By Antonia Kowalewski
One out of five British Columbians will experience mental illness at some point in their lives. Whether these people are friends, family members or ourselves, mental illness is a topic that affects us all. How can something so widespread be so stigmatized?
Throughout history, there has been a veil of fear dressed between those with mental illness and those without.
Historically, admitting you had a mental illness could land you in a mental asylum where you would experience incarceration and perhaps even torture, and fear of this is understandable.
What many people don't realize is that those on the other side of the bars were just as scared, ridden with the fear of what is different. Society has a bad track record of fearing things outside of the "norm.”
In the 21st century, as we re-examine many of the traditional rules of society, it's high time to get past our fear of mental illness.
This Saturday, Care-2-Share 2016 seeks to be the first step in the process.
Principally organized by Monique Sekhon, a Reynolds grad currently studying Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University, the goal of this event is to raise awareness about mental health and the resources available in our community.
The event will feature opportunities to share personal experiences as well as to discuss mental health and the stigma that surrounds it.
A resource fair with live music, presentations and food will provide a display of the Island's best mental health resources. Whether you suffer from mental illness, know someone who does or are simply curious about it, you can expect to leave inspired and with new knowledge.
All donations will go directly towards funding the Supported Education Program at Island Community Mental Health, which provides adults experiencing mental illness issues with the opportunity to pursue further education. It's time to tackle the stigma that surrounds mental illness. Care-2-Share 2016 is the perfect place to start. Join us this Saturday, Aug. 20 from 2 to 4 p.m. at Island Community Mental Health, 125 Skinner St.

Care-2-Share resource fair shares ideas, inspiration around mental health


Care-2-Share 2016 is Saturday, Aug. 20, 2 to 4 p.m. at Island Community Mental Health, 125 Skinner St.


Dwayne Morash and Kevin Bagshaw, co-founders of local gaming news website Game Nexus, are holding their first convention this Saturday at Saanich Commonwealth Place. Nexus-Con will feature a variety of roleplaying, tabletop and card games in a casual, social atmosphere, aimed at gamers who just want to have fun rather than compete.
Gaming conventions can be a remarkably competitive atmosphere, but a new event is looking to tone down the tournaments and just have fun playing games.
Dwayne Morash and Kevin Bagshaw, co-founders of gaming news site Game Nexus, are hosting Nexus-Con this Saturday at Saanich Commonwealth Place. The event offers a variety of roleplaying games, tabletop minis and collectible card games, with a focus on fun rather than winning.
The convention is open to gamers of all skill levels and features such RPGs as Savage Worlds and Star Wars: Edge of Empire, tabletop games like Infinity and Deadzone, and the Warhammer 40,000: Conquest fantasy card game. In the spirit of inclusiveness, Morash and Bagshaw made a conscious decision not to run tournaments, which they say can alienate gamers.
“We kind of went back and forth on it,” said Morash. “The default is tournaments, and Kevin said, ‘Well, maybe we don’t do tournaments. There are people out there who just want to participate.’
“There’s no wall between different communities in this place. You can come as a Warhammer player, you can play Infinity, you can play Imperial Assault, you can play any of these games without a specific pass for each game. If you migrate to another table, no one’s going to stop you.”
“It also takes out the intimidation factor,” added Bagshaw. “If people are curious about a game, they can just join in and play it.”
Also unlike other conventions, Nexus-Con is limited to 40 people, to make it more manageable in its inaugural year.
“We’ve been pondering the idea of putting on a convention, and we thought we would start off with a small, almost boutique convention,” said Bagshaw.
“Going for a more intimate event gives us a chance to make sure it works well rather than making it too big for us,” said Morash.
While the convention has opted not to put a focus on video games, they will have the Nintendo 64 James Bond multiplayer classic GoldenEye 007 on hand for gamers to play when waiting for rounds of the RPG, tabletop and card games to finish.
Nexus-Con runs Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Saanich Commonwealth Place. Organizers recommend attendees purchase passes in advance at Everything Games in Langford or on the Game Nexus website. Passes are $25 and re-entry is allowed at Nexus-Con. Attendees are allowed to bring their own food and non-alcoholic drinks into the convention. Snacks will also be for sale on site. For more information or to purchase passes, visit enterthegamenexus.com/nexus-con.

Saanich convention promises to be fun and games


Tabletop, role-playing and collectible card games will be at Saanich Commonwealth Place on Saturday


Wood products exports from Canada to Asia were down 18 per cent in the first six months of 2016, with the biggest decline being softwood lumber from B.C. to China, according to the Seattle-based Wood Resources International.
Lumber sales to China are on pace to drop by 50 per cent this year compared to 2014, as B.C. lumber producers direct their sales to a healthy U.S. lumber market, according to customs data tracked for the Wood Resources Quarterly (www.woodprices.com).
The latest edition notes that by value, 75 per cent of B.C.'s exports to Asia in 2015 and 2016 are in the form of lumber, while 77 per cent of exports from Washington and Oregon are logs.
Asian demand reached a record high in 2013, with China passing Japan as the largest importer of North American wood products in 2011. The B.C. and federal governments promote wood construction in China and Japan, and B.C.'s forest minister is required to conduct an annual trade mission to China, Japan and other Asian countries.
The shift in demand provides extra urgency for talks to renew the Canada-U.S. softwood lumber agreement that expired last year. B.C. sales are booming without the export cap that both Ottawa and Washington have agreed will be required.

Lumber exports shift to U.S. as China sales slump


Asian demand for B.C. wood products peaked in 2013, analyst says China sales on pace for 50 per cent drop


Solitude in the wilderness is still available in B.C., between holiday weekends when demand peaks at B.C.'s most popular parks.
Foreign visitors and those on package tours are a small fraction of the demand for B.C. Parks campgrounds around the province, but B.C. resident campers are still using a few tricks to get spaces for high-demand parks.
Some have protested the use of online reservations by motorhome tour operators who sell them as part of a package for tourists.
"Our provincial campsites are not products to be sold, they belong to the people of B.C.," Green Party leader Andrew Weaver said this week.
Environment Minister Mary Polak told Black Press numbers are being tracked for the current year, and the proportions haven't changed much. In 2015, fewer than one per cent of reservable B.C. Parks spaces were booked by tour operators, who also use private camping facilities.
Three quarters of reservations are from within B.C. The second highest share is from Alberta at 14 per cent, the U.S. accounts for 3.6 per cent, the rest of Canada 2.8 per cent, and all European countries combined are 6.6 per cent of the total.
The BC Parks system has 10,700 camping spaces in total, and 5,600 are reservable, to manage demand for the most popular spots.
First-come, first-served sites are kept out of the reservation system in some popular locations to accommodate travellers who drop in along the road. For high-demand periods like the recent Canada Day weekend, savvy campers work the reservation system.
At Golden Ears Provincial Park, one group booked for two weeks as soon as the 90-day eligibility window opened, then dropped the first week, giving them the coveted Canada Day weekend dates before they were generally available.
"Every year we look to change things to keep people from cheating, and every year they find new ways," Polak said. "Really the only answer is going to be finding a way to expand the number of sites that we have available."
It's shaping up as a record year for the Discover Camping reservation service, with 92,000 bookings so far this year.
B.C. Parks has added four new sites for this summer. Reservations can be made for Garibaldi Provincial Park in the Whistler area, Ruckle Provincial Park on Saltspring Island, Okanagan Falls Provincial Park, Inland Lake Provincial Park near Powell River and Dry Gulch Provincial Park near Radium Hot Springs.

Provincial campsite rush mostly B.C. residents


Few BC Parks bookings going to commercial operators, solution is more campsite spaces, Environment Minister Mary Polak says


The B.C. government has approved a master development plan for a new year-round ski resort in the Cariboo Mountains west of Valemount.
Valemount Glacier Destination Resort is a $175 million project led by Oberto Oberti, who designed the Kicking Horse Mountain Resort near Golden and the controversial Jumbo Glacier Resort proposal west of Invermere.
The Valemount plan includes lifts and gondolas that would carry skiers and sight-seers to the summits of Mount Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Mount Arthur Meighen. Its vertical drop of 2,050 metres would be higher than Whistler-Blackcomb and the largest in North America.
"There are very few places in the world, and none in North America, where you go and ride a lift to the very top and the glacier is below you," said Jill Bodkin, a director of the company.
Valemount is a remote community of about 1,000 residents near the Alberta border east of Prince George. The region is west of Jasper National Park, which attracts visitors from around the world.
On the project's website, Oberti says people will travel to Switzerland for this kind of mountain resort experience, so a three-hour drive from Prince George isn't an obstacle to success.
Valemount Mayor Jeanette Townsend called the master plan approval "exciting news." She said the community attracts visitors who stay there to avoid the expensive accommodation in Jasper and the resort will take it to the next level.
Chief Nathan Matthew of the Simpcw First Nation said his community has been involved since the beginning, and he sees the project as an important economic development for the northern part of Simpcw's traditional territory.

