One Prince George teenager realized she didn’t really need what she thought she needed after spending three days recently doing outreach to those on the streets of East Vancouver.
“We have so much and we don’t realize it,” Rachel Barg, Cedars Christian Grade 11 student, said.
“Especially teenagers, who are so focused on ‘oh, I need this new phone and I need this shirt, I need these jeans’ and we think that’s what we need but those people (on the streets) are so content with what they have. A lot of them say they don’t need anything more, they have everything they need. And I just took away that I don’t need everything that I think I do.”
From Sept. 9 to 13, a group of 17 Grade 11 students from Cedars Christian School took a bus to downtown Vancouver to take part in the Mission Adventure which is a program offered by Youth With A Mission, an evangelical interdenominational, non-profit Christian missionary organization that spans 181 countries. During the program, the students stayed at the Chinatown Peace Church on East Pender
(It’s) bad enough for them to be on the streets and not have somewhere warm to live, but then to get all those dirty looks for doing nothing but sitting on the street, it’s sad.
— Victoria Van Delft
Street where they slept on foamies in the Sunday school classrooms.
Each day brought a different challenge for the group including the Urban Plunge where the teengers were to walk the streets just as if they had no place else to go for six hours.
It happened to be pouring rain the day they went out and teacher Sarah Allan, who went with the students, said there was concern for their well-being expressed by those living on the streets.
“Get those kids inside, they’re going to get sick,” Allan said she was told repeatedly by the homeless in Vancouver’s east side.
Part of the Urban Plunge challenge asked the students to sit in front of a high-end store in Gastown for 15 minutes to see what kind of reaction they got from those walking on the street.
“We’d get dirty looks and glares and people would make fun of us,” Victoria Van Delft said.
UHNBC busier than usual
Citizen staff
The University Hospital of Northern B.C. is currently experiencing higher-than-normal volumes of patients, and residents are being asked to consider other options before heading to the emergency department.
“These periods occur at various times of the year, including peak season for circulation of viruses such as the return to school, and influenza season,” Northern
Health said in a statement issued Friday.
“Increased demand for services, including patients who are elderly or requiring care for chronic conditions, can also contribute to high patient volumes.”
The agency offered the following advice to avoid unnecessary trips to the hospital:
• Patients who aren’t sure whether their condition would warrant an emergency room visit can call HealthLink BC at 811. For deaf
“And we weren’t even in that situation but for the people that are in that situation it’s bad enough for them to be on the streets and not have somewhere warm to live but then to get all those dirty looks for doing nothing but sitting on the street it’s sad.”
Each student was given a lunch for themselves and a lunch for someone else and were asked to talk to the people they met on the street.
“The children were to experience what the lifestyle was like, take in the information, build a relationship,” Allan explained.
During the second day the students went on a temple tour where they were able to get some insight into others’ beliefs.
The students attended a Sikh Temple, a Mosque and a Buddhist Temple.
At each religious institution there was a representative who explained their religion.
On the third day of their stay, students did one of three different outreaches. Union Gospel Mission hosts a soup kitchen and the teens helped serve the food to the guests and spoke to them.
Melody Forbes said she would like to volunteer at a local soup kitchen after spending time in the one in Vancouver.
“It was really fun to volunteer at the soup kitchen and the people we were working with were super friendly and I felt like I was being really helpful and some of the people who we were serving were so grateful for what we were doing.”
— see ‘THIS IS, page 3
City won’t face penalty for not using tax option
Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca
A government MLA gave a degree of assurance the city won’t be penalized for city council’s decision to not spend revenue from the tax on hotel rooms on affordable housing.
Earlier this year, the provincial government had given municipalities the option, but on Monday, council voted to continue using the levy as originally intended – to promote tourism.
The now-three-per-cent levy on the cost of a room in the city came into effect in 2010 after approval from a vast majority of hotels and motels in the city. Revenue from the levy raises about $1 million per year for Tourism Prince George.
On Tuesday, Coun. Garth Frizzell raised the matter with the select committee on finance and government services when it was in Prince George.
The committee is touring the province collecting submissions on how government revenue should be spent in advance of the 2019 budget. It led to an exchange between Frizzell and MLA Nicholas Simmons, who said municipalities were merely being given the option.
“It’s not being imposed, you’re not being told to use it that way, so don’t,” he said.
“So what’s the issue with that? Just curious.”
Frizzell replied that not taking the step could compromise the city’s ability to get provincial government funds for affordable housing in the future.
“The challenge is that whether we have the access or don’t have the access, the next step would be when we come back asking for housing without taking it away from tourism... it would be ‘well, you had the opportunity to use or money to do it and you didn’t take it,” he said.
In response, Simmons said the provincial government is “completely dedicated to addressing the issue around housing and I don’t think they’re planning to do that through taking off the hotel tax.”
and hearing-impaired assistance (TTY), call 711. If you are concerned about a possible poisoning or exposure to a toxic substance, call Poison Control at 1-800-5678911.
• For non-emergency health information nurses, dietitians, and pharmacists go to www.HealthLinkBC.ca.
• For non-urgent care, use community health services including your family practitioner or walk-in clinics, where available.
• If you have a cold, call HealthLinkBC at 811 for advice, or ask your pharmacist about overthe-counter medications to ease symptoms.
• Remember, flu season is approaching; check immunizebc.ca for clinic dates.
“If at any time you believe you require urgent medical attention, do not hesitate to go to the emergency department, or call 911 for transportation,” Northern Health added.
The option was being provided in answer to the shortage of housing in some communities for workers in the tourism sector, Simmons added.
On Monday, Coun. Jillian Merrick was the lone council member to oppose a motion against pursuing the option saying the city’s vacancy rates are incredibly low and suggested the number of homeless in the city’s downtown has impacted hoteliers.
Students from Cedars Christian School went to downtown East Vancouver last week to volunteer helping the homeless.
Getting in shape
An excavator shapes up the new Nechako Rotary Learning Centre at Hart Highlands ski hill on Thursday afternoon. The learning centre will have a magic carpet lift. Other work includes expanding the snow making capability at the hill.
Budget for new city water system nearly doubled to more than $6M
Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff
mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca
City council approved this week a near doubling of the budget for construction of a new water system for Western Acres. Originally estimated to cost slightly less than $3.39 million, council added $2.95 million on Monday night for a total cost of $6.34 million, after learning the lowest of three bids for the work came in at $5.13 million.
The project calls for a new higher capacity water source well, to replace an undersized and aging pump station and reservoir and increased reservoir capacity in the name of fire protection and emergency backup power.
Engineering and public works general manager Dave Dyer attributed the jump to three reasons:
• The original budget was prepared in 2014 when the Canadian dollar was worth 91 cents U.S. It’s since dropped to 76 cents and the pump station mechanical and electrical systems are made south of the border;
• The reservoir is made of reinforced
concrete and the cost of steel has dramatically increased over the last year. The original estimate was based largely on the cost of a 2005 project – the last time a reservoir was built in the city, Dyer added.
• Construction costs have generally increased for pump stations and concrete structures in the region due to higher costs for trades in the north and a skilled labour shortage. The entire bill will be paid out of the water capital expenditure reserve. Because the money won’t be borrowed, the city is not obligated to take the project through an alternate approval process. But four other projects on the books will be delayed for a couple of years.
Three of them are in the Hart and one in College Heights. Dyer said he doubts the cost of those projects will rise as well.
“The ones we’re deferring are linear water main projects which haven’t seen that dramatic increase,” he said. “It’s the stations and the structures that are having a higher problem right now and we don’t build those as often as water mains. We tend to have better numbers
on the water mains so I’m not as concerned.”
Most council members agreed there is little choice but to approve the increase.
“I’m really concerned about not proceeding,” Coun. Murry Krause said. “We could vote no on principle but at the end of the day we still need to provide proper fire coverage and clean water and all those things that everybody insists on.”
Saying he was “really not comfortable with almost doubling the budget,” Coun. Brian Skakun was the lone councillor to vote against the increase.
The existing system dates back to the 1960s and was “never sufficient to accommodate the domestic demand of a full build out of the Western Acres subdivision,” Dyer said in a report to council.
“After over 50 years, there remain over 20 lots in the existing subdivision that are vacant due to the lack of water supply.”
The budget also covers the cost of land acquisition, groundwater hydrogeological services, drilling of a second new well, detailed engineering design and construction period services and decommissioning of the existing well.
Fehr named to Order of British Columbia
Citizen staff
BID Group founder Brian Fehr was named to the Order of British Columbia during a ceremony Thursday at Government House in Victoria.
He was be among 14 people who received the province’s highest honour. It was presented in recognition of his achievements as both a businessman and a community supporter.
Although having only a Grade 12 education, he built BID Group into a billion-dollar operation that provides innovative technical systems and construction services for wood products industries in B.C., across Canada and into the United States.
The companies employ 400 people in B.C. and 1,400 more throughout North America. A focus on innovation has played a role in that sucess.
Through its subsidiary, DelTech, the BID Group has developed biomass energy systems that lower energy costs and greenhouse emissions, using wood waste that was formerly burned by the forest industry.
And following the Babine and Lakeland sawmill explosions, Fehr developed a dust-mitigation system that has been installed in all 15 Canfor sawmills.
“He foresaw the potential of artificial intelligence and the potential for machinery to make decisions that would improve productivity,” according to a biography provided by the Honours and Awards Secretariat. “His ‘profiling’ technology allows a log to be processed into lumber with a single pass, cutting labour costs.
“Auto grading, which uses computers to optimize the value of each piece of lumber by making decisions at a much higher production rate than manually grading lumber, has revolutionized the industry through minimizing loss in process, improvements in the value of finished products and cost reduction.
“His predictive maintenance processes for sawmills means equipment can be fixed before a breakdown occurs, increasing worker safety and improving efficiency.”
Fehr has also served on the boards of the B.C. Association for Crane Safety and the B.C. Safety Authority (now Technical Safety BC).
CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN
Patricia closed
Patricia Boulevard is closed from the intersection with Queensway to the entrance of city hall to allow for the installation of a new sewer system along Lower Patricia Boulevard to London Street. The city expects the closure to be in effect for several weeks and today the city will close the intersection of Patricia Boulevard and Queensway for the day.
‘This is someone’s child who is now completely alone’
— from page 1
“There was one lady I served that was kind of picky and the person behind her told her to just take what she could get and that was so sweet,” Forbes said.
Students visited a harm reduction centre where they wrapped donations for Christmas, and Doors Open held a soup kitchen where children prepared the food and served lunch to those in need.
Students also went downtown and held a Free Prayer Station, where they would stand on the street holding a sign and they would pray with and for whoever approached.
During the Free Prayer Station on East Hastings Street, Antonja Mracovcic said it was heartbreaking to watch as a man in the throes of his drug addiction tried to reach out to the students for prayer and ended up smashing himself into a concrete wall.
“It was really hard to see that,” Mracovcic said, recalling how he ended up crumpled on the sideway broken and bleeding. “This is someone’s child who is now completely alone. We prayed for his protection.”
As part of the students’ continued education a special treat was offered each evening as different cultures were explored by showcasing Mexican, Vietnamese and East Indian cuisine for dinner.
The Grade 11 students who attended the outreach program included Rachel Barg, Lucas Crosina, Regan Faller, Melody Forbes, Katriel Hrankowski, Daniel Iyaoromi, Karl Kibonge, Josh Leboe, Caleb Milton, Antonija Mracovcic, Brooklyn Neufeld, Micaela Rogers, Victoria Van Delft, Ryley Woolgar, Isaac Lee, Dany Tkeng, Ethan Hynes and educational assistant Tammi Friesen accompanied the students with teacher Sarah Allan.
Debate on proportional representation to be held at UNBC
Citizen staff
A debate on whether use proportional representation to elect B.C.’s MLAs is on the calendar.
It will be held in the Canfor Theatre at the University of Northern B.C. on October 13, 11:30 a.m. start.
Vancouver-Fraser MP and former B.C. Liberal cabinet minister Suzanne Anton will represent No BC Proportional Representation Society and Prince George-based columnist and activist Peter Ewart will speak on behalf of Fair Vote BC. UNBC political science professor Gary Wilson will moderate. The Prince George Chamber of Commerce is co-
hosting the event.
“It is vitally important that the electorate become knowledgeable on the formats for electing political parties and MLAs in our province,” chamber CEO Todd Corrigall said.
“Changes to our electoral system must be fully vetted and delivered in a way that provides the greatest access and accountability of elected officials. B.C. has twice undertaken this process. However, the current referendum will be a mail-in ballot, which traditionally yields low voter turnout.”
A referendum by mail on the proposal will run from Oct. 22 to Nov. 30. Registered voters will get voting packages in the mail from Elections BC during that time.
NEWS IN BRIEF
All-candidates forum set for Tuesday
An all-candidates forum will be held on Tuesday for those vying for a seat on city council. It will be held at the downtown branch of the Prince George Public Library. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the forum starts at 7 p.m. and runs for two hours. Each candidate will get 90 seconds to provide an introduction and then they will field questions submitted by voters as collected by the event’s host, CBC Radio. Those who wish to submit a question can do so at the forum. Each candidate can volunteer to answer two questions and if no one volunteers, the moderator will randomly select two names. There will also be special questions for the two mayoral candidates with both getting the opportunity to answer the same question.
— Citizen staff
Slightly warmer fall in cards, says Weather Network
The Central Interior will go through a slightly warmer than fall with a typical amount of precipitation, The Weather Network is predicting. The cool September should make way for the trend in
October as a Pacific front moves into the area, “and that trend will continue even into November, TWN meteorologist Brad Rousseau said this week. It’ll still be best to pack away the shorts, T-shirts and sunglasses. “Even though I’m saying it’s going to be above seasonal, don’t expect summer-type warmth,” Roussau said. “October is cooler than September and November cooler than October.”
