Gateway to the North - May 2019

may 2019

Gateway photo by Brent Braaten

Getting a taste of Ribfest

Nechako Rotary vice president Darrell Hubbell tries some of the ribs during the announcement that first-ever Ribfest event in Prince George will take place at Pacific Western Brewing from June 21 to 23. It will feature Canada’s best ribbers food trucks, live local entertainment and Pacific Western Brewing products throughout the whole weekend. The event will be family-friendly during the day on Friday and Saturday and all day, Sunday. Friday and Saturday evening will be and will be 19+ only.

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Millions spent subsidizing northern bus services Jeremy HAINSWORTH Glacier Media

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.C. taxpayers have paid more than $31 million since 2012 to subsidize almost-daily northern bus services by a private company on runs Greyhound ran at market costs but abandoned last year partly due to competitors’ subsidies, a Glacier Media investigation has found.

The latest funding came April 24 as federal Minister of Transport Marc Garneau and B.C. Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Clare Trevena announced ongoing subsidies for the BC Bus North service.

Neither ministry, though, will say how much more money is on the table for the service.

What Garneau did say is that BC Bus North is important where other options do not exist.

However, options do exist.

BC Bus North partially duplicates or fills gaps in the Northern Health Connections (NHC) service funded by Prince Georgebased Northern Health Authority since 2007.

Both services run from Prince Rupert to Prince George and Prince George to Fort Nelson. The NHC service also runs into Vancouver with stops along the route.

Diversified Transportation, a subsidiary of Calgary-based Pacific Western Transportation, operates both BC Bus North and NHC. Pacific Western director of business development John Stepovy said the two services are different, and that there is potential for BC Transit and Northern Health to work the services together.

“I would imagine there are some discussions happening at those levels,” Stepovy said. “We’re operators. We don’t set schedules, times or frequencies.”

Between the two operations, Diversified is running daily services throughout the north on routes remarkably similar to Greyhound’s.

And, of the options, Trevena and the previous B.C. Liberal government had a hand in creating them at a cost of at least $10 million – although some of that funding was in anticipation of Greyhound’s departure.

Moreover, the public record shows Greyhound was signalling there were problems years before it ended service, contrary to government characterizations of the decision as an abrupt surprise.

It was the NHC service that Greyhound cited as an example of unfair, taxpayersubsidized competition when it abandoned its western Canadian services in 2018. NHC fares for routes significantly undercut Greyhound’s, the latter company said.

Between 2012 and 2018, Diversified received $21.3 million from Northern Health,

vendor payment documents show.

Northern Health spokeswoman Eryn Collins said NHC was introduced because transportation options weren’t meeting the needs of people requiring health services.

“The NHC service has reduced the burden of travel for people who require health care not available in their home community,” Collins said.

“Transportation for people who are sick, require support, and who need to be taken to medical facilities is very different than options that serve the needs of the broader travelling public.”

Greyhound said subsidies to NHC covered 80 per cent to 90 per cent of fare costs, competition Greyhound cited as unfair.

Greyhound’s final one-way fare from Prince Rupert to Vancouver was $213, compared with the $40 NHC currently charges. NHC riders are supposed to present valid medical certificates for travel.

— see ‘THERE’S A, page 4

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Cp file photo

Greyhound bus driver Brent Clark, who has been with the company since 1983, drives to a parking lot after arriving in Whistler from Vancouver on Oct. 31, 2018 – the last day of service for many Western Canadian routes.

‘There’s a reason Greyhound exited the market’ — from page 3 However, Greyhound said as far back as 2012 there was no enforcement of use of the buses for health reasons.

People without medical documentation were using the provincial buses, taking business from Greyhound, a September 2012 company document said.

BC Bus North has two fare tiers. The $35, short hauls are for travel between Prince George and Smithers, Smithers and Prince Rupert, Prince George and Valemount, Fort Nelson and Dawson Creek, Prince George and Mackenzie, Mackenzie and Fort St. John.

The $45 long-haul routes are between Prince George and Prince Rupert, and Prince George and Fort St. John.

The province pumped $2 million into BC Bus North last June at Trevena’s direction to have an interim solution between Greyhound’s departure and the establishment of a full service.

“Pacific Western Transportation already operates long-haul services for other organizations in northern BC, understands the area, and were able to support us with fleet and staffing requirements to launch within a reasonable timeframe,” said BC Transit communications manager

Jonathon Dyck.

“To ensure the service was operational quickly to meet the needs of people living in northern BC, the contract for the interim, 12-month solution was awarded to Pacific Western Transportation,” Dyck said.

“This falls within the province of B.C. procurement standards because the services would not otherwise be obtained in time,” Dyck said. “The service is funded fully by the province of B.C. through BC Transit, and all revenue is returned to the province of BC through B.C. Transit.”

In an April 30 statement to Glacier Media, B.C.’s ministry said

the province’s northern region with its long distances and remote communities presents unique transportation challenges.

“Greyhound’s decision to eliminate service in Western Canada left people in the north vulnerable and stranded – especially Indigenous communities, women, seniors, children, and people with disabilities,” the statement said.

“That’s why the BC government stepped in with BC Bus North – to provide a provincially funded service which allows people to travel safely, affordably and reliably between northern communities.”

Stepovy agreed. He said operating in B.C.’s North and on the

Prairies is challenging given the remoteness and distance between communities. He said bus companies are successful in places such as the East Coast or Europe where population density creates for business opportunities.

“There’s a reason Greyhound exited the market,” he said.

“Challenging times.”

The ministry said BC Bus North has extended the service to Sept.

30. BC Transit estimates the cost of the extension at $480,000 in operating costs with projected passenger revenues for the additional period is $72,000, which will be used to offset operating costs.

— see THE SITUATION, page 5

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‘The situation in B.C. was exceptionally challenging’ — from page 4 “In other parts of the province, we continue to work closely with the federal government as part of an interprovincial working group to address the impact of discontinued intercity bus services and develop solutions,” the statement said.

