Vancouver Courier March 30 2012

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Vol. 103 No. 26 • Friday, March 30, 2012

Established 1908 photo Dan Toulgoet

WEEKEND EDITION

Hanging in limbo Critics fear Canada’s new refugee bill may help deport torture victims back to their home countries —story by Stanley Tromp

YOUR SOURCE FOR LOCAL NEWS, SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT! WWW.VANCOURIER.COM

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012

in this issue

FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

7 I

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photo Dan Toulgoet

Got junk

BY SANDRA THOMAS Goods dumped after hours at the Mennonite Central Committee Thrift Store are turning into piles of soggy junk by morning. Thrift stores say illegal dumping is increasing.

N E W S

12 I 15 I

Historic facelift

JARED GNAM The owners of a 101-year-old hotel in the Downtown Eastside have gone out of their way to restore its historic facade.

BY

Playing off speculation

BY BOB MACKIN A public viewing area for Canucks playoff games could be set up again at Canada Place, while tech savvy fans could create informal live sites.

O P I N I O N

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Surfing a dark wave

BY GEOFF OLSON A scary moment in the Maui surf reflects how simplified economic models ignore the complexity, and danger, of the real world.

D I N I N G

The happy Dooker

BY TIM PAWSEY The outgoing Australians behind Molly Dooker wines dropped into town between heli-skiing and go-karting commitments.

21 Web Exclusives@vancourier.com News: VAST impact S T

Nourish—food for thought

BY

TANLEY

ROMP

The Vancouver Association for the Survivors of Torture has helped thousands of refugees since 1986.

Photos: Penthouse exposed

BY DAN TOULGOET The city’s “heritage” strip club rebounds from a November fire to retake its place as a part of Vancouver history.

Sports: They might be Giants

The Vancouver Giants continue their round one playoff battle against the Spokane Chiefs.

News: Name blame

BY SANDRA THOMAS NPA and Vision Vancouver park board commissioners engage in a nasty battle over the board’s naming policy.

Movies: Cracked Mirror

BY JULIE CRAWFORD Julia Roberts stars in the Snow White send-up Mirror Mirror with less-than-enchanting results.

Poster of the Week

BY MICHAEL KISSINGER Dallas-based graphic designer Jonathon Kimbrell discusses his van-tastic tour poster for the Polyphonic Spree, robes and hockey.

O N T H E C O V E R Hands grip bars at the Vancouver Police Museum.

The Vancouver Courier, a division of LMP Publication Limited Partnership, respects your privacy. We collect, use and disclose your personal information in accordance with our Privacy Statement which is available at vancourier.com or by calling 604-589-9182. For all distribution/delivery problems, please call 604-942-3081. To contact the Courier’s main office, call 604-738-1411

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012

cover

Most claimants come from Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan

‘Torture’ group carrying 500-client caseload Stanley Tromp Contributing writer

I

f you walk down the 2600 block of East Hastings Street, you can see, at the end of a path set back from the street, a community police station. On the second floor above it stands a plain white office, bearing the sign VAST. This stands for the Vancouver Association for the Survivors of Torture, a charity founded in 1986 to help refugees confront their traumas and adjust to a new land.

Up the stairs and past the reception desk, a small potluck gathering of about 20 people is in progress to celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year. Guests from Uganda, Serbia-Croatia, Mexico, Iran, Cuba and other nations, some who call VAST their second home, are swapping recipes and stories.

Mariana Martinez Vieyra, VAST’s affable and ebullient clinical supervisor, who moved to Canada from Argentina nine years ago and obtained a masters degree in counselling from UBC, is moving amongst the guests, dispensing advice and information.

Vieyra explains that besides being the only specialized trauma counselling centre in Western Canada, VAST helps refugees of all classes and backgrounds find housing, food, clothing, work, translators, doctors and lawyers.

Some torture claimants awaiting government decisions on their refugee applications hang in limbo for years as they navigate the slow, complex, confusing immigration bureaucracy. With its motto of “Helping Over 10,000 Survivors Discover Freedom,” VAST has a current caseload of 500 clients.

Where do the people come from?

VAST has helped clients from over 50 nations, mostly refugee claimants at the airport or border.

Many are from Mexico, escaping deadly drugs cartels that kidnap people to recruit them. Others are women leaving spousal abuse in India. But most come from Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan—and many of these are gays, lesbians and transgendered people. (No torture claimants would be interviewed for this story, because their experiences were too painful to recall, and they feared their family back home might be punished if they

VAST’s Mariana Martinez Vieyra helps refugees find housing, food and work. publicly complained about their home country’s abuses.)

The potluck this day seems relaxed enough. Yet for some, dark clouds loom ahead, and there might be fewer guests at

next year’s Nowruz event. That is because in June, the federal government is due to pass Bill C-31, the biggest overhaul of immigration and refugee policy in many years, one that critics fear

photo Dan Toulgoet

will make it much harder for legitimate refugees such as torture victims to enter Canada, and perhaps be returned to their original country.

Continued on page 5

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FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

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Opponents say Tory legislation based on cynical politics, ideology

Continued from page 4 Conservative Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says the bill is “faster and fairer,” will weed out bogus refugee claimants, make the nation more secure from terrorists and war criminals, and save taxpayers money.

Kenney’s reforms have a few supporters. For example, a biting editorial in the National Post in June 2010 stated that “the Liberal caucus [is] so beholden to ethnic political chiefs, immigration industry activists, and their own ideological sappiness that they oppose any move that might reduce the influx of new immigrants and refugees.”

But of course there are contrary viewpoints.

Because of its charitable mandate that forbids political activity, VAST executive director Christine Thomas says she can’t publicly criticize Ottawa. But local immigration lawyers, human rights activists, MPs and others are keen to speak out, to condemn Bill C31 as an utter disaster for human rights, one based more on cynical politics and reactionary ideology than humanity or the facts.

Longtime Vancouver immigration lawyer Phil Rankin says Bill C-31 is an even worse version of earlier refugee bills. “Every time they revise it, the minister’s discretion becomes greater, the timelines become shorter, the safeguards become fewer, the number of people who can access become less, and so we end up with this total nightmare for refugees. It could result in people being sent home to their deaths.”

Are such outcomes indeed possible?

B

ill C-31 was introduced in February by Minister Kenney as a revision of two older bills (C-11

NDP MP Don Davies, vice chair of the House immigration committee, says people “should have an individualized assessment of their case.” photo Dan Toulgoet and C-4), and critics say all the good features of those bills have been dropped, despite Kenney having once praised those features in his speeches. They object most to four major changes.

First is the new concept of a “safe country list.” The immigration minister would have the power to place countries on the list without the benefit of a committee that was to include human-rights experts. (The committee would be scrapped.)

Kenney did not speak to the Courier, but his office referred

us to West Vancouver Conservative MP John Weston, a member of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, who defended the idea.

“It’s not the minister alone who decides,” Weston says. A country would be designated as safe when 60 per cent of claims are withdrawn by claimants or abandoned, or 75 per cent were denied by the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB). Once that happens, the country is not automatically designated as safe, but there is a

further review, and then the minister can make the declaration.

“We’re trying to become objective, and have a faster system so those applicants from safe countries will be processed in 45 days, not 1,000 days.”

Many groups such as Amnesty International say the idea is mistaken from a human rights analysis viewpoint, as too broad and not precise enough, that is, a nation is not all good or all bad. For example, a single group such as the Roma might be mistreated in a nation that is democratic in ev-

ery other way. As well, they say the minster does not have the expertise to make the final choice.

“There is no such thing as ‘a safe country’ in the world,” says Rankin.

Vancouver-Kingsway NDP MP Don Davies, who is also vice chair of the House immigration committee, generally agrees. “People should have an individualized assessment of their case, not based on broad stereotypes of the country they’re from.”

Weston replied that this option is no longer affordable. “You could say in an ideal world where resources are unlimited, we would spend millions to process every refugee claim from everyone who wanted to file one. But when you see that two billion people—as one consulting firm said—would like to become Canadian, then you have to make hard decisions with scarce tax dollars.”

Opinions differ on whether Mexico should be listed as a safe country. “Trade relations like NAFTA can cloud our judgment on human rights,” says Davies.

“Mexico has some feature of a democracy but some not. Corruption has penetrated the judiciary, police and politicians, and thousand of Mexicans are bona fide refugees.”

But Weston, who is also president of the Canadian-Mexican Parliament Friendship Group, has more faith: “increasingly Mexico is becoming a robust democracy.”

The second objection to Bill C31 is that claimants from nations on the safe country list whose claims are rejected would no longer be allowed to appeal the decision to a new appeals body within the IRB (a feature of the old Bill C-11).

Continued on page 6

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012

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Continued from page 5 Thirdly, claimants from countries on the safe country list would have to wait a full year to apply for humanitarian consideration to become permanent residents, but in the interim, they could be deported.

Fourthly, claimants from countries on the safe country list would be allowed to ask for a judicial review by the Federal Court of their claim rejection, but their deportation would not be stayed pending a decision.

“In principle I support the need to make quick decisions in regards to refugees,” says Liberal immigration critic and Winnipeg North MP Kevin Lamoureux. “But I also support due process, and this bill does not allow for that. If you happen to be on the safe country list, you have 15 days to get your case ready, and if it is determined you are not a legal refugee, then you are expelled from the country within a few weeks. If you appeal to federal court, it will take 12 months to be heard, and by that time you are far gone.”

In any case, says Davies, such a judicial review is not even a “real appeal,” but only a review of legal and technical errors, not the overall merits of the refugee’s case, and the court can only send the case back to another board member for redetermination.

One of the few things some critics praise about Bill C-31 is faster decision times for some situations, and clearing the current backlog of 42,000 refugee claims. Last year, the ministry opened a new office in Vancouver to coordinate the national backlog reduction work. (Rankin said the government is to blame for the backlog by not filling so many vacancies on the immigration boards for years.) Bill C-31 will also bring in long-planned biometric identification—such as fingerprints and photos—for people who apply for visas to visit Canada.

Some also wonder about the potential impact of Bill C-31 on foreign gays and lesbians (such as the many

IF YOU APPEAL TO FEDERAL COURT, IT WILL TAKE 12 MONTHS TO BE HEARD, AND BY THAT TIME YOU ARE FAR GONE.” Kevin Lamoureux

lesbians from Morocco that VAST has aided). For now, Canada formally agrees that gay refugees should be protected from discrimination, and gays can sponsor a same-sex spouse from abroad just as same-sex couples can. Yet Davies says that about 100 countries have some legislated discrimination against the GLBT community, which is why the concept of a “safe country” label is so dangerous.

MP Lamoureux says it’s too early to tell if the well-known social conservatism of Kenney (a vigorous opponent of same sex marriage) and others will have any bearing on the fate of gay refugees, and that we should not presume that it will.

Some immigration reformers say Canadians should not be naïve enough to trust that every refugee claimant tells the truth, and VAST’s Thomas doesn’t disagree in principle. On the prospect of people falsely claiming abuse so as to gain access to Canada, says Lamoureux, “Of course that can happen, it’s a reality. So that’s why we want a good processing system that can tell them apart.”

For now, Bill C-31 moves onward.

Everyone knows that with a parliamentary majority, the Conservatives can enact whatever they want, without the need to listen or compromise as they had to with Bill C-11 to get it passed while in their minority position two years ago.

Davies says he will introduce many

amendments to the bill, and while “hope springs eternal,” it will be very hard for any to pass. Yet Weston says, “I commend Mr. Kenney for his willingness to listen,” adding that amendments are not impossible. “We are still looking at different perspectives from witnesses who are coming before the committee. We will consult some more, but I think most Canadians would see Bill C-31 answers their concerns. The bill was as close to a nonpartisan win as you can get.”

In early March, the Tories imposed closure to limit the C-31 debate to four days, because Kenney said he wanted the law to pass by June 29. The bill has finished second reading, and is going to be discussed in committee (where there are no time limits on speaking). Then, after it passes third reading in the House, it must pass three readings in the Tory-controlled Senate to become law.

M

eanwhile, the Persian New Year gathering continues in the VAST offices. While clients are deeply appreciative of the sense of safety in the office, they still cannot escape the worry of being sent home, says Vieyra. It is hard for clients to open up in counselling because only after people have their refugee claim settled can the real work begin of dealing with the deeper and older traumas of what happened abroad, she adds.

I ask Thomas what is the worst part of her job? “Seeing the abject poverty that refugees are expected to live in,” she replies. “At least once a year, I see someone here in winter with flip-flops, for it’s all the shoes they have. It just kills me when that happens. Also when they don’t get their claim accepted and are sent home, or they just vanish and we don’t know why.” And the best part? “When people’s claims are finally accepted,” she smiles. “We always have a party for them. That’s a good day.”

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FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

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news

Manager says thrift store spends $1,000 a month for cleanup

Dumped donations soil thrift store sidewalk Sandra Thomas Staff writer

On Monday morning, the rain-soaked sidewalk along the exterior side wall of the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Thrift Store on East 42nd Avenue at Fraser Street was lined with ripped garbage bags and miscellaneous junk, including a drenched upright vacuum cleaner.

Sometime between the store’s closing Saturday afternoon and 7 a.m. Monday, the garbage bags and boxes left outside the MCC store were torn open by passersby who exposed the contents, including clothes, linens and small household items, to the rain. Two men were sifting through the soggy mess that morning.

MCC manager Helga Stobbe told the Courier people leave donations outside the store after store operating hours every night, but by morning, the goods are typically reduced to piles of garbage.

“It’s the worst Monday mornings after the weekends,” said Stobbe. “It’s sad because people think they’re leaving us a donation. But the stuff usually gets so muddy and dirty it’s no longer a donation and we have to pay to have it cleaned up and hauled away.”

Stobbe said thrift store spends $1,000 or more a month to pay for the cleanup, which comes out of the store’s profits meant for charity. The cost is one reason prices at Van-

Donations line the sidewalk outside the Mennonite Central Committee Thrift Store on East 42nd Avenue near Fraser Street. photo Dan Toulgoet couver thrift stores are climbing. She added larger items like mattresses and discarded furniture are often dumped at the back of the MCC store off the alley, particularly at the end of each month when people are moving. The store has to pay to have those larger pieces hauled to the city’s transfer and recycling station, which charges $15 each per mattresses or box spring.

Stobbe said the incidence of nocturnal

dumping is growing, despite the increasing number of signs in multiple languages on the store’s exterior warning people not to dump.

Brett Cox, manager of the Wildlife Thrift Store on Granville Street downtown, agreed signs appear to make little difference in the fight against illegal dumping. He said such dumping hurts the bottom line of most thrift stores and estimates the cost to haul

garbage away from his store is a minimum $300 a month. “What really hurts is having to haul away the mattresses and old fridges and heavy pieces of furniture that people dump in the alley,” said Cox. Cox noted the lease is so high at the store’s Granville Street location it takes the store the first half of each month to make enough to pay the rent. He added paying to have garbage and furniture hauled away takes away from the store’s profits, proceeds that help support charities such as Coast Mental Health and Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter.

Cox said the weather plays a big part in turning what started out as a donation into trash. “It’s a big mess and a real eyesore,” he said. “But it’s also the cost of doing business in a city where a lot of people don’t have transportation and can’t afford to have their stuff hauled away.”

VPD spokesperson Lindsey Houghton told the Courier there’s little police can do unless someone is physically caught in the act of dumping. Lindsey said illegal dumpers could be charged under Section 84 of the city’s littering by-law, which reads in part, “No person shall deposit upon any street any rubbish, sweepings, paper, handbills, refuse, or other discarded materials or things…” Fines run between $250 and $2,000. sthomas@vancourier.com Twitter: @sthomas10

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012

opinion

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TransLink vortex keeps sucking in the pols

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WEB POLL NATION Go to www.vancourier.com to vote Are you confident the city and police can handle any trouble downtown during the upcoming hockey playoffs?

Last week’s poll question: Would you support teachers if they walked out illegally or stopped volunteering for extracurricular activities?

Yes 35 per cent No 65 per cent This is not a scientific poll.

TransLink: Don’t go there. This is a warning to all politicians.

The regional transit authority is a political trap. It nailed Mayor Gregor Robertson back in 2007 when he got caught without a twozone ticket. And this month, both NDP leader Adrian Dix and Premier Christy Clark were embarrassed because of TransLink encounters. That was before the transit authority put transportation minister Blair Lekstrom and the Liberals on the spot.

Dix, in a similar fix to the one Robertson found himself, failed to produce a ticket and was given a warning notice by transit cops. That information got leaked to the Vancouver Sun three weeks later and, voila, a headline: “NDP Leader Adrian Dix caught on SkyTrain without a ticket.”

All of a sudden we had “Fair-gate.”

And, with that, there was reason enough to dial back to the days when—in case you forgot—Dix worked for former premier Glen Clark and fabricated and backdated a memo to cover his boss’s butt in the midst of a casino licensing scandal.

The week before Dix was being humiliated, it was our premier’s turn. As she kicked off two byelection campaigns in the region’s north east, a Liberal Party flyer shouted: “Christy got it done.” The “it” in this case was TransLink’s Evergreen Line.

Clark also said that not only would there be an audit of TransLink, but that audit would produce the $30 million “that we are going to find” to fill the funding gap for the Evergreen Line.

Pundits parsed the pronouncements for their

allengarr probity only to find…. well, here’s what the Globe and Mail’s Robert Matas noted about “it.” “Even by loose standards for political spin, the audacity in giving Ms. Clark credit for moving the project forward is stunning.”

Remember, Clark is the one who just about killed the funding for the Evergreen Line. She backtracked twice on the carbon tax and once on the deal carefully worked out by Lekstrom and the region’s mayors to raise TransLink revenue by increasing gas tax by two cents a litre.

She said it would make “life less affordable for people.” Two days later—after Lekstrom sorted her out—she changed her mind.

Last week, we saw more of Clark’s contortions. After her byelection announcement, Clark’s media manager had to explain that the premier misspoke. The $30 million funding gap wasn’t for the Evergreen Line at all—it was for other TransLink projects.

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As for the audit, who knows how much can be squeezed out of TransLink? Besides, the audit won’t even start until the fall.

Meanwhile, there’s the not insignificant TransLink matter that blew up this week. It seems that while about 64,000 fines were handed out last year at $173 a piece for folks who were found to have failed to pay their fare, only about 10 per cent actually paid the penalty. TransLink cops hand out the tickets.

ICBC collects the fines. But nobody has the authority to go after the 90 per cent who fail to fork over their dough. That amounts to about $10 million a year that would otherwise flow into the provincial treasury.

While this story broke this week, it was old news in Victoria. Lekstrom may say it is “the first time it has been brought to my attention.” But the fact is TransLink’s board has been raising the issue privately with the province for years. In 2007, TransLink’s auditors, PWC, clearly outlined the matter in a report that would have been available to Lekstrom’s predecessor Kevin Falcon.

Lekstrom may now want to play the hero by adding muscle to the fine collection, but he has also found himself trapped in a way by TransLink.

TransLink says it wants all the money from those fines to come to them. After all, it will help fill that $30 million funding gap. The provincial NDP and Tories agree. And guess what? They are making it an issue in the upcoming byelections. agarr@vancourier.com

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letters

FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

opinion OVERSIMPLIFIED MODELS IGNORE OUTLIERS

Black swan theory plays out in pounding Maui surf If you’re hoping to forget the chill of B.C., there’s nothing like a subtropical stretch of beach to do the trick. Just as there’s nothing like the rhythmic crash of surf to lull you into a sense of security.

On a trip to Maui earlier this month, my partner and I staked out a spot at Makena Beach for a day’s relaxation. For summer reading, I had a sunblock-stained copy of People along with Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s acclaimed 2007 book The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. The Lebanese-born author is a Harvard-educated “quant”: a mathematical engineer from Wall Street.

In his book, Taleb assails assorted experts, including his brethren in the financial industry, for building oversimplified models of reality that extrapolate day-to-day trends into the future, while ignoring the outliers. The author insists that all the clever equations in the world cannot predict the timing of game-changing dislocations that upend jobs, lives, markets, and whole societies— and it’s no good pretending otherwise.

The book’s title riffs on how the sighting of one black swan demolishes the reasonable-sounding theory that “all swans are white.” The 1928 stock market crash was a “Black Swan event,” as was the rise of Google. Destructive Black Swans like the former take only minutes or hours; creative Black Swans like the latter can take months or more to evolve. Both varieties are often only understood in retrospect.

After putting down Taleb’s book I walked over to the shoreline with the aim of body-surfing some big waves breaking near the shore, as my partner watched. It was great fun for a short time, until I mistimed a breaker that lifted me up and pounded me headfirst into the sand. I broke the impact with my left hand and right elbow, while an enormous volume of water concertinaed my vertebrae. I thought I heard something crack somewhere in my body as I was thrown about like a sock puppet in the surf.

I stumbled back to the shore, smarting from the impact. I was concerned that I had seriously damaged myself. I thought of my father, who spent the final 10 years of his life in chronic pain from of a lower back injury.

As I painfully dropped onto my beach towel, the beach echoed with a sombre warning from a lifeguard station in the

letter of the week

geoffolson distance. “Please be careful.

Life-changing spinal injuries happen on this beach. People crawl out with broken ribs. Parents, don’t let your children near the surf, they could be swept away. Things break here.

Many things.”

I’d ridden the waves a number of times in Hawaii, usually during calmer summer months. This time I felt I’d been only inches, or a few pounds per square inch, away from a dislocating event of my own. My choice of reading was eerily appropriate. “Mistaking a naïve observation of the past as something definitive or representative of the future is the one and only cause of our inability to understand the Black Swan.” Got ya, Taleb.

The author cites a famous quote from the captain of the Titanic, E. J. Smith: “In all my experience… I have seen but one vessel in distress in all my years at sea. I never saw a wreck nor was I ever in any predicament that threatened to end in disaster of any sort.

You see, I am not very good material for a story.”

When it comes to thinking about nations, markets, even our own bodies, many of us are like Smith—whose own Black Swan appeared in the form of an iceberg.

Push your limits and you may be inviting the dark bird to roost. Every summer in the North Shore neighbourhood where I live, rescue helicopters buzz overhead to retrieve injured or dead jumpers from the canyon pools nearby.

Taleb’s prose isn’t likely to deter any testosterone-fuelled daredevils, but at least it gave pause to one aging reader and reminded him he’s more bullheaded than bulletproof.

My spine turned out to be fine. After my close call in the surf, I internalized a truth I knew in my head but did not feel bodily: Mother Nature is one bodacious babe, but engage her without discernment and she just might hammer you into the ground like a splintered fencepost. olscribbler.wordpress.com

A reader can’t understand why the city has issues with Mustafa Reza’s Main Street restaurant file photo Dan Toulgoet facade when it’s fine with a Shoppers Drug Mart storefront.

To the editor: Re: “Indian restaurant stares down city hall over facade,” March 16.

This is truly unbelievable. East is East is a small business trying to make a small difference and fit into the kitschy (City of Vancouver staff description) nature of Main Street.

Not everyone may like the style of the store front, but the restaurant is definitely fitting in with the eclectic nature of Main Street.

Before criticizing the efforts of East is East, council should also consider that not everyone likes the thought of the “poodle on the pole” street art that the city is going ahead with in front of 3333 Main despite considerable neighbourhood opposition.

In addition, the city allows the likes of Shoppers Drug Mart to enter neighbourhoods with an absolute minimum of effort to their storefronts, which completely goes against the grain of the Main Street look and feel. The city and council’s criteria for what is appropriate for Main Street seems to have very little relationship to what the residents of the neighbourhood actually want. We could also add the Rize and Little Mountain developments into the discussion—both of which have strong neighbourhood opposition but which the still seems intent with ploughing ahead.

