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SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2010
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◗ SCHOOL CLOSURE OPTIONS
Hume is not off the hook BY NIKI HOPE REPORTER
nhope@royalcityrecord.com
Hopes to secure the fate of Hume Park Elementary were crushed Tuesday night, when the board of education narrowly shot down a motion to put a moratorium on school closures until the district builds three new schools. Union-endorsed trustees Lori Watt, Michael Ewen and James Janzen supported the motion, but it was killed when Voice New Westminster trustees Casey Cook, Lisa Graham and Jim Goring, along with independent Brent Atkinson, voted against it. “I think it’s based on a belief that schools shouldn’t be closed,” Cook said about the motion put forward by Watt. “We have to make decisions based on fact, not ideology.” In March, the board opted to postpone the Hume Park closure/consolidation process until October. This is the second year in a row that the board is considering closing the 62student school and sending its students up the hill to Richard McBride Elementary, which is located one kilometre away. The district can’t say it won’t close schools, because it can’t predict what will happen in the period before the schools are built, Cook said. “First of all, for that period of time, one has no idea as to what are going to be the budget conditions, enrolment figures,” he said. Cook’s other criticism of the motion was that it gives the community the sense that it ties the hands of future boards and provide a false sense of security for school communities. “It’s a promise that creates an impression,” he said. For Atkinson, the problem with the ◗Schools Page 8
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One-man market: Peter Corbeil has run the Queen’s Park Meat Market for the past 12 years, and, after a tough last two years, business is starting to look up again. Corbeil said he’d put his meat up against any supermarket meat.
Master of his meat market Peter Corbeil’s shop is tucked in a residential neighbourhood – but good cuts and service keep his door open BY ALFIE LAU REPORTER alau@royalcityrecord.com
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t’s a non-descript building on the corner of Second Street and Fourth Avenue, and, from a distance, it looks like any other home in the area. But look in the front window, and you’ll find Peter Corbeil and the Queen’s Park Meat Market. The business has been around since 1915, and Corbeil is a relative rookie, having taken over from former owner Eric Davies in December 1998. In an era when small businesses are being swallowed up and put out of busi-
ness by big-box retailers, Corbeil has been making a living selling beef, chicken and pork the old-fashioned way. “You have to offer great service, and our prices aren’t any higher than what you’d get at a supermarket,” said Corbeil. “That’s one of the stigmas, that I’m more expensive. In reality, all my prices are competitive.” Corbeil tells the story of a customer who bought a five-pound beef tenderloin for $75 at a local supermarket. When he saw Corbeil’s price of $20 per pound, he thought he had a great deal. That is, until he talked to Corbeil. “I took a look at what he bought, and, of the five pounds, two pounds of it wasn’t usable,” said Corbeil. “So he really only got three pounds of meat he could use. … I don’t sell the waste portions, so, in reality, if he came to me, he would have saved money.”
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Corbeil doesn’t tell the story to brag, only to point out that the way grocers sell meat is vastly different from how he sells meat. As a trained butcher and meat cutter, Corbeil uses only Alberta carcass beef that he hangs and ages personally. Meanwhile, supermarkets order their meat in vacuum-packed bags that come either pre-cut or ready-to-cut at the store. “If you cut meat from the carcass, you have to know what you’re doing,” said Corbeil. “If you put the saw in the wrong place, you can lose your shirt on a side of beef.” And contrary to what marketers have told consumers, fresh red meat isn’t necessarily the best beef out there. “I age my beef for 18 to 25 days,” said Corbeil. “The longer you age beef, the more the fibres break down and the better
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