B.C. approves Valemount glacier resort plan


Designer of Kicking Horse and Jumbo resorts gets approval to proceed with $175 million project east of Prince George


A routine check-up at the hospital has turned into a nightmare for a Prince Rupert woman.
A month-and-a-half after having an endoscopy to inspect her nose and throat, Joan Dudoward received a letter from Northern Health stating that the endoscope used at the Prince Rupert Regional Hospital was not cleaned properly.
From April until the end of June 2016, the endoscope, which is a flexible tube with a light and a camera used in nonsurgical procedures, was being cleaned with the wrong cleaning solution to disinfect the equipment. There were 104 patients affected and Dudoward was one of them.
“I was majorly stressed out,” she said in an exclusive interview with the Northern View. “I'm a cancer survivor. I try to keep my health up for my mom, I'm a caregiver for a 95-year-old woman.”
Dudoward had gone to the Prince Rupert hospital for an endoscopy on June 29 at 3:30 p.m. after complaining to her physician about reoccurring plugged ears and a sore throat. She received the letter from Northern Health on Aug.24, which stated the error did not impact the diagnostic outcome of the tests and the process error has been corrected.
The letter also states that the BC Centre for Disease Control has been consulted and “the risk of a patient being exposed to a virus as a result of this process error is extremely low.” The contact number for the director of acute care services is offered in case she has any other questions or concerns. Dudoward has many.
She called to find out why the instrument wasn't cleaned, what had happened and how many people had gone through the procedure before and after her. “She said she's not permitted to tell me anything about this,” was the response Dudoward said she received.
The vice-president of medicine for the Northern Health authority, Dr. Ronald Chapman, was quick to respond to media inquiries and stressed the importance of transparency. He said, based on previous experience, once they realized the mistake had occurred they consulted the BC Centre for Disease Control as well as the Northern Health infectious disease specialist in Prince George.
“The risk for the patient is extremely low. We're not concerned that it will at all have any negative impact on their health,” Dr. Chapman said. He added that it's Northern Health's policy to make patients aware even if the risk to them is low. “We believe it's important to be open with those patients and to be fairly transparent so at least they are aware of the mistake. In this case, we don't recommend any particular follow up or tests for the patients.”
This type of process error has happened before, Dr. Chapman confirmed. Not with the same scope, but he said there are many different endoscopes used and each are made by different manufacturers that have various recommendations on how to clean the equipment.
“The health sector is run by human beings and it's fairly complex. If mistakes do happen what we encourage our staff to do is to make management aware so they can learn from that experience,” he said. “I'm happy to say where those mistakes have happened in our environment, a process has been put in place and we haven't had any repetitions after some of those learning experiences.”
For the 104 patients that were affected by this incident, Dr. Chapman said their general practitioners have been notified and if they have any questions they can speak to them and the infectious disease specialist. They can also contact Northern Health's Patient Care Quality Officeto register a complaint.
For Dudoward, who had a bone marrow transplant in 2011 to battle leukemia, she is concerned and has already scheduled a meeting with her physician in early September.
“I'm thinking that my body is not going to be able to fight off infection like I was able to before the cancer because chemo takes a lot out of your body so this is like a bomb exploding in my life,” she said.

VIDEO: Prince Rupert woman treated with unclean medical equipment, Northern Health, B.C. Centre for Disease Control confirms more than a hundred affected


Two months after having an endoscopy Joan Dudoward received a letter telling her that the endoscope used was not cleaned properly.


Modified versions of the 1969 Camaro SS and other popular vehicles will soon be eligible for B.C. collector plates, allowing occasional use for parades and car shows.
The B.C. government is expanding its collector vehicle licence system to include eligible modified cars made between 1958 and 1974, to capture the popular "muscle car" era of the 1960s.
The ICBC collector plate program gives car enthusiasts a lower-cost licence plate that allows occasional use for parades and classic car shows. ICBC plans to take applications starting in 2017 for eligible modified vehicles up to 1974, and replica cars resembling North American production cars from 1942 and earlier.
With strict rules that the cars must be in "collectible condition," changes will take in modified popular cars from the Dodge Duster to the Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang, as well as replicas of the popular Ford "deuce coupe" from the 1930s.
Premier Christy Clark announced a break for older cars this spring, allowing vehicles from 1940 or earlier and their replicas to run without fenders or mud flaps when the highway is dry and paved.
Transportation Minister Todd Stone said the collector car industry is significant for B.C., with registered collector vehicles having doubled to 26,000 in the past 10 years.
"We want to see this specialty vehicle program remain viable, preserve vehicle history and evolve with the times," Stone said. "That's why we are opening up the opportunity to owners of specialty cars within the 'muscle car' era."
Currently, the standard collector plate is available to cars 25 years or older, as well as discontinued or limited production vehicles 15 years or older. It requires a stock engine with no performance enhancements, no rust, dents or "significant wear and tear" of the interior.
Modified vehicles from 1958 or older are currently eligible for collector plates, if they retain the shell of the original body but have parts replaced or modified in the chassis, engine, suspension, steering or brakes.
Owners have to apply for a collector or modified collector plate, with purchase and parts bills, photos and inspection reports.
Applications for collector and modified collector programs are available on ICBC's website, www.icbc.com, and can be dropped off at Autoplan brokers.

Collector program expanding to 'muscle cars'


Collector plates will be available next year for modified as well as stock cars made between 1958 and 1974


Dramatic finishes in triathlon and epic battles on the soccer pitch were among the high points of the action in Abbotsford this morning at the BC Summer Games.
See our coverage from today so far:
Waterskiing: Kelowna's Isaac Athens, Halle Gainey takes firsts in slalom
Rugby: North-south battle in girls action (video)
Golf: Mission golfer Claggett leads after first day of Games
Wake boarding: North Van's Harman soars to gold
Canoe and kayak: Paddlers love cutting through the water
Swimming: Opening race kicks off competition
VIDEO: Equestrian dressage at Summer Games
Softball: Scores from Games opening day (with video)
Swimming: Opening race kicks off competition (with video)
Synchronized swimming: Celebrating the beauty (video)
Shotput: New record set by Surrey's Gabri
Rugby: Fraser Valley defeats Thompson-Okanagan 17-12 (with video)
Soccer: Fraser Valley boys down Kootenays 1-0
Javelin: No record, but golden throw for Chong
High Jump: Langley's Sara Enzo leaps to gold
Long Jump: Surrey's Malcolm Borsoi is golden
Baseball: Fraser Valley boys 4-3 over Island-Central Coast
Paddling: Canoe and kayak racers hit the water
Girls beach volleyball: Opening action (with video)
Girls Triathlon: Victoria's Leipoldt claims gold in girls triathlon
Triathlon: Okanagan boys sweep
Girls soccer: Fraser Valley 4-0 over Caribou North (final)
Boys soccer: Vancouver 2-1 over Vancouver Island (final)
Boys soccer: Fraser River 5-0 over North West (final)
Girls soccer: Island girls lead Thompson Okanagan 1-0 at half
Slideshow of Friday afternoon action:
Slideshow of Friday morning action:
In case you missed it, check out our slideshow and video from the BC Summer Games opening ceremony.
View our digital online magazine about the BC Summer Games.

GAMES ROUNDUP: Triathlon drama, soccer action Friday


Soccer foes faced off and triathletes endured to claim gold at the BC Summer Games in Abbotsford


Revelstoke dam on the Columbia River is due to have a sixth water turbine added, but Site C is BC Hydro's priority today.
BC Hydro is going ahead with its planned four per cent rate increase this year and deferring more debt to future years as it revises its electricity demand forecast downward.
The provincially-owned utility has not asked for an increase in its government-imposed rate plan despite a revised demand forecast with $3.5 billion less revenue over the next 10 years. BC Hydro has filed a three-year plan with the B.C. Utilities Commission that would increase rates four, 3.5 and three per cent in the next three years. The four per cent increase is already showing up on customer bills as an interim increase.
With the Site C dam on the Peace River and other upgrades amounting to $2 billion a year, the plan includes additional deferred debt until 2023, when Site C is due to be completed. BC Hydro CEO Jessica McDonald said the long-term nature of capital projects means its capital cost savings don't start until the next decade.
BC Hydro has also cut some of its familiar Power Smart activities, such as the fridge buy-back plan and incentives for energy efficient light bulbs.
McDonald said BC Hydro is seeing lower revenues due to two warm winters and downturns in mining and forest products. It still projects growing overall demand as population and economic growth continue.
NDP energy critic Adrian Dix said the new deferred debt represents roughly $500 for each of BC Hydro's two million customers, and it is a political move to get the B.C. Liberal government past next year's election.
The 10-year rates plan imposed by Energy Minister Bill Bennett in 2013 overstated demand to justify the construction of Site C, and translates to a 28 per cent rate increase. It allows the utilities commission to regain control over approving customer rates by 2020, after five years of political direction.
Dix said with the new demand forecast and commodity prices expected to remain low, BC Hydro should have added a sixth turbine to its Revelstoke dam for $450 million before embarking on the $9 billion Site C project.


Four per cent rate hike already in effect, more to come as BC Hydro looks for savings to offset slow industrial demand


Uptown and Big Brothers Big Sisters Canada have teamed up to offer Be You – a campaign designed to encourage girls to celebrate their individuality and believe in their ability to achieve their goals.
On Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Uptown will host a day of free interactive activities for girls ages nine to 16 in the Greater Victoria community. Events include speakers, live entertainment, a Jump & Be You photo booth and a variety of developmental tools and information focused on helping girls to increase self-esteem and self-worth.
“Imagine a society where girls grow up with endless self-confidence and pride in celebrating their diversity,” said Kristy Lowes, marketing director for Uptown. “We designed our Be You campaign to reach out directly to young girls in the Victoria area to encourage them to express themselves and reach for the stars.”
Beginning Sept. 1, Uptown will also be providing a space to Big Sisters Victoria to run their group mentoring program Go Girls!, for girls aged 12-14. The program focuses on physical activity, balanced eating and self-esteem.
“We’ve established there’s a need in this community for girls to have opportunities to come together to focus on activities that strengthen their self-esteem and give them the confidence to become caring leaders at home, at school and in the community,” said Rhonda Brown, executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters Victoria. “We’re very excited to be partnering with Uptown on this initiative and to have a beautiful space to welcome our Go Girls! participants.
Be You is a national campaign that includes online components including I Promise, featuring positive statements from girls across Canada on the site www.beyougirl.com. These promises will also be on display at Uptown’s digital Promise Wall in front of Walmart in Town Plaza.
For more information visit www.shopuptown.ca. Follow the campaign on social media with the hashtag #beyougirl. For volunteer opportunities or for more program information visit Big Brothers Big Sisters Victoria at www.bbbsvictoria.com.