Mark Stoakes, Vancouver

Angry BCTF sets off taxpayer We want

To the editor: Re: “Teachers’s union plan may include illegal strike,” March 23.

Notwithstanding my regard for good teachers in our province, I take exception to the BCTF’s permanent state of anger as observed over four decades. The economics of the current dispute are obvious: If you want to lighten your workload, take a pay cut. This would enable young teachers to enter the profession.

The way I remember education far away and long ago, ‘twas like a five-tier system: Democratically elected government provides a school board, which appoints principals who, in turn, oversee teachers, who under direc-

tion of the aforementioned authorities, teach students who are the children of the people who elect and pay all of the above.

If I may call our public education system a five-tier operation, then I don’t understand why “Tier 4” (the current BCTF leadership) thinks it’s entitled to sabotage this essential service. If Susan Lambert got re-elected as BCTF president by some 61 per cent of delegate votes, I put her actual membership support to be around the 50 per cent mark. It’s easy to pose as a sort of class(room) warrior when you can retire anytime you wish on a fat pension. B.C. teachers are very well paid and enjoy fan-

tastic benefits. I am no great fan of the B.C. Liberal government, but as a suffering taxpayer I support its position versus the BCTF. Coming from a family of teachers and pedagogues, I’d like to offer some commonsense advice: Teachers go back to teaching and ancillary duties according to your purported goal of educating and guiding our children.

If they do this diligently, any flaws in the system will be clearly attributed to the government and not the teachers. Diligence should not have to be exhorted to teachers. It used to be the other way around.

Fritz Bergold, Vancouver

City should invest in water cannons for playoffs

To the editor: Re: “City’s playoff plan better be moronproof,” March 28.

Unfortunately the line has already been drawn by VPD Chief Jim Chu. His “don’t come downtown” edict will become the rallying cry of the “morons.” They will come by the tens of thousands. “Close SkyTrain stations” is another winner. Six in a cab at $5 to $6 per person is the same as a SkyTrain ticket and you can lug all the booze you want.

The city has had enough rioting to have learned karma doesn’t cut it. All businesses should have riot-proof cladding for their store fronts. The city should invest in a couple of water cannons and have adequate police and military resources ready for deployment on 15 minutes notice.

Groups of more than six person should not allowed on the street during or after all playoff games. Harsh to be sure.

Don MacKay, Vancouver

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012

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New Heights in Architectural Excellence Matthew Cortez of hip hop dance group Freshh performed for classmates at Daphoto Dan Toulgoet vid Thompson secondary Tuesday.

Class Notes

with Naoibh O’Connor

Freshh news

Matthew Cortez, one of the seven members of the hip hop dance troupe Freshh, performed with the group for his classmates at David Thompson secondary Tuesday afternoon. The show took place two days before Freshh headed to Toronto for its April 2 performance in a semi-final round of Canada’s Got Talent.

Cortez, a 16-year-old Grade 11 student, has been dancing and singing since age six.

Freshh, which includes MC Stewart, Zac Vran, Ryan Morrissette, Devan Isaac, Justin Nicolas and Gabe Galedo from across the Lower Mainland, trains under choreographer Cezar Tantoco at Fresh Groove Productions, a Richmond-based hip hop dance studio.

The group has performed well in several competitions and is the 2011 Canadian National Hip Hop Champions and Hip Hop International Grand Finalists. They’ve also performed at Vancouver’s 2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremony and at Free the Children’s We Day. David Thompson principal Iona Whishaw said dance is becoming increasingly popular at high schools. “[Dance] has a real cachet with the kids,” she said.

Whishaw calls Freshh “incredibly tight” and suspects they’ll do well at Canada’s Got Talent. “Their performance is absolutely dynamic, incredible and interesting,” she said, noting Cortez, who was on a plane at press time and unavailable for comment, also helps choreograph David Thompson’s

dance squad.

Vice principal David Bach calls Freshh “amazing” and, like Whishaw, credits Cortez for his dance work at the East Side high school.

“I wish them all the best. They’ve worked so hard on getting to where they are. Obviously it’s a big accomplishment,” he said. “[Cortez] is very active in school with dance as well. He’s coaching the dance squad. I’ve seen him in the mornings before school starts in our foyer. I’ve seen him on the stage during lunchtime.

They’re working all the time. Not only is he dedicated to his group, he’s very passionate about dance and wants to help out the school too.”

Jeannette Isaac, Freshh member Devan Isaac’s mother, said this incarnation of the group has been together for years. “The group Freshh has been around for quite a long time. It’s just that different members have joined and gone. This particular [formation of the] group has been together for at least five years,” she said.

Members are so focused on dance, some have had to quit sports, she added. In addition to competitions, the group performs for charity and other events. “They like to give back to the community,” Isaac explained. Now they’re hoping for support from the community through votes for their performance at Canada’s Got Talent April 2. Isaac said they’ve been promoting themselves, including performing at four schools in hopes of generating votes.

Isaac is optimistic about their chances.

“I’m a proud mom. I’ve seen some of the acts and Canada has some great talent, but I’m pretty hopeful,” she said. “They’ve got a lot of support from our community, our churches. They’ve got a fan base already.” noconnor@vancourier.com Twitter: @Naoibh

Can taller buildings set new standards in beauty and sustainability in Vancouver? Learn more about this discussion and hear experts weigh in on the topic.

PUBLIC LECTURE Join us for this free event featuring world-renowned architects Stefan Behnisch (Stuttgart) and Peter Clewes (Toronto).

Tuesday, April 10, 2012 from 7:30 to 9:30 pm SFU Habour Centre 515 West Hastings Street, 1400 Segal Room URBAN DESIGN PANEL - SPECIAL SESSION The panel, which provides recommendations to City Council on creating buildings that achieve the highest sustainability and architectural standards, will hold a technical review of a proposed highrise development at 1400 Howe Street. Architects Stefan Behnisch, Peter Clewes, Walter Francl and Mark Ostry will join the panel for this session.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012 from 11:30 am to 4:30 pm Vancouver City Hall, 453 West 12th Avenue 1st Floor, Town Hall Meeting Room FOR MORE INFORMATION: 604.873.7716 or 604.871.6403 vancouver.ca./rezapps

Want to compost, but don’t have a backyard?

Reduce your kitchen waste and help the environment by composting at home. The City has a limited number of $25 worm composters for use in apartments. Each one comes with a bin, lid, tray, worms, bedding and instructions.

A one-hour workshop at the Compost Demonstration Garden is required with the purchase of your apartment worm composter.

To sign up for a workshop and composter, call the Compost Hotline at 604.736.2250 or check: cityfarmer.org/wormcomp61.html FOR MORE INFORMATION:

A12

THE VANCOUVER COURIER FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012

news

$500,000 renovation paid mainly by Crown corporation

Hotel angels get face lift in Downtown Eastside Jared Gnam Contributing writer

The Holborn Hotel on East Hastings Street features a cement façade with four angels. cades] that you see in the area,” he said.

Preserving the city’s history in the Downtown Eastside is difficult, Mah said. Most of the buildings are affordable housing units and the owners either have no budget or lack the desire to fix them.

But with the Holborn Hotel owners restoring the façade,

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which cost the owners only several thousand of the total $500,000 renovation budget, Mah said he hopes to see other owners follow suit because historic restoration adds life to the community.

“I believe it gives encouragement to the other building owners in the area to take the opportunity to improve the community, and it gives back to the people, whoever

is walking by or driving by.”

The project also involves the replacement of all the windows and the unit doors on top of the restoration of the shared bathrooms on each of the three residential floors.

For consultant Douglas Leung, who first arranged the project with the Woo family, taxpayers are getting the best “bang for the

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buck” so far with the economic approach taken by the renovation team. “We could never make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, but what we’re trying to do is ensure we get the maximum benefit out of the dollar so we’re going in with things that will add to the longevity of the building,” he said. jared_jg@hotmail.com Twitter: @JaredGnam

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The owners of a single-room occupancy hotel in the Downtown Eastside are combining their own money with funding from a federal government program to restore the building’s historic façade.

At the top of the 101-year-old Holborn Hotel located on East Hastings Street is a uniquely crafted cement façade, which includes four angels holding up a the words “Hankey Block,” the name attributed to the original owners of the hotel.

The current owners, the Woo family, are one of the last recipients of funding from a renovation program launched by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. The Woos saw the value in the distinct design and went out of their way to ensure it would stay intact, said David Mah, a Vancouver architect hired to help restore the building. “It’s a part of our heritage and a good example of the Edwardian style that they had back then, whether it was a hotel or a warehouse,” Mah said. “When the guys went up and touched it, the arm of one of the angels fell off, so it was quite brittle.”

Mah said the craftsman who originally designed the façade put extra time and care into their work in comparison to some of the other original buildings in the area. “It terms of cultural heritage and the amount of detail and work that has been put in it originally it is really different and special. It seems this piece is a little more ornate than the other [fa-

FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

news

A13

TURNING POINT RECOVERY SOCIETY

In partnership with Western Recovery Foundation presents:

Education minister lauds choice, BCTF ‘at a loss’

MAKING RECOVERY A REALITY

Teacherdisputemediatornotessystem‘dysfunction’ Charles Jago cord it would be naïve to say I’m coming in with the view I can solve all of these outstanding problems because they are endemic. They’re longstanding and there have been a number of reports by mediators about the dysfunction of the negotiating system with respect to the teachers in the province,” he said.

Jago authored the 2006 report Working Together to Improve Performance: Preparing B.C.’s Public Education System for the Future and has held academic appointments in Canadian universities for more than 40 years. At UNBC, he initiated the development of the Northern Medical Program.

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USA Studying BIGGER Trucks

On January 31st, Representative John Mica (R-Florida), chairman of the US HouseofRepresentatives Tr a n s p o r t a t i o n and Infrastructure Committee, formally unveiled a five-year, $260 billion surface transportation bill — dubbed the American Energy and Cedric Hughes Infrastructure Jobs Act of 2012. And just when it seemed that ‘smaller and lighter’ were well on the way to becoming the new ‘BIG’ for all modes of transportation— planes, trains (light rail), and automobiles — this bill proposed an increase in the federally regulated weight limit for tractor-trailer trucks on US interstate highways from 80,000 pounds to 97,000 pounds (approximately 44,000 kilograms).

And in some cases, the new limits extended to allowing 126,000-pound trucks (approximately 57,200 kilograms) special permits to run on 25mile segments of an interstate.

The proposed legislation also allows the largest rigs, now comprising two and sometimes three trailers, to increase in length by as much as 10 feet (3+ meters), bringing their total length to over 100 feet. As one news release described it, sharing the road with such proposed new ‘bigger’ trucks would be like the sharing the road with a Boeing 737 - minus the wings of course!

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee wasted no time, however, in voting down these measures on February 2nd, instead adopting an amendment calling for a study of the effects of bigger trucks on safety and infrastructure.

Sean McNally, spokesman for American Trucking Associations was disappointed the amendment deferring the weight change had passed saying, “… Dozens and dozens of studies … show increasing truck productivity reduces truck miles traveled, which not only reduces accident risk, congestion and emissions but also … ultimately [saves] money in reduced highway

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Dr. Charles Jago, the mediator appointed to handle the teachers’ labour dispute, acknowledged he faces a tough task during a conference call Wednesday.

“When I was first approached I described it as mission impossible, so I think there are enormous barriers and the parties have not been able to agree in the past,” said Jago, a former president of the University of Northern British Columbia. “And there’s a sorry record of negotiations going back almost 20 years. So am I hopeful? I can’t say that I am, but will I give it an honest try? I will certainly say that I will do that.”

Pressed about his attitude going into mediation, Jago said the mediation’s success depends on the attitude of the negotiating parties—the B.C. Teachers’ Federation and the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association. “If you look at the historical re-

day he works as mediator.

He isn’t a member of a political party, but acknowledged he paid (less than $1,000) to take part in two B.C. Liberal golf tournament fundraisers. He maintains he’s independent.

Education minister George Abbott said Jago has skills needed to make progress in negotiations. “Anyone who knows Dr. Jago knows he is of an independent mind,” Abbott said. The mediation period runs to June 30. If there’s no agreement by that date, Jago will issue a report with non-binding recommendations.

BCTF president Susan Lambert questioned Jago’s experience and the process.

She wasn’t aware of the golf tournament donations and said she’s “really at a loss to explain what kind of process we’re in.”

“We’ve got a very restricted mandate that only looks, it seems to me, at strips to the collective agreement.” noconnor@vancourier.com Twitter: @Naoibh

maintenance costs.”

The Coalition for Tr a n s p o r t a t i o n Productivity, another leading proponent of these increased limits said heavier trucks don’t create safety issues so long as states make sure to require the trucks to have a sixth axle.

According to 2010 Barrister & Solicitor statistics from the Truck Safety Coalition, truck crash fatalities have counter-trended increasing 9% to 3,675.

Opponents of the proposed legislation say having even bigger trucks on the roads would increase the amount of fatalities because bigger trucks take longer to stop and their crashes are even more destructive. “If there was ever a recipe for disaster, this is it,” said Senator Frank Lautenberg, (D-New Jersey), chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Surface Transportation.

Opponents also say bigger trucks would put further stress on already deteriorating roads and bridges. “At a time when we are seriously under-investing in the nation’s transportation infrastructure, allowing bigger and heavier trucks on our roads and bridges is a step in the wrong direction,” said Jill Ingrassia, AAA managing director of government relations and traffic safety advocacy.

Railroads, labour and highway safety groups also oppose the proposed increases. “Americans don’t want 97,000-pound trucks or huge multitrailers up to 120 feet long on our nation’s highways,” said Ed Hamberger, president of the Association of American Railroads. “Nor is it fair that even more of the public’s tax dollars will be used to pay for the road and bridge damage inflicted by massive trucks.”

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A14

THE VANCOUVER COURIER FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012

news

Community Calendar

with Sandra Thomas When the Penthouse Night Club first opened in the late 1940s, spotters would stand on the roof to keep an eye out for cops preparing for one of the nightly raids frequent during that era.

Because the club couldn’t get a liquor licence, customers would bring their own booze, which the Vancouver Police Department took great offence to. Not surprisingly, tables from those early days had secret compartments in which to stash liquor bottles.

Today, the Penthouse still has some of those tables, but there’s also a lot of new ones after a fire swept through the upstairs of the legendary and infamous strip club last November.

Several years ago owner Danny Filippone told me that stories about entertainments greats such as Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope and Ella Fitzgerald visiting the club were largely anecdotal, until a stash of old photographs was discovered in a chest found within a hole in a wall hidden by a photocopy machine. Filippone had 120 of those photographs restored, framed and mounted at the nightclub.

With extensive renovations now finished following the November fire, the Penthouse will celebrate its grand re-opening April 5 with a show by rockabilly group Six Gun Rodeo. The classic “naughtiness” begins at 10 p.m.

For a sneak peak of the Penthouse, including a picture of a table with a secret compartment, check out our online photo gallery.

Strathcona

Leaky Heaven Circus is offering free theatre workshops for kids living in the Strathcona community every Saturday from now through May 12 at the Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Ave. Kids ages eight to 12 learn through games, stories, mask making, clowning and costumes before creating their own theatre.

Participants will then have an opportunity to perform their work at BLiNk, Leaky Heaven’s festival of one-minute acts.

For more information, visit leakyheaven.ca.

VanDusen garden

The Alpine Garden Club of B.C. hosts its annual Spring Sale and Show from 1 to 4 p.m. Easter Sunday, April 7, in the Floral Hall and Cedar Room at VanDusen Botanical Garden, on West 37th Avenue off Oak Street. The sale includes a judged show of live plants in 65 categories, including many rock-

garden varieties and primulas, but also bonsai, dwarf conifers, dwarf rhododendrons and ferns, just to name a few. The sale also includes a wide range of plants for many growing environments.

Admission is free, but please note this is a cash-only event.

Downtown Eastside

The W2 Media Café located in the atrium of the Woodward’s complex is hosting a multimedia exhibition, including art, video and photographs, now through April 2, called Lo Wah Kiu: Our Stories.

According to the Chinese Canadian National Council, “Lo Wah Kiu” translates to “old Chinese overseas.” This exhibition includes “instances of their spawn as manifest today in Canada.”

The press release describes the exhibit this way: “Evocative of a proud and resilient community, it will introduce a seminal moment in a contemporary struggle for an uncompleted inclusion [and] just and honourable redress for 62-years of Chinese head tax and inclusion legislation.” Couldn’t have said it better myself.

The café is located at 111 West Hastings St. sthomas@vancourier.com Twitter: @sthomas10 See related ‘Penthouse’ photo gallery at

Penthouse Night Club owner Danny Filippone celebrates the photo Dan Toulgoet grand re-opening April 5.

vancourier.com

South Shore Corridor Project COMMUNITY OPEN HOUSE – REMINDER Port Metro Vancouver invites the community to learn about the South Shore Corridor Project, including updated project information such as traffic management, the environmental assessment and project schedule.

The project includes a new elevated road above Stewart Street between Clark Drive and Victoria Drive, a pedestrian overpass for Port employees at Victoria Drive, and improvements at key intersections to better manage truck access to port terminals.

WWF would like to thank our sponsors:

The project is designed to address long-standing safety and traffic congestion challenges in this area while also enhancing rail and port operations as international trade continues to grow. Drop by the upcoming open house to learn more.

THE SOUTH SHORE CORRIDOR PROJECT INCLUDES INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS ALONG PORT ROADS BETWEEN HEATLEY AVENUE AND McGILL STREET IN VANCOUVER.

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OPEN HOUSE DETAILS: Tuesday, April 3, 2012 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Holiday Inn Express, 2889 East Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC Please visit www.portmetrovancouver.com for more information, including a summary of community feedback received to date.

© 1986 Panda symbol WWF-World Wide Fund For Nature (also known as World Wildlife Fund). ® “WWF” is a WWF Registered Trademark. ®*™ Trademarks of AIR MILES International Trading B.V. Used under license by LoyaltyOne, Inc.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Web: www.portmetrovancouver.com Email: public_affairs@portmetrovancouver.com Phone: 604-665-9066

A15

FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

news

10% Senior Discount

Canucks launch anti-riot campaign

(some restrictions apply)

Fearing a third Stanley Cup riot this spring, Vancouver city hall said Tuesday it won’t show Vancouver Canucks’ playoff games on big screens in downtown.

But Canada Place, which is operated by a federal Crown corporation, is considering whether to display Hockey Night in Canada telecasts on its 25-foot-high, Canada’s Storyboard LED screen.

“We are just working through that question right now,” spokesperson Robyn McVicker said Wednesday. “We should have a plan by next week.”

Some 4,000 people watched the Canucks lose Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup final outside Canada Place.

However, the official civic fan zone on Georgia, Hamilton and Homer streets drew 55,000 people on June 15, 2011 and was ruined by a riot. Downtown property damage was estimated at $5 million.

If Canada Place doesn’t carry games on its screen, clever citizens with the right wireless connectivity and mobile projection equipment could create their own impromptu “live sites” and promote them via social networks.

Occupy Vancouver protesters on the Vancouver Art Gallery’s north plaza showed what was possible last October and November with mobile webcasts and projections of still and video images on the blank, white Howe Street wall of the adjacent Sears department store.

The only barrier to such unsanctioned playoff gatherings could be the copyright holder, says the director of

Thousands gathered downtown for last year’s Stanley Cup final. photo Dan Toulgoet Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Policy Research on Science and Technology. “It’s certainly technologically possible,” said Prof. Richard Smith.

“How much technical people like sports, I can imagine some of them are thinking about ways to do stuff like that themselves. Doing a projection, of course, of a live [National Hockey League] game might bring down the NHL lawyers on your head pretty quickly.”

Canucks Sports and Entertainment launched its “This is Our Home: Celebrate Responsibly” playoff ad campaign Wednesday featuring the Sedin twins, Kevin Bieksa, Ryan Kesler, Manny Malhotra and ex-captains Stan Smyl and Trevor Linden.

Chief operating officer Victor de Bonis described the message as both “inspirational” and “preventive.”

De Bonis said the Canucks have pledged to share the $100,000 cost

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with the city of family-oriented, community centre viewing parties, but the company won’t pay extra for policing away from Rogers Arena because “the government manages the public space.”

“We talked really conceptually about the different options and the city really wanted to do things in the community to support the unity of everyone,” de Bonis said. “The primary focus for us is winning games and managing the experience at the venue.”

The privately owned Canucks do not publish their finances, but it is estimated they grossed more than $40 million from ticket sales from the 14home playoff games in 2011. De Bonis said the company already pays taxes like other businesses and contributes to various community causes and charities year-round. “Businesses take risks, sometimes there are rewards, sometimes there isn’t,” de Bonis said.

“I can’t express how much that issue gets overblown.”

Canucks executives were notably absent from the Tuesday city hall news conference. “We talked about whether it made sense to participate,” de Bonis said. “It didn’t feel like it was the right thing to do. The collaboration has been real good. We’ve got to focus on winning.”

Playoffs begin April 11, but the odds are against the Canucks winning their first Stanley Cup in 2012. Since the NHL’s 1968 expansion, only two runners-up have become champions the next season: the 1984 Edmonton Oilers and 2009 Pittsburgh Penguins.

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A16

THE VANCOUVER COURIER FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012

Easter Worship Palm Sunday, April 1 Maundy Thursday, April 5 Good Friday, April 6 Family Stations of the Cross Easter Eve Sat. April 7 Easter Sunday, April 8

MARTIN LUTHER EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH

505 East 46th Avenue, Vancouver (one block West of Fraser St) Phone 604-325-0550

WE WELCOME YOU Good Friday, April 6

9:00 am German Service with Holy Communion 11:00 am English Service with Holy Communion

Easter Sunday, 10:00 am Combined Service April 8 followed by an Easter Breakfast Regular Sunday Services 9:00 am German 11:00 am English Rev. Nicholas Hopman

Monday April 2nd to Thursday April 5th 7:30 a.m. Breakfast and Devotions Maundy Thursday - April 5th 7:00 p.m. Worship and Communion Good Friday - April 6th 10:00 a.m. A Dramatic Retelling of the Passion Story

EASTER SUNDAY - April 8th 10:00 a.m. Family Worship

St. Philip’s Anglican Church 3737 West 27th Avenue 604-224-3238

305 West 41st Avenue (east of Cambie) Phone 604-324-7444 www.oakridgeunited.org

A Warm Welcome to All !

THURSDAY APRIL 5 - 6 p.m.

Mediterranean Meal & Lord’s Supper GOOD FRIDAY April 6 - 10 a.m.

Shared at Wilson Heights United Church 1634 E. 41st Ave.

Holy Eucharist at 8:00 am & 10:00 am

Thursday, April 5 Maundy Thursday

Simple Supper - 6:00 pm, Holy Eucharist

Friday, April 6 Good Friday

Stations of the Cross, Family Service at 10:00 am Solemn Liturgy of the Cross at noon

Holy Saturday, April 7

The Great Vigil of Easter at 8:00 pm

Sunday, April 8 EASTER DAY

Holy Eucharist at 8:00 am & 10:00 am

HOLY WEEK AND EASTER AT DUNBAR HEIGHTS UNITED CHURCH Palm Sunday, April 1st 10am

Holy Saturday, April 7th 7pm Bach’s Mass in B minor Choir, Orchestra, Soloists Donation $20

Easter Sunday, April 8th 10am Parade to flower the Easter Cross Selections from Mass in B minor

All ages, all questioners welcome every Sunday

3525 West 24th Avenue, at Collingwood 604-731-6420 Email: office@dunbarheightsuc.ca Website: www.dunbarheightsuc.ca

EASTER SUNDAY April 8 - 9:30 a.m.

