Pique Newsmagazine 3108

FEBRUARY 23, 2024 ISSUE 31.08

14

SHARING IS CARING Ride-share applications piling up in Whistler

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LASTING LIGHT Remembering Isobel MacLaurin, Whistler’s ‘spark and light’

36

WILD WORDS Author Holly Ringland talks her new book, The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding

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THIS WEEK IN PIQUE

32

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30 When love hurts…

Three years after fleeing domestic violence, a B.C. artist speaks up. - By Nora O’Malley

14 SHARING IS CARING

While Whistle! is no

more, ride-share applications are piling up to operate in Whistler.

26 BUDGET BREAKDOWN

Budget season is

underway in Pemberton, and residents can learn more at a public info session on March 5.

15 LASTING LIGHT

Isobel MacLaurin, Whistler’s

“spark and light” and its first professional artist, died last week at 92

32 FREE FOR ALL

Skier Lukas Bennett reflects on

winning the 2024 Freeride Junior World Championships.

surrounded by loved ones.

18 AIR DOWN THERE

The Resort Municipality

36 WILD WORDS

International bestseller Holly Ring-

of Whistler will continue obtaining asphalt locally, and stop air-quality

land will grace Whistler on Feb. 29 to discuss her new book, The Seven

monitoring at Cheakamus Crossing after council gave its assent Feb. 20.

Skins of Esther Wilding.

COVER Andrea is a lifelong, self-taught artist, specializing in portraits in oils. This piece was created through an intuitive process, much like art therapy. The choice of colours, symbols and composition are reflective of the deep, raw, emotional pain a sensitive being undergoes in an abusive relationship. It is intended as a meditative piece, slowly revealing layers of meaning, and connection, for those who have undergone, or are still trapped in, a similar experience. - By Andrea

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Publisher SARAH STROTHER - sstrother@piquenewsmagazine.com Editor BRADEN DUPUIS - bdupuis@piquenewsmagazine.com Sales Manager SUSAN HUTCHINSON - shutchinson@piquenewsmagazine.com Production Manager AMIR SHAHRESTANI - ashahrestani@piquenewsmagazine.com Art Director JON PARRIS - jparris@piquenewsmagazine.com Advertising Representatives TESSA SWEENEY - tsweeney@wplpmedia.com GEORGIA BUTLER - gbutler@wplpmedia.com Digital/Sales Coordinator KATIE DOUGLAS - kbechtel@wplpmedia.com Production - production@piquenewsmagazine.com Arts Editor ALYSSA NOEL - arts@piquenewsmagazine.com

Opinion & Columns 08 OPENING REMARKS

Like any high-profile, world-class ski resort, Whistler loves itself a good

celebrity sighting—but why do we care so much about celebrities, anyway?

10 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR This week’s letter writers keep the discussion going about public drinking in Pemberton, and bring attention to the state of the highway through Whistler for cyclists.

13 PIQUE’N YER INTEREST Participation in youth sports should not be all or nothing, writes columnist Andrew Mitchell.

50 MAXED OUT At the risk of sounding un-Canadian, Max identifies one facet of the American political system Canada should adopt: term limits at the top.

Environment & Adventure

28 RANGE ROVER That a scofflaw and grifter such as Donald Trump ever became president is a testament to the current absurdity of American politics, writes Leslie Anthony.

Reporters SCOTT TIBBALLS - stibballs@piquenewsmagazine.com RÓISÍN CULLEN - rcullen@wplpmedia.com DAVID SONG - sports@piquenewsmagazine.com ALYSSA NOEL - arts@piquenewsmagazine.com Classifieds and Reception - mail@piquenewsmagazine.com Office and Accounts Manager HEIDI RODE - hrode@wplpmedia.com Contributors G.D. MAXWELL, GLENDA BARTOSH, LESLIE ANTHONY, ANDREW MITCHELL,

Lifestyle & Arts

34 FORK IN THE ROAD As unseasonably warm weather produces a roller-coaster of freeze/thaw cycles throughout B.C., confusion reigns among plants, animals, and humans, writes Glenda Bartosh.

40 MUSEUM MUSINGS The story behind the Vancouver SkyTrain’s car 053—otherwise known as the “Spirit of Whistler.”

ALISON TAYLOR, VINCE SHULEY Founding Publishers KATHY & BOB BARNETT Pique Newsmagazine (a publication of Pacific Coastal Publishing Limited Partnership, a division of Glacier Media) distributed to over 150 locations from Squamish to D’arcy.

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OPENING REMARKS

Celebrity worship in Whistler LIKE ANY HIGH-PROFILE, world-class ski resort, Whistler loves itself a good celebrity sighting.

In the decade I have called Whistler home, we have welcomed the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Jason Momoa, Justin Bieber, Bills Clinton and Gates, and Alex Ovechkin and the entire 2018-19 Washington Capitals (to name

BY BRADEN DUPUIS just a few).

In fact, in writing this column, I reached out to some Pique expats for input, and was blown away by the actual volume of recognizable names that have passed through in the past 10 years—and those are just the ones we heard about.

Needless to say, most towns do not attract such star power.

Growing up in small-town Saskatchewan, there was almost zero chance of ever seeing someone even remotely famous.

When I was in high school, Canadian country musician Paul Brandt’s bus broke down in the next town over—a hamlet called Holbein, with a population of fewer than 100 at that time.

People still talk about it. And a tiny part of me is still mad I wasn’t there that day to get a signed photo of the country singer man. I don’t even like country music—come to think of it, I hate it— which speaks to the psychological hold fame seems to have on us.

Turns out, there is a whole creepy, closet shrine of research on the topic of celebrity worship, and more than a few explanations for why we care so much about the rich and famous.

It can come down to a search for identity, filling a perceived gap in one’s life, or even

(get this) an innate, instinctual drive.

That’s right: research published in Social Neuroscience states “a wealth of evidence indicates social hierarchies are endemic, innate, and most likely, evolved to support survival within a group-living context.”

The authors found hierarchies form “quickly and spontaneously” among “groupliving animals” (their term, not mine).

And within those hierarchies, we groupliving animals find all kinds of silly ways to determine dominance.

“From childhood sports competitions and spelling bees, to grade point averages and prom kings and queens, we learn early in life to view our social world in terms of who is better, smarter, or more favoured than everyone else,” the authors wrote.

“Even as adults, we are quick to identify status symbols such as foreign cars, big houses, and career titles.”

So in the context of modern social hierarchies, celebrities represent the most

care—or who think we don’t care—can get caught up in the hysteria by simple proxy.

And depending on what you do for a living, a celebrity’s very presence can have an outsized impact on your daily life. Take me, for example, who stood outside in the cold with dozens of other journalists at the Whistler Sliding Centre for several hours on Feb. 15 waiting to watch Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, slide down the track on a skeleton sled.

As I waited, shivering, I had ample time to contemplate the absurdity of the situation.

There we were, a whole bunch of group-living animals, standing around waiting to watch another, more special animal, do a pretty normal activity many animals do all the time.

I watched some of them do it a bit earlier in the day. Nobody crowded around in anticipation waiting for them to cross the finish line. What makes this one so special?

Then Prince Harry comes zooming by on his sled, and suddenly you are giddy as a

increasing the value of their shot. It is like this everywhere he goes, forever.

A walking, talking meal-ticket for hundreds; a group-living animal reduced to a constant spectacle through no choice of his own.

Prince Harry and Meghan were the target of much ridicule when they began to denounce fame and its trappings. And of course they were. For most of us, it just doesn’t make sense: don’t these whiny rich jerks see how tough the rest of us have it? I’d be playing the fancy Prince the world’s smallest violin if I didn’t already sell it to pay my rent.

But when you see the spectacle up close, you start to understand.

When I had all I needed, I left the throngs of photographers and media still shouting and clamouring and walked back down the hill, alone.

I walked to my car, completely unbothered by anyone at all—nobody even passing me a second glance—and drove to

As I waited, shivering, I had ample time to contemplate the absurdity of the situation. There we were, a whole bunch of group-living animals, standing around waiting to watch another, more special animal, do a pretty normal activity many animals do all the time.

successful and influential members of our particular strain of group-living animals— and something deep in our monkey brains compels us to respond to them.

Not everyone is fully susceptible, mind you, and like many things, celebrity worship exists on a spectrum. If Oscar-winner Leonardo DiCaprio was walking past you on the Village Stroll, you would likely be at the very least curious, if not joining the throng of admirers trailing behind him.

But even those of us who don’t really

schoolboy at the fact there is a real life ROYAL right over there—and yes, he will always be a Royal to me—with his famous actress wife (and did you see that? He just looked right at me when he gave that thumbs up).

The cameras click and flash on an unending loop from the second he arrives until he disappears from sight into the back of a blacked-out SUV some 15 minutes later.

Photographers shout his name and ask him random questions in the off chance his gaze crosses their lens as it clicks, thereby

my little apartment, where I sat in silence with my thoughts.

I basked in a newfound appreciation for my own obscurity, and toyed with unexpected empathetic thoughts for the son of a bonafide King, who may never know the peace and stillness I get to enjoy every day.

He may be one of the world’s richest, most-famous men, but I have something the Prince will never have.

The old cliché rings true—money really can’t buy everything. ■

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Conversation about public drinking in Pemberton requires open minds, collaboration Now that Pique has opened this very sensitive topic, I hope together we can go the distance around this matter (Pique, Feb. 16: “Pemberton councillor singles out public drinking…”).

It is essential for the community to engage in open-minded and sustained conversations that foster greater understanding. Co-creating a path forward ensures we navigate these complexities with the collective wisdom and experience of all involved, recognizing the unique history and contributions of each group within our community.

By committing to this journey, we reaffirm our dedication to the values of respect, inclusion, and unity that define us.

Raven Burns // Pemberton

‘Decisive action’ needed to fix highway bike lanes through Whistler This letter was originally sent to Whistler’s mayor and council, and is republished with the author’s permission.

I previously reached out to inform you about the poor condition of the bike lanes on the highway, which remain filled with crud this winter. This ongoing issue forces cyclists to dangerously navigate within the main highway lanes, where

Backcountry Update AS OF WEDNESDAY, FEB. 21

large fossil cars and trucks frequently travel at speeds exceeding 80 km/h.

I gained insight as to why the bike lanes are consistently filled with crud when I found myself biking behind a highway “cleaning” truck. Despite minimal snow on the road, the truck’s blade was actively displacing dirt and rocks into the bike lane, directly creating the problem.

This observation leads me to ponder whether the truck driver, operating one of the largest fossil-fuelled vehicles allowed on the highway, considers the impact on cyclists striving to achieve the municipality’s climate objectives.

This concern extends to the municipality’s

It’s about time we got some new snow. Over the past few days, we have been fortunate to receive a decent amount of new snow to freshen up the skiing and cover the hard surfaces in sheltered terrain. However, there are a few tricky layers lurking in the upper snowpack that formed in late January and early February.

Over the past week, we have observed a pattern of human- and remotely-triggered avalanches ranging from size 1 to 1.5, with a few being up to size 2. These avalanches have been failing on layers of facets, surface hoar, a crust, or a combination of these weak snow grain forms.

At the time of writing this, there is some uncertainty in how much longer these layers will be a problem. This weekend, it will be important to review the avalanche forecast closely and constantly verify conditions as you move through terrain. Don’t hesitate to get your shovel out and look at the snow for yourself. If you are seeing firm snow over weak, loose grains such as facets or surface hoar, it’s advisable to steer clear of that slope for a few days to give the snow time to settle. This is especially true if you are also seeing signs of instability like shooting cracks, whumpfs, or recent avalanche activity.

Get out and enjoy the soft turns this weekend and, when in doubt, opt for lower-angle terrain.

commitment to reducing vehicular reliance.

Just this morning, I saw three large municipal trucks, each with only one occupant, pass by on the highway. It appears that neither these municipal workers, the mayor and council, nor the extensive and costly roster of attendees at the recent “Transport Advisory Group” meeting seem to be aware of the bike lane conditions, judging by the atrocious state they are in.

I urge you to take decisive action to address this issue. The current state not only discriminates against low-income individuals, but also against those consciously opting for more sustainable transportation methods.

Eddie Dearden // Whistler ■

Find current conditions at avalanche.ca. ■

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Owning The Loft Salon sounds like an incredible opportunity for someone looking to enter the beauty industry, especially with its established reputation and loyal clientele. The fact that stylists are fully booked and there’s even demand beyond what the salon can currently accommodate speaks volumes about its growth potential. Plus, with all the equipment included and $35,000 of stock and products, it sounds like a turn-key operation ready for someone to take the reins and continue its success. Whistler is such a vibrant community, and being situated in the heart of it adds even more appeal. Here’s to the next entrepreneur who seizes this amazing opportunity to continue The Loft Salon’s legacy!

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*PREC

PIQUE N’ YER INTEREST

Between all or nothing A RECENT EMAIL from my daughter’s soccer league made me question how we can possibly keep kids in sport at a time when athletes are being asked to commit the better part of a year to playing one thing—and one thing only—to the exclusion of everything else.

It was presented as a good-news email: the competitive season had been extended by

BY ANDREW MITCHELL two weeks to make up for the games lost to the cold snap and snowfall in January.

Once those weeks are tacked on it will bring the tally to about seven months, with two practices and one game a week. The league breaks for the Thanksgiving long weekend, which is when their tournament is held, and for Christmas break before picking it up again.

The club (based in the Lower Mainland) also really wants us to sign up for spring soccer, and has suggested it is more or less mandatory to sign up to guarantee a spot on the team next year. That means practices and games through to the end of June, including two tournaments on long weekends. That’s 10 months of soccer, well over 30 games in total.

If you’re one of the few kids on a highperformance track, and/or you love soccer

more than anything, this is probably great news. But if you’re more recreationally minded, only “like” soccer, or want to play other sports, it becomes a major all-ornothing commitment. Some clubs do allow practice-only players, including Whistler, to accommodate multisport athletes, but if you want to play a reasonable number of games in the fall then you have no choice but to commit to the whole season. Or quit.

Whether you’re in Tier 3 or three steps up in the super-competitive Metro divisions, the duration is the same. There is no league option that ends in November or December so recreational kids can shift to volleyball or basketball or hockey or ski-racing.

Some athletes can play a second sport if the competing practice and competition schedule allow for it, but it’s not always possible. It’s also a huge commitment that isn’t for everyone.

It seems like a lot. I grew up in Ontario where the winters are colder, and as a result we had clear seasons for everything—fall was for football and/or soccer; winter was for basketball, hockey and volleyball; spring was for rugby, baseball and lacrosse. There was a little bit of overlap sometimes, but mostly one season ended and another one began. You never got tired of playing the same sport.

There is a wealth of sports science that backs the “multisport” approach, which encourages kids to play a lot of different

sports. The benefits include fewer injuries from repetitive strain or overuse, less burnout, the ability to meet and socialize with more kids, exposure to different kinds of conditioning and coaching, development of different motor skills and muscle groups, and—this is the big one—you’re not putting all your athletic eggs in the same sports basket. If you play five sports instead of just one, you’re more likely to stay active in one or more of them as you get older.

A lot of kids—girls in particular—end up quitting competitive sport in their teen years. According to a 2020 study by Canadian Women in Sport, participation rates in athletics drops off from 58 per cent to 25 per cent between the ages of nine and 23, with the biggest drop-off occurring around the specialization stage (ages 15 and 16) where kids are asked to pick one sport and stick with it. Only 18 per cent of all women over 16 are active in sport.

One of the reasons cited for women leaving sports is it becomes a negative experience.

It’s not as fun and friendly anymore, and the narrow focus on competition can lead to bullying and benching.

And yet, for all the science backing multisport, and the declining enrolment in sports over time, a lot of different sports and leagues continue to emphasize competition over recreation, commitment over participation, single sport over multisport.

Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky is

himself a vocal supporter of the multisport approach, saying: “I really think that my track-and-field and my baseball and my box lacrosse were all beneficial to me becoming the hockey player I became, because not only did all those sports help me to be a better player, but I was really excited at the end of April to start baseball and lacrosse... (and) by September I was ecstatic to get back to hockey, and I never got tired of it.”

While it’s great the milder winters on the south coast of B.C. let you play outside all year, you’d think that would give the province a huge advantage in highperformance sports like soccer. That’s not the case: the men’s national soccer team that went to Japan in October brought 23 players—none grew up in B.C. The women’s 2023 World Cup squad of 23 players had just four athletes from B.C. Some of the girls on my daughter’s very recreational Tier 2 team seem over it at this point, far less excited to play than they were a few months ago. A handful of girls are driven to play, while the rest are along for the ride. The injuries are piling up as well. In my view, they need a break, both mentally and physically.

Participation in sport shouldn’t be all or nothing. Maybe if sports and leagues offered more recreational options with reduced commitments, more kids would stay in the game. If that isn’t the core goal of our entire sports system, then I have no idea what we’re doing. n

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Ride-share applications pile up to operate in Whistler THE WHISTLE! RIDE-SHARE SERVICE HAS BEEN OUT OF OPERATION SINCE JANUARY, LEAVING AN OPENING IN THE LOCAL MARKET

BY SCOTT TIBBALLS RIDE-SHARE SERVICES could soon once again grace local roads, with one local putting up his hand to return the sector to Whistler, and two others also putting in applications with the Passenger Transportation Board (PTB).

Tyler Eardley, who was involved with the currently-paused Whistle! ride share app that operated locally between 2019 and January 2024, has applied to the PTB for a passenger license to fill the space last occupied by Whistle!.

“There’s an opportunity for someone else to apply, and so I’ve put my name into the hat with the support of the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) and [Mayor] Jack Crompton, and the support of the Tofino council and all the drivers,” said Eardley in an interview with Pique.

Eardley said he has drivers formerly associated with Whistle!, and the knowledge of the local market to get it all going again quickly.

“It’s all ready to go, all we need is a licence to bring it back to Whistler,” he said.

The RMOW wrote to the PTB to support Eardley’s application in January, and his efforts to get the ride share back up and running were before the board as of early February.

NEED A LIFT? Whistler’s first ride-share operation—Whistle!—is no more, but applications for new ride shares are already piling up.