Big Brothers Big Sisters brings activities for girls to Uptown on Saturday


When I analyzed the rental market in my riding of Oak Bay and Gordon Head, in the Greater Victoria area, I wasn’t surprised by how bad it has gotten.
I know the rental availability rate is at 0.6 per cent in Victoria, I have spoken to residents desperately trying to find an affordable home, I have watched skyrocketing housing prices drag the rental market with them, I have heard about homeless UVic and Camosun students sleeping in cars. I wasn’t surprised as I looked through the rental listings on Craigslist, but I was very angry.
For several years now I have been raising housing issues in the legislature. The government has responded dismissively, refusing to acknowledge the housing crisis that loomed before us.
Now, fresh into an election year, protecting the dream of homeownership has apparently become their motto. They are throwing hastily put together, Vancouver-centric band-aid policies at a housing emergency that is reverberating through the entire province.
The B.C. government has failed to protect a fundamental right for British Columbians, and with the start of the school year fast approaching I am getting increasingly concerned about where the university and college students in our riding are going to live. The University of Victoria alone enrols over 21,000 students. Many UVic and Camosun students will live in residence or with family – UVic has about 2,300 residence beds and 180 family housing units but many others will need to find somewhere to rent for the year.
On Aug. 9 my office went through every Oak Bay and Gordon Head rental listing on Craigslist. There were only 106 and they ranged from $700 per month for a one-bedroom basement suite to $10,000 for a six-bedroom house.
Of the 106 listings, 29 fit my vaguely affordable cutoff of less than $1,000 monthly per person. Most of them were multiple bedroom suites that would have to be split between roommates.
The $2,700 three-bedroom unit, for example, could be shared at $900 per occupant. Not exactly cheap for a student without an income, but more attainable than the $1,500 being charged for a 450-square-foot basement suite. With so few listings, though, I do worry that student renters will be chosen last when bidding against professionals or families. I had a staff member contact a few of the listings that I thought would be suitable for roommates to ask if they would consider renting to a group of students and none replied.
For individuals or couples hoping to find a one-bedroom suite for under $1,000 in my riding, on the day I checked there were seven listed. Some listings welcomed higher bids and many apologized for not being able to respond to every inquiry, citing an overwhelming number of applications. But frustrations with the rental market should not be deflected onto landlords, they too are trying to manage costs in an unhinged housing market.
Frustration, anger and outrage about housing in B.C. needs to land squarely with the B.C. government for actively neglecting this issue until it became a crisis.
As Frances Bula wrote in The Globe and Mail, the housing market has long treated renters like second-class citizens and the current housing shortage is further excluding people who are young, non-white, have mental health issues, unemployed, recent immigrants, poor, disabled or have pets. Our government needs to move beyond their dream of homeownership talking point. There is a rental market crisis in British Columbia that is in desperate need of attention. We need policies that work to get people into safe, affordable homes – like those I have repeatedly outlined for the government – and we need it to start now so that come September students won’t be left sleeping on library benches.
Andrew Weaver is the MLA for Oak Bay – Gordon Head.

Rental market crisis taking root in B.C.


MLA Report: Andrew Weaver finds few units students can afford in Oak Bay - Gordon Head


Premier Christy Clark and Environment Minister Mary Polak plug in an electric car at an announcement of the government's latest climate change plan in Richmond Aug. 19.
A B.C. Liberal operative was out with the online spin hours before Premier Christy Clark confirmed the much-leaked news in a Friday afternoon announcement at an obscure location in Richmond.
The, er, freeze is continuing for B.C.’s ground-breaking, world-saving carbon tax, which hasn’t changed since before Clark was elected in 2013.
The spin was Olympic-themed, with a picture labeled to show B.C. as a swimmer far out in the lead in the pool, to symbolize that it’s the other provinces that need to catch up in the race to save the planet.
Clark has been saying that for years, and there is merit to it. Even without a tax on “process emissions” such as from cement kilns, B.C.’s carbon tax encourages imports of non-taxed cement from the U.S. and China.
Alberta business professor Andrew Leach, who advised the Stephen Harper and then Rachel Notley governments on greenhouse gas policies, summed up the problem this way.
“Until the rest of the world has policies that impose similar cost, you’re not actually reducing emissions to the extent you think,” Leach said. “You’re just displacing the emissions and the economic activity to other jurisdictions.”
Alberta is moving to join B.C. with a modest carbon tax, but the NDP government plans to spend the proceeds rather than return them in income tax as B.C. has done. And Washington state and most of the rest of the world have no carbon tax as such, so their businesses benefit from B.C.’s “climate leadership.”
B.C.’s foreign-funded eco-radical community was, needless to say, appalled. The Pembina Institute’s Matt Horne and career protesters Tzeporah Berman and Merran Smith were named to the premier’s advisory committee last year, along with business, academic and aboriginal representatives.
They concluded that increases to B.C.’s broad-based tax on carbon fuels should resume its upward march in 2018.
Other committee members, including the mayors of Surrey, Comox and Burns Lake, were not heard from. Public discussion on this issue is now reduced to a staged conflict between those who demand a holy war on deadly carbon dioxide “pollution,” and those who don’t care if their grandchildren perish in a hell-fire of fossil fuel use.
We’ve just come off another El Nino year, like the hot year of 1998. Regular readers will recall the last time I discussed this topic was this spring, where I questioned the premier’s dire warnings of another horrendous forest fire season.
What followed has been one of the slowest forest fire seasons in the last decade, although dry conditions have finally emerged this month. Climate predictions, like next week’s weather forecast, are less than consistent.
I am regularly sent messages calling me a “climate change denier,” the nonsense term that continues to be used by federal Environment Minister Catharine McKenna among many others. I know of no one who denies that climate is always changing, at times dramatically.
If you wish to believe that paying an extra seven cents a litre for gasoline in B.C. is helping to slow the very gradual increase in temperatures we’re seeing in the northern hemisphere, you are free to do so.
You may even be persuaded to take a government subsidy and buy an expensive, short-range electric car. Me, I’m off to Prince Rupert and Revelstoke pretty soon, so I’ll stick with my little four-cylinder gas sipper for now.
Hydro-powered B.C. represents a small fraction of the less than two per cent Canada contributes to global greenhouse gas emissions. We’re not the problem, and no, the world is not looking to us for guidance.
Tom Fletcher is B.C. legislature reporter and columnist for Black Press. Email: tfletcher@blackpress.ca Twitter: @tomfletcherbc


Premier Christy Clark isn't going into next year's election with a promise to jack up Canada's only significant carbon tax


Guns seized from visitors entering Canada at the Huntington-Abbotsford border crossing, 2014.
Canadian Border Services Agency has seen a 116 per cent increase in the number of firearms seized in the Pacific Region in the first half of 2016.
With a 10 per cent increase also recorded in the Prairie region, the CBSA is working with U.S. officials on a firearms awareness campaign to remind Americans about restrictions on bringing guns into Canada.
"Attempting to smuggle firearms across the border can result in immediate forfeiture, hefty fines and even significant jail time," said Kim Scoville, CBSA's regional director general for the Prairie region.
Visitors entering the border inspection line should declare any firearms at their first opportunity. Border services officers will take possession of the weapon if it is declared, but the visitor has the option of shipping it back under CBSA supervision or surrendering it without prosecution.
The RCMP has procedures for visitors bringing firearms into Canada


Guns intercepted at Pacific region border crossings up 116 per cent compared to this time last year


Lily Erlic recently received a shock as she noticed a pig on the loose as she was driving on Majestic Drive in Saanich. The owner soon came along to bring Pico the Pig home.


Saanich News reader snaps a photo of a pig who made a break for freedom on Majestic Drive.


Toronto MP Carolyn Bennett is sworn in as Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, November 2015.
The federal government’s National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls is preparing to get underway in September.
With five commissioners led by B.C. judge Marion Buller and a budget that has swelled by a third to $54 million before it even starts, this inquiry has one big advantage over all the previous studies of Canada’s intractable problems of poverty and violence in aboriginal communities.
In this case, the politicians all agree what the outcome is going to be. They’ve been saying so for months, since the Justin Trudeau government got elected on this and other passionate, if questionable, promises.
Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, a member of the We Wai Kai Nation on the B.C. coast, a former Crown prosecutor and chair of the B.C. Treaty Commission, announced the terms of reference last week. She stressed that the inquiry will not attempt to retry cold cases, but to examine the “root causes” of the high numbers of missing and murdered women.
Next up was Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett, who has no doubt at all what those “root causes” are: racism, sexism and the lingering effects of colonialism. Bennett has been meeting steadily with grieving families since being appointed, and now accepts that racist, indifferent cops are the main “root cause.”
Bennett explained this conclusion from New York in April, while attending a “Women of the World” summit. It’s an “uneven application of justice,” she told The Globe and Mail, a phrase we’ll hear again and again.
“You end up with people who have been told it’s an overdose, or a suicide or an accident,” Bennett said.
RCMP have reported close to 1,200 unsolved cases of murdered or missing indigenous women since 1980, a figure that Bennett scoffs at. What’s her evidence? She’s talked to families, and knows it’s “way more” than that.
One of the previous inquiries was by a United Nations official, James Anaya, in 2014. He noted the alarming statistics of education outcome and violent offences against women, and referred to 660 cases documented by the Native Women’s Association of Canada. He also described being besieged by demands for a national inquiry, as he went through the stacks of studies that have already been done.
“Since 1996,” Anaya wrote in his UN report, “there have been at least 29 official inquiries and reports dealing with aspects of this issue, which have resulted in over 500 recommendations for action.”
As the latest inquiry was being launched, Perry Bellegarde, the current Assembly of First Nations national chief, recited Bennett’s speaking points about the conclusions it will reach.
Bellegarde told CTV the problem is vastly under-reported because “…oh, it’s an accidental death. Oh, it’s a suicide.” Then he called for more money for housing and other programs via the failed Indian Act system.
There are several glaring factors that apparently will not be discussed, because they fall outside the politically correct boundaries of this pre-determined narrative.
One is the even more alarming number of aboriginal men and boys who are victims of violent crime.
Another is the rate of domestic abuse reported by indigenous women, which Statistics Canada estimated this year at about 10 per cent of their population. That’s three times the national average, but it was not mentioned amid the demands for justice at the inquiry.
Another key issue that is forbidden from discussion is the social and economic viability of remote communities. Some of them haven’t been able to maintain clean water and safe housing, much less education and employment, despite billions in spending every year.
Tom Fletcher is B.C. legislature reporter and columnist for Black Press. Email: tfletcher@blackpress.ca Twitter: @tomfletcherbc