Special Easter Music

West Point Grey United Church

www.stphilipsdunbar.com

Sunday, April 1 Palm Sunday

AM 650 Radio - Sundays at 8:30 AM

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE READING ROOM #103 - 1668 West Broadway • Info 604-733-4310 Mon. - Fri. 10am - 3pm • Sat. 11am - 3pm

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Holy Week and Easter Services

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HOLY WEEK -

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Good Friday, April 6th 10am

604-261-1434

Easter brings us a message of hope: because Jesus lives, we will live also.

Come celebrate with us!

1900 West 12th Ave. ~ Tel/Fax 604-733-8040

Begin Holy Week with a Parade of Palms led by the children

KERRISDALE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 2733 W. 41st Avenue Vancouver, BC V6N 3C4

Second Church of Christ, Scientist

Palm Sunday April 1st 10:30 a.m. All Ages Service Good Friday Service April 6th 10:30 a.m. Special Music Easter Sunday, April 8th 8:00 a.m. Sunrise Service in Trimble Park led by the ecumenical youth of West Point Grey Easter Sunday Brunch 8:45 a.m. - 10 a.m. in the hall Easter Sunday Service 10:30 a.m.

Brass ensemble and choir Down the Bunny Trail for kids 4595 W. 8th Ave at Tolmie www.wpguc.com

DUNBAR EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH Join us for Holy Week Palm Sunday: Maundy Thursday: Good Friday: Holy Saturday Easter Vigil: Easter Sunday:

April 1, 10:30 am April 5, 7:30 pm April 6, 10:30 am April 7, 7:30 pm April 8, Hot breakfast, 9:00 am Service, 10:30 am

3491 West 31st Ave, Vancouver tel: 604-266-6818 www.dunbarlutheran.ca Pastor: Thomas Keeley

FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

A17

Easter Worship ST. MARK’S KITSILANO

Knox United Church

ANGLICAN CHURCH

1805 Larch Street at West 2nd Avenue, Vancouver 604-736-2838

“Come .... to Life” Palm Sunday, April 1 Choral Eucharist at 9:30 am

Good Friday, April 6 Liturgy at 2:00 pm

April 2, 3 & 4 Labyrinth at 6:00 pm Centering Prayer at 7:00 pm

Easter Vigil, April 7 Easter Vigil with Eucharist and Feast at 9:00 pm

Maundy Thursday, April 5 Evening meal, Eucharist & foot washing at 6:00 pm

Easter Day, April 8 Resurrection Eucharist at 9:30 am

Vancouver, B.C.

HOLY WEEK WORSHIP April 1st Palm Sunday 10am April 5th Maundy Thursday 7pm

Maundy Thursday

April 6th Good Friday 10am at Knox United Church with Dunbar Heights United Church

Good Friday

April 8th at 10am

Are you searching for something more?

To reserve your space in our monthly Worship feature call Nadia at 604-998-3509 or email nmather@nsnews.com for more details!

5600 Balaclava Street (& 41st) Ave.

Come to Worship!

April 5th - 7:00 pm

April 6th - 10:30 am

Easter Sunday Worship

Easter Sunday

April 8th - 10:30am

West Point Grey Presbyterian Church

All are welcome!

4397 West 12th Avenue, Vancouver

www.knoxunitedvancouver.org

(an intercultural congregation at 12th & Trimble)

Location: 320 East 15th Avenue, Vancouver (one block East of Main Street)

EW18

THE VANCOUVER COURIER FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012

Don Davies, M.P.

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FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

news

Star power

I heard Vancouver songstress Sarah McLachlan slipped into the March 26 park board meeting to speak in support of a fundraising concert proposed for Stanley Park on behalf of her music school.

It would be difficult for anyone to refuse a personal request from the popular singer, known almost as much for her charity work as for her greatest hits. So I wasn’t surprised to hear the Voices in the Park event was approved for Sept. 15 with proceeds going to McLachlan’s School of Music, which offers free music programs for youth who don’t have the financial means to pay for music lessons.

Sarah McLachlan Vision Vancouver commissioner Sarah Blyth told me the commissioners had no idea McLachlan would attend the meeting. “It was awesome,” says Blyth. “I was really excited to support her program because it really gives back through youth mentorship. Youth don’t always get a lot of support.”

The concert expects to draw more than 20,000 people to Brockton Field in Stanley Park, so I’m guessing there’s a major transportation plan yet to come. Licensed areas that will hold up to 5,500 concert-goers were also approved Monday night.

Name domain

Vision Vancouver park board vice-chair Aaron Jasper called Wednesday to explain why the staff recommendation to change the way public spaces are named was put on hold.

He first wanted to assure me the recommendation was made by staff and not the majority Vision Vancouver commissioners on the board, as was suggested by some. When the recommendation was made public in a

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Jasper said once the staff report is complete, the commissioners will find a way to make naming parks and public spaces more efficient, while still engaging the community.

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Might I add a hearty good luck with that.

As reported previously in the Courier, the fees to license dogs not spayed or neutered will drop from $71 to $38, the same cost for spayed and neutered animals. The plan is part of an overall effort by city staff to streamline the process to obtain simple licences and permits by applying online. Permits and licences for fire alarms, businesses and parking permits will also eventually be available online. sthomas@vancourier.com Twitter: @sthomas10

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staff report last week, some commissioners, former commissioners and members of the public told me they had grave concerns about how the change could lead to nepotism and croynism.

I wrote about some of those concerns in Central Park this week and last. “There was nothing partisan about this report,” Jasper assured me.

Jasper says the decision regarding the recommendation was postponed because the accompanying staff report didn’t include enough information.

A19

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v a n c o u r i e r. c o m

A20

THE VANCOUVER COURIER FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012

seniors

health

Med students taught to attend to more than physical illness

coming up:

Good listening skills key to diagnosis

• Life's Tapestry: We visit two locations of seniors' residential spaces, where "the living is easy," whether you are leasing or buying your apartment.

• Water's Edge: Historian and octogenarian Jacquie Hooper reminisces about the good old days in Kitsilano.

• Residence Redux: Learn how the government can assist older people with retrofitting the home to allow "aging in place."

This and more, in April's Seniors!

To advertise in this feature, call

03280680

Full colour feature runs Wed. April 4, east/west; Fri. April 6, DT.

604-738-1412

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Introducing

Sweet Deals Daily

Medical students are taught to take a careful history because in most cases therein lies the patient’s diagnosis.

When I was in medical school, we were taught how to “take a history.” This included the history of the present illness (the presenting problem, when it began and the details of the patient’s symptoms), the review of systems (an inquiry into all the major organ systems), the patient’s past medical history (including allergies, operations and significant illnesses and hospitalizations) and family medical history.

As students, we tended to focus on getting specific details from the patient, and this often resulted in what must seem like a barrage of questions. These are intended to rule in or rule out particular medical conditions.

Particular conditions often follow a predictable pattern of presentation. For example, gallstone pain is often described as crampy right upper abdominal pain radiating into the back following a heavy or fatty meal.

The classical symptoms of high blood sugars from uncontrolled diabetes are excessive thirst, hunger, urination and weight loss.

Sometimes, in the search for the diagnosis, we get caught up in the questions and try to fit the patient into a recognizable pattern.

Physicians trained in this way, may fall into a pattern

davidicuswong of asking many close-ended questions. The problem with this is that we limit the information we get in response, and some of the missed information may be crucial to the correct diagnosis.

I’m happy to report that medical school has evolved since then. Students are learning early to listen better, to ask more open-ended questions and to invite patients to share more information.

We know that patients put a lot of thought into how they are going to explain their problems to their physicians.

They might be rehearsing what they’re going to say on the way to the clinic or hospital and again just before they meet with their doctors.

When I teach med students and residents, I remind them that the old adage that the diagnosis is in the history really means the patient will tell us the diagnosis but we have to listen. After making the patient feel at ease, I encourage my students to let a patient talk about their symptoms without interruption. Studies

have shown that most doctors interrupt patients within two minutes, and when this happens, they lose their train of thought and crucial information is missed.

By taking time to listen first, we gain more than launching in the typical medical inquisition. Students are now taught to ask more open-ended questions that invite more elaboration from the patient as opposed to the yes or no responses to closeended questions.

Medical students throughout Canada are taught to attend to more than the physical symptoms of illness. They learn the acronym, FIFE. This reminds them to ask patients about their feelings (fears and other feelings related to the experience of their illness), ideas (the patients’ own ideas about their condition), function (how the illness affects their daily lives) and expectations (what they expect from the doctor and from their condition).

Though old habits are difficult to change, I’m optimistic that doctors will continue to improve the way they communicate and relate to their patients. You could help.

Send questions or suggestions to davidicuswong. wordpress.com. The Burnaby Division of Family Practice is working on a major project to transform the patient-doctor relationship.

Dr. Davidicus Wong is a family physician.

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To see your business here - Call 604-534-8641

With the help of British Columbians, Northwest Wildlife Preservation Society (NWPS) continues to work to educate the leaders of tomorrow on the importance of the environment. Providing environmental education and hands-on stewardship activities to school aged children and adults throughout the province, we are focused on developing lasting respect and awareness of our fragile environment. Fostering a sense of responsibility and concern for wildlife and wildlife habitats is paramount in our efforts.

NWPS was created in 1987 and through years of working within communities has seen our reputation flourish and grow. We have recently aquired a 240 acre parcel

of land located in Mill Bay, Vancouver Island.

A portion of the property is being developed into a bird and wildlife sanctuary. We run education programs throughout the school year providing thousands of school aged children opportunities to become engaged with wildlife and wildlife spaces. Any support that our donors provide goes into developing and delivering our programs or supporting our activities on our Vancouver Island property.

FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

A21

Worldwide, an estimated 2.4 MILLION METRIC TONNES OF PLASTIC ARE USED TO BOTTLE WATER EACH YEAR.. ABOUT 10 PER CENT OF IT IS RECYCLED — THE REST ENDS UP IN LANDFILLS AND THE OCEAN.

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IN A PERFECT WORLD WORDS PETER LADNER

nt

ust because it’s local is it good for you and the world?

Excitement about the local food movement sometimes soars into the romantic stratosphere, with visions of sugarplum fairies dancing on rooftops and backyards, scattering organic rutabagas to eager schoolchildren while neighbours gather in community gardens singing ring-around-the-rosy. That’s the way it looks to some of the hard-working corporate farmers toughing it out in world export markets.

At a recent Food Summit conference in Toronto, organized by the Conference Board of Canada, an evening debate went off in search of reality, pitting two teams of debaters on the topic, “Local food: good for us and good for the world.”

Without getting into who said what, it soon became clear that “local food” is a clumsy marker for an amazing array of initiatives that are not just about doing what the corporate food system does so well: providing Canadians with year-round access to a great variety of safe, quality food at low prices (relative to income) never seen before in history.

No reasonable person is going to pretend that we can replace all that with local food. Even Alicia Smith and James McKinnon, Vancouver inventors of the 100-mile diet, never intended that everyone should live according to their fascinating experiment. I don’t know anyone who wants all local, all the time.

Give up guacamole and espresso? Never! Trade has many benefits, as B.C.’s agricultural industry proudly demonstrates, depending on foreign buyers for our fish, cranberries, blueberries and wines.

But the local food movement is code for many things that aren’t just about being local.

The full ecology of benefits credited to local food makes policy-makers drool: more fresh, more nutritious food, more prosperous local farmers, healthier eating, fewer fat kids, less diabetes, lower health care costs, safer neighbourhoods, more beautiful streets, fewer hungry people, more exercise, lower GHGs, more resilience to climate change, safer food, less soil erosion, happier animals, less pollution and rutabagas forever.

Like our food itself, this revolution in growing and eating needs more honest, transparent labelling. Whether it’s called the good food movement, the sustainable food movement, the organic food movement, the equitable food movement or the urban food revolution, it’s underway everywhere. There are no fewer than five recent books, including my own, on this topic with the word “revolution” in the title. There are also five

different organizations working feverishly on a national food policy for Canada, from the Conference Board to the People’s Food Movement.

The debate in Toronto melted down, Canadian style, into a mushy agreement that both views had merit. No, local food doesn’t always have a smaller ecological footprint. Yes, it is more likely to deliver health than profit. Loblaw executive chairman Galen Weston was right: it’s about balance.

You could also say it’s about going back to the junction where we detoured away from sustainable eating and food

production into a world of plentiful, profitable, harmful food.

The local food movement, or whatever you want to call it, is taking us “past forward” down a new path—not a moment too soon. n

PETER LADNER is a former Vancouver city councilor and author

of The Urban Food Revolution: Changing the Way We Feed Cities. He writes a weekly column for Business in Vancouver.

FEAST ON 4th. NOTE TO VANCOUVER FOODIES: START YOUR APPETITES. FEAST ON 4TH FOOD & DINING FESTIVAL APRIL 13-22

“Feast on 4th” is a celebration of everything food on West 4th Avenue!

Whether you are going for coffee, dining in at your favourite restaurant, stopping by your local butcher to take some amazing cuts home to BBQ, or grabbing a bottle of vino for dinner... Eat, drink & celebrate KITS! See our Events page at shopwest4th.com for details.

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012

FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

Super food alert!

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Vancouver’s global reputation down to Bishops’ staff WORDS ANDREW MORRISON

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T

he advance of our food scene from its once uninspired doldrums to its current position as one of the most diverse and attractive in the world has been staggeringly quick. Though partly the natural consequence of our cultural melting pot coming to a steady, delicious boil (now seasoned with street food), one can find causation elsewhere, like in a small Kitsilano eatery owned by a bespectacled, mildmannered Welshman named John Bishop.

Bishop’s eponymous restaurant may be famed for re-introducing many of us to our region’s bounty, but of greater import to the future were the men and women who rose through its ranks. Many of them moved on to lead new kitchen brigades, either as owners or executives, instilling in a whole generation of cooks a sincere appreciation for local and sustainable ingredients.

While Dino Raenarts, Rob Feenie (however briefly), Carol Chow, Vikram Vij and others ascended to local greatness, others spread Bishop’s gospel further afield (like so many toqued apostles). James Walt rose to lead the team at Araxi in Whistler; Michael Allemeier ruled the Terrace at Mission Hill in the

No matter our incomes, we’d become zealous foodies, hungry for new flavours, thrilled to support local producers, and willing to go to less “desirable” addresses in our hunt for originality.

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Okanagan before heading to Alberta to teach at the SAIT Polytechnic School of Hospitality; and Adam Busby — bless him — would go on to influence thousands as the director of education at the Culinary Institute of America.

In Vancouver proper, the most impactful of Bishop’s alumni might be former sous chef Jeff Van Geest, who would open the critically acclaimed Aurora Bistro in 2003.

The locavore’s delight on (then) gritty Main Street would only last five years, but its coming would signal more than just the start of a transfer of stewardship from titans like John Bishop. It would also expose a vitally important truth about ourselves: no matter our incomes, we’d become zealous foodies, hungry for new flavours, thrilled to support local producers, and willing to go to less “desirable” addresses in our hunt for originality. Aurora revealed to a new generation of would-be restaurateurs that we would travel down Gastown alleyways at night for good charcuterie, we would venture up into the elevated wilds of the British Properties for inventiveness, and we would go deep into the West Side for risotto.

Of course, Van Geest wasn’t the only young gun making an impact in the 2000s.

The debts abound, but Karri and Nico Schuermans of Crosstown’s Chambar merit mentioning for altering the landscape more than any other local restaurant since Bishop’s.

Since 2005, Chambar has given us nights that have been more honest reflections of our city than facsimiles of how we once imagined Manhattan, Paris, Florence, Tokyo, or New York to be. It reacquainted Vancouverites with the seemingly lost art of the cocktail

(nudging competitors and customers alike to rethink their drinks), put the coup de grace on formality in fine dining, and became the second restaurant in B.C. to be certified “carbon neutral.”

Even more than Bishop’s before it, Chambar unleashed upon our restaurant scene a torrent of new talents. Without it, there would be no Save On Meats, no Sea Monstr Sushi, no Boneta, no Bao Bei, no Diamond, no L’Abattoir, no Dirty Apron, no Medina, no Meat & Bread, no Calabash, no Cadeaux, and no highly anticipated Wildebeest (due this spring). All are either owned or co-owned

by Chambar alumni. It has never been just a typical restaurant.

If all these and other successful newcomers have anything in common in their remarkable diversity, it’s been their deliberate departure from pretension. Most of the explicitly “formal” restaurants that opened in the wake of Chambar’s success have since closed (including the once-mighty Lumiere, as reissued by superstar chef Daniel Boulud). It seems the aspirational sensibilities that once defined our culinary past no longer appeal in a city that has little to prove to itself any more, and much less to prove to an adoring outside world.

In other words, we’ve grown up. Rather contentedly, too, and by no means are we done. As rich and real a food city as ours has become, evidence abounds of how hungry we still are. And as informed, engaged diners who expect a little better of today than of what we enjoyed yesterday, we deserve a small round of applause, if only because whenever we’ve been given an inch, we’ve eaten a kilometre.

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012

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s a wine region, Chile already enjoys a built-in culture of sustainability, thanks in great part to its natural geographic isolation. Bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Andes to the east, the Atacama desert to the North, and the Antarctic to the south, the world’s longest and narrowest country enjoys a unique topographical buffer that has protected it from some of the worst ravages — including the late 19th century outbreak of Phylloxera that destroyed the French wine industry.

However, the Chileans also walk the sustainable walk, perhaps more than any other country on the planet. They were among the first to introduce a more carbon footprint-friendly, lighter wine bottle.

Even some of the largest Chilean producers, such as Concha y Toro-owned Cono Sur, have the most advanced organic and biodynamic practices. The winery — which in 2007 became the world’s first to be carbon-neutral — was a proactive organic pioneer, embarking early on environmentally balanced programs.

Instead of pesticides, Cono Sur’s Matias Rios introduced flocks of geese into the vineyard to control destructive pests like the vine destroying “burrito”; planted natural ground covers for weed control, used garlic as a natural repellent, and even encouraged workers to use bicycles instead of motorized transport whenever possible. The latter resulted in the winery’s now familiar “bicycle label,” considered one of the most widely available and affordable organic brands.

Biodynamic pioneer Alvaro Espinoza, who oversees Fair Trade flag-bearer Viña Emiliana’s seven farms in four valleys (in Casablanca, Cachapoal, Maipo, Colchagua and Bio-Bio) says “We do it as much to protect the people who work in the vineyards as for the wine.”

Emiliana’s flagship Coyam highlights the sense of place, says Espinoza, rather than the six varieties which make up the blend, he suggests.

Chile’s “first out of the gate”approach, combined with its relatively benign environment (often referred to as a “winemaker’s paradise”) has given it a leg up in the sustainable and organicbiodynamic sweepstakes.

Also, the country’s plantings beyond the original Valle Central in developing regions on the coast and at

PHOTO TIM PAWSEY

Spring is Here!

03301193

IN THE FIELD

Matias Rios introduced flocks of geese into the vineyard to control destructive pests like the vine destroying “burrito”. higher elevations in the Andes foothills — first explored by groundbreakers such as Montes — have also assisted in making the transition to more sustainable practices.

While most Chilean wineries already follow sustainable practices, only 14 of the country’s producers have met the new rigorous government-overseen requirements — which examine every aspect of winemaking and packaging — to proclaim their products as “Certified Sustainable Wine of Chile.” If you’re keen to be a sustainable sipper, look for wines from the following Chilean leaders: Anakena, Arboleda, Caliterra, Casa Silva, Cremaschi Furlotti, Emiliana, Errázuriz, Montes, MontGras, Santa Cruz, Santa Ema, Santa Rita, Ventisquero and Vía Wines.

FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

A25

BITS AND BITES

Great sustenance in the city COMPILED BY HELEN PETERSONt

A

ABOUT

All around Vancouver, entrepreneurs and providers of finely honed, healthy and nourishing edibles feed the souls of the citizens. Check out these stalwarts and newbies – there’s a satisfying solution for every palate.

You haven’t experienced a true cornucopia of culinary delights until you’ve stepped into the Granville Island Public Market, where healthy “meats” hearty. For example, there is the renowned Oyama Sausage Co. (oyamasausage.ca), owned by John and Christine van der Lieck.

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In the mood for a little cocoa sweetness?

ChocolaTas (chocolatas.com) offers you a wide range of hand created designer chocolate.

Traditional and original flavours are on the menu with the one invariable: the quality.

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April Bellia’s new Granola Girl line (granolagirl.ca) is organic, vegan and delicious. Lightly sweetened with maple syrup, it contains goji berries and hemp seeds and make for an easy breakfast or snack with almond milk or your favorite yogurt. Bellia says her granola has a clean, light taste and her fans rave to all their friends about it! It’s available in stores such as Whole Foods, Greens, Save-On Foods and other specialty health stores.

This farm’s SPCA Certified Beef and other local meat products is available directly from their farm’s “General Store” which also features their own fantastic produce. They also have a pumpkin patch in October and attend various farmers markets.

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At the Oyama Sausage Company they make over 350 products, from patés, prosciuttos and hams to salamis and sausages, taking inspiration from many different ethnic backgrounds. John is a fifth generation master sausage maker from Europe and all products are handmade in Vancouver, with Canadian inspected free range meats and natural herbs and spices sourced from all over the world.

Unique in B.C. is the large selection of Valhrona and Callebaut origin select chocolates. They specialize in customized gourmet gifts to pamper your guest or yourself.

The Winter Farmers Market continues to Apr. 28, from 10 am to 2 pm Saturdays, in the East Parking Lot of Nat Bailey Stadium - 30th & Ontario Street. Plus, the Trout Lake Farmers Market commences Saturdays as of May 12. Being an annual member gives you access to discounts and special promotions. It also helps your local farmers market operate so you can shop there!

Cherry Tomato Membership at $10 a year entitles you to participate in monthly Member Appreciation Days where you get great discounts at the market and the prestigious Beef Steak Tomato Membership is $100 a year and has added benefits. Go to www.eatlocal.org for full details.

Pictured above: Mikuni Wild Harvest products.

The Tamis family has been farming in Surrey B.C., since 1958. When Ron and his wife Pam took over the family’s beef operation in 2001, they continued the family tradition of raising natural beef for their local community. The farm became SPCA Certified for their beef in 2010.

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OUI. We would like to invite you to a Guest Chef Dinner with Chef Alain Raye of West Vancouver’s La Régalade restaurant.

On April 6, our first Guest Chef Dinner will feature the culinary magic of Chef Alain Raye of West Vancouver’s La Régalade. Chef Raye will be working alongside Chef Nutting to bring you a wondrous selection of genuine, fine French cuisine.

Held in the Rainforest Section of The Pointe Restaurant, the dinner is limited to just 14 people. Tickets for the dinner are $95.00 plus taxes and gratuities. Wine pairings available for $65.00. Dinner starts at 7:00pm. For more information, email our Special Events team or call 250.725.3100 ext. 222.

SIPsoda co. (sipsoda.com) is based in Vancouver, and was founded by local entrepreneur, Jennifer Martin. SIPsoda co. core values, like the drink, are pure, simple and honest. Martin says SIP stands for “simple, infused, pairings of botanicals and fruit” - set in a sparkling, spring water base with only 25 calories. She offers three curious flavours that provide a sophisticated taste experience, without alcohol: lavender lemon peel, coriander orange and rosemary lime. Sweet!