FILE PHOTO BY MEGAN LALONDE

14 FEBRUARY 23, 2024

The previously operating ride share, Whistle!, was launched in 2019 and operated in Whistler and Tofino. Its ownership changed hands in 2022, and Eardley said its passenger licence expired late last year, leading the PTB to force it to cease operations.

Austin Zhang of Green Coast Ventures, which owns Whistle!, confirmed that’s what happened in an interview with Pique.

Zhang explained a previous employee with Green Coast Ventures responsible for administrative items like insurance and licencing left the company, leaving the duties to him, but because he wasn’t listed as the typical point of contact with the PTB, his communications were landing in a junk folder.

“I was asking the PTB to renew our licence, but they didn’t receive our email, so that’s what happened. The licence accidentally expired,” said Zhang.

Asked whether he is working to return Whistle! to the Whistler market, Zhang said “100 per cent,” and that he is attempting to get the process sped up because of the number of employees and contracted drivers the company has.

“I submitted all documents, I told [the PTB] we had 13 employees over there and they are losing jobs—I was trying to help them,” he said.

Zhang added Whistle! is working to retain its drivers with wage subsidies of 20 per cent of their regular earnings while the company is not active—as long as they sign on to return to Whistle! when it starts up again.

“Hopefully we can get approval as soon as possible, because everything’s ready,” he said.

“Once approval gets back … we can restart in an hour, or two hours.”

With Whistler (and Tofino) without a licenced ride-share service, there are two applications before the PTB for a new licence, along with Whistle! also trying to restart.

Eardley, who was employed by the original owners of Whistle! and stayed on with the new owners, has since struck out on his own—and there’s a similar, competing application to operate in the same zones before the PTB from a Vancouver-based business Zhang said is unrelated to Whistle!, and is listed only as a numbered company.

“I hope they can give it to us, because I believe we can run it more sustainably and stably,” said Eardley.

“There’s so much nuance in running a business in Whistler, knowing the staff, knowing housing—I think it’s quite challenging to run as an outsider. There’s an advantage to being a local and running it as a small business.”

Eardley applied for a ride-hail (or Transportation Network Service) licence on Feb. 7, while the competing application is from Jan. 24. The deadline for submissions related to Eardley’s application was Feb. 20. “[Ride share] was used quite a lot by people who use the transit system. People who have a bus pass might miss a bus and then just call a Whistle! instead,” Eardley said.

“It marries up well for people that don’t have a car as a backup, or as a once-a-week service to go get groceries.”

Even if successful, Eardley said there is a long way to go: Whistle! as an app is owned

by someone else, so he would be starting from scratch. His application before the PTB is to operate as “Go Ride.”

“If it does get approved, it’s going to get approved in mid-March, so we’d be starting in the dead season which is not really a viable time, so maybe it would have to be delayed until summer,” he said.

As far as Whistle! goes, he said there are no hard feelings.

“It’s just what happened, I’m just trying to bring the service back,” he said. “The service is needed for the village.”

Zhang also said there are no hard feelings about the competition.

“Everyone has their own ambitions … We will see if [Eardley] can get it—that’s good, we can work together maybe later,” he said.

While it was Eardley’s request that prompted the RMOW to write to the PTB supporting rideshare services, Crompton told Pique in an email the RMOW is generally supportive of any rideshare options for Whistler.

“We are supportive of transportation options that offer our residents, employees and visitors viable, safe, convenient, affordable travel within Whistler,” he said.

“Ride-hailing is vital for our community’s tourism and nightlife, complementing taxi and transit services to ensure we can move about the community quickly and safely.”

Crompton said ride-share services also complement the RMOW’s environmental goals by offering an alternative to vehicle ownership, which is why the RMOW agreed to write to the PTB supporting applications bringing operators back to Whistler. n

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M: +1.604.932.8899 LASTING LIGHT The inimitable Whistler artist Isobel MacLaurin shows her zest for life as she enjoys champagne while sitting in her hand-painted coffin.

FILE PHOTO BY LEANNA RATHKELLY

Isobel MacLaurin, Whistler’s ‘spark and light,’ defied everyone’s expectations but her own

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SKI-IN / SKI-OUT

FIND THE S PA C E T O B R E AT H E

CONSIDERED WHISTLER’S FIRST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST, THE IRREPRESSIBLE 92-YEAR-OLD DIED LAST WEEK SURROUNDED BY LOVED ONES

BY BRANDON BARRETT ISOBEL MACLAURIN’S defiant streak started early.

At the tender age of six, she skipped class one day at her New Brunswick schoolhouse simply because she found home more entertaining. The consummate party host, for her birthday one year, she invited the entire class over to celebrate, much to the dismay of her teacher. By the time she finished high school, she already knew what she wanted to be—an artist, an unlikely career path for a young, single woman in the post-war ’40s— and there was nothing or no one that could stand in her way.

“Grandpa Joe thought she would just be a homemaker. She wanted to be an artist,” explained Jill, one of Isobel’s four children.

“She was a bit of a character. She was always going to be the one who did her own thing.”

Isobel, a mainstay of the Whistler community since the early ’60s, did her own thing until the very end. She died, surrounded by loves ones, in the home she cherished overlooking Alta Lake, on Feb. 13, at an impossibly vital 92 years old.

“She lived to the absolute fullest, honestly, to the last minute,” said Mo Douglas, executive director of Arts Whistler. “Because of her karma, because she lived such an awesome life, she really got everything she wanted in the end.”

Isobel and her husband settled in Whistler in 1961, securing a 25-year loan from CN Rail for their little piece of lakeside land, where her beloved Don, a renowned forester and economist, helped build the cabin, nicknamed

“Sno Use,” with its sprawling windows and airy studio, that Isobel would spend countless hours in painting, entertaining, and enjoying the views.

“She so appreciated the solarium, the view, her sitting room, her bedroom with the view,” said daughter Lee. “I think the mountainous environment they created and lived in was part of her cathedral.”

For Isobel and Don’s four kids—Lee, Jill, Sue and Mark—that cathedral transformed into a playground in their childhood years.

They would while away the hours playing pirates on the lake and catching fresh trout, only returning home at the wail of a broken trumpet Isobel or Don would sound when dinner was ready.

“Whistler of the day, it was kind of this Tom Sawyer-Huck Finn-style place,” Mark said.

Even into her final years, Isobel was an avid traveller with a fierce independent streak, a philosophy on life that extended to her children. She liked to remind them that, by the age of six, they were old enough to carry their own backpacks, and it wasn’t unusual to spot the MacLaurin children alongside their parents on long, mountain treks or on globetrotting adventures.

“We’re all quite independent. We all do quite a bit of travelling. I grow ferns for a living down in Tasmania,” said daughter Sue. (“I’m the youngest—and I know nothing!” Mark chimed in.) “The nature and the art. I love taking photographs. I don’t do people. It’s the art of nature, and that’s a mix of dad the forester and mom the artist.

It flows through all of us very strongly, and not just in our loud voices.”

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NEWS WHISTLER << FROM PAGE 15 A DYNAMIC DUO

It’s impossible to discuss Isobel without mentioning her relationship with Don, “her partner in life, travel and all kinds of misadventures,” as Arts Whistler described him. A Whistler luminary in his own right, Don helped develop the Whistler Interpretive Forest, and worked to preserve several ecologically important areas in the community, from the Ancient Cedars to Lost Lake Park.

They were, to put it mildly, a pair of go-getters whose passion for the community was only paralleled by their love for each other.

“They were more of a dynamic duo that just did, and were complementary to each other. They enjoyed each other’s differences,” Jill said.

First meeting at a dance in New Brunswick in 1958, it was a chance encounter on Mount Seymour years later that eventually sealed the MacLaurins’ fate together. Not one to compromise her own pursuits for a man, Isobel took some convincing to take Don’s hand in marriage after they ran into each other skiing the North Vancouver mountain.

“They split up a couple times and ended up reuniting on Mount Seymour, and it all got rekindled,” Douglas said. “That was quite rebellious for that time. In the ’50s, women were getting married pretty young, and she waited until it was something she felt she wanted to do. She wanted to explore other things before.”

16 FEBRUARY 23, 2024

LUST FOR LIFE Isobel MacLaurin pictured in her home studio in September 2023.

FILE PHOTO BY DAVID BUZZARD / WWW.DAVIDBUZZARD.COM

Although they weren’t often a showy couple with their affection, the kids would spot them on the lake in the wintertime after it had frozen over.

“When it froze over, and it was clear, not snowy ice, mum and dad would go out and they would dance on the lake, because they could dance. And they could skate because they were from the East,” Jill recalled. “They didn’t always do ‘I love yous,’ but when dad died, she had a dream where they were

dancing and the ‘I love yous’ were flowing.

They always knew.”

AN ARTFUL EXISTENCE

Considered Whistler’s first professional working artist, Isobel’s outsized impact on the arts community came in many forms. Today, her murals can be found on both Whistler and Blackcomb mountains, along the Valley Trail, in several Whistler and Burnaby parks, at the BC

Institute of Technology, and, internationally, at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, and the Cook Islands. She also painted many of the old trail signs that used to dot the valley.

“I think her legacy in the arts here is unforgettable,” said Douglas, Arts Whistler’s director. “It’s hard to summarize, because Isobel’s energy and passion and can-do approach to everything is now embedded into the DNA of certain organizations, like Arts Whistler, and certainly in people like Stephen Vogler, [longtime family friend and artistic director] at The Point Artist-Run Centre. She would support any idea, she would be there if you wanted her to be there, and she would bring the joy and energy to lift up something you’d already done and make it better.”

Isobel didn’t just lead by example, either.

She was a dedicated instructor throughout her life, and volunteered her time to teach kids how to make art from the very first edition of the Whistler Children’s Festival, in 1983.

A supporter of the arts in its many forms, Isobel loved nothing more than to boost other artists’ profiles in her own quiet ways.

A mentor to another tireless local painter, the award-winning Andrea Mueller, the two enjoyed a full-circle moment in December when Isobel was there for the opening night of Mueller’s first-ever solo exhibit at the Maury Young Arts Centre, the last show the nonogenerian ever attended, five years after Mueller curated Isobel’s own career retrospective for Arts Whistler.

“It’s giving me goosebumps thinking

SEE PAGE 18 >>

NEWS WHISTLER << FROM PAGE 16 about it,” recalled Mueller, who said it was Isobel and the late, great painter, Chili Thom, who showed her it was possible to be a successful working artist in Whistler.

“Isobel and Chili were really both influential to me in similar ways ’cause they weren’t apologetic for being artists, which can often happen here,” she explained. “Often, it’s a side gig for us, and seeing those two people making a go of it and, to be honest, flaunting the fact they were artists was very inspiring.

She was just so unabashedly herself.”

That career retrospective still ranks as one of the proudest moments of Douglas’ tenure at Arts Whistler. Known for her vivid nature and landscape paintings, it wasn’t until Arts Whistler started going through Isobel’s extensive portfolio that the true scope of her work became clear.

“It was a whole other dimension of Isobel’s work,” she said. “There were landscapes there, portraits there, sketches. The diversity of the work was so phenomenal that people discovered Isobel as an artist in a whole new way ... She was just so happy to have her work be that alive again. It almost has its own energy in front of all these people, and her opening of the show was one of those legendary nights in the community that none of us will ever forget.”

GOOD LIFE, GOOD DEATH

Isobel’s legacy in the community extends far beyond the art she produced. Anyone who has

lived in this town long enough likely has an Isobel story of their own to share. She owned absolutely every room she walked into based off the sheer force of personality alone. She made sure to show gratitude for the people who make this town run, from the baristas and grocery store clerks on up to elected officials and municipal staffers. A voracious reader and newshound, Isobel would frequently show up unannounced to the Pique newsroom, a fresh batch of her famous peanut-butter cookies under one arm, a stack of old New Yorkers in the other. It didn’t matter if it was the middle of a pandemic or the middle of a busy production day, when Isobel showed up, you stopped what you were doing, if only to bask in her glow for a few minutes.

“I think a lot of the goodwill she built up with people was because of those damn peanut-

butter cookies,” Mark laughed. “She was a spark and a light in this community, for sure.”

Even in death, Isobel did it her way. In her final weeks, as her body began to fail her, she would summon fortunate friends and loved ones from the community to her bedside, to share a laugh or a piece of art she had saved for them.

“She debunked death. She loved being on the edge,” said Jill.

Isobel will of course be buried in the $500 wooden casket she hand-painted years ago for her and Don’s “living wake,” and she has left explicit instructions for the celebration of her life to be held at the Maury Young Arts Centre.

“I told her straight up, it’s not going to be big enough,” Douglas recalled. “To which Isobel replied, ‘Well, that will be your problem

by then, dear.’”

Isobel MacLaurin’s Celebration of Life will be held Saturday, Feb. 24, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Maury Young Arts Centre. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. A livestream will be available at vimeo. com/event/4104875 for those who cannot attend.

“It was Isobel’s wish to have her Celebration of Life at the Maury Young Arts Centre. Due to its limited capacity, she provided a list of family and friends who have priority seating at the Arts Centre, with limited additional seating for others,” Arts Whistler said.

“The Whistler Public Library will host an overflow livestream viewing, commencing at 6 p.m. People are welcome to join the Arts Centre reception following the speaker presentations, as space allows.” n

RCMP investigating ‘serious injury’—but won’t offer specifics THE WHISTLER RCMP continues to investigate a “serious injury” just north of Whistler VIllage this week—and says it won’t offer more details while said investigation is underway.

On Friday, Feb. 16, just after 4 p.m., Whistler RCMP received a report of a male “with a serious upper-body injury,” according to a release on Feb. 20. “Whistler RCMP members located the male near the Valley Trail in the area of Fitzsimmons Road and Nancy Greene Drive and were assisted on scene by the BC Ambulance Service and RCMP Police Dog Services.”

The incident is still under investigation, the release said.

“We still believe that this is an isolated incident, but we would like to speak with anyone who may have seen or heard anything in that area on Friday afternoon,” said Cst. Katrina Boehmer, media relations officer for the Sea to Sky RCMP, in the release.

While eyewitnesses reported a “traumatic” scene and people speculated on social media about how the “injury” occurred, police would not confirm or deny rumours.

In its first sparsely-detailed release on Feb. 17, police said they “received a report

of a male with a serious injury,” but did not say where the incident occurred, how the man was injured, or how severely. A post in the Whistler Winter Facebook group on Feb. 16 noted a heavy police presence and a “big area taped off on/near the Valley Trail across the road from Nesters,” while commenters theorized it was a stabbing.

Anyone with any information regarding the incident is asked to contact the Sea to Sky Whistler RCMP at 604-932-3044, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS, or go to solvecrime.ca.

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RMOW detects fresh air at Cheakamus Crossing, OKs ending air-quality monitoring THE RMOW HAS PROCURED ASPHALT FROM THE LOCAL PLANT SINCE 2020, AND WILL CONTINUE IN 2024 AND BEYOND

BY SCOTT TIBBALLS THE RESORT Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) will continue obtaining asphalt locally, and stop air-quality monitoring at Cheakamus Crossing.

At the Feb. 20 council meeting, the RMOW’s manager of transportation and waste management, Andrew Tucker, recommended the municipality procure asphalt from Alpine Paving’s Cheakamus Crossing plant for 2024 and subsequent construction seasons, and that the ongoing air-quality monitoring program for particulate matter 2.5 be discontinued off the back of 13 years of data.

The RMOW began procuring asphalt from the Cheakamus location in 2020 and renewed in 2021, the rationale being a local source would reduce the environmental impact of transporting asphalt from Squamish or beyond to road construction efforts in Whistler. At the same time, the municipality installed additional air-quality monitoring infrastructure on top of monitoring established in 2010.

Tucker said the data collected indicates Cheakamus Crossing is below provincial thresholds for air quality, with the only spikes in particulates associated with wildfires and not the asphalt plant itself.

GRANITE STATE Whistler will continue sourcing asphalt from Alpine Paving’s Cheakamus plant.

FILE PHOTO

“The results are not indicating there’s any air-quality concerns related to the operation of the actual plant,” he said, adding securing product from Alpine Paving’s local facility lines up with the RMOW’s environmental goals.

“Procuring asphalt from a local supplier instead of driving it up the road (from Squamish) has environmental benefits… [and] the quality of asphalt we are getting is better, so it helps us in the long term in maintaining our roads,” Tucker said, explaining fresher asphalt is of a higher quality, making the

works carried out using it more robust and longer-lasting.

Tucker added there is still air-quality monitoring infrastructure at Meadow Park Sports Centre, so there will still be monitoring within the RMOW by the provincial authorities.

During discussion, councillors unanimously approved procuring asphalt locally, but Councillor Cathy Jewett spoke against discontinuing air-quality monitoring in Cheakamus Crossing.

“I would like to keep this air-quality

monitoring in place, and I think it’s useful for the people that live there,” she said.

“Cheakamus Crossing has a sewage treatment plant and an asphalt plant… plus it has Function Junction, which is industrial, and most of the traffic coming to the valley comes through there. I would like to support keeping air-quality monitoring.”

Coun. Jeff Murl pulled up the numbers, saying the data collected doesn’t support continuing the program given the cost.

“If three years of (intensive) monitoring shows no anomalies, I’m not sure what another three years will achieve … I don’t think spending $60,000 to reinforce the data set you already have is money well spent,” he said.

Mayor Jack Crompton said he felt the same way, adding the money that would be spent on continuing the monitoring is money that isn’t being spent on parks and improving the neighbourhood.

When it was called to a vote, while Coun.

Jen Ford concurred with Jewett’s comments, saying it was good transparency for the community, she did not oppose the staff recommendation, leaving Jewett as the only councillor to vote against discontinuing the monitoring.

The cost of the air-quality monitoring program at Cheakamus Crossing in 2023 was a little under $60,000. n

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Whistler council talks engagement for 2024 THE MUNICIPALITY IS LINING UP SOME ENGAGEMENT IDEAS, WITH A $100K-PLUS WEBSITE REDEVELOPMENT AMONG THE PROJECTS

BY SCOTT TIBBALLS THIS WEEK Whistler’s mayor and council got a look at civic engagement strategies for the first half of 2024, with the Resort Municipality of Whistler’s (RMOW) general manager of community engagement and cultural services, Karen Elliott, giving an update on the lay of the land at the Feb. 20 committee of the whole meeting.