In October, the average daytime high is about 9.5 C and in November it’s 1 C in the region. As for precipitation, Rousseau the levels could be “at or even tip just above normal. We’ll see how that storm track starts to pan out as you get into November.” On average, the region gets about 8 cm of snow in October, climbing to 36 cm in November. — Citizen staff
Horgan apologizes for removal of totem pole at border
SURREY (CP) — Three First Nations in British Columbia gathered Friday to raise a restored replica totem pole at a Canada-U.S. border crossing – a decade after it was removed by the province without notice. The Semiahmoo, Kwakwaka’wakw and Haida nations say the pole symbolizing the grizzly bear was raised near the Peace Arch crossing in the 1950s but taken down without consultation in 2008 to make way for a new tourism centre.
CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN
Feds to review tanker traffic in bid to renew pipeline approval
Mia RABSON Citizen news service
OTTAWA — Natural Resources Minister
Amarjeet Sohi says the government is not assuming the National Energy Board will once again recommend the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion go forward as he asks it to go back and reconsider the environmental impact of increased oil tanker traffic off the coast of British Columbia.
The Liberals are giving the board 22 weeks to conduct a full assessment impact on the number of oil tankers in the Burrard Inlet – from five a month to about 35 a month – that the pipeline will bring.
The board is to provide its finding to cabinet by the end of February on whether the pipeline should be approved again and if so, what additional conditions must be met.
The NEB approved the expansion in the spring of 2016, but the Federal Court of Appeal last month overturned that approval, ruling it was given without a proper review of the impact the project will have on marine shipping and, in particular, whether it poses additional risks to the endangered southern resident killer whales.
Sohi said Friday the court decision to tear up the federal approval of the pipeline was “disappointing, but by no means insurmountable.”
However he also said the government wants the NEB to keep an open mind as it does the review.
“We will not prejudge the outcome of the NEB,” Sohi said. Sohi said the 22-week time frame was
picked because the Liberals believed it was enough time to conduct the needed assessment. He denied the timeframe had anything to do with trying to get the pipeline back underway before the Alberta election in May – or before the federal election in October 2019.
“We are not focused on election cycles,” he said. “What we are focused on is what needs to be done right.”
In Edmonton Friday, Premier Rachel Notley told reporters the deadline is reasonable, but said she is skeptical the process will unfold as expected, or that there won’t be further legal challenges.
“If (the deadline) starts to slip and the goalposts shift, I can assure you that the voices of Albertans will be loud... Through my government, they will be heard,” she said. “Should it start to appear that (legal) game playing is working, we will hold Ottawa’s feet to the fire.”
A new round of Indigenous consultations will also happen, but the timeline has yet to be determined, said Sohi.
The Federal Court of Appeal also cited an improper consultation with Indigenous communities as a reason for ripping up the federal approval for the expanded pipeline.
doesn’t give any assurances the project will ever be built. She said she still believes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau doesn’t really want the project to go forward.
B.C. New Democrat Nathan Cullen said the government’s claim it is keeping an open mind as it does further reviews was ridiculous.
“You can’t have meaningful consultations if you’ve already made up your mind,” he said. “Justin Trudeau has already made up his mind on this project. He wants this pipeline. He insists this pipeline is going to be built.”
The original NEB review of Trans Mountain was done mainly in 2015, before the Liberals were elected. Keith Stewart, an energy strategist with Greenpeace, said the Conservative government was eager to avoid looking at tanker traffic increases because any review of it would surely find they pose a risk to the orcas, and therefore the NEB couldn’t say the pipeline won’t have any significant impacts on the environment and aquatic life.
Southern resident killer whales are in extreme peril, with only 75 of the iconic mammals known to be left, and no surviving calves since 2016.
Fisheries Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Friday the government knew when it took office that more needed to be done to help keep the whales from going extinct and further protections the Liberals have put in place will be taken into account in the NEB review.
“The plight of the killer whale doesn’t relate directly to this project alone,” he said.
“It relates to lack of availability of chinook salmon, contaminants in the water and all vessels in the Salish Sea, the 3,200 large container ships and cruise ships, thousands of BC ferries, tens of thousands of recreational boats... six more oil tankers a week is something that is important to mitigate, but this is a far bigger issue.”
The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs was not pleased with the government’s intention to try to keep the pipeline alive. Grand Chief Stewart Phillip said “the Trudeau government’s fanatical determination to build this disastrous pipeline and tanker project is boorish and disheartening.”
The Trans Mountain pipeline was owned by Kinder Morgan Canada until last month when the federal government bought it for $4.5 billion, hoping federal ownership would overcome the obstacles stopping it from being built. The court decision overturning the approval was issued the day before the sale was finalized.
— With files from Dean Bennett
Conservative natural resources critic Shannon Stubbs said the new review
CP PHOTO
Canadian Natural Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi fields questions about the government’s plans regarding the Trans Mountain Pipeline Project, as the G7 environment, oceans and energy ministers meet in Halifax on Friday.
Tornado tears through Ottawa, Gatineau
Citizen news service
OTTAWA — A tornado ripped through the Ottawa area Friday afternoon, damaging homes and vehicles as severe thunderstorms and high wind gusts also pounded southern Ontario.
Extensive damage to houses was reported by residents in Ottawa and in nearby Dunrobin. In Gatineau, Que., cars were overturned on Highway 50, said Environment Canada, which confirmed a tornado had touched down in the region.
Chris Angeconeb, his wife and their two sons went outside after getting a weather alert on their phones and saw a wall of rain and cloud coming toward their neighbourhood in Dunrobin.
Angeconeb, 52, said the clouds started to revolve in the sky and then it got eerily calm. One his sons, who is a volunteer firefighter, said it looked like a tornado was coming.
From the basement where they took shelter under the stairs, they could hear objects hitting the house.
“You could hear things ripping. The wind was just amazingly strong,” said Angeconeb. “It was intimidating and scary.”
After a few minutes, the noise subsided and when they went upstairs, there was debris everywhere.
“It was devastation,” he said.
“The house across the road – their garage was gone. Our good neighbour’s house –their house looked completely destroyed. And his neighbour, two doors down, their house was gone. The top level was gone and it was just the basement left.
“The man who lives there was asking for help because his sister had been hurt.”
Angeconeb said his house was in a relatively good shape, but the southwest side was damaged. The roof was ripped off in that corner and pieces of lumber were lodged in the wall.
“We were freaked out by it all. There is a little bit of shock on the part of everybody in our house, but otherwise we are OK.”
The family is going to spend the night with friends in a nearby community after firefighters asked them to leave the area over concerns about natural gas.
“I don’t think they are going to let us in there until a structural engineer goes in there and has a look and makes sure everything is safe,” he said, adding that first responders should be commended for getting to the neighbourhood quickly. “We had a really fast response from the Ottawa fire service. It really helped a lot that they were there to make sure we were OK.”
Peter Kimbell, a meteorologist with the national weather agency, said a line of thunderstorms running from west of Ottawa and into Gatineau were expected to continue into Friday night.
Fire trucks lined streets in Gatineau, where debris and downed trees covered roads. Massive billboards were also overturned near the Sabourin arena.
The city issued a statement Friday announcing the opening of a mobile command post and an emergency measures centre. Municipal authorities also carried out evacuations in collaboration with the Red Cross and the campus of Cegep de l’Outaouais was converted into a disaster centre.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged residents of both cities to “stay safe, follow the instructions of first responders and check in with people who might need extra help.”
“We’re monitoring the situation and thinking of everyone affected,” he said on Twitter.
The city of Ottawa said there were two areas of suspected tornado damage, Dunrobin and Nepean.
Canada to boost support for renewable energy
Michael TUTTON Citizen news service
HALIFAX — Millions of dollars in subsidies for a Nova Scotia tidal project is just one of the coming announcements as Ottawa boosts riskier forms of renewable energy, says the federal natural resources minister.
Amarjeet Sohi said Friday at a G7 energy ministers meeting that a $30-million contribution to a $117-million tidal project to harness the immense power of the Bay of Fundy tides will be among a series of subsidies given to kickstart innovations in emerging sectors across the country.
Tidal is one of the early investments coming out of the federal Liberals’ $200-million emerging renewable power program, which finished collecting requests for proposals this spring and expects to select four to six investments by the spring of 2019.
The program has received applications ranging from giant offshore wind turbines and concentrated photovoltaic solar power projects to large-scale geothermal energy projects in the West, say officials.
Meanwhile, the tidal announcement on the East Coast will be watched closely to see if it can overcome the challenges faced in harnessing the bay’s powerful tides – which have already damaged early test turbines. The project led by Irish-based DP Energy aims to have turbines producing energy into the grid by 2020, producing enough electricity for over 2,500 homes.
“This is an investment in the future,” said Sohi on the third day of meetings between environment, oceans and energy ministers, when asked about the security of the $30 million in taxpayer investment.
“This is one announcement, and part of many other announcements that we will be making in order to foster that innovation... to untap the potential that might otherwise go untapped if the government was not there to support it.”
He likened the emerging tidal industry to the early days of oil and gas, saying fossil fuels also might never have emerged without government shouldering some of the risk.
Stephen Thomas, energy campaign co-ordinator of Halifax’s Ecology Action Centre, said in a telephone interview that environmental groups support funding of the various offshore renewable projects – with some cautions.
“Providing $30 million in support for this tidal project is still a drop in the bucket compared to the subsidies received by the fossil fuel sector, which receives hundreds of millions to billions annually from the federal government, depending on the year,” he said.
But he says it’s crucial to ensure that the latest project learns from mistakes of the past.
“We hope that DP Energy takes seriously the very valid concerns from Mi’kmaq communities and fishers,” he said, referring to opposition that arose over the potential risk to marine life from the Fundy turbines.
“If this turbine is going to be deployed in 2020 there’s a lot of work to do first, in building relationships and improving environmental monitoring.”
The tidal project comes in the wake of some highprofile struggles to make tidal projects work in the Bay of Fundy.
Greg Fergus, the Liberal MP for HullAylmer, said the densely populated MontBleu area suffered a “significant amount of damage.”
The roofs were torn off a school and several apartment buildings, he said, estimating about 1,500 people have been displaced.
Ottawa resident Glenn Johnson said he and his partner were in their kitchen just after 5:30 p.m. when the storm blew out their windows.
“We were trying to get down in the basement... and glass started flying,” said Johnson, who lives in Nepean. “My partner got her foot cut and I got hit with flying glass as we were trying to get the dogs and cat and everything down in the basement.”
He said the roof of his neighbour’s house was torn off and the second storey of another house was gone by the time the intense system passed.
“You can’t even get down the street because there are so many giant trees that had been taken down,” Johnson said.
“My backyard just looks like a junk yard
right now.”
He said he has gone door to door to check on neighbours and wasn’t aware of any injuries in his area.
“There had been kids in the park right behind our place up until about 15 minutes before this happened and there was a big tree that went down in the park where the kids’ playground is,” Johnson said. “It could have been much, much worse.”
Ottawa Hydro said there were more than 85,000 power outages in the city because of the storm.
The Greater Toronto Area saw thunderstorms and wind gusts of up to 80 kilometres per hour, also leaving thousands without power.
Hydro Toronto said on Twitter that more than 5,000 customers were without power and restoration efforts were expected to last into Saturday.
“We have all available crews out in the field,” Toronto Hydro said.
“They’re working in dangerous conditions and, at times, are not able to start repairs until the wind weakens.”
CP PHOTO
People collect personal effects from damaged homes following a tornado in Dunrobin, Ont., west of Ottawa on Friday.
Nanaimo’s got the right stuff
Coun. Albert Koehler voted against reducing the proposed cannabis retail bylaw on Monday because he’s “against the stuff” and wants to “make it difficult for anyone to obtain this stuff.”
While his attitude certainly isn’t shared by all of his city council colleagues, actions do speak louder than words and the City of Prince George’s dreadfully slow and hardly business friendly response to the economic opportunities, particularly in cannabis production, of legal pot have been loud and clear.
Meanwhile, in Nanaimo, the new reality is on display for all to see.
As the feature story on page 19 today illustrates, Nanaimo is now home to the world’s largest marijuana company. Tilray Inc.’s market value this week was more than $15 billion.
Tilray built a 60,000 square foot production facility (a little smaller than Prince George’s Canadian Tire) in Nanaimo four years ago with a licence from Health Canada to produce medical marijuana. Tilray is one of the city’s largest private sector employees, with 330 people tending to 40,000 plants and harvesting 50 different cannabis strains.
And there’s nowhere to go for Tilray but up.
Tilray has big-name investors and topdrawer management running the operation.
Tilray provides medical marijuana to 10 countries, meaning it has already cleared the numerous regulatory hurdles to securely ship cannabis across international borders.
The company obtained permission this week from the Drug Enforcement Administration to export marijuana into the United
Tilray president Brendan Kennedy is photographed with some of the Tilray product line such as capsules, oils and dried marijuana at the company’s head office in Nanaimo in 2017.
States for medical research.
Tilray has invested in a production facility in Portugal to serve the European market and two processing facilities in Ontario.
On the recreational pot side, Tilray’s High Park brand has already secured supply agreements with seven provinces and territories. It also has deals in place to provide Canadian pharmacies, including Shoppers
Drug Mart, with marijuana.
Coca-Cola said this week it’s exploring products infused with CBD, which – unlike THC – doesn’t get users high but has been shown to effectively reduce pain.
While some market analysts insist Tilray and their major competitors are riding an unsustainable... ahem... high, others aren’t so sure because the size of the global
YOUR LETTERS
Skakun defends position on needles
Jordan Harris did not like the fact I shared on social media my strong opinion regarding the used needles that are being found all over our community.
I also said in my social media post I am not opposed to Northern Health harm reduction programs, but what is happening is not at all acceptable. Northern Health is a leader in a number of programs and does incredible work in many areas but has dropped the ball with the Needle Exchange Program.