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012

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FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

A27

travel

Great Wolf Lodge a kid-focused vacation destination

Hunt dragons or get wet at fun-filled lodge GRAND MOUND, Wash.—It’s hard to decide what to do first at Great Wolf Lodge: get wet, or hunt dragons.

Should we ride the surf in the wave pool, then run over to the water park’s fort and wait for the giant bucket to tip and send close to one thousand gallons (3,785 litres) of water cascading down onto our heads?

Then climb the stairs and ride a four-person inflated raft through the scream-inducing “Howlin’ Tornado,” an enormous water ride that spins you around an enormous funnel with a nine-metre drop, an experience that’s like swirling down a drain and riding a roller coaster in one?

Or perhaps we should buy a magic wand and set out on MagiQuest, an electronic scavenger hunt in which you flick the wand to open chests of gold, illuminate secret messages in paintings on the walls, and animate talking creatures who give clues about where to race off to next. After deciphering all the riddle clues, armed with the “runes” we’ve collected, we’ll face down the fire-breathing dragon that appears on a wall-sized monitor in a room painted and decorated to look like a gem-strewn cave.

Decisions, decisions. Fortunately, we had time to do both.

Located about an hour south of Seattle, Great Wolf Lodge is one of a chain of 11 resorts spread across the U.S. and Canada. Great Wolf’s 398 non-smoking rooms (some of them with theme decor) make it a busy place, especially during spring break.

Chad Pearson, director of sales and marketing, estimates that between 200,000 and 300,000 people visit the lodge each year.

With its faux log cabin decor, animated animals, daily singalongs and storytimes, Great Wolf Lodge is a kid-focused vacation

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destination. There’s really no reason to leave the hotel. Younger kids can tie-dye Tshirts, create a customized stuffed animal, and drool over the candy, fudge and ice cream stands. Older kids can feed tokens into the arcade room games or hang out in gr8_space, a tween and teen version of a nightclub. For adults, there’s a spa that’s the perfect place to unwind with a massage, facial or body treatment, after a day of chasing after the kids.

Great Wolf is built around a 5,200square-metre water park, open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. It features the wave pool, a 12-level “tree fort” with two tube slides and spray features, a toddler pool with stationary “jet skis” and slides to play on and various tube slides and rides, including the signature Howlin’ Tornado—close to 1.3 million litres of water in all.

Cody Butcher, director of aquatics, oversees a staff of more than 100 life guards.

He takes pride in the filtration and UV treatment systems, which allow the water park to use less chlorine. The water is 28 Celsius, the air a balmy 29 to 30 C, which means you won’t be shivering, once you’re wet.

While the water park is the lodge’s main draw, the MagiQuest game, developed by Creative Kingdoms, is a close second. Each game takes five to six hours to complete, and spans 10 “quests” (four- or five-part scavenger hunts, with riddle clues) and three more complex “adventures” that require some puzzle solving and additional steps to complete.

The game is spread out across the hotel lobby and sections of the second through fifth floors. Although the quests are given

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Kyle Taylor-Smedman uses his wand to activate a treasure chest that’s part of photo Lisa Smedman the MagiQuest game at Great Wolf Lodge.

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in the form of short videos (via display screens mounted inside false trees), MagiQuest isn’t a game for couch potatoes. A single quest can send kids charging up and down the “secret staircase” several times before it’s complete. Moms and dads helping out with the quest won’t even need to visit the fitness room, after that workout.

Each MagiQuest game costs $12.99 US, and the wands needed to play the game range from $15.99 to $21.99 US, including a basic “topper,” the knob that contains the battery. Flashier toppers shaped like dragons, crystals and unicorns, cost extra, as does a “compass” that activates additional quests in the game.

Games are saved on a server, so if the little ones are a bit rough with the wand, all is not lost. The wand, explains retail director Jon Town, is like a television remote; it sends out a signal that’s picked up by a sensor in whatever it’s pointed at. A flick of the wand makes a connection inside the wand, sending out a signal to activate a sensor embedded in the painting, statue or treasure chest that contains the next item or clue you need to collect.

While the majority of those racing through the halls, wands in hand, are kids, adults also enjoy the game, which can be played on a drop-in basis without having to stay at the lodge. Some people even show up in costume.

“The game just keeps you going,” said Town. “The parents are the ones who say, ‘We need to finish this quest!’ It’s a game that gets parents to interact with their kids in a fun environment.”

My nine-year-old son agreed. His verdict on Great Wolf Lodge: “I could live at this place forever!”

For information on Great Wolf Lodge, visit greatwolf.com. smedwoman@shaw.ca

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012

travel

Visitors can bestride the centuries in Japanese capital

Tokyo’s past and future make a perfect present Ted Davis Contributing writer

At Tokyo’s Toyota Mega Web, visitors can see what they photo Ted Davis may be driving in the future.

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TOKYO, Japan—Perhaps no great city on earth manages to embrace the future and venerate the past as well as Tokyo does. Thanks to the city’s remarkable balancing act, it’s easy for a visitor to spend a day bestriding the centuries. Let’s start with the future.

I am riding one of Japan’s technological marvels across the roof of Tokyo, on board the Yurikamome line monorail train as it speeds through canyons of skyscrapers in the Shimbashi district. I am en route to the manmade island of Odaiba, which has evolved into a showcase of futuristic Japanese entertainment, museum and architectural experiences.

One of these comes into view as the driverless train rounds the graceful curve of the Rainbow Bridge, which crosses Tokyo Bay. The Fuji TV studio building, with it unusual “open window” design and 1,000plus tonne, spherical centrepiece is a photographic must-have shot.

I jump off the train at the Odaiba station and start exploring. My expedition will include visits to the National Museum of Emerging Science

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ing the moment. The moment, in this case, can run to potentially four hours, as ornate cups are gently distributed and tea poured by an attendant in traditional garb. The idea is to settle in. One place where visitors are welcome to a tea ceremony (with an English-speaking host) is the Hotel New Otani, which has daily seatings. Here, time-pressed visitors can experience an abbreviated tea ceremony lasting about 20 minutes.

Gardening is close to the Japanese heart, and one of its most iconic expressions is ikebana, the artistic display of plants and flowers.

Unlike Western flower arranging, which emphasizes the blooms, ikebana often focuses on other parts of the plant, like its stems and leaves.

The ikebana artist uses minimalist shapes and lines to convey an artistic impression. Simple, evocative pottery enhances the presentation.

For those who want a deeper understanding of the practice, the Ohara School of Ikebana in Aoyama has daylong English-language lessons.

For more information, visit tourism.metro.tokyo.jp/english/.

Ted Davis is a member of the Meridian Writers’ Group.

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and Innovation, with its demonstration displays of robotics and space technologies; and Toyota Mega Web, where licensed drivers have the chance to drive the latest Toyota vehicles on a 1.3-kilometre test course and get their fill of restored classic cars in the History Garage.

In the mood for more of Tokyo’s future visions, I head to Roppongi Hills, a development whose four towers reach 238 metres at their peak. Tallest of these is the Mori Tower, which offers public access to its 52nd and 53rd floors.

I walk the wide, enclosed observation deck and use the telescopes to peer down into the sprawling city of more than 35 million people.

The tower also houses the Mori Arts Museum modern-art gallery. A visitor may even catch the eerily human-like performance of Asimo, the Honda-built robot stationed there.

When I am, finally, satiated by all things 22nd century, I turn instead to the Japanese appreciation of life’s simpler pleasures, as expressed in customs and practices perfected through the centuries.

The Japanese tea ceremony, for instance, pays tribute to the Zen outlook of living in, and maximiz-

FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

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1. Whittled down from 118 pitches and 40 semifinalists, six aspiring filmmakers received workshops, mentorship, $1,000 and eight days to shoot and edit a short film. The winning results can be seen at the Crazy 8s Gala Screening March 30, 7 p.m. at the Centre for Performing Arts. Films include Doreen Manuel’s These Walls, Camille Mitchell’s A Mother’s Love, Andrew Rowe’s Sleepy Stories, Carleen Kyle’s The Weather Girl, Marshall Axani’s The Vessel and Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers’ ass-kicking tale of vigilante street justice A Red Girl’s Reasoning. Tickets at Highlife, Zulu and Beat Street. For more information, go to crazy8s.cc.

2. The Shooting Stars Foundation’s annual Motown Meltdown fundraiser features 25 hot-shot Canadian vocalists, including Jim Byrnes, Leora Cashe, Chilliwack’s Bill Henderson, Jane Mortifee, Sibel Thrasher and Ali Milner, among others, belting out classic Motown tunes in front of a smokin’ 12piece band. Dig? It all goes down March 31, 8 p.m. at the Commodore Ballroom. Advanced tickets at Ticketmaster or Highlife Records.

3. Bridging the musical worlds of Duke Ellington and Igor Stravinsky, Turning Point Ensemble’s upcoming genre-busting concert Jump for Joy! explores the connections between jazz and classical music in the early 20th century and the present day. Hear for yourself, April 1, 8 p.m. at the Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre. For tickets and more information, call 604-873-3311 or go to turningpointensemble.ca.

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4. Films of note: Winner for Best Screenplay at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, Joseph Cedar’s wry Israeli dramedy Footnote opens Friday at Fifth Avenue. Tran Anh Hung’s adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s novel Norwegian Wood gets sensual at Vancity. The Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia and Cross Border Law present the premiere of Susan Saladoff’s award-winning doc Hot Coffee, which tells the other side of the muchsensationalized and misrepresented story of the woman who spilled coffee on herself and sued McDonald’s, March 30, 6:30 p.m. at Fifth Avenue. Variety called the film an “eye-opening indictment of the way big business spins the media.” Admission by donation with all proceeds going to the Street to Home Foundation.

kudos & kvetches And the winner is….

It was a hard fought battle these past few weeks, but K&K has sifted through the entries to its second annual “Let’s Slag a Vancouver Celebrity” band name contest and has come up with a winner. “Tamara Taggart’s Deer in the Headlights Stare of Empathy.” For his efforts, Peter V. receives a copy of Chicken Soup for the Soul’s Tough Times for Teens: 101 Stories about the Hardest Part of Being a Teenager, a “Behind the Seams” DVD edition of Mrs. Doubtfire and sliced meat from No Frills.

For your added pleasure, we’re including some of the other entries that made it past our censors.

• Politics Suzanne Anton’s Pointed Finger Penny Ballem’s Firing Squad Christy Clark’s Chia Pets Collection Christy Clark’s Magical Train Ride Heather Deal’s Delicious Meal Gregor Robertson’s American Air Miles Gregor Robertson’s Private Public Purse Gregor Robertson’s Secret Mayor Stuff Gregor Robertson’s Fireside Chats with Stephen Harper, and his Cat, Stanley

Christy Clark’s Fascinator Fantastico Presenting Sir Gregor, Arriving at City Hall in a Giant Egg Christy Clark’s Cabal David Eby’s Perpetual Disappointment Adrian Dix & The Absent Tix • Media The Oaky Caramel of Jeff Lee’s beard Geoff Olson’s Raging Harper Hard-On Larry’s Wee Willy Steve’s Not-So-Little Darlings Nat and Drew’s Virgins NOT Kidd’s Kitty Killers • Sports Maxim Lapierre’s Intimidating Crazy Eyes Cody Hodgson and the Silent Gs Quatchi’s Brazilian Wax Kit • Misc.

Spinnaker’s Stockholm Syndrome Douglas Coupland’s Midlife Crisis Brock Anton’s Career Prospects

Earls of wisdom

By now you’ve probably heard of the Vancouver woman with albinism who’s launched a human

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arts & entertainment

Picks of the week

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rights complaint against the Earls restaurant chain for its supposedly discriminatory use of the word albino in its Albino Rhino beer and Albino Chicken Wings. Sorry we had to subject readers to such offensive language. But Earls’ brand bigotry doesn’t end there. K&K has carefully looked over the restaurant’s menu and noticed the following disgusting items.

• Los Cabos Chicken Tacos. Seems a little presumptuous to infer that tacos come from Los Cabos and not, say, Acapulco or even Nanaimo. Although, Nanaimo Taco means a whole other offensive thing.

• Leroy’s Crispy Dry Ribs. Come on Earls, Leroy? Why don’t you stereotype rib eaters a little more. And don’t get us started with your Mixed Field Greens. What kind of fields?

Cotton, perhaps?

• Maple Glazed Salmon Salad. Not all people who fish for salmon are glazed. Just our dad.

That is racist.

• Banzai Berry shooter. This offends on so many levels, especially since everyone knows the Japanese can’t handle their alcohol.

Twitter: @KudosKvetches

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012

dining

604 684 –2787

www.ticketstonight.ca and Little Sisters Book Store www.ravingtheatre.com

Tequila Expo goes beyond Margaritaville

Outgoing Aussies don’t shy away from Shiraz The Hired Belly

Home Again

with Tim Pawsey

by David Blue

April 11 – 15

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RIO THEATRE

1660 East Broadway, 604-879-FILM Sat Mar 31 + Sun Apr 1, 3:00pm - Weekend Matinee documentary screenings of ON The Line Director Frank Wolf, + Q&A with Ben West from the Wilderness Committee. Tickets $8 advance / $10 door (all ages)

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We had a feeling that a tasting with Sparky Marquis would be different. The male half of the team behind Molly Dooker wines has a reputation for being not exactly shy—even by Aussie standards.

Sparky and Sarah Marquis, the fun-loving team behind Australia’s Molly Dooker Sparky and master- wines, stopped in Vancouver between heli-skiing and go-karting commitments. blender wife Sarah Marquis blew through town a glass? If no, sell off the and juicy acidity. Excellent “Most people, when they last week. They were en juice. Would I drink a fruit and acid balance. Food consider tequila, don’t route between heli-skiing bottle? If no, sell as bulk friendly. Think anything think about the history of in the Purcells and YVR, wine. Would I drink a grilled. $35.99 at B.C. Li- Agave spirits. But it actually has a place in pre-hisheading home to McLaren bottle by myself? If yes, quor Stores.

Vale, Australia, first to go we can use it for Molly • Two Left Feet 2009. tory,” says Lorenz, who go-kart racing and, second, Dooker.”

Mainly Shiraz, with Cab notes there is evidence of to harvest. But someone • “I age my wines for as and Merlot. Plush with “ubiquitous” early agave suggested it might be a long as it takes to find a black fruit, vanilla, anise pit roasting sites ranging good idea to do a tasting corkscrew.” and black pepper notes from Arizona all the way in Vancouver. And Sparky If you’re a true Aussie through a layered mid pal- down to Honduras—with obliged.

Shiraz lover, you already ate to a lingering spicy end. one of the earliest known dating from around 5000 The wines are unique know about the likes of BCLS $35.99.

BC, in Texas’s Big Bend for their concentrated fruit blockbuster Velvet Glove, ••• intensity and quirky label Carnival of Love and EnBlame it on Jimmy “was- National Park.

The day-long festival designs. chanted Path, where to tin’ away in Margaritaville” I won’t recreate the whole find them and what they Buffet, if you want. But te- concludes with a Grand event here, but I can give cost. quila doesn’t get the respect Tasting, 6 to 9 p.m., which you a couple of SparkyHowever, we were also it deserves. That may be will offer samples of several isms of note: impressed by the relative about to change thanks to well known tequila brands • “We drink two things: value offered by the “Lefty” knowledgeable tequila am- as well as some harder to Molly Dooker and Jack entry range. bassador Eric Lorenz, part find drops. For tickets go to Daniels.”

• The Maitre D’ 2009. of the team behind the in- ticketstonight.ca. For more • “When we make wine Medium to full bodied, augural Vancouver Interna- info, go to vancouvertequiwe ask ourselves three cassis and chocolate notes tional Tequila Expo (VITÉ) laexpo.com. info@hiredbelly.com questions: Would I drink with structured tannins May 12.

The Firehall Arts Centre presents

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FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

Jacquie Somerville (r) shared her musings of reconciling food and fashion with fellow fashionista Rebecca Rawlinson at her My Fat Little Rule Book launch.

Fred Glowbal Group’s corporate chef Josh Wolfe was among a long roster of chefs who participated in Dinning Out for Life.

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Designer Jason Matlo and Julie Tanner checked out Vancouver Fashion Week’s fall offerings and opening romp at the OPUS Hotel.

SHED

Lilliana De Cotiis’ Loden Hotel resto Tableau and executive chef Marc-André Choquette participated in Dining Out for Life.

Spring run-off: Several hundred runners laced up and took to the seawall to fight prostate cancer. A national initiative with similar events in Toronto and Montreal, the fifth running of the Vancouver eight-kilometre run, sponsored

by Harry Rosen, drew some of Canada’s top distance runners under sunny skies. Leading the charge around Stanley Park was Lethbridge’s resident-Kenyan star Kip Kangogo.

Made to measure: Like many women, Jacquie Somerville had a lifelong battle with body image. Trying to reconcile her love of fashion and food, the Vancouverite penned her first novel, My Fat Little Rule Book, a first hand account of her 35-day diet and exercise plan to lose those last 10 pounds. The curvy gal read musings from her soon-tobe-released book at an exclusive party held at the Hotel Georgia penthouse. A model thin, mostly female crowd attended the carb and charcuterie-heavy reception.

Eating out: B.C.’s largest restaurant fundraiser, the annual Dining Out for Life food fete, sponsored by the Vancouver Courier, attracted 225 restaurants who donated 25 per cent of their March 29 sales to the HIV/AIDS charities A Loving Spoonful and Friends for Life. Over the last 16 years, Dining Out for Life has raised more than $3 million for those living with HIV/AIDS and other life threatening illnesses.

Hear Fred Mondays 8:20 a.m. on CBC Radio’s The Early Edition AM690 and 88.1FM; email: yvrflee@hotmail.com; Twitter: @FredAboutTown or fredabouttown.blogspot.com.

Harry Rosen general manager Wes Purdie limbered up for the annual eight-kilometre run around the Stanley Park seawall.

Larry Rosen (centre), son of Harry and CEO of the sartorial empire, along with special events manager Courtney Beckett and CityTV’s Riaz Meghji fronted the Spring Run Off.

A favourite destination of visiting celebs, Surinder Bains’ Miraj Hammam Spa on West Sixth will soon open a second facility in the new Shangri-La Hotel.

RBC Dominion Securities’ Jason Sarai and BMW Brian Jessel’s Chella Levesque took part in the Spring Run Off to fight prostate cancer.

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012

entertainment

Hip hop meets Shakespeare in fast-paced, DJ enhanced ‘ad-rap-tation’

Bomb-itty of Errors does Bard on the beat Combining Elizabethan theatre and modern day hip-hop may seem like an odd pairing, but the producers and cast of The Bombitty of Errors, an “ad-rap-tation” of William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, are confident it will be a hit in Vancouver, where the Bard tends to be enjoyed straight up and on the beach at Vanier Park.

“If you actually read The Comedy of Errors… a lot of the characters lines are rhyming back and forth with one another, so it’s a perfect chance to blend hip-hop and Shakespeare theatre,” said Jameson Parker, a producer and actor in the play.

Parker’s Vancouver-based Temporary Thing has teamed up with Twenty-Something Theatre to present Shakespeare’s farcical tale of mistaken identity, which has been transformed into a 90-minute hip-hop comedy where all the lines are rapped. The show kicks off April 4 at Studio 16 (1545 West Seventh Ave.) and will run until April 22.

According to Parker, the awardwinning adaptation originally was written by theatre students at New York University a decade ago and became an Off-Broadway hit before earning rave reviews for productions in London and Chicago.

The Vancouver show will feature a live DJ who will spin 21 original hip-hop numbers composed by local artist Anami Vice. The play includes 22 characters—both male and female—

Yo, yo, yo, Antipholous of Ephesus is in the house. Temporary Thing and Twenty-Something Theatre’s The Bomb-itty of Errors is described as an “ad-rap-tation” of Shakespeare’s farcical tale of mistaken identity, complete with live DJ. who, in the Shakespeare tradition, will be played by four male actors, adding to the already chaotic script.

“It’s very funny and very, very fast paced,” said director Catriona Leger, a 15-year theatre veteran. “There are a lot of very quick changes, lightning quick, and on top of all the

Shakespearian language and hilarity is the added bonus of music.”

Leger said one of the most challenging scenes is when all four actors play all of their characters in a four-minute span and sometimes have less than 10 seconds to change costumes.

She added the actors really show

their strengths with how well they take on the roles of the female characters.

“You would be surprised with how much fun men have dressing up and pretending to be women,” she said.

Parker, who plays five roles including protagonist Antipholous of Ephesus and his wife

NOW PLAYING

Adriana, said the theatre team has brought in four costume assistants to aid the actors during the most frantic moments of switching the uniquely designed costumes.

“The costumes are unbelievable—they’re worth the price of the ticket alone,” he said.

“They’re all custom built and have this LFMFAO-meets-William Shakespeare kind of feel to them.

And then the set is awesome, it’s got this huge graffiti mural.”

Another draw to the production, according to Parker, will be how the Studio 16 theatre space has been modified into a lounge where theatergoers can grab drinks throughout the play without interrupting their neighbour.

“What we’re creating in the theatre is almost like a bar that you’re going to go into to sit and watch a hip-hop concert slash play,” he said.

Director Leger admits she was initially nervous mixing Shakespeare and hip-hop, especially working with hip-hop artist Anami Vice, who recently signed a major record deal. But in the end, she enjoyed the process and sees the unusual combination attracting not just a 20-something crowd but a wider ranging audience.

“It’s like Shakespeare got married to a 1990s or 1980s hip-hop wife and they had four kids,” she said.

For more information, go to bombittyoferrors.com. For tickets, go to brownpapertickets.com. jared_jg@hotmail.com Twitter: @JaredGnam

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FESTIVAL CINEMAS

FIFTH AVENUE

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Jared Gnam Contributing writer

FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

with Megan Stewart

Marino retreats

Rebecca Marino is taking an indefinite break from tennis and withdrawing from competition due to “intense physical and mental fatigue.”

The 21-year-old Vancouverite played only one WTA match in January and lost in the opening round of the Australian Open. She pulled out of the Fed Cup in February and then failed to advance past the opening round of a Memphis tournament where, last year, she reached her first WTA final. “I decided to pull out of some events and take a bit of a break to rest and return stronger,” said Marino in a Tennis Canada announcement. For the time being, the former Magee secondary student is also declining interview requests as part of her complete retreat.

She hasn’t been active on Twitter since Feb. 28 when she wrote, “Sorry for the silence lately! But I’m going to take a mini break from the twitterverse...”

“As the days went by and became weeks, I realized I would need more than just a few days to fully recover,” she said in Tuesday’s announcement. “I have decided to do what’s best for my career and make sure I am fully rested before I return to the courts.”

Marino declared herself to the tennis establishment as a 19-year-old at the 2010 U.S. Open by going head-to-head with the most powerful server in the women’s game. Venus Williams pulled out the win but was impressed with Marino and famously said, “I guess I know what it’s like playing myself.”

Since then, Marino has been swept up in the four-season, international tennis circuit.

She was twice named Tennis Canada’s female athlete of the year and climbed as high as No. 41 in the world. Her rank has now fallen to No. 138.

She will not chase Olympic qualification but may make a return for the French Open.

“Once I’m ready to come back,” she said, “I plan to pick up where I left off, get my ranking back and challenge the best players in the world.”

sports & recreation

Jock and Jill

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Simon Fraser University wrestler Carolyn Failanga, who calls her former St. Patrick’s coach Marc Mongeon photo Dan Toulgoet her second dad, has many similarities to Olympic gold medal winner Carol Huynh.