The ministry added private companies continue to express interest in B.C. routes and the PTB is fast-tracking applications .

“Six inter-city bus companies are operating and there are three new inter-city bus route applications that are currently before the board,” the ministry statement said.

NHC and BC Bus North service aren’t the only ones the taxpayer-funded agencies are subsidizing.

There is also the Highway 16 Transportation Action Plan created in under Liberal premier Christy Clark’s government in 2017. The plan was created in partial response to the disappearances of women along Highway 16, the so-called Highway of Tears.

The NDP added another $800,000 for that service linking smaller communities in the 2019 provincial budget, the bringing the total investment to $8.1 million.

In July 2018, Trevena called Greyhound’s announcement that it was pulling out of B.C. service a surprise. In a statement, the ministry called it abrupt.

But the writing was on the wall long before. Greyhound was making its concerns known to B.C.’s Passenger Transportation Board. (PTB) as far back as 2012.

The company first announced withdrawal from various northern and southern routes in September 2017. In May 2018, it announced withdrawal from all northern routes and two months later from western Canadian service.

However, even before Greyhound pulled out, the PTB recognized the problems Greyhound faced from government operations. “Some of “Greyhound’s competition is heavily subsidized and not regulated by the board,” a September 2017 board deci-

sion said, noting lost services would leave holes in meeting public needs, public safety issues and isolation of communities.

Northern Health seemed oblivious to the brewing problem.

In December 2017 emails released under access to information laws, then-coordinator of patient transportation Maureen Haley said the NHC service would not affect Greyhound.

Haley said passengers had to present proof of medical appointments, a condition Greyhound claims wasn’t enforced as passengers rode at subsidized rates the bus line couldn’t match. But before the community buses and BC Bus North arrived, Greyhound had reached the end of its tether.

“The situation in B.C. was exceptionally challenging for Greyhound due to both the regulatory environment and subsidized services,” Greyhound Canada senior vice-president Stuart Kendrick told Glacier Media.

“Specifically, it was impossible to operate with highly-subsidized lower fares that

competed directly with our schedules, plus we complied with a lengthy regulatory review process that required months to approve our route changes,” Kendrick said. “This made it very difficult to meet changing market and ridership demands.

And with declining ridership, we could not sustain long-term viability from the fare box alone.”

While intercity buses such as Greyhound are regulated under the Passenger Transportation Act, the health buses are not, another reason Greyhound cited as a fairness and competition issue.

“Those services are overseen by the various health authorities where they operate,” a Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure statement said.

Asked if the ministry had done any due diligence to see what services might be duplicated, a ministry spokesperson said the health buses were a separate entity and issue from BC Bus North.

— see ‘WE ASKED, page 6

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‘We asked governments to create a rural connectivity fund’ — from page 5 Pacific Western subsidiary Ebus March 6 was awarded Kelowna-Vancouver and Kamloops-Vancouver routes by the PTB in expedited decisions to fill Greyhound gaps.

The PTB’s April licensee report also lists Ebus as operating a Prince George service.

Through its PW Transit Canada subsidiary, Pacific Western also operates the municipal bus services in Dawson Creek and Fort St. John as Peace Country Transit and in Port Alberni, Prince Rupert, Squamish, Terrace-New Hazelton and Whistler.

Only Port Alberni returned Glacier calls. Municipal director of finance Cathy Rothwell said that city’s system is subsidized through property taxes at a cost of $800,000 a year.

The PTB also recently approved Williams Lake-based Adventure Charters & Rentals to operate two inter-city bus routes to fill other gaps left by Greyhound. Adventure will bus service from Prince George to Surrey through the Fraser Canyon, and a second route from Williams Lake to Kamloops.

CP file photo

The Greyhound bus terminal in Calgary, Alta., closed on Oct. 31, 2018.

Those start May 2.

Kendrick said Greyhound had many discussions with provincial and federal governments about the state of Canada’s intercity bus network in Canada as well as “the pressing need for government invest-

ment in rural connectivity.

“We asked governments to create a rural connectivity fund. In such a program, the government would invite private sector partners to compete to provide safe, reliable service to rural and remote communi-

ties,” he said. “The result: rural communities connected to primary transportation corridors and larger communities.”

Kendrick said Greyhound would continue to call for a national solution to connect our cities and rural and remote communities, “with the investments required for a viable inter-city, inter-provincial bus service that will bring Canadians to where they need to be.”

The PTB acknowledged that suggestion in September 2017.

“The company proposes the creation of a Connecting Communities Fund to provide funding for municipalities and First Nations to tender inter-city bus services to the private sector,” the PTB said. “These concerns have been discussed between the company, local governments and B.C.’s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. It is up to these parties to determine whether these discussions will continue.”

Garneau’s office would not comment on what work if any, had been done to examine northern B.C. bus services prior to the funding agreement.

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Lawyer to review WorkSafeBC followups to sawmill explosions Mark NIELSEN Gateway staff

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Vancouver lawyer has been contracted by the provincial government to assess how well WorkSafeBC has taken up recommendations to improve worker safety in the wake of the fatal explosions at two northern B.C. sawmills in early 2012.

Lisa Helps will also provide advice on potential legislative changes, the Ministry of Labour said in a statement issued this month.