First looking back at how the municipality engaged in 2023, Elliott reported the RMOW saw increased engagement online through Facebook, Instagram and X, as well as the development of more engaging content which she said was integral to the engagement file.

“Without people engaging with our social media platforms, our website, those sorts of things, it doesn’t matter how loud we get with our engagement invites, if people aren’t paying attention to us, people won’t know what’s going on,” Elliott said.

Looking forward to 2024, Elliott reported there will be a redesign of the municipality’s website, which needs some attention.

“We have quite a large website, there are broken links on it, there is some outdated information on it, and this really is the foundation of where we want people to find the information they’re looking for easily and

intuitively,” she said.

“And so this is a year-long project, but probably the one that we’ll be most focused on getting right and getting done before the end of the year.”

The RMOW has budgeted $100,735 for that project in 2024.

Beyond that, Elliott said there will be more Whistler Sessions “weaving through” public engagement in the year. The RMOW will also create a new community engagement working group and take “some initial steps” in youth engagement.

“We’ll start dipping our toe into more proactive youth engagement,” said Elliott.

“This is an area where I think we should be cautious, because we don’t want to create hope in young people and then disappoint them, which creates more cynicism—which is something they actually really don’t need.

“Sometimes local governments forget that our timelines can be quite long, and youth are looking for immediate impact, so engaging them on the right projects where they can see immediate return on their investment of time and energy is more helpful.”

Project-based engagement efforts are forecast out to June, including a library strategic plan, wildfire awareness, and surveys done online and by phone, as well as the muchanticipated Northlands development, which has been on the RMOW’s radar for years.

• • • • • • • •

22 FEBRUARY 23, 2024

“Each of these engagement projects will have different goals and will seek out different levels of input from the community,” reads a staff report, which explained how engagement is based on the RMOW’s “engagement design principles.”

While the project-based engagement is forecast until June, Elliott said council can expect another update in late spring for the next half of the year.

“[I]f people aren’t paying attention to us, people won’t know what’s going on.”

- KAREN ELLIOTT Finally, the RMOW’s senior communications officer, Jill Brooksbank, ran council through an exercise in selecting their favoured “general council engagement opportunities,” explaining they are opportunities for the community to engage with their elected representatives more generally.

Ideas suggested ranged from low-cost to higher-cost options that would require

• • • • • • •

additional input and time, from establishing a council Spotify playlist, to a community ski and ride with council day, to a “borrow a councillor” concept where community groups or businesses could request an elected official come to an event or go to a school and talk generally or about specific issues, and more.

In voting for preferred options, the five councillors present indicated they liked the community ski and ride day, “coffee with council,” a strategic priorities community meeting, and a “Brews n Budget” idea the most.

While the councillors present were asked how to vote, Councillor Arthur De Jong commented that he’d like to see how the community would vote, to which Elliott remarked “the community get to vote with their feet,” in that the RMOW will be able to gauge the effectiveness of any new organized informal engagement methods by how many people attend, and adjust from there.

During general discussion, Coun. Cathy Jewett asked what the communications and engagement team is doing to engage with the town’s seasonal workers, to which Elliott said there are preliminary discussions with Whistler Blackcomb about access to its workforce, and efforts to engage with the under-30 demographic in Whistler could yield some results.

The entire presentation can be watched on the RMOW website. n

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SD48 sees greater revenues, greater expenses in 23-24 THE LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT IS SPENDING ALMOST $3 MILLION ON LEAVE EXPENSES

BY SCOTT TIBBALLS THE SEA TO SKY School District (SD48) has an updated budget for the current year, with a revised pile of numbers coming in at the Feb. 14 finance committee meeting.

Revenues are up, but expenses are keeping pace.

In a presentation, SD48 director of finance Elena Meden said revenues are up by $3.93 million over the preliminary budget numbers first projected back in June 2023, to $79.16 million.

A good chunk of that money came from enrolment numbers.

“From our projected enrolment, there was a change of 88.75 student enrolments,” she said. “[And] 88.75 more students resulted in $1.7 million more in operating grants.”

Enrolments are calculated by the number of units students are taking, not the number of students themselves. Overall, the district received $45.5 million in enrolment-based funding from the province.

Operating grants from the province were up by $2.26 million to $62.5 million.

Other revenue sources, which is a wide definition, produced a mixed bag of results, though. International tuition revenues were down by $213,000, while interest income

was up by $380,000. Overall, other revenue sources were up $625,000.

Notably, the district’s finances were balanced by bringing in funds from its surplus—which is money left over from previous years. Half a million came from unrestricted surplus, while overall surplus

majority of that cost coming from staff taking more sick time. The projected cost was $2.25 million, and the revised number was $2.93 million—a difference of $680,000.

“As a result of this, the district had to find efficiencies to balance the rest of the budget,” she said.

“[O]ur costs for sick-leave provisions have gone up dramatically since prior to COVID, which is why we’re seeing these big numbers.”

- CHRIS NICHOLSON

funds of $1.7 million were pumped into the revenues column to account for rising costs— more than $800,000 more than projected.

On costs, as required, they aligned with revenues—Meden reported allocated revenues were $79,115,453; $3,983,835 more than in the preliminary budget.

Of note, Meden pointed out the large and growing cost of leave expenses—with the

LAND ACT: NOTICE OF INTENTION TO APPLY FOR A DISPOSITION OF CROWN LAND

Take notice that the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District has applied to the Ministry of Forests (FOR), Surrey, for a tenure situated on Provincial Crown land located at Catiline Creek.

Legal description – parcel or tract of unsurveyed Crown land in the vicinity of Catiline Creek, together with unsurveyed Crown foreshore or land covered by water being part of the beds of Catiline Creek, Lillooet Lake, all within Lillooet district, containing 24.85 hectares, more or less.

The Lands File Number for this application is 2412789.

Comments on this application may be submitted in two ways: 1)Online via the Applications and Reasons for Decision database at: https://comment.nrs.gov.bc.ca/applications

SD48 superintendent Chris Nicholson jumped in to say growing leave expenses is a trend across the sector, as the message that those who are sick should stay home was “heard loud and clear.”

“Folks are taking care of themselves, post-COVID … and then as a result, our costs for sick-leave provisions have gone up dramatically since prior to COVID, which is

A*....r_"'-PEMBERTON

Village of

why we’re seeing these big numbers,” he said.

Nicholson said pre-COVID, leave provision costs would have been about $1 million less than the numbers seen in 2024.

“We want to take care of our people, but that cost is borne by the district, and that has an impact on the bottom line, which is why we’re speaking to where we’re trying to trim down, why we’re doing a good job supporting our folks, and also why we’re re-allocating from unrestricted surplus,” he said.

“The wellness of our staff is super, super important.”

During discussion, the rising sick leave costs were brought up as an area of advocacy across school districts given the health recommendations that anyone who is sick stay home, with board member Celeste Bickford noting the cost of those recommendations is being borne by the districts, so it should be an area in which the province can step in to help.

“Eventually it’s going to chip away at what we’re able to offer, so it ought to be something that’s on the province’s radar,” she said.

For now, Meden talked about areas the district is making adjustments—noting almost every line item in support services had reduced expenses in the revised budget, for savings of just over $900,000.

The entire budget report can be read on the SD48 website, and the finance committee meeting can be watched on YouTube. n

Public Notice

Alternative Approval Process Opportunity for Village of Pemberton Electors The Village of Pemberton Council proposes to adopt the following bylaw: Triple Combination Pumper Truck LoanAuthorization Bylaw No. 954, 2023 This bylaw will authorize the Village of Pemberton to borrow up to $853,754 to be repaid over a maximum term of 20 years. The funds borrowed would be used to purchase a triple combination pumper truck to replace the Village's aging Engine Ten in alignment w�h National Fire Protection Association standards and Fire Underwr�ers Survey requirements.

2)By Mail to the Project Manager at 200- 10428 153rd Street, Surrey, BC V3R 1E1.

The estimated impact on a municipal taxpayer owning a $1,000,000 home would be up to $38.24 per year.

Comments will be received by the Ministry of Forests until April 5, 2024. Comments received after this date may not be considered.

The bylaw may be inspected at the Village office at 7400 Prospect Street during normal business hours from February16 to March 25, 2024, or on the Village webs�e at pemberton.ca.

Be advised that any response to this advertisement will be considered part of the public record.

For information, contact Information Access Operations at the Ministry of Technology, Innovation and Citizens’ Services in Victoria at: www.gov.bc.ca/citz/iao

Council may proceed w�h the bylaw unless, by the deadline of 4:00pm on March 25, 2024, at least 10% of the eligible electors of the Village of Pemberton indicate that Council must obtain consent of the electors before proceeding. The number of elector responses that must be obtained to prevent Council from proceeding w�h the bylaw is 294.

Elector responses must be given on the elector response form established by Council, available at pemberton.ca, at the Village office, or by sending a request by email to admin@pemberton.ca.

Only eligible electors of the Village of Pemberton may sign the forms. An eligible elector is a person who meets the following cr�eria: is a Canadian citizen; is at least 18 years of age; has resided in Br�ish Columbia for at least six months; is not disqualified from voting; and resides in the Village of Pemberton or meets the qualifications of a non-resident property owner as set out in section 66 of the Local GovernmentAct. Gwendolyn Kennedy Corporate Officer

®

Questions?

604.894.6135 � admin@pemberton.ca dl'h w pemberton.ca We're Listening.

24 FEBRUARY 23, 2024

Doris Jean Harris 1930 - 2024

Loving and adored wife of Gordon, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, and friend. Doris died at peace with her family around her on February 13. She is mourned by her treasured family each of whom loved her deeply: her children: Michael (Karen), Jim (Heather), Sue, Michelle (Paul), Sheri (Rick); her grandchildren: Caitlyn (Brendan), Austin (Becky), Carmen (Adam), Amy (Jon), Cormack (Alannah), Katie, Sara (Kyle), Alastair, Joelle; and, her great-grandchildren: Jack, Lincoln, Owen (predeceased), Adalyn, Max, Navi, Miller, Walker and Fletcher.

Doris was the beloved only child of Jean and Jim Bruce, who were foster parents to many special children that Doris maintained relationships with throughout her life. Doris was born in Chicago (IL) and the family moved to a farm in Caledon (ON) when she was 11. The move from city living to the farm developed in her a deep and intense love of nature, especially flowers and birds. Doris left the farm to train as a nurse at Toronto Western Hospital and while in nursing she met the love of her life, Gordon, on a blind date at a wiener roast. Doris’s nursing class remained close, and this supportive group tenaciously retained their tradition of annual reunions until very recently.

Doris and Gordon’s love affair continued, and they were married July 4, 1953 in Belfountain (ON). Doris and Gordon continued their adventure in Whitehorse (YT). Gordon’s medical practice thrived with Doris by his side as nurse and business advisor. They returned to Toronto in 1958 for Gordon to pursue a specialty in ophthalmology and start their family, adopting the first of five children.

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The lovely couple and their first three children, all under four, then travelled Europe and the United States on the McLaughlin Fellowship Scholarship, finishing their tour in San Francisco.

In 1964, Doris and Gordon returned to Vancouver settling into their home in UBC, becoming active in their church and community. In 1978, Doris went back to school, taking anthropology courses at UBC. Doris was an active volunteer including the Museum of Anthropology, Covenant House, the Crisis Pregnancy Center, and most significantly with her church. Through her church connections, Doris taught ESL classes until her ninety-first year and Doris and Gordon opened their home and hearts for Alpha sessions and attendees for decades. She loved the connections with the students of ESL and Alpha, developing close and long-lasting relationships with many of them.

Doris and Gordon were also active in the Whistler community, including the Whistler Skiers Chapel and Millennium Place. Mom’s kids will always remember skiing her favourite groomer, Green Acres, with her. While Doris was an accomplished skier, her true love of Whistler came from spending time with her children and grandchildren, sharing time and memories with extended family and friends, and developing new and treasured friendships.

Doris loved their summers on the Sunshine Coast. In 1969, Doris and Gordon found a property on West Lake and life was irrevocably changed for the better. Initially Gordon could only get away for a few weeks, and Doris would take all five kids for the summer on her own, off grid, back to her farm days, making gourmet meals on a wood stove and baking the very best cinnamon buns on Earth. She loved their Happy Hours on the dock, felt blessed by the frequent drop-in visitors and impromptu tea parties, whipping up ‘sticky’ buns in what seemed a blink of an eye. She was perpetually ready to entertain.

She loved her evening swim before pulling off fabulous and boisterous family dinners that appeared effortless.

An amazing and strong woman, Doris remained unbelievably stalwart when her osteoarthritis progressed. Despite the pain, she continued to entertain family and friends until the very end. Doris was an inspirational force of nature and leaves an extraordinary legacy of love. She will be so dearly missed.

A memorial service to honour Doris will be held on Saturday, February 24, 2024, at 2:00 PM at University Chapel, 5375 University Blvd, Vancouver. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Arthritis Society (https:// arthritis.ca/), Canadian Cancer Society (https://cancer.ca/en/), or another charity close to your heart would be greatly appreciated by the family.

LEARN MORE

Doris’ family wishes to extend heartfelt thanks to her dedicated family physician and dear caregivers, both at home and in hospital.

WALKEY & COMPANY FUNERAL DIRECTORS (604) 738 - 0006

FEBRUARY 23, 2024

25

NEWS PEMBERTON

Pemberton council crunching the numbers on 2024 budget INFO SESSION SET FOR MARCH 5; PRELIMINARY TAX IMPLICATIONS TO COME IN MARCH

BY RÓISÍN CULLEN Local Journalism Initiative Reporter BUDGET DELIBERATIONS are underway in Pemberton.

At the Village of Pemberton’s (VOP) Jan. 23 Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting, mayor and council received a presentation from manager of finance Thomas Sikora. It was the first of four budgeting sessions for 2024, and allowed council to ensure this year’s budget matches its strategic priorities.

Council’s key priorities are: plan and manage growth; be prepared; protect our environment; cultivate trust; and operate with excellence.

A public information session will be held on Tuesday, March 5. It will allow locals to raise questions and learn more about this year’s budget. The preliminary tax implications and recommendations of 2024’s revised draft budget will also be presented at a COW meeting on the same day.

Sikora opened the Jan. 23 presentation with an overview of market conditions that will impact the budget, including the B.C. Consumer Price Index of 3.9 per cent, as well as the BC Assessment non-market change (6.73 per cent) and market change (1.1 per cent). The operating budget for 2024 shows a

HIGH-LEVEL VIEW Pemberton’s 2024 budget process is underway, and residents can learn more at an info session on March 5.

PHOTO BY DAVID LEWIS / @DAVID_LEWIS

26 FEBRUARY 23, 2024

deficit of $240,931. However, these figures are still subject to change.

Other pressures will come from aging infrastructure and equipment, and increased construction and insurance costs. A positive note is labour turnover in Pemberton is now finally slowing. In 2023, the turnover rate was 16 per cent compared to 25 per cent in 2022 and 35 per cent in 2021.

Manager of operations and projects, Tom Csima, also provided an update on some key

airport runway crack sealing.

Fire Chief Cameron Adams was also on hand to share details on his department’s capital requests, which include development of a live fire training facility that will allow the department to complete mandatory training, and replacement of Engine 10 and Ladder 1 in 2026, and Engine 11 and Rescue 1 in 2028.

Council also discussed plans for a new fire hall in the locality.

Councillors were asked to review the

“I don’t want us to lose sight of what could be some very interesting amenities for our community.”

- MIKE RICHMAN

capital projects at the meeting.

Projects undertaken in 2023 include: a daycare expansion; Friendship Trail improvements along Pemberton Farm Road East; a new sidewalk near Signal Hill; purchase of a F550 plow truck; a storage building at Den Duyf Park; and EV chargers on Aster Street.

Some of the projects planned for 2024 include: construction of a new amenity building at Den Duyf Park; the Lot 13 multimodal hub (which will include bays for BC Transit buses as a second phase to the project); upgrades to the water treatment plant; and

projects and think about what was missing.

Some of the suggestions put forward included: a cohesive network of trails including a trail connecting Harrow Road to Fraser Road; upgrading and improving the One Mile Lake boardwalk; painting the train station; shade for the dog park and other parks; and further development of Den Duyf Park.

Other missing pieces include an ice rink and improved lighting at the community barn; a Lions Club housing development; and more trees in green space at the Community Centre.

Council also has to consider how it will

pay for increased policing costs once the community’s population passes 5,000, as well as a new fire hall.

The VOP’s chief administrative officer, Elizabeth Tracy, asked council to consider how to prioritize the projects based on urgency, while Sikora suggested councillors consider the priorities within the five-year plan to assist with budgeting.

Capital project priorities were further discussed at council’s second budget session on Tuesday, Feb. 13.

Mayor Mike Richman wanted to make sure projects not included in the 2024 budget are still being worked on.

“We are so grant-dependant. When you look around the town at the cool things that we have done over the years, at least a portion of them have been funded through grants,” he said. “I think to get some of these amenities and services that we want for our residents, we have to be a little bit reactive and recognize when opportunities are in front of us. I don’t want to just throw a whole bunch of stuff on the Five-Year Plan.”

Richman noted there is potential for some projects to get lost in the shuffle.

“I don’t want us to lose sight of what could be some very interesting amenities for our community,” he said. “We have seen things put on the Five-Year Plan for 15 years.”

Find more info and read the budget documents yourself at pemberton.ca/budget.

Residents are invited to participate in the budget process by submitting feedback via email to budget@pemberton.ca. n

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ROYAL VISIT Prince Harry and Meghan Markle met with Lil’wat Nation leaders and community members in Mount Currie on Feb. 15.

