midweek edition WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 2010
Vol. 101 No. 56 • Established 1908 • East
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Wheel of death
Kits courts
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Mayor apologizes for f-bomb attack on citizen speakers Microphone captures ‘NPA hacks’ barb Mike Howell Staff writer
Vision Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson mocked citizens who spoke at city hall last Thursday.
photo Dan Toulgoet
Vision Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson apologized Monday for using obscene language while referring to citizens who spoke at city hall last Thursday as “NPA hacks.” Robertson said his comments, which were made when he unknowingly left his microphone on after the July 8 meeting, were “inappropriate and disrespectful.” “I was frustrated after a long, contentious council meeting,” the mayor said in a statement issued from his office. “Either way, there is no excuse and I want to express my apologies to the people who came to speak at council.” Robertson is heard on
a YouTube audio clip joking with Vision councillors Heather Deal and Tim Stevenson about the citizens, who earlier spoke against the mayor’s motion to establish a West End community advisory committee. “Who are all these f**kin’… who are these hacks, man?” the mayor asks Stevenson and Deal. “Are they… they NPA hacks?” The NPA was in reference to the Non Partisan Association, the political foe of the ruling Vision Vancouver party. Stevenson is captured on the audio clip, which is sometimes inaudible, saying one of the speakers was Carole Walker, who ran for a council seat with COPE in the 1986 civic election. See COUN. DEAL on page 4
Province injects millions into summer school amid cuts Ministry of Education sends ‘mixed message,’ says VSB board chair Patti Bacchus Megan Stewart Staff writer
The Vancouver School Board cut $17 million from its 2010/11 budget, laying off teachers and cutting programs, and it will consider school closures in the fall, but the Ministry of Education still pumped $4.7 million into Vancou-
ver summer school to fund mostly recreation and prep classes. Despite seeing “a big cut in everything” across the district, VSB chair Patti Bacchus says the summer program sends a “mixed message” to her board in light of the ministry’s demand that every service be maximized for generating revenue.
“They’re telling us to squeeze profit out of just about everything we can, regardless of the purpose it serves,” said Bacchus, pointing to childcare programs as one service she said the Ministry believes can turn a greater profit. “But on the other hand, they’re offering up possibly programs
that aren’t required toward graduation at no cost,” she said, adding that the board does not have a position on whether the summer programming should be funded by the Ministry of Education. One in 10 classes offered through the VSB continuing education summer program is a core academic course such as senior
math and English that is taken for credit and used toward graduation by teenagers and adults. Otherwise, the majority of classes are month-long elementary and secondary preparatory courses, not unlike summer camps available through community centres, and are led by professional teachers. See PROGRAM on page 4
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