Coroner’s inquests were conducted into the deaths of four workers - Robert Luggi, 45, Carl Charlie, 42, Glenn Roche, 46, and Alan Little, 43. Luggi and Charlie died in the Jan. 20, 2012, Babine Forest Products sawmill explosion near Burns Lake while

Helps is to deliver a report of her own Roche and Little died as the result of the with recommendations to Attorney General April 24, 2012, Lakeland Mills explosion in David Eby by mid-July. After review, he is Prince George. to make public any recJuries in both inquests produced a The United Steelworkers ommendations related to improving processes series of recommenDistrict 3 president or legislation. dations, as did the Stephen Hunt welcomed The United Steelauthors of two reports, workers District 3 John Dyble and Gord the move and said the president Stephen Macatee. union looks forward to Hunt welcomed the Helps will also seek participating fully in the move and said the input from relevant union looks forward to stakeholders and staff process participating fully in in WorkSafeBC and the process. The USW was shut out of the the ministries of attorney general, public original investigation, he added. safety and solicitor general, and labour.

The USW pulled its lawyer from the She will also invite workers affected by coroner’s inquest into the Lakeland disaster the explosions, and their families, to share over concern it would not be able to hold their perspectives on the issues under WorkSafeBC accountable for what it called review, the ministry said.

a bungled handling of the investigation.

The union also called for a public inquiry.

Among the outcomes Hunt would like to see from Helps’ review is improved enforcement of the so-called Westray Law that would see employers found guilty of criminal negligence in the deaths of employees sent to jail.

He said the RCMP’s investigation was limited to determining whether bombs were the sources of the explosions and left it at that.

“We also want the RCMP properly trained, so that they do know what their job is in the case of an occupational death or an injury causing serious bodily harm – that’s what the Criminal Code says,” Hunt said on Monday. “And they can’t pick and choose what parts of the Criminal Code they enforce or erroneously not enforce.”

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Entrepreneur refloats Kitimat refinery concept Derrick PENNER Vancouver Sun

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ictoria businessman David Black is pondering whether political winds might be blowing back in favour of his independent proposal to build an oil refinery near Kitimat, as opposed to the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion to Burnaby.

Federally, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has been cold to the idea, Black said, and Premier John Horgan hasn’t been able to extend support.

However, with Alberta premierelect Jason Kenney preparing to take office and odds wavering over the possibility of a turnover in government at Ottawa after October’s election, Black is reflecting on the supportive comments

he has heard from conservative camps.

“There’s no question they’ll be supportive,” Black said Thursday.

Black, whose regular job is owner of Black Press, first proposed his plan in 2012.

Last summer, Black met with Kenney, as Alberta United Conservative Party leader, and federal Conservative party Leader Andrew Scheer, to lobby for his proposal after sensing a cooling of interest from the federal Liberal government. Black said both leaders expressed interest.

“I got the impression they were very keen,” Black said of his meetings with Scheer.

Kenney, whom he last met last August over dinner in Calgary, told Black that it “seems like it’s a really good idea (if we can) move our oil safely and cheaply out to

I look forward to him entering the regulatory process to see if he has the wherewithal ... to pull that off.

— Premier John Horgan the coast.”

And with sky-high Metro Vancouver gasoline prices sharing space at the top of the political agenda, Black has reconnected with B.C. and Alberta political leaders urging them to focus more on co-operation than their divisions over the Trans Mountain project.

Horgan, while discussing pro-

vincial concerns about skyrocketing gas prices, has repeatedly lamented that a lack of domestic refining capacity has contributed to the industry’s problems.

Black’s Kitimat Clean proposal would be a $22-billion project to turn bitumen from Alberta’s oilsands into solid pellets for shipment by train to a refinery north of Kitimat. Refined gas, diesel and other petroleum products – not diluted bitumen – would be loaded onto tankers for shipment to markets around the world.

Black is betting First Nations and other traditional oilsands opponents will be more supportive if it eliminates the risk of a pipeline rupture and trades the risk of a catastrophic tanker spill of diluted bitumen with less-damaging gas or diesel.

Officials from Kenney and

Scheer’s offices didn’t respond to Postmedia requests for comment.

Horgan, speaking at a transportation-related announcement in Langley on Thursday, said he has asked his deputy minister to look for ways that B.C., as a subnational jurisdiction, might be able to encourage gas-price reductions in the short-term or an increase in refining capacity in the longerterm. Horgan acknowledged Black’s proposal as one option and said, “I look forward to him entering the regulatory process to see if he has the wherewithal, in terms of capital, in terms of expertise, to pull that off.”

That is notwithstanding the NDP government’s own proposed legislation on zero-emission vehicles, which would rule out the sale of new internal-combustionengine vehicles by 2040.

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Residency rules forcing top doctor to leave northern B.C. Mark NIELSEN Gateway staff

A Citizen photo by Brent Braaten

Dr. Cecilia Siegling and her husband Rudi Siegling. The pair are leaving Prince George because Rudi could not get a residency match in Prince George.

n award-winning family doctor is leaving Prince George because her husband has been denied a residency in the region despite being a Northern Medical Program graduate.

Dr. Cecila Siegling, who received the My Family Doctor award from the B.C. College of Family Physicians in 2017, and husband Rudi will be moving to the Saskatoon area in the hope a residency in a family practice will be available there.

This comes after Rudi tried twice to land a residency, first in this region, then in this province, so that he could stay close to his family for the two years it would take. The couple have three school-aged children ages seven to 11 years old.

Although they are leaving reluctantly, Rudi said they have come accept their situation. However, he said the process for placing graduates in residencies has left him concerned for the local community and whether those selected will simply move on once their times are up.

Launched in 2004, the Northern Medical Program was established in answer to a shortage of physicians practicing in northern B.C. The idea is to give students a sense of what it’s like to live and work in rural and remote communities and consider careers in those places.

But the residency process runs counter to that idea in Rudi’s opinion.

“I’m sure it’s amazing applicants that

they select, but are they going to stay in the north if they’ve got no ties to the north?,” he said.

The news has not sat well with at least one of Siegling’s patients.

“Many doctors choose to start their careers in the North to get their foot in the door then move on after their initial contract is up. We hear all the time how hard it is to retain doctors in the North,” said Bill Leslie in a letter to the Citizen. “This is a case of professionals wanting to stay in the North but are forced to leave in order to secure their careers.”

The Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC) administers the process, called the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS). It works on a nationwide basis and while candidates are welcome to seek residencies within a specific geographic area, they are encouraged to consider openings from across the country.

The process relies on a computer-based algorithm to match students with residencies.

“The match algorithm compares applicant and program rank order lists and matches applicants to programs based on both parties’ stated preferences,” AFMC CEO Dr. Geneviève Moineau said in an email.

The algorithm is “applicant-proposing,” she also said, “meaning it looks at the applicant’s highest ranked program, then checks to see if that program has ranked the applicant and if a training position is available.

— see ‘THE ONE THING, page 11

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‘The one thing we can’t do... is to just have a pipeline from the Northern Medical Program’ — from page 10 “If these conditions are not met, the algorithm moves on to the next rank on an applicant’s rank order list and continues the process.

“The algorithm provides applicants with their best possible outcome based on the rank order list submitted. This process is national in scope.”

Dr. Paul Winwood, UNBC’s associate vice president for the Northern Medical Program, said the method used to match graduates to residencies is not ideal.

“The one thing we can’t do that we’d like to do actually is to just have a pipeline from the Northern Medical Program through to a residency program here but we’re not allowed to do that,” Winwood said.

However, every medical school in Canada is obligated under contract to be a part of the CaRMS, he also noted.

Despite the shortcoming, Winwood said the NMP has produced positive results. He said there are more than 100 physicians who graduated from NMP working in

Prince George “at last count.”

“I’ve looked at this more than a year ago, so there will be more now,” he said, and added about 60 per cent of NMP graduates go into rural and northern practices.

“It could always be better but it’s pretty good and I think it’s realistically as good as we’re going to get actually,” Winwood said.

He also said about 60 per cent of NMP graduates go into family medicine, compared to 40 per cent nationally, and the rest work to become specialists.

“We are higher than the norm for family practice which actually makes sense because we want family doctors in northern B.C. and we want generalists,” Winwood said.

That some NMP graduates move on to practice in larger centres has its pluses, he added.

“I often said to people that if one of our graduates ends up being a cardiac surgeon in Vancouver, that’s got go be a good thing because when people from Prince George go to have cardiac surgery in Vancouver,

they’re encountering a physician who has some understanding of what it takes for that patient to get down there and what they’re going through,” he said.

To the extent that there is a move to improve the system, it is a call to increase the number of residencies.

Under the rallying cry of “no doctors left behind,” the University of British Columbia Medical Undergraduate Society said there were 14 unmatched graduates from that school in 2018 due to a lack of residency positions.

And the AFMC said 98 graduates were left without matches while 52 residencies were left unfilled following the latest round.

It is calling on provincial governments, including B.C., to provide 110 positions for each 100 graduates.

In Prince George, there are 15 residencies for family practice and two for psychiatry. Fort St. John is home to four family medicine residencies and Terrace is home to two. About a quarter of those residencies

are held by NMP graduates.

Of the NMP graduates who completed residency programs in the North, more than 70 are currently working in Northern B.C. and more than 100 physicians who are currently working in the region have been trained in University of British Columbia programs in the North. Nearly two thirds of NMP grads who are established in family practice are working in northern and rural communities in B.C. “Recognizing CaRMS is a highly competitive process, our Office of Student Affairs runs a career planning program which provides services to help students plan their future careers in medicine and prepare them for applying to residency programs,” NMP spokesperson Sonya Kruger said.

NMP provides support to those who remain unmatched, she also said, including a new course that gives graduates the opportunity to engage in clinical activities to develop skills and to gain experience to help strengthen their residency application for the next year.

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Cougars leave draft table with pair of high-end picks Ted CLARKE Gateway staff

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rmed with the third- and fourthoverall picks in the Western Hockey League bantam draft, the Prince George Cougars tapped the same talent pool twice.

They zeroed in on the Okanagan Hockey Academy Edmonton bantam prep team and plucked out a couple of gems – selecting defenceman Keaton Dowhaniuk third overall, then selecting centre Koehn Ziemmer as the fourth player chosen in Red Deer.

“We got two very high-end players,” said Cougars general manager Mark Lamb.

“Dowhaniuk, a defenceman, he can play the game anyway you want to play, good puck-mover, he can play physical and he’s only going to grow.”

Dowhaniuk collected nine goals and 30 assists for 39 points in 29 games with his OHA team in the Canadian Sport School

Dowhaniuk

Ziemmer

Hockey League. He stands five-foot-10 and weighs 147 pounds and was picked as an all star in the Alberta Cup bantam tournament, collecting two goals and two assists in five

games. According to DraftGeek Scouting Report, Dowhaniuk was the consensus top defenceman available in the draft.

“He’s got a brother in the league who plays for Edmonton (2002-born defenceman Logan Dowhaniuk) and the family is really familiar with the league,” added Lamb.

The five-foot-10, 179-pound Ziemmer, a native of Mayerthorpe, Alta., was a potent point producer with his OHA team. In 34 games he had 42 goals and 38 assists for 82 points.

“Koehn Ziemmer is a very high-skilled goalscorer who can offensive plays who has had a great year, said Lamb.

“The two kids played together so they’ve got some really good chemistry, so I don’t think we could be happier with the two

picks we got, we got a real stud D and a real stud forward.”

Before the draft began the Cougars made a deal with the Winnipeg Ice, sending the Ice the second-overall pick the Cats acquired in January 2018 from the Swift Current Broncos to allow Winnipeg to select forward Connor Geekie (Yellowhead bantam triple-A Chiefs).

The Ice had obtained the third-overall pick, originally owned by the Regina Pats, in an earlier trade from the Saskatoon Blades.

With their first-overall pick the Ice took forward Matthew Savoie (Northern Alberta midget Xtreme).