When a clean needle is given out, the used one does not have to be returned and therein lies the problem. The program might be a success with the fact that IV drug users are reducing the amount of needles that are being shared. The spread of needles has
become much worse with the introduction of the health van that delivers needles and condoms to addicts and others throughout the community. I have great empathy for those struggling with addictions and have known a number of people who have died from some sort of substance abuse. The attitude of some that addicts don’t have any responsibility to return their used needles does not help the situation.
The spread of used needles has become a serious safety issue in many of our residential and commercial areas. From children to the elderly, our community is being exposed to a preventable and uncalled for risk. The residents and business owners of our community deserve better.
What has been lost in this debate is the rights of businesses and individuals to live in a safe community free of used needles and condoms laying around. This
issue has been a concern of mine for years and has been discussed in a number of meetings in and outside of city hall. I get calls, emails and social media messages on a regular basis regarding used needles.
I even spoke passionately about this at city council Monday night after a presentation from our staff that talked about the hiring of two extra staff dedicated to working downtown. In one month, a five gallon bucket of used needles was picked up in the downtown. That count does not include the needles that individuals pick up and dispose of on their own.
That is not in any way acceptable to myself and others.
Senior management at Northern Health needs to step up and address this issue in a serious and meaningful way.
Brian Skakun
Prince George
LETTERS WELCOME: The Prince George Citizen welcomes letters to the editor from our readers. Submissions should be sent by email to: letters@pgcitizen.ca. No attachments, please. They can also be faxed to 250-960-2766, or mailed to 201-1777 Third Ave., Prince George, B.C. V2L 3G7. Maximum length is 750 words and writers are limited to one submission every week. We will edit letters only to ensure clarity, good taste, for legal reasons, and occasionally for length. Although we will not include your address and telephone number in the paper, we need both for verification purposes. Unsigned letters will not be published. The Prince George Citizen is a member of the National Newsmedia Council, which is an independent organization established to deal with acceptable journalistic practices and ethical behaviour. If you have concerns about editorial content, please contact Neil Godbout (ngodbout@pgcitizen.ca or 250-960-2759).
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market remains unclear and more and more American states, as well as other countries, are decriminalizing or legalizing marijuana.
Other than Nanaimo’s proximity to Vancouver and Seattle, it’s an odd place for the world’s top cannabis producer. Although Nanaimo has roughly the same population as Prince George, the Vancouver Island city lacks the amount of cheap, plentiful land Prince George has, as well as a railway hub and an international airport with the existing infrastructure to store and ship to markets across North America and the world.
Furthermore, UNBC boasts the facilities and personnel to conduct groundbreaking marijuana research, from medical applications to the most efficient soils.
Despite the advantages of a location like Prince George, Tilray went to Nanaimo because that city and its economic development office saw the opportunity and made it happen with business friendly bylaws, permits, zoning and licences and – most important of all – the political will to take a chance and be a leader.
Nanaimo’s progressive approach gave it a huge headstart over slow and cautious Prince George and helped Tilray get a huge headstart over many of its Canadian and international competitors. Both the city and the company are better as a result.
A huge early economic opportunity missed for Prince George because some of our political leaders are still “against the stuff.”
It’s not too late, but the city council elected Oct. 20 has to follow Nanaimo’s example and aggressively pursue the companies looking to invest millions of dollars in forward-thinking communities eager to prosper from a growing industry.
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Editor-in-chief Neil Godbout
NIMBYism common in B.C., survey shows
During B.C.’s municipal election campaigns, we are going to hear a lot about the so-called notin-my-backyard (NIMBY) attitude. Depending on which municipality you live in, the next five weeks will be dominated by political discussions that will inevitably involve what to do with something located in your city or town. There are primarily two forms of NIMBYism that can be measured through public opinion. The first can happen when a large venture, project or facility seeks to establish itself within the boundaries of a city or town. The second would occur when a smaller, seemingly controversial establishment seeks to set up within two blocks of your home.
The only way to review the extent of NIMBYism in the province is to review the reaction of the entire community on each of these forms. The goal is to see how many British Columbians are willing to take action – whether in the form of letters to their elected representatives, comments on social media or actual boycotts and protests – to voice opposition to a proposed project.
With that in mind, Research Co. asked British Columbians to imagine that 12 different large ventures, projects or facilities were seeking a permit to set up shop in their city or town.
At least seven-in-10 residents acknowledged that they would take some kind of action in an effort to stop a nuclear power plant (82 per cent), an oil refinery (81 per cent), a landfill (78 per cent), a coal terminal (76 per cent), an incinerator for waste treatment (73 per cent) and an oil pipeline (71 per cent) from being established in their municipality.
A majority of residents would also do something to oppose a natural gas pipeline (61 per cent) and a prison (59 per cent) in their city or town. The level of hostility is lower toward other proposals, including a military base (40 per cent), a recycling plant (38 per cent), a wind turbine (34 per cent) and a grain terminal (also 34 per cent).
There is an interesting trend developing on the question of energy generation, where specific sources
(nuclear, oil and coal) are more likely to elicit a form of unrest from residents while others (wind turbines and natural gas) are not as controversial. Now let’s move on to proposals related to smaller establishments located within two blocks of a home. Five of the items tested would not see any action from a majority of British Columbians: a hospital (25 per cent), an entertainment venue, such as a cinema, theatre or bowling alley (34 per cent), a pub or bar (also 34 per cent), a mall (40 per cent) and a recycling depot (43 per cent).
The NIMBY attitude becomes more pervasive with four other establishments: a sports arena (52 per cent), a marijuana store (57 per cent), a cellphone tower (53 per cent) and a homeless shelter (59 per cent).
The largest animosity from British Columbians is saved for three specific enterprises: an adult (or pornography) store (64 per cent), a composting site (70 per cent) and a sewage or wastewater treatment plant (83 per cent).
The survey shows that there will probably never be unanimity on the benefits and drawbacks of specific proposals within communities in British Columbia. There are still some curious differences. An adult store would elicit more negative action from local residents than a marijuana retailer or a cellphone tower.
And one-in-four residents say they would take action to stop a hospital – yes, a hospital – from being located three blocks away from their place of residence. The findings should serve as a warning for candidates, policymakers and proponents. The goal of consultation should not be making sure that everybody loves what is being put in front of them. It should be dealing with positive and negative ramifications in a way that minimizes harm to residents.
Mario Canseco is the president of Research Co. and writes a column exclusive to Glacier Media newspapers.
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MARIO CANSECO Glacier Media
Guest Column CP
Olympia maintains its groove, amid changes
Andrea SACHS Citizen news service
Afew miles outside Olympia, Wash., I passed the Sleater-Kinney Road exit and, in my excitement at seeing riot grrrls history, completely forgot the band’s origins. According to my revisionist version, civic leaders renamed the street in honor of Sleater-Kinney, the feminist punk group that Carrie “Portlandia” Brownstein and Corin Tucker formed in the 1990s while living in the capital city. Once in town (specifically, at a ceramics class with craft beer), a local reminded me about the actual order of events: the musicians named the trio after the sign, not vice versa. But the truth didn’t shake my faith in Oly pride, which bubbles up like the artesian well water that has been slaking Olympian thirsts for centuries.
“Keep Portland in Portland. Keep Seattle in Seattle,” said Ned Hayes, founder of Oly Arts, a cultural publication. “We want to do our own thing.”
Despite the city’s location between two Pacific Northwest juggernauts, Olympia does not suffer from middle child syndrome. The city has a distinct identity that is more convivial than angsty, although both can exist under one roof. At Encore Chocolates and Teas, co-owner Dean Jones informed me that I was standing in the spot where drummer Dave Grohl first performed with Nirvana. Then he pressed a square of artisanal chocolate into my palm and sent me on my way. A few doors down, Rainy Day Records general manager Adam Hardaway proudly pointed out the children’s play area among the vinyl records and DVD rentals.
“We have toys so that little kids will think this place is cool,” he said.
Apparently, colouring books are a bigger draw than Kurt Cobain, who once shopped here. Over several days, I gained an appreciation for Olympia’s community spirit, which appeared around every corner – at the farmers market and in oyster bars, at breweries and coffee roasters, on the capital campus and along the boardwalk at Percival Landing. When I drove by Exit 108 for the last time, I was more convinced than ever that Olympia would have dedicated a piece of the city to Sleater-Kinney if it had thought of it first.
Nature connection
The Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge fills
every inch of landscape – riparian forest, estuary, wetlands – with critters. The nature reserve is the permanent or temporary residence of birds (more than 250 species), fish (95), amphibians (seven), insects (60) and mammals both clawed and vision-impaired (Townsend’s mole), and flippered and Betty Davis-eyed (Steller sea lion). The wildlife checklist runs 11 pages long, but not all of the animals appear in the pamphlet. I had to write in my discovery, the Pacific tree frog, which materialized before my eyes like a Magic Eye 3-D poster. Along the milelong Twin Barns Loop Trail and its tributary routes, birds swooped, frogs belched and blackberries jumped off the bushes and into my mouth. On the Nisqually River, a local hiker and I stopped to try to identify a loud buzzing sound.
“We call those bird calls ‘fishing boats,’” she said.
DIY spirit
Arbutus Folk School is more than Etsy 101. Stacey WatermanHoey, a former specialist on climate and energy policy, founded the training arts center in 2013 to help wean residents from their dependency on manufactured goods.
“Communities should know how to make and do things for themselves,” she said.
So, instead of hitting up Williams-Sonoma or Guitar Center, you can sign up for a class and learn to make a maple wood serving spoon, a creamer and sugar bowl set or a ukulele. Or pick up a skill with no big-box counterpart, such as wool boot-felting or bow-and-arrow construction (with one instinctive shooting lesson included). During a Play With Clay session, held Friday nights, the instructor showed us how to turn a slab into planters and soap dishes, thereby saving us a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond.
Capitol experience
If you can’t remember Washington’s state number, count the 42 steps to the Capitol Building. The free 50-minute tour covers local and state history, architecture, government operations and obscured geography.
“Olympia was named after the mountain you can’t see because that building is blocking it,” our guide said of the Olympic Mountains, which the Temple of Justice shielded from view. Inside the Capitol, we learned that the struc-
ture contains one of the world’s largest collections of Tiffany lights (originally 489 fixtures) and that guns are permitted in most public areas, although metal detectors are not.
“This is the people’s house,” Mark said. “We don’t have security.”
He showed us the rotunda, the state reception room and the two chambers, which varied in decor, down to the floral carpet design: coast rhododendrons for the House and dogwoods for the Senate.
“All good tours end in the gift shop,” he said with finality. Then, he left us to browse the shelves for wine, Big Foot, smoked salmon and other state-endorsed products.
‘It’s in the water’
To tap into the unofficial Oly tagline, “It’s the water,” go to the source: the Schmidt House and Tumwater Falls Park.
In 1904, Olympia Brewery owner Leopold Schmidt and his wife, Johanna, built the three-story, eight-bathroom hilltop mansion, which is open for tours. By the front door, history manager Don Trosper or alternate guide Bob
Crim – who worked for the family for 60 years – will point out the company logo embedded in the wall. (Pay attention to the image of the waterfalls, which will return in the second half of the visit.)
A few original pieces remain, such as a buffet, a file cabinet and a velvet hat worn by Clara, wife of the Schmidts’ eldest son. At the park, a short drive from the house, a half-mile trail loops around the Deschutes River and falls, which once supported a power station and a paper mill. On the walk, you can see the tower of the old brewery that turned artesian spring water into potable gold. From mid-September through mid-October, watch the salmon swim upstream and navigate the fish ladders like ninja warriors.
Gentrified grunge
On a walking tour of the South Capitol Neighborhood Historic District, binoculars are advised so that you can read the small bronze medallions on the buildings without trespassing. The area is a veritable architectural encyclopedia of 20th-century styles. You can print out a map on the city’s website that highlights 40 structures, including the Joseph Wohleb House, a 1926 Colonial Revival home built and occupied by one of Olympia’s most prominent architects; the George Morris House, owned by a Supreme Court justice and later the founder of a fancy ladies-clothing store; and a section of the Old Oregon Trail. After completing the list, cross the bridge into Wildwood and grab a coffee and slice at the neighborly outposts of Olympia Coffee and Vic’s Pizzeria.
“Twenty years ago, downtown was grunge,” said Hayes, the Oly Arts founder, “and not just in terms of music.”
Over the years, the grit of the Olympia Downtown Historic District has receded, with independent retailers and inventive restaurateurs stepping in with, say, Betty Boop-meets-Holly-Golightly threads (Hot Toddy) and vegan Mexican brunch (Hart’s Mesa).
The area supports four theaters; three bookstores, including 80-year-old Browsers; two kid-approved museums that parents can enjoy without their dependents; one cider distillery with a “teenytiny taproom”; three chocolate shops; and four breweries. If you like to opine on coffee or art, you should attend a public cupping (or tasting) at Olympia Coffee Roasting or vote for your favorite sculpture on Percival Landing.
The winner will earn a permanent pedestal in the city.
WASHINGTON POST PHOTO BY LEAH NASH
The Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge is for the birds – and fish, amphibians and mammals – including hikers
WASHINGTON POST BY LEAH NASH
Downtown Olympia, Wash., has risen from the grit with theatres, museums, bookstores, breweries and coffee roasters.
DOYLE
Flat-out skill
Francesco Bartolillo
of the UNBC Timberwolves men’s soccer team makes a diving header against Thomas Hammerton of the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns on Friday night at Masich Place Stadium. The Timberwolves and Pronghorns met in a Canada West regularseason game and the T-wolves – on a firsthalf goal by Bartolillo –won 1-0. Meanwhile, in Abbotsford on Friday, the UNBC women’s soccer team fell 2-1 to the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades. The male Timberwolves will host the Calgary Dinos on Sunday at noon, while the UNBC women will face the Trinity Western University Spartans today in Langley (5 p.m. start).