Wrestler compared to gold medalist Huynh Megan Stewart Staff writer Carolyn Failanga is on her stomach, leveraging every advantage as she, red-raced and grimacing in the gold medal bout of the 2011 senior girls provincial championships, resists the opposing forearm that pushes against her throat. A head snap put her in control and Failanga has wrapped her arm around her competitor’s neck and flattened her to the mat.

A voice cuts through. “Hold it! Hold it, Carolyn!”

The whistle blows, Failanga wins. It’s the second girls wrestling gold for Vancouver’s St. Patrick regional secondary school in 12 years.

She congratulates her opponent, her hand is raised in victory. The next moment is what school principal John Bevacqua remembers most from the February provincials last year in Penticton. Failanga crosses the mat to her coach, Canadian Olympic wrestler Marc Mongeon, and hugs him.

“The lasting image I have of her, she’s running full speed and jumping into his arms after she won,” said Bevacqua. “She has that real raw emotion about her. She’s a loving kid that way. After the award ceremony, she called him a second dad.”

Failanga met Mongeon, who competed at the 1984 Los Angeles Games in freestyle wrestling, when she was in Grade 8. “I didn’t know what wrestling was all

about. It was a challenge at the beginning.

My first year I won one match.”

She wore the same maroon singlet over five years and competed consistently in the 51-kilogram weight class.

By her senior year, she qualified for the B.C. championships and beat the pack to win gold. She caught the attention of Vancouver’s wrestling elite and her influence helped grow the school’s program. She volunteered to coach younger athletes new to the sport, score-keep and ensure tournaments ran as smoothly as possible.

Wrestling B.C. awarded her with a scholarship for her community involvement. She earned an athletic scholarship to Simon Fraser University where she now competes as a freshman with Canada’s only NCAA school. At the junior national meet last week in St. Catherine’s, Ont., Failanga went 4-2 to finish fifth overall and won her last bout in a decisive 5-0 score. “I’m still working on being an offensive wrestler,” said Failanga, who is studying health science. “Before, in high school, I could just wait for a girl to take a shot or do a throw and I would go and counter it but in university, you have to be consistently aggressive and offensive at the same time as well as have a good defensive base.”

At five-foot-two and now wrestling in the 48kg class at what is likely her optimum weight, Failanga changed people’s expectations of wrestling when she first started.

The reaction narrowed in on her size, personality and, to a very limited extent, her gender.

“You’re so small,” she said classmates once exclaimed. “You can’t beat them, you look so gentle.”

Mongeon offered with a laugh, “You don’t look very mean!”

“You don’t look very manly,” she added. “Yes, I get those comments.”

But because of her demeanour and interest in giving back, Failanga is helping attract more teenage girls to wrestling.

As the head of SFU’s development program, John Pineda has the keen eye of a scout and the technical tools of a coach to identify and enhance young wrestlers.

He immediately liked what he saw in Failanga.

“She’s definitely a gifted athlete. She has that natural feel for the sport. She can go a long way.” Then Pineda made a remarkable comparison.

“She reminds me of Carol Huynh, who is our Olympic champion.”

Both wrestle in the 48 kg class, both are British Columbian women of Asian heritage and Huynh, an SFU graduate, won gold in Beijing and has already qualified for the 2012 London Games. “They are similar in size but the good thing is that Carol will be around for a lot longer afterwards to help the girls,” said Pineda.

Huynh will be in good company. mstewart@vancourier.com Twitter: @MHStewart

DAVID BERNER

The tough questions – asked & answered!

Shaw Community TV Channel 4

Tuesdays 10:30pm • Wednesdays 8:30pm • Fridays 2:30pm • Mondays 4:30am

POLITICS HEALTH CARE LAW & ORDER TAXATION ADDICTIONS SENIORS CITY PLANNING EDUCATION

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THE VANCOUVER COURIER FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012

sports & recreation

New rider suggests starting out on short grass

Newbies to cycling should consider learn-to-ride programs Wheel Life with Kay Cahill

First of all, I’d like to express my thanks to the many people who wrote in after I introduced trikes as a way for adults who never learned to ride a bike or who find it hard to balance on two-wheelers to get out on the road.

The tricycle clearly struck a chord and it’s great to hear that so many readers are keen to try this as an option.

For those who didn’t learn to ride as a kid and who still want to get out on a regular bike rather than a trike, what are the next steps?

My first recommendation is to go to a local bike shop or get online and investigate learn-toride programs for new adult riders. When learning a brand-new physical skill like cycling, you can’t beat having an experienced instructor who will take you through the basics of balancing, steering, and braking.

In Vancouver, the Vancouver

Two Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition facilitators flank three people new to cycling in VACC’s Learn to Ride program. submitted photo Area Cycling Coalition offers an excellent training course that comes highly recommended by participants. (Go to vacc.bc.ca/streetwise for detailed information.)

The advantages of this program include an individual instructor,

meaning the focus of the lesson isn’t split between multiple participants. You can learn at your own pace and choose your location. (They do recommend a standard locale and an extra charge of $30 may apply for travel outside

the city.) Three hour-long lessons take place over three weeks, giving you plenty of time to practise your new skills between sessions.

The cost is $150 for VACC members and $175 for non-members.

If you decide you’d prefer to learn by yourself or with a friend, here are some tips to help you get going.

Fit is first—First of all, make sure the bike is the right size for you. Even experienced riders find over-sized bikes harder to handle.

As a beginner, you’ll want the seat low enough that you can put both feet flat on the ground to catch yourself if you need to.

Be a head case—Wear protective gear, including a helmet and knee and elbow pads for additional safety and peace of mind.

Leggo your ego—Don’t worry about whether or not you look funny, awkward or inexperienced.

As a brand-new rider it’s inevitable that you’ll feel clumsy and may even take a spill. It’s much more important to ensure you’re ready to hop back up and carry on when they do.

Location, location—When you’re ready to start riding, find a gentle downhill slope and practise

coasting downward in a straight line. This will give you a feel for being on a moving bicycle without worrying about steering or pedalling.

New rider Fiona Abbott also has a suggestion from her own experience to help reduce nerves: start out on short grass. Not only does it help reduce the fear of a fall onto hard concrete, it also made it easier for her to control the bike at low speeds. (This is always tricky for beginners—a bit of speed actually makes it far easier to balance and steer, but it’s hard to go quickly when you’re still new and wobbly and getting your confidence.)

Success by summer—Most importantly, if you’ve been debating learning to ride for a while, get out there and give it a try. Summer’s coming, Vancouver has all kinds of beautiful bike paths on which to practise and gain confidence. You’ll learn a skill that will be fun and practical for many years to come.

Kay Cahill is a cyclist and librarian who believes bikes are for life, not just for commuting. You can contact or send a comment to kay@sidecut.ca.

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FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

A35

INDEX Community Notices ....................................1000 Family Announcements ...........................1119 Employment..........................................................1200 Education .................................................................1400 Special Occasions...........................................1600 Marketplace ..........................................................2000 Children ......................................................................3000 Pets & Livestock ...............................................3500 Health............................................................................4000 Travel & Recreation ......................................4500 Business & Finance .......................................5000 Legals ............................................................................5500 Real Estate ..............................................................6000 Rentals .........................................................................6500 Personals ...................................................................7000 Service Directory .............................................8000 Transportation ....................................................9000

CONNECTING COMMUNITIES

TRAIN WITH BC’S LARGEST AND MOST RESPECTED CAREER TRAINER! Call East Vancouver:

604.251.4473 604.683.7400

Call Vancouver:

sprottshaw.com

Sales Centre Hours: Mon. - Fri. 8:30am - 5:00pm Email: classified@van.net Fax: 604-985-3227

A division of LMP Publication Limited Partnership

Delivery: 604-439-2660

604-630-3300 ANNOUNCEMENTS

vancourier.com

1085

Lost & Found

FOUND LADIES watch Mar 23rd, 11th/Dunbar, call to identify, 604-228-8690 All advertising published in this newspaper is accepted on the premise that the merchandise and services offered are accurately described and willingly sold to buyers at the advertised prices. Advertisers are aware of these conditions.

Advertising that does not conform to these standards or that is deceptive or misleading, is never knowingly accepted. If any reader encounters non-compliance with these standards we ask that you inform the Publisher of this newspaper and The Advertising Standards Council of B.C. OMISSION AND ERROR: The publishers do not guarantee the insertion of a particular advertisement on a specified date, or at all, although every effort will be made to meet the wishes of the advertisers. Further, the publishers do not accept liability for any loss or damage caused by an error or inaccuracy in the printing of an advertisement beyond the amount paid for the space actually occupied by the portion of the advertisement in which the error occurred. Any corrections or changes will be made in the next available issue. The Vancouver Courier will be responsible for only one incorrect insertion with liability limited to that portion of the advertisement affected by the error. Request for adjustments or corrections on charges must be made within 30 days of the ad’s expiration.

For best results please check your ad for accuracy the first day it appears. Refunds made only after 7 business days notice!

LOST, LADIES eyeglasses, prescription in soft brown pouch, vic 7th & 10th ave West at Arbutus. call 604-734-8717

1105

Place ad on your lin 24/7 e

Personal Messages

1010

Announcements

1210

Tuesday, April 3rd Wednesday, April 4th

2:50 pm 4:20 pm

Thursday, April 5 Tuesday, April 10th th

2:50 pm 4:20 pm

Our office will be closed Friday, April 6 , 2012 th

604-630-3300

A CRIMINAL RECORD PREVENTING YOU FROM TRAVELLING? ExpressPardons.com - Canada’s Fastest Pardon and Waiver Service can help! Solutions from $49/mo. Apply Online/Toll Free At: 1-866-416-6772 now!

Bible Hour for All Ages: Sunday @ 12 Noon Gospel Meeting: Sunday @ 7:30pm All Welcome - No Collections

Fairview Gospel Hall

1666 West 10th Ave Jesus said, 'Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' Mat 11:28

Place your birth announcement 604.630.3300

ESTHETICIANS/ HAIRSTYLISTS WANTED Zazou Salon and Spa is searching for the following roles: Estheticians, threaders, hairstylists and apprentices.

Email to: hr@zazou.ca

1232

Drivers

DRIVERS WANTED AZ, DZ, 3 or 1: - Terrific career opportunity with outstanding growth potential to learn how to locate rail defects using non-destructive testing. No Exp. Needed!! Plus extensive paid travel, meal allowance, 4 weeks vacation and benefits pkg.

Skills Needed - Ability to travel 3 months at a time, valid license, High School Diploma or GED. Apply online at: www.sperryrail.com under careers. Click here to apply, keyword: Driver. DO NOT FILL IN CITY OR STATE. EOE

15,000 jobs.

Try one on for size.

VNS COIN FAIR Sat • Mar 31 • 10am to 5 pm Sun • Apr 1 • 10am to 4pm OAKRIDGE AUDITORIUM 41st & Cambie • Vancouver Coins, Paper, Medals, Buy / Sell, Appraisals.

RCMP Counterfeit Display Admission $2 incls draw ticket

Coming Events

Beauticians/ Barbers

P/T, CASUAL DRIVER needed, must be responsible. 2-6hrs/day, 3-5 days/wk, Call 604-842-3122

CRIMINAL RECORD? Canadian Record Suspension (Criminal pardon) seals record.

American waiver allows legal entry. Why risk employment, business, travel, licensing, deportation, peace of mind?

Free consultation 1-800-347-2540

1031

Accounting

vancourier.com

Wednesday, April 11th, 2012

Display Ads Liner Ads

1205

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT We seek an administrative/ accounting assistant.

Email grsstt@msn.com

Friday, April 6th, 2012

CLASSIFIED SELLS

Run your private party merchandise ad until you cancel

30

$

We can sell your stuff.

Give us a call.

604.630.3300

1 photo ad, 3 lines.

1 online ad, 5 photos, many lines.

It runs till you cancel, for up to one year.

WE GUARANTEE IT!

Wed. Newspaper - Mon. 4:20pm Fri. Newspaper - Wed. 4:20pm

househunting.ca

EMPLOYMENT P/T Exp Acc’ting Clerk for office W. Broadway, 20-30/hrs/wk, exp w/Accpac & Excel. Fax Resume & expected $/hr. 604-606-7025

CLASSIFIED DEADLINES

Classified Line Ad Deadlines

Wed. Newspaper - Fri. 3:50pm Fri. Newspaper - Tues. 3:50pm driving.ca

working.com

Healthy Women 20-49 who love Fun Adult Swinger Parties, Dances, Going Out. Page Jim @ (604) 645-5070

Easter

Display Ads Liner Ads

jobs careers advice

Classified Display Ad Deadlines

Search over 15,000 jobs on working.com and find that job that best fits you.

1240

General Employment

BLUSHING DESIGNS INC. req’s FT Jewelry Designer. $20.13/hr, 37.5hrs/wk.

Completion of university/college in fine arts design course. Must have creative ability. Experience preferred. Portfolio and CV: hr.blushing@gmail.com or 579 Richards St. Vancouver, BC, V6B 2Z5.

CONCRETE RESTORATION workers needed. Exp’d in polyurethane injection & membranes, waterproofing and swingstage.

Valid D.L. Call 604-876-6561 Cordeiro Maint. seeking F/T landscaper. Sev years experience a must! 20 hr.

E-res: cordeirojobs@gmail.com NASITTUQ CORPORATION TEMPORARY POSITIONS AT VARIOUS NORTHERN SITES (March to December 2012) Exciting employment opportunities in Canada’s Arctic include: Bear Monitors, Labourers, Building Custodians, Heavy Equipment Operators, Cooks/Chefs, HVAC, Riggers, Carpenters, Plumbers, Electricians, Vehicle/Diesel Mechanics, Power Plant Operators, Weather Observers, Project Coordinators, Site Supervisors, Warehouse persons. For more information, visit our website @ www.nasittuq.com Submit your resume to HR Recruitment by E-mail to: recruit@nasittuq.ca or Fax: (613) 787-3888. Nasittuq is committed to employment equity and encourages applications from all qualified groups.

TRUTH IN ''EMPLOYMENT'' ADVERTISING Glacier Media Group makes every effort to ensure you are responding to a reputable and legitimate job opportunity. If you suspect that an ad to which you have responded is misleading, here are some hints to remember.

Legitimate employers do not ask for money as part of the application process; do not send money; do not give any credit card information; or call a 900 number in order to respond to an employment ad.

Job opportunity ads are salary based and do not require an investment.

If you have responded to an ad which you believe to be misleading please call the Better Business Bureau at 604-682-2711, Monday to Friday, 9am - 3pm or email inquiries@bbbvan.org and they will investigate.

DRAFTSMEN AGI-ENVIROTANK in Biggar, SK. requires draftsmen.

Relocation to Biggar required. $25-40hr DOE. Experience in oilfield tank assembly and autodesk inventor is an asset.

Send resume to: info@envirotank.com or fax: 306-948-5263

1240

General Employment

GlobeGround Fuel Services HAS AIRCRAFT REFUELER POSITIONS AVAILABLE

Shift work, 24-hour operation.

Operate ground support equipment

MUST HOLD A VALID CLASS 5 DRIVERS LICENSE and VALID or PREVIOUS RESTRICTED AREA PASS

EXCELLENT BENEFITS PACKAGE MEDICAL/DENTAL / HEALTH BENEFITS PAID TRAINING / UNIFORM / PARKING

You must be a Canadian Citizen or Landed Immigrant To apply please forward your resume to:

remembering.ca

1310

Trades/Technical

E CONSTRUCTION Ltd. , a major road construction contractor serving Fort McMurray and area for over 35 years, has career opportunities available for the upcoming busy construction season: Project Manager; Project Superintendent; Project Coordinator; Estimator; Survey/ Coordinator; Safety Coordinator; Crew Forman; All Asphalt Plant Personnel; Base, Underground & Paving Personnel including: Top Man/Gradesman, Finish Grader, Loader, Packer, Dozer, Excavator, Tractor & Rubber Tire Backhoe, Water Truck, Skidsteer, Paver/Screed, Roller, Pipelayer, Dump Truck, Vac Truck.

GREAT WAGES & BENEFITS! Email: Employmenteclfm@ecltd.ca or fax: 780-743-5946.

yvr.hr@am.servisair.com No phone calls please. We thank all applicants, however only successful applicants will be contacted.

VERA’S BURGER ( Vanc) hiring F/T Night Shift Food Counter Attendant $10.50 hr/ prev. exp. an asset but not mandatory. e-res: verakits@gmail.com

1278

Management

TOURCLICK in Vancouver urgently needs a Travel Agency Manager. Completion of College, be proficient in English and Fluent in Korean 2-3 years of related exp. is required. $22 - $24/hr, 37.5 hrs per week. Email Resume: tourclick@hotmail.com or Fax Resume: 604-681-1717

1293

Social Services

Some great kids aged 12 to 18 who need a stable, caring home for a few months.

Are you looking for the opportunity to do meaningful, fulfilling work? PLEA Community Services is looking for qualified applicants who can provide care for youth in their home on a full-time basis or on weekends for respite.

Training, support and remuneration are provided. Funding is available for modifications to better equip your home.

A child at risk is waiting for an open door.

Make it yours.

Call 604-708-2628 www.plea.ca

1310

Trades/Technical

Established Insulation Company Seeks

Qualified Insulators, Fire Stoppers and Spray Foam Applicators. Vehicle required, top rates paid.

Call 604-572-5288 Or Fax to: 604-572-5278

MECHANICS!!

Commercial Transport / Heavy Duty

Interprovincial Red Seal mandatory.

Great career opportunity Apply Now! West Coast Reduction located in east Vancouver.

Very competitive wage and benefits.

Email resumes to rpretorius@wcrl.com STANDARD GENERAL INC. Building Better Roads - We are a major Road Construction Contractor serving the Greater Edmonton Alberta Region. We require skilled staff for positions in concrete, asphalt paving and base preparation. Please review positions and submit applications via our web site available employment opportunities: www.standardgeneraledmonton.ca

WELDERS AGI-Envirotank in Biggar, SK. requires journeymen welders.

Relocation to Biggar required. $30hr DOE. Oilfield tank assembly experience would be an asset. Company offers a comprehensive benefit package.

Send resume to: info@environtank.com or fax: 306-948-5263.

A36

THE VANCOUVER COURIER FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012

GARAGE SALES 2080

Garage Sale

VAN 2566 York Ave 604-737-8065 Sat. Mar 31, 9am-3pm 5 ebikes, 2 escooters, 10-14’’ tires, 2 ton engine hoists, 5 tube radios, 12 electric motors, tow bar, 12 gas cans, 5 fluorescent lights, trunk, 3 heaters, 10 boxes bike parts, bbq, 3 computer desks, storage bins, outboard motor.

Car parts, heaters & ramps.

2060 2060

For Sale Miscellaneous

3507

SAVE 50% ON TOP QUALITY WALK-IN SAFETY BATHTUBS www.bcseniorsafetyservices .com, Professional Installation Call 604-940-8814

For Sale Miscellaneous

HOT TUB (SPA) COVERS. Best Price, Best Quality.

All Shapes & Colors Available.

Call 1-866-652-6837

2075

Furniture

MAHOGANY Bedroom Suite Twin beds, 5 drawer highboy, dressing table and chair $2000 Call: (604) 520-3215

www.thecoverguy.com/newspaper

MOVING SALE, furn, pictures, pottery, mirrors, decoys, bottles, radios, etc. 604-876-8206 by appt

2135

Wanted to Buy

Old Books Wanted also: Photos Postcards, Letters, Paintings. (no text books/encyclopedia) I pay cash. 604-737-0530

PURCHASE Watkins Products from an Independent Distributor.

Earn free products by hosting a party. Request a free catalogue from Alison Platt 604-312-6679 watkinswithali@gmail.com

Music/Dance Instruction

604-630-3300

Auctions

3507

Cats

ELEMENT OF MUSIC- Group class, ages 5-7. Explore music through songs & games. Tuesdays, April 10th - June 12th. East Van Music School 604-438-8092 www.evcms.ca

3020

Childcare Wanted

LIVE IN nanny needed, must love children, be reliable & flexible, 778-836-4849

3025

604-724-7652 BENGAL KITTENS, vet ✔ 1st shots dewormed, sweet natured, $700 Mission 1-604-814-1235 CATS. Fixed - male and female rescued cats. Free to good, n/s indoor homes only. 604-513-9310

UBC RESEARCH Vision Laboratory at Children’s Hospital needs volunteers (4-13yrs) and Adults with good vision and hearing for a study on visual perception. Study involves computer games.

Honorarium paid. Call Ghazaleh at (604)875-2345x7853

PB RAGDOLL kittens, vet ✔ 1st shots, dewormed, health guar., $450 & up Cel # 604-477-9961

Saturday, March 31st, 9am

PLACE YOUR GARAGE SALE ADS 24/7 Go to vancourier.com and Click on classifieds

3508

Dogs

6 YR old fem doberman black and tan, spayed, healthy, good with kids & people. Grt watchdog. $250.

604-820-8484 604-626-5617

ALL SMALL breed pups local & non shedding, $399+.

604-590-3727 or 604-514-3474 www.puppiesfishcritters.com

604-630-3300

Looking for another dog?

PUBLIC AUCTION:

★CATS & KITTENS★ FOR ADOPTION !

Children’s Activities

To advertise call

AUCTION CALENDAR

2020

3010-03

Cats

80-100 CARS, LIGHT TRUCKS & RV’s

CKC REG lab retriver pups black & yellow. Field champion stock.

Shots, dew claws removed, wormed. $1,000. 604-454-8643 Fila/Mastiff Guard Dog Pups owners closest friend. Thieves worst nightmare. All shots. Ready now! 604-817-5957

Industrial, Construction, Forklifts, Farm & Turf Equip., Fleet Trucks & Trailers, Lumber, Boats, Tools

Industrial Smalls Welcome / Online Bidding Available 6780 Glover Rd., Langley, BC www.canamauctions.com Phone: 604-534-0901

Check our Pet section!

EDUCATION

1403

TRAIN WITH BC’S LARGEST AND MOST RESPECTED CAREER TRAINER

• PRACTICAL

NURSING

Last 1 year program available in Vancouver.

• HEALTHCARE ASSISTANT

Career Services/ Job Search

INTERIOR HEAVY EQUIPMENT OPERATOR SCHOOL. Sites in AB & BC. Hands on real world machine training. NO Simulators.

Start any Monday. Funding options. www.IHESchool.com 1-866-399-3853

1410

Education

Vancouver Campus:

604-683-7400 East Vancouver Campus: 604-251-4473 www.sprottshaw.com Looking for a career in

Education?

Log on to working.com to find a job you’ll love.

Keyword: Education

REG/BELGIAN SHEPHERD Malinois pups, top European working bloodlines. Avail end April vet checked, vac.

1-250-333-8862 weldonbay@gmail.com

FOODSAFE 1 DAY COURSES – ONLY $62 BEST VALUE GUARANTEED Classes Every Saturday, Sunday & Monday Taught by Certified Public Health Inspectors ADVANCE Continuing Education BC’s #1 Foodsafe Choice

www.advance-education.com

604-272-7213

SAVE A LIFE. Wonderful rescue dogs from Foreclosed Upon Pets. Spay/neutered, regular vaccinations & rabies, microchipped. $449 adoption fee, avail at your local Petcetera stores.

• EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION JOIN US ON:

LAB PUPPIES yellow, males & females, view reg’d parents $550, vet checked,. Ph 604-701-1587

FINE ARTS PRESCHOOL Register Now (604)200-0559 www.startsmartpreschool.ca

1415

YELLOW LAB p/b puppy. No papers. 1 male, 4 mo. Dewormed, 1st shot. $400. 778-373-1234

3540

Pet Services

Music/Theatre/ Dance

IN HOME OR STUDIO LESSONS Piano, Theory & other instruments.