PHOTO BY JEREMY ALLEN / COURTESY OF INVICTUS GAMES VANCOUVER WHISTLER 2025

Chief Dean Nelson says Prince Harry was ‘sincere’ and ‘down-to-Earth’ during visit to Lil’wat Nation THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF SUSSEX VISITED B.C. TO MARK ONE YEAR TO THE INVICTUS GAMES

BY RÓISÍN CULLEN Local Journalism Initiative Reporter PRINCE HARRY and Meghan Markle visited the traditional territory of the Lil’wat Nation this month as part of their trip to British Columbia, and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex spent time meeting with members of the Nation in Mount Currie on Feb. 15. Prince Harry previously met with Lil’wat Nation Chief Dean Nelson in November 2023, and was invited to visit the Lil’wat and speak with Chief Gélpcal (the cultural chief) and other councillors.

Harry took part in a wheelchair basketball game with local youth during his visit, with Nelson even joining in on the court. Nelson told Pique the visit was positive and sincere.

“He dropped by the community,” he said.

“We had a lot of fun with the youth and our leadership.”

Nelson said he also had a chance to chat with the Royal about positive steps towards truth and reconciliation.

“We did have a chance to chat about that stuff. That was the reason he was there,” Nelson said. “Our initial visit was a few months ago when he first came round. He has been very sincere and down-to-Earth. He was inquiring about how things are.”

Nelson said they also discussed the problems the Lil’wat are still facing since the creation of Indian Act. “It’s still grassroots stuff,” he said. “He was concerned about the long-term. He asked what was still affecting us. I said the Indian Act and reservation are still here. That needs to be taken into consideration.”

Prince Harry will likely visit the Lil’wat

Nation again in the future.

“We will have a conversation,” said Nelson. “He has shown an interest and has made a few excursions.”

The pair agreed to disagree when it came to the score of the basketball game.

“We called it a draw,” said Nelson. “I didn’t realize my team was cheating as we had six players and they had five. The Prince was on the red team and I was on the blue.”

Chief Nelson will join the Royals again at a banquet in Vancouver on Feb. 16 as part of the Invictus Games one-year-out celebrations.

During their visit, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex received a traditional welcome and were presented symbolic gifts for their family.

These gifts included a traditional basket and a hand-carved cedar art piece symbolizing strength. In a statement on their website, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex said visiting Lil’wat Nation was an honour.

“The couple were humbled to be invited and extend their deepest gratitude to Chief Nelson, Chief Gélpcal and the people of the Lil’wat Nation for their generous hospitality and kindness,” they wrote.

Lenny Martin Andrew is the son of former Lil’wat Nation Chief, Leonard Andrew. He said today’s visit made waves within the community.

“The Prince showing up for me is a statement. It got everyone’s attention,” he said. “He also went to our culture centre in Whistler yesterday.”

Andrew felt the Royal showed respect to the Nation and its people.

“When we go into other peoples’ territory, we show respect,” he said. “He followed protocol.” n

FEBRUARY 23, 2024

27

RANGE ROVER

Absurdity 2.0?

ON FEB. 16, a sack of decaying brain cells and orange-stained vitriol known as Donald Trump was fined $355 million and banned from running businesses in New York state for three years after a civil trial found he’d knowingly committed financial fraud. With interest, he’ll fork over at least $454 million and probably closer to a half billion by the time his appeal is eventually quashed.

This was but one of the former president’s indictments, with a remaining

BY LESLIE ANTHONY total of 91 criminal counts in four separate prosecutions: 1) Federal Election Interference—four felony counts in Washington, D.C. for efforts to overturn the 2020 election of Joe Biden, an effort that began on Nov. 3, 2020 (election day) and culminated with the Jan. 6 2021 insurrection riot; 2) Georgia Election Interference—13 felony counts for alleged election interference based on a recording in which Trump asked Georgia’s Secretary of State to “find” the votes needed to win; 3) Classified Documents–40 felony counts in a Florida federal court for allegedly hoarding classified documents after leaving office and impeding efforts to retrieve them (11,000 were seized from Trump’s Mar-a-

BITTER DIVISIONS The 2016 U.S. election revealed a deep partisan divide that won’t soon be mended.

PHOTO BY BADVVISER / ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS

28 FEBRUARY 23, 2024

Lago Florida resort, including about 100 marked as classified or top secret); 4) Hush Money—34 felony counts in connection with alleged cash payments during the 2016 election to adult film star Stormy Daniels with whom Trump had an affair; the payments are legal, but not disclosing them violates federal campaign finance law.

These are some heavy albatrosses to wear during a presidential race, and that’s just what’s in the hopper. There will be more, and Trump was already dogged by sexual assault and fraud allegations during his first two presidential runs (in May 2023 he was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll and ordered to pay $5 million in damages; a counterclaim and appeal went nowhere and by July, the Judge clarified publicly the jury had found Trump raped Carroll).

That such a scofflaw and grifter ever became president is a testament to the current absurdity of American politics.

That he remains the clear choice of 65 million conservatives to hold office again literally beggars the imagination. Who votes for such people?

As I’ve always maintained, only three kinds of votes were cast for Trump in 2016: stupid, selfish, or both. Believed his lies?

Demonstrably stupid. Knew he was lying but voted for him anyway? Stupid… and likely selfish. A wall-building aficionado? Selfish.

Hoping he dropped a bomb on someone?

Dangerously selfish. His business “acumen” would make your life better? Selfish beyond belief, and a special kind of stupid. His racism, misogyny and xenophobia sounded sensible?

A sad kind of selfish. Didn’t back the hateful rhetoric but knew you’d make a killing in the stock market? His kind of selfish. He wasn’t a “liberal elite” (the bizarre pejorative

conservatives equate with knowledge and expertise), see point one. A fan of mob violence? Well… say no more.

It’s an easy post-hoc analytic when any of today’s brand of populist conservatives is elected (looking your way, Argentina). If you don’t believe selfishness and/or stupidity motivate voters, look at the quotidian hatred of Justin Trudeau, mimetic divisiveness and disinformation on everything from energy to inflation being promulgated to appeal to the Conservative Party of Canada’s base by a photoshopped Pierre Poilievre. Almost funny if it weren’t so shameful.

This isn’t to say some original Trump voters in the U.S. heartland didn’t have legitimate beefs with the status quo (read Hillbilly Elegy for a summation). Certainly our Western neoliberalist agenda has stolen the future for many on a range of fronts (hello housing!)—but this doesn’t excuse voting based on personal anger or the hallucinatory premise that an extra $5 a week saved in taxes will somehow improve your lot, with the damning implication of not caring about the effect on others or longterm consequences for all.

As a metric, take post-election behaviour.

After Trump took the Oval Office in 2016, many Americans were seen sobbing in the streets, shell-shocked, holding and comforting each other. Not so much because Hillary Clinton lost or they worried for themselves (many did), but because a brighter future was suddenly stolen from everyone. They cried because they’d all watched an ignorant demagogue mock a disabled person in front of a crowd, equate a woman’s worth with her looks, spout hateful racism, and advocate for war crimes, treason, anti-science and environmental destruction (he’s still at it BTW—check out his feed on X), yet somehow many of their fellow

citizens chose to be complicit in supporting his racism, sexism, cruelty and bullying.

Trump disgusted these people, yes, but that he didn’t disgust his supporters was even more terrifying—the reason for an instant division where progressives simply couldn’t seek rapprochement with Trumpists to “move forward,” and instead felt a deep need to collectively resist with, as the mayor of New York voiced at the time, “moral fortitude” (cue the women’s march on Washington).

Let’s be clear: when their candidate lost in 2020, Trumpists were not seen crying and hugging, seeking solace on the couches of America’s therapists, but instead, fuelled by the same inchoate anger behind their vote, spewing vitriol even harder, waving pitchforks, torches, guns, swastikas and Confederate flags, and storming the capital for God sakes. What does that even say?

And now America seems set to do it all over again—with Canada’s conservatives following the same rhetorical playbook as closely as they can get away with (thankfully, there are still some Trumpian tropes Canadians would never stand for—criminality being one).

Charles Taylor, writing on wilful ignorance in the Boston Globe after the 2016 election noted “since the [election], in the guise of tolerance and understanding and that most useless of bromides, ‘having a dialogue,’ we are being told that there should be no shame in not knowing… that Donald Trump was elected by people… sick of being looked down on by liberal elites. The question [those] pushing this narrative have not asked is this: Were the elites, based on the facts, demonstrably right?”

Leslie Anthony is a science/environment writer and author who holds a doctorate in reversing political spin. ■

NOTICE OF PROPOSED TEMPORARY USE PERMIT FortisBC Energy Inc. – Contractor Offices Temporary Use Permit No. 74 PUBLIC NOTICE is hereby given in accordance with Section 494 of the Local Government Act that the Regional Board will be considering the issuance of the above-mentioned permit at its regular Board meeting on September 28, 2024. The purpose of Temporary Use Permit No. 74 is to allow the following temporary use for a duration of three years: 

field offices, contractor field offices, personnel lunchrooms, heated washroom facilities and wash stations.

The subject application applies to a portion of crown land near Mill Creek:

Public Notice Notice of Disposition and Assistance In accordance with Sections 24 and 26 of the Community Charter, the Council of the Village of Pemberton hereby provides notice of its intent to lease the land and improvements at the Sunstone Golf Course located at 1730 Airport Road, Pemberton, British Columbia, and legally described as PID: 023-948-108, DISTRICT LOT 8750 LILLOOET DISTRICT and PID: 024-111-619, DISTRICT LOT 8751 LILLOOET DISTRICT (the “Golf Course”) to SUNSTONE RANCH GOLF COURSE LTD. (“Sunstone”).

The agreement between the Village and Sunstone will be for a term of 10 years ending on or before December 31st, 2033, subject to earlier termination under the terms of the agreement with an option to extend for two additional terms of 10 years each. Sunstone will pay nominal basic rent and will be responsible for all other costs relating to the operation and maintenance of the Golf Course.

Under the agreement, Sunstone will operate, maintain and manage the Golf Course and will set fees and dues for playing golf on the Golf Course. Sunstone may generate and retain income from operating and maintaining the Golf Course. During the off-season (which, for greater certainty, is the period of approximately 28 weeks between October 15 and April 15 when the Golf Course is closed), Sunstone will be open to maintaining groomed ski runs as the winter season allows for Nordic skiing purposes by members of the public. Sunstone will also host charity golf tournaments and other special events annually at the Golf Course in its reasonable discretion and proactively work with local Pemberton Valley charities and community non-profit organizations to support their fundraising efforts.

Sunstone will also offer discounted passes and programming options for youth and low-income families at the Golf Course and will also provide venues at the Golf Course for community special events on a free or non-profit basis.

In consideration of the services provided by Sunstone, the Village may provide assistance as defined by the Community Charter (BC) to Sunstone.

A copy of Temporary Use Permit No. 74 and relevant background documents is available by request. Please email planing@slrd.bc.ca for more information on this application, as well as for any questions or concerns.

Squamish-Lillooet Regional District Box 219, 1350 Aster Street, Pemberton, BC, V0N 2L0 P: 604-894-6371 TF: 1-800-298-7753

For further information or to review a copy of the Sunstone agreement, please contact: Gwendolyn Kennedy, Corporate Officer, Village of Pemberton, P.O. Box 100, 7400 Prospect Street, Pemberton, BC V0N 2L0, tel. (604) 894-6135 x228, fax (604) 894-6136, email: glkennedy@pemberton.ca.

Questions?

We’re Listening.

604.894.6135

admin@pemberton.ca

pemberton.ca

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FEBRUARY 23, 2024

29

FEATURE STORY

Three years after fleeing domestic violence, a B.C. artist speaks up Story and photos by Nora O’Malley

H

owling winds rattle the windows as Andrea, 41, puts the kettle on and takes a seat at the head of the kitchen table. With three of her four boys at school for the day, she’s basking in a moment’s peace before plowing on with her insurmountable to-do list.

Her eldest son J., 19, has the day off work and is creating music in his bedroom—unn-tss, unn-tss, unn-tss, unn-tss. unn-tss, unn-tss, unn-ts,s unn-tss—the sound is faint, but it’s there.

“He saved my life,” she proclaims.

It was New Year’s Day, 2021, in the early morning hours when Andrea found her partner B. passed out post-coitus with one of her close friends. The confrontation quickly became heated and violent.

“I slapped him across the face and then he flew into a rage, came at me, grabbed me by the throat and started strangling me under the table,” she remembers.

She felt her limbs go numb and for a moment, it was as if she was leaving her body.

“No, not like this,” she thought as the hands of a man—who doubles her weight—squeezed her neck.

“He just kept going, going, going and wouldn’t stop.”

But then J. appeared with a knife and stood above B. “He was ready to kill B. if he had to,” Andrea says.

B. let go and stumbled off to bed.

Andrea sent messages to a few contacts as the adrenaline gave way to exhaustion, and finally dozed off next to her two youngest boys.

“B. just strangled me and almost killed me,” she wrote.

The next morning, she took B. a coffee.

“I was so confused,” she concedes.

“Good morning,” he said with the sweetest smile.

She asked if he remembered what happened.

“Yes, I remember everything,” he replied. “I’m really, really sorry honey.”

Bruised, heartbroken, and in a state of shock, Andrea mustered the courage to request that B. go to his mom’s house.

“I stayed quiet and avoided him until he packed a bag and left.”

One month after the explosive New Year’s Day incident and a carousel of days where B. would be home and not be home, Andrea was still unable to find any satisfactory proof that B. was actually sorry, or was making any attempt to change any of his problematic behaviours. Finally, a friend convinced her to call the women’s

shelter— and to file an RCMP report.

As a non-Indigenous woman living in an Indigenous community, Andrea was convinced she had no choice other than to leave the house to B., who is a member of the Indigenous community.

“I said to the kids we have to go to a safe house, and they understood,” she says.

They packed one backpack each and drove to an undisclosed safe house in a neighbouring community.

The song “The Watcher” by Dr. Dre was playing on the radio as they fled, Andrea recalls.

Everywhere that I go Ain’t the same as befo’ (The watcher)

People I used to know Just don’t know me no mo’ (The watcher)

30 FEBRUARY 23, 2024

Accessing emergency shelter in the Sea to Sky Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Whistler residents fleeing domestic violence had no emergency safe housing. But thanks to a unique pilot program birthed out of pandemic isolation needs, the Whistler Community Services Society (WCSS) now has an inventory of safe homes in hotels and unfilled vacation rentals Whistlerites and surrounding area community members can access at no cost for three to 14 nights.

Jackie Dickinson, the executive director of WCSS, says an outreach worker helps the client with the check-in/check-out process, and supports with a transition plan from the beginning of the emergency stay.

“Unfortunately, the emergency units are short-term, but they are meant to be short-term because a person accessing that should then be able to transition to another part of the housing spectrum,” Dickinson says. “Where these emergency housing programs are becoming problematic is that people are trying to access them beyond what we anticipate those stays should be because they can’t transition to that next spectrum. For me, what would change all of this is if we had a housing continuum that supported people.”

PearlSpace, a non-profit dedicated to preventing domestic violence and a close ally of WCSS, also operates a safe house in Pemberton, with a second emergency housing facility opening in Whistler this spring.

“We provide all the food and help with transportation costs. We can provide childcare needs like diapers and formula.

We often find that people come with what’s on their back, so we have all the things in place at the safe home for them to be comfortable,” says PearlSpace executive director Ashley Oakes, noting staff also work with the client to access resources and create a plan.

Both WCSS and PearlSpace have seen a steady uptick in bedstays year after year, partly because “the volume of people have increased in the region” as Oakes explains.

In 2023, PearlSpace hosted 2,328 “heads in beds” night stays in the transition house and safe home, and WCSS is now seeing upwards of 8,000 clients a year.

“Pre-pandemic we had 2,500 meetings in a year,” says Dickinson.

Andrea stayed the maximum amount of time in an emergency safe home before moving her family of five into a onebedroom, second-stage apartment. She says her stay at the emergency shelter was “stressful” and “detached.” Paperwork

FEATURE STORY had to be dealt with, she had to present evidence to the police (photos of her bruised neck and text messages), and through it all she had no childcare support.

Her teen boys were less than thrilled to move into the second-stage apartment; it was such a small space that came with many rules, like the 10 p.m. lights out, no visitors, zero tolerance of alcohol and smoking, and weekly check-ins with a social worker.

“You’re not really in your own space.

But I basically said to my boys, ‘Do you want to be homeless or be here?’ We all went a little crazy there the first year. I can see how so few women leave and even if they do, they go back after a year. He has a stable house.”

Transitioning from second-stage housing With the average two-bedroom rental in Whistler fetching $4,500 to $5,000/ month and single rooms going for $1,500 to $2,000/month, Oakes admits securing housing in the community is “not an easy path forward.”

PearlSpace supports clients as they search for affordable housing options in Whistler, Pemberton, and Squamish, and it also offers housing subsidies when resources are available.

“But those are temporary, and depending on the make-up of the family, they max out at about $650/month,” Oakes says.

One beacon of hope for vulnerable people on the hunt for a home is a new affordable housing project by the Whistler Valley Housing Society (WVHS).

According to Dickinson, the WVHS build in Cheakamus Crossing is set to open this July and has promised 15 units to clients of social service agencies like PearlSpace and WCSS. “It will keep people in community and is not tied to employment,” Dickinson explains. “A lot of employee housing in our community is really valuable. I live in it, I feel tremendously grateful, and it fits one part of that (housing) continuum. But if you’re injured, become disabled, or are fleeing violence, and you need housing but cannot work at that time, it can jeopardize your housing.”

Councillor Cathy Jewett confirmed in a Feb. 7 email the affordable housing apartment at 1400 Mount Fee Road in Cheakamus Crossing is about 70 per cent complete, and a Canada Day opening is anticipated. Jewett went on to note that, in addition to allocating 15 units to social service agencies, WVHS will rent 15 units to essential service employees like teachers, daycare staff, medical workers, RCMP, fire rescue, and transit bus drivers.

PearlSpace is also piloting a safe housing program with a private homeowner in the community; the nonprofit is leasing the suite directly from the homeowner and then subleasing it to a client at a “very affordable rate.”

“We would love to establish more partnerships like that with private homeowners in the community that allow us to use existing rental stock that’s not being used or being underused where the rental income is not a requirement

for the homeowner to be able to provide safe accommodations for people fleeing violence,” Oakes told Pique.

Andrea, who lives in a resort municipality that goes head-to-head with Whistler’s affordable housing crisis, says it was overwhelming to find a rental that would accommodate four children.