The Cougars had two second-round picks and with their own pick, 26th overall, chose F Kyren Gronick, a five-foot-nine, 181-pound forward from Regina (27g-26a53pts) who played this past season for the Regina Aces bantam team.

The Cougars also owned the Portland Winterhawks’ 36th overall pick, from the January 2018 deal that sent D Dennis Cholowski to the Winterhawks and used it to pick up D Jaren Brinson, who played last season for Edge Academy in Calgary.

Brinson, a native of Airdrie, Alta. (2-8-11 in 31 games) measures five-foot-11 and 133 pounds.

The Cougars did not have a third-round pick and in the fourth round selected LW Carter MacAdams of Delta Hockey Academy 70th overall.

The Langley native, who stands six-footone and weighs 150 pounds, had 25 goals and 45 points in 32 games.

— see ‘CLEARLY, page 15

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Northern musicians up for awards Frank PEEBLES Gateway staff

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he Western Canadian Music Alliance has announced the nominees for this year’s Western Canadian Music Awards.

This annual night of music power is the pinnacle event of the BreakOut West music conference. It will be held in Whitehorse this year, from Oct. 2 to Oct. 6.

The Prince George region had a couple of names on the list of nominees among the 31 categories.

Each category has a shortlist of five.

The nearest name among the nominees is Cariboo couple Pharis & Jason Romero.

The Horsefly act has already piled up a trophy case full of Canadian Folk Music Awards, Penguin Eggs Readers Poll, Stingray Folk-Roots citations, multiple Junos (including 2019) and several previous “Westies” to go with these three new nominations.

Pharis & Jason Romero are up for one of the highlight categories, Recording of the Year (the shortlist also includes Dan Mangan, Foxwarren, Jill Barber and Sarah MacDougall), for Roots Duo/Group of the Year, and for another of the biggies in the Songwriter of the Year category for their latest hit tune Sweet Old Religion.

Another name with close contacts is in the Blues Artist of the Year category.

Vying with Brandon Isaak, David Gogo, Jack Semple and James Buddy Rogers is former northerner Ndidi O who was known by her full name, Ndidi Onukwulu, when she lived in Burns Lake growing up.

From a little farther down Highway 16, congratulations are also in order for some other former northerners: Snotty Nose Rez Kids (Kitamaat Village), Aaron Pritchett (Kitimat), and former Smithers resident Dan Mangan who is up for five awards (the most of any artist this year, to go along with his Jimmy Kimmel Live appearance a few weeks ago).

Members of the Western Canadian Music Alliance can vote on some of these awards. Any aspiring or veteran musician can find new information, contacts, or opportunities to advance in the music industry by attending the BreakOut West conference each year.

The event consists of the BreakOut West Festival, with over 100 shows, the Western Canadian Music Awards, as well as the conference itself with educational panels, networking events, and so much more.

The conference and the Westies are dedicated to the artists and other music professionals from B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwest Territories and Yukon.

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‘Clearly we’re in a development cycle’ — from page 14 The Cats had two seventhround picks and picked LW Andrej Kovacevic of the West Vancouver Warriors bantam prep team (27-29-56 in 34 games) 136th overall, then used their 146th pick to choose F Kassius Ker, also of the West Vancouver Warriors, 146th overall. Ker had 38 goals and 66 points in 30 games last season.

In the eighth round, 158th overall, the Cats decided on Ty Young, a goalie who played for the Lethbridge triple-A bantam Golden Hawks. In 22 games he posted a 2.77 average and .919 save percentage.

He’s from Coaldale, Alta.

D Connor Claughton joined the Cougars in the ninth round, 195th overall. He played this past season for the Red Deer Rebels bantam triple-A team,

posting two goals and 12 assists in 26 games. The five foot-eight, 138-pound Claughton is from Red Deer.

For their last pick of the day, in the 10th round, 202nd overall, the Cougars went with five-footeight, 130 pound centre Gavin Schmidt, a native of Calgary who totaled five goals and 32 points in 33 games with the Okotoks Oilers triple-A bantam team.

“Clearly we’re in a development cycle with a strong upward trend,” said Bob Simmonds, the Cougars director of scouting.

“These players combined with the (2003-born players picked in the draft last year) and the ‘05s we’ll get next year we believe will be the core of a team that will be successful for years and will be competing for championships.”

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Society looking to save historic theatre Frank PEEBLES Gateway staff

O Handout photo

The Lakes District Film Appreciation Society is raising money to save the 70-yearold Beacon Theatre in Burns Lake.

ne of the region’s oldest movie theatres is clinging to life and a society of volunteers is administering structural first aid but they need an infusion of cash.

The Beacon Theatre is about 70 years old and still shows a regular menu of movies in Burns Lake.

The only way it has been able to survive in the home entertainment era is because the building and its operations were taken over by a not-for-profit society.

The Lakes District Film Appreciation Society can do business like no profit-dependent corporation can.

What they cannot do, though, is reach into deep pockets for renovation money.

They scrimped and saved for some small fixes, but as is often the case when an old structure’s walls are opened, more work was required than was anticipated.

“We had about $100,000 saved up to do repairs because we thought we had some rot in one of the walls,” said John Illes, one of the society members and a one-time town councillor.

“The good news was, we did not have the rot problem we thought we had, but we discovered all kinds of other bad news when we got into the wall. We discovered a lot of work had to be done to update things to modern code.”

The engineer’s report gave the society a one-year timeline to do the repairs, so as to avoid any overload of snow. As it was, society members went up on the roof and shoveled off any significant snowfalls that came this past winter. Illes said it was thankfully a light year for snowfall in Burns Lake, but it wasn’t a sustainable plan going forward.

Completing the repairs are the only viable solution.

That includes the option of a complete tear-down.

“For us, renovating is by far the cheaper way to go,” he said.

“We did look into that, and a complete replacement is far beyond the numbers we’re

We were not the first not-for-profit society to operate a movie theatre, we modelled ourselves on one in Revelstoke, and I think there is one more now that’s followed suit.