Net protectors
Jason PETERS Citizen Sports Editor jpeters@pgcitizen.ca
Two players brand new to the Cariboo Cougars, both from Quesnel, will share the netminding chores on this season’s B.C. Hockey Major Midget League club. The Cougars will be relying on 17-year-old Xavier Cannon and 15-year-old Colton PhillipsWatts to stop opposition shots. Cannon was in the league last season as a member of the Kootenay Ice and is a prospect of the Western Hockey League’s Tri-City Americans. Based on his level of experience, he’ll be given the opportunity to be the Cariboo starter but will likely be pushed by a very talented Phillips-Watts, who plied his trade last season at the Okanagan Hockey Academy.
“The Kootenay Ice did beat us one game last year here at home and that had a lot to do with (Cannon),” said Cougars general manager Trevor Sprague. “Being a six-foot-four goalie is a good thing and he’s got lots
of experience in our league. He came back from Tri-City (training camp) and he’s a guy that’s going to be a big member of our hockey club.”
Phillips-Watts, meanwhile, is similar to former Cariboo goalie Marcus Allen in that he plays an attacking, aggressive style and is highly competitive when he’s in the crease. Phillips-Watts was invited to a WHL camp with the Prince George Cougars and made a good impression on the team’s hockey operations staff.
“He has earned his way as a 15-year-old to be on our team,” Sprague said. “It’s probably a long time since a 15-year-old’s been on our team as a goaltender. He’s a young man that’s probably going to push a guy like Cannon to be good every night.”
The Cougars start their 40game regular season tonight (6 p.m., Kin 1) against the Valley West Giants. The teams will also meet at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday.
With the Cariboo Cougars minor midget team a new entity this hockey season, PhillipsWatts is one of just two 15-yearolds on the major club. The other is local forward Fischer
Citizen staff
Cats fall in shootout
New
Cariboo Cougars start season with new faces in goal
O’Brien, a 2018 WHL bantam draft selection of the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Even though he’s at the youngest end of the age scale in the BCHMML, O’Brien should contribute to the Cariboo offence.
“He’s a local guy and his brother (Brogan) has been an offensive hockey player for the Prince George Spruce Kings and the Prince George Cougars,” Sprague said. “He’s a young man that made the team at 15. Brogan didn’t make the team at 15. It shows (Fischer O’Brien’s) attention to detail on being a pretty good player at 15 years old to play probably in our top
In the first game of their 25th anniversary season, the Prince George Cougars earned a point against the host Victoria Royals.
In Western Hockey League action on Friday night, the Royals downed the Cougars 2-1 in a shootout. Victoria’s Dino Kambeitz was the only shooter who found success in the one-on-one showdowns. His goal came
name
and
Citizen news service
Vancouver’s National Lacrosse League team will feature a new name and logo when it opens its season in December.
Canucks Sports & Entertainment announced Friday that the team will be renamed the Warriors. The rebrand includes a new logo – three gold and white stripes forming a V and W, bordered by a shield and with a representation of the North Star above the VW crest – and a new black, gold and white colour scheme.
The team had been known as
six (forwards). He needs to earn it, which he has so far.” Sprague said he isn’t expecting the Cariboo squad to have a dominating offensive player this season. Instead, he’s anticipating a healthy amount of scoring depth from the forwards on through to the defencemen. Other members of this year’s team are returning forwards Grady Thomas (the team captain), Brendan Pigeon, Brett Fudger and Lane Goodwin, as well as forwards Cody Bailey, Jaxon Danilec, Curtis Hammond, Brennan Bott, John Herrington, Alex Ochitwa, Booker Daniels (Tri-City Americans prospect) and Connor Fleming. On defence, the Cougars feature returnees Max Arnold, Jacob Gendron and Matthew Marotta, and newcomers Ethan Floris, Carson Golder and local product Mathew Magrath, a 2017 bantam draft pick of the Prince George Cougars. Tyler Brough is back for his second season as Cariboo head coach. His assistants this year are brothers and Cariboo alumni RJay Berra (2007-08) and Hayden-James Berra (2011-12).
in the fifth round against Prince George netminder Taylor Gauthier. Cougars shooters Ethan Browne, Vladislav Mikhalchuk, Max Kryski, Illijah Colina and Tyson Upper were all stymied by Griffen Outhouse.
In regulation time, there was no scoring until the third period. Josh Maser connected for the Cougars at 4:49 and Brandon Cutler replied for Victoria at 18:53. The Royals outshot the Cougars 34-29.
A rematch is set for tonight.
look for Vancouver’s NLL team
Vancouver Stealth since moving to B.C. from Everett, Wash., in 2014.
“In choosing the name, we wanted to land on an identity that honoured the legacy of lacrosse in our province,” Jeff Stipec, chief operating officer of Canucks Sports & Entertainment, said in a statement. “It was also important for us to have a name that incited feelings of strength and excitement to accompany the dynamic atmosphere at NLL games.”
The rebrand continues an off-season of change for the Warriors, who were purchased by
Canucks Sports & Entertainment in June. They will relocate
Kings come back to beat Vees
Citizen staff
A pair of third-period goals in rapid succession turned a deficit into a lead and the Prince George Spruce Kings held on to beat the Penticton Vees 3-2 on Friday at the B.C. Hockey League showcase in Chilliwack. In the game, played at Prospera Centre, the Vees had a 2-1 advantage after a marker by David Silye at 5:20 of the third period. But the Spruce Kings – who lost for the first time this season on Thursday, a 4-0 setback against the West Kelowna Warriors – weren’t about to throw in the towel. Instead, Ben Brar scored on a power play at 8:11 and then, 16 seconds later, Nicholas Poisson went hard to the Penticton net on a rush and was rewarded with the winner.
Brar’s tying goal – a wrister through traffic from the top of the left faceoff circle – was his second of the game and seventh of the season. He also scored on a wicked wrist shot at 4:45 of the first period to give the Kings a 1-0 lead. Ryan Sandelin of the Vees tied the score on a deflection at 15:08 of the first.
Offensively, Ben Poisson chipped in with two assists for Prince George.
The Vees outshot the Spruce Kings 3026. Prince George went 1-for-1 with the man advantage and Penticton was scoreless on one opportunity.
Logan Neaton was the winning goaltender and Jack LaFontaine took the loss.
The Spruce Kings – in first place in the Mainland Division – moved to 5-1-0-0. The Vees dropped to 2-3-0-0.
The Kings have three road games next weekend – Friday in Surrey, Saturday in Langley and Sunday in Coquitlam. Their next home game is Oct. 4 against the Wenatachee Wild.
to Rogers Arena in downtown Vancouver this season after playing games over the past five NLL seasons at the suburban Langley Events Centre.
Vancouver, which managed just two wins last season and finished at the bottom of the NLL standings, will open its season Dec. 8 at Rogers Arena versus the Toronto Rock.
The Canucks Sports & Entertainment’s creative team worked in consultation with local Indigenous representatives to develop the brand. Representatives from the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-
Waututh nations attended Friday’s announcement.
“Lacrosse has deep ties in the Pacific Northwest,” said Chief Wayne Sparrow of the Musqueam nation. “Throughout the process of developing a team identity, Canucks Sports & Entertainment was committed to honouring the history of lacrosse. The story of the Warrior’s athletic and noble qualities further inspired the team’s identity. The Warriors name acknowledges a meaningful history in many B.C. communities and embarks on a new tradition of lacrosse in Vancouver.”
CITIZEN PHOTO BY JAMES
Tavares strikes twice for Maple Leafs
Joshua CLIPPERTON Citizen news service
TORONTO — John Tavares
didn’t need to plug in GPS coordinates for the drive to his first game at Scotiabank Arena as a member of the Maple Leafs.
Toronto’s new star centre also had little trouble finding the scoresheet for a second straight pre-season outing.
Tavares buried his first two goals on home ice to double his exhibition total as the Leafs downed the Buffalo Sabres 5-3 on Friday.
The 28-year-old stunned the hockey world by signing a US$77million contract on July 1 with the team he cheered for as a kid growing up in the suburbs west of Toronto, and got an ovation unlike most in pre-season when his name was announced before Friday’s opening faceoff.
“You know your way around a little bit,” Tavares said of his commute to Scotiabank Arena, formerly Air Canada Centre. “I know my north, south, east and west. I’ve got an idea where I’m headed, so even if I make a wrong turn I’ve got an idea where I am.
“I just try to enjoy it,” he added of the experience. “I don’t try to think about it too much. I think you just try to live in the moment and embrace this opportunity.”
Tavares has certainly done that in two exhibition games, registering four goals and an assist as Toronto improved to 3-0-0 following consecutive 4-1 wins over the Ottawa Senators.
“It’s quite the atmosphere for a pre-season game,” he said. “The passion for this team in this building and this city is pretty special.”
Ron Hainsey, Pierre Engvall and Chris Mueller also scored for the Leafs. Curtis McElhinney stopped all 20 shots he faced after replacing Garret Sparks, who made nine
saves, midway through the second period.
Andrew Oglevie, C.J. Smith and Tage Thompson replied for the Sabres. Linus Ullmark made 27 stops in taking the loss.
The teams will play an exhibition rematch tonight in Buffalo.
Despite the victory, Leafs head coach Mike Babcock wasn’t pleased with significant stretches of Friday.
“It’s real important when you find a way to win,” he said. “It’s also important you establish work ethic and structure at home where it becomes automatic. You win every night and you play hard every night and the other team knows
they have no opportunity.
“They wouldn’t be leaving here tonight thinking that.”
Oglevie opened the scoring half a minute into the first period when he slid a rebound past Sparks, but Hainsey’s shot through traffic tied it 18 seconds later. Engvall continued the chaotic opening 23 seconds after that when he beat Ullmark for a third goal in the game’s first 1:11.
Tavares then made it 3-1 with his third of the pre-season at 3:42, finishing off a sequence he started with a stretch pass to Mitch Marner, who in turn dropped it back to Timothy Liljegren. The rookie defenceman blasted a one-timer at
Ullmark, and Tavares was there to pop the rebound upstairs.
Smith continued the deluge at 11:28 when be won a battle following an offensive zone faceoff and drove to the net to pull Buffalo within one.
Tavares, who inked a seven-year deal with the Leafs after nine seasons with the New York Islanders, was helped out by his goalie early in the second after a turnover, with Sparks making a toe stop on an Alexander Nylander breakaway But Sparks was unable to bail out another defensive miscue later in the period on a bad pinch as Thompson pulled the puck past a sliding Connor Carrick on a 2-on-1
and ripped a shot home at 6:08. The Leafs retook the lead at 10:55 when Mueller plowed forward off a faceoff in the Sabres end before picking the pocket of the Buffalo defender and stuffing a shot past Ullmark.
Tavares and Marner lost their regular winger early in the second when Zach Hyman headed to the locker-room. It initially looked like he had taken an innocent-looking shot by teammate Rasmus Sandin off the skate, but Babcock said afterwards the injury was a hip pointer from a cross-check.
Byfuglien scores in OT
WINNIPEG (CP) — Bryan Little tied the game late in the third and Dustin Byfuglien’s second of the night came in overtime as the Winnipeg Jets beat the Calgary Flames 4-3 on Friday in pre-season play. The Flames had dominated for much of the night.
Brett Pollock, Dillon Dube and Alan Quine scored for the Flames (1-3-1), while Blake Wheeler had the other for the Jets (2-1-0). The Flames five pre-season games include two just completed in China, as the NHL says it is trying to broaden the game’s appeal. Since they took their best, that kept a lot of veterans off the ice Friday.
Lightning zap Preds
Adam Erne scored two firstperiod goals 1:48 apart to spark the the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 5-1 rout of Nashville. Erne and Andy Andreoff each had two points. Andreoff had a goal and an assist.
Boris Katchouk and Dominik Masin also scored for the Lightning. Louis Domingue played the entire game in goal for Tampa Bay and made 38 saves on 39 shots. Roman Josi scored Nashville’s goal.
CP PHOTO
John Tavares of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates one of his goals against the Buffalo Sabres with teammate Rasmus Sandin on Friday in Toronto.
Ticats and Lions missing prime performers
Gemma KARSTENS-SMITH Citizen news service
VANCOUVER — The CFL’s second-leading receiver won’t be in the lineup when the Hamilton Tiger-Cats face off against the B.C. Lions tonight.
Brandon Banks’ groin strain is the latest in a laundry list of ailments affecting the Ticats’ (6-6) receiving squad as the team battles for a playoff position.
The Lions (5-6) have also been plagued by injuries this year, and will be without their starting quarterback Travis Lulay for tonight’s contest.
Hamilton head coach June Jones said Friday that Banks didn’t make the trip to Vancouver, but was listed on the team’s depth chart because he’s a “game-day decision.”
“You’ve got to see who’s ready and who can play, who can go out there. We’ve had a lot of injuries... and we’re making adjustments,” he said.
Banks has tallied 1,033 receiving yards and put up seven touchdowns in 11 games for Hamilton this year, but the 30-year-old sat out last week’s match against Calgary. Hamilton lost the game 43-28.
The Tiger-Cats are also still missing receivers Jalen Saunders and Chris Williams, who both suffered potentially season-ending injuries earlier this year.
Hamilton quarterback Jeremiah Masoli said his teammates are ready to step up in their absence.
“Some of the guys just keep getting better, keep getting better every day and we’ll be alright, man,” he said. “We’ve still got a lot
of games left, a lot of opportunities to put up a lot of yards and points. So I feel like we’ll be alright.”
Masoli has tossed for 3,786 yards in 12 games this season, including 16 touchdowns, and B.C. head coach Wally Buono said controlling him will be key to the Lions’ ability to control tonight’s game.
“He does a lot of things well. He’s strong, he runs, he keeps plays alive, he’s a running back, he’s a quarterback, he’s a scrambler,” Buono said.
“(Masoli) doesn’t seem to have a
bad play or a good play phase him all that much.”
The Lions will be relying on backup Jonathon Jennings at pivot after Lulay dislocated his shoulder during the team’s 32-14 victory in Montreal last week.
