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APRIL 4, 2018 | Volume 30 No. 27
WILDLIFE PARK FACES CASH CRUNCH
Minimum wage hike, new payroll tax taking a toll MICHAEL POTESTIO
STAFF REPORTER
michael@kamloopsthisweek.com
The B.C. Wildlife Parks hopes to receive provincial funding to deal with the financial pressure of an incoming $15 minimum wage and the new health-care payroll tax. A letter from the local facility was penned to the provincial government in March, asking for an in-person meeting to discuss the possibility of an operating grant to offset additional costs, but there has yet to be a response. “Those are two huge costs that are coming our way,” park executive director Glenn Grant said. The request is plan A, he said, noting the park will explore other options to deal
with the cost increase if the response from the province is negative. “We’re fully exploring different ways to generate revenue to offset the expenses,” Grant said. Making reductions to the park’s wildlife rehabilitation services and burrowing owl conservation program would likely be plan B, he told KTW, noting that idea has not yet been explored. “Maybe there’s another attraction that we could put within the park that people may pay for, like an amusement ride,” Grant said. Closing the park is not an option being contemplated at this time, but it may need to be five years down the road, Grant said. See FEE HIKES, A6
THEATRE REVIEW
Children of God is mustsee theatre DALE BASS STAFF REPORTER dale@kamloopsthisweek.com
G
ALLEN DOUGLAS/KTW Knute the grizzly performs bruin yoga on a spring morning. Knute is one of dozens of animals who live at the B.C. Wildlife Park.
o see Children of God. Just do it. Children of God is a musical written Yes, it’s about a and directed by Corey Payette, horrible blight on our produced in association with the country’s history and, Citadel Theatre of Edmonton. It continues at Sagebrush Theatre yes, it’s also a musithrough Saturday, April 7. Tickets are cal — but it may be the available at the Kamloops Live box best production ever office, 1025 Lorne St., 250-374-5483, to grace the stage at kamloopslive.ca. Sagebrush Theatre. It is, quite simply, stunning, something that was expressed at the amazing finale of the first night of this run with a collective “Wow!” coming from the audience. We all just stood there until someone finally started the applause. In its essence, the play by Corey Payette is about a family broken by residential school. It is set in two time periods, one in which the amazing Dillan Chiblow, as Tommy, is both youngster at the school and adult trying to reconnect with his mother, played by the always fantastic Sandy Scofield. See TWO HOURS, A4
POLITICAL REPORTING DUO ARRIVE
TODAY’S WEATHER Mainly cloudy High 10 C Low 2 C
Authors wrote A Matter of Confidence
A10
A21
Saturday, April 7
HOMESHOW 2018
Sunday, April 8
RENOVATE • DECORATE • LANDSCAPE
OVERTIME AGONY Local bantams come close to winning bronze
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CHILDREN OF GOD
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