— John Illes needing for a renovation – somewhere between five-to-seven million, which is just not viable – but a renovation is all that’s required, in truth. We discovered that the bones of this building are actually in excellent shape, but we have to do upgrading to all four walls and the roof.”

To complete the work, the society needs to gather somewhere in the neighbourhood of another $400,000. A set of grant applications are in the works to acquire that funding, to minimize any call for public donations. That is not a step the society is taking, yet.

A profit-based business has a difficult time getting donations or grants, but societies are set up to draw in dollars in aid of doing a public service.

The Beacon Theatre has closed and been dormant at times, due to the business model realities of running a movie house.

But the society model has allowed for up to seven staff and a steady stream of entertainment at the only theatre in the small town west of Prince George.

They have hosted concerts there as well, from touring acts like The Mercy Brothers, The Kerplunks, and Ian Tyson, and also hosted the world premiere of the feature film Neutral Territory which writer-director Josias Tschanz set and shot in his hometown.

“We were not the first not-for-profit society to operate a movie theatre, we modelled ourselves on one in Revelstoke, and I think there is one more now that’s followed suit,” said Illes.

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No charges against RCMP dog handler after serious injury during arrest Mark NIELSEN Gateway staff

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he B.C. Prosecution Service says charges will not be pursued against a Prince George RCMP dog handler from a 2015 arrest in which a suspected truck thief suffered serious injuries.

In a clear statement issued Thursday, the BCPS found the force the officer used was reasonable under the circumstances.

According to a summary of the incident, on Sept. 8, 2015, RCMP were conducting covert surveillance on a stolen pickup truck and when they attempted to pull it over, the suspect attempted to flee as did two other occupants.

A police dog was released, and it chase

the suspect down and took hold of his leg.

When the suspect continued to resist, the dog’s handler delivered one punch and two elbow strikes to his face, according to a statement provided by the officer.

The suspect suffered a displaced jaw and facial fractures and maintained the officer actually kicked him in the face as many as six times.

The Independent Investigations Office, the civilian-based organization that investigates police-related incidents of death or serious harm, was called in to investigate and, in March 2017, handed its findings over to the BCPS for consideration of charges.

According to statements provided by the officer and a colleague involved in the apprehension, they had cornered the pickup

when it was driven onto a driveway on a rural Prince George property and backed up against a metal gate.

The suspect was recognized from past instances, including a previous attempt to flee police.

When the partner used his vehicle to block the pickup, the driver attempted to use the truck to push back, spinning the wheels as it pressed against the RCMP vehicle.

The dog handler, meanwhile, drove his vehicle into the side of the pickup to disable the rear axle or tire.

The occupants jumped out and the suspect ran toward the highway. Worried the suspect would try a carjacking or take someone hostage in one of the nearby homes, the handler released the dog.

While the injuries were consistent with being hit by either hand and elbow or by foot, the BCPS raised questions about the suspect’s credibility, noting he denied the truck was stolen and maintained he was not trying to flee police while in the pickup, despite getting out to run away.

“The subject officer’s evidence regarding the nature of the strikes would at least raise a reasonable doubt. Based on this, in conjunction with anticipated credibility issues in regards to the suspect’s evidence, the evidence is not capable of establishing that the kicking alleged by the suspect occurred beyond a reasonable doubt,” the BCPS said.

“There is no substantial likelihood of conviction against the subject officer for any offence in relation to this incident. No charges are approved.”

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Gateway photo by Brent Braaten

Tiana Tozer speaks to students at Duchess Park Secondary School in Prince George about life choices, driving as a privilege and how her life was impacted by an impaired driver at the age of 20. During her talk she drew from her experience as a humanitarian worker in Iraq helping people with disabilities advocate for themselves and as a two-time U.S. Paralympic medalist.

Students hear from Paralympian injured in drunken car crash Mark NIELSEN Gateway staff

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iana Tozer was a young woman with big ambitions and “everything in the world” going for her.

A second-year student at the University of Oregon, she was studying for a career in international diplomacy with a dream of becoming the United States’ ambassador to France. Tozer had even been accepted into the University of Lyon for her junior year.

But on May 14, 1988, a “beautiful spring day,” she hopped into the back of a car with three friends and, for reasons she could not explain and against her usual practice, decided against putting on her seatbelt.

“We were heading up the street in Eugene, Ore., and all of a sudden there was a flash and I was on the ground,” Tozer told an assembly of Grade 12 Duchess Park Secondary School students on Thursday.

They had been broadsided by a drunk driver who had missed a stop sign partially blocked by a tree growing in a nearby home.

“Without the seatbelt restraint I was thrown out of the car and run over by a 3,000-pound vehicle,” Tozer said.

She initially thought she had suffered two broken legs and would be out of the hospital in a couple of weeks.

“Boy, was I wrong,” Tozer said.

Facing the likelihood she would not live, physicians transfused her body with blood two-and-a-half times.And while she survived, everything from her left hip down had been broken and the possibility remained that she would lose her lower right leg.

“The muscles had been crushed so badly that they were no longer getting the blood they needed and they were dying,” she said.

— see ‘I WAS, page 19

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‘I was 20 years old and I didn’t want to live anymore’ — from page 18 Tozer was in hospital for the next month and three days, going through surgery every other day as physicians searched for the dying muscle before it became infected and forced them to amputate her leg above her knee.

They removed so much muscle that bone was exposed. They tried filling in the gap with a flap of flesh from a shoulder blade but after a couple days, it had turned blue and had to be removed.

More drastic action was taken in the form of taking some muscle from her lower left leg, pulling it over the bone and attaching it to the tendons. But that too failed.

In less than two weeks, she had lost 30 pounds from her six-foot-one frame and was down to a scant 135.

