOTBALL

MONEY LEADERS

EASTERN CONFERENCE

: 1 1 1 0 0

LA LIGA

$W $XFNODQG 1HZ =HDODQG 6LQJOHV Âł )LUVW 5RXQG 9DVHN 3RVSLVLO 9HUQRQ % & , def.

Ivo Karlovic (7), Croatia, 7-6 (4), 7-5.

Matthew Barton, Australia, def. Steve Johnson, U.S., 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Robin Haase, Netherlands, def. Pablo Andujar, Spain, 6-4, 6-1.

Thiemo de Bakker, Netherlands, def.

Albert Ramos-Vinolas, Spain, 6-3, 6-4.

Jack Sock, U.S., def. Victor Estrella Burgos, Dominican Republic, 6-0, 6-4.

Donald Young, U.S., def. Finn Tearney, New Zealand, 6-2, 6-3.

EAST-WEST SHRINE CLASSIC

*3 New England 1 Buffalo 1 Georgia 2 Rochester 1 Toronto 1

PORTUGAL

ATP ASB CLASSIC

NATIONAL LEAGUE

INTERIOR DIVISION Penticton Salmon Arm West Kelowna Trail Vernon Merritt

6XQGD\ -DQ $W +RQROXOX Team Rice vs. Team Irvin, 7 p.m. (ESPN)

$W 6\GQH\ $XVWUDOLD 0HQ V 6LQJOHV Âł )LUVW 5RXQG Andreas Seppi (5), Italy, def. Denis Istomin, Uzbekistan, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

Alexander Sarkissian, U.S., def.

Simone Bolelli, Italy, 6-2, 7-6 (5).

Jordan Thompson, Australia, def. Martin Klizan, Slovakia, 6-2, 4-0, retired.

Pablo Cuevas, Uruguay, def. Maximilian Marterer, Germany, 6-4, 6-4.

Tommy Robredo, Spain, def. John Millman, Australia, 7-6 (3), 6-3. :RPHQ V 6LQJOHV Âł )LUVW 5RXQG Angelique Kerber (4), Germany, def.

Elina Svitolina, Ukraine, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3.

Sara Errani, Italy, def. Carla Suarez Navarro (7), Spain, 6-3, 6-3.

Belinda Bencic (8), Switz., def. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, Croatia, 7-6 (6), 1-6, 6-4.

Sam Stosur, Australia, def. Roberta Vinci, Italy, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.

Monica Puig, Puerto Rico, def. Magdalena Rybarikova, Slovak., 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Rus., def.

Lara Arruabarrena, Spn., 6-1, 7-6 (1).

Ekaterina Makarova, Russia, def. Lucie Hradecka, Czech Republic, 6-2, 6-1.

Sabine Lisicki, Germany, def. Polona Hercog, Slovenia, 6-4, 6-3.

0HQ V 'RXEOHV Âł )LUVW 5RXQG Marcelo Melo, Brazil, and 'DQLHO 1HVWRU 7RURQWR, def. Jeremy Chardy, France, and Leander Paes, India, 6-4, 6-4. :RPHQ V 'RXEOHV Âł )LUVW 5RXQG Timea Babos, Hungary, and Katarina Srebotnik (4), Slovenia, def. *DEULHOD 'DEURZVNL 2WWDZD, and Alicja Rosolska, Poland, 7-5, 6-7 (0), 13-11.

$201,165 $109,015 $75,700

$57,380 $57,380

WORLD RANKINGS SINGLES (Through Jan. 10) 1. Novak Djokovic, Serbia, 16790 2. Andy Murray, Britain, 8945 3. Roger Federer, Switzerland, 8165 4. Stan Wawrinka, Switzerland, 6865 5. Rafael Nadal, Spain, 5230 6. Tomas Berdych, Czech Rep., 4560 7. Kei Nishikori, Japan, 4235 8. David Ferrer, Spain, 4055 0LORV 5DRQLF 7KRUQKLOO 2QW 9DVHN 3RVSLVLO 9HUQRQ % &

WTA HOBART INTERNATIONAL $W +REDUW $XVWUDOLD 6LQJOHV Âł )LUVW 5RXQG Dominika Cibulkova (3), Slovakia, def.

Johanna Konta, Britain, 7-6 (6), 7-5.

Monica Niculescu (4), Romania, def.

Christina McHale, U.S., 7-5, 7-5.

Kiki Bertens, Netherlands, def. Madison Brengle (5), U.S., 6-0, 1-1, retired.

Johanna Larsson, Sweden, def. Barbora Strycova (6), Czech Rep., 6-4, 6-4.

Mona Barthel (9), Germany, def.

Misaki Doi, Japan, 6-4, 6-4.

(XJHQLH %RXFKDUG :HVWPRXQW 4XH , def. Bethanie Mattek-Sands, U.S., 6-2, 6-1.

Kimberly Birrell, Australia, def. Danka Kovinic, Montenegro, 6-4, 6-3.

Veronica Cepede Royg, Paraguay, def. Laura Pous-Tio, Spain, 6-3, 2-6, 6-1.

Heather Watson, Britain, def. Teliana Pereira, Brazil, 6-3, 6-0.

Naomi Osaka, Japan, def. Jarmila Wolfe, Australia, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (8), 6-4.

Nao Hibino, Japan, def. Pauline Parmentier, France, 7-6 (1), 6-1.

Annika Beck, Germany, def. Kurumi Nara, Japan, 6-4, 6-3.

CFL EDMONTON ESKIMOS — Signed PK Sean Whyte to a contract extension.

NFL CHICAGO BEARS — Signed DL Keith Browner to a reserve/future contract.

MINNESOTA VIKINGS — Signed G Isame Faciane, WR Issac Fruechte, DT Toby Johnson, DB John Lowdermilk, FB Blake Renaud and LBs Terrance Plummer and Alex Singleton to reserve/ future contracts.

TENNESSEE TITANS — Signed CB Steven Clarke to a reserve/future contract.

WASHINGTON REDSKINS — Signed RB Mack Brown, WR LaRon Byrd, OT 7DNRE\ &RÀHOG '/ $QWKRQ\ -RKQVRQ &% Al Louis-Jean, C Austin Reiter and LB Lynden Trail to reserve/future contracts.

HOCKEY NHL BUFFALO SABRES — Recalled D Mark Pysyk from a conditioning assignment at Rochester (AHL).

DETROIT RED WINGS — Assigned D Jakub Kindl to Grand Rapids (AHL).

Removed D Kyle Quincey from injured reserve. Placed LW Drew Miller on longterm injured reserve.

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS — Recalled D Christian Marti from Reading (ECHL) to Lehigh Valley (AHL).

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS — Recalled F Josh Leivo from Toronto (AHL).

AHL BAKERSFIELD CONDORS — Assigned F Greg Chase to Norfolk (ECHL).

STOCKTON HEAT — Assigned F Mitchell Heard to Adirondack (ECHL).

UTICA COMETS — Recalled F Curtis Valk from Kalamazoo (ECHL).

WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON PENGUINS — Returned G Casey DeSmith to Wheeling (ECHL).

WESTERN CONFERENCE

:

/

3FW

*%

Golden State San Antonio Oklahoma City L.A. Clippers Dallas Memphis Houston Utah Sacramento Portland Denver Phoenix Minnesota New Orleans L.A. Lakers

36 33 26 25 22 21 19 17 15 16 14 13 12 11 8

2 6 12 13 16 18 19 20 22 24 24 26 26 25 31

.947 .846 .684 .658 .579 .538 .500 .459 .405 .400 .368 .333 .316 .306 .205

— 31/2 10 11 14 151/2 17 181/2 201/2 21 22 231/2 24 24 281/2

0RQGD\¡V UHVXOWV San Antonio 106 Brooklyn 79 Washington 114 Chicago 100 Golden State 111 Miami 103 6XQGD\¡V UHVXOWV L.A. Clippers 114 New Orleans 111 (OT) Dallas 93 Minnesota 87 Memphis 101 Boston 98 Cleveland 95 Philadelphia 85 Houston 107 Indiana 103 (OT) New York 100 Milwaukee 88 Denver 95 Charlotte 92 Portland 115 Oklahoma City 110 Utah 86 L.A. Lakers 74 7XHVGD\¡V JDPHV Phoenix at Indiana, 7 p.m.

San Antonio at Detroit, 7:30 p.m.

Boston at New York, 7:30 p.m.

Oklahoma City at Minnesota, 8 p.m.

Chicago at Milwaukee, 8 p.m.

Houston at Memphis, 8 p.m.

Cleveland at Dallas, 8:30 p.m.

New Orleans at L.A. Lakers, 10:30 p.m. :HGQHVGD\¡V JDPHV Milwaukee at Washington, 7 p.m.

Atlanta at Charlotte, 7 p.m.

New York at Brooklyn, 7:30 p.m.

Minnesota at Houston, 8 p.m.

Dallas at Oklahoma City, 8 p.m.

Indiana at Boston, 8 p.m.

Golden State at Denver, 9 p.m.

New Orleans at Sacramento, 10 p.m.

Utah at Portland, 10 p.m.

Miami at L.A. Clippers, 10:30 p.m.

GOLF PGA FEDEX CUP LEADERS (Through Jan. 10) 1. Kevin Kisner 2. Russell Knox 3. Justin Thomas 4. Graeme McDowell 5. Smylie Kaufman 6. Kevin Na 7. Jordan Spieth 8. Emiliano Grillo 9. Jason Bohn 10. Peter Malnati 11. Patrick Reed 12. Alex Cejka 13. Kevin Chappell 14. Adam Scott 15. Patrick Rodgers 16. William McGirt 17. Charles Howell III 18. Patton Kizzire 19. Fabian Gomez 20. Cameron Tringale 21. Brandt Snedeker 21. Brendan Steele 23. Scott Piercy 24. Rickie Fowler 25. Fredrik Jacobson 26. Russell Henley 27. Jhonattan Vegas 28. Jon Curran 29. Tyrone Van Aswegen 30. Brooks Koepka 'DYLG +HDUQ 1LFN 7D\ORU *UDKDP 'H/DHW $GDP +DGZLQ

Pts Money TD 968 $2,129,632 920 $2,118,160 748 $1,734,873 732 $1,565,100 695 $1,458,351 631 $1,456,233 586 $1,353,750 586 $1,233,000 560 $1,227,736 468 $1,102,527 454 $1,029,750 347 $726,517 347 $673,676 301 $798,000 259 $513,248 258 $592,700 233 $461,798 227 $524,067 216 $376,193 215 $494,213 213 $454,333 213 $479,333 209 $403,582 206 $407,832 196 $355,970 194 $384,750 192 $344,791 192 $332,047 191 $364,221 190 $402,000

NBA

Nets owner says it was an easy decision to fire coach THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — Mikhail Prokhorov wanted a championship, and the Nets never got close.

Now he wants a reset, and said it was an easy decision to start it now. “If we look at the team for the time being, it’s clear we’re doing not the best way,� Prokhorov said Monday.

A day after firing coach Lionel Hol-

lins and reassigning general manager Billy King, Prokhorov blamed himself for a win-quick strategy that’s left the Nets in one of the NBA’s worst situations — then said he hopes to contend for a title next season.

He’ll try to do that with new leadership that he hopes will help clarify what kind of team the Nets want to be and what kind of personnel they will need. The Russian billionaire had

determined more than a month ago that King and Hollins weren’t among them. “I have to look at the reality and make a change if things are not going in the right direction,� Prokhorov said. “That’s what we have done. It was just very easy.�

The Nets made the playoffs the last three years but are 10-27 entering Monday night’s game against San

Antonio. Their likely lottery spot will go to Boston as payment from one of King’s big trades, and they don’t fully control their own first-round pick until 2019. “Our approach helped us to reach three playoffs in a row but we have failed to go further. And for us it’s important to go further,� Prokhorov said. “That’s why we need a small reset for this year and I hope we’ll be

back not as a playoff team, as a championship contender. This is my only goal.�

He wanted a title within five years of buying the team in 2010, and King was aggressive in trying to build a contender quickly. He acquired Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett in moves that resulted in just one series victory and consistently came at a future cost.

www.nanaimodailynews.com

TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016 GARFIELD

@NanaimoDaily

DIVERSIONS 25

CROSSWORD CREATURE FEATURE ACROSS 1 Maple syrup source 4 In the lead 9 Out of bed 14 Pizzeria order 15 Spicy-tasting 16 Rather late lunch hr.

17 CPR expert 18 More than enough 19 Long sandwiches 20 Tourist destination off the California coast 23 Creative technique 24 Scornful look 25 Behind schedule 28 Obtain 29 1910s conflict: Abbr.

32 “Are not!” comeback 35 Long __ (in the past) 37 Sir __ Newton 39 Pre-game baseball warmup 43 Envelope’s metal fastener 44 Pull from behind 45 Sci-fi vehicles, for short 46 Sneaky 47 Steal from 50 Homeowner’s document 52 Dirties 54 Chain of hills 58 Living in overly spacious quarters 62 Brawl 63 Explorer Polo 64 Comedian’s one-liner 65 Evaluates 66 Nosy person 67 Take advantage of 68 Soccer or hockey 69 Mails away 70 Professor’s deg., often

FOR BETTER OR WORSE

ANDY CAPP

ZITS

DOWN 1 Project’s details, for short 2 Point toward 3 Small-minded 4 Flowery shrub 5 Prefix for sphere 6 Sports cable channel

PREVIOUS PUZZLE SOLVED

7 Book of maps 8 Becoming a blonde, perhaps 9 Physically active 10 Take an oath 11 Needing darning 12 Apple’s music player 13 Hotel units: Abbr.