BC VIEWS: Missing women inquiry pre-determined


Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett's position boils down to blaming racist, indifferent cops


For the next four years, an Island Health palliative care physician is partnering with a University of Victoria professor on a national research project to explore best practices to improve the quality of life for individuals who live in long-term care settings.
Dr. Leah MacDonald (Island Health) and Dr. Kelli Stajduhar (University of Victoria) will join researchers from Nova Scotia, Ontario and Alberta to evaluate promising programs, practices and policies in use in long-term care homes across Canada.
The recently announced $2 million research project is called Seniors – Adding Life to Years (SALTY).
“We know there are innovative care initiatives making a difference in long-term care settings and residential care homes across the country,” said Dr. MacDonald, medical director for Island Health’s End of Life program. “As a health care system and society, we need to provide an alternative to the highly medicalized way we approach the end of life. I am excited to be a part of this study, to bring a palliative care clinician lens to the research team.”
MacDonald’s passion to provide compassionate end-of-life care began early on in her medical training.
“It is such rewarding work, to be able to support individuals and their families who are impacted by advanced illness, to help them manage pain, distress and other symptoms, and to be part of an interdisciplinary care team to influence the quality of the living and dying experience for all involved,” she said.
Led by Dr. Janice Keefe from Mount Saint Vincent University, SALTY will involve decision-makers, clinicians, care providers and family/friend caregivers, ensuring that all voices will be heard.
“The focus on late-life care in nursing homes makes this project unique and urgently needed,” said Keefe, director of the Nova Scotia Centre on Aging. “Nursing home care in late life is under-researched and undervalued. This project brings together the leading researchers and influencers of change in long-term care in Canada.”
She added: “Our approach will actively engage the end-users of the research, challenge current thinking and practice, and involve robust multi-method health services research.”
Other project partners include: Dr. Carole Estabrooks, University of Alberta, Dr. Tamara Daly, York University, Dr. Ivy Bourgeault, University of Ottawa, and Heather Cook and Dr. Deanne Taylor, Interior Health Authority (Kelowna).
Together, the team will develop innovative strategies to understand and assess impact on quality of care and quality of life, with the aim of spreading effective approaches within and across jurisdictions. The project’s outputs will create change to improve long-term care and supports across Canada.
SALTY is funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research and Alzheimer Society of Canada.
MacDonald and Stajduhar have also conducted collaborative research in this area supported by Island Health’s internal granting program.
“We are committed to supporting research to improve both quality of life and care for our patients,” said Cindy Trytten, Island Health’s director of research and capacity building. “Collaborations like this between academic researchers, clinicians and patients and their families are critically important to make sure that the research and results are relevant, and meet the needs of the people we serve.”

Project targets quality of life in care homes


University of Victoria professor among team aiming to improve the quality of life for individuals who live in long-term care settings


TORONTO – Few Canadian television events qualify as a momentous occasion for the nation, but Saturday's Tragically Hip concert promises to be special.
It seems like much of the country will be tuned into CBC's live broadcast of "The Tragically Hip: A National Celebration" from Kingston, Ont., when factoring in home screenings and community viewing parties.
Yet how many people will watch is anybody's guess at this point.
"This is an unprecedented event for us," said Jennifer Dettman, CBC's executive director of unscripted content.
The sentiment is true on many levels, she adds.
The last stop on the Hip's "Man Machine Poem" tour is widely expected to be their final performance, as lead singer Gord Downie is facing terminal brain cancer. After tickets to the tour sold out within minutes, fans launched a campaign urging the CBC to carry the band's Kingston show as a live TV event.
Dettman wouldn't speak to the contract negotiations that led to the Hip agreeing to the broadcast.
"CBC made both a competitive and financially responsible offer to acquire the broadcast rights, and we're thrilled to be able to offer this national celebration to as many Canadians as possible," she said.
The concert won't just be on the main CBC network, it will also be broadcast through various other platforms such as CBC Radio One, the CBC website and its YouTube and Facebook channels.
With so many viewing options, that will make it tough to capture how many eyes and ears are focused on the Hip this Saturday.
That's where ratings agency Numeris comes in. The Toronto-based company tracks viewership figures by using meters and viewing diaries prepared by a panel of Canadians representative of the population.
Their data shows that most huge audience draws are typically live programming, led by major sporting events.
The Super Bowl is the biggest TV event nearly every year â€” drawing about six million to eight million viewers in recent years â€” while a handful of other annual celebrations like the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes and Grammys are perennial favourites too.
The gold medal game of the men's hockey tournament at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics is considered to be the most-watched broadcast ever in Canada. It drew 16.6 million viewers, according to data from Numeris, about double the number of people who tune into most Super Bowls.
Those kinds of numbers will be hard to beat, even for a rock band with as much Canadian clout as the Hip.
Numeris spokesman Tom Jenks wouldn't guess how many viewers will tune into the CBC broadcast, but acknowledges it'll probably be a pretty big number.
The agency said it will be counting every public screening â€” from restaurants to movie theatres to community viewing parties â€” and each person streaming the concert on their phone. Viewers who playback the show on their DVRs within seven days will also be included in the final numbers.
"Our system captures all viewing," Jenks said.
Potentially driving those numbers higher is the decision make the Hip's concert a one-time broadcast, with no encore presentation and no availability on on-demand platforms.
"Our goal was to bring the experience of this live concert to Canadians in that moment," Dettman said.
"I'm sure the band will figure out what they will want to do with the concert afterwards."
She said the goal is to give all Canadians the same "crescendo" feeling that will ripple through the arena in Kingston.
"Our goal is to bring the experience ... to as many Canadians as we can," she said.
"The idea that we're all together experiencing this moment at the same time is really special."
Follow @dfriend on Twitter.
David Friend, The Canadian Press

Televised Tragically Hip show an 'unprecedented event:' CBC


Whether it's home screenings or community viewing parties, much of Canada will be tuning in for iconic rock band's final bow


Two men and a mining company in receivership have been charged with 18 pollution infractions related to their shut-down gold mine on an island near Prince Rupert.
Benjamin Mossman and Dirk Meckert are scheduled to appear in Prince Rupert provincial court Sept. 7. Also charged is Banks Island Gold Ltd., which went into receivership after being shut down last year for provincial permit violations.
The Yellow Giant mine was ordered shut down by the Ministry of Environment in July 2015 after a tailings spill was reported on a tip. There is one charge of failing to report a spill of a polluting substance, and the other 17 charges are for failing to comply with permits.
North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice raised the issue in the legislature this spring, after receiving a letter from the Gitxaala First Nation referring to two separate tailings spills. Rice said the ministry did not inspect the operation for 15 months, until receiving a complaint.
NDP mining critic Norm Macdonald told the legislature a worker at the mine "became fed up, put his job on the line, sent the ministry and me a tip and pictures that documented what was going on there."
Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett said the mine was shut down when the situation was brought to its attention. The mine's 90 employees lost their jobs.
The province has a $420,000 security bond from the mining company, to provide ongoing monitoring. In March the mines ministry and Banks Island Gold removed explosives from the mine site and in May ministry technical staff assessed the hazardous materials on site.
The B.C. Conservation Officer Service, which recommended the charges, would not comment on the current condition of the Banks Island site, because it is evidence for the prosecution.

Banks Island miners face 18 pollution charges


Gold mine near Prince Rupert shut down last summer for permit violations, owners charged for failing to report spill


B.C. Day, on Monday, Aug. 1, is an opportunity to celebrate this spectacular province. See how well you know British Columbia.

B.C. DAY TRIVIA QUIZ: How much do you know about British Columbia?


B.C. has 300 seniors' care facilities, and residents and their loved ones are to be surveyed on conditions.
More than 250 volunteers have signed up to compile a survey of seniors in residential care, and B.C.'s Seniors Advocate is looking for more.
The 27,000 seniors living in 300 residential care facilities around the province are being asked about their experience with care home staff, the quality of food, privacy, medications and other conditions.
It's the first comprehensive survey done in B.C., to measure resident satisfaction and provide a "roadmap" for improvements, said Seniors Advocate Isobel Mackenzie.
Interviews will be conducted in person by trained volunteers, and a matching mail-out survey will be sent to each resident's most frequent visitor.
The project is seeking volunteers with a range of professional backgrounds, ages and ethnicities. To apply as a volunteer, visit www.surveybcseniors.org or call the Office of the Seniors Advocate at 1-877-952-3181.