Allegro Music School 604-327-7765

1420

Tutoring Services

PET’S STAIN & SCRATCH on Wood, Granite, Stone, Grout?

Call FIN Wood Stone Tile CARE 778-889-7106, member BBB A+

★COMPUTER LESSONS★

Beginners, Internet, E-mail etc.

Digital Photo, also Installation.

Spring Special $210 for 8 hrs or $30/hr. Call Sol 604-266-2414

Job Listings From A-Z

From advertising executive or banker to x-ray technician or zookeeper, you'll find it in the Employment Section.

Cares!

The Vancouver Courier has partnered with the BC SPCA to encourage responsible pet guardianship and the humane treatment of animals. Before purchasing a new puppy, ensure the seller has provided excellent care and treatment of the animal and the breeding parents. For a complete guide to finding a reputable breeder and other considerations when acquiring a new pet, visit spca.bc.ca.

4060

Metaphysical

TRUE ADVICE! TRUE Clarity!

TRUE PSYCHICS!

4020

Health Products & Services

1-877-342-3032 or 1-900-528-6256 or mobile # 3563 (18+) $3.19/min.www.truepsychics.ca

REAL ESTATE 6005

Real Estate Services

HERBAL MAGIC - With Herbal Magic lose up to 20 pounds in just 8 weeks and keep it off. Results Guaranteed! Start today, Call 1-800-821-8679

4051

Registered Massage Services

SWEDISH BODY MASSAGE $29/ 1/2 hr. $109 Head to toe 3hr pkg.

Waxing special for Men $15 up Full Body Scrub $45 $78 for 1hr. Massage & Scrub 3482 Main St. Van 604-376-1686

Condos/ Townhouses

6008-18

New Westminster

CONNECTING COMMUNITIES

ONE CALL DOES IT ALL! From the City to the Valley Call Today

604-630-3300

TAX TIME 5005

6008

GETYOUR HOME

SOLD

Call today for our 10 step marketing plan.

Selling since1987 from West & East Top 3% of all greater Vancouver Realtors

Accounting/ Bookkeeping

Susan & Peter Clayton-Carroll

ACCOUNTING & TAXATION for small business, financial statements and personal taxes.

SYLVIA SY, CGA 604-732-5511

604-328-0021 Re/max Crest

Susan Clayton-Carroll PREC

www.claytoncarroll.com

PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS NOW & SAVE BIG BUCKS AT TAX TIME

1 BR. Uptown New West Condo, Best Price on MLS, $155,000 Bright, Price reduced $8,800.

Going to Calgary, 650 Sq. Ft. Full Reno, Pool, Prkg, 7 Blocks to New West Skytrain, big rooms, Dog OK. Call Cindy Gering at 604-779-1292 Royal Lepage N. WEST: 2 BR, sunny west exp, W/D, rentals/pets ok. $219,900.

HIRA • Sutton• 604-318-9474

6008-28

MINIMUM AD SIZE IS 1 COL X 1" – UNTIL MARCH 31, 2012

ED GOSS Park Georgia Realty

CALL 604.630.3300 TODAY!

SELLING /BUYING Serving you for 28 years www.edgoss.com Call 604-644-0141

SAT/SUN, 2-4, Unit #514 - 9651 Glendower Drive. 3 BR, 2 baths.

Newly reno’d. Centrally located.

Michael Lepore, Royal LePage Westside, 604-295-3974. Visit website for photos & floor plans. www.AccoladeRealEstate.ca

6015

Vancouver: 2530 East Hastings Street, Vancouver V5K 1Z3 604-258-9499 Burnaby: 4331 Hastings Street, Burnaby V4N 1L6 604-293-1335 • www.libertytaxcanada.ca

Call: 1-866-290-2222

Find the Key to your New Home • BUY • SELL • RENT

604.630.3300

Tim Stephens' Astral Reflections Tim Stephens' Astral Reflections

Aries March 21 - April 19: Your energy, charisma and clout remain high, and now, at last (Wednesday onward) you can charge ahead effectively, give orders, Aries March 21 - April 19: Your energy, charisma ask favours, impress the right/key people, and start and clout remain high, and now, at last (Wednesday important projects.

(In doing remember that your onward) you can charge aheadso, effectively, give orders, luck is high in earnings and sales, so a good project ask favours, impress the right/key people, and start would be monetary: to earn sell, buy –that “lockyour in” important projects. (In doingmore, so, remember money startingand a job, business, etc. now.) luck is favour high inby earnings sales, so a good projectA government or similar obligation (taxes) would be monetary: to earn more, sell, buyhangs – “lockover in” you – solve Romance calls Sunday/Monday money favourthis. by starting a job, business, etc. now.) A– government or chores similarmidweek. obligationRelationships (taxes) hangsexcite, over answer!

Tackle you – solve this. Romance confuse and climax, Thursdaycalls on. Sunday/Monday – answer! Tackle chores midweek. Relationships excite, Taurus April 20-May 20: Lie low, rest and confuse and climax, Thursday on. contemplate. Wednesday onward, plan future Taurus This April 20: Liedelays, low, rest and actions. day20-May ends recent mistakes contemplate.

Wednesday onward, plan future and indecisiveness. Lie low, rest and contemplate. actions. This day ends recent delays, mistakes Wednesday onward, plan future actions. This day and indecisiveness. Lie low, rest and contemplate. ends recent onward, delays, plan mistakes indecisiveness.

Wednesday futureand actions.

This day Your money picture looks better now into early ends recent delays, mistakes and indecisiveness.

August.

It’s anpicture excellent timebetter to seek Your money looks nowemployment, into early especially mid-Maytime and to after lateemployment, June. Settle August. It’sbefore an excellent seek into homebefore Sunday/Monday.

Romance, pleasure, especially mid-May and after late June.

Settle beautyhome and creativity lure you Romance, Tuesday/Wednesday. into Sunday/Monday. pleasure, Tackle Thursday/Friday.

Someone wants you beauty chores, and creativity lure you Tuesday/Wednesday.

Tackle chores, Thursday/Friday. and doesn’t want you, Saturday. Someone wants you and doesn’t want you, Saturday.

Gemini May 21-June 20: Delays, mistakes and Gemini 20: Wednesday, Delays, mistakes indecision May end –21-June technically but it and can indecision end –totechnically Wednesday, butByit April can take you awhile get back in the rhythm. takeyou’ll you be awhile get backand in ready the rhythm.

10 fully toconfident to act,By andApril by 10 you’ll be fully confident act, andThat by the 13thth (onward) your hopesand willready returnto solidly. the 13 (onward) your hopes will return solidly. That leaves the present week – despite some uncertainties, leaves the present week – despite some uncertainties, you are to radiate radiate aa new, charm; you are beginning beginning to new, gentle gentle charm; this of aa four-month phase during during this is is the the beginning beginning of four-month phase which (Aries? Aquarius?)

Aquarius?) will will be be attracted attracted to to which others others (Aries? you, mate material. material. You’re You’re back back on on the the rise, rise, you, even even as as mate Gemini! (But don’t push it before September.) Best travel day: Sunday. Love day: Friday.

For Sale by Owner

673 Homes 62 businesses FSBO Sell your home, only $99. 604-574-5243 Sry Boundary Pk immaculate 2340sf 4br 2.5ba $789,900 778-218-9637 id5510 Sry Centre ground level 1500sf 2br 2ba 45+ tnhouse $254,900 868-7716 id5516 Sry E Newton near new, 4200sf 6br 5.5ba w/suite, $719K 778-846-8047 id5517

vancourier.com

• Fast, Accurate, Friendly • Year-Round Service • Accounting & Bookkeeping • Instant Tax Refund • US Tax & Corporate Tax • Monday-Saturday – 9am-7pm

Houses - Sale

6020-01

Cancer June 21-July 22: Recent delays and mistakes end. They affected your career, prestige, legal, travel and intellectual pursuits. Your ambitions Cancer June 21-July 22: Recent delays and come into sharp focus – be ready to act on them mistakes end. They affected your career, prestige, next week. week is best spentYour reconnoitring, legal, travel (This and intellectual pursuits. ambitions planning.)

Your inner life grows sweeter thethem next come into sharp focus – be ready to over act on four – oldweek alliesisreturn, thingsreconnoitring, go well with next months week. (This best spent government links, luxuriate in over moments of planning.) Your innerand lifeyou grows sweeter the next solitude.

It’s a–good makethings family go andwell property four months old phase allies to return, with decisions.

Youlinks, mightand endyou things with ainLibra – to both government luxuriate moments of solitude.

It’s aMoney’s good phase to make family and property your benefit. lucky Sunday/Monday – chase decisions.

Youfriendly. might end thingsThursday with a Libra it.

Midweek’s Caution p.m.– to both your benefit. Money’s lucky Sunday/Monday – chase Leo July 23-Aug. 22: There’s always a reason. it. Midweek’s friendly. Caution Thursday p.m.

When you contemplate the last 15 years and the love Leo July 23-Aug. 22: There’s always remember a reason. disappointments that might have occurred, When you contemplate the last 15 years and love this. When you contemplate the next 15 years,the include disappointments that might have occurred, remember two things: 1) sex gets better; 2) past deception ends. this. When you contemplate the next 15 years, include The four months aheadbetter; boost2) your popularity, ends. your two things: 1) sex gets past deception happiness and playfulness.

Someone’s flirting!

A rather The four months ahead boost your popularity, your big wish involving travel or earnings willflirting! come true.This happiness and playfulness.

Someone’s A rather week, delays andorindecisions (technically, big wishrecent involving travel earnings willend come true.This Wednesday energy end and(technically, charisma week, recent morning). delays andYour indecisions soar Sunday/Monday.

Travel, Wednesday morning).Chase Your money energymidweek. and charisma friends late week. Be home, soar Sunday/Monday.

ChaseSaturday. money midweek. Travel, friends lateAug. week.

Be home,22: Saturday.

Virgo 23-Sept.

Delays and mistakes Virgo Aug. 23-Sept. 22: end Delays and mistakes (especially in relationships) Wednesday.

Now (especiallychase in relationships) end Wednesday. forward, new investments (or solve Now debt forward, chase new investments (or compelling, solve debt problems) seek intimacy with someone problems) intimacy withcommitments, someone compelling, charge intoseek lifestyle changes, research charge into lifestyle changes, commitments, research and (health, etc.) diagnosis.

You’re going to take some and (health, etc.) diagnosis. You’re going to take some significant action in one or more of these sectors significant action in one or more of these sectors before before July.

July. Tuesday Tuesday begins begins four four months months of of unusual unusual favour favour from from higher-ups, higher-ups, parents parents and and VIPs VIPs –– propose propose aa project project or or two. two. You You might might be be promoted. promoted. Lie Lie low, low, research research and and plan plan Sunday/Monday.

Sunday/Monday. Your Your energy energy and and charisma surge midweek. Money needs caution Thursday/Friday.

6050

Out Of Town Property

6065

●DIFFICULTY SELLING?●

Difficulty Making Payments?

No Equity? Expired Listing? Penalty?

We Take Over Payments! No Fees!

www.GVCPS.ca / 604-812-3718

www.bcforeclosures.com 3 BR home from $18,500 down $1,710/mo. 604-538-8888, Alain @ Sutton WC Realty W. Rock

Langley/ Aldergrove

7243 199 Street, Langley Beautiful 4 BR family home with legal bsmt ste, central location, $629,000. Sutton West Coast RUPE MANN 778 240-7914

6020-34

6025

6075

Surrey

Industrial/ Commercial

* 2,750 sqft./ on .95 acres* * 4 Bedrooms * 3.25 Bathrooms * Oversized 2 Car Garage * Carport & Outbuilding * Drive onto Beautiful Samish Island, just North of Anacortes, Wa., to this custom Craftsman home with 25 feet of waterfront with adjacent road access. Park like setting. Two level exotic wood deck with views of Padilla Bay. Master with high ceilings, walk in closet, attached bath and solid Carerra marble surfaces.

Bonus room upstairs. Extensive hardwoods, solid fir doors, walkin pantry, plenty of indoor storage, maple cabinets.

For more information pls call:

Robert & Nancy Chaney, (for sale by owners) 9418 Marshall Rd, Bow, WA

1-(360)395-5525. bubba@wavecable.com

6008

Condos/ Townhouses

6008-36

Sunshine Coast

MUST SELL!!! $217,000. 200ft ocean front. Hardy Island, 10 acres, sheltered bay, deep moorage, drilled well, septic approved, 5 min ot BC Ferry term, prop/fuel delivery, cell/internet, reasonable offers only. Call Rick 604-582-6907 or 604-230-8117

Call Today to Place Your Ad in

MARKETPLACE

604-630-3300

6008

Condos/ Townhouses

Vancouver West Side

Adult-Oriented Building

Commercial Property Kingsway BBY, 5% return, good investment.

Price $1,595K. 604-324-0655

6035

Recreation Property

Fabulous Summer Home Terrific Retirement Home Country Bed & Breakfast $537,500 USD

www.househunting.ca

HOUSE ON 1/2 acre lot, rented, future developement, good investment. $695K 604-324-0655

A37

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★ Exclusive & Private Lake Shore Cottage, for all info: www.cottageonlake.ca $329,000 ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Real Estate

★ WE BUY HOMES ★ Damaged Homes! Pretty Homes!

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6020-14

uSELLaHOME.com

6 ADS FOR THE PRICE OF 3

Office Locations:

Richmond

6020

FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

Mobile Homes

112 - 1790 W 10th − Great Location & Quiet − BROOKSWOOD ESTATE Unit 23 - 3931 - 198 St, Langley 2 BR single mobile, OWN lot, storage shed, 55 + Park. Pets OK. RV Parking. Maint fee $100/mo. $139,900. Agents ok. Open to Offers. By Owner. 604-309-5974

19+ Age Requirement, totally remodeled suite, solid building. 1 Bed + Den offered at $415,000.

See www.maturemovesbc.com for floorplans & more.

Shelly Smee Macdonald Realty Ltd. 604 763 2787

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★and ★indecision ★ ★ end.

Libra Sept.★ 23-Oct. 22: Delays You’re free to proceed with new ventures, especially in work and relationships. The 15 months ahead Libra Sept. 23-Oct. 22: Delays and indecision end. promote success with members of the opposite You’re free to proceed with new ventures, especially sex.

(Sweet in work andunderstandings relationships. now The to 15August, monthscheerful ahead agreement September to June 2013. promote success with members of the Marriage opposite possible – but better if he/she July sex. (Sweet understandings now toshows August,after cheerful 3.)

These 15September months also in agreement to boost June your 2013.success Marriage legal, education, cultural, possibleinternational, – but better higher if he/she shows after July publishing far travelalso zones.

Youryour popularity rises 3.) These and 15 months boost success in legal, international, higherflirts. education, cultural, Sunday/Monday.

Someone Retreat, rest and publishing and far travelYour zones.

Your charisma popularitysurge rises contemplate midweek. energy, Sunday/Monday. Someone flirts. Retreat, rest and Thursday/Friday. contemplate midweek. Your energy, charisma surge Scorpio Oct. 23-Nov. 21: Tackle chores. Ambition’s Thursday/Friday. lucky Sunday/Monday. Recent delays and mistakes Scorpio 23-Nov. 21: Tacklelately, chores.now Ambition’s end.

If an Oct. old flame reappeared it ends lucky Sunday/Monday. Recent delays and mistakes or proceeds. Huge love and sexual attractions loom, end. If an old flame reappeared lately, now it ends this April rightHuge into June 2013.

Lust and love, lustloom, and or proceeds. love and sexual attractions marriage, are different things, with different motives. this April right into June 2013. Lust and love, lust and Great goodareluck and karmic minglemotives. deeply marriage, different things, “tests” with different here: proceed, but karmic realize “tests” everything’s complex.

Great so good luck and mingle deeply Listen clues, and your intuition.

One here: soto proceed, butcheck realizewith everything’s complex. thing’s fairly simple: (oryour divorcing) is lucky Listen to clues, and marrying check with intuition.

One until quite unlucky(or(bad karma) from thing’sJune, fairly and simple: marrying divorcing) is lucky until June, 2012 and to quite unlucky (bad karma) from September February 2014.

September 2012 to February 2014.

Sagittarius Nov. 22-Dec. 21: Recent delays and SagittariusmeltNov. 22-Dec. 21: Recent delays and indecision away; you’re free to advance.

Loving indecision melt away; free to advance.

Loving Venus enters your signyou’re of partnership and relocation Venus enters youruntil signearly of partnership and relocation Tuesday, to stay August. Others will treat Tuesday, stay until August. will lucky treat you with tograce and early affection.

In Others addition, you with grace and affection. In addition, lucky Jupiter enters this same zone in June, to stay for a Jupiter enters this same zone in June, to stay for a year.

Love and luck!

Yet difficult karma inhabits this year. Love and luck! Yet difficult karma inhabits this area area until until Aug. Aug. 30.

30. I’d I’d wait. wait. Partnering, Partnering, relocation, relocation, fame, fame, public public interfacing, interfacing, litigation litigation –– all all might might be be aa sweet sweet trap trap to to August.

August. Sunday/Monday Sunday/Monday is is wise, wise, loving. Be ambitious midweek. Popularity, optimism Thursday/Friday. Retreat Saturday.

April 1-7, 2012 April 1-7, 2012

Capricorn Dec. 22-Jan. 19: Delays, mistakes and conundrums end (technically, Wednesday). Soon, too, a barrier will fall in a legal, educational, publishing, Capricorn Dec. 22-Jan. 19: Delays, mistakes and fame or international situation, perhaps one involving conundrums end (technically, Wednesday). Soon, too, real estate, family or “putting publishing, an end” to a barrier willa fall in amember, legal, educational, something.

Messages that had been delayed or lost fame or international situation, perhaps one involving show up now.

Your work scene grows much more real estate, a family member, or “putting an end” to pleasant to August and health improves – still, difficult something.

Messages that had been delayed or lost karma creeps thesescene zones, so accept show up now.through Your work grows muchgladly more what comes, but don’t pursue more. (This pleasant to August and health improves – still,summer difficult karma creeps through these so to accept gladly begins a huge increase in workzones, for you, mid-2013.) what comes, don’tThursday/Friday. pursue more. (This summer Climb a careerbut ladder begins a hugeJan. increase in work for you, to mid-2013.)

Aquarius 20-Feb. 18: Delays, mistakes end Climb a career ladder Thursday/Friday.

Wednesday. Fifteen years of indecision is also ending Aquarius 20-Feb. 18: Delays, now.

Little byJan. little, every month, everymistakes year for end the Wednesday. years of indecision is also ending next 15, youFifteen will grow more firm in your convictions now. Little by little, every month, every year for the and choices. Drug/alcohol use will abate. Back to next 15, you will grow more firm in your convictions normal.

Travel,Drug/alcohol talk, writing, details, and choices. use willerrands abate. surround Back to you in April get writing, going! details, Your romantic, creative, normal.

Travel,– talk, errands surround speculative zones glow with you in April and – getchild-oriented going! Your romantic, creative, sweet affection – for fourzones months.

In June, speculative andTuesday child-oriented glow with even good Tuesday luck comes to these, for a year.

It will sweetmore affection – for four months.

In June, be hard to escape love!

But to a subtle even more good luck comes these, trap for amight year. Itexist will here untiltoSeptember: beBut patient. be hard escape love! a subtle trap might exist here until September: be patient.

Pisces Feb. 19-March 20: Personal indecision Pisces Feb. 19-March 20: Personal and outer delays end Wednesday, but it canindecision take you outerordelays Wednesday, can direction take you aand week so to end firmly find your but feetit and a weekNext or so to (especially firmly find April your 9,feet again. week late,and anddirection 10) will again.

Next week April 9,and late,prestige. and 10)This will be a superb time (especially to chase money be a superb time to chase money week, money’s a prime theme also,and but prestige. a partner This or a week, money’s a prime theme also, but a partner or a financial opportunity might be unstable, reluctant or financial opportunity might be unstable, reluctant or delayed: delayed: be be patient. patient. Your Your home, home, family, family, security security and and property property zone zone fills fills with with affection affection and and luck luck Tuesday Tuesday to to August.

August. And And an an even even bigger bigger luck luck comes comes this this June, June, to to mid-13. mid-13. Still, Still, karmic karmic traps traps might might lurk: lurk: be be patient patient until until September.

September. Mysteries, Mysteries, late late week. week. timstephens@shaw.ca • Reading: 604-560-1269

A38

THE VANCOUVER COURIER FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012

5017

Business Services

5505

HAVE YOU BEEN DENIED Canada Pension Plan Disability Benefits? The Disability Claims Advocacy Clinic can help.

Contact Allison Schmidt at: 1-877-793-3222 - www.dcac.ca

5020

Computer/ Internet

COMPUTER SOLUTIONS 604-721-8434.. 15 yrs experience Cert. Professional, Sales/Service

5040

Business Opps/ Franchises

Your future is here

Due to Extraordinary Demand, We are looking for entrepreneurs who want to build equity and become franchise owners. $1500/week GUARANTEED* www.jimsmowing.ca

310-JIMS (5467) *Conditions Apply

5060

Legal Services

CRIMINAL RECORD? Money-back guarantee.

100,000+ Record Removals since 1989. A+ BBB Rating. Only $45.50/month - Assures EMPLOYMENT & TRAVEL FREEDOM. Call for FREE INFO BOOKLET - 1-8-NOW-PARDON (1-866-972-7366) www.RemoveYourRecord.com

5075

Mortgages

MORTGAGE RATES Variable = Bank Prime 3.00% 3 Year term - 3.19% 5 Year term - 3.39% 10 Year term 3.99%

Call 604-831-5575

Doug Foulds Mortgage Broker Swiftsuremortgages.com Rate’s subject to change without notice.

On approved credit. Broker lender fees may apply to substandard credit ratings

To advertise call

604-630-3300

Legal/Public Notices

NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND OTHERS NOTICE is hereby given that Creditors and others having claims against the Estate of PASQUALE FORCINA also known as FORCINA PASQUALE, Deceased, who died on September 16, 2011 are hereby required to send them to the undersigned Executor c/o of his solicitors McLellan Herbert, #310 - 800 W. Pender Street, Vancouver, B.C., V6C 2V6 before the 27th day of April, 2012, after which date the Executor will distribute the said Estate among the parties entitled thereto, having regard only to the claims of which they then have notice.

Vancouver City Savings Credit Union, Executor By: Hugh S. McLellan McLELLAN HERBERT Barristers & Solicitors NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND OTHERS Re: The estate of Robert Henry Walker, deceased, formerly of 3180 Yukon Street, Vancouver, BC Creditors and others having claims against the estate of Robert Henry Walker are hereby notified under section 38 of the Trustee Act that particulars of their claims should be sent to the Executor c/o Adrian & Co., Barristers and Solicitors, attn: Quentin J. Adrian, at 5660 Yew Street, Vancouver, BC V6M 3Y3 on or before April 27th, 2012, after which date the Executor will distribute the estate among the parties entitled to it, having regard to the claims of which the Executor then has notice.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND OTHERS Notice is Hereby Given that Creditors and others, having claims against the Estate of RYUNOSUKE ROGER WATANAKA (also known as ROGER WATANAKA), formerly of 107-2898 East 22nd Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. V5M 2Y2, Deceased are hereby required to send the particulars thereof to the undersigned Executors, c/o F.Y. Hanano Law Office, 1700 – 808 Nelson Street, Vancouver, B.C. V6Z 2H2 on or before May 5th, 2012, after which date the estate’s assets will be distributed, having regard only to the claims that have been received.