Jennings’ hasn’t started since early July, but was called in last week after Lulay’s injury.
“Last game, it felt like a dress rehearsal,” he said. “It’s exciting to be back in. The guys are really rallying around me. I think they believe in what I can do. And I’m excited for the opportunity.”
Woods tied at top of leaderboard
Citizen news service
ATLANTA — For thousands of fans crammed into every corner of East Lake, it looked as though Tiger Woods was closer than ever to capping off this remarkable comeback season by winning the final PGA Tour event.
Four straight one-putts on the back nine Friday in the Tour Championship – three for birdie, one for par – offset a double bogey and gave Woods a two-under 68 and a share of the 36-hole lead for the first time in three years. Not since Doral in 2013 has he been atop the leaderboard after each of the first two rounds.
Woods sees it differently.
He’s the one coping with Bermuda rough deep enough to hide all but the top of a golf ball, with greens that are slick and firm and with a golf course that is the most demanding test players have seen this side of a major.
“We have a long way to go,” Woods said. “And this is not an easy golf course.” For so much of the second round, even as he struggled to keep the ball in play, Woods was
making it look that way.
He appeared to be building separation against the 30-man field with that four-hole stretch on the back nine that he capped off with a 25-foot birdie putt on the peninsula green at the par-3 15th.
But then a tee shot into the rough led to a plugged lie in a bunker and a shot he had to play away from the 16th green, leading to double bogey. A two-putt birdie on the final hole gave him a share of the lead with Justin Rose.
They were at seven-under 133.
Rose, in his debut at No. 1 in the world, played in front of Woods and could hear all about it with an enormous gallery. He birdied three of his last six holes to offset a bogey for a 67.
“Playing with him versus playing in front of him today, I think it was just big crowds no matter what,” Rose said. “Obviously, people are excited about watching Tiger play again. ... It’s exciting for people to get a look at him back at his best and it will be fun to be play with him.”
Rory McIlroy made enough birdies to offset his mistakes in a round of 68. He was two shots behind.
Woods last shared the 36-hole lead at the Wyndham Championship in 2015. He wound up in a tie for 10th, and then was gone from the PGA Tour for the next 17 months while he recovered from two back surgeries. One more back surgery followed that brief return in 2017, and it’s been a slow road back. In the FedEx Cup finale, however, Woods is picking up momentum. He opened with a 62 at
The Ticats are ready for what Jennings will bring to the field, said Jumal Rolle.
“He’s a dual threat. So we have to be aware of his feet, knowing that he can run, he can understand plays,” said the centre back. “We want to do our best to stay on top, stay on coverage and cover as long as we can because we know Jennings can understand the play.”
The Lions’ defence has been strong recently, registering seven sacks and four interceptions during last week’s game in Montreal.
Buono said the team’s defensive
Aronimink two weeks ago on a rain-softened course and stayed within five shots of the lead the rest of the way until he tied for sixth.
Now his name has been atop the leaderboard for consecutive rounds, and it’s not an accident.
East Lake, with its shaggy Bermuda rough and dry, fast conditions, requires nothing short of precision. Woods wasn’t nearly as sharp as he was Thursday when he started with a 65, but he missed in the right spots. Despite hitting only two fairways through 11 holes, he wasn’t losing much ground.
“This course, the way it’s playing right now, you’ve got to be so patient,” Woods said. “It’s hard to make birdies, and on top of that, it’s hard to get the ball close. It’s very easy to make mistakes, make a few bogeys here and there. And look at most of the field. That’s basically what they’re doing.”
Rose is coming off a playoff loss at the BMW Championship last week, and as the No. 2 seed in the FedEx Cup is in the best spot to win the $10 million bonus. Bryson DeChambeau, the No. 1 seed, shot 75 and was 13 shots behind.
staff and players are clicking and buying into the system.
“I think the defence has evolved and the evolution has caused way more pressure on the quarterback, way more turnovers. And that’s usually what you need to win football games,” he said.
Shawn Lemon said he and the other B.C. defensive linemen are just taking things one game at a time and focusing on what they do well. The 30-year-old defensive end joined the Lions in late July, after playing the first five games of the season with the Toronto Argonauts. He’s notched 10 defensive tackles and seven sacks in six games for B.C.
“It’s just all about confidence, man,” Lemon said. “You just keep telling guys that, putting that confidence in their minds and they’ll go out there and play like that.” Knowing that the Lions’ defence has been putting up big numbers is strong motivation for the Ticats, said Rolle.
“We pride ourselves on being the best D,” he said. “Tip of my hat to those guys, but we’re in it for the challenge this week.”
NOTES: Both the Lions and Ticats are fighting for a playoff spot. B.C. currently sits in fourth place in the CFL’s West Division with 10 points, while Hamilton is second in the east with 12. ... Hamilton quarterback Jeremiah Masoli needs one more 300-plus yard passing game to break a Ticats record. He is currently tied for top spot with Henry Burris. Masoli tied a CFL record earlier this year when he recorded his ninth-straight 300-yard game. ... Tonight’s contest will mark the Lions 1,100th regular season game, dating back to 1954.
Yankees close in on wildcard berth
NEW YORK (AP) — CC Sabathia’s cutter was back, and the big left-hander returned to the win column for just the second time since the All-Star break.
Didi Gregorius and Aaron Hicks hit two-run homers to help the New York Yankees build a six-run lead and take another step toward their second straight AL wild card with a 10-8 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night.
Aaron Judge drove in a run for the first time since he returned from the disabled list on Sept. 14, and New York overcame a series of bullpen stumbles to lower its magic number to two over Tampa Bay for ensuring a wildcard game on Oct. 3. The Yankees likely will play Oakland and began the night 1 1/2 games ahead of the Athletics for home-field advantage.
Backed by a 6-0 lead, Sabathia (8-7) allowed two runs in six innings and improved to 20-11 against Baltimore. He had been 1-4 in his prior 11 starts this season.
Travis Lulay of the B.C. Lions is helped off the field after suffering a shoulder injury against the Montreal Alouettes on Sept. 14 in Montreal.
WOODS
Arbitrator awards pay hike to Canada Post carriers
pay them more – much more – as part of a long-awaited pay equity decision.
OTTAWA — Rural and suburban postal workers across Canada celebrated Thursday after an arbitrator ordered Canada Post to
For a majority of the Crown agency’s mostly female rural and suburban carriers, known as RSMCs, the ruling translates into a 25 per cent pay hike, plus some
ad
increased benefits, Canada Post spokesman Jon Hamilton said.
Not including benefits, the pay increase amounts to as much as $13,000 annually, retroactive to the beginning of 2016, said Canadian Union of Postal Workers representative Cathy Kennedy.
“We’re very happy with (the ruling),” said Kennedy, who was one of three members of the union’s pay equity committee.
Arbitrator Maureen Flynn issued the ruling to Canada Post and CUPW after the two sides failed to reach an agreement through mediated talks by an Aug. 30 deadline.
The union argued Canada Post’s 8,000 rural carriers – most of whom are women – were being paid substantially less than their majority-male urban co-workers. About 60 per cent of RSMCs are women.
The chair of Canada Post’s board of directors and interim president and CEO, Jessica McDonald, pledged to move quickly to implement the pay changes and called Flynn’s ruling “thoughtful and detailed.”
“This is an incredibly important ruling for our rural and suburban carriers,” McDonald said in a statement.
“Pay equity is a basic human right and therefore pay disparity on the basis of gender is wholly unacceptable for Canada Post.”
In a preliminary 176-page decision issued in May, Flynn largely sided with the union over how Canada Post should calculate compensation rates for its rural workers, calling the corporation’s methodology “not reasonably accurate.”
Thursday’s ruling came as CUPW and the post office continued to negotiate new contracts under a Sept. 25 deadline for a strike or lockout, with the aid of a third party.
Canada Post indicated late last month that settling the pay-equity dispute could cost the corporation upwards of one-quarter of a billion dollars when it posted a second quarter loss before taxes of $242 million.
The figure was a dramatic drop from the $27 million profit the agency recorded during the same period in 2017.
The corporation said the losses came despite a nearly 20 per cent increase in second quarter parcel revenues over the same threemonth segment in the previous year.
Canada Post said Thursday that a full accounting of the cost of the pay equity decision would be included in its third-quarter results.
The dispute was complicated by the fact that rural and suburban postal carriers have been paid under different remuneration structures, leaving exact hourly pay rates open to some interpretation.
The lowest-paid RSMCs earn a “derived hourly rate” of $19.73 per hour.
Under Flynn’s ruling, that rate is increased to $25.95, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2016, said Kennedy. But that doesn’t include general wage increases awarded since 2016, she said.
Higher-paid rural and suburban carriers would see their paycheques match the higher hourly rate.
CUPW said it was disappointed in a portion of Flynn’s ruling that awarded the back-dating of postretirement benefit increases to 2016. The union had asked that the benefits be calculated as far back as 2004.
The federal government announced in its 2018 budget that it would introduce pay equity legislation to ensure all federallyregulated workers who perform work of equal value receive equal pay.
CITIZEN NEWS SERVICE PHOTO BY DARRYL DYCK
The Canada Post logo is seen on the outside the company’s Pacific Processing Centre, in Richmond, B.C., in 2017.
WALKER, Harry (Bud)
1934 ~ 2017
Never Forgotten
You’ll never be forgotten that simply can not be. As long as I am living I’ll carry you with me. No matter what the future brings, Or what may lie ahead, I know that you will walk with me, along the path I tread. So rest my angel, be at peace, and let your soul fly free. One day I’ll join your glorious flight for all eternity.
Love Joyce and Stella.
Marjorie Anna Tucker (nee Collins) passed away peacefully at home September 17, 2018, with her husband Dale by her side. Her sudden passing ended her brave battle with cancer.
Marj will be remembered for her love of life, always finding humour, even in adverse situations. Her famous and much loved giggle will forever remain in our hearts.
Left to mourn Marj’s passing is her husband of 45 years, Dale; sons Kory and Nathan (Chrystal); her precious grandchildren Benjamin, Kaius and Paxton; sister Verna (Rod Amos), brothers Curtis and Darwin (Talena) Collins; inlaws Barry & Dolores Tucker, Brenda and Ken Warn. She was a special Aunty to all her nieces and nephews. Marj was predeceased by her parents George and Rena Collins, nephew Blaine Tucker and niece Richelle Amos.
If love could have saved you, you never would have left.
Memorial service to be held at 2:00 pm, Sunday September 23, 2018 at Westside Fellowship, 3791 Highway 16 West. In lieu of flowers, a donation can be made to the Canadian Cancer Society.
Irene Phyllis Doyle
It is with great sadness we announce that Irene Phyllis Doyle has passed away peacefully with family by her side on Tuesday, September 18, 2018 in Prince George, B.C. Irene was born in Eastend, Saskatchewan on April 1, 1927. She is predeceased by her husband Don, parents Frank and Winnifred Studer, daughter Pamela, son Gerry, and son-in-law Gord. She is survived by her children: Judy (Dan Gaboury), Meryl (Jari Rannankari), Dean (Tracy), Jani (Gord Olson) and her grandchildren: Kirk (Michelle), Don (Loralyn), Angela (Erwin), Daryl (Morgan), Jared (Nadine), Sean (Gisslenni), Hailey, Cody and 9 loved great grandchildren. She will forever be remembered for how loving, beautiful and caring of a person she was. Irene always opened her home to anyone that needed a place to stay whether it was just for a visit or until they got back up on their feet. Family was always the most important thing to her and wanted nothing more than being around them. Not only having her immediate family, Irene was considered a second Mom and Granny to many more with her warm heart and welcoming home. Her kind soul has truly touched our hearts and in our own way made us all feel special and will forever be loved and missed. A celebration of life to held at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club on Saturday September 29, 2018 from 1-3pm. Irene has requested that no one wear “gosh darn” Blue : )
Ruth Peggy Blanke ( Carson)
Passed away September 17, 2018 at the age of 73. Born January 9, 1945 she is survived by her daughters Monica (Kevin), Anita (Rene); Son Ron (Laurie); 9 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren; Brother Brian (Brenda); and Sister Betty (Mike). Ruth is also survived by, her nieces and nephews. Predeceased by her dad Jim Carson and mom Peggy Carson. Memorial Service to be held September 26, 2018 at 1pm at Assmans Funeral Chapel. Interment to follow at a later date.
Alanna Joanna Gautreau
It is with great sadness we announce the passing of Alanna Gautreau. Alanna passed away August 21, 2018 with close family and friends by her side. Alanna will be always be remembered for her unending compassion, spirit and love for her children (Robert, Faith and Brandon). Alanna is survived by her three children and parents Joanne and Alan. Memorial service to be held at 11:00am, Saturday, September 29, 2018 at Assman’s Funeral Home, 1908 Queensway Street. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Phoenix Transitions Society or Youth Around Prince Resource Centre.
Longtime resident of Summit Lake, Elsie Mary Erickson passed away the morning of September 18, 2018 at the age of 96.
Predeceased by her husband Wilfrid Edward Erickson and her sister Margaret McKee, Mary is survived by her 8 children, their spouses, numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren as well as her sister, Erica McDonald, and many nieces and nephews. A heartfelt appreciation goes out to the many who cared for her in the last years of her life, from Gateway Assisted living, to the hospital and Simon Fraser Lodge, as well as Dr. Ed Turski. A service to honor and remember her will be held at Assman’s Funeral Chapel on Sunday, October 7th, 2018 to where there will be a private family viewing from 11am-12pm then a public service to follow at 1:00pm.