Volunteers to ask seniors about staff, food, privacy, medications and other conditions in residential care


ICBC wants to increase basic auto insurance rates by 4.9 per cent – the fifth straight annual increase – as it continues to grapple with rising numbers of crashes, claims and dramatically increasing costs.
The typical driver will pay $3.50 a month or $42 a year more for basic insurance if the hike is approved.
But the corporation is also raising optional rates by 2.8 per cent so the average customer who buys both basic and optional insurance with ICBC will see their insurance bill rise $5 a month, or $60 a year.
ICBC CEO Mark Blucher said the basic rate hike would have been much worse – 15.5 per cent translating into a $130 annual premium increase – had the province not approved another major transfer of $472 million from the optional to the basic side of operations.
A compounding factor has been the long decline of interest rates, which result in less investment income revenue to ICBC.
"These external pressures have really created a perfect storm and it's a really significant challenge for the organization," Blucher said in an interview Thursday.
ICBC had raised rates 5.5 per cent a year ago, and the province's rate smoothing policy requires the annual change be within 1.5 per cent of the previous year's increase.
The number of crashes has climbed 15 per cent in two years and damage claims are up 11 per cent.
Vehicles are increasingly reliant on technology and expensive materials that have become more costly in recent years as the loonie sagged against the U.S. dollar.
Despite much safer vehicles, injury claims have soared to $2.4 billion, up 60 per cent from $1.5 billion in 2008.
"We've seen no evidence that these strong trends are abating," Blucher said. "In fact, if anything, they're continuing to escalate going forward."
Blucher also noted there are more cars on the road in B.C. today – 3.1 million up from 2.8 million in 2011 – and people are driving more because of cheaper gas, contributing to more accidents, particularly in densifying urban areas.
And he pointed to personal injury lawyers as an aggravating cause of ICBC's spiralling claims costs.
"B.C. is the only province in Canada where you can sue another motorist for even a minor traffic accident," Blucher said, noting an increase in lawyer-represented claims and advertising by injury law firms.
Internal operating costs have been cut by $186 million a year, and ICBC is counting on more savings ahead, through its modernization program, by more aggressively combatting insurance fraud and from a hoped-for drop in distracted driving as motorists respond to stiffer penalties.
But transfers from the optional side to bolster the basic side will likely be needed for the foreseeable future, Blucher said, because basic premiums can't keep up with rising costs.
In a surprise move, the B.C. government will this year forgo extracting its usual $160-million annual dividend from ICBC's optional side into general revenue.
"Forgoing the dividend this particular year is one strategy amongst a litany of others we're employing to get that basic trate increase down," Transportation Minister Todd Stone said.
Stone said the $514 million the province has transferred out of ICBC in dividends since 2012 is small compared to the $1.4 billion over the same period that has been shifted from the competitive optional side to basic to apply downward pressure on basic rates.
The minister would not say if the government would permanently give up the ICBC dividend.
Adrian DIx, the NDP critic for ICBC, said the dividends to government have exceeded $1.2 billion since 2010 and predicted they'll resume after next year's election because the BC Liberals are "addicted" to using ICBC as a "profit centre."
Dix said the reliance on shifting huge amounts of capital from optional to basic raises troubling questions.
"Next year they've got to find that $472 million," Dix said. "What they've done is create a disaster at ICBC and their only hope is to deceive the voters until after the election."
He said ICBC's new move to hire more claims staff underscores problems with completing the computer modernization that was supposed to make operations more efficient.
"The transformation project has taken longer than World War 2 and is not close to finished."
ICBC's basic rates rose 11.2 per cent in 2012 and at least five per cent every year since.
The new rate hike is subject to B.C. Utilities Commission approval.
ICBC Rate Pressure Charts

ICBC seeks 4.9 per cent basic rate hike as crashes, costs climb


$60 a year increase for most drivers once optional auto insurance increase is included


More details have been released about the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's upcoming visit to Canada.
Kensington Palace tweeted Monday morning that Prince William and his wife, Kate, will visit Vancouver, Victoria, Bella Bella, Haida Gwaii and Kelowna in B.C. as well as Whitehorse and Carcross in Yukon.
It says the trip will take place between Sept. 24 and Oct. 1.
This will be the royal couple's second visit to Canada. Their first, following their 2011 wedding, took them to Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Charlottetown, Summerside, Yellowknife, Calgary and Slave Lake after that community was ravaged by a forest fire.
The then-newlyweds drew large crowds wherever they went, including a packed Canada Day gathering on Parliament Hill.
The visit was also seen as a way to engage young Canadians with the monarchy, given the perception of waning interest compared to that of older Canadians.
The couple's children, George and Charlotte, are reportedly slated to accompany their parents on their Canadian trip.
Canadian Heritage Minister Melanie Joly said it will be a pleasure to greet the royal delegation.
"We're very excited to have the duke and duchess in the country," she said.
"It will be a great trip in B.C., in the Yukon, and I look forward to meeting them and I'm convinced that the prime minister and his wife will be very positive in greeting them to the country as well."
The Canadian Press

Royals to visit Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna during Canadian visit


Stops in B.C. also include Bella Bella and Haida Gwaii


George Zeman is thrilled to see the willow suckers covering the embankment of his Juniper Place home after two kilometres of willow wattling was installed in the winter to stabilize the eroding cliff. The top photo, taken Aug. 3, shows the rapid growth of the willows, which have rooted into the bank. The bottom photo was taken on April 27, shortly after the wattling was completed.
The rapid growth of willow suckers is ending the dangerous erosion of George Zeman’s beachfront house in Gordon Head.
Zeman took the property on at a discount not knowing how he would solve the instability of the 64-degree slope that was eroding into the sea about halfway between Mount Douglas beach and Cormorant Point.
After some research, he hired soil bioengineer David Polster in the winter and Polster’s crew installed about 1.5 kilometres of willow wattling and stakes. The process terraced the bank with willow branches and trunks, from which the suckers have now grown as high as six feet. The work resembles slope stabilization projects Polster has previously completed in Saanich, including along the Colquitz River.
“At first I was a little worried the suckers weren’t growing, we hit a dry spell there, but by keeping the bank moist the willows have just shot up,” Zeman said. “The roots of these suckers go down almost as far as they are high.”
The total project cost Zeman about $100,000, he said. It rectifies the reckless tree removal of previous owners who sought better views of the Salish Sea. A walk along the beach towards Mount Douglas reveals similar Saanich properties at risk, with slides showing evidence of erosion.
Because the willows are native, and the installation of each willow stake is small and directly into the soil, it was within the strict Saanich riparian zone requirements.
Zeman is hoping others with the same problem will consider willow wattling as natural and safe solution. He can be reached at georgezeman@pembertonholmes.com.

Willow suckers helping stabilize slope on Gordon Head property


Project repairs the instability of the 64-degree slope that was eroding into the sea


Sky blue glassware from the Saanich Home Sense store.
Sky Blue… ahh it just so relaxing to look at a clear blue sky. The colour sky blue, according to Wikipedia, is the colour of the sky at noon. Most people think of sky blue as a lighter blue, but it really is quite a medium blue and a truer blue slightly on the green or cyan end of the spectrum.
As I look out my window at a noon clear blue summer sky, I can’t help but think how lovely West Coast trees look against that sky.
It was pretty easy finding some decorative accessories in our Saanich Home Sense store that were a darker sky blue. They had a great selection of glassware that had newly arrived and it was so crisp and striking. Set on table against a white or light grey wall, these pieces would be stunning.
I also found this fabulous canvas of the world, set up on an easel that your eye couldn’t help but be drawn to. The artist had used so many wonderful colours and the blues used set off those colours perfectly. Obviously the artist used the sky blue colour as ocean, but I thought the colour could be representing in sky as well. This would look great in a kids area for sure.
Sheri Peterson is a Saanich-based interior designer with over 20 years of experience working with residential, commercial and hospitality clients. Find out more at www.sheripinteriordesign.com.


The colour sky blue, according to Wikipedia, is the colour of the sky at noon


A pair of upcoming sessions from the The Alzheimer Society of B.C. promise to shed light on dementia.
Alzheimer’s disease is the second most feared disease for Canadians as they age.
To help residents understand this pressing health issue, the non-profit Alzheimer Society of B.C. brings its free workshop, Getting to Know Dementia, to Saanich on Wednesday, Aug. 24.
Participants will receive basic information on dementia and the impact it has on individuals, their caregivers and their support networks.
The introductory session reviews the challenges of receiving a diagnosis of dementia. Participants will learn about the different types of support available throughout the dementia journey, how to begin planning for the future, and strategies for living well.
This session is intended for people experiencing early symptoms of dementia, as well as family members or friends who are currently supporting a person with a recent dementia diagnosis. The workshop is not intended for the general public or health-care providers.
The workshop runs from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Alzheimer Resource Centre, 202-306 Burnside Rd. W. (at Tillicum Road). Pre-registration is required, by calling 250-382-2052 or e-mailing info.victoria@alzheimerbc.org.
Help for the many Saanich families living with dementia is about to take a new approach: a conversation over coffee.
The non-profit Alzheimer Society of B.C. will launch its new Dementia Question & Answer series, a casual question-and-answer session on dementia that can help families with the challenges they face, offer reassurance, and provide a sense of connection.
The Dementia Q&A runs on Thursday, Aug. 25. Participants can ask questions about dementia and caregiving, strategies to try, and community resources to explore. They’ll also get some important reassurance that they are not alone on the dementia journey.
Participants will receive basic information on dementia and the impact it has on individuals, their caregivers and their support networks.
The session runs from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at the Alzheimer Resource Centre, 202-306 Burnside Rd. W., at Tillicum Road. Pre-registration is required as space is limited. To register, call 250-382-2052 or e-mail info.victoria@alzheimerbc.org.
The informal dementia question and answer sessions are facilitated to allow caregivers to share their experiences and to take home practical information.
Both sessions are free thanks to partial funding by the province and a number of individual and corporate donors
People who are living with dementia or have questions about the disease can call the First Link Dementia Helpline at 1-800-936-6033.
For more information on Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias, visit www.alzheimerbc.org.