21 Parcels out 22 Take a look at 26 Sunbather’s shade 27 Quiche ingredient 29 Street urchin

30 Texas city 31 Adds frosting to 32 Kindergarten basics 33 Shopping center 34 Hang around 36 Select, with “for” 38 Artist’s workplace 40 Complainer’s comment 41 Curtain holder 42 Greatly impress 48 Frying liquid 49 Goodyear’s aerial vehicles 51 Mistakes 52 Do the driving 53 Trapper’s device 55 Unearthed 56 Grind, as teeth 57 Double-__ sword 58 Harvest 59 Female choir voice 60 Wide smile 61 Got a perfect score on 62 Bride’s new title, often

HI AND LOIS

HAGAR

» EVENTS // EMAIL: EVENTS@NANAIMODAILYNEWS.COM TUESDAY, JAN. 12 7 p.m. Nanaimo Newcomers Club for women. St. Andrews Church hall, |4235 Departure Bay Rd.

connections group for seniors.

At 1070 Townsite Rd. For more information, visit www.nflabc.org or call 250-754-3331.

THURSDAY, JAN. 14

7-9 p.m. Country Idol at the Queen’s. Runs Tuesdays through January. Final show Feb.10.

Singers 15 and up complete for $500 and a appearance with George Canyon Feb. 10.

7 p.m. Laryssa Campbell and more Live At Longwood A free live concert series every Thursday at Longwood Brew Pub 5775 Turner Rd., Nanaimo.

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 13

FRIDAY, JAN. 15

7 p.m. Open Mic Acoustic night with Dave Marco, et Smoke‘n’Water Restaurant, Pacific Shores Resort, 1-1600 Stroulger Rd., Parksville.

7 p.m. Acoustic Tribute to Radiohead. Dinghy Dock Pub. Tickets $20 in advance from the artists, The Dinghy Dock Pub, or ticketzone.com.

SATURDAY, JAN. 16 7 p.m. JP Maurice, Towers and trees West Coast: album release tour At the Queen’s, 34 Victoria cres., Nanaimo. Tickets $12.

tunities for all individuals (male, female, singles, couples) who are new to Nanaimo or who have had a recent change in circumstances in a casual and supportive environment. More information: Rick Salcak , rsalcak@gmail.com.

SUNDAY, JAN. 17

TUESDAY, JAN. 19

1-4 p.m. Raffi at the Port Theatre. Meet and Greet Tickets $65, regular tickets $37.50, upper Balcony $27.50. Concert is best suited for children old enough to talk, sing or clap along.

7-9 p.m. Country Idol at the Queen’s Hotel.

Singers 15 and up complete for $500 and a vocal appearance with George Canyon.

THURSDAY, JAN. 21

12:30-2 p.m. Nanaimo Family Life presents

MONDAY, JAN. 18 7 p.m. Harbour City Newcomers Club.. Oliver Woods Community Centre, 6000 Oliver Road.

A social network, friendship, and new oppor-

7 p.m. Tora Leigh at the Longwood Brew Pub, 5775 Turner Rd., Nanaimo.

FRIDAY, JAN. 22 7:30-10 p.m. Black-Lister-McRae Trio,jazz-improv,at Nanaimo Conservatory, 375 Selby St., Nanaimo. Tickets $20 general, $10 students advance tickets at Fascinating Rhythm, 51 Commercial St. 250-716-9997.

SATURDAY, JAN. 23 7:30 p.m. Vancouver Island Symphony presents music and visual arts. Tickets $18$59, eyego $5 at www.Porttheatre.Com. 250-754-8550.

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26 DIVERSIONS BLONDIE

@NanaimoDaily

HOROSCOPE

by Jacqueline Bigar ARIES (March 21-April 19) Use the daylight hours to the max. Your high energy and fiery impulsiveness will help you complete what you want to do. Others support you in a project, and you like to know that they are there. As a result of their support, you’ll be more confident.

Tonight: Get some R and R. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) You might be inclined to take charge.

Others respond to your energy. The unexpected plays a big role in your actions. Be more forthright in your decision-making process. A meeting might be more important than you realize. Tonight: Where your friends are.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Keep reaching out to someone at a distance. Your ability to read between the lines could play out with a friend or with an unexpected development. Be ready to take the lead with an important matter.

Others will work with you more easily. Tonight: A must appearance.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) You could be in a situation where you find that someone else is totally amenable to your ideas. This person will support you by approaching someone who is in charge. What happens could surprise you!

Tonight: Brainstorm with someone who often plays devil’s advocate.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Be more forthright with a partner, even though you might expect a strong reaction. What you hear might force you to rethink a creative venture.

You’ll gain insight into what some-

BABY BLUES

BC

WORD FIND

TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016

one else expects. Your visions could be very different. Tonight: Go with a loved one’s suggestion.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Defer to others, as they seem to want to run the show. You could discover that you enjoy yourself far more than you had anticipated, especially when dealing with someone who has been difficult. Work on a project that has been on the back burner.

Tonight: Be with favorite people.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) Understand what is happening with a relative; he or she might open up more than you had anticipated.

You might question a loved one’s actions, as they don’t seem to reflect what he or she says.

Understand how much effort you must put forth. Tonight: Get some exercise.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) If you can work from home, do. You could be distracted by an event, but you’ll cover a lot of ground regardless.

Make an extra effort toward an associate who is unpredictable.

You might not always like what happens when working with this person. Tonight: Off to the gym.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) Your smile adds to someone else’s spontaneity. You never know what will happen next with this person.

You’ll discover how important it is to be at peace with your actions, even if others aren’t. Take time to check in with yourself. Tonight: Reflect on today’s events.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) You could be in the position of making a major change, yet some unexpected uproar forces you to stop and take another look. Timing

is more important than you realize.

Wait until the end of the month to make a decision, and you will be a lot happier. Tonight: Meet up with a friend.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) Be direct, yet maintain a sense of humor with a close friend. You might not be sure which way you should head when dealing with others, especially after today’s happenings. Just let everything happen naturally and respond accordingly.

Tonight: Make it your treat.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) You might be at the end of your patience with an unpredictable family member. This person means well, but he or she knows how to create chaos. Your sense of humor emerges later in the day, when you relax more. Tonight: You feel ready to take on the world.

YOUR BIRTHDAY (Jan. 12) This year you can expect a lot of snap, crackle and pop to surround your personal life. You might try to ignore all the excitement, but you won’t succeed. Eventually, you will get used to this type of infusion into your normal day-to-day life. If you are single, you could enjoy a lot of special romantic moments.

You also might go through several potential suitors until you find Mr. or Ms. Right. If you are attached, as a couple, you either will become very lucky with money or you’ll create uproar in your budget by overspending. Romance remains present between you and your sweetie. PISCES is a good listener.

BORN TODAY Radio personality Howard Stern (1954), entrepreneur Jeff Bezos (1964)

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ISLAND BODYWORKS Home of Thai massage. #102-151 Terminal Ave. Open daily Mon-Sat, 9:30am-5pm. Also Flower works here now. Call 250-754-1845.