REZNECHENKO
Roy Michael July 06, 1950August 09, 2018
It is with great sadness that the family of Roy Michael Reznechenko announce his sudden passing. Left to mourn his loss and celebrate his life are; his devoted wife Kim, beloved daughters Keri and Candace, his adored grandchildren Anna, Nick, Sara and Phillip, his kindred spirit, sister Judi (Larry), her children Nikki (Tom), Tiffany (Chad), and Dustin, along with Kim’s children Kaiden (Sarah) and Kenzie (Taylor). Roy also leaves numerous relatives, dear friends, hockey teammates, and his skating club. Roy loved his family, hockey, fishing, “the bush”, and holidays. He lived life to the fullest and on his own terms, he will be missed. A celebration of his life will be held at Parkland Funeral Home on Saturday 22 September 2018 at 11:00am, in lieu of flowers donations can be made to the Kidney or Heart and Stroke Foundations.
With great sadness we announce the death of Dwayne Bruce Annis, May 12, 1961. He is survived by mother and Father Vivian & Bruce, son Brandon and family, Andrea, Rebecca and Sarah, brother Darcy and family, Tracy, Taylor and Dylan, sister Connie and Partner Ric. a Celebration of Life will be announced at a later date. Brother You will be missed by all BUSINESS
DENNIS STRICKLAND Passed March 28, 2018 at the age of 76. He leaves behind his greatest joys in life, daughter Aubrie Strickland and partner Lowell Brown, son Chris Strickland and his wife Kelsey Strickland (nee Piltz), grandson Cody Strickland and son Jeff Strickland. Greatly missed by Blinda Strickland, whom he nicknamed B.
A Celebration of Life for Dennis will be held Saturday, September 29 at 2:00pm - 5:00pm at The Super 8 (Ester’s Inn), 1151 Commercial Cres., Prince George.
timber at roadside must be completed by July 1, 2019. The successful applicant(s) will be required to complete all road/block layout, road reconstruction/brushing of existing roads, develop any new block roads, harvest, load, haul, and semi deactivate in-block roads. The
dary. Road side piling is
At Home
“Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.”
— Mark Twain
Six tips for making the most of small spaces
Megan McDONOUGH Citizen news service
Like most New Yorkers, Erin Boyle is no stranger to small spaces. Her first Brooklyn Heights apartment with her now-husband, James, was a teenytiny 240-square-foot loft.
“People would walk into the space, laugh and say, ‘This cannot be possible,’” says Boyle, the writer and photographer behind the blog Reading My Tea Leaves and author of Simple Matters. “But it was, and we made it work.”
In 2014, with a baby on the way, the couple decided to size up – well, kind of. They now live in a 500-square-foot, one-bedroom, fourth-floor walk-up with two small children, Faye, 4, and Silas, 18 months.
“It’s really magical, but it’s also really hard,” Boyle admits. “I sometimes wish I had a back door to open and let the kids go run around in a backyard.”
That said, she’s learned over time how to maximize what space she has. She has chronicled her small-living adventures, as well as tips she’s learned along the way, in a series on her blog, Life in a Tiny Apartment.
“We don’t need as much space as we think we do,” she said in an interview. “Limit yourself to the space you have.”
We asked Boyle for her best small-space living tricks.
Opt for simple, neutral furniture
Every design decision matters when space is limited.
“We’ve found that furniture with simple and spare lines makes a tiny apartment feel roomier,” Boyle says.
Pared-down bed linens are also easier on the eye and make the apartment feel larger.
“Keep things relatively neutral and pick a cohesive color palette,” Boyle says.
Skip the mountain of throw pillows and instead invest in two sets of crisp, white sheets, a bed skirt, and a thick cotton blanket for nights.
Plan your meals ahead
Cooking in a tiny kitchen can get very messy, very fast. Meal prep, Boyle says, is one way to make the experience a little easier and more enjoyable.
“We have a tiny fridge and very limited cabinet space,” Boyle explains. “Planning meals in advance and shopping locally and frequently helps us live a low-impact lifestyle, both in our personal lives and on the environment.”
Edit your clothes seasonally
When you don’t have a lot of living space, you have to make the most of what you’ve got says Erin Boyle, author Simple Matters and the blog Reading My Tea Leaves. This compact bathroom is part of a small cottage in Seagrove, Fla.
Then divide your clothing into three stacks: clothes to keep, clothes to donate and clothes to ponder next season.
To consolidate your closet, each season take stock of the clothing you wore, how it fit you and how it made you feel.
“My motto is don’t hold on to anything for a negative reason,” Boyle emphasizes.
“You should only hold on to things that make you happy, not because you feel guilty because you spent too much money on it, or somebody gave it to you as a present.”
Cull your bathroom supplies
Pare down and organize your bathroom goodies for maximum efficiency.
“I try not to have anything in the house that we really don’t need or use,” Boyle says.
“Part of it, I understand, is living in the city – we have a 24-hour drugstore a block
away – but you don’t need 18 different face creams or 15 toothbrushes for ‘just in case.’”
Adopt the “use it or lose it” philosophy and routinely take stock of your items.
For Boyle, this means sharing one shampoo, conditioner and bar of soap among the family.
One easy way to start decluttering: ditch any expired medicine or makeup.
Forget about photo-ready perfection
With social media sites like Instagram and Pinterest, it can be easy to get caught up in the visuals. But a home should reflect your actual lived experience, and furnishings should be situated accordingly.
“People feel stymied by the rules and the conventions by how we design our spaces,” Boyle explains.
“But first and foremost you want it to be a space that you enjoy and feel comfortable in.”
For example, she keeps her queen-size bed in the apartment’s main living area. It may seem unconventional, but it makes the most sense for her family at this stage in their life. (The children have the bedroom.)
“Humans are so adaptable and can find better solutions that fit their needs as long as they maintain an open mind about it,” Boyle says.
Despite the layout, Boyle is still able to entertain guests.
“We don’t really have the table space (or seating) for formal sit-down dinners, so we often do appetizer-heavy gatherings, where folks can graze from cheese boards and platters and perch on a couch with a small dessert plate on their lap (and go back for seconds),” she added in an email.
“It takes so much pressure off.”
Get creative about storage
Everywhere you turn in Boyle’s apartment there are clever catch-all solutions. For example, an apple crate doubles as a side table, and Mason jars store extra food and excess supplies.
“Find a space for everything and stick to it,” Boyle says. “Once you establish that, it becomes a habit and makes living much more manageable.”
And don’t be afraid to think outside the box. When Boyle realized her family needed a little extra room in their tiny, windowless bathroom, she installed a high shelf above the doorway.
“It’s a tiny fix that’s decluttered the back of the toilet and made room for our laundry detergent and extra rolls of toilet paper,” Boyle says.
“It’s a simple way to use otherwise wasted space.”
New furnishings offer ways to keep devices charged
Kim COOK Citizen news service
We’re a nation of multi-taskers, often keeping an eye on our phones or other devices even while lounging on the sofa watching television. And those devices need power. Who wants to keep getting up to plug stuff in when you’re bingeing a great show, reading a good book or otherwise chilling? Turns out, you don’t have to. Furniture makers are responding to our multitasking lifestyle with seating and surfaces featuring integrated sockets and USB ports. All you have to do is position your chair or table within range of a wall plug to keep the juice flowing, and then you can tap into the furniture’s power source. On some pieces, the power access is in an armrest or base panel, while others have it built into the legs, side panels or drawers. Another clever hiding spot: lamp bases. Lamps Plus has many options, including the Karla table lamp from 360 Lighting, with a sleek brass or polished-steel column. A pair of Ledger mercury-glass table lamps also come equipped with USB ports. Or consider Ikea’s Varv floor lamp, with a sleek adjustable base that let you charge a phone just by resting it on the charging pad. There’s an additional USB port built into the lamp. Room & Board has several smart-looking pieces for various rooms. A classic Parsons bed has ports and plugs on both sides of the headboard.
HANDOUT PHOTO BY ALLMODERN VIA AP
The Leeanne slipper chair from AllModern comes in white or black leatherette, and is equipped with three USB ports in the base.
The iron frame comes in a range of colours, including fun ones like red, green, pink, ocean and blue.
The Portica end table comes both standard and C-shaped, which can be useful for tight spaces. Choose your own top: glass, quartz or marble composite, or woods like walnut, maple, spalted sugarberry and ash.
Designers have tackled the clunky traditional recliner, coming up with some
sleeker, more stylish versions.
At Room & Board, find the Ellison, Dalton and Harper, which all come in a fine-grained leather and are available with USB ports.
The designers at Gjemeni tackled both connectivity and comfort with a collection of comfy leather chairs and sofas
that have charging plugs as well as adjustable backs, so you can turn each piece into a seat, a lounger or even a bed.
At Wayfair, Brayden Studio’s ash wood Keiper nightstand has a rustic modern vibe that would make it work as a side table anywhere; dual ports sit discreetly on the back.
Get the party started and keep it plugging along with AllModern’s Sobro coffee table. Available in black, white or wood finishes, the table is equipped not only with outlets and ports, but a built-in fridge, speakers and LED mood lights around the base. Operate everything from the tabletop; no apps required.
Also at AllModern, the LeeAnne slipper chair in black or white leatherette has a three-port USB panel on its side.
Ikea’s pert little Nordli nightstand has a hidden shelf for a power bar, and a groove up the leg to tuck in the cord. Simpler still is the Seljie nightstand, with a cutout in the back panel to run a powerbar cord into the drawer.
If you prefer retrofitting existing pieces, there are options. In the bedroom, consider Studio 3B’s four-piece bed-lift set; the lifts raise a bed seven inches, and one of the legs houses two grounded outlets plus two USB ports.
From Legrand comes a port-and-plug power bar you can screw or clamp onto any edge to create connected furniture; the black or white/grey unit comes with a six-inch cord.
These
The markets today
TORONTO (CP) — Canada’s main stock market posted its largest daily gain in more than two months on Tuesday as trade optimism produced a relief rally. There is anecdotal evidence from the United States and Canada that they are closer to some sort of deal even though there is no concrete evidence, said Sid Mokhtari with CIBC Capital Markets.
“The market does have some element of optimism for maybe the U.S. is going to have cooler heads and be able to come to some sort of resolution with Canada in particular, some sort of a NAFTA deal,” he said in an interview.
Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland travelled to Washington to resume efforts to forge a new version of the continental trade pact.
Mokhtari figures the TSX could gain three to five per cent if a deal is reached.
The two sides are approaching a deadline this week to have a deal signed by the Mexican president before he leaves office.
There are some signals from Canada, however, that a deal may take longer, which prompted a congressional ally of U.S. President Donald Trump to suggest that Canada was dragging out the talks for its own political purposes.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 113.73 points to 16,196.04, the largest daily gain since July 12. The index reached a high of 16,198.67 on 228.9 million shares traded.
All sectors but consumer discretionary, utilities and real estate closed up. Health care led, rising 6.1 per cent, primarily due to gains from cannabis company stocks including Aurora Cannabis Inc., Aphria Inc. and Canopy Growth Corp.
The important energy sector rose 2.6 per cent as the November crude contract was up 91 cents to US$69.59 per barrel, its highest level in two weeks.
American stock markets also rose.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 184.84 points to 26,246.96. The S&P 500 index was up 15.51 points to 2,904.31, while the Nasdaq composite was up 60.35 points at 7,956.11. The Canadian dollar traded at an average of 76.97 cents US compared with an average of 76.81 cents US on Monday.
The October natural gas contract was up 11.9 cents at US$2.93 per mmBTU. The December gold contract was down US$2.90 at US$1,202.90 an ounce and the December copper contract was up 7.95 cents at US$2.73 a pound.
Tilray, the $15 billion cannabis king from Nanaimo
Jen SKERRITT Citizen news service
Two months ago, Tilray Inc. was a little-known Canadian marijuana producer working to build its international footprint from the sleepy British Columbia town of Nanaimo.
Today, Tilray has become the king of pot. The stock has soared more than 10-fold since its initial public offering in July, dethroning Canopy Growth Corp. as the world’s largest marijuana company. It sports a market value of about $17 billion, even after a pullback Thursday.
A global focus on medicinal marijuana, backing from billionaire investor Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and a tiny float of traded shares on the Nasdaq have all contributed to making Tilray an overnight sensation and the darling of cannabis on Wall Street for now.
“I think they’re perceived as having a very strong management team and it’s one of only three Canadian (pot) stocks that has a U.S. listing,” said Canaccord Genuity analyst Matt Bottomley. “I think it’s the sentiment and excitement and a bit of scarcity of stocks in the U.S.”
Tilray’s meteoric surge – the stock more than doubled this month alone and is worth more than Barrick Gold Corp. – comes amid an investor frenzy surrounding Canada’s nascent marijuana market as the nation is poised to legalize recreational pot next month.
Investors are watching for the next big tie-up in the sector. This week, beverage giant CocaCola said it’s interested in drinks infused with CBD, the non-psychoactive ingredient in marijuana that treats pain but doesn’t get you high. Constellation Brands is now the biggest shareholder of Canopy Growth after a $3.8 billion investment, and Diageo is holding discussions with at least
three Canadian cannabis producers.
Though there are more than 100 licensed producers in Canada, there’s a scarcity of quality cannabis companies that could be involved in a strategic venture with major firms, Bottomley said. Tilray is one of the top four companies in the industry based on their international strategy, which will be key to supporting the company, he said.
Tilray is controlled by Seattlebased Privateer Holdings, which was founded by Brendan Kennedy, Michael Blue and Christian Groh in 2010 to invest in the cannabis sector, with some early backing from Thiel’s fund. Kennedy, 46, serves as Tilray’s chief executive officer. Kennedy and Blue are both graduates of Yale School of Management’s MBA program, while Kennedy and Groh worked together at SVB Analytics, a non-bank affiliate of Silicon Valley bank.
While Privateer is run from the U.S., Tilray’s operations are based in the former coal-mining town of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, about 125 miles (200 kilometers) across the Juan de Fuca Straight from Seattle.