Alzheimer Society of B.C. brings workshops to Saanich


The union representing most workers at Canada Post has issued a 72-hour notice of job action as it tries to bargain a collective agreement with the Crown corporation.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers says the notice spells out what actions it is planning, but stops short of a full-blown walkout.
CUPW national president Mike Palecek says Canada Post forced the labour disruption by refusing to accept a request from the federal labour minister to continue negotiations with the help of a special mediator.
But a spokesman for the agency says that's not the case.
The union's strike mandate was set to expire at midnight.
The two sides have been in negotiations for more than nine months but are far apart on key issues including pay equity for rural carriers and proposed changes to the Canada Post pension plan.
The Canadian Press

Postal union issues strike notice after it says Canada Post refused special mediator


Notice means delivery could be cancelled as early as Monday


This photo was posted to the City of Victoria's Twitter feed Thursday night around 8:30 p.m.
A reclusive reptile that has been living in a storm drain below the streets of Victoria now has a new home.
A tweet posted Thursday night by the City of Victoria shows a city worker holding the snake.
Officials haven't said how it was coaxed out of the drain, but the tweet said it would be turned over to animal control officers.
When it was spotted in the drain during routine maintenance last week, experts said it appeared to be a nearly two-metre long harmless corn snake, but a closer look at the photo released Thursday night shows it may be a boa constrictor.
It originally rebuffed all efforts at capture, including a heated tube and offerings of dead mice, because it was shedding its skin.
Officials didn't want to harm it or tear up the street, so the pipe was sealed until the moulting was complete and the snake was more co-operative.
(CFAX)
The Canadian Press

Elusive snake finally coaxed out of drain pipe under Victoria street


Officials don't say how they captured the snake, which will be turned over to animal control.


BC Ferries sailings have been busier this year, thanks in part to strong tourist traffic and no net fare increase.
BC Ferries plans to continue its campaign of price promotions this fall and next spring in an effort to maintain increased passenger and vehicle traffic.
First-quarter results for the Crown corporation show passenger traffic up 2.5 per cent and vehicle loads up 5.1 per cent for the three months ended June 30, compared with the same period in 2015.
Buoyed by a strong tourist year for B.C. and no net fare increase, BC Ferries carried 5.3 million passengers and 2.1 million vehicles in April, May and June. The 1.9 per cent average fare hike was erased by a reduced fuel surcharge due to long-term contracts for cheaper diesel fuel.
Helped by reduced operating costs and higher retail sales from terminals and on-board gift shops, net earnings were $27 million for the quarter, up from $18.8 million in the same period last year. Revenues were up 4.9 per cent to $219 million, while costs for the quarter went up 1.5 per cent to $178.6 million.
BC Ferries CEO Mike Corrigan released the first-quarter results at the corporation's annual meeting in Victoria, where he also announced that unspecified pricing promotions will be offered this fall and next spring. This year BC Ferries has been offering discounts on over-length vehicles pulling boats or travel trailers.
Corrigan also announced he will be stepping down as CEO at the end of the fiscal year next March. He was promoted in 2012 to replace former CEO David Hahn, and presided over a controversial service review that saw sailings reduced on money-losing routes.
Transportation Minister Todd Stone praised Corrigan for reducing operating costs and embracing new technology, including three new medium-sized ferries using liquefied natural gas fuel that have been built in Poland.
LNG retrofits are also scheduled for the Spirit of B.C. and the Spirit of Vancouver Island, the workhorses of the main Tswassen-to-Vancouver Island route.
Corrigan's term also saw the first cable ferry in the BC Ferries fleet, the Baynes Sound Connector to Denman Island. Stone said the cable ferry cut fuel costs by half.

More discounts coming as BC Ferries traffic rises


Vehicle traffic up 5% with no net fare increase and discounts offered for vehicles pulling boats and travel trailers


Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers have reached tentative agreements, averting the prospect of a labour dispute that has loomed over the talks for months.
In a statement, Labour Minister MaryAnn Mihychuk says the agreements were reached "voluntarily," but provides no other details about the deals themselves.
The issue of differences in paycheques for rural mail carriers — most of whom are women — and urban letter carriers had been at the forefront of protracted contract talks between the two sides.
The negotiations were extended twice since the weekend, when a deadline expired on a 72-hour job action notice issued last Thursday by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.
The two sides were in talks nearly around the clock at the request of a special mediator appointed Friday by Mihychuk.
Canada Post described the tentative agreements as short-term. It said they are for two years and that four-year contracts were typically negotiated in the past.
"The agreements will avert a work disruption, bringing much-needed certainty in the postal system for our employees and customers," said Canada Post in a statement. "Canadians can now use the postal system with confidence."
The tentative agreements, however, still must be ratified by the members.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers is Canada Post's largest union, representing more than 50,000 postal workers
The Canadian Press

Canada Post, postal union reach tentative deals


Two sides avert job action that has loomed for months


Gail Snider is the executive director of Saanich Volunteer Services.
One of the conversations I frequently have with my peers is around their fear of being bored when they retire. Yes, contrary to popular belief, as the baby boomers age into potential retirement, many of them just aren’t ready to spend their days on the golf course or quilting.
The need to feel appreciated along with the satisfaction of making a meaningful contribution is ever present in many of the people I speak with when they are considering scaling back or retiring from their current positions.
At Saanich Volunteers (SVSS) we understand that what most people want in work and life, even more than the pay raise, is to be appreciated, make meaningful connections and feel like a part of a larger cause. We also know that our community impact is enhanced through collaborating with others who hold the same common purpose as we do at Saanich Volunteers. By partnering with Broadmead Care to jointly deliver the Better at Home Program, we have increased our opportunities for the nearly retired to make meaningful contributions to others, feel appreciated and avoid the “what will I do” fears associated with being a boomer.
The lion’s share of our volunteer drivers, visitors, handy-people, receptionists and gardeners are in the 55-75 age category, helping people that are either their peers or those who are older and need support. Without exception, they tell us that they get more out of volunteering than they ever imagined.
Perhaps part of the reason for this feeling of being appreciated and valued comes from testimonies and affirmations from our clients.
An SVSS client says, “Saanich Volunteer Services has been a Godsend to me.” She says that she has lived in her home for 40 years. Now in her 80s, she wishes to continue living there as long as she can. Drives to appointments and minor home repairs provided by safe and friendly volunteers help make it possible for her to stay. The recent addition of the subsidized housekeeping services of Better at Home are making that possibility greater.
“One of the positive aspects of the Better at Home program in Saanich is the ability we now have to offer housekeeping, a subsidized fee for service program, along with the excellent volunteer services already provided by SVSS for the past 24 years” says Kelly Sprackett, co-ordinator of the Saanich Better at Home Program at Broadmead Care.
“We realize, however, that SVSS will need more volunteers to meet the increasing demand for services that Better at Home is generating. Offering housekeeping on a sliding scale according to income along with free volunteer services will help seniors live independently at home longer.”
We are grateful for all of the volunteers who share their experiences and time with our neighbours in Saanich. We understand the demands being placed on all generations today and know many folks who would volunteer given the time to do so.
Keeping that in mind, anyone who wishes to feel appreciated, valued, part of a larger cause and have a great time while doing it is welcome to join our 150-strong volunteer group to ward off those boredom blues and help to keep our Saanich neighbours independent as long as possible.
Gail Snider is the executive director of Saanich Volunteer Services.

Volunteers know what it’s like to be appreciated


Saanich Volunteer Services provides a number of programs for seniors, including Better at Home


Almost a year after B.C. farm weddings were banned due to a crackdown on agricultural land use rules, the B.C. government has clarified what commercial activities are allowed on farmland.
Farmers can host up to 10 commercial weddings, concerts or non-agricultural events per year without a permit from the Agricultural Land Commission. Farmers can take payment to host a wedding or other event as long as no more than 150 guests attend and a list of conditions are met, according to regulations that took effect Tuesday.
To qualify, event hosts must provide all parking on the farm rather than along roads, with no permanent parking lots or structures, and the event must end in less than 24 hours. For more than 10 events a year or exceeding 150 guests, properties with farm tax status must apply to the ALC for a permit.
The new regulation also clarifies ALC policies to allow, with no permit, farm tours and demonstrations, hayrides, corn mazes, pumpkin patch tours, harvest and Christmas fairs and special occasion events to promote farm products.
Agriculture Minister Norm Letnick said the regulation requiring farms to generate at least 50 per cent of its revenue from farm products is also scrapped, after consultation in the past year suggested the new rules instead.
The crackdown on farm weddings came last fall, when the ALC issued stop-work orders to B.C. farms including the Fraser Valley, Kelowna and Vancouver Island.
The restriction came after the province expanded farm uses to allow breweries and distilleries to operate on protected farmland with the same rules used to permit wineries. The rules allowed for processing of farm crops into products such as juice or jam for commercial sale.