Takeo Yamashiro, Katsuyo Fujishima, Lurana Kikuko Tasaka, Executors.

RENTALS 6508

6510

Apt/Condos

★KERRISDALE★ Quiet sunny, remodelled 3rd flr 1 bdrm, balcony, prkg, $825 incl ht/hwater,w n/p, Apr 1st, 604-264-8704 South False Creek, nr Monk McQueens, on seawall, 2 BR + den, 1100 sf, quiet, view, parks, gym, social rm, 2 prkg + visitors, storage, NS, April 1, $2750/mo + utils. Jason 604-928-4367 or 1-250-378-8286 ★SUNNY QUIET MARPOLE★ 2 bdrm, nice corner reno’d, 3rd flr walkup. Balcony, park, new appl, granite counters, no dogs, May 1, $1095/mo. Call 604-269-6689

Co-ops

NORTH BURNABY

Pine Ridge Housing Co-op has opened its wait list for 1 BDRM, 2 BDRM & 3 BDRM Townhouses, $729, $957, & $1123 with a $2,000, $2,800 & $3,300 share purchase.

Located in quiet forest setting on Burnaby Mnt. Close to SFU, schools, transit & shopping. Enjoy the feel of country living within minutes of the city. Sorry, no subsidies available. Community involvement expected.

Download our app form @ www.pineridgeco-op.bc.ca or send SASE to: #89, 8763 Ash Grove Cres, Burnaby, BC V5A 4B8 Attn: Membership Ctte.

HOME SERVICES

7005

Body Work

ESCAPE SPA New Arrival!

Thai, Philippine, Korean, Japanese.

Package & Duo. Hotel Service avail.

Qualified Massage, Excellent Service 604-569-1858 (in/out) 7 Days • 10am - 10pm DOWNTOWN MASSAGE

8030

Carpentry

CARPENTER AVAIL for general work, clean & fast service. 40 yrs exp. 604-961-5906 or 732-0533.

8055

**RELIEVE ROAD RAGE** Try the Best 604-872-1702

EUROPEAN DETAILED Service cleaning. www.puma-cleaning.ca Sophia 604-805-3376

7015

Escort Services

GENTLEMEN! Attractive discreet European lady is available for company.

604 451-0175

You Want It We’ve Got It

Find Whatever You’re Looking for in the Classifieds.

EZ CLEANING. Bonded/insured. $20/hour. Vancouver, Richmond, Burnaby/N. West. 604-505-0108 IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR Experienced, Meticulous, Reliable Cleaning, res/com. 604-537-8796 LIDIA’S EUROPEAN Cleaning.

Res/Com. Specializing in detail cleaning. Bonded. 604-541-9255

8060

Concrete

CONCRETE PROJECTS

253-0049

CONCRETE SPECIALIST Sidewalk, Driveway, Patio Exposed Aggregate, remove & replacing

STOP RENTING-RENT TO OWN ● No Qualification - Low Down ● CHILLIWACK - 9557 Williams, 3 bdrm, 1 bath, cozy HOUSE on

6595

Shared Accommodation

6595-70

8065

Contracting

STAIRS, Decks, Bathrms & Kitchens Seniors Discounts.

Free quotes. Marc 604-728-3209

8073

LIC. ELECTRICIAN #37309 Commercial & residential renos & small jobs. 778-322-0934.

8087

FURN ROOM, Character House, City Hall/Canada line, n/s, n/p, shr bath, female, balcony, ref’s. $525 incl util. 604-879-6072 Evenings

# 1 BACKHOE, EXCAVATOR & BOBCAT

one mini, drainage, landscaping, stump / rock / cement / oil tank removal.

Water / sewer line, 24 hours Call 341-4446 or 254-6865 CONCRETE driveway, drainage, excavation, sidewalk, pavers, retaining walls landscape, backhoe & bobcat services 604-833-2103

8090

8105

Flooring/ Refinishing

Hardwood Floor Refinishing

CELTIC HARDWOOD FLOORS LTD.

•

Refinishing • Installation • New & Old Floors Ph. 604 293.0057 Cel. 604 657.8931

* * * *

Hydro Flushing Field/Yard Drainage Sumps/Catch Basins Foundation Crack Repairs * Compact Excavator Services * Perimeter Drainage replacement

Email request to:

info@ hillcrestplumbing.com

INSTALLATION REFINISHING, Sanding. Free est, great prices.

Satisfaction guar. 604-518-7508

8125

Gutters

AT YOUR HOME GUTTERS

NO HST! til MARCH 31

• Gutter Installation, Cleaning & Repairs • Roofing & Roof Repairs • Moss Control, Removal & Prevention 25 year Warranteed Leaf & Needle Guard WCB – Fully Insured 100% Money Back Guarantee

604-340-7189 atyourhomeservicesgroup.ca

www.celtichardwoodfloors.ca

Professional Powerwash Gutters cleaned & repaired Since 1984, 604-339-0949 Waters Home Maintenance Gutter Cleaning, repairs, windows Free estimate 604-738-6606

8130

Handyperson

CARPET, VINYL & HARDWOOD Repair & Replace. Material sales Dwight, 778-322-6048 I’ll show you the inexpensive route www.fccarpets.shawwebspace.ca Golden Hardwood & Laminate & Tiles. Prof install, refinishing, sanding & repairs. 778-858-7263

Lawn & Garden

HEDGE SHRUB TREE & STUMP REMOVAL FREE ESTIMATE INSURED

224-3669 *Design/Build *Maintenance *Vegetable gardens*Raised beds

SPRING CLEAN-UP Laura 604-264-0775

Tree Topping, Clean-Up, Planting, Trimming, Power Raking, Aeration, etc. • Westside & Eastside

Tran Gardening & Landscape New lawns & maintenance, Power raking, Aerating, Trimming, Pruning, Weeding, Weeding, Cleanups, and Garden maintenance

Reliable - 604.723.2468 Since 1989

RENOS • REPAIRS 9129 Shaughnessy St., Van.

732-8453

AALL EXT REPAIRS/REPLACE Rebuild, new build, fencing, decks & stairs. 604-325-4674

CABINETRY, countertops, bath, kitchen, plumbing, flooring, painting, etc. Call Mic, 604-725-3127 DECKS FENCES repairs & new.

Restorations West side only please. Walter 778-837-2518 DUSTTIN’S HANDYMAN Service All jobs Large and Small.

Competitive Rates 604-562-5711 R’s Vinyl Windows Patio doors, Entrance doors, Concrete, Electrical, Free Est. 778-863-1944

8150

Kitchens/Baths

Plywood Kitchen Cabinets & Refacing, Counter Tops • In business 50 years 604-879-9191

Superior Cove Tops & Cabinets

PRP RENOVATIONS. Kitchen & Bath Renos. Water damage 24/7.

Insured, WCB 604-764-0399 Reno’s & Home Improvements Kitchen & Baths, Tiling, Electrical, Carpentry +. WCB. 604-518-2948 REVISION CUSTOM Home Renos. Kitchens, Baths, Bsmts Award Winner. 604-835-4033

8155

Landscaping

Greenworx Redevelopment Inc. Hedges, Pavers, Ponds & Walls, Returfing, Demos, Drainage, Jackhammering. Old Pools Filled in, irrigation. 604.782.4322

8160

Lawn & Garden

Artistry of Hardwood Floors

Refinish, sanding, install, dustless Prof & Quality work 604-219-6944

8160

Edgemont Gutters. Sales & Install 5’’ continuous gutter, minor repairs, cleaning. 604-420-4800

#3 - 8652 Joffre Ave, Burnaby

604-376-7224 www.centuryhardwood.com

Richmond 604-244-0220

Call 604-630-3300 to place your ad

Fencing/Gates

Century Hardwood Floors

Vancouver 604-879-1415

PLACE YOUR RENTAL ADS 24/7

Excavating

Repairs & Staining Installation Free Estimates

Suites/Partial Houses

Flooring/ Refinishing

YOUR ELECTRICIAN $29 service call. Insured. Lic # 89402.

Fast same day service guar’d. We love small jobs! 604-568-1899

Vancouver East Side

2 BDRM ste, Dunbar/36th, priv entr, all inclusive, n/s, Avail May 1, $1350 Call 604-261-5963

Go to vancourier.com and Click on classifieds

A. LIC. ELECTRICIAN #19807 Semi-retired wants small jobs only.

604-689-1747, pgr 604-686-2319

Drainage

1 BR level ste, 61st/Knight, ns/np, avail Now/April 1, nr bus route, suits 1 or 2 people, $700 incl hydro/wi-fi, 778-288-0116

RENT

SMALL JOBS to rewires. Comm/ Res. Troubleshooter. Lic# 23726.

Insured & bonded. 604-788-3864

West Coast Cedar Installations New or repaired outdoor cedar ★ specialists since 1991 ★ 604-270-2358 or 604-788-6458

2 BDRM bsmt ste, Fraser btwn 30th & 31st. Suit female $390/mth each room incl heat/hydro,tv i/net coin ldry, ns np 604-879-4325

6602

Electrical

FCE ELECTRIC • Construction • Renovations • Maintenance 604-861-2647

253-0049

49’x171’lot, Exc investment. $888/M

LANGLEY - 4 - 20159 68th Ave, TOWNHOUSE, 3bd, bright, quiet, family end unit, garage...$1,488/M Call Kristen today (604)786-4663 www.HomeBuyingCenter.ca

8080

Reasonable rates. 35 yrs. exp.

For free estimates call Mario Retaining Wall, foundation, stairs, driveway, sidewalks + blocks & bricks, any concrete projects. Free Est. Call Tom at: 604 617-5813, 604-690-3316

Houses - Rent

Quality Drywall Finishing. Textured Ceilings & Repair. Renov Specialist.

No job too small. 837-1785

Call 604-506-4519

Reasonable rates. 35 yrs. exp.

For free estimates call Mario

6540

Wayne The Drywaller

ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR: Exp, friendly, reliable. Specializing in replacing old nob & tube wiring. Lic.#50084. 604-725-4535

Sidewalk, Driveway, Patio Exposed Aggregate, remove & replacing

vancourier.com http://classified.van.net

*Drywall * Taping * Texture * Stucco*Painting * Steel stud framing Quality Home 604-725-8925

REMOVE & REPLACE SINKING CONCRETE

Patios, Walkways, Driveway Retaining Walls WCB, Liability Ins., Licenced

8105

604.318.4145 Rod

A Lic’d. Electrician #30582.

Rewiring & Reno, Appliance/ Plumbing. Rotor Rooter and Hydro Pressure Jetting Service, 778-998-9026 or 604-255-9026 Free Est / 24/7

CONCRETE SPECIALIST

Check Out Our Website:

Texture removed, repaired or applied, new boarding, taping, patch and repair old plaster, drywall ...

Clean Workmanship Satisfaction Guaranteed

Cleaning

A QUALITY CLEANING -7 days/ wk res/comm, senior discount low rate 778-998-9127 778-239-9609

Drywall

BRIERLEY DRYWALL

CARPENTRY Forming to Finishing, Small or Big Jobs, 20 yrs exp.

Refs avail 604-440-5727 Richea

A.S.B.A. ENTERPRISE. Comm/ Res. Free Est. $25/hour includes supplies. Insured. 604-723-0162

604-739-3998

8075

Mowing•Hedge Trimmimg•Installation Maintenance•Design Residential•Strata

WILDWOOD LANDSCAPING Hedge Trimmimg & Tree Pruning & Hedge Removal Spring Clean Up Chaffer Control & Lawn Restoration. Comm/Strata/Res Aerating & Power Raking.

Free Estimates.

604-893-5745 ANY TYPE Garden work for all seasons. Lawncutting, power rake, hedging, cleanup, weeding, starting @ $15. Call 604-273-3249.

EXP. RELIABLE gardener yard clean up, new turf, lawn, pruning, planting, new soil, 604-783-2627 GB GARDENING - lawn cut, trim, prune, clean up, power wash, free est. 778-988-5544 604-322-9412 JAPANESE GARDENER Landscape & maintenance, clean-ups, trimming.

Reas, free est, 25 yrs exp 604-986-8126 JIM’S MOWING 604-310-JIMS (5467) www.jimsmowing.ca Lawn Maint, Comm/Res. 20 yrs exp. power rake, aerating. Free est. Reliable Reas. 604-649-9965

LAWNS CUT, power raking, yard clean, aerate, fertilize, gardening, hedges, pruning, gutters, rubbish.

Seniors’ 25% disc. 604-773-0075 LULU ISLAND Booking for Aeration ★$55. PowerRake ★$150.

Mowing Rates, 778-223-6687

* MUSHROOM MANURE *

P/U or delivery. Covered storage.

(604) 644-1878 Ny Ton Gardening yard & lawn maint. trimming, shrubs, hedging, power raking etc. 604-782-5288 ★ SD ENTERPRISES ★ Gardening, power raking, lawncare, landscaping, pruning, cedar fencing. Call Terry, 604-726-1931 Semi Retired Gardener, 35 years exp. Garden cleanups, pruning, free est. 604-277-6075 TREES • HEDGES • SHRUBS Pruning.Shaping.Removal. Fruit Topiary. Wolfgang 778-848-7404

TREE SPECIALIST 25 yrs exp.

Tree Removal & Pruning. Hedge Trimming. Power raking.Top soil.

Commercial & residential garden maintenance. Tim:604-328-9487 ROW by ROW Garden Service!

Free estimates, affordable, available (604) 369-8916 SPRING Gardening pruning weeding, maintenance, silent lawn care. 604-440-9502

FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

8175

Masonry

MASONRY and REPAIRS •Stone Walls •Bricks •Chimneys •Slate Patio/Sidewalk •Fireplaces All Concrete Work + more. Senior discount. George • 604-365-7672

8185

Moving & Storage

Painting/ Wallpaper

8195

8240

Renovations & Home Improvement

D&M PAINTING

Since 1989

Interior/Exterior Specialist Many Years Experience Fully Insured Top Quality, Quick Work Free Estimate

604-724-3832

❑ Bathrooms ❑ Kitchens ❑ Basements

1, 3, 5, 7 or 10 Ton $ From

8220

45 We accept Visa, Mastercard & Interac 604-537-4140 www.affordablemoversbc.com

B&Y MOVING Experienced Movers ~ 2 Men $55 ~

Over 10 yrs. Exp. • Licenced & Insured • Professional Piano Movers

Painting & Decorating Ltd. NO JOB TOO SMALL Quality work est. 1973

BBB Rating A+ Free Estimate 604-733-2865

Andrew’s Painting & Wallpaper 25yrs exp. WCB/Ins. Refs Free Est, Reas. Rates! 604-785-5651 DJ PAINTING, Int/Ext. Com/Res. Drywall repair. Free ests. Cell: 604-417-5917, 604-258-7300

FREE BOXES

Exterior / Interior Painting.

Power washing. Good prices.

Free ests. PETER 604 812 8900

Fast, Careful, Friendly & Affordable Call us now!

778.322.2462

Best West Moving.com fast, 7 days/week, short notice moves, great rates. Call 604-319-1010 EAST WEST MOVERS- Local long distance deliveries up to Alberta. Call Jim 604-786-7977 KIM’S MOVING & DELIVERY Painting & yard clean-up.

24/7 days. Call 604-565-6110

8193

Oil Tank Removal

FLECK CONTRACTING LTD.

GMB Painting 20 + yrs Exp, Room Special $99 Call 604-782-3150 Interior/Exterior/Commercial We do good work!!

Call 604-379-2641 KURDO PAINTING ● Quality painting ● Int/Ext ● Pressure Washing ● Work Guaranteed ● Tito 604-802-2571 PROFESSIONAL PAINTER more than 10 yrs. Small jobs ok.

Call Serj 604-377-2417 SPRING SPECIAL Big Savings $$ all your painting needs. Excellent refs. Free est 778-892-0165

Off: 604-266-2120 Cell: 604-290-8592 Serving West Side since 1987

Patios/Decks/ Railings

CONFIDENT PAINTING LTD.

Int. & Ext. Specialist, 20 yrs exp. * Reas. Rates, High Quality * Fast, clean, with ref’s Licensed, Insured & WCB

Jean-Guy Bottin

Cell 604.626.1975

ALLQUEST PAINTING Quality Work You Can Trust!

Interior & Exterior ★ UNBEATABLE PRICES ★ Free Est. / Written Guarantee

Insured/WCB

778-997-9582

DVK PAINTING LTD. Call Dave Int/Ext. Res/Comm. Quality work.

Great rates. WCB. 604-354-2930

LOW COST CONSTRUCTION

604-377-3346

• • • •

Licensed, Insured & Bonded Lic. Plumbers & Gas Fitters Over 20 years Experience Custom Renovations to Small Repairs

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Certified Plumber & Gas Fitter * Reno’s & Repairs 24 hrs/day * Furnaces * Boilers * Hot Water Heating * Reasonable Rates * Hot Water Tanks

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SUNDECKS FENCES • STAIRS

30 years exp.

731-7709

drytech.ca RENOVATIONS 22-BUILD (222-8453) Showroom: 1230 West 75th Ave.

Plumbing Ltd

604-551-8531

Fantasy Homes Ltd.

New Homes, Kitchens, Baths, Basements & all types of renovations.

ALLEY LANE HOMES Renos, additions, bsmt suites, landscaping, decks, framing 778-320-5471 ALLQUEST PAINTING Quality Work You Can Trust!

778 997-9582 BASEMENT SUITES, bathrooms, kitchens, drywall, plumbing, tiling. John: 604-617-5054 Bathroom & Kitchen Reno’s ★ FREE ESTIMATES★ 604-839-5353

• Sunrooms • Aluminum patio/deck covers • Aluminum roof • Glass railings • Aluminum fencing • Auto gates Free Estimates 604-521-2688

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★ 3 Licensed Plumbers ★ 66 years of exp. 604-830-6617 www.oceansidemechanical.com Drain Cleaning & Plumbing Maintenance, Restorations & Reno’s. Free Est. 604-839-5353 EXPERIENCED PLUMBER Water mains (no digging method) Sewer lines (no digging method) Drain tiles 604-715-4903

8240

Renovations & Home Improvement

8220

Plumbing

Complete Plumbing & Drain Cleaning Services 7 Days A Week Seniors Discounts Small Repairs to Renovations Also Furnaces & Hot Water Tanks Water Service, Drain Tiles, Sewers Very Reasonable Rates Licensed Plumber and Gas Fitter Call Jim

731-8875

Cell: 604-839-7881

A Eastwest Roofing & Siding Re-roofing, Gutter, Free Est, BBB Member, 10% disc, Seniors Disc, 604-812-9721, 604-783-6437

D & M RENOVATIONS, Flooring, tiling, finishing. Fully Insured. Top quality, quick work 604-724-3832

Crown Roofing & Drainage Residental Div. Roofing installations & repairs. 1-877-602-7346

EURO RENO’S & DESIGN Kitchens, Baths, Secondary Suites, Santino 604-897-5071

MASTERCRAFT ROOFING Ltd. Right the 1st time! Repairs, reroofing, garage, decks. Hart 322-5517

HANDYMAN - framing, decks, tiles, hardwood, drywall, re-roof.

Total additions & basements. Ken 604-500-2426 or 604-455-0740 Reno’s, Additions & New Construction Specialize in Concrete Forming/Framing. 604-218-3064 SN TOTAL HOME RENO Bathrooms, kitchens, bsmts, decks, etc Free est 604-318-4054 sntotalhomereno@gmail.com

8250

Roofing

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Kitchen & Bath RENOVATIONS HOME IMPROVEMENTS

Tiling • Electrical • Carpentry All jobs BIG & small.

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RUBBISH REMOVAL Reasonable rates - Free Est. Pat 604-224-2112, anytime

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Stucco/Siding/ Exterior

J. PEARCE STUCCO CONTRACTING. 604-761-6079 www.stuccocontracting.com

HOME ADVANTAGE

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Small jobs welcome Rob 778-861- 4224 Thanks

Design & Build Renovations 604.662.8150

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NORTH WEST ROOFING Re-Roofing & Repair. WCB & liability insur. Jag, 778-892-1530

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For Free Estimates Call Ryan 778.809.6677

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ALLEN ASPHALT concrete, brick, drains, foundations, walls, membranes 604-618-2304/ 820-2187

• RESIDENTIAL/ COMMERCIAL •ALL TYPES OF ROOFING & REPAIRS SAVE MONEY! ..ASK HOW!

Canam Roofing 778-881-1417 Residential roofing, new, reroofing & repairs. Peace of mind warranty. www.canamroofing.ca

Additions ★ Renovations Concrete Forming ★ Decks Garages ★ Bathrooms Ceramic Tile ★ Drywall Hardwood Flooring

Residential & Commercial Renovations

Ryan 604-218-4297 John 778-998-5591

Paving/Seal Coating

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Contracting Ltd

DECKS & FENCES

Gates, front steps, renovations.

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Insured. Est. 2004

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Low Cost Bathroom Remodeling 604-685-3223 call 7days/wk

★ STAFFORD & SON ★ Interior/Exterior. Top quality work.

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• Oil Tank Removal • Work complies with city bylaws • Always fair & BC Mainland reasonable rates • Excellent references For Free Estimates Call

Hot Water Tanks, Pipes, Drains, Furnaces, Jacuzzi Installations 24hr Emergency Repairs

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Plumbing

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AFFORDABLE MOVING

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RUBBISH

HOME SERVICES

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AT YOUR HOME ROOFING

NO HST! til MARCH 31

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STUCCO & Exterior cladding, repair, replace & retro fit, all sizes, all finishes, renos. Lic., insured.

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Tiling

A & Wes Tile top European quality Tile install custom bath-kitch 604-657-0343 AandWesTile.com

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Tree Services

Wildwood Tree Services, Exp Hedge Trimming and Removal & Tree Pruning. Free Est. 604-893-5745

8335

Window Cleaning

Edgemont Building Maintenance. Window & Gutter Cleaning, Power Washing. 604-420-4800

A40

THE VANCOUVER COURIER FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012

AUTOMOTIVE 9110

Collectibles & Classics

9125

9125

Domestic

9145

Domestic

Scrap Car Removal

9155

Sport Utilities/ 4x4’s/Trucks

9160

Sports & Imports

1929 ESSEX Super 6. 4dr sedan, in the process of being restored $5000 obo Ron 604-922-6336

9125

Domestic

1990 OLDS Ciera 6 cyl auto, very clean, 115,000 km, a/c, $2,500 obo 604-465-5103

1994 FORD Thunderbird, mint 145,000 k loaded, 2nd owner, maroon, $3 700 obo 604-392-3996

2000 PONTIAC SUNFIRE, 4 cyl auto, new brakes, tune-up, oil & winterized. $2500. 604-298-1749

www.BurrellAuto.com 3094 Westwood St, Port Coq 604 945-4999.

2925 Murray St, Port Moody 604 461-7995.

2001 Acura CL

Fully loaded 2001 Acura CL in great condition inside and out, and runs really well.