At the best of times, a woman of her stature needs 1,500 to 2,000 calories a day just to maintain her size. Too heal from those injuries, she needed twice that but was barely eating at all and had to be fed intraveneously.

Through it all, Tozer was in a state of denial believing she would be walking again, just like she had before the crash. She left the hospital in a wheelchair and deeply depressed.

“I was 20 years old and I didn’t want to live anymore,” she said.

The drunk driver – whose blood alcohollevel was .09, barely above the legal limit of .08 in Oregon – has also paid dearly.

He was driving without a licence, due to a previous driving while impaired, and without insurance and so, has had to bear the full brunt of the more than $250,000 worth of reconstructive surgery Tozer has had to go through over the years.

Each month for 25 years, Tozer would get a cheque for $200 in the mail. Then they stopped even though he still had $160,000 to pay off. As a result of the crash, he was found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon which severely limited his job prospects.

“He was unemployed,” Tozer said.

“He was having difficulty finding employment and the cheques stopped coming. For the rest of his life he will never get out from underneath that debt... for the rest of his

Even though this awful thing had happened to me, my mother still had expectations of me. She expected me to do the best I could with what I had...

— Tiana Tozer life he will be paying for the consequence of his actions on May 14, 1988.”

Tozer said she too, will continue to pay for the consequences of her actions and noted she has gone through 34 reconstructive surgeries and counting.

At one point, she showed a photo of the “bloody, mangled thing” that was once her lower left leg, leaving her audience feeling squeamish.

Despite it all, Tozer has led a remarkably accomplished life. She twice played for the U.S. women’s wheelchair basketball team at the Paralympics, winning a silver and a bronze medal and she has been humanitarian worker in Iraq helping people with disabilities advocate for themselves in that country.

And while she walks with a severe limp more and more, she is able to get around without a wheelchair.

Tozer credits “strong support” from the people around her, notably her mother, for bouncing back.

“Even though this awful thing had happened to me, my mother still had expectations of me,” Tozer said, noting she was a single mother who worked as a church secretary.

“She expected me to do the best I could with what I had and be a contributing member of society.”

Tozer was in Prince George as part of an ICBC campaign to encourage students to keep safe driving at top of mind, particularly as graduation season looms.

On average, seven youth are killed and 400 are injured in 1,800 crashes each year in the North Central region, according to ICBC.

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Employers Health Tax hurting businesses, survey says Mark NIELSEN Gateway staff

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he Employers Health Tax is hitting local businesses’ bottom line, according to a survey conducted by the Prince George Chamber of Commerce.

Of the 42 members who responded, 70 per cent said the tax, which came into effect at the start of this year as a replacement for the Medical Services Premium, has delivered a negative impact.

Businesses with payrolls under $500,000 are exempt from the

EHT, but for companies with payrolls over $500,000 who did not pay premiums for their employees, it became a new expense.

Moreover, complete elimination of MSP premiums won’t occur until Jan. 1, 2020, although it was cut by 50 per cent this year, leading to accusations that the government is “double dipping.”

Sixty-two per cent of those who responded said the prices of their services and products will increase as a result of the EHT, while 36 per cent said they will need to reduce staffing and 23 per cent are considering changes to

Sixty-two per cent of those who responded said the prices of their services and products will increase as a result of the EHT their structure with several saying they will move to Alberta.

“One of the more troubling survey responses was from a not-forprofit, who noted that while they are not directly impacted by the

EHT from a payroll perspective, they are seeing corporate donors unable to sustain giving levels as their costs have increased,” Chamber CEO Todd Corrigall said.

“As not-for-profits support a variety of services and opportunities in our communities, this impact can be incredibly damaging.”

The estimated impact of the EHT ranged from as little as $9,500 to $1 million, depending on the respondent.

“Still figuring that out but we already have low profit margins and this may make us unprofitable,” one respondent said.

The EHT accounted for a $1-million increase to the city’s property tax levy, based on a rate of 1.95 per cent of the city’s payroll.

Businesses and public sector bodies with payrolls over $500,000 a year to pay a 0.98 per cent tax on annual payroll. The tax goes up in increments up for every $250,000, reaching a maximum of 1.95 per cent for those with payrolls over $1.5 million.

Eliminating the MSP will save individuals up to $900 a year and families $1,800 a year, the provincial government says.

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Prince Rupert container growth highest on West Coast Jeremy HAINSWORTH Glacier Media

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argo handled via Canada’s West Coast ports grew faster than it did through their American cousins between 2017 and 2018.

Vancouver realized a three per cent increase in the number of 20-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) moved through its facilities in 2018: 3,396,449 compared with 3,252,220 in 2017. Total tonnage was up 3.5 per cent to 147 million metric tonnes (MMT) from 142 MMT. Between 2016 and 2017, TEUs rose 11 per cent and tonnage increased five per cent.

The biggest gain through Vancouver port facilities was in petroleum products, including aviation and jet fuel, crude petroleum, diesel and fuel oils and gas. Those rose to 8.44 MMT from 6.3, a gain of 33.3 per cent.

The previous year there was a one per cent drop.

Other gains were modest. Fertilizers increased 16.1 per cent to 11.5 MMT from 9.9 compared with a seven per cent drop the year before; machinery, vehicles, construction and materials rose 5.6 per cent, to 6.3 MMT from 6 MMT, compared with a nine per cent increase between 2016 and 2017; coals rose 2.1 per cent to 37.6 MMT from 36.8 compared with a 12 per cent gain the year before; and consumer and related goods increased 1.9 per cent to 9.17 MMT from 9 MMT on top of the previous year’s eight per cent rise.

Animal products, dairy and produce posted a slight increase of 0.8 per cent to 1.59 MMT from 1.58, a drop from the seven per cent jump in 2016-17.

On the other side of the ledger, chemicals, basic metals and minerals declined four per cent, dropping to 36.8 MMT from 17.13. That’s against an increase of seven per cent in 2016-17.