No permit required for weddings, festivals on farms if fewer than 150 people attend, says Agriculture Minister Norm Letnick


Students return to public school next week, with changes to curriculum and some provincial exams.
Students are returning to class next week in most of B.C.'s public schools, with enrolment expected to be up province-wide for the second year running.
Education Minister Mike Bernier says early forecasts show about 529,000 students, an increase of 2,900 from last year. But that increase is centred on fast-growing school districts, while many rural areas continue to struggle with declining student numbers.
Among changes that parents and students will see this year is a new curriculum in place up to Grade 9, with a test year for changes in the senior grades. Bernier said the new emphasis on collaboration and communication skills does not mean a watering down of the basic skills, and is designed to improve students' ability to work at modern jobs.
Report cards are to continue this school year, but the ministry is reviewing its system with an eye to providing more frequent updates. Parents are being consulted on the changes, Bernier said.
Foundation Skills Assessment tests in grades four and seven are also continuing after years of protests from teacher unions, but that program is also being examined for possible changes. FSA tests will be "enhanced" but not eliminated, Bernier said.
Provincial exams continue for graduates in math and English, but science and social studies will now be assessed at a classroom level rather than school-wide tests, Bernier said.
The ministry provided a series of top-ups to education funding this year, for bus service and to keep selected rural schools from closing. Applications are still being taken for a transportation fund until Sept. 30, requiring districts to drop across-the-board school bus fees to qualify.
Districts may still charge transportation fees for international students or those from outside a school catchment area.
NDP leader John Horgan highlighted the crowding in Surrey school district, where 7,000 students remain in portables despite an expansion program. The NDP says the B.C. government's claim of record per-student funding ignores a reduction of education funding as a share of the provincial economy.
"Since 2001, the B.C. Liberals have dragged public education funding in this province from the second best in Canada to the second worst," Horgan said.

B.C. school enrolment up for second year


Some urban districts struggle with overcrowding, special funds for declining rural schools, bus service to take effect


The B.C. government's plan B for income assistance cheques and other time-sensitive documents could be re-activated as the long-running Canada Post labour dispute reaches another deadline.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers is in a legal position to strike as of Monday, but postponed threatened rotating strike action after weekend talks with a federal mediator. Its initial action would be an overtime ban rather than a full-scale walkout that would disrupt mail delivery.
Canada Post served lockout notice in July, with the two sides far apart on issues including pension changes for future employees and pay for rural carriers.
Income assistance, rent subsidy and other B.C. government payments are not affected if they are direct deposit. For mailed cheques and information, updates on possible postal strike effects to the Ministry of Social Development will be available as necessary at this website or at 1-866-866-0800.
Phone and online contacts are set up for questions about affected provincial departments:
• Ministry of Advanced Education and StudentAidBC online here.
• Ministry of Children and Family Development 1-877-387-7027
• Medical Services Plan payments online here or 1-877-405-4909
• ICBC inquiries 1-800-663-3051
• Family Maintenance and Enforcement program 604-660-2528
• Public Guardian and Trustee online here or 604-660-4444
• Vital Statistics 1-888-876-1633
• WorkSafe BC online here or 1-888-967-5377

B.C. prepares for possible postal disruption


Province has alternatives if Canada Post employees begin strike action


A picnic in Saanich, circa 1930, attended by the Mercer family. Mrs. Mercer is third from the left and Phyllis’ younger sister Muriel is standing with a milk bottle.
On a sunny afternoon in August four years ago I drove along Blenkinsop Road looking for the turn off to the historic Mercer home. Built on land that William Mercer had purchased from Adam Glendinning in the early 1900s, the landmark house at 4366 Blenkinsop Rd. had been a wedding gift from Mercer to his son Robert, and bride Gertrude, in 1916.
It was Robert and Gertrude Mercer’s daughter, Phyllis Roberts, who I was scheduled to meet that afternoon. Born in 1917, Phyllis had grown up on the family property, and in the 1970s had built her own home next door where she was still living in 2012.
Over the next two hours I listened to Phyllis’ recollections of growing up in Saanich in the 1920s. Her childhood was spent roaming over Mount Douglas, picking daffodils and playing with imaginary friends. “Oh they were great,” she told me. “They did everything I liked and they never argued with me.”
Phyllis showed me a number of items that had come from her childhood home: a wooden egg carton with metal springs, milk tins from the Mercer dairy, and an iron that she often saw her mother using. As I picked it up to feel the weight, Phyllis told me that her mother had ironed everything, heating two or three irons on the stove at once and swapping them as they cooled. Dresses, sheets, tablecloths, tea towels – everything was ironed.
Phyllis had attended Cedar Hill School and later Mount Douglas but was too independent to enjoy the structure and sedentary nature of the school day. “My mother used to say that these would be the best days of my life,” she recalled. “I remember thinking that the rest must be pretty awful.”
The interview with Phyllis Roberts is one of more than 120 recorded interviews at Saanich Archives.
The project started in the late 1970s and the interviews were then recorded on cassette tapes. These tapes were digitized in 2008 for preservation and access purposes. Digital audio has been used to capture the interviews since 2007.
As well as interviews with longtime residents, the oral history collection features conversations with former elected officials and retired Saanich employees. The interviews provide an opportunity to document personal experiences that are often missing from written records, such as those of women in the workplace or the experiences of childhood.
There is a wisdom about the present that can be gained from listening to the elders in our community. In each oral history interview I have done, I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to listen, ask questions, and to see the world through someone else’s experiences.
As I drove away from my meeting with Phyllis Roberts in 2012, I had a different perspective on Saanich. Now when I travel through the Blenkinsop Valley, I imagine Phyllis as a child in the 1920s, picking daffodils and exploring Mount Douglas.
Phyllis Roberts (nee Mercer) passed away in November 2015 at age 97. You can listen to her interview and other oral history recordings at Saanich Archives.
Caroline Duncan researches and writes about local history. She is the archivist at Saanich Archives and Oak Bay Archives.

Saanich Archives tackles oral history project


Phyllis Roberts born in landmark house on Blenkinsop Road in 1917


A totally spontaneous expression of gratitude breaks out for Premier Christy Clark and Cariboo North MLA Coralee Oakes at the Quesnel rodeo after a rural school fund was announced in June.
Comedian Steve Smith, better known as Red Green, is touring B.C. in September, reprising his popular TV series in which he fixes every conceivable problem with duct tape.
Green’s “I’m Not Old I’m Ripe” tour hits Chilliwack, Victoria, Nanaimo, Courtenay, Surrey, Vernon, Kelowna and Prince George.
His formula for deploying the handyman’s secret weapon has proven so popular that Premier Christy Clark may have been inspired. She’s had quite a flurry of hasty repairs in the last few months. Here’s a recap.
The B.C. minimum wage was starting to lag behind other provinces, even after the overhaul it received in 2015, where annual increases are tied to inflation.
Like Red’s truck tires, there has been a lack of inflation, and a surge of government spending back east leaving B.C. in the dust. B.C.’s wage rose 20 cents last year and was set to go up by another whole dime this fall.
There was that familiar ripping sound in May as Clark and Jobs Minister Shirley Bond announced the September increase will be patched up to 40 cents, with another 40-cent increase next fall. Two wraps should hold it until after the election.
Remember the episode where Red taped two old Hyundai Ponies side by side to make a handyman’s Hummer? The school system has seen that kind of work in recent months.
The first roll was applied by Education Minister Mike Bernier when he announced in March that the ministry’s “fix-it fund” was going from $35 million to $40 million. Then in mid-May, he announced 80 successful projects. The “fix-it fund” had fattened to $45 million, and Bernier was just getting his sleeves rolled up.
Hey school districts, remember the $25 million in “administrative savings” the ministry demanded for the second year in a row? Now that you’ve squeezed that from your budgets, Bernier’s good news at the end of May was that the government’s giving it back to use for “front line services for students.”
One of those services could be “maintaining schools despite falling enrolment in certain regions,” Bernier announced May 31, foreshadowing the next layer of repairs.
Sure enough, a “rural schools fund” was rolled out on June 15. Clark and Cariboo North MLA Coralee Oakes made the announcement in Quesnel, where Kersley and Parkland elementary schools were going to close.
Also eligible for a special fund was Okanagan-Similkameen, where Osoyoos high school students were going to be bused a half hour to Oliver. This is hardly unusual in rural schooling around B.C., but these are swing ridings, you see.
Kootenay Lake district declined the opportunity to keep Yahk elementary open, with an anticipated fall enrolment of zero students. This all comes during the annual ritual combat between the ministry and Vancouver school board over keeping half-empty schools open.
Bernier had one more roll in his overalls. School bus service, one of those things jettisoned or saddled with hundreds of dollars in fees per student as districts scraped up those “administrative savings,” was selectively saved with another $15 million fund announced last week.
There have been a few other country fixes. They’re not going to ban weddings on farms any more, for instance.
That old jalopy in the back yard you’ve been trying to soup up and get back on the road? Soon you can get a collector plate for that thing, which is perfect if you can only get it running once or twice a year.
To paraphrase Red, if the voters don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.
Tom Fletcher is B.C. legislature reporter and columnist for Black Press. Email: tfletcher@blackpress.ca Twitter: @tomfletcherbc

BC VIEWS: Premier Red Green’s fast fixes


Premier Christy Clark has pulled out the duct tape to fix up rural schools, school buses and the minimum wage


OTTAWA – Contract talks continue between Canada Post and its largest union, but neither side is hinting as to whether any progress has been made.
A federally appointed mediator has been meeting with the two sides since Friday to try to reach a deal.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers says if there is no deal by midnight, it would begin job action on Monday by having its members refusing to work overtime on a rotating basis, starting in Alberta and the Northwest Territories.
CUPW served 72 hour strike notice Thursday night, accusing Canada Post of forcing a labour disruption by refusing to bargain in good faith.
The two sides have been deadlocked for months on the issues of pay scales for rural letter carriers and proposed changes to pensions for future employees.
A CUPW news release says the initial job action will cause little disruption to Canada Post customers and that its members will still be delivering mail every day.
The Canadian Press

Postal workers union give details of job action if no deal is reached Sunday


Talks continue, with rotating overtime ban set to begin Monday if no agreement by midnight Sunday


Cameras were the focus as 70 photographers from across B.C., including Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Kelowna and Nelson, competed in the fourth annual Next Generation BC Amateur Photographer of the Year Contest at the recent Abbotsford International Airshow.
Sponsored by London Drugs and Black Press Media, the contest took place Aug. 12-14, as participants captured their best air, crowd, static, and wildcard shots.
Photographers experienced close-up action at the airshow including Friday's twilight show, and earned the "hot-side" tour at the airshow where they shot exclusive aircraft including the F-35, CF-18, FA-18, Breitling Jet Team, the Snowbirds and more for a chance to win the title of B.C.'s next Amateur Photographer title.
Awarding categories also include The Best in-air photograph ($750 grand prize), The Best ground/static scene photograph ($500 prize),The Best crowd scene photograph ($250 prize ), The Best video submission ($500 prize) all courtesy of London Drugs and honorary acknowledgement for Best Wildcard entry.
For the People's Choice Award Winner, the time has arrived for the public to vote on their favourite photo and be entered for a chance to win BC Lions game tickets.
For voting and contest information, click here.