In memory of Alf Burgess May 31, 1924 January 12, 1996 Forever Loved, Never Forgotten, Pat, George, Linda & Families

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CANADA BENEFIT Group Do you or someone you know suffer from a disability? Get up to $40,000 from the Canadian Government. Toll-free 1-888511-2250 or www.canadabeneďŹ t.ca/free-assessment

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DEATHS

Sam Samuel Zmaeff died peacefully in NRGH on Dec 29, 2015 in Nanaimo BC at the age of 84. Sam is survived by his wife, Odelhia; children, Ray (Betty) in High River AB; Gordon in Edmonton AB and Robert (Cheryl) in Nanaimo BC along with 8 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren. He is predeceased by his son Donald Zmaeff in 1992.

Sam was born on May 17, 1931 in White Beech Saskatchewan to Sam M and Laura (Gretchen) Zmaeff. Sam married Odelhia in 1955. They moved to Nelson where he worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway. Later they settled in Nanaimo, B.C. where Sam worked for MacMillan Bloedel until retirement in 1996. Sam and Del retired in a condo on Cameron Island. Sam enjoyed long walks on the walkway as well as taking breaks on the benches to talk with friends. Sam was a life-long member of the Eagles.

Sam enjoyed educating his grandchildren about his Russian Heritage and listening to Russian Music.

Sam will be put to rest in a closed ceremony of life with only family members as he requested.

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Four NYC teenagers arrested after report of alleged gang rape in Brooklyn playground THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — A father trying to report that his daughter was being accosted by armed teenagers in a city playground said a merchant refused to let him use a telephone, delaying the police response to the scene until after the girl had been raped, authorities said Monday.

Police said that more than 15 minutes elapsed between when the alleged attack began last Thursday in a dark corner of a Brooklyn park and when officers, flagged down by the distraught father, responded to the park only to find that the young assailants had fled into the night.

Four teenagers were in custody on Monday in connection with the incident. Two of the teens, ages 15 and 17, were arrested on Sunday and the two others, ages 14 and 15, were turned in by their parents. A fifth was being sought. Police hadn’t yet announced what charges the teens would face.

The attack began at about 9 p.m. Thursday after an 18-year-old woman and her 39-year-old father decided to drink beer together near a handball court at a playground residents say usually is quiet and empty at night.

The woman told investigators that a group of teenagers approached the pair in the park and one of them pulled out a handgun and ordered the father to leave.

The father, who didn’t have a cellphone, claimed that he wandered around for several minutes in a futile attempt to get help before he flagged down two police officers.

Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president and a former police captain, said the rape was tragic on multiple levels — from the horror of the crime itself, to the police response time, to the inaction of the nearby businesses. “Some crimes strike at the core of an entire community,� he said.

Investigators did an extensive search for witnesses but came up empty, police said.

www.nanaimodailynews.com

28 NATION&WORLD

@NanaimoDaily

TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016

MIDDLE EAST

Book blocked to Israeli students sells well Novel describes a romance between Liat, an Israeli academic, and Hilmi, a Palestinian artist in the West Bank gave preliminary approval to a bill, apparently aimed at groups that criticize the government, which would require activists for nonprofits that receive funding from foreign governments to wear special tags in the parliament building.

Earlier last year, Israel’s culture minister froze funding for an Arab theatre in the Israeli city of Haifa over the staging of a controversial play, eliciting criticism that she was impinging on freedom of expression.

One of Israel’s most celebrated authors, Amos Oz, announced in November he would not attend events at Israeli embassies overseas to protest the “growing extremism” of the government.

DANIELLA CHESLOW THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A

n Israeli author whose book was rejected from the national high school curriculum because it depicts a Jewish-Arab love affair is achieving star status at home and abroad.

Sales of Borderlife by Dorit Rabinyan have skyrocketed, international inquiries have doubled, and American filmmakers are jockeying for the movie rights.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Rabinyan described the uproar as embarrassing and said it has created “major chaos” for a writer who cherishes her private life. But she said the outpouring of support, at a time when critics are accusing the hard-line government of trying to stifle dissent, is “an expression of support for Israeli democracy.”

Rabinyan, 43, wrote Borderlife in 2014 and won Israel’s prestigious Bernstein literary prize last year.

The novel rose to prominence in late December when Israel’s Education Ministry rejected a request from teachers to add it to the national high school curriculum. At the time, the country’s education minister said he did not want to promote the values in the book.

The novel describes a romance between Liat, an Israeli academic, and Hilmi, a Palestinian artist from the West Bank, who meet in New York and fall in love. The couple’s romance fizzles once they contemplate returning to the Holy Land.

Hilmi hopes to maintain their relationship, while Liat is convinced it is doomed.

“Maybe the desire of Hilmi the Palestinian for togetherness, and the need of Liat for separation is the central issue of the Israeli-Palestinian space,” Rabinyan said.

Rabinyan said the book is not autobiographical, but that she was

R Israeli author Dorit Rabinyan at her home in Tel Aviv, on Monday. The Israeli author is now enjoying star status at home and abroad. Sales of ‘Borderlife’ have skyrocketed. [AP PHOTO]

inspired to write Borderlife after spending a year in New York City.

While there, she said she met Palestinian students, scientists and artists — a rarity. Although 20 per cent of Israeli citizens are Arabs, Jews and Arabs have minimal interaction, while Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have little contact with Israelis other than soldiers.

“I

had to cross two oceans to get to know for the first time, eye-toeye, on foreign soil and speaking in English, my neighbours, those who grew up under the same sun on the same strip of land between the river and the sea,” Rabinyan said. “It was a very meaningful experience.”

Rabinyan said her book sold well when it was first released, but sales fell behind newer novels until the Ministry of Education decision sparked accusations of censorship.

“All of a sudden 10 days ago, boom,

the book turned into the first topic at the news bulletins,” she said. “It’s not something you ever think will happen to you with a novel you write.”

The press office at the Am Oved publishing house said more than 5,000 copies of Rabinyan’s book have sold in the last 11 days, a huge figure in a country of 8 million people. Publishers have ordered an additional print run.

Jerusalem-based book agent Deborah Harris, who represents Rabinyan abroad, said the storm over the book had doubled interest from foreign publishers to some 20 countries.

She said American filmmakers had approached her for film rights.

The English edition of Borderlife should be published during 2016, she said.

In a TV interview, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, of the religious Jewish Home party, claimed the book glorified violence against Israeli

soldiers and celebrated a romance between a “criminal Palestinian security prisoner” and an Israeli woman.

“The education system does not have to promote values that contradict the principles of the state,” he said.

H

e said the book was not banned, and students were welcome to read it on their own time. Israel’s high school curriculum includes other books on several explosive issues, including Khirbet Khizeh, a 1949 novel about the expulsion of Arabs from a fictional village by Israeli soldiers, and A Trumpet in the Wadi, a 1987 novel about a love affair between a Jewish man and a Christian Arab woman. Rabinyan herself has another work on the curriculum.

Even so, the controversy erupted at a time of public debates over democratic values in Israel. Last month, Israeli Cabinet ministers

abinyan said the public rush to buy her novel was “not just an expression of support for me and my book and my work, but it’s actually an expression of support for Israeli democracy.”