“I’ve got excellent references, but it’s that stigma,” she says.

She contacted a long list of landlords before scoring a temporary two-bedroom place, which she can only just afford with support from monthly income assistance and rent from J. By spring, they have to pack and move again because the landlord is switching the unit back to short-term rental.

But if there’s a silver lining to Andrea’s housing woes, it’s having her application for a brand-new subsidized

apartment unit approved by the local housing authority.

“If you really think that the government and the system is going to save you and support you, it’s the same problem of thinking that that guy is going to save you and support you. The whole journey comes back to your own centre and realizing that you can’t leave it up to others. You have to be the hero of your own life,” Andrea says, noting that on top of jumping through all these housing hoops, she’s also cut back on a lot of social interactions and quit drinking, as rebuilding from scratch takes every bit of energy and focus she can muster.

and his knowledge of nature and the land.

In hindsight, she says the little red flags were always there…

“I have a lot of compassion for other women facing similar situations,” she says. “I think it was probably 10 times harder to leave than to stay. Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t, right? I had to be willing to let a lot go for my own sake and the sake of my kids’ well-being.”

According to Oakes, PearlSpace sees a lot of people go back—with a safety plan in place.

“It’s a challenge, for sure. We don’t judge a person’s decision. We only offer the resources they need to be safe in whatever decision they make,” Oakes says.

Three years since fleeing, Andrea focuses on art projects and uses Compassion Key—a healing modality centred around clearing traumas originating in childhood through self-directed compassion—as well as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), art therapy, and yoga with breath work as her main healing tools.

“Compassion Key speaks right to your inner child. I have rewired the voice in my head so that it’s not so critical and defeating,” she says.

“My No. 1 message that I want to give to every woman is that YOU are the most powerful person in your life. Not the system, not your friends or family. You are.”

Pique reached out to B. for an interview, but he did not want to participate in this article. Andrea dropped the assault charge against him to avoid a potentially lengthy and exhausting court battle, and allows him regular visits with the boys.

“I’m just focused on what’s best for the kids,” she explains. “I need to really pick my battles, and right now it’s ensuring visits are safe and good for the kids, and that all the kids and I are supported in our healing from the trauma. Those priorities take a lot of time and energy.”

She is also finding positive ways to connect her two youngest boys to their Indigenous community and culture.

Women in need of PearlSpace services can call the 24-hour crisis line at 1-877-8905711 or visit PearlSpace.ca for a detailed list of services. Men in crisis can reach out to mywcss.org. ■

Proceeding with compassion When Andrea first met B., she was attracted to his big, charming personality

FEBRUARY 23, 2024

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SPORTS THE SCORE

‘It’s insane’ LUKAS BENNETT REFLECTS ON WINNING THE 2024 FREERIDE JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

BY DAVID SONG ALL SIX CANADIANS who participated in the 2024 Freeride Junior World Championships (FJWC) train at the Whistler Freeride Club (WFC). One of them, Lukas Bennett, threw down a poised and memorable run to seize gold one year after club alum Marcus Goguen achieved the same feat.

Bennett still can’t believe it.

“I mean, it’s insane,” he remarked. “I feel like I still haven’t fully understood [what I did].

I don’t think I’ve wrapped my head around it, really. I’m just super happy and proud to be able to represent my friends and family.”

Bennett’s crowning moment did not come easily. He and his peers were expecting to ski on the Quellspitze face in Kappl, Austria, but adverse weather conditions pushed organizers to move the event to the Hausberg mere days before go time. FJWC athletes are typically only allowed to study terrain from afar, and the short-notice change made it harder for them to prepare runs.

Ultimately, competitors were permitted to test out the Hausberg face before dropping in. Turbulent winds prevented chairlifts from operating, and a deluge of rain made the snow virtually “un-skiable,” according to Bennett. He nonetheless played the cards he’d been dealt.

It was tough sledding. WFC members Nate

STYLE POINTS Lukas Bennett hits a drop at the 2024 Freeride Junior World Championships.

PHOTO BY FLO GASSNER/FREERIDE WORLD TOUR

32 FEBRUARY 23, 2024

Wilson and Kieren Ferguson managed 13th and 14th, respectively, while Kane Gascoigne crashed outright. Drea Dimma’s seventh-place effort was the best Canada could do among ladies, with Kayla Constantini labouring to 10th.

The pressure was on.

‘IT’S JUST A RUN’

Bennett once grappled with what he calls a “mental block.” His abilities are palpable, his work ethic on point, but he has failed to ski to his own standards at numerous contests in

30 days without a real rest day, and I was even more nervous.”

Yet, the sight of Gascoigne wiping out bestowed focus and confidence upon Bennett. He knew he needed to put down a clean attempt for his friend. He reminded himself what he was up against. It was, after all, just a run… though it didn’t quite go according to plan.

Thanks to some flat lighting, Bennett misnavigated near the top of the mountain and found an avalanche barrier in his path rather than his original takeoff point. He sent it

“When you embrace your style, that’s when things start lining up.”

- JEN ASHTON

years past. Last year was a turning point for the Whistlerite, as he completed the 2023 season ranked fourth in the IFSA’s North American junior rankings.

How was the 18-year-old able to develop a clutch gene?

“Last year, I found my stride when I started telling myself at the start of my runs: ‘it’s just a run,’” he explained. “I would say it with my coaches and when I dropped in, because I felt like I could do [most runs] nine times out of 10. At Junior World Champs, I was actually super tired because I had gone

anyway, and thinks he got lucky in landing what turned out to be a solid 360. It all came together from there.

Veteran WFC coach Jen Ashton is proud of all her pupils, but especially Bennett for his physical and mental growth.

“If you’re looking for the best line or the hardest thing to do, but it doesn’t match your style of skiing, then it’s not going to really work out,” Ashton said. “I think Lukas just figured out how to embrace his style. He’s an insane skier, but he’s kind of a flowy and stylish guy, not a hit-the-biggest-thing-on-

the-venue kind of guy. When you embrace your style, that’s when things start lining up.”

STAYING POSITIVE

It’s not easy to develop talent. It’s harder still to keep everyone on schedule when unforeseen factors like venue changes come into play, but Ashton and her fellow coach Derek Foose did their jobs. Both are more than qualified for the task at hand: Ashton is a three-time IFSA World Champion who’s been coaching for more 20 years, while Foose founded the WFC itself just after the turn of the century.

“It can be pretty frustrating when things are changing up, but in front of the athletes, you always try to stay positive and look at bright sides,” explained Ashton. “We keep them focused on executing what’s presented to them instead of trying to think of what could have been.”

Bennett is deeply grateful for what his mentors bring to the table.

“They help so much,” he said. “Derek has been there every year that the Whistler Freeride Club’s gone to World Juniors. He had some great intel, especially when we were inspecting the big venue, but also he’s got a very calming demeanour. And Jen has a ton of experience. She’s an amazing skier … and she was helping me a ton with my lines. I couldn’t have done it without them.”

For the next several months, Bennett will level up his game in the freeride mecca of Verbier, Switzerland. He speaks French and holds a Swiss passport due to his mom’s side of the family. It’s all out in front of the newlyminted champ as he aims to one day join Goguen on the Freeride World Tour. ■

SPORTS THE SCORE MARCH 1 & 2, 2024

Robbin McKinney inspiring people to embark on their own ‘great bike journey’ THE LONGTIME CYCLING GUIDE SPEAKS FEB. 24 AT WHISTLER PUBLIC LIBRARY

BY DAVID SONG YOU’VE PROBABLY heard of frequent flyer programs. Well, if frequent biker miles were a thing, Robbin McKinney would have a whole lot of them.

For more than four decades, McKinney has made cycling and travel his lifestyle of choice. His professional guiding career began in 1983 with a Toronto-based outfit called Butterfield & Robinson.

McKinney, then just 23 years of age, encountered a guide during a months-long bike trip in Europe. He quickly realized the appeal of being paid to go on exotic excursions with luxury hotels and breathtaking views.

His command of French, Spanish and English made him an ideal candidate to lead others around the European continent and beyond.

By now, the self-identified “traveller at heart” has embarked on numerous professional and independent journeys across the world, from New Zealand, Morocco and Portugal to Japan, Vietnam and Turkey. He owns two companies: Great Explorations and Randonnée Tours, and he wants to inspire others to approach travel with a more adventurous mindset.

That’s why McKinney is dropping by the Whistler Public Library to give a familiar talk: “Great Bike Journeys of the World.”

FRESH AIR, MORNING LIGHT

One can use one’s hard-earned vacation days in any way, theoretically: bus tours, road trips, concerts, sports games, or drinking piña coladas on a picturesque beach. A long bike odyssey through unfamiliar territory tends not to cross one’s mind.

McKinney hopes to change that. His presentation is chock-full of images, videos and anecdotes from 40 years of navigating places he returns to often: most recently Provence, Catalonia and Majorca, to name a few. In his opinion, the bicycle is an ideal method of travel.

After all, bikes are simple vehicles that can often be fixed with a few tools and a bit of know-how. They allow you the freedom to go at your own pace and speed, and to take detours on short notice—things that planes, trains and automobiles don’t necessarily provide.

McKinney remembers feeling exhausted and cooped-up the few times he’s ever rented a car on vacation. Not so on his bike: he feels invigorated all day long.

“You can’t beat it—you’re riding with fresh air and morning light, people are waving to you and they’re intrigued,” he said. “As a North American, they’re curious about you, right? They’re like: ‘wow, you’ve come from where? You’re on a bike riding through this country?’

“I’ve found that in all my trips, the

connections you make with locals are very different than what you might have if you’re on a bus or driving through the region. You’re outside with them, you’re riding beside them and they’re always thrilled to see that.”

Some might find the idea of a multiday ride physically daunting, but McKinney insists one need not be a former triathlete and racer like himself to enjoy the experience. He has had clients in their 70s and 80s not only get by, but have an absolute blast.

“To most people who have thought: ‘I don’t know if I could do that,’ I’m like: ‘you can,’” said the Ontarian. “It’s 40 or 50 kilometres a day and we’ve got support as needed. It will change your life, in my opinion. That’s a bold

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Frontenac Ballroom, Fairmont Chateau Whistler statement, but everyone I know who has done a bike trip has changed the way they think about travel.”

TIRES ON THE ROAD

If there’s one thing McKinney loves as much as riding, it’s personally curating a memorable journey.

In this day and age, most North American players in the active-travel industry outsource the nitty-gritty of trip-planning to destination management companies (DMCs) located in various countries. McKinney and his team weren’t interested in that—instead they’re passionate about maintaining a hands-on approach.

While he definitely hires local guides, the Prince Edward County native tries to personally ride any route either of his companies would sell to tourists. His bootson-the-ground (or tires-on-the-road) method is not only fun, but allows him to consider what types of routes, accommodations and restaurants his clientele would enjoy the most.

Both Great Explorations, which offers guided trips, and Randonnée Tours with its focus on self-guided experiences, use very similar itineraries. It’s important to McKinney that he plays a role in ensuring customer satisfaction.

“For any tour operator, you want people who come back saying, ‘wow, that changed my life,’” he said.

“Of course, not every trip can be that, necessarily, but you get a lot of people who are truly wowed by the experiences [we offer].”

McKinney’s free presentation takes place Saturday, Feb. 24 at 3 p.m. Spots can be reserved at eventbrite.com/e/ great-bike-journeys-of-the-world-whistlerpresentation-tickets-794650419797. ■

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7:30pm | Main Event - $95 (incl. tax) A unique wine tasting event with live entertainment and an extensive collection of wine, beer, spirits and delectable appetizers from local restaurants including Portobello, Bearfoot Bistro, Quattro, Sidecut, Purebread and more.

SATURDAY, MARCH 2

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To purchase tickets or sign up a team, please visit: WHISTLERBLACKCOMBFOUNDATION.COM

FEBRUARY 23, 2024

33

FORK IN THE ROAD

Confusion reigns PEOPLE, PLANTS, ANIMALS—ALL MIXED UP TOGETHER IN ONE DISASTROUS CLIMATE ‘ROUND ABOUT NOW , I always look forward to lovely little shrubs at my mom’s senior housing complex in White Rock. They start blooming around the end of January, with delicate pink pom-poms of blossoms that last

BY GLENDA BARTOSH for weeks and make me smile. At least that’s what usually happens.

This year, though, with the unseasonably warm, early winter, they bloomed in December. Then when that cold snap hit with the polar vortex dipping down out of the Arctic like a fallen dictator stumbling all the way to Texas, those lovely pink blossoms were rendered skanky, wet, brown blobs.

They still cling intrepidly to their stems: Dead, but not forgotten.

Happy (brown) spring.

In Whistler, gardens have been covered, uncovered, then covered again with snow, while trees and bushes have suffered with heavy snow, then rain, then freezing conditions again. It will be a while yet to see what damage has been done, but if you’ve surfaced after the Royal visit and looped down to West or North Van lately, you might have noticed all kinds of landscape plants in various stages of suffering. Dead or dying after roller-

DEAD BUT NOT FORGETTEN Unseasonable winter warmth and a roller-coaster freeze-thaw cycle is wreaking havoc on B.C.’s plants.

PHOTO BY TAP10 / E+ / GETTY IMAGES

34 FEBRUARY 23, 2024

coaster weather and icy temperatures that killed plant cells, turning what should be green, brown.

Brown rhododendrons. Brown laurel hedges dropping more leaves than not. Even young daffodil pups that recklessly popped up their heads up in December are now brown mush.

Of course, the miracle of life pushes on.

The shrubs and trees, if the right varieties were chosen (more on that in an upcoming column), are still standing, and some wee daffies and other spring bulbs are pushing up new growth between the brown mush of tooearly starts. But many of us, especially if we’ve known and loved the Wet Coast for decades, are suitably horrified as we bear witness, front and centre, to yet another extreme, disturbing climate event in our neck of the woods.

Think of this when you’re trying to scare up fresh local cherries this summer.

So many trees have been killed, B.C. cherry growers, especially those in the Okanagan, call their situation a, quote, silent disaster.

Grape growers and vintners face a similar catastrophe. Maybe 99 per cent of wine grapes were killed by the cold snap—and we haven’t heard yet from peach, pear or apple growers.

This January’s cold snap is the worst in a string of extremes, starting with 2020’s deep freeze, then 2021’s heat dome with temperatures hitting 47-plus C. In 2022 came what B.C. Cherry Association president Sukhpaul Bal calls the heat dome “hangover,” with more high temperatures and low rainfall. And more of the same is expected this summer. It all adds up to growing—or maybe that’s dying conditions—my great-uncles and -aunts, who were Okanagan orchardists almost 100 years ago, couldn’t have dreamt in their worst nightmares.

The Okanagan’s silent disaster tracks the same pattern as in Sea to Sky: A crazy, warm early winter followed by a cold snap so extreme some Okanagan areas saw temperatures plummet from well above freezing to as low as -30 C in a few days.

Whether grape vines or spring flowers, plants can’t acclimatize that quickly.

It’s not so much we actually forget, but sometimes I fear that we contemporary, privileged, self-centred humans are so used to our instant, wired creature comforts we don’t even consider that trees, plants, insects, animals—basically, all the other living things on Earth—have few or limited resources to contend with the extremes we’ve created by disturbing our climate and the environment as radically as we have.

David Suzuki, who, BTW, has given up flying because of its grave effect on climate; hundreds, nay, thousands of other scientists; and I, your trusty local reporter who has been tracking the climate file for 35 years, all gladly remind you that scientists confirmed in the 1950s when I was, like, five, that burning fossil fuels created a warming, greenhouse effect.

(Actually, scientists confirmed same in the late 1800s, but most don’t cite those reports.)

So what did the fossil fuel industry do?

Same thing the tobacco industry did when smoking was linked to cancer. Put a lid on it.

“Shhhh. Don’t tell the public so we can keep growing profits.”

Now all kinds of other things aren’t growing.

The UN has just released a special report from its Environment Programme on the state of the world’s migratory animals. It studied 1,127 species of migratory birds, mammals, reptiles, insects and fish, and the story ain’t pretty. One in five species is threatened with extinction, largely due to climate change and

other human-caused activities. Fish are in the worst shape of all.

Maybe this year’s lousy snow conditions have meant you’ve only gotten in as much skiing or boarding so far this season as you normally would in one week during a usual year. No wonder! The provincial average for snow levels was 39 per cent below normal as of Feb. 1—doubly worse than same time last year when they were 19 per cent below normal.

Sure, it’s lousy for ski resorts—and their frustrated guests. (The Vancouver Sun reports that some models predict 50 to 75 per cent of North American ski resorts will be gone by 2060). But it’s worse for river systems fed by the melting snow pack fish, especially salmon, depend on.

Humans love to eat salmon. But we have menu choices, while bears, eagles, insects, even the trees in riparian forests fed by their nutrients don’t. (When salmon migrate upstream to areas of lower-nutrient levels, they bring welcome nutrients up from the ocean.) Likewise ocean dwellers, like sea lions, orcas and especially our Southern Resident killer whales, that depend on salmon. A perfect system for millennia, but now the wheels are falling off.

Confused plants. Confused orchardists.

Confused skiers and salmon. We’ve all been thrown a nasty curve ball by the fossil fuel industry, and there’s no more hiding our heads in the sand. To pull out of the tailspin ASAP, we need to check our moral compass—and the 10 actions the UN advises us to undertake to straighten up and fly right.

Otherwise only more confusing confusion looms on the horizon.

Glenda Bartosh is an award-winning journalist who was a kid in Alberta when oil companies started denying climate change. n

MEADOW PARK SPORTS CENTRE SWIM • SKATE • SWEAT • SQUASH OPEN DAILY: 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

FITNESS CLASS SCHEDULE FEBRUARY 23

FEBRUARY 24

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FEBRUARY 26

FEBRUARY 27

FEBRUARY 28

FEBRUARY 29

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

F Yoga & Pilates Blend 7:30-8:30 a.m.

Liv

I Strong Glutes and Core 7:30-8:30 a.m.

Jess

I Mountain Ready Conditioning 7:30-8:30 a.m.

Steve

I Strength and Mobility 7:30-8:30 a.m.

Anna

I Spin Mixer 7:30-8:30 a.m.

