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Loss of EA worries mom
Courage honoured
The mother of a special needs boy who depends on an educational assistant to function in class, frets about what budget cuts will mean for her son.
Richmond secondary grad is recognized for his role in trying to bring aid to Sarajevo during the Bosnian War. The memories still haunt him.
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Tall Ships Fest set to sail 2011 Pressure on to hit deadline BY A LAN CAMPBELL
acampbell@richmond-news.com
HST pros/cons tax the mind Fight HST town hall meeting scheduled for May 9, Richmond secondary BY NELSON BENNETT
nbennett@richmond-news.com
Things to do before the new Harmonized Sales Tax kicks in July 1: 1) get hair cut; 2) buy new house; 3) read a newspaper; 4) die. Haircuts, new homes, newspapers and funerals are just a few of the dozens of goods and services that will cost more when the HST is implemented. Bill Vander Zalm says there’s one more thing taxpayers should
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do before the HST kicks in, if they don’t want to pay the tax, that is: sign his petition to have it repealed. “By the government’s own numbers, they will take in, from the consumer, an additional $2 billion,” Vander Zalm said. “That means an extra $500 per year for every man, woman and child in the province.” The former Social Credit premier will be in Richmond May 9 for a town hall meeting on the HST. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. at Richmond secondary school (7171 Minoru Blvd.)
The meeting is part of his province-wide campaign to drum up support for an anti-HST petition led by Vander Zalm and Chris Delaney, deputy leader of the B.C. Conservative Party. Vander Zalm said the HST will hurt small businesses. Craig Williams, vice-president of he Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, recently sent a letter to the press refuting Vander Zalm’s claims, saying “the assertion that the HST is bad for business is not correct.” Indeed, apart from B.C. restaurateurs — who say they were
lied to about the tax — most business sectors in B.C. support tax harmonization, saying it is simpler to administer. On July 1, the seven per cent PST disappears and becomes melded with the five per cent GST to create a single 12 per cent sales tax. While tax harmonization may be simpler for business, it is proving bewilderingly complex for consumers trying to figure out just what goods and services will be subject to HST that is not currently subject to both taxes. see Funerals page 4
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Get Smart revisited ... Cambie secondary students bring the popular ’60s show, Get Smart, to the stage where Agent 99, played by Jessica Malcolm, and Agent 86 Maxwell Smart, played by Larry So, find themselves in hot water. The play runs May 4 to 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Richmond has finally set its compass on hosting the highly popular 2011 Tall Ships Maritime Festival — but the clock is ticking. Ideally, it takes around two years to successfully plan and deliver an event on the scale of the four-day festival. City of Richmond staff, however, revealed this week that a June 2011 date is now on the table and if Richmond passes up this opportunity, another won’t arise until 2014. The festival tours on a three-year cycle. After a two-hour long meeting, city council’s parks and recreation committee agreed to host the massive event, which attracted 400,000 over four days to Steveston when it was last held in Richmond in 2002. But a whole host of factors dictate that time is of the essence, such as: marketing the event; securing sponsors and getting confirmation of attendance from key crowd-pulling tall ships from around the globe. Complicating matters further is the proposed date of June, with several councillors expressing reservations about the typical weather, sea conditions and the fact that most people will still be working. Nonetheless, it’s full steam ahead for Richmond to host next year’s Tall Ships Maritime Festival, which usually attracts some of the world’s most magnificent tall sailing ships from countries such as Japan and Russia. Should the event go ahead as planned, the festival will see three kilometers of waterfront — from Garry Point Park, through Steveston village and down to Britannia Heritage Shipyard — transformed. One of the biggest attractions will be the mock gun battles fought out by some of the tall ships. “I really like the Garry Point idea, it’s ideal for this,” said long-time festival supporter Coun. Harold Steves. “(Garry Point) will allow us to bring in the bigger ships from Russia and Japan.