The Association of Civil Rights in Israel has filed a petition to the Education and Justice ministries asking to reverse the decision. Attorney Tal Hassin wrote that the rejection “has no connection to professional and educational considerations.”

The Education Ministry said it is not planning to revisit the decision.

Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein is checking the legality of the decision, said Eden Klein, a Justice Ministry spokeswoman.

Books about Israeli-Palestinian romance are rare in both societies.

Sameh Khader, the general manager of the Mahmoud Darwish museum in Ramallah, said few Palestinian writers explore the issue.

“People are very much stuck behind the concept of the hero who got arrested or wounded by Israelis,” Khader said. “Palestinians have not gotten out of the issue of occupation in literature.”

CRIME

‘Affluenza’ mom may soon be granted bail JAMIE STENGLE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

FORT WORTH, Texas — The mother of a Texas teenager who used an “affluenza” defence for a deadly wreck could soon leave jail after a judge on Monday sharply reduced her bond.

Tonya Couch’s bond is now $75,000 instead of $1 million. The 48-year-old is charged with hindering the apprehension of a felon after she and her son, Ethan Couch, were caught in a Mexican resort city.

Ethan, 18, was drunk and killed four people in a 2013 crash and was facing allegations that he violated his probation.

A juvenile court judge gave the teen 10 years’ probation, outraging prosecutors who had called for him to face detention time. The case

TONYA COUCH

drew widespread derision after an expert called by Ethan Couch’s lawyers argued he had been coddled into a sense of irresponsibility by his wealthy parents, a condition the expert called “affluenza.” Instead of juvenile detention, Couch was

allowed to seek treatment at a posh rehab centre.

Authorities say Tonya Couch took $30,000 and fled with Ethan to Mexico out of fear that her son would be put behind bars for violating his probation. The two were caught Dec. 28 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Tonya Couch was brought back to Texas last week after first being taken to Los Angeles. Ethan Couch remains in a Mexico City detention facility, where he is contesting his extradition.

If Tonya Couch makes bail, she will be required to wear an electronic ankle monitor and remain at the home of her 29-year-old son Steven McWilliams, except for appointments with her doctor and lawyer.

“I want her at her son’s home and that’s where I want her to stay,” said State District Judge Wayne Salvant,

who also ordered Tonya Couch to pay nearly $3,200 in restitution to the sheriff’s office for the cost of transporting her back to Texas from Los Angeles.

Salvant said he understood prosecutors’ concerns that Couch might flee again, but that the charge against her, while a third-degree felony, wasn’t serious enough to merit a $1 million bond. One of her attorneys, Stephanie Patten, said afterward that she wasn’t sure if Tonya Couch would be able to post bond.

Ethan Couch was 16 and driving at three times the legal intoxication limit for adult drivers when he rammed a pickup truck into a crowd of people trying to help stranded motorists on the side of a North Texas road. Four people were killed in the June 2013 wreck.

Despite all of the previous testimony about the teen’s wealthy upbringing, his mother’s attorneys have argued that she had few assets to her own name and couldn’t pay the cost of a $1 million bond.

McWilliams testified Monday that his mother’s bank account had been frozen by a court order and he wasn’t able to access it. He also told a prosecutor upon questioning that he wouldn’t have been surprised to have seen $100,000 from the sale of a house in the account.

McWilliams testified that Fred Couch was “fairly adamant” he wasn’t going to give her money.

Tonya and Ethan Couch were found a few weeks after disappearing.

Authorities say they were able to track them after the two ordered a pizza.

29

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@NanaimoDaily

TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016

HEALTH

Do you really need High diabetes rate calls to get an antibiotic?

for national plan: MD

Dr. W. Gifford-Jones

CAMILLE BAINS THE CANADIAN PRESS

The Doctor Game

VANCOUVER — Diabetes among seniors is part of a “silent global tsunami” but a national strategy developed in Canada a decade ago has never been implemented, says a doctor working to raise awareness about the chronic disease.

Dr. David C.W. Lau is urging the federal government to take action, adding one in five people aged 65 and over is being diagnosed with diabetes compared to one in 10 cases among younger adults.

“We don’t have specific statistics in Canada,” Lau said, adding diabetes rates are identified through “unreliable” physicians’ billing data.

“We really don’t have a proper surveillance program or a tracking system to diagnose people and we don’t have a registry of people with diabetes,” said Lau, who teaches medicine at the University of Calgary.

However, he said the available statistics show that the highest rates of Type 2 diabetes are among residents in the Maritime provinces while the lowest are in British Columbia, primarily due to differences in obesity rates.

China, India and the United States are poised to have the biggest increase in the number of adults with diabetes, he said, attributing the hike in developing countries to sedentary lifestyles as more people move to urban areas and eat western-style fast food.

“One of my new scientist colleagues who went back to China said that at a gala dinner he was absolutely appalled to find that every single physician and researcher was comparing the pills that they were taking. They all had diabetes.”

Lau, editor-in-chief of the “Canadian Journal of Diabetes,” said in an editorial in the current issue that better diagnosis and management of the disease is needed to curtail spiralling health-care costs from complications such as kidney failure and blindness.

“The Public Health Agency of Canada has been battling with these issues for a long time,” he said in an interview, adding that double the dia-

W

A woman loads a syringe to give herself an injection of insulin.

“We really don’t have a proper surveillance program or a tracking system to diagnose people and we don’t have a registry of people with diabetes.”

Dr. David C. W. Lau, University of Calgary

betes rate among seniors compared to adults aged 20 and up in an aging population is a “crisis.”

“People with diabetes are more likely to develop dementia, and diabetes increases the risk of heart disease and stroke,” he said.

“Among the folks who are in the senior, elderly age group, these are double whammies, if not triple whammies, causing problems that we really need to be focusing on.”

The Public Health Agency of Canada said it is addressing diabetes.

The Canadian Diabetes Strategy tracks trends and risk factors for all age groups and the agency has developed a questionnaire to help people identify their risk of having the disease, it said in a statement.

Lau said the message for people to lose just one to three per cent of their body weight to reduce the risk

[AP PHOTO]

of diabetes by nearly 60 per cent is not being heeded.

Many of the future doctors he teaches have poor lifestyles themselves, “so that is frightening” for professionals who will need to counsel patients, Lau said.

John Ashdown, 72, said he was diagnosed with diabetes 10 years ago but that he loves “bacon, eggs and butter” too much to change his eating habits and he can’t be bothered to exercise despite the high cost of insulin.

“I don’t feel sick enough, and I’m living with it. I have to admit my feet are getting too sore to walk too far,” said the New Westminster, B.C., resident who has ignored his doctor’s advice to lose weight and get moving.

“I got a dog that needs to go for a walk and that still doesn’t work.”

Serge Corbeil, who advocates the federal government on behalf of the Canadian Diabetes Association’s chapters in British Columbia and Alberta, said the lack of a national strategy means each province has its own approach to dealing with diabetes.

