www.theasianstar.com Vol 20 - Issue 30
BC in COVID-19 ‘pandemic of unvaccinated,’ data show British Columbia is now in a “pandemic of the unvaccinated,” provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Tuesday. Releasing the latest round of modelling numbers in a presentation, Henry said this past week was a success in terms of immunization; particularly in those under 30 years of Continued on page 8
Baliku Vadhu actor & ‘Bigg Boss’ winner Sidharth Shukla dies India’s famous tv and film actor Sidharth Shukla, who became a household name with his role in the long-running TV show “Balika Vadhu”, died on Thursday. He was 40. Sidharth’s sudden death leaves all in shock; Kapil Sharma, Sunil Grover among first to react. Shukla, who is survived by his mother and two sisters, was dead when he was taken to the Cooper Hospital in Juhu around 10.20 am, authorities at the hospital said. Continued on page 19
Harvinder Sandhu
Saturday, September 4, 2021
Tel:604-591-5423
Majority of Canadians may not vote for Trudeau, Maru poll finds Justin Trudeau may find himself in real trouble on Sept. 20, after a new poll has found that the majority of Canadians may vote for a political party other than the Liberals. The Maru Public Opinion survey found that 73 per cent of Canadians polled are open to voting for a party to run the country other than the Liberals led by
Trudeau, while a mere 27 per cent have remained loyal to the prime minister. The poll surveyed 1,514 Canadians between August 28 and 29 with a margin of error of +/- 2.5 per cent. Trudeau on Aug. 14 called a snap election for Sept. 20, arguing that Canadians deserved a say in the national fight to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Continued on page 7
Western provinces driving Canada’s 4th COVID-19 wave as physicians warn cases are ‘out of control Canada’s western provinces are largely driving the country’s fourth wave of COVID-19 cases, and physicians are now raising the alarm — saying lax and late public health measures helped spark a rise in serious infections that’s already putting pressure on hospitals and impacting patient care. In British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, infection rates are high
above the country’s average and far beyond every province to the east, including Ontario, whose population is larger than all three westernmost provinces combined. The rate of cases in the last seven days in B.C. was 93 per 100,000 people as of Aug. 30, federal data shows, with Alberta’s rate at 159 and Saskatchewan’s at 135 — with no Continued on page 6
‘Ashamed’ Vancouver surgeon apologizes for telling South Asian man to ‘crawl back to Surrey’ The head of Vancouver Coastal Health has admitted the organization didn’t do enough after learning a surgeon had made “racist” comments, apologizing to staff and including an statement of contrition from the doctor involved. President and CEO Vivian Eliopoulos sent a memo to 14,000 VCH employees Friday afternoon addressing a social media video of surgeon Jason Faulds in Vancouver
Election 2021 Randeep Sarai, for Surrey Centre
September 20, 2021 is just a few weeks away, and many Canadians may not be aware of election promises being made by the political parties. To assist our readers, The Asian Star is reaching out to candidates of each party in Surrey to obtain firsthand what their party is promising to the voters. In our second segment we bring to you direct responses from our interviews with Liberal party candidate for Surrey Centre, the incumbent MP Randeep Sarai, MP Kerry-Lynn Findlay the Conservative party incumbent candidate for South Surrey/White
Rock riding, and the NDP party Leader MP Jagmeet Singh, to answer questions that are top of mind for many voters. Here are the answers. The Asian Star: What have you done for your constituents since you were elected in the last election? “In 2015 we helped fund, through BC Housing modular housing of 160 units to get everybody of the strip of 135A street so that they have proper housing. That was temporary, while we built 250 permanent shelters for them. Continued on page 5
telling a South Asian man to “crawl back to Surrey,” acknowledging she’d known about the incident for some time. “I have been reflecting on our organizational commitments as it relates to a racist incident that occurred last year and was brought to my attention several months ago,” she wrote. “The first step in our learning and healing is acknowledgement and, on behalf of VCH, I share my deepest apologies for the late response.”