Sylvie

I Strength & Cardio 7:30-8:30 a.m.

Lou

I Aqua Fit Deep End 8:45-9:45 a.m.

Marie-Anne I Full Body HIIT 9-10 a.m.

Andy

I Low Impact Strength 9-10 a.m.

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R Mom &

I Zumba

Baby 2.0 10:30-11:30 a.m.

Lou

F Vinyasa Flow 9-10 a.m.

Nicki

I Yin & Yang Yoga 9-10 a.m.

Heidi

I Low Impact Strength 9-10 a.m.

Lauren

I Functional Strength & Conditioning 9-10 a.m.

Mel L

I Strength & Stability 9-10 a.m.

Lou

F Swim Fit

R Be The

R Swim

Endurance 10-11 a.m.

Marie Anne

10:30-11:30 a.m.

Susie

I Aqua Fit Shallow End 8:45-9:45 a.m.

Marie-Anne

I Gentle Fit Pilates 1-2 p.m.

Liv

Change 10:30-11:30 a.m.

Katrina

Fit Stroke & Technique 10-11 a.m.

Marie-Anne

I Gentle Fit 1-2 p.m.

Diana I TRX Mixer

I Mountain

5:15-6 p.m.

Andy

Ready Conditioning 5:30-6:30 p.m.

Steve

R Pilates Mat Class 6:15-7:15 p.m.

Liv

F Spin 5:45-6:45 p.m.

Courtney I Strength & Mobility 6:45-7:45 p.m.

Mel L

I HIIT Express

5:15-6 p.m.

Alex

Spr,ing/Summer Program Registration Begins Mid-March Resident online registration: Saturday, March 16 at 11 a.m.

Resident phone registration: Sunday, March 17 at 9 a.m.

Non-resident online registration: Saturday, March 23 at 11 a.m.

Non-resident phone registration: Sunday, March 24 at 9 a.m.

Kids on the Go Summer Camp Registration: Sunday, April 14 at 6 a.m.

Programs viewable online on Thursday, March 7 at noon.

Visit whistler.ca/register for more information.

II .

F Spin

5:15-6:15 p.m.

Courtney

604-935-PLAY (7529) E RMOWRecreation

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6 a.m. - 3:45 p.m.

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ARTS SCENE

International bestseller Holly Ringland to grace Whistler THE AUSTRALIAN AUTHOR VISITS ON FEB. 29 TO DISCUSS HER NEW BOOK, THE SEVEN SKINS OF ESTHER WILDING and how might it live in other people’s hearts if it ever saw the light of day?

What else can trauma be made into, other than excruciating memories?

Eleven thousand handwritten words filled Ringland’s notebook, eventually taking shape as the first three chapters of Alice Hart: a tale of a young girl who faces generational trauma in her journey of self-discovery. In 2023, the novel landed on Amazon Prime Video as a miniseries starring Grammy and Golden Globe-winning actress Sigourney Weaver.

BY DAVID SONG SIX YEARS AFTER The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart released to worldwide acclaim, Holly Ringland is dropping by Whistler to talk about her most recent novel.

The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding tells the titular character’s story as she grapples with her older sister Aura’s disappearance. To find the truth—and some closure along the way— Esther journeys from her native Tasmania to Copenhagen and beyond, following a trail of fairy tales Aura left behind.

Ringland’s heritage was a key inspiration for this particular project.

“I descend from Celtic and Scandinavian people,” she says. “My Danish ancestors were farmers who left Denmark in the late 1800s and sailed for three months to settle on stolen land in Australia. They never returned to Denmark. The journeys of the women in my ancestral line are stories I grew up hearing my family tell around Granny’s kitchen table.

“In 2017, after I’d sent my publisher the structural edit of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, those stories of my ancestral grandmothers started calling me. As I often do when I’m curious about the connection between people and a place, I turned to Scandinavian folklore and fairy tales one afternoon and sat with a pen and my notebook open. I scribbled an idea down about selkies, or seal people … then followed that idea to another.”

Familial legends and tales of Norse shapeshifters led Ringland to 19th-century Swedish writer Helena Nyblom. In turn, Nyblom’s work pushed her to explore the roles of women in the seafaring history of Western tattoos and the relationship between women and seals in Tasmania (also known as Lutruwita in the Tasmanian Aboriginalderived language of palawa kani).

“My body tells me when ideas that come are alive. I get goosebumps and prickles down my spine,” explains Ringland. “That happened on this day, when ideas of the sea, fairy tales, women, tattoos and storytelling swirled around me. A young woman named Esther Wilding marched up to my desk and asked me to follow her.”

‘MANY DEEP BREATHS’

RING LEADER Australian bestselling writer Holly Ringland.

PHOTO COURTESY OF NICOLE MAGAS

DANGEROUS WRITING

Ringland didn’t always heed her creative instincts so boldly—or at all.

The Australian national grew up in southeast Queensland on the territories of the Bundjalung people. She has wanted to be a writer since the age of three, when her mom Colleen taught her how to read, but did not go for her goal in earnest until some three decades later.

“I was so afraid of failure and of not being good enough that I couldn’t see beyond fear to any possibility that I could pursue and achieve my writing dreams,” says Ringland.

“It took a death in my family to awaken me to

how wasteful fear is.”

In 2014, a galvanized Ringland finally put pencil to paper. She embraced American author Tom Spanbauer’s idea of “dangerous writing”: the act of composing prose or poetry from one’s inner fears. For her, that dark place was the male-perpetrated violence in her past. She’d always written around it, beside it and in spite of it.

No longer. At 34 years old, Ringland used her own research into traumatic experiences as a call to arms. She dared to address questions like: what would become of her and her life if she wrote the thing she was most scared to write? What story would emerge,

Ringland never expected any of her works to make such a splash, nor did she expect to live with the difficulties fame and exposure can bring. Still, having conquered fear before, she navigates her career with vulnerability, self-love, wise boundaries and—when needed—therapy.

“I take many deep breaths, remind myself there’s no such thing as a silly question when you’re learning, ask for support when I need it, and remember in all the bewilderment to feel the joy of seeing the story that came from my mind and heart find another form,” she admits.

Above all, Ringland intends to remain true to herself and her source material.

“You can’t separate creation stories from the lands they come from,” she says. “You can’t take a story from Lutruwita/Tasmania and transplant it onto the Norwegian fjords, or vice versa. As a white Australian writer setting novels in Australian and international landscapes, it’s my responsibility to include these first stories of the land and to pay respect to the stories that still live in the land.”

Having first set foot in Whistler 20 years ago, Ringland figures she might be the only Australian ever to be rejected for a hospitality job in the village. Nonetheless, she is excited to return to what she remembers as a vibrant and dynamic community.

The bestselling novelist will appear at the Whistler Public Library on Feb. 29 at 7 p.m. for a moderated chat and a Q&A session with those in attendance. More details can be found at whistlerlibrary. c a /e v e n t /a n - e v e n i n g - w i t h - h o l l y ringland/?occurrence=2024-02-29. n

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ARTS SCENE

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NEW VIEWS A cropped image of Fredy Valencia’s contribution to the 2024 Arts Whistler exhibit Point of View: Altered Photographic Perspectives.

PHOTO BY FREDY VALENCIA

Arts Whistler offers up a new perspective on photography POINT OF VIEW: ALTERED PHOTOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVES FEATURES WORK BY 18 LOCAL ARTISTS INCLUDING FREDY VALENCIA, DAVE PETKO AND ARNE GUTMANN

BY DAVID SONG IT IS SAID A PICTURE is worth a thousand words. Arts Whistler executive director Mo Douglas believes the pictures now on display at the Maury Young Arts Centre are worth far more than that.

Point of View: Altered Photographic Perspectives is a unique exhibition featuring the work of 18 Sea to Sky artists who have transformed original photos using various artistic and digital techniques. The result is a diverse array of images that stimulate the mind and highlight the creative potential of photographic art.

“We’ve been talking about doing a photographic exhibition for a while, and trying to decide what theme we want to land on,” says Douglas. “How do we make it a little different from some of the sports photography we see, or backcountry or whatever it might be?

“This idea of altered photos—whether they’ve been altered digitally, whether they’ve been hand-painted, whether someone’s added textiles to them—this idea of shifting the perspective of the photo came up, and we thought: that’s a cool one.”

‘A MORE ACCESSIBLE MEDIUM’

Each artist involved with the show brings a divergent approach to the table. Some have a prominent element of collage and layering, while others skilfully arrange textiles in and around the original photograph. Others still used more digital methods to enhance, subvert or tweak aspects of their source material.

Arts Whistler even had help from in-house.

“Our graphic designer, Fredy Valencia, has taken these great scenic images of cobblestone streets and buildings in Europe, and added animated characters coming out of the windows now,” Douglas says. “They’re so vibrant. You’ve got this really classic

European shot with incredibly contemporary cartoon designs overlaid. It’s really fun. The creativity that everybody has put into these is quite impressive.”

Dave Petko, the versatile sculptor, painter and tattoo artist who showed off his own work weeks ago in Pemberton, got in on the action himself. This time, he linked up with old friend and partner-incrime Arne Gutmann to produce a single piece. Gutmann, of course, is known and beloved for his photography, multimedia skills and decidedly cheeky demeanour (who can forget the time he pranked all of Arts Whistler in 2013?).

Douglas doesn’t want to give away too much, but she’s excited Gutmann—who moved to Powell River with his wife two years ago—dropped back in to work with Petko on an image she feels is reflective of who they are as creators.

Point of View has also helped unearth a few up-and-coming talents.

“There’s one fellow in the show, David Eastwood, and he’s new to me,” Douglas says. “He’s just started to really immerse himself more in art, and decided when he heard about the call for artists that [this exhibit] appealed to him. I thought, ‘where have you been?’ The quality [of his work] is not from somebody you might consider a new artist or an emerging artist.

“There’s one of the things that’s interesting about working in a more accessible medium.

We all have photographic images, especially now with cameras in our pockets. People can see that and think: ‘that might be something I can do. I have photos I really love. How can I transform those?’ It’s a bit more tangible than looking at a blank canvas. I would not be surprised if this show inspires people to dig in more to what they have.”

Point of View: Altered Photographic Perspectives is open to the public during the Maury Young Arts Centre’s regular opening hours until March 16. Learn more about the exhibition at artswhistler.com/ calendar-upcoming/point-of-view-alteredphotographic-perspectives-2. ■

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ARTS SCENE PIQUE’S GUIDE TO LOCAL EVENTS & NIGHTLIFE Here’s a quick look at some events happening in Whistler this week and beyond.

FIND MORE LOCAL EVENT LISTINGS (and submit your own for free!) at piquenewsmagazine.com/local-events

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The Peak to Valley Race, presented by Jackson-Triggs, celebrates its 38th year on Whistler Mountain. This unique race is not only long-standing, it’s also the longest GS race of its kind on the planet, challenging teams of four to race down Whistler Mountain. > Feb. 23 and 24 > Whistler Blackcomb > $665+ tax

COAST OUTDOORS PAYAK CROSS-COUNTRY SKI LOPPET The Coast Outdoors P’ayakentsut, or “Payak” for short, is truly an event for all ages and all levels of crosscountry skiers. Traversing Olympic legacy trails as well as old-growth forests, the loppet offers participants a chance to train, to meet new friends, to enjoy the rugged wild beauty of the Callaghan Valley, and to enjoy what is truly a sport for life: cross-country skiing.

Find more info and register at payak.ca. > Feb. 24 > Whistler Olympic Park, Callaghan Valley > Varies

SCENE STUDY WITH ANGIE NOLAN Actor, writer, and director Angie Nolan will guide you through a three-session acting intensive designed to help aspiring actors dig deeper into scene and character study. These sessions will be focused on uninhibited imagination work and will help actors dive deeper into aspects of scene work.

Read more at thepointartists.com. > Feb. 24 and 25 > The Point Artist-Run Centre > $130

FIRE & ICE SHOW Where else but Whistler would performers entertain you with an electric mix of music, dance and spinning fire? Watch world-class athletes flip and twist through a burning ring of fire, then finish the night off with a first-class fireworks display. > Feb. 25, 7:30 p.m. > Skier’s Plaza > Free

EARLY SEASON CLEARANCE SALE !!!!!

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PARTIAL RECALL

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1 ROYAL DESCENT Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, tries his hand at skeleton at the Whistler Sliding Centre on Feb. 15. Prince Harry and wife Meaghan Markle were in B.C. to mark one year until the 2025 Invictus Games. PHOTO BY JEREMY ALLEN 3 FROSTY FUN Good times were had by all at The Point Artist-Run Centre’s annual winter carnival last week—with Frosty himself getting in on the curling action. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE POINT ARTIST-RUN CENTRE 4 FAMILY FIRST Czybel, JJ and LJ make the most of the Resort Municipality of Whistler’s Family Day offerings at Whistler Olympic Plaza on Feb. 19. PHOTO COURTESY OF CZYBEL LOREN 5 POINTED AFFAIR Andrew, Heather, Karen and Paul enjoyed the Winter Carnival festivities at The Point on Saturday, Feb. 17. PHOTO BY SUSAN HUTCHINSON / COURTESY OF INVICTUS GAMES VANCOUVER WHISTLER 2025 2 GLOW GETTER The sunrise over Whistler on Saturday, Feb. 17 as seen from the Rainbow neighbourhood. PHOTO BY DOUG RYAN

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IN SPIRIT A mounted model of a SkyTrain car presented to the Resort Municipality of Whistler in 1985.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE WHISTLER MUSEUM

The Spirit of Whistler

BY ALLYN PRINGLE

WWW.WHISTLERLAWYER.CA adam@whistlerlawyer.ca | 604.905.5180

Land Act:

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Comments concerning this application should be directed to the Project Manager at 200-10428 153rd St. Surrey BC V3R 1E1. Comments will be received by the Ministry of Forests until March 27, 2024. Ministry of Forests may not consider comments received after this date.

Please visit the Applications, Comments & Reasons for Decision website at https:/comment.nrs.gov.bc.ca for more information. Be advised that any response to this advertisement will be considered part of the public record.

For more information, contact Information Access Operations at the Ministry of Technology, Innovation and Citizens’ Services in Victoria at: www.gov.bc.ca/citz/iao/.

40 FEBRUARY 23, 2024

WHILE REORGANIZING artifacts in the collection recently, we came across a mounted model of a SkyTrain car presented to the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) on Sept. 5, 1985. While it wouldn’t seem like Whistler had much to do with a transit system built in Vancouver, the plaque attached to the model tells us it was presented by Grace McCarthy (then the “Minister Responsible for BC Transit”) to Terry Rodgers (then the mayor of Whistler) “on the occasion of the naming of car number 053 in the SkyTrain system the ‘Spirit of Whistler.’”

Vancouver’s SkyTrain began as a legacy project of Expo 86, which had the theme “Transportation and Communication: World in Motion—World in Touch.” While other

Waterfront Station, they could try out the train and get an idea of what it would be like to travel on when it was finished. The rest of the original Expo Line out to New Westminster Station was completed in 1985, and began running free weekend service on Dec. 11, 1985. Full service (with fees) began on Jan. 3, 1986, just a few months before Expo 86 opened.

According to the Whistler Question, the 114 SkyTrain cars were all going to be named after towns and places in British Columbia, though they questioned who of the 136 municipalities would not get to see their name on a car. We don’t know if each municipality received a model car on a plaque from a government minister, but it is possible part of the reason Whistler did was because the provincial cabinet was having its annual retreat in Whistler at the time. This meant ministers and Premier Bill Bennett

The name of the “Spirit of Whistler” is similar to Whistler’s community production created for Expo 86: Whistler—Let the Spirit Grow. transit projects were proposed for Vancouver in the past, such as a light rail line proposed by the NDP in 1974, none came to fruition.

Construction of the Advanced Light Rapid Transit (ALRT) SkyTrain, a new technology from the Urban Transportation Development Corporation in Ontario, began on March 1, 1982 under the Social Credit government of Bill Bennett.

Not everyone was a fan of this project, with some politicians such as Vancouver Mayor Mike Harcourt preferring cheaper technologies that were already tested. Some of the objections to the project came from the fact the new system did not have a driver, though many rested on the expected cost.

Despite this opposition, the first kilometre of track was ready to open as a demonstration line in the summer of 1983.

While riders wouldn’t get all that far from

were on hand as the RMOW celebrated 10 years, and for the official opening of the Whistler Conference Centre on Sept. 8, 1985.

The name of the “Spirit of Whistler” is similar to Whistler’s community production created for Expo 86: Whistler—Let the Spirit Grow. This song, dance and comedy show featured the Whistler Singers and a group of Whistler characters (including Sandy Boyd dressed as a downhill skier, complete with racing skis and helmet) and, after premiering to the community in the Rainbow Theatre, was performed at Expo in the BC Pavilion.

Today, the Expo line extends past New Westminster, and more lines have been added to the SkyTrain system. While it is unclear whether individual cars still have names, you might find yourself thinking of Whistler if you happen to find yourself on car 053. n

ASTROLOGY

Free Will Astrology WEEK OF FEBRUARY 23 BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries filmmaker Akira

Kurosawa was one of the greats. In his 30 films, he crafted a reputation as a masterful storyteller. A key moment in his development as an emotionally intelligent artist came when he was 13 years old. His older brother Heigo took him to view the aftermath of the Great Kanto earthquake.

Akira wanted to avert his gaze from the devastation, but Heigo compelled him to look. Why? He wished for Akira to learn to deal with fear by facing it directly. I think you Aries people are more skilled at this challenging exercise than all the other signs. I hope you will call on it with aplomb in the coming weeks. You may be amazed at the courage it arouses in you.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “When a mountain doesn’t listen, say a prayer to the sea,” said Taurus painter Cy Twombly. “If God doesn’t respond, direct your entreaties to Goddess,” I tell my Taurus friend Audrey. “If your mind doesn’t provide you with useful solutions, make an appeal to your heart instead,” my Taurus mentor advises me. This counsel should be useful for you in the coming weeks, Taurus. It’s time to be diligent, relentless, ingenious, and indefatigable in going after what you want. Keep asking until you find a source that will provide it.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Gemini philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson offered advice that’s perfect for you right now. He said, “Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not.” Here’s what I will add. First, you very much need to commune with extra doses of beauty in the coming weeks. Doing so will expedite your healing and further your education—two activities that are especially important. Second, one way to accomplish your assignment is to put yourself in the presence of all the beautiful people, places, and things you can find.