Though some parts of the 2006 national diabetes plan have been addressed, subsidies for medication and other treatment remain a hodgepodge mix across the country, Corbeil said.

hat would it be like living in a world without antibiotics, where a simple infection could kill you? It could happen, as increasing numbers of bacteria are resistant to antibiotics. But there are ways to bypass antibiotics so this frightening scenario doesn’t occur. One herbal remedy, recently imported from Europe, can help to end the remark, “We know where you’re going.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports 440,000 Americans are sickened every year due to eating or handling food contaminated with resistant bacteria. At least 2,000 of these people die from the infection. And over half of the antibiotics used are prescribed inappropriately.

In Canada, Public Health Authorities report that about 25 per cent of Salmonella infections are resistant to antibiotics. It’s shocking that some super bugs outlive nine different antibiotics.

So what can doctors, and the rest of us, do to decrease antibiotic resistance?

According to one study 20 per cent of people who received a prescription antibiotic asked for it. It’s often a foolish request for a cold, sore throat, sinusitis, bronchitis, ear infection and the flu, which are due to viral not bacterial infection. It’s a waste of money because viral infections do not respond to antibiotics.

How many are aware that more than half the antibiotics used by humans are also fed to animals? Unbelievably, Health Canada allows antibiotics used for serious infections in humans to be sold “without a prescription for use in chickens, beef cattle and other animals.” The more antibiotics consumed, the greater the risk that bacterial resistance will occur.

Fortunately, some food chains are now serving poultry never given antibiotics. But it’s a hard sell to convince farmers to include cows and pigs.

Why? Because they are more valuable, live longer and have to remain healthier longer.

Never forget that more frequent hand-washing with soap and water could significantly decrease infectious

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disease and reduce the need for antibiotics. However, authorities agree that the use of bacteria-fighting hand cleansers make sense in hospitals, but not in homes.

Barbara Murray, former president of the Infectious Disease Society of America told a U.S. House of Representatives Committee, “This summer I cared for two patients with diabetes and urinary tract infections due to a highly resistant strain of E. coli. Both had to be admitted to hospital for intravenous therapy because their infections were resistant to all oral antibiotics.” She added that “probably every woman by age 60 has had at least one UTI.” Studies show that every year 30 to 50 million North American women suffer from UTIs, often due to resistant E coli bacteria. These result in repeated agonizing attacks. Now, a new natural herbal remedy, available in health food stores, called UTI E-Drops, can prevent and treat this infection. Like cranberries, they possess an anti-sticking factor that keeps E coli from adhering to the bladder wall. In addition, their antiseptic and antibacterial properties, form a protective layer on the wall of the bladder to prevent further bacterial growth.

UTI E-Drops are highly absorbable, providing a low but effective dose.

Years ago, while studying at The Harvard Medical School, I arrived home one Christmas to find my father near death due to an undiagnosed ruptured appendix. Fortunately, penicillin, a new antibiotic, was smarter than bacteria.

It saved my father’s life.

Fortunately, education decreases the use of antibiotics. Doctors now given an hour of instruction in the proper use of antibiotics, has decreased their use in treating upper respiratory infections by 50 per cent.

And inappropriate use in treatment of sinus infections and pneumonia by a whopping 70 per cent.

Shortly before I completed this column, I talked to a paraplegic patient who must use a catheter regularly to empty her bladder. This resulted in repeated infections in spite of five different antibiotics. She reported that use of UTI E- Drops resolved her dilemma.

Please let me know if this is helping others.

For comments info@docgiff.com.

For medical tips, visit the website at www.docgiff.com

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016

VICTORIA

Syria refugee family settles into Island life Family is first to arrive in Victoria as part of plan to bring 25K Syrian refugees to Canada by end of February PAMELA ROTH VICTORIA NEWS

I

n the living room of his two-bedroom Esquimalt apartment, Osama beams as he points at a flat-screen television sitting on a table.

“TV?” he asks cautiously. I nod with approval, then look at his wife Hanadi, holding her wide-eyed eight-month-olddaughter Loujain.

Hanadi points at the table in the dining room and tries to say the word table in English. Their two boys, Abdul-Rachman, five, and eight-year-old Zaid are glued to a computer playing games.

It’s been nearly three weeks since the young Syrian family flew into Victoria.

They are eager to learn English and settle into their new life in Canada.

Osama’s face lights up with every English word he can add to his limited vocabulary.

“The people of Victoria are very kind,” he says with the help of a phone translator. “The difficulty is the language and knowing the area, but there is good support.”

Newly arrived Syrian refugee Osama, right, laughs while talking with one of his co-sponsors Ben Moore as their children, from left, Molly and Nora Moore and Abdul Rahman colour in their apartment. [DON DENTON/VICTORIA NEWS]

Ever since the family arrived in Victoria in mid-December, they’ve been assisted by the group of five Victoria couples who helped bring them here.

For about a year, Michael and Shelley Wuitchik had been thinking about ways

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to help Syrian refugees. Once they saw the shocking photo of the body of three-year-old Alan Kurdi washed up on a Turkish beach in September, the couple decided to put their thoughts into action.

(Kurdi drowned after the boat his family was on from Turkey to Greece capsized.)

The Wuitchik’s rounded up a group of four like-minded couples, pooled their resources together, and came up with $36,000 to sponsor a Syrian family and cover their costs for the first year in Canada.

Ottawa chipped in another $9,000.

They’re also working with the Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria — the sponsorship agreement holder, meaning it has signed sponsorship agreements with the federal government to help refugees settle in Canada.

The group (known as a constituency group) wasn’t informed the family of five was coming to Victoria until three days prior to their arrival. Making the 48-hour journey included stops in Toronto, where they met the Governor General, then Calgary where they were

on their own to navigate through the airport.

Unsure if anyone would be meeting them in Victoria, the family arrived to see the smiling faces of the five couples who helped get them here. Michael couldn’t help but feel emotional.

“It was very moving. It was kind of a thrill when the 25-year-old woman (Hanadi) kissed her (Shelley) three times on the cheek and she smiled,” said Michael, noting the family looked relieved the long journey was over.

“You just know it’s one of those moments in your life you won’t forget. Everybody felt really good in our group.”

The family is the first to arrive in Victoria as part of the government’s plan to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada by the end of February.

In B.C., 400 were slated to arrive by the end of 2015 and a further 1,500 in the months to follow. So far, British Columbians have applied to privately sponsor about 220 Syrian refugees. Of those, Victoria is expected to get at least 10.

Jean McRae, executive director of the ICA, hopes to see a few more families arrive in January, but isn’t sure when exactly that will happen.

“Processing is moving quite quickly in Canada. Once the cases go to the Visa posts the timing is less predicable, although way quicker than normal,” she said, noting ICA is currently working with about 25 local sponsor groups at various stages.

To prepare for the first family, members of the constituency group searched for accommodation, then collected items the family would need to start their new life, such as furniture and clothing.

When the family arrived at their new apartment, Michael said the two tired boys sprung to life once they saw their bunk beds that had

a stuffed animal on the pillow.

Hanadi beamed when she opened the fridge and cupboards, and saw they were stocked with food, including some from the Middle East.

