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Author shoots for the big screen with love story PAGE 11
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Harper predicts ‘unprincipled coalition’ Jennifer Moreau staff reporter
Stephen Harper made Burnaby his second stop on the campaign trail on Sunday. On March 27, the Conservative leader visited the National Nikkei Museum and Heritage Centre in the Burnaby-New Westminster riding after his first visit in Brampton, Ont. The Nikkei centre is next to BurnabyDouglas, a long-held NDP riding almost lost to the Tories in the last election. With hundreds of people in the crowd, Harper spoke of Tory plans – such as fighting crime and reducing the deficit – and an unwanted election brought on by the Liberal, Bloc and NDP “coalition.” “They don’t think they need to win this election. Just hold us to another minority, and they will move with lightning speed to recreate and impose their reckless, unprincipled coalition on Canadians,” Harper said. “Canada needs a strong, stable, majority Conservative government.” Even though Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has already said publicly there will be no coalition government, Harper Election Page 8
Larry Wright/burnaby now
Hitting the streets: Ronald Leung, the Conservative party’s candidate for the Burnaby-Douglas riding, waves an election sign on the roadside at Canada Way and Willingdon on Monday.
Radiation from Japan found in Burnaby Jennifer Moreau staff reporter
Simon Fraser University researchers have found radiation from Japan’s nuclear crisis in rainwater from Burnaby Mountain and Vancouver and seaweed near the North Vancouver SeaBus terminal, but they say there is no immediate risk to the public. “As of now, the levels we’re seeing are not harmful to humans,” said SFU chemist Kris Starosta. “Studies of nuclear incidents
and exposures are used to define radiation the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear reactor in levels at which the increase in cancer risk Japan, where officials have been trying to is statistically significant. When compared prevent a meltdown since the 9.0 earthto the information we have today, we have quake on March 11. According to a press release not reached levels of elevated from SFU, air currents are carrisk.” First reported @ Starosta and his team BurnabyNow.com rying the radiation from Japan to North America. Most of the of researchers have found increased levels iodine-131, a radioac- radioactivity disperses in the atmosphere tive byproduct of nuclear fission. The and falls over the Pacific Ocean on its way researchers are attributing the increased over, but some of it has now reached the levels in B.C. seaweed and rainwater to West Coast, falling with rain and mixing
with seawater and accumulating in seaweed. The researchers began monitoring rainwater earlier this month but did not see the signature for iodine-131 in samples from March 16 and 18. However, they did detect the signature in samples from March 19, 20 and 25. But the levels were low and not dangerous, Starosta repeated. “These are small quantities,” he said. “That’s the reason we believe there is no
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Radiation Page 5