Third, be imaginative as you cultivate beauty within yourself. How? That’s your homework.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): I bet that sometime soon, you will dream of flying through the sky on a magic carpet.

In fact, this may be a recurring dream for you in the coming months. By June, you may have soared along on a floating rug more than 10 times. Why? What’s this all about? I suspect it’s one aspect of a project that life is encouraging you to undertake. It’s an invitation to indulge in more flights of the imagination; to open your soul to mysterious potencies; to give your fantasy life permission to be wilder and freer. You know that old platitude “shit happens”? You’re ready to experiment with a variation on that: “Magic happens.”

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): On Feb. 22, ancient Romans celebrated the holiday of Caristia. It was a time for reconciliation. People strove to heal estrangements and settle longstanding disagreements. Apologies were offered, and truces were negotiated. In alignment with current astrological omens, Leo, I recommend you revive this tradition. Now is an excellent time to embark on a crusade to unify, harmonize, restore, mend, and assuage. I dare you to put a higher priority on love than on ego!

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): My poet friend Jafna likes to say that only two types of love are available to us: too little and too much. We are either deprived of the precise amount and quality of the love we want, or else we have to deal with an excess of love that doesn’t match the kind we want. But I predict this will at most be a mild problem for you in the coming weeks—and perhaps not a problem at all. You will have a knack for giving and receiving just the right amount of love, neither too little nor too much. And the love flowing toward you and from you will be gracefully appropriate.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): If the devil card comes up for me in a divinatory Tarot reading, I don’t get worried or scared that something bad might happen. On the contrary, I interpret it favourably. It means that an interesting problem or riddle has arrived or will soon arrive in my

life—and that this twist can potentially make me wiser, kinder, and wilder. The appearance of the devil card suggests that I need to be challenged so as to grow a new capacity or understanding. It’s a good omen, telling me that life is conspiring to give me what I need to outgrow my limitations and ignorance. Now apply these principles, Libra, as you respond to the devil card I just drew for you.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): A taproot is a thick, central, and primary root from which a plant’s many roots branch out laterally. Typically, a taproot grows downward and is pretty straight. It may extend to a depth greater than the height of the plant sprouting above ground. Now let’s imagine that we humans have metaphorical taproots. They connect us with our sources of inner nourishment. They are lifelines to secret or hidden treasures we may be only partly conscious of. Let’s further imagine that in the coming months, Scorpio, your taproot will flourish, burgeon, and spread deeper to draw in new nutrients. Got all that? Now I invite you to infuse this beautiful vision with an outpouring of love for yourself and for the wondrous vitality you will be absorbing.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Behavioural ecologist Professor Dan Charbonneau has observed the habits of ants, bees, and other social insects. He says that a lot of the time, many of them just lounge around doing nothing.

In fact, most animals do the same. The creatures of the natural world are just not very busy. Psychologist Dr. Sandi Mann urges us to learn from their lassitude. “We’ve created a society where we fear boredom, and we’re afraid of doing nothing,” she says. But that addiction to frenzy may limit our inclination to daydream, which in turn inhibits our creativity. I bring these facts to your attention, Sagittarius, because I suspect you’re in a phase when lolling around doing nothing much will be extra healthy for you. Liberate and nurture your daydreams, please!

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “Education is an admirable thing,” wrote Oscar Wilde, “but it is well to remember that nothing worth knowing can be taught.” As I ponder your future in the coming weeks, I vociferously disagree with him. I am sure you can learn many things worth knowing from teachers of all kinds. It’s true that some of the lessons may be accidental or unofficial—and not delivered by traditional teachers. But that won’t diminish their value. I invite you to act as if you will in effect be enrolled in school 24/7 until the equinox.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The planets Mars and Venus are both cruising through Aquarius. Do they signify that synchronicities will weave magic into your destiny?

Yes! Here are a few possibilities I foresee: 1. Smouldering flirtations that finally ignite; 2. Arguments assuaged by love-making; 3. Mix-ups about the interplay between love and lust or else wonderful synergies between love and lust; 4. Lots of labyrinthine love talk, romantic sparring, and intricate exchange about the nature of desire; 5.

Adventures in the sexual frontiers; 6. Opportunities to cultivate interesting new varieties of intimacy.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Unlike the Pope’s decrees, my proclamations are not infallible. As opposed to Nostradamus and many modern soothsayers, I never imagine I have the power to definitely decipher what’s ahead. One of my main mottoes is “The future is undecided. Our destinies are always mutable.” Please keep these caveats in mind whenever you commune with my horoscopes. Furthermore, consider adopting my approach as you navigate through the world—especially in the coming weeks, when your course will be extra responsive to your creative acts of willpower. Decide right now what you want the next chapter of your life story to be about. You can make it what you want.

Homework: What helpful tip would you like to deliver to the person you will be a year from now?

Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com.

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Age: 5 Months Old Gender: Male Breed: Pittie Mix Size: Medium To learn more about Bourbon, visit whistlerwag.com and fill out an application today!

www.whistlerwag.com

HOME SERVICES BUILDING AND RENOVATIONS

Wiebe Construction Services Serving Whistler for over 25 years

• Kitchen and Bath • Renovations & Repairs • Drywall • Painting • Finishing • Minor Electrical & Plumbing

piquenewsmagazine.com/ local-events/

Ray Wiebe 604.935.2432 Pat Wiebe 604.902.9300 raymondo99.69@gmail.com

WWW.PIQUE NEWSMAGA ZINE.COM

FREE

APRIL 14, 2023 ISSUE 30.15

HOME SERVICES

EMPLOYMENT

MOVING AND STORAGE

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

big or small we do it all!

Call 604-902-MOVE www.alltimemoving.ca

Full Time Yalakom Valley Ranch is expanding operations and is looking for a self motivated, positive, energetic couple to help manage an off grid cattle ranch in the Lillooet area.

Training will be provided, however it will be helpful if the applicants have some gardening, mechanical and/or carpentry skills. Accommodations, hydro, wifi will be provided. April 1st start date.Submit resume to YVRcowboy@gmail.com

by March 15. 604-932-0809 yvrcowboy@gmail.com

SECURITY BLANKET

14

22

WEDGE ISSUE Backcountry skier reflects on near-death experience

BLOWING UP Gauging the risk

32

of the

Sea to Sky’s volcanoes

BEST IN SHOWDOWN 72-Hour Showdown returns with a bang

WWW.PIQUENEWSMA GAZINE.COM

APRIL 21, 2023 ISSUE 30.16

FREE MEDICATION

•

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

We've Got You Covered

RED DOOR BISTRO IS SEEKING A FULL TIME LINE/GRILL COOK.

Part Time Work at Recycle Depot Sites – Nesters/Function – Training provided – send resume to denise.imbeau@gflenv.com

1-2 years experience working in a similar station an asset.

Duties include prepping/portioning/cooking steaks, seafood and pan cooking.

•

Imagine working in a well respected fine dinning bistro which is well run, fun, and does 60-70 covers a night.

•

Wage is $25-$28/hour based on experience, plus tips.

Medical & Dental benefits and staff discounts in DOUG BUSH SURVEY SERVICES LTD. Roland’s Pub.

is looking for a

Whistler Personnel Solutions Full-time, part-time & temp jobs.

No cost, no strings. 604-905-4194 www.whistler-jobs.com

14

17

SPRING OOPS WB apologizes for rocky start to spring season

40

ENGAGE THIS Whistler council to limit input at meetings

APRIL 28, 2023 ISSUE 30.17

LIGHT IT UP Gordon Lightfoot tribute act Early Morning Rain plays Whistler

WWW.PIQUENEWSM AGAZINE.COM

FREE BIG BALLS

Email resume to

SURVEYinfo@reddoorbistro.ca FIELD TECHNICIAN: Preferably with a technical school program in geomatics.

SURVEY SERVICES LTD. Experience and Proficient in the use of robotic survey instruments equipment is an asset. isWe looking forand a GPS are currently seeking a detail-oriented and driven

DOUG BUSH

VISITORS’ GUIDE 2017-2018 FREE

T h e L E G E N D( s ) o f

AJ OIRRD A N

Services

HEALTH & WELLBEING

individual to join our team as a Work in engineering and building construction layout, SURVEY FIELD TECHNICIAN: topographic site surveys, site improvement surveys Preferably a technical school program in geomatics. and precisewith monitoring.

FIELD SURVEYOR.

In this role, you will be responsible for collecting data

SPORTS & ACTIVITIES 14

18

SAFETY FIRST? Whistler Blackcomb weighs in on safety

38

BEAR SEASON Old, emaciated bear euthanized near Whistler Village

HIT PARADE Introduce Wolves launch new multifaceted music company

WWW.PIQUENEWSMA GAZINE.COM

MAY 5, 2023 ISSUE 30.18

FREE NOSTALGIA

Group Fitness Classes Fridays – Yoga & Pilates Blend 7:30-8:30am w Liv Saturdays – Zumba 10:30-11:30 pam w Susie Sundays- Vinyasa Flow 9:00-10:00am w Nicki Tuesdays –Swim Fit Endurance 10:00-11:00 am w M-A Wednesdays – Gentle Fit 1:00-2:00 pm w Diana Thursdays – Spin 5:15-6:15 pm w Courtney

See our full page schedule ad in this issue of Pique for details

Community

NOTICES LEGAL/PUBLIC NOTICES

For more information, please call Cooper’s Towing Ltd. @ 604-902-1930

detail, and possesses excellent problem-solving skills. topographic surveys, site or improvement surveys Please call Iansite @ 604-932-3314 and monitoring. email @ ian@dbss.ca Sendprecise Resumes to Ian@dbss.ca

Experience with Civil #18-1370 Alpha LakeAutoCAD Rd. Whistler BC 3D V8E also 0H9 an asset to assist in office with computations and drawing Serving Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton preparation.

Please call Ian @ 604-932-3314 or email @ ian@dbss.ca 14

15

GET REAL Demand for recreational properties heating up

MAY 12, 2023 ISSUE 30.19

40

POINT TAKEN Singer-songwriter Jill Barber plays The Point May 6 how Whistler stacks up on bikeability WWW.PIQUE NEWSMAGA ZINE.COM

BIKE CHECK National dataset shows

FREE TO SASHAY

Tired sniffing Premium and wood dust? #18-1370of Alpha Lake Rd.PL Whistler BC V8E 0H9 Being just another wood tick in town?

Serving Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton

Come be an erector for

Wide Open Welding

Whistler’s premier visitor magazine is on stands now!

Skill set we’re after….

Quest University closes its doors with a Tantalus Twist

Warehouse Lien Act

Whereas the following registered owners are indebted to Cooper’s Towing Ltd. for unpaid towing and storage fees plus any related charges that may accrue.

Notice is hereby given that on March 9, 2024, at noon or thereafter the goods will be seized and sold.

1. Rebecca McCaffrey 2003 Nissan Murano Vin: JN8AZ08W33W222850 $2100.00 2. Corey Bennett 1997 Nissan Pathfinder Vin: JN8AR05Y4VW134088 $1911.00 The vehicles are currently being stored at Cooper’s Towing Ltd 8065 Nesters Road Whistler, BC, V8E 0G4.

and surveys Proficient the3D use of robotic survey Experience with AutoCAD Civil also an asset to and conducting in in various locations. instruments and GPS equipment is an drawing asset. assist in office with computations and This is an excellent opportunity for someone who preparation. enjoysinworking outdoors, has a strong attentionlayout, to Work engineering and building construction

14

MIND THE GAP Whistler Valley Society looks to fill in housing

Housing

gaps

15

POT OF GOLD Whistler has its

34

first

cannabis retail applicants

FOR THE CHILDREN Whistler Children’s Festival celebrates

40 years

FRE E

CLOSET SPACE

Look for our Winter 2024 Issue!

Find it on select stands and in Whistler hotel rooms.

14

INTO ACTION Whistler’s new Housing Action Plan revealed

15

RAINBOW

REVISITED Popular park set to close for construction

56

ARTNERS

IN CRIME Cary and Paulo Lopes launch new exhibit, ‘ARTnership

• Not afraid of heights • Able to read a tape measure • Basic layout skills • Mechanical aptitude • Ready and willing to learn a new trade • Positive attitude • Not made of sugar

$25-$38 per hour – negotiable upon experience contactus@wideopenwelding.com FEBRUARY 23, 2024

43

We’re Hiring! Experienced Carpenters

We are looking to hire another member to our team at Straightline.

Experience in Plumbing is required. Gas Fitting and HVAC would be preferred but not essential.

Wages are based on experience.

Part-time or Full-time positions available.

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A NEW CAREER IN CONSTRUCTION? WANT TO COME AND WORK FOR A GREAT TEAM WITH LOTS OF ROOM FOR CAREER GROWTH? APPLY TO CONNECT@TMBUILDERS.CA BENEFITS, FULL TIME WORK, WAGES $30-$45 BASED ON EXPERIENCE

We’re Hiring!

Structural Steel Project Manager Squamish Based Ironworker

Please call 604-935-8771 or email straightlineplumbingandheating@gmail.com for more information.

Resort Municipality of Whistler

Employment Opportunities • Youth Leader starting wage of $22.45 per hour

• Legislative and Privacy Coordinator starting wage of $44.24 per hour

• Engineering Technologist - Utilities starting wage of $44.24 per hour These are rewarding career opportunities in the structural steel industry.

Both positions are integral members of the project team.

PM is responsible for all stages of structural projects of varying size and complexity.

Ironworker will assist senior installer and crews on various Squamish sites.

Full-time permanent positions, competitive wage & benefits package.

Send Application to - info@wwswelding.ca

Resort Municipality of Whistler whistler.ca/careers

Vacasa’s forward-thinking approach and industry-leading technology help set us apart as the largest full-service vacation rental company in North America.

We are seeking individuals with a passion for providing exceptional vacation experiences for our Owners and Guests.

Current Opportunities Emergency Program Officer | Full Time, Permanent Salary: $78,208

We offer competitive wages and benefits: Travel allowance for Squamish/Pemberton-based employees OR Ski Pass/Activity allowance, Extended Medical, RRSP match, Fun & Safe Work Environment-Great Team, opportunities to grow and more.

Office Coordinator | Full Time, Permanent Salary: $54,746 Parks Labourer | Full Time, Summer Seasonal Salary: $29.09 per hour In addition to the satisfaction of giving back to this incredible community, take a look at what our benefit package has to offer for all full time, permanent team member: 9-Day Fortnight - BC Municipal Pension Plan - Extended Medical Benefits - Dental Coverage - Vision Benefits - Free Fitness Centre access - Keeping it Active Allowance

For a full job description or to learn more, visit pemberton.ca/employment.

44 FEBRUARY 23, 2024

$55,000 per year

Full Time all year round Apply online today! https://www.vacasa.com/careers/positions or email: paul.globisch@vacasa.com or call to find out more details at 604-698-0520

Interested? Send your resume to recruiting@pemberton.ca.

VillageOfPemberton

Owner Relations Manager

pemberton.ca

We thank all applicants for their interest but only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

Planning and Building Assistant (Regular, Full-Time)

Looking to contribute to your local community?

Consider a career in local government. Join the SLRD’s team of dedicated staff who work together to make a difference in the region.

WE ARE HIRING! DHD CONSTRUCTION LTD., a Squamish-based, full-service construction and development company is HIRING THE FOLLOWING POSITIONS: 2 ASSISTANT SITE SUPERVISORS SITE FOREPERSON CARPENTER APPRENTICES LABOURERS CONSTRUCTION SAFETY OFFICER PROJECT COORDINATOR COMPETITIVE SALARIES EXTENDED HEALTH & DENTAL BENEFITS PERSONAL TOOL PROGRAM Be a part of the DHD team and our exciting project – Finch Drive. A 20 acre, master-planned community using modern building technologies to achieve some of Squamish’s most energy efficient, multi-family homes.

For more information about DHD, full job descriptions and how to apply, visit www.dhdev.ca.

Headquartered in Pemberton, the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) delivers a wide range of regional, sub-regional and local services to its residents. The SLRD is a BC Regional District consisting of 4 member municipalities (Squamish, Whistler, Pemberton, Lillooet) and 4 electoral areas. Services include land use planning, solid waste management, building inspection, fire protection, emergency preparedness, 911 services, recreation, water and sewer utilities, regional transit, trails and open spaces as well as financial support for various community services. The region contains some of the most spectacular forests, waterways, and mountains in the province and affords an endless range of opportunities for outdoor adventure, making it an exceptional place to live, work and play.

The SLRD is seeking a detail-oriented, organized and collaborative individual to fill the fulltime position of Planning and Building Assistant. Reporting to the Director of Planning and Development Services, the Planning and Building Assistant provides clerical and technical support for SLRD community planning, land use regulation, and building inspection activities.

Qualified candidates possess 2+ years of recent clerical or office administration experience and a high school diploma with post-secondary certification or courses in office administration, public administration, MS Office, or a related field. The ideal candidate has excellent communication and interpersonal skills, and the ability to maintain effective working relationships with a variety of groups including SLRD staff, contractors, the public, elected officials and other external partners.

For further information, please refer to the full job description at www.slrd.bc.ca/employment.

The salary range for this position is $57,210 - $64,390 annually. Also available with this position are: a comprehensive benefits package; participation in the Municipal Pension Plan; a compressed work week (9-day fortnight); and learning and career development opportunities.

Interested candidates are invited to submit their cover letter and resume (preferably in .pdf format) by email to careers@slrd.bc.ca. This posting will remain open until filled, with application review commencing on March 4, 2024.

We sincerely thank all applicants for their interest, however, only candidates under consideration will be contacted.

NOW HIRING!

NOW HIRING!

COORDINATOR, CONFERENCE SALES

Full Time Meat Manager

($64,480 – $76,960 (+ benefits) depending on experience)

Full Time Assistant Meat Manager

Full Time, Year Round

($54,080 – $70,720 (+ benefits) depending on experience)

Full Time Our Team enjoys:Meat Manager

Love a good challenge? Passionate about the place you call home? Tourism Whistler is looking for community-loving, mountainappreciating, environment-respecting people to join our team.