Tilray began construction of a 60,000 square-foot research and production facility in Nanaimo in 2014 and it began operating four months later with a license from Health Canada, according to a report from Nanaimo Economic Development. The facility houses 40,000 marijuana plants in 33 cultivation rooms, allowing Tilray to make more than 50 strains of cannabis. Tilray is now one of the largest employers in the city, and has 330 staff overall.
The company produces medical cannabis in Canada and Europe and has supplied products to tens of thousands of patients in 10 countries spanning five continents through its subsidiaries in Australia, Canada, Germany and through agreements with phar-
maceutical distributors, according to company documents. With medical cannabis now authorized at the national or federal level in nearly 30 countries, the legal market is in its early stages and the number of countries where the drug is legal will continue to increase, according to Tilray’s latest quarterly earnings statement.
Tilray has agreements to sell pot in Canadian pharmacies including Shoppers Drug Mart and is investing in production capacity in Portugal so it can supply the EU from within Europe, Kennedy said in an interview.
The company also has its High Park brand for the recreational market in Canada, which has secured supply agreements with seven provinces and territories, he said. Tilray has two processing plants in Ontario.
“Our long-term vision is if a patient walks into any pharmacy in any country in the world that has legalized cannabis, that patient should be able to obtain a Tilray product. That’s our global goal,” Kennedy said in the interview this week.
Tilray is expected to become a significant player in Ontario and is “uniquely situated” to attract investment from players in alcohol and pharmaceuticals due to its global reach and large portfolio of brands and products, Eight Capital analyst Graeme Kreindler said in an Aug. 13 report. The company already has an agreement to develop medicinal cannabis with Sandoz, the Canadian division of Novartis AG of Switzerland, and could be a natural fit for pharma “with possible investment from a global player occurring within the next 12 months,” he said.
Earlier this week, Tilray received approval from the Drug Enforcement Administration to import cannabis into the U.S. for medical research, the first Canadian company to do so. The move marks Tilray’s first clini-
cal trial in the U.S. and supports the company’s medical cannabis prospects as it competes with Canopy in an “IP-arms race,” Cowen analyst Vivien Azer said in a Sept. 18 note. Still, there are skeptics. Despite the ballooning valuation, the company had just $20 million in revenue last year. Citron Research said it remains short on Tilray, calling the stock’s surge “beyond comprehension” in a Tweet Wednesday.
“It’s a bubble,” Frank Holmes, CEO of U.S. Global Investors Inc., said by telephone. “You can’t have a company go from $20 billion to $30 billion to $50 billion market cap that trades at 600 times revenue.”
The stock may also be benefiting from a scarcity of shares. Privateer controls 76 percent of the company, leaving just 10 million shares for trading in the public float. By contrast, Canopy has a float of 214 million shares. The limited float makes it more expensive to short Tilray’s stock. The small float also means traders who can’t find a borrow to short the stock are likely doing daily shorting and covering, buying it back as soon as it falls, Holmes said.
The U.S. listing also helps, making it easier for U.S. day traders and hedge funds to join the ride. Canopy also has a New York listing, as does Cronos Group Inc. Most of the pot stocks trade in Canada for easier listings and to avoid running afoul of laws in the U.S., where recreational cannabis remains illegal at the federal level.
With industry valuations doubling in the last week, there could be a huge “reset button” if there’s no large strategic investment in the sector soon, Bottomley said.
“You’ve got to be extra cautious because certainly the 35 million people in Canada are not supporting the valuation we’re seeing,” he said.
Shoppers Drug Mart gets medical pot license from Health Canada
and it will share more information about its plans in the coming weeks. The pharmacy retail chain had already in recent months signed supply deals with various licensed medical marijuana producers, including Aurora Cannabis, Aphria Inc., MedReleaf Corp. and Tilray Inc.
Shopper’s parent company, Loblaw Companies Ltd., is also looking to sell recreational pot in Newfoundland and Labrador once it is legal nationally on Oct. 17. The compamny is on a list of potential licensed cannabis retailers selected by Cannabis NL, the provincial body handling pot sales.
CITIZEN NEWS SERVICE PHOTO BY DENNIS M. RIVERA-PICHARDO
A marijuana plant is shown in this undated photo. Tilray has 40,000 marijuana plants in 33 cultivation rooms at its Nanaimo facil-
Women questioning family role
Citizen news service
Growing up in rural Mississippi, Gracie Robinson decided early on that she would never get married.
In her Baptist church, she heard the preaching: The Bible orders women to be submissive to their husbands. Robinson didn’t want to be submissive.
This summer, 26 and unmarried and enrolled in a seminary 300 miles from the dusty backwater she describes growing up in, she’s holding court, ranting over garlic fries and gumbo that she’ll never let a man control her.
“Every time I think about it, it just burns me up!” she says, as the other female seminarians laugh and clap.
And then Robinson’s tone changes. Matter-of-fact, she says about a husband: “True enough, he is the head of the household. And he is the spiritual leader.”
And her friends wholeheartedly agree to that, too.
This is the challenge and the contradiction of being an evangelical woman today: Embracing the beliefs of a community that teaches it’s the will of God for men alone to lead churches and families, while also fiercely arguing for women’s equal worth. That complex position has exploded into public view over the past several months. The evangelical Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, has faced a string of #MeToo scandals – the head of the denomination’s executive committee and the pastor grandson of its most famous evangelist Billy Graham both resigned over inappropriate sexual relationships; a Memphis church’s handling of pastor Andy Savage’s sexual encounter with a teenager was condemned in nationwide headlines; revered denominational leader Paul Pressler was accused of sexual assault.
But by far the scandal that has rattled the community the most is that of Paige Patterson. A towering Southern Baptist leader, Patterson was fired from his job leading one of the denomination’s six seminaries when it came to light that he had not reported two women’s allegations of rape to the police. When Patterson returned to the pulpit last week, he made comments about a woman’s body and questioned the validity of some sexual assault allegations.
Women were instrumental in Patterson’s downfall, signing a petition against him by the thousands. But women also continue to rally around him. “I’m a Southern Baptist lady,” said a pastor’s widow who took the microphone at the denomination’s annual meeting. “I am not a #MeToo.” When angry donors sent a letter after the meeting protesting Patterson’s firing, 14 of the 25 signers were women.
At the denomination’s seminaries, intellectual centers of evangelical Christianity, female students – who cannot be ordained as pastors – are wrestling with what exactly draws them to a faith that preaches their own ineligibility for leadership.
“Seeing something as God’s divine order, there’s a clarity to that. I think there’s also a strong dislike in many quarters of feminism and what some of these women believe feminism stands for – an anti-child or antifamily emphasis they perceive in feminism,” said R. Marie Griffith, who was raised Southern Baptist and who directs Washington University in St. Louis’s Danforth Center on Religion and Politics. “For many women,
Cthey do believe that’s God’s order... The preferred mode would be: Okay, men will be the spiritual leaders.”
Southern Baptist seminaries enrolled 12 per cent more women from 2012-2016, following more than two decades of gradual growth in women’s enrollment. Over those same decades, the denomination – led by Patterson and Pressler – doubled down on a theology of gender that emphasizes male leadership.
At New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, a summer intensive just for women taught these same conservative principles – while students explored just where the boundaries lie.
“God created men and women equal in worth and value, but different in role and function. Different is just different. Different isn’t bad,” teaches Rhonda Kelley, the wife of the seminary’s president and the head of its women’s ministry program. “Our biblically assigned role is to submit to men that God placed in authority over our lives.”
She says that women who don’t obey this plan end up dissatisfied with their lives; on her PowerPoint presentation, bold letters describe it as a “sure path to destruction for home and family.”
Reading the Bible in Kelley’s class, students learn to scour passages for evidence of this Biblical plan for women. For instance, after reading the story of Deborahthe judge who led Israel for a time, including commanding troops on the battlefield – one student acknowledged that some readers see the story as the Bible condoning an example of a woman in power.
The student said she was searching for another interpretation: “What I settled on in my heart is Deborah did it in reverence for the leadership God intended men to have, in humility rather than saying, ‘I know what to do. I’m going to lead this battle,’” she concluded.
After the students read passages about the prophet Huldah, the judge Deborah, the prophet Miriam, and the queen Esther, Kelley put up a slide that concluded: “There is not a Biblical pattern of women in positions of spiritual leadership (i.e. prophet or judge).”
Her students, like the women who spoke out against Patterson, express their concerns as women even while pledging their
omparison is a pitfall that most of us fall into quite easily. Most of us think, when we look at the people around us that their lifestyle is better, their parenting, their house, or their job is better. What I forget when I’m stuck in the pitfall of comparing myself to others is that God has a very strong opinion about me. And you too. He has a strong opinion of your worth and how valuable you are to Him. And it has nothing to do with your size, appearance, bank account, or how perfect or imperfect your children are. It doesn’t even have anything to do with your past mistakes, sins or failures.
And God’s opinion of you is the only one that truly matters. Here’s the good news; Jesus gives us the answer to our trap of comparison. He tells us where we should look for our value.
adherence to tradition. When the class reads a book suggesting a wife should follow her husband if he wants to move for his job, many of them search for a way to reject that guidance, saying their own careers should be important, too.
“I agree with the Christian view. And I agree with, yes, woman as helper. But it’s the implications,” one says.
Nickolee Roberts chimes in. “I’m like yes, you’re right, this is biblical. Then I get to the practical applications and I’m like, no, I don’t agree with you. Let me throw the book out the window.”
That’s what seems to be quietly happening in some evangelical circles - throwing some older practices out the window, without throwing out the interpretation of the Bible at its core.
The shakeup around gender in the Southern Baptist Convention caused some subtle ripples in the classroom here. Jill Nash, studying for a master’s in divinity degree, sat down on the first day of her Christian ethics class and found, not unusually for a seminary class, that she was the only woman out of seven students. (Kelley, who runs the program of women-specific courses, calls the core courses required of all master’s level divinity students, male and female, “the boy classes.”)
What was unusual was the greeting the professor offered: “Obviously, Jill is the only female here. We should treat her like a sister in Christ,” he said, to Nash’s great surprise. She thinks Patterson was on the instructor’s mind.
Nash, who works for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, didn’t marry until she was 42, so in the last few years, she’s given a lot of thought to the questions now bubbling up in the convention about what female submission means.
“Sub – it means to come under – a mission. If you see the direction someone’s going that you’re dating as something you’ve got to really come under – can I come under that? Can I support that?” she said to friends at dinner that night, after that Christian ethics class. “That husband is to love you as Christ loves the church. And who doesn’t want to submit to that? I want to cook dinner for him every night. I want to wash his clothes.”
Milly Horsley, 26, agreed: “Who doesn’t
“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those under the law that we might receive adoption to sonship.” Galatians 4:4-5 (NIV)
When sin entered the world it broke the perfect relationship between us and God – and consequentially there were a whole bunch of negative things that came with that. We now have selfish thoughts, we now have insecurities and we love to compare ourselves to others.
This scripture shares with us that because God decided to send
want to submit to that kind of love?”
Horsley is no stranger to male-dominated professions – not only is she a seminary student, but she patrols the campus with a firearm in the wee hours of the night, as the only female officer on the 40-member staff of the campus police. She said she has felt frustrated that Southern Baptist men don’t always listen when women try to tell them about important issues, including sexual abuse in the church.
But she doesn’t think the solution is opening more jobs to women. “I’ve never met a Southern Baptist lady who said, ‘I’m doing all this. I wish I could be a pastor.’ If I really wanted to be a pastor, I would change denominations. But I believe we’re the closest to the Bible. If I disagreed with it, then I wouldn’t be here,” she said. “Scripture says a man shouldn’t be constantly under the headship of a woman. That has to be our model above all.”
Jade Perkins is also getting a master’s degree at the seminary but agrees women shouldn’t be pastors. First, she’s not sure a woman could handle the criticism: “Women are more emotional than men. People in the church can be harsh. A woman can break down emotionally more.”
And second, there’s the wardrobe: “Men, Sunday after Sunday, have to preach in front of their congregations, and they’re going to wear a suit. A woman instead would have to make sure her outfit looks good, she’s modest, her hair looks good, her makeup looks good. A woman’s going to be pulled apart about what she looks like.”
Perkins said she takes these stumbling blocks as a sign from God that women really don’t belong in that pulpit.
But all the same, she’s frustrated with the career opportunities available to her and to her fellow female seminary graduates. “Especially in the Southern Baptist realm, you’re not going to have a woman as the pastor. Or the associate pastor, typically. Rarely the youth pastor. So if you’re a woman, you have to be the children’s pastor,” she said. And then she pointed out that most churches don’t have the budget for a fourth pastor, so that means a woman won’t get hired for a ministry job at all. “Usually, women are secretaries.”
This is the push-and-pull of the evangelical woman: Believing in the basic rightness of a hierarchy that puts men at the top of the church and family; pushing at every boundary for more opportunities as a modern woman.
In the classroom, Kelley passed out a list of 83 different roles of authority in a church, from church treasurer, to writer of biblical commentary, to singer in the choir, to greeter at the door. Wayne Grudem, the prominent conservative theologian who wrote the list, argued that 14 out of the 83 jobs should be for men only - including serving as a deacon or elder of the church, serving on the governing board of a denomination, presiding over a baptism, teaching theology in a seminary, preaching regularly to the church, and being ordained as a pastor.
Students skimmed the fine-printed list. They thought of each role they play in their own churches, where they teach and babysit and lead committees and organize events and preach and counsel and befriend and console.
Silently, they pondered whether their congregations believe that God meant for them to do it all.
His son Jesus Christ to the world, to redeem us, we are now adopted into His family. Do you know what redeem means? It means gain possession of something in exchange for payment- by means of a trade. Do you know what determines the value of a thing? It’s the price.
This is the centre, the purpose, the whole big point of God’s plan, there’s a price that needs to be paid for your sin, and He’s willing to do a trade for it. You have been bought, you have been purchased, you have been redeemed/traded for a very specific price. We were purchased with the life of God’s
son. Let that soak in… you were purchased with the life of God’s son!