Prince Rupert’s container cargo continues to grow. It jumped 12 per cent, four times Vancouver’s three per cent increase, to 1,036,009 TEUs last year from 926,539 in 2017. All other Prince Rupert terminals combined realized a 10 per cent increase, with 26.67 MMT moved compared with 24.17 MMT in 2017.

Prince Rupert Grain Ltd., which handles barley, canola, oats, soybeans and wheat, saw a six per cent cargo decline from 5.77 MMT in 2017 to 5.44 MMT in 2018. Coke and coal traffic jumped 21 per cent to 9.12 MMT from 7.56.

Prince Rupert plans to increase annual TEU throughput capacity to 1.8 million by 2022 from 1.3 million. The port moved past the one-million-container-per-year mark Dec. 18.

Prince Rupert’s potential terminal traffic received a boost March 27 when the world’s 11th-largest container carrier, ZIM Integrated Shipping Services, (ZIM) announced it had partnered with the 2M Alliance vessel-sharing agreement and added Prince Rupert to its North American trade loop.

The Northwest Seaport Alliance (SeattleTacoma) realized marginal TEU growth of 2.5 per cent, increasing to 3,797,626 last year from 3,702,174 in 2017. That was also an increase compared with 3,615,752 TEUs in 2016. The port moved a total of 30.17 MMT in 2018, a 9.4 per cent increase from 27.57 in 2017.

Break bulk increased 18.1 per cent to 248,933 from 210,725 metric tonnes, autos rose 1.4 per cent to 228,295 tonnes from 225,109 and container cargo was up 10.6 per cent to 28.87 MMT from 26.1 MMT. Log movement plummeted 58 per cent to 116,790 tonnes from 278,078 and petroleum fell seven per cent to 665,670 tonnes from 715,546.

The port increased its loading capacity early in 2018 with the addition of four post-Panamax cranes. Another four arrived in March, increasing the port’s handling capacity to two 18,000-TEU container ships at once. And the port is set to boom as its board of directors on April 2 approved a US$500 million expansion of Terminal 5.

The port said the project would give it the capacity to handle seven million TEUs annually by 2050.

Meanwhile, Oakland is set to increase its freight handling with the addition of three 300-foot-tall gantry cranes at the Oakland International Container Terminal in 2020.

They will be capable of handling megaships up to 1,300 feet long and carrying nearly 23,000 cargo containers arranged in vertical stacks of 12 on the largest vessels.

Oakland’s TEU movement continues to rise, to 2,546,351 in 2018 from 2,420,937 in 2017, an increase of five per cent compared with a rise of 2.1% in 2016.

While moving the West Coast’s largest amount of cargo, the Port of Los Angeles saw a TEU traffic increase of only 1.2 per cent. It moved 9,458,748 TEUs in 2018, 9,343,192 in 2017 and 8,856,782 in 2016.

That, in part, reflects total tonnage of 194.5 million revenue tonnes, a drop from 198.1 million but still an increase over previous years.

Los Angeles moved 156,091 vehicles in 2018, a drop of 34 per cent compared with 236,956 in 2017. The adjacent Port of Long Beach saw TEU growth of 7.2 per cent with 8,091,023 TEUs moving in 2018 over 7,544,507 the previous year. That was up from 6,775,171 TEUs in 2016.

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UNBC student embedded at Gateway Lodge Mark NIELSEN Gateway staff

A Gateway Photo by James Doyle

Zachery Fleck, centre, plays cards with residents of the Gateway Lodge Assisted Living facility. Fleck is a third-year international studies student at UNBC and is part of a pilot program which sees students and residents co-exist in the facility.

t the relatively young age of 27, Zachary Fleck knows more than most people his age about what it’s like to be old.

For the past four months, he has been living at Gateway Lodge, where he has been taking notes and making friends while earning credits towards a degree at UNBC. Among the things he learned was that Gateway is a pretty good place to be.

“We talk about aging in place and staying where we’ve lived but there is a ton of upside to moving into a place like this,” Fleck said.

Fleck was engaging in what is called experiential learning. In addition to dealing with the rest of his course load, he devoted 10 hours each week to spending quality time with seniors living at Gateway.

“Eating meals, doing activities and just sort of hanging out and talking,” he said.

Fleck is in his third year at UNBC where he is working towards a degree in international studies. He took the course because his grandparents are moving on towards assisted living.

“So I thought it would be a really good opportunity to come in and learn about what the assisted living situation looked like and to be able to learn from all the residents here,” Fleck said.

He was also obligated to organize some activities. Playing Wheel of Fortune and music trivia and watching movies were some of the pastimes he came up with.

The most popular was show and tell.

“It went a lot better than I thought it would because you’d think show and tell, it’s supposed to be for kids so it could be kind of patronizing, but everyone actually really, really enjoyed it,” Fleck said, noting one resident showed up with a $100 Confederate bill.

Residents “absolutely loved to tell their stories,” Fleck also said.

Among those who relayed their experiences was 92-year-old Rose Dorish who for years operated House of Flowers and was instrumental in establishing AimHi in the mid-1960s. Fleck won her seal of approval.

“He was wonderful,” Dorish said. “He just loved to listen. In the end, you could feel and see that he was (interested). He wanted to know all about you.”

Fleck is the third student to participate in the course, which was launched last fall and is part of a larger study into the interactions between old and young being conducted

by UNBC professors Shannon Freeman and Dawn Hemingway.

“We’re talking to the residents, we’re talking to the staff, we’re talking to the students,” Hemingway said. “Just tracking what kinds of things residents want to do.”

They hope to produce some initial findings this summer and embedding students for a whole academic year is also on the agenda.

With an abundance of baby boomers now entering their later years, taking care of them will likely become a career path for more and more young people.

Whether he is among them remains to be seen, but Fleck said he’s become more secure about getting old.

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