9129

• Black on black leather interior • Power everything (seats, mirrors, windows, sunroof) • Heated front seats • 6 disc CD player with bose sound system • Automatic transmission with triptronic shifting • Comes with winter, and all season tires; both in great shape • Air conditioning • 109,000 km • HID headlights • Dual exhaust

NO WHEELS, NO PROBLEM

FREE

Luxury Cars

SCRAP CAR REMOVAL

2006 LINCOLN LS, 1 owner 26,000K, garage kept, immac, loaded, dark wine colour ext, blk leather int, $18,500 + HST. Call 604 584-4704 or 778 228-2721

2007 PT CRUISER. Hot deal!

Auto, low kms, very clean. Cream exterior, grey interior. A/C. Mag wheels. Spoiler. Aircared. Rear wiper. $6,995 obo. 778-242-2018

No Wheels, No Problem

Aluminum Boat Wanted, 10, 12 or 14 ft, with or without motor or trailer. Will pay $. 604-319-5720

9522

RV’s/Trailers

CASH FOR SOME COMPLETE CARS OPEN 24 HRS. INCLUDING HOLIDAYS

604-872-0109

MIKE: 1995 FERRARI F355 GTB. Meticulously cared for. Canadian car. Recent full engine out service, new clutch and release bearing, Tubi exhaust, Hyperflow cats, wheel spacers. Drives and looks perfect! A must see! $54,900. Call 778-834-6069

Asking $7,500 Please call 604.316.4342

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THE SCRAPPER SCRAP CAR & TRUCK REMOVAL

2002 PONITAC Grand Am CE, 120K, exc cd, new trans. Must see/drive. $3,200. 604-582-5815 2005 CAVALIER 59,000k’s, 2 dr, 5 spd, stnd, 1 owner, a/c, tilt, am/ fm CD $3100. Ph 604-823-4422

Boats

12’ BOAT, fibreglass, deep hull.

15' transom, 2 oars, 2 life jackets, 4 HP Johnson outboard motor, new plastic tank & hose. Safe and solid. No leaks. Moving - must sell! $800 obo. 604-527-7727

1991 FORD F250, 7.3 deisel ext cab, 198K, incls camperette/hitch, 1 owner, $4900, 604-430-5596 1992 DODGE Dakota pick-up, extra cab, auto, a/c, V6, aircared, runs good $1100obo.

604-984-7574

9515

2002 GMC Avalanche, Special Edition, 4x4, 5.3 Vortec, 130K, Alarm, Keyless Entry, Dual Climate Control, A/C, Sunroof, Heated Mirrors, Rear Defrost, Heated Leather Seats, compass, New Tires, Tow Pkg, Backseats fold into bed, Immaculate Condition, Private Sale, $11,700 or fair offer, Please call 604-308-3167

2007 TOYOTA Camry SE V6 (Base) 123,000 kms, Silver on Black, well maintained West Vancouver car. $11,500 Call 604-925-0133 or Cell 425-301-4915

604-790-3900 OUR SERVIC 2H

1997 PORSCHE 911 C2S Wide body. Silver on black. Last of the air cooled, hand built 911’s.

Tiptronic. Mint cond. Many extras!

117K km. $36,999. 604-630-2500

E

*Scrap Car Towing* Will pay at least $150 4 your car/truck more if...604-306-0356 cars4cash.biz

9155 2008 CHRYSLER 300 Touring $12,500. (604) 835-7655 Clearwaybc,ca # 8291

1988 TOYOTA P/U, ext, 5 sp, V6, 4x4, $1675. 1992 TOYOTA P/U, ext, 5 sp, raised, V6, 4x4, $2350, D9921 in Abbts. toll free 1-877-855-6522

2005 ASTON Martin DB9. 'James Bond style car!' Silver metallic.

23,000 km. 6.0, V12, 450 hp. New tires. 1 owner. You deserve the best! $87,980. 604-781-7614.

Search. Research. Compare.

Sport Utilities/ 4x4’s/Trucks

2007 BMW 525I, black, loaded, leather, sunroof, very clean, 122K, $25,900. 604-999-4097

1990 GMC Suburban. 4 WD, underdrive, blue, well kept. New Bluetooth. $6,000. 604-584-0324

2007 DODGE Ram 3500 Diesel $31,900 (604) 835-7655 Clearwaybc.ca # 8291

9160

Sports & Imports

2008 VW Passat Wagon, 2.0T, silver, loaded, auto, low kms, wrty, no accid, non smoker, alarm, immac, $20,800 obo, 604-980-7675 NEED CHEAP AUTOBODY ? www.cheapautobody.ca 604-341-7738

1994 PONTIAC Trans Am GT red with grey int., well maint., lady driven $4800. Serious inquires only. Ph 604-997-2583

1995 MERCEDES E320 Cabriolet Exc cond; local car, 109K, NO accid. Rare 778-773-1398

1996 ITASCA Class A M/H 28ft, new awning, exc cond. 100,000 kms. $16,000 obo. 604-574-3141 2001 27 ft Ford Motorhome 450 super duty, V10 pwr, island bed, ent ctre, slp 4, as new $21,000 due to illness 604-929-7575

CASH FOR ALL VEHICLES 2008 CHEVROLET Impala 93K $9,100 (604) 835-7655 Clearwaybc.ca # 8291

1979 MCI M/H, 40’, new engine, ready to travel or live aboard, pics avail. $59,900. 604-856-2455

2007 SALEM 27 RLSS travel trailer, lge slide, sep bdrm, like new, n/s. $18,500. 604-613-4370 More pics: sideroads@mail.com 2008 SPORTSMEN 28’ 5th wheel, all equip’d, spotless. $19,900 obo. 604-230-2728

2001 Volkswagen Golf GLS 4door Automatic 205,000 kms,1 lady owner, mint, pwr wnds/ sunroof, heat seats, roof/bike rack $4,999. Call (604) 983-6967

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9173 2003 MAZDA Prote´ge´ 5, 5 spd, 140K km, new water pump, timing belt & front wheel bearings, sunroof, pwr windows, locks, cruise, nice cond. $8,000.

778-227-2010

Vans

1995 GMC Safari van, AWD, well maintained, aircared, loaded, 272K kms $1995. 604-832-3283

2000 PONTIAC Montana, 6 pass, good cond, 138,000 km, $1,795 obo 604-987-2691 2005 AUDI S4. Quattro (AWD).

102,000 km. Blk leather. Incl 2 set of wheels & tires. 6 speed. Power everything! Exc cond. $19,500.

Call/text Rick @ 778-847-2975.

2008 PONTIAC WAVE, auto, 4 dr sedan, high kms, runs great, white, $4500 firm. 604-538-9257

2002 DODGE Caravan SE, 3.3L, 105,844km, white, a/c, f/load, exc cond, $4250, 604-988-1253 CHEVY UPLANDER 2005. V-6, auto, 7 pass., grey, A/C, power locks & windows, cruise, tilt, 93K km. Runs very well. $6,400.

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2001 VOLVO C70, loaded, leather, turbo, $7600, John 604-808-1945 Kitsilano

1996 TOYOTA Corolla 257,000 kms, Reliable, recently serviced; 4 good snow tires on own rims; selling because I inherited a newer car, $2,700.

Call: (604) 984-9827

SPACE BOOKING 1 photo auto ad, 3 lines, SHORE Rep: JShaw in 12 community newspapers.

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A41

FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

dashboard

Subcompact rings in at just under $12,000

Nissan betting on price to sell its 2012 Versa David Chao and Huw Evans Contributing writers

Small cars have always been a “staple” in Asia and Europe, but they still play somewhat smaller roles here in North America (no pun intended).

Higher fuel prices and sticker shock on larger models, however, has seen interest grow in subcompacts, with the introduction of new offerings such as the Ford Fiesta, Mazda2 and recently the updated Toyota Yaris. That said, compared to Europe where nearly every manufacturer has one or two compacts in their portfolio (not counting sub species), in our neck of the woods, there still isn’t a great deal to choose from.

Nissan is betting that if one factor can shift people’s mindset, it’s the price. As a result, the Nissan Versa (at $11,798) currently competes with the Hyundai Accent as the most affordable mainstream car on the market.

Design—For those used to the boxy 2007-11 Versa sedan, the new edition comes as a dramatic departure (the old style hatchback version soldiers on, at least for now). From some angles it looks like a scaled down Altima; with bulging fenders and almost coke-bottle contours, which is probably a good thing. That said, from the

The Nissan Versa (at $11,798) currently competes with the Hyundai Accent as the most affordable mainstream car on the market. side it looks a little ungainly, not helped by a substantial rear overhang, necessary to provide any meaningful trunk space in a

car this size.

Moving to the cabin, it becomes clear that you’ve been shopping on a budget.

Main St.

Reinventing Your Auto Experience

While fit and finish is better than it used to be on entry-level cars, plenty of hard plastic and low-rent seats clearly indicate this is motoring on a budget. Nonetheless, the controls are logically placed, everything’s easy to read and secondary functions are refreshingly simple to use compared with those on some modern vehicles.

Nissan has been making a big fuss over the 2012 Versa’s interior room and indeed, with an overall volume of 2,548 litres (90 cubic feet), it ranks as having one of the most capacious cabins in the sub compact class, with ample front and rear legroom.

As for the trunk, it’s also quite capacious by sub compact standards, able to swallow some 419 litres (14.8 cubic feet) of luggage.

Performance—Well this is probably relative; nobody is likely to buy a 2012 Versa sedan based on performance. The only engine available at present is a 1.6litre, dual overhead cam four-cylinder. It is indeed a variation of that used in the old Versa, though a dual injector system for each cylinder. Designed to improve fuel atomization and hence promote better combustion, resulting in more power and better fuel economy, it’s rated at 109 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 107 lb-ft of torque at 4,400 revs.

Continued on next page

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A42

THE VANCOUVER COURIER FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012

dashboard

Hard plastic interior, low-rent seats reflection of Versa’s low price

Continued from page 41 Two transmissions are offered on the 2012 Versa sedan, a five-speed manual or Nissan’s Continuously Variable unit. The fivespeed is reasonably slick shifting and in our opinion the best of the two options, at least in terms of driving involvement, allowing you to make better use of the engine’s power band. The CVT, by contrast, although improved, thanks to a secondary box that houses a set of planetary gears and a wider ratio, still feels slug-

gish, though a little better than before, especially on steeper inclines. In terms of fuel economy, the Versa isn’t all that impressive by modern standards, we noted some 9.4 L/100 km (25 mpg) in the city, 6.9 L/100 km (34 mpg) on the open road, noticeably less than the 6.0 L/100 km (39 mpg) Nissan touts in advertising.

Although Nissan’s new corporate V-car platform underpins the 2012 Versa sedan, in terms of engineering, its pretty much standard small car stuff: unibody con-

struction with a MacPherson strut front suspension and a solid beam axle out back.

With only 15-inch wheels and tires available, the car delivers noticeable lean through the corners and the electrically assisted steering doesn’t exactly deliver a great deal of feedback. In fact, the 2012 Versa feels noticeably less sporting to drive than its predecessor and definitely lags behind cars like the Ford Fiesta, Mazda2 and Honda Fit, but then again, they’re quite a bit more expensive.

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19,693* Or $57/wk

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2012 Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon auto #ba6458a....

2010 Grand Caravan #42c4784a .................................

2010 Journey #43c4958a ................................................

2008 Liberty #ba6733 .....................................................

2008 Patriot #68c9910a ...................................................

2008 Wrangler Sahara #ba6735.................................

2007 Mazda B3000 #15c7168a....................................

$37,988 $16,998 $16,988 $19,998 $13,988 $23,988 $10,988

NEW

2012 Chrysler 200 or Jeep Patriot

Only $ STK 15C7168

16,776*

Despite the front disc/ rear drum brakes, stopping isn’t bad and the ABS isn’t overtly aggressive, though it’s likely that most people who buy this car won’t subject it to frequent panic stops nor serious corner carving, which is probably just as well.

Features—As mentioned, the 2012 Versa sedan is currently one of the lowest priced vehicles on the market ($11,798). For that you get the base S trim model, which comes exclusively with the five-speed manual gearbox. If you want the CVT, you have to step up to the mid-level SV at $13,798 and then tack on the mandatory with this transmission $400 Convenience Package (which includes Bluetooth, iPod interface, steering wheel audio controls and cruise control).

The top level SL, priced at $16,298, comes with the CVT only though that price does included the mandatory $800 Technology Package which adds satellite navigation with a five-inch dash mounted screen, USB connectivity and Sirius/XM

satellite radio. Once you’ve added in taxes and dealer fees, you’ll likely be pushing close to $20,000 for 2012 Versa SL, which pretty much puts this baby Nissan right against its main competitors in the segment.

Thumbs Up—Decent value for money.

Thumbs Down—You get what you pay for.

The bottom line—If you’re looking for truly inexpensive motoring in this day and age, the 2012 Versa is a good bet.

Competitors: • Chevrolet Sonic—Like the Versa, the Sonic is a new edition for the 2012 model year. Offered in both hatchback and sedan configurations, it’s a huge improvement of the Sonic it replaces, delivering decent handling and rather good performance, especially with the 138 horsepower, 1.4-litre turbo charged engine and six-speed manual gearbox, though even the 135 hp 1.8 and six-speed automatic aren’t bad. Clearly more youth oriented, the $14,495 Sonic is one of the best value small Chevrolets in years.

• Ford Fiesta—Part of the “One Ford” strategy, the $12,999 Fiesta became a global product once again for 2011. Like the Sonic it comes as either a sedan or a hatchback, with much marketing emphasis on the latter. A 120 hp 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine delivers decent response and the five-speed manual is one of slickest in the segment (the six-speed dual clutch is disappointing). Good handling and responsive steering set the Fiesta apart, though the hatch doesn’t boast much trunk space, and this little car can become quite pricey if you aren’t careful with the options list.

• Toyota Yaris Sedan—Although it gets a facelift for 2012, the Yaris sedan (not the liftback) is starting to feel its age, with limited features and a dated interior. Powered by a 106 horsepower 1.5-litre fourcylinder engine, with a fivespeed manual or four-speed automatic transmission, it’s decently put together and still offers good value, starting at $14,400. That said, it’s even less fun to drive than the Versa.

Or $49/wk

STK 66C5705

NEW

2012 Ram 1500

Only $

18,999*

Or $55/wk

STK 58C8886

2007 Compass #43c7206a............................................. $12,988 2007 Honda Element S/C #bs6723a.......................... $15,998 2006 PT Cruiser #bi6738................................................... $9,988 2006 Commander Limited #bi6739 .......................... $20,988 2003 Venture #42c5258a .................................................... $6,988 2002 Durango R/T #43c6909b ......................................... $8,988 2002 BMW 325i #f2c5662a ............................................ $12,988

*96mo weekly pymt at 4.99% apr, plus fees & taxes. TP Ram $29,305, Wrangler $28,248, Grand Caravan and Journey $28,272, 200 and Patriot $28,280

MORE SPECIALS AT

marinechrysler.com

fiat-of-v

a

1.866.308.4595

D#9121

HOURS: MON-THURS 9-9, FRIDAY 9-6, SATURDAY 9-6, SUNDAY 11-5

AT T E N T I O N PARTS & SERVICE NOW

03304460

450 SE Marine Dr. Vancouver

T YOUR FIA RESERVER ABARTH at O GUCCCI ncouver.com

M A Z D A

OPEN SATURDAYS 8:30AM TO 4:00PM

In terms of fuel economy, the 2012 Nissa Versa isn’t all that impressive by modern standards.

O W N E R S

$25 OFF Any SERVICE Over $100 *Present this coupon before service. Offer expires April 14/12.

the new 1595 Boundary Road, Vancouver | 604 294 4299 | Service Direct 604 291 ZOOM (9666) (Boundary near First Avenue)

VANCOUVER’S ONLY FULL-SERVICE MAZDA DEALER!

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OPEN 24/7 AT

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HWY: 5.7L/100KM CITY: 8.7L/100KM

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• 10 minutes from Delta • 15 minutes from Surrey • 5 minutes from Richmond • 5 minutes from Burnaby • minutes from Downtown

396 S.W. MARINE DRIVE, VANCOUVER

03306282

Optima SX Turbo shown

Offer(s) available on all new 2011/2012 models through participating dealers to qualified customers who take delivery by April 2, 2012. Dealers may sell for less. Some conditions apply. Retailer order/trade may be necessary. Offers are subject to change without notice. See dealer for complete details. Vehicle images shown may include optional accessories and upgrades. All offers exclude licensing, registration, insurance, applicable taxes, down payment and PPSA. Other dealer charges may be required at the time of purchase. Other lease and financing options also available. Certain restrictions may apply. **0% purchase financing is available on all 2011 and 2012 Kia models on approved credit (OAC). Terms vary by model and trim, see dealer for details. Financing example based on 2012 Kia Sorento (SR75BC) with a selling price of $28,367 financed at 0% APR for 60 months. Monthly payments equal $472 with a down payment/equivalent trade of $0. Cost of borrowing is $0 for a total obligation of $28,367. Delivery and destination fees ($1,650), AMVIC fee and tire recycling fee of $22 (where applicable) are included. A/C tax of $100 (where applicable), license, insurance, applicable taxes, PPSA, dealer administration fees of up to $699 and registration fees are extra. Retailer may sell for less. See dealer for full details. !“Don’t Pay for 90 Days” on select models (90-day payment deferral) applies to purchase financing offers on select 2011 and 2012 models on approved credit (OAC) (2011/2012 Sportage/Sorento/Sedona/Borrego excluded). No interest will accrue during the first 60 days of the finance contract. After this period, interest starts to accrue and the purchaser will repay the principal interest monthly over the term of the contract. ! Lease offer available on 2012 Optima (OP742C)/2012 Rio5 (RO551C) is $299/189 [includes delivery and destination fees of $1,455, AMVIC fee and tire recycling fee of $22 (where applicable) and $350 lease service fee] for 48 months at 2.9%/3.9% APR with a $3,200/$1,850 down payment. Total lease obligation is $17,568/$10,923 with the option to purchase at the end of the term for $12,063/$6,931. Lease has 16,000 km/year allowance (other packages available and $0.12/km for excess kilometres). Other taxes, registration, insurance, licensing and dealer administration fees ($699) are excluded. ‡Loan savings for 2012 Kia Sorento LX AT (SR75BC) is $1,000 and is available on purchase financing only on approved credit (OAC). Loan savings varies by model and trim. §Compare against maximum cargo capacity when 2nd row seats are folded. 2012 Kia Sorento LX AT vs 2012 Honda CR-V FWD LX 2WD (4-CYL). ^2012 Kia Sorento awarded the Top Safety Pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Visit www.iihs.org for full details. ±The EURO 2012 contest closes on April 8, 2012. Complete contest details available at www.facebook.com/kiacanada. Grand Prize available consists of a pair of tickets to a semi-final game match in Warsaw, Poland. Prize includes executive class airfare for two (2) people, three night accommodations (double occupancy) at a 4-star hotel, and spending money. The approximate retail value of the Grand Prize is $14,250 (estimated at time of preparing rules and regulations). No purchase necessary. !Highway/city fuel consumption of these vehicles may vary. These estimates are based on the Government of Canada’s approved criteria and testing methods. Refer to the Government of Canada publication EnerGuide Fuel Consumption Guide. For more information on our 5-year warranty coverage, visit kia.ca or call us at 1-877-542-2886. Reproduction of the contents of this material without the expressed written approval of Kia Canada Inc. is prohibited. All information is believed to be accurate, based on information available at the time of printing. Information sourced from independent third-party research. KIA is a trademark of Kia Motors Corporation.

FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012 THE VANCOUVER COURIER

A43

EW44

THE VANCOUVER COURIER FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012

WEEKLY SPECIALS 100% BC Owned and Operated Prices Effective March 29 to April 4, 2012.

We reserve the right to limit quantities. We reserve the right to correct printing errors.

Grocery Department

Meat Department

Olympic Yogurt

Sockeye Salmon Fillets

Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream

assorted varieties

2/5.00

assorted varieties

5.49

650g • product of BC

value pack, previously frozen

assorted varieties

2/4.00

3.99

assorted varieties

2/6.98

Popcorn Indiana Popcorn and Chip'ins

assorted varieties

assorted varieties

2/7.00

3/4.98

205-297g • product of USA

300-400g • product of USA

Stahlbush Island Farms Organic Frozen Grains and Legumes

L'Ancetre Organic Cheese assorted varieties

Jarlsberg Cheese Regular

3.29/100g

reg 3.99/100g

Light or Smoked

3.49/100g

4.29/100g

Bakery Department Cranberry Pecan Sourdough Bread

WOW!

PRICING

325g product of Canada

3/6.99

assorted varieties

9.99

WOW!

PRICING

454g • product of Canada

So Delicious Frozen Coconut Milk Desserts assorted varieties

2/4.00

398ml • product of USA

VIP 2X Liquid Laundry Detergent assorted varieties

2/8.00

WOW!

PRICING

500ml • product of USA

4.99

1.5L product of B.C.

280g

3.99

package of 6

Wolfgang Puck Organic Soups

assorted varieties

1.99

Hot Cross Buns

283-454g

Latin Organics Direct Trade Organic Coffee

.98lb/2.16kg

Bulk Department

Tamari Organic Pumpkin Seeds bins or bags

10% off

regular retail price

Health Care Department Omega Nutrition Organic Pumpkin Seed Protein Powder

14.99

750g

High in protein, 100% vegetarian and gluten free. The new superfood of nutrition!

Amazing Grass Green Superfood

6.99

assorted varieties

Red Tomatoes on the Vine B.C. Grown

each • reg 3.99

170-226g product of USA

Stahlbush Island Farms Frozen Vegetables

3.98

PRICING

2.99 !

New

2/7.00

600-615g product of Canada

B.C. Grown, Certified Organic

WOW!

Choices’ Own Cornish Pasties

assorted varieties

3.29

2/3.00

Concorde Pears from Harker’s Organics

Deli Department

Terra Gourmet Vegetable Chips

assorted varieties

certified organic, fair trade

3 lb bag

4 pack/311ml • Product of USA +deposit +eco fee

500g • product of USA

Silver Hills Sprouted 100% Whole Grains Bread

100g • product of China

R.W. Knudsen Sparkling Fruit Spritzers

crunchy or smooth

PRICING

4.99lb/ 11.00kg

assorted varieties

946ml

MaraNatha Organic Peanut Butter

WOW!

Spring Creek Outside Round Baron of Beef

Hot Kid Rice Crisps

2/3.98

Large Hass Avocados

7.99lb/ 17.61kg

WOW!

PRICING

500ml • product of Canada

Rice, Almond, Oat or Coconut Dream

Produce Department

Rice Bakery

29.99

241g

Amazing Grass Certified Organic Green SuperFood is a perfect blend of alkalizing greens, antioxidant rich whole food fruits and vegetables.

Sibu Sea Buckthorn Facial Care

Rice Hot Cross Buns (new improved recipe)

4.49

WOW!

20% off

regular retail price Omega 3,6,9 and the elusive Omega 7 complete this skin, hair and nail solution.

Features a beauty drink, daily supplements and facial care products made from premium Himalayan sea buckthorn berries.

package of 4

PRICING

Happy 5th Anniversary Choices Markets at the Crest, 8683 10th Ave, Burnaby.

WOW!

PRICING

Come and join us on Saturday, March 31, from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm.

We will be hosting a donation barbecue along with cake and coffee and many in-store specials. See you there!

Look for our

WOW! PRICING

www.choicesmarkets.com Kitsilano

Cambie

Kerrisdale

Yaletown

Rice Bakery

South Surrey

2627 W. 16th Ave. Vancouver 604.736.0009

3493 Cambie St. Vancouver 604.875.0099

1888 W. 57th Ave. Vancouver 604.263.4600

1202 Richards St. Vancouver 604.633.2392

2595 W. 16th Ave. Vancouver 604.736.0301

3248 King George Blvd.

South Surrey 604.541.3902

Choices at the Crest 8683 10th Ave. Burnaby 604.522.0936

Kelowna 1937 Harvey Ave. Kelowna 250.862.4864