So when you start to look around and compare yourselves with others to find your worth, remember that God sent His perfect Son into the world to pay the price for you. That’s how significant you are to Him. He wants to adopt you into His family because He sees your worth and value. And it’s nothing you can earn or buy. It’s a free gift for all who want it. I hope you live today looking up to God to find your worth, because you are priceless to Him.
CITIZEN NEWS SERVICE PHOTO
Female students walk to class at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
KIMI ORTON Gateway Church
Huge crowds expected for Michelle Obama book tour
Citizen news service
Check out the upcoming events at Chicago’s United Center and you’ll see Bulls games, Blackhawks games and concerts by Fleetwood Mac, Nicki Manaj and Cher, among others.
And former first lady Michelle Obama, to launch her book tour in November.
Just for the scale of its venues, there has never been a rollout quite like the one for Obama’s memoir Becoming, with stops including the Pepsi Center in Denver and American Airlines Center in Dallas. While popular authors have been likened to rock stars for years, Obama is the first to promote her book on a scale common for top musical performers, even using the entertainment company Live Nation.
“Mrs. Obama wanted to make her tour as accessible as possible,” Tara Traub, senior vice-president of Live Nation Touring, said in a statement Friday. “The Live Nation team also knew the demand for her tour would be extraordinary. For these reasons, we knew an arena tour would maximize the number of people who will be able to join this unforgettable conversation with Mrs. Obama.”
While the traditional bookstore reading is usually free and might be called a success if a few dozen show up, Obama’s appearances will be at venues of 15,000 and higher in capacity, with tickets that range from just under $30 to $3,000. (VIP tickets include the chance to meet Obama.)
Despite some complaints on social media about prices, tickets have been selling so quickly that this week Live Nation added two additional events, at Barclays Center in New York City and Capitol One Arena in Washington.
“Truly humbled by the response to my upcoming book tour,” Obama tweeted Thursday.
Some fans will attend for free. According to Traub, 10 per cent of tickets at each event will be donated to “local charities, schools and community groups in each city the tour visits.”
“This was a priority for Mrs. Obama and we are proud to collaborate on this effort,” she said.
In the top 10 on Amazon.com weeks before its Nov. 13 release date, Obama’s book seems a guaranteed million-seller – a memoir by a popular first lady with an international following and a relatively limited history of discussing her private life, especially her eight years in the White House. Books
Hargitay looks back on 20 years of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Mariska Hargitay thinks Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has played a huge role in educating people on sexual violence, but believes there is still a lot of work to do.
The star of the TV drama spoke as the NBC show celebrated its 20th season Thursday at the Tribeca TV Festival.
Hargitay has been playing Lt. Olivia Benson from the first episode. She said she was initially drawn to the show because it was tackling issues that others weren’t.
“It’s an incredibly progressive show, progressive idea, and really starting a conversation and taking sexual assault, domestic violence, and these issues that were traditionally swept under the carpet,” Hargitay said.
“The conversation is in full swing, and that’s very exciting. I think the show has really been a huge part of the cultural education on sexual violence. I think we have taken on the issues of consent and the neurobiology of trauma and created a survivor-centric show that was utterly unique.”
Hargitay even created the Joyful Heart Foundation to help empower survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse.
“Being immersed in this material and learning the statistics and learning about the shame and isolation that survivors of sexual violence feel, that is what really called me to start my own foundation and to respond to the subject matter that I was being immersed in every day,” she said.
Ice-T, who joined the show at the end of the first season, admits he was surprised by the impact that it has had on its audience.
“It took about a year or so of people saying ‘thank you’ to realize that it was therapy for a lot of people. These are survivors,” he said.
The second annual Tribeca TV Festival, a spinoff of the Tribeca Film Festival, showcases dozens of series premieres. Most will be followed by panel chats with talent,
writers and producers. Highlights will include the world premiere of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown season 12 and new season openers of Empire, Madam Secretary and Ray Donovan.
The 20th season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit kicks off Thursday with a two-part episode.
CITIZEN NEWS SERVICE
Mariska Hargitay attends the NBC 2018-2019 season casts party at The Four Seasons Restaurant on Thursday in New York.
by former first ladies have often sold well, with previous releases including Hillary Clinton’s Living History and Laura Bush’s Spoken from the Heart. Obama’s tour begins the week after the midterm elections.
While former U.S. President Barack Obama has endorsed dozens of Democrats and increased his criticisms of U.S. President Donald Trump, Michelle Obama’s involvement has focused on the nonpartisan When We All Vote, an initiative encouraging people to register.
Advance promotions for her book have emphasized that she will chronicle “the experiences that have shaped her – from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address.”
Neither Live Nation nor Obama’s publisher, Crown, would give specific details on what the tour will be like and what special guests might turn up, beyond confirming that the former first lady will be interviewed on stage.
Crown spokesman David Drake also did not have specific details on the involvement of local booksellers, though he said they will have the “opportunity to participate in and benefit from Mrs. Obama’s publication.” Drake declined comment on whether a similar tour is planned for Barack Obama, whose memoir is expected next year. The Obamas agreed in 2017 to a multimilliondollar deal with Crown for the two books and have projects for other media in the works, including a multiyear production deal with Netflix.
CITIZEN NEWS SERVICE PHOTO
Former first lady Michelle Obama speaks at the American Library Association annual conference in New Orleans in June.
Citizen news service
New HBO documentary shows how Jane Fonda can’t escape Hanoi Jane
On a hot, sticky May afternoon in 1970, a crowd of several thousand students and protesters took over the University of Maryland mall. Many were there to protest the Vietnam War. Others were hoping to catch a glimpse of a famous Hollywood actress. Her name was Jane Fonda.
As the war raged, the one-time blonde bombshell cut her naturally brown hair short, trading sex appeal for liberal activism and rebranding herself as a political crusader against the war. On campus, she was pushing her movement to turn U.S. soldiers into pacifists. “The army builds a tolerance for violence,” she shouted at the crowd. “I find that intolerable.”
For the next several years, Fonda would continue as one of the most prominent public faces in the antiwar movement. But it wasn’t until she traveled to Hanoi in July 1972 that she really enraged critics and fundamentally altered how the world viewed her for decades to come.
A new HBO documentary on Fonda’s life, Jane Fonda in Five Acts, explores the fallout for the actress, who is now 80. In it, she apologizes once again for insulting the men and women who fought in Vietnam. More than 58,000 Americans died in the war. Fonda’s transformation from actress to activist began several years earlier. She was active in the Black Panthers and marched for the rights of American Indians, soldiers and working mothers. But she was advised by other activists to focus her political energies, deciding to go all-in as an impassioned voice for the antiwar movement.
By July 1972, when Fonda accepted an invitation to visit North Vietnam, America had been at war overseas and with itself for years. During her two-week stay, Fonda concluded that America was unjustly bombing farmland and areas far flung from military targets. North Vietnamese press reported –and Fonda later confirmed – that she made several radio announcements over the Voice of Vietnam radio to implore U.S. pilots to stop the bombings.
“I appealed to them to please consider what you are doing. I don’t think they know,” Fonda said in a news conference when she returned home. “The people who are speaking out against the war are the patriots.” She said the radio addresses were the only way to get access to American soldiers, because she was barred from meeting them at their bases in South Vietnam.
But the action that still enrages veterans most was that photograph of her with North Vietnamese troops on an antiaircraft gun that would have been used to shoot down American planes. This, probably more than anything, earned her the nickname “Hanoi Jane.” Some lawmakers called her actions treason. Congress held hearings. The Veterans of Foreign Wars passed a resolution calling for her to be prosecuted as a traitor.
Fonda wasn’t deterred. She continued openly to question the accounts of the U.S. government and American POWs, who told devastating stories of the torture they endured at the hands of the North Vietnamese.
Over the years, as Fonda reinvented herself as a fitness maven and again a movie star, she apologized many times for the antiaircraft gun photo. But she maintains she was not a traitor by speaking out against the war or trying to turn soldiers against it, because she still believes the U.S. government was lying to them.
In her 2005 memoir, My Life So Far, Fonda wrote of the infamous photo this way:
“Here is my best, honest recollection of what took place,” Fonda wrote. “Someone (I don’t remember who) leads me toward the gun, and I sit down, still laughing, still applauding. It all has nothing to do with where I am sitting. I hardly even think about where I am sitting. The cameras flash. I get up, and as I start to walk back to the car with the translator, the implication of what has just happened hits me. Oh, my God. It’s going to look like I was trying to shoot down U.S. planes! I plead with him, You have to be sure those photographs are not published. Please, you can’t let them be published. I am assured it will be taken care of. I don’t know what else to do. It is possible that the Vietnamese had it all planned. I will never know. If they did, can I really blame them? The buck stops here. If I was used, I allowed it to happen. It was my mistake, and I have paid and continue to
a heavy price for it.”
Still, for some veterans, no apology from Fonda will ever change their views of her as an adversary of America and the troops during wartime. In 2015, about 50 veterans stood outside the Weinberg Center for the Arts in Frederick, Maryland, to protest Fonda’s appearance there. They held signs that read “Forgive? Maybe. Forget? Never.”
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CITIZEN NEWS SERVICE PHOTO
Actress Jane Fonda and Susan Lacy, director of the HBO documentary Jane Fonda in Five Acts, pose together in July in Beverly Hills, Calif. The documentary premieres Monday.
Florida Georgia Line’s windy road to the top
Citizen news service
Florida Georgia Line has experienced a lot of surreal moments in the six years since the release of Cruise, the duo’s debut single that shattered records and helped upend the country music industry. But last summer stood out, as they headlined three soldout stadium shows with the Backstreet Boys. “It was crazy,” said Brian Kelley, 33, sitting backstage with duo partner Tyler Hubbard, 31, before a recent concert in Maryland. He still can’t get over the fan reaction. “Crazy at the stadium shows to hear them singing I Want It That Way. And then they’re singing Cruise.” At the end of each show, the two acts combined for a finale that included fellow opener Nelly singing “Hot in Herre,” followed by an FGL and BSB collaboration of Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) and Cruise, complete with fireworks. It’s unclear whether, back in 2012 as a fledgling duo a few years out of college, they envisioned one day touring with a ‘90s boy-band supergroup. But a lot of things have turned out differently for Florida Georgia Line than many could have imagined. It would have been easy for FGL to be a one-hit wonder. Yet, they used the momentum from Cruise, one of the most-downloaded country songs in history, and kept going, releasing 14 songs that went to No. 1. Simple, the first single off their upcoming fourth album, is currently in the Top 5 at country radio, and looks primed to hit the top of the chart shortly. Meant to Be, their summer collaboration with pop star Bebe Rexha, broke the record for the longest No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, just passing the 42-week mark. They are also laser-focused on the business side. Although some acts claim to ignore the music charts, FGL’s team studies trends (“It’s kind of our obsession,” their manager Seth England said) to learn from the success of their competitors. Hubbard and Kelley have also started to build an empire, leading to their own publishing company, Tree Vibez Music; a popular bar in downtown Nashville, FGL House; an event space called meet+greet; their own whiskey, Old Camp, which they name-drop in songs; and Kelley and his wife’s clothing line, Tribe Kelley. In December, they’ll start a five-date residency in Las Vegas. At the same time, they always want to prove themselves in a genre that loves tradition and is generally wary of change. Nashville accepted long ago that listeners crave the blend of county, rock and pop that FGL pioneered, which resulted in their explosion out of the gate. But the duo is well aware that some are disappointed in the direction in which they helped take mainstream country music – a couple of years ago, the industry Vocal Duo of the Year awards started going to Brothers Osborne. FGL has quieted a few critics over time, however, especially with more serious songs about appreciating life, such as Dirt, May We All and God, Your Mama and Me, featuring the Backstreet Boys.
“If they ever had any criticism, it might have been from people who assumed they never had those sides. But they intentionally did it that way,” England said, of the duo launching their career on anthemic party songs that would fuel a live show. “People grow over time. It’s been six, seven years, which is still a short amount of time – but over a career you have time to try out all the things you’re interested in.
“Maybe if they had tried to be well-rounded in that way, it might have been different,” he added. “But they wouldn’t change it, you know?”
It’s rare enough for a new country artist to debut with a smash single, but it’s another thing to start a new subgenre – that’s what Florida Georgia Line accomplished with Cruise. With the guidance of Nickelback producer Joey Moi, they tapped into the contemporary sound that was an immediate hit with younger listeners, and were tagged as the forefathers of “bro country.” Music critic Jody Rosen coined the phrase as “music by and of the tatted, gym-toned, party-hearty young American white dude.”
Earlier this year, FGL surprised some listeners when it released Simple, which boasts a Mumford & Sons instrumental vibe and lyrics wistful for the days before technology took over. Hubbard and Kelley are careful to say they’re not going in a new direction –it’s just an extension of who they are.
“Sonically, I think we always kind of go left, we always kind of go right, and then there are some directed straight toward country radio,” Kelley said. “We just want to make records that are fun, that feel good, that mean something.”
When England first developed them as an act, they were songwriters who hoped to write for other artists; the band was their side project. So it’s fitting they started Tree Vibez Music, a few years after the band’s debut with writers including Corey Crowder, Jordan Schmidt and RaeLynn.
Now, they relied on the Tree Vibez bus, a virtual mobile studio that tags along with them on tour dates. Starting at 11 a.m., there are multiple songwriting sessions going on – writers on the bus have churned out some massive hits, such as Jason Aldean’s You Make It Easy, written by Hubbard, Kelley, Morgan Wallen and Jordan Schmidt.
“We just look for writers that are kind of like us in a way – they like to be creative and work hard and push themselves. Kind of have the same vision,” Hubbard said. “They can push us and make us better songwriters. It’s a win-win for everybody.”
CITIZEN NEWS SERVICE PHOTO
Tyler Hubbard, left, and Brian Kelley of country duo Florida Georgia Line, which took the industry by surprise in 2012 with a hit debut single, Cruise.