Since then, the group has been assisting the family with navigating around the city, setting up bank accounts, filling out forms for school and finding grocery stores.

Michael said the spices at the Bulk Barn brought a smile to Hanadi’s face because the store smelled like Syria.

“Everybody has commented on how rewarding it is and how appreciative they are,” said Michael.

“I think they’re a very resilient family. They don’t ever back off from anything. They are open to everything, always trying the language. They just seem like they want to get into it.”

On Christmas Day, Michael had the family over for Christmas dinner where they feasted on roasted lamb. It was the first meat the family had in two years.

Originally from a district northeast of Damascus, the family fled to Lebanon two years ago where they first lived in a refugee camp, then rented a home.

Working as a mechanic for a living, Osama was banned from taking a job in Lebanon so he worked under the table to provide for his family (who did not want to publish their last name due to safety reasons). Eventually, they got on the list to come to Canada.

Osama describes the last few years in Syria as a deadly situation.

“They were attacking everybody, killing everybody,” he said, adding he didn’t find peace of mind until he arrived in Toronto, where he was surprised by the warm welcome.

“It’s been strange, but I feel like I’m coming home . . . . Victoria is good.”

ODDITY

Someone betting $40,026 on life of 73-year-old lottery winner THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DETROIT — Someone is betting $40,026 on the life of a 73-year-old lottery winner in Michigan.

That amount was the highest bid Thursday in an online auction for a lottery prize that pays $1,000 a month, before taxes. But here’s the hitch: The money is paid only as long as Donald Magett stays alive.

The Portage man won the “Cash for Life” game back in 1984, although the winnings lately have been going to bankruptcy trustee Tom Richardson to pay Magett’s debts.

Richardson auctioned the lottery

“All I know is his lawyer tells me his health is good.”

Tom Richardson, bankruptcy trustee

prize — the last main asset — in an effort to close the bankruptcy case. The auction house, repocast. com, said the top bid was $40,026.

At that price, Magett would need to live a few more years for the winner to at least break even.

The winner soon will get the first annual payment of $12,000.

Richardson said he doesn’t know

the details about Magett’s health.

“All I know is his lawyer tells me his health is good,” Richardson said.

Bidders weren’t offered any information either. The Social Security Administration predicts that the life expectancy of a 73-year-old man is another 13 years.

The winner’s name was not released. Magett declined to comment through his attorney, Steve Rayman, who also declined to comment.

“We had hundreds of calls — and that’s putting it lightly. We had one from Great Britain,” said Duane Mingerink of the auction house.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016

www.nanaimodailynews.com

ADVICE

Give self-absorbed friends a chance to offer up apologies Kathy Mitchell & Marcy Sugar Annie’s Mailbox Dear Annie: In October, I visited my family in France. Three weeks after I returned home, the terrorist attacks occurred. My husband was out of town and I was all alone. My family in France, thankfully, was safe.

I consider myself a loyal friend.

However, only one person called to ask about my family and about me. That person was actually a business acquaintance. I am deeply grateful for that call, but truly surprised and disappointed that there were no others. A family member phoned two days later, saying he had been so busy with work that he didn’t hear about the attacks until later. I was polite, but seriously, people would have to be living under a rock not to have heard the news immediately.

It was an extremely difficult time for me, and I am terribly hurt and angry that no one else took a few seconds to ask whether my family was OK or to find out how I was handling things. I received a Christmas card from one friend

who wrote only to brag about her job promotion.

Annie, all of these so-called friends are well aware that much of my family lives in France. I no longer wish to associate with these people. What can I say if any of them call and want to get together with me?

— Still Hurting Dear Hurting: People tend to be self-absorbed and sometimes don’t think of another person’s specific situation when they hear about a tragedy far away. Please give your friends a chance to make it up to you. If they call, tell them that you were hurt and disappointed that you didn’t hear from them at the time. Give them the opportunity to apologize. You will be much less angry and upset if you can grant forgiveness and start fresh. Of course, if they offer feeble excuses and make no attempt to say they are sorry, feel free to stop responding to their calls.

Dear Annie: As my mother got older, she used to worry about her faraway friends when she didn’t hear from them at Christmas. She thought maybe they had gone into a nursing home or were homebound and unable to correspond.

Or maybe they had died.

So when my mother moved to a nursing home near us, I decided to make sure this didn’t happen to

her. I wrote a newsy letter about how she was doing, and added where she was living, along with the address. I printed it on Christmas stationery and sent it in the first part of December.

Well, Annie, I want to tell you that the response was overwhelming. She received Christmas cards from nearly all of her friends. Some wrote long, newsy letters of their own, and a few of them even wrote letters to me. It was very rewarding and gratifying, and Mom felt that she was still a part of her friends’ lives. I thought you might like to pass this on to others so they will know to do it during the next holiday season.

— Grateful Daughter Dear Daughter: This is a sweet idea and an excellent way to keep others apprised of Mom’s situation and encourage them to contact her. Seniors, especially those who move away from familiar surroundings, often feel isolated. Thank you for providing a lovely way to stay connected.

Annie’s Mailbox is written by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar, longtime editors of the Ann Landers column. Please email your questions to anniesmailbox@ creators.com, or write to: Annie’s Mailbox, c/o Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.

ENTERTAINMENT

‘Martian’ and ‘Revenant’ win big at boozy Golden Globes show THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — The 73rd annual Golden Globes had a few curveballs up its sleeves, and the biggest ones weren’t even from acerbic host Ricky Gervais, who kept the show alive with his biting quips and takedowns of the business that the awards were celebrating.

But, instead of just being another booze-soaked, starry year at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Sunday’s bleep-filled ceremony also gave a boost to two films that have been lingering on the edges of an undefined award season — the crowd-pleasing space romp “The Martian” and the brutal frontier epic The Revenant, days before the Academy Award nominees are revealed.

Alejandro Inarritu’s The Revenant won awards in the drama category for best picture and best actor for star Leonardo DiCaprio, who seems to be on a path to an Oscar for his portrayal of the 1820s fur trapper Hugh Glass.

Inarritu, whose Birdman swept

the Oscars last year, also beat out The Martian’s Ridley Scott for the best director award. The Martian did win best comedy film and best actor in a comedy for star Matt Damon. The dubious placement of The Martian in the comedy category was a running joke throughout the evening — even Scott questioned it as he walked on stage to accept the best picture award.

But a win is a win, and although this awards season is far from predetermined, neither The Martian nor The Revenant were considered real frontrunners, especially against nominees like Spotlight, Carol, Mad Max: Fury Road, and The Big Short.

Spotlight, the fact-based drama about The Boston Globe’s investigation into sex abuses in the Catholic Church has been the one favourite throughout the season in both critics and guild awards.

While it is considered a lock for a Best Picture nomination on Thursday, the film apparently did not win the favour of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and received no awards on Sunday.

Adam McKay’s star-studded financial collapse comedy The Big Short also walked away empty handed, despite some rising awards momentum lately with recent Producers Guild and Writers Guild nominations. Critics darlings Carol and Mad Max: Fury Road were surprisingly shut out as well.