The Coordinator, Conference Sales assists the Sales Manager(s) in developing and maintaining a strong client base. Using outstanding communication, interpersonal skills, and a high level of enthusiasm and initiative, the Coordinator builds relationships and delivers superior service to our clients.

What we offer: nine-day fortnight schedule,

an excellent benefits package, a commitment to health and wellness, and a fun and supportive team environment.

The starting salary range for this role is $50,000 - $52,000 annually.

TO VIEW OUR CAREER OPPORTUNITIES, AND TO APPLY, VISIT US ONLINE AT: WHISTLER.COM/CAREERS.

Flexible schedules ($64,480 – ü$76,960 (+ benefits) depending on experience) ü

Training and experience

ü

Prime location in Pemberton

Substantial Employee Discount Card & Benefits Full üTime Assistant Meat Manager

($54,080 – ü$70,720 (+ benefits) depending on experience) Short commute = less time, more $$$ Download or fill out our online application at https://www.pembertonsupermarket.com/

or stop by the store and we will give you an application to fill out.

Our TeamYouabout/employment/ enjoys: can also email us at jobs@pembertonsupermarket.com or call us at 604-894-3663.

ü

Flexible schedules

ü

Training and experience

ü

Substantial Employee Discount Card & Benefits

ü

Prime location in Pemberton

ü

Short commute = less time, more $$$

Download or fill out our online application at https://www.pembertonsupermarket.com/ about/employment/ or stop by the store and we will give you an application to fill out.

You can also email us at jobs@pembertonsupermarket.com or call us at 604-894-3663.

FEBRUARY 23, 2024

45

Lil’wat Nation

Employment Opportunities Ullus Community Centre • Housing Administrator ( $46,683.00 to $63,973.00 per year) • Early Childhood Educator ($38,038 - $53,599 per year) • Accounts Receivable Coordinator (($38,038 - $53,599 per year) • Financial Reporting Manager ($93,475.20 - $101,556 per year) • Transition House Support Worker ($20.90 -$29.45 per hour) • Administrative Assistant, Lands and Resources ($38,038 - $53,599 per year)

Xet’òlacw Community School • Substitute Teacher( $32.02 - $58.36 per hour) • Social Worker/ Counsellor ($80,371.20 -$91,673.40 per year)

Lil’wat Health & Healing • Assistant Health Director ($93,475.20 - $101,556 per year) • Homemaker ($20.90 - $29.45 per hour)

Lil’wat Business Group • Transfer station manager ($30 to $34 per hour) • Accountant ($50,000 to $70,000 per year) • Summer student- Forestry ($22.00 to $25.00 per hour)

Benefits Pension Plan • Employee Assistance Program • Gym facility • Extended Health Benefits • Professional Development Please visit our career page for more information: https://lilwat.ca/careers/

WE ARE HIRING! CERTIFIED DENTAL ASSISTANT ($30-35) RECEPTIONIST with previous dental experience ($22-27)

Coordinator, Accounts Senior Accountant – – Accounts Receivable Coordinator Manager, Safety and Maternity Leave Receivable – Maternity Compliance Maternity LeaveLeave This position provides accounts receivable invoicing This position provide leadership andreceivable compliance inand the This position iswill responsible for accounts invoicing collections, balance sheet and bank reconciliations, prevention ofmonthly incident injury and illnesses across all operations and collections, monthly balance sheet and bank reconciliations, overseeing dailyfor revenue audit and analytical reporting and Venues the Whistler Olympic Legacy venues for Whistler Sport Legacies in the Finance Department

Our ideal candidate:

• Full time or Part time • Employee Benefits • No weekends or evenings • Locally owned and operated family practice • "Best Dental Office 2023 as voted by readers of Pique Newsmagazine"

Our ideal Our idealcandidate: candidate has experience in: (CRSP) certification • Canadian Registered Safety Professional •• 3+ practical general OFA III, (or equivalent) CPRaccounting / First Aid Certification 3+years years general accounting or accounts receivable Knowledge of BC regulatory framework of health, ••• Accounts receivable invoicing and collections Accounts Receivable invoicing and collections safety and environment •• Month Monthend endreconciliations reconciliationsincluding includingallallbank bankand andbalance balance • sheet Leadership: creative, innovative, demonstrates initiative and sheetaccounts accounts leads change •• Financial and reporting Financialanalysis analysis andPOS POSsystem system reporting • Organizational management, partnership and community development skills What we offer: What we offer: offer: •What Brandwe new affordable staff accommodation • Brand new affordable staff accommodation Brand$56,000-$65,000/year new affordable staff accommodation •• Salary: depending on experience • and Competitive $56,000/year start wage plus benefits education $70,000/year • Competitive start wage plus benefits

Please send your resume and a little about yourself to: managercreeksidedentalwhistler@gmail.com.

whistlersportlegacies.com/careers

46 FEBRUARY 23, 2024

APPLY NOW!

SEA TO SKY INVASIVE SPECIES COUNCIL

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

8

4 Executive3Director

3

6

LOCATION: Sea To Sky Region, BC (Hybrid work available) WORK HOURS: 38 hrs/week. Flexible schedule.

1

5

7

2

9 7

COMPENSATION: Base salary $80,000 - $88,000, plus vacation and benefits

5

6

4

6 2 1

7

JOB PERKS: Extended Health Benefits, 3 weeks annual vacation (starting) allowance, Time in lieu bank, Reimbursement of professional association

7

fees, Support for professional development.

POSITION OVERVIEW

5

4

1

1

5 9

The SSISC is looking to hire a highly skilled Executive Director who can build partnerships, secure funding agreements, manage a team of permanent

8

3

6

9

and seasonal staff, develop and implement strategic objectives, manage the operational budget and programs, and lead the organization in working

7

8

9

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towards our mission of minimizing the impacts of invasive species. This is a complex and exciting role that requires a confident leader with a broad skillset

4

6

2

5

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to step in to take the reins of a well-functioning and stable organization.

See https://ssisc.ca/jobs/ for the full job description and how to apply.

MEDIUM # 33 ACT FAST! Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.

If you have a passion for sales, strong leadership, excellent communication skills and an interest or knowledge of Indigenous Culture, we would like to hear from you. We offer a competitive benefit package, wellness benefits, training and education allowance and a supportive workplace.

The starting salary range for this role is $80,000.00 to $90,000.00 annually.

2

7 9

9 4 6 7 8 2 9 send1 your cover6 letter and resume to 3 Please human.resources@slcc.ca by March 3, 2024.

3 7 4 For a full job description, please visit our website at 2 3 slcc.ca/careers.

5 7 6 MEDIUM

Answers 6 3 2 8 4 5 1 7 9

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# 34

9

2

CIVIL CONSTRUCTION 5 7 9 5 4SERVICES 6 3 AND SNOW 1 6 9 7 9

4

5

BUILDING AN EXCELLENT COMPANY, PEOPLE, RELATIONSHIPS, AND RESULTS 2 7 6 4 4 9 5 5 RELIABLE 3 PROBLEM 7 ATTENTION PROFESSIONALISM AND HONEST SOLVERS TO DETAIL 6 2

STRONG WORK ETHIC

# 36 HYDROVAC OPERATOR - Valid Class 1 or Class 3 with air brakes required.

Manual transmission. 2 years experience preferred. $32-$37 per hour.

HEAVY EQUIPMENT OPERATOR, Squamish - Minimum 5 years or 5,000 hours operating experience on excavator. Full-time, Monday – Friday. $33-$42 per hour.

www.whistlerwag.com

8 9 1 3 7 6 2 5 4

8

1

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES MEDIUM

# 35

Looking to adopt?

# 33

3 9

6

MEDIUM

We are looking for a General Manager, Sales and Events 5 7 to join 8 our team

4 3

2 1

1 4

HEAVY DUTY EQUIPMENT MECHANIC, Whistler – Red Seal Certified, Commercial Truck & Transport, Transport Trailer required. CVSE Inspector’s ticket, Air Conditioning ticket, Class 1 or 3 with air brakes preferred. Toolbox available for rent. $37.70-$39.80 per hour.

ACCOUNTS PAYABLE SPECIALIST – Keen eye for detail and proficiency in data entry and management required. Completion of accounting courses preferred. $24-$28 per hour.

9 8 3 2 1 7 6 4 5

# 34

8 6 2 9 5 1 4 3 5 3 1 4 7 2 8 6 7 9 4 8 6 3 2 5 6 2 7 5 4 9 3 1 3 5 9 7 1 8 6 4 4 1 8 2 3 6 7 9 9 8 6 1 2 4 5 7 1 4 5 3 8 7 9 2 piquenewsmagazine.com/ 2 7local-events/ 3 6 9 5 1 8

7 9 1 8 2 5 3 6 4

# 35 # 36 5 7 9 8– Prepare 1 3 6 financial 4 2 information, 5 6 4 3 reports 8 9 and 7 1develop 2 ACCOUNTANT statements, internal control 2 4 3 5 9 6 7 1 8 7 9 3 1$26-$32 4 2 8per5 hour.

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4 3 2 8 6 7 9

9 1 7 5 3 8 4

coastalmountain.ca/careers FEBRUARY 23, 2024 4/11/2005

47

PUZZLES ACROSS 1 6 10 15 18 19 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 31 33 35 36 37 38 40 41 42 44 45 47 51 52 53 55 56 57 58 60 62 63 65

Outspoken Study in haste English racecourse Dandy Poetry Muse Rubs against -- Island Aspersion Stands Flavoring plant Insert mark Vehicle Animal doc Copier need Desert plant Droned Energy type, for short Indigo Out of the way Evening religious service Hold sway Yellow pigment Wild water buffalo Rejects Had concerns Remove Snoozes Stable state Climbing plant Cones and cubes Actor Tommy -- Jones Cake Crafted Came to an end Safe place So-so Prayer beads Abound

66 67 68 69 71 73 75 76 77 78 81 83 84 85 87 90 92 94 95 96 98 99 100 101 103 105 106 108 109 110 111 113 114 115 118 119 120 124

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125 126 127 128 129 131 133 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142

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7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 19 20 22 28

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30 32 34 36 37 39 40 42 43 44 45 46 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 57 59 61 63 64 66 70 72 74 76 79 80 82 84 86 87 88 89 91 93

Brace oneself Serv. branch Like a baguette Land measure Legitimate Ohio’s lake Western Fed a fire Easter event Fragrant wood Prescribed amount Simple Inventor’s middle name Rind Forwarded Pack Softball player (2 wds.)

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118 119 121 122 123 125 126 130 132 133 134

Backbone Scold Tropical tree Go off course Listens State For men only Actress -- Gabor Macaw -- and outs Command for a pooch

LAST WEEKS’ ANSWERS

Enter a digit from 1 through 9 in each cell, in such a way that: • Each horizontal row contains each digit exactly once • Each vertical column contains each digit exactly once • Each 3x3 box contains each digit exactly once Solving a sudoku puzzle does not require any mathematics; simple logic suffices.

LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM

8 1 7

4

3

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5

8 6

6

3

4

5

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9

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MEDIUM # 33 Solution, tips and computer program at www.sudoku.com

ANSWERS ON PAGE 47

48 FEBRUARY 23, 2024

CALL THE EXPERTS

Want to advertise your service on this page?

BLINDS & SHADES

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BLINDS & SHADES

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Custom Window Treatments Contact us today for a free quote or consultation info@suncrestwindowcoverings.com

604.698.8406

CARPET CLEANING

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• Carpets • Upholstery • Tiles

• Furnace • Airducts • Dryer vents 100% ECO FRIENDLY CERTIFIED

www.blackbearcarpetcleaning.ca • 604 698 6610

Serving Whistler since 1986

David Weldon david@summersnow.ca 604-938-3521

• Wood blinds • Sunscreens • Shades • Motorization

www.summersnow.ca david@summersnowfinishings.com

Summer Snow Finishings Limited

CLEANING

Specialized in cleaning

• Full service cleaning • Residential, commercial & construction • Carpet/ upholstery cleaning • Property Maintenance • Established 2011

604.932.1388 / 1.877.932.5775 blackcombchimney@yahoo.ca

(604)966-1437 coastmountaincleaning@gmail.com www.coastmountaincleaning.com

Chimneys, Furnace & Airducts, Dryer vents.

Using Tea tree oil based products since the begining for a better future

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VISITORS’ GUIDE 2017-2018 FREE

DOUG BUSH

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IAN STIRK ian@dbss.ca

FEBRUARY 23, 2024

49

MAXED OUT

Canada should adopt term limits for prime ministers AT THE RISK of sounding un-Canadian— heaven forbid—I’ve come to believe there is one element of the U.S. political system Canada should adopt.

There are any number of things our neighbours south of the border should stop doing. Things Canada’s never done. They should stop electing the vast majority of positions they currently elect... which is just about everything.

BY G.D. MAXWELL On a federal level, the two countries are pretty similar, with one glaring difference.

Both elect regional representatives, but only one elects the top job. Everyone in the U.S. can vote for president, unless they’re an unwelcome minority in a gerrymandered state. In Canada, only people in the riding where he or she runs can vote directly for prime minister. Yeah, I know, we also have an un-elected Senate. But I’m only addressing important positions. Voting directly for PM is not what Canada should adopt.

At lower levels of American government it gets silly. Statewide and especially locally, every position from dog catcher up is an elected job. Judges, sheriffs, treasurers, county commissioners, everything.

So what’s the U.S. got Canada doesn’t?

And should? Term limits at the top.

There are two main reasons Canada should have term limits for prime ministers: Lack of succession planning, and hubris. And yes, the Venn diagram of the two overlap considerably.

Canadian prime ministers rarely know when to quit. They hang around so long they begin to stink. Like Ben Franklin’s adage about guests and three-day-old fish. From Diefenbaker on—exception to come—prime ministers have tended to overstay their welcome. When Dief’s own caucus turned against him and the party suffered a defeat, he still held on to power.

Lester Pearson was the notable exception.

Serving only four years in the mid 1960s, he not only decided to retire, he recruited his successor, Pierre Trudeau, his justice minister. He was the last prime minister who had the foresight—though many would argue not the judgment—to do so, and a sufficient lack of hubris to hang on to power.

It’s been all downhill since. We had 12 years of Trudeau the First, with a brief asterisk for the nine months Joe Who held the office the first time Pierre decided enough was enough. And we endured the two-and-ahalf months of John Turner’s interlude after Pierre’s walk in the woods because Pierre was even worse at succession planning than Pearson.

And then came Brian Mulroney, who hung on to power so long and in the end stunk so badly that when he finally read the tea

50 FEBRUARY 23, 2024

AK2 / E+ / GETTY IMAGES

leaves and passed the torch to Kim Campbell, she squeezed out four months in office before suffering the worst defeat a governing party ever experienced in Canadian history, not only losing her own seat but presiding, briefly, over the party returning to Parliament with only two elected members.

Despite playing against the odds—a Liberal government balancing the budget— Jean Chrétien’s 10 years were a few too many.

He recognized the smell when he passed the reins of power to Paul Martin. While Paul spent his whole life preparing to be prime

to exit—and his ego block causing him to not bring along anyone who might follow him.

But, hard as it is to believe now, it was largely because Justin Trudeau was a breath of fresh air.

Like his father, he packed the upper echelons of the party with his supporters. And like his father—and so many in the job before him—he has stayed too long. And he has steadfastly failed to groom a successor.

At this point, a year-and-a-half out from an election, many voices around the country are clamouring for him to step aside. Those

Canadian prime ministers rarely know when to quit. They hang around so long they begin to stink.

minister, few could remember anyone who seemed less prepared for the job.

To no one’s surprise, Stephen Harper got the job with a minority government in 2006.

His crowning achievement was to redesign almost every stop sign in the country with his own name appended before he failed to discern the smell surrounding him and lost to our current PM in 2015.

And so we come to Trudeau the Second.

When the Liberals won the election in 2015, there was no doubt why. It was partly because of the country’s deep dislike of Mr. Harper, partly because he was easy to dislike, partly because of his policies and largely because of his hubris in not knowing when

are voices of people who can read the writing on the wall. The party is badly trailing the Conservatives, from sea to sea to sea, who are being led by a guy you probably wouldn’t be comfortable buying a used car from, pushing a common-sense revolution devoid of common sense.

In other words, a perfect candidate in our dismal, populist times.

I’d like to take this opportunity to say I’ve never voted for Justin Trudeau. Okay, cheap trick. Nearly 23,000 people living in the riding of Papineau did in 2021. Factoid: That was only 50.3% of the votes cast.

I have voted for the Liberal candidate in this riding, however. And barring a real

surprise, I probably will again, since I believe Patrick Weiler has not only done a good job but at this point I’m certain he could do a better job as PM than Trudeau is doing, which may be what is known as damning with faint praise.

But he’s not on the radar. Neither is anyone else. The party is in paralysis. Maybe because they’ve been looking at the polls, watching their support in Atlantic Canada drift to the Conservatives, watching the Conservatives begin to edge them out even in Quebec, and erode their shaky support in Ontario.

The election next year is shaping up to be another Canadian blow out. That said, I can almost understand Trudeau’s fantasy that he’s the best guy to lead the party’s charge. None of the most frequently named successors—Mark Carney, Chrystia Freeland, François-Philippe Champagne, Anita Anand, Marc Garneau, Dominic LeBlanc—all either wear and share the antipathy people have for Trudeau or are, in the case of Carney, simply too intellectually elite to be trusted by Canadians. Think Michael Ignatieff.

The closer we get to the election, the more scandals and failures that seem to land on the Liberal’s doorstep—hey there, ArriveCAN— the more problematic it becomes for Trudeau, whether he stays or goes, to perform the one task left for him: to at least leave the party in reasonably strong shape to rebuild.

I’ve no doubt the country will survive another Conservative government. For all his absurd common senselessness, Pierre Poilievre doesn’t constitute the existential threat to this country the Orange Monster south of us poses for the U.S.... and the world.

But really, couldn’t we avoid this rerun if we just had term limits for the PM? ■

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