But all will come into focus on Thursday when Oscar nominees are announced. Voting for Oscar nominations closed on Friday, but the campaigning won’t end until the actual ceremony on Feb. 28.

Any added momentum helps, even if Gervais joked at the start of the show that the award is “a bit of metal that some confused old journalist wanted to give you to meet you in person and take a selfie.”

Jennifer Lawrence won best actress in a comedy for Joy. She also beat out her friend Amy Schumer in the category.

“She’s gonna be fine,” Lawrence said backstage. “She’s funny and hilarious and will win many things.”

@NanaimoDaily

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How is your liver after the holidays?

In this day and age, our livers are commonly working on overdrive. Our bodies are bombarded with toxins from food, drinks, cosmetics, medication, and even the air we breathe. Millions of North Americans are on at least one prescription and these drugs overtax the liver.

A sluggish liver can leave you with a variety of symptoms, ranging from indigestion, mood imbalance, weight gain as well as allergies. Two of the most common symptoms are feeling chronic fatigue and unexplained irritability.

Other symptoms include high cholesterol that does not fluctuate with change of diet, brain fog, and waking up frequently between 2-4 am. If these symptoms are not addressed, they can lead to more serious problems including nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, autoimmune hepatitis, and even liver cancer.

Thankfully the liver is able to rejuvenate. There are many foods we can include in our diet to help heal and cleanse the liver. Leafy green vegetables can help neutralize toxins we ingest. Cruciferous vegetables can help break down fat.

Starting each day with lemon in hot water is helpful for digestion and to cleanse the liver. Cook with garlic and turmeric daily. Add walnuts to your salad to help rebuild liver cells. When your liver is in trouble it is best to avoid fat, sugar, and highly processed food whenever possible. Avocados are also a good regular addition to your diet as they have been shown to slow down liver damage. Eating raw vegetables and juicing are found to be very beneficial as they have live raw enzymes and are easily digested. Also, increase fiber in your diet to help eliminate toxins and fats.

Supplementing with milk thistle is a great way of protecting your liver.

Silymarin, the active compound in milk thistle, is one of the most powerful agents to protect your liver. It not only stimulates the production of new liver cells with its antioxidant properties but also gently cleanses the liver of toxins.

This is essential for people with a sluggish liver and also for those treating more serious liver problems. Milk thistle is available in capsules, liquids and tinctures. Supplementing with antioxidants such as n-acetyl cysteine, alpha lipoic acid, selenium and vitamin C and E are also very helpful. Herbs such as dandelion, artichoke, burdock root, and red clover will help repair the liver by cleansing the blood stream. With a few small changes to your lifestyle, you can help promote a happy and healthy liver long term.

If you are looking for personalized advice on nutrition please contact 250-7512919 or email radiantdiet@live.ca.

Yours in Good Health, Samaya Holmes Registered Holistic Nutritionist

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016

OBITUARY

Bowie: World mourns a great loss Star emerged in 1972, but kept a low profile in recent years after a reported heart attack in the 2000s MESFIN FEKADU THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — David Bowie, the chameleon-like star who transformed the sound — and the look — of rock with his audacious creativity and his sexually ambiguous makeup and costumes, died of cancer Sunday.

Bowie, whose hits included “Space Oddity,” “Fame,” “Heroes” and “Let’s Dance,” died surrounded by family, representative Steve Martin said early Monday. The singer, who was 69, had fought cancer for 18 months.

Long before alter egos and wild outfits became commonplace in pop, Bowie turned the music world upside down with the release of the 1972 album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars which introduced one of music’s most famous personas.

“Ziggy Stardust” was a concept album that imagined a rock star from outer space trying to make his way in the music world. The persona — the red-headed, eyeliner wearing Stardust — would become an enduring part of Bowie’s legacy.

Born David Jones in London, the singer came of age in the

David Bowie launches his United States leg of his worldwide tour called ‘A Reality Tour’ in December 2003 in New York.

Bowie died Monday. He was 69 years old. [AP PHOTO]

early 1970s glam rock era. He had a striking androgynous look in his early days and was known for changing his appearance and sounds.

After Ziggy Stardust, the stuttering rock sound of “Changes” gave way to the disco soul of “Fame,” co-written with John Lennon, to a droning collaboration

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with Brian Eno in Berlin that produced “Heroes.”

He had some of his biggest successes in the early 1980s with the bombastic “Let’s Dance,” and a massive American tour. Another one of his definitive songs was “Under Pressure,” which he recorded with Queen; Vanilla Ice would years later infamously use the song’s hook for his smash hit “Ice Ice Baby.”

“My entire career, I’ve only really worked with the same subject matter,” Bowie said in 2002 “The trousers may change, but the actual words and subjects I’ve always chosen to write with are things to do with isolation, abandonment, fear and anxiety — all of the high points of one’s life.”

Bowie lived in West Berlin in the late 1970s and Mayor Michael Mueller said Monday that “Heroes” became “the hymn of our then-divided city and its longing for freedom.”

Bowie’s performance of “Heroes” was also a highlight at a concert for rescue workers after the 2001 World Trade Center attacks.

“What I’m most proud of is that I can’t help but notice that I’ve affected the vocabulary of pop music. For me, frank-

ly, as an artist, that’s the most satisfying thing for the ego,” Bowie said.

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, but he didn’t attend the ceremony.

David Byrne, of the art rockers Talking Heads, inducted Bowie and said he gave rock music a necessary shot in the arm.

“Like all rock ’n’ roll, it was visionary, it was tasteless, it was glamorous, it was perverse, it was fun, it was crass, it was sexy and it was confusing,” Byrne said.

Bowie kept a low profile in recent years after a reported heart attack in the 2000s. He made a moody album three years ago called The Next Day — his first recording in a decade.

Blackstar, which earned positive reviews from critics, represented yet another stylistic shift, as he gathered jazz players to join him.

“David always did it his way and his way was the least obvious way,” said Tony Visconti, Bowie’s longtime producer. “He was a true genius who proved it over and over again through groundbreaking albums.”

Tributes poured in for the singer after the announcement of his death. British astronaut Tim Peake tweeted about his sadness from outer space aboard the International Space Station, saying “his music was an inspiration to many.”

British Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted that Bowie’s death is “a huge loss.” He wrote he had grown up listening to and watching Bowie and called the singer a “master of reinvention” and a pop genius who kept on getting it right.

Former Beatle Paul McCartney has also paid tribute, calling Bowie “a great star.”

“His music played a very strong part in British musical history,” McCartney wrote on his website.

Bowie felt uneasy about some of his greatest material, once embarking on a “greatest hits” tour saying it would be the last time performing much of his old material. He later relented, however.

“I’m not a natural performer,” he said in the 2002 interview. “I don’t enjoy performing terribly much. Never have.

I can do it and, if my mind’s on the situation, do it quite well. But five or six shows in, I’m dying to get off the road and go back into the studio.”

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People gather next to tributes placed near a mural of David Bowie in Brixton, south London, on Monday. [AP PHOTO]