Voting open for People's Choice Amateur Photography Competition


Photographers from across the province competed in amateur competition


Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, on Tuesday, announced a scheme to screen newborns for hearing impairment. The State government has allocated Rs. 3.30 crore for the purpose.
The pilot project would be launched in Chennai and Sivaganga district.
The project would be implemented in 11 maternity hospitals in Chennai and the district headquarters hospital in Sivaganga, taluk hospitals and upgraded primary health centres.
The government has also proposed to implement the AAWAZ – augmentative and alternative communication for mentally challenged children. “Children in government homes will be given an iPad to enable communication among them.”

Newborns to be screened for hearing impairment


Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, on Tuesday, announced a scheme to screen newborns for hearing impairment. The State government has allocated Rs. 3.30 crore for the purpose. The pilot project would be lau


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Social activist Traffic Ramasamy on Thursday protested against the corporation for erecting a banner near the Government Multi- Speciality Hospital without permit. Eventually, the authorities removed


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The Scorpene submarine data leak: what next?


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Raps State for having no disaster management plan yet
Observing that the State Disaster Management plan still remains on paper as a draft for six years, the Madras High Court, on Tuesday, observed that last year’s December floods could have been averted if the plan was in place. The First Bench of Chief Justice S.K. Kaul and Justice R. Mahadevan made the observation on a batch of PILs to find out the reasons for last year’s floods, and to remove encroachment in the waterbodies across the city.
“The plan should have been drafted into the provisions of the 2005 Act long time ago. The fact remains that after six years, the plan is still at the draft stage!” the Bench observed.
“Had the plan been done, possibly the situation which arose last year could have been avoided,” it noted. Pointing out that it had raised the issue of the upgradation of the Disaster Management Plan in its last order as it was of “vintage 2010”, the Bench said that the affidavit of the Revenue Department, the first respondent, only stated that the draft State Disaster Management Plan was prepared during 2010 as per the mandate of Section 23(1) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005,
According to the affidavit, it was shared with the National Disaster Management Authority and thereafter, updated by the National Disaster Management of Anna Institute of Management as per the National Disaster Management Authority guidelines. Commenting on the affidavit, the Bench said the plan was still in the draft stage.
Referring to the another affidavit filed by the Public Works Department (PWD), the Bench said: “Thus, on the one side, it has been contended that the reason for flooding was the growth of unregulated slum areas numbering 28 on the Banks of River Adyar and yet, on the other hand, there is reluctance to take action against the encroachments. We say so, as in respect of Buckingham Canal, which has been declared a waterway under the National Waterways Act, 2016.”
The submission of the State government was found unacceptable as the issue was again of the shrinking space of the Buckingham Canal on account of the encroachments. We also find that the authorities have stated that action was taken from January to March 4 to clear the banks of Adyar and thereafter, the State Elections intervened, it noted.
Pointing out that nothing has been said as to what had happened from the end of May till the end of August, the judges said: “This suggests that once again nothing has been done.” The Bench also directed the authorities concerned to file “a better affidavit” within a week and posted the petitions to September 7 for further hearing.


Observing that the State Disaster Management plan still remains on paper as a draft for six years, the Madras High Court, on Tuesday, observed that last year’s December floods could have been averted


A patient at the Ponneri government hospital where the medical ward is full; beds placed even next to the dust-covered stairway. Photos: B. Jothi Ramalingam
As authorities grapple with the rush in hospitals, residents, mainly parents of little children, are wary of any symptoms.
Even as M. Dhanalakshmi feeds her year-and-a-half-old daughter, Prema, ahead of her discharge from hospital on Saturday afternoon, the family of 14-year-old M. Aravindan is getting ready to move him from the Tiruvallur government hospital to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai.
Aravindan, a Class VIII student, from a village in Uthukottai block, has dengue, and since his stool turned bloody, is being referred to the larger hospital, a doctor said. Prema, from Kaverirajapuram, too had dengue, but has recovered. Her mother is looking forward to taking her home: “She is our only child, born after 10 years of marriage,” she said.
The medical wards at the Tiruvallur government hospital are full: on every bed, patients talk about a fever they have had for a few days and the treatment. The hospital is one of the hubs for fever cases that have racked the district for over 10 days now, and as of Saturday afternoon had a total of 79 patients with fever, of whom 10 had been admitted on that day. Of these, two tested positive for dengue and doctors were planning to discharge 14. Over 100 patients with fever had been seen as outpatients on Saturday, a senior hospital official said. Apart from dengue, typhoid and leptospirosis, there has been a suspected case of scrub typhus, he said.
Patients with any kind of fever are being admitted, treated and discharged after observation, a doctor said.
A few days ago, a patient said, each bed in the ward had two patients. Another patient holds a dengue positive report from a private lab, but said the hospital has not confirmed his diagnosis.
So what is going on in Tiruvallur? In the last week, five children from the district have died after contracting ‘fever’, all at the Institute of Child Health, Egmore. In all, 128 patients with fever have been admitted to hospitals in the district and in Chennai as of Saturday.
While four of these deaths were of children from two adjoining villages — Kaverirajapuram and Adi Andhrawada — the fifth was of a child from Keerapakkam, near Ponneri. Officials say the deaths are not connected: at the two villages, the infections were mixed and included dengue and leptospirosis, while the fifth death was due to Hepatitis A, they say.
But for the anxious parents at the outpatient department of another government hospital, with their children in tow, any fever now is a huge cause for concern.
Tiruvallur district, with a population of around 37 lakh, has according to the 2011 census the third-highest population density in Tamil Nadu (1,098), and sanitation and hygiene are challenges.
“Certain areas that are highly populated are prone to outbreaks. Add to this the rain pattern, the cleanliness index and the health-seeking behaviour of people, and such outbreaks may take place,” said Director of Public Health, K. Kolandaisamy.
At Kaverirajapuram and Adi Andhrawada, there were open, filthy drains earlier in the week. The drains were being cleaned and new pipelines had been laid, but it is likely, a public health official had said, that their water had been contaminated.
Tiruvallur shares a boundary with Andhra Pradesh, a fact that could make it more vulnerable as any outbreak there could flow in, said Dr. Kolandaisamy. Also, certain areas of the district such as Minjur, Puzhal, Poonamallee and Villivakkam have a lot of development work going on, with workers migrating back and forth, working on construction sites, while at the same time, families continue to rear cattle and work in agriculture too, he said. These areas were being given a special focus to prevent any potential health problem. For the suspected case of scrub typhus, cold fogging has been carried out, he said.
With dengue in particular, no district is endemic to it — its pattern changes constantly, said Dr. Kolandaisamy. “Dengue is not linked to the monsoon. With rain, mosquitoes can breed in containers thrown outside, but even when there is no rain, open containers of water can become breeding sources. In about eight to 10 days, from eggs you have adult mosquitoes,” he said.
The district administration has planned a mass cleaning drive in the 14 blocks, five municipalities and 10 town panchayats. This will involve fogging, source identification and larval clearance, garbage and bush cleaning, as well as distribution of Nilavembu Kudineer and fever surveillance, said Collector E. Sundaravalli. “We are also planning to set up a control room number and a WhatsApp number through which the public can intimate us of any lacunae,” she said.
Anganwadi workers have been trained to inform the district administration of any fever or diarrhoea cases and on Friday, 2,000 school headmasters were summoned for an awareness programme, she said.
The health department and the district administration have been focussing on quacks and drugs sold without prescriptions. In the last 10 days, Ms. Sundaravalli said, six quacks have been arrested and a search is on for more. Some patients had seen private practitioners first, while others had gone to government health centres, and others had been referred to government hospitals from the private sector.
The Health Department is working with the Indian Medical Association as well as with other private practitioners to ensure protocols for fever management, investigations and rational guidelines for dengue are followed, said Dr. Kolandaisamy. “The Directorate of Drug Control is taking action against pharmacies that sell without prescriptions,” he said.
At the Ponneri Government Hospital too, the medical ward is full. A total of 17 patients have been admitted with fever and are undergoing treatment, but none have dengue, a hospital official said. Patients’ families complained that it was only just before the Health Minister’s visit on Friday that they had been given fresh bedsheets and mosquito nets. “Just a little while after they left, it was all taken away. Will the mosquitoes not come now that the officials have gone?” one mother asked.
Another mother said the official visit had been a blessing: her child received prompt treatment. Further up, the relative of a sick boy dabbed his head with a cool cloth. A few people had been sick in her village, she said. “He has had fever for 3 days. We admitted him today.”
Even as the district gears up for its cleaning drive, the grounds of the Ponneri hospital are a mess. Empty cups, coconut shells and garbage are littered across, with goats feeding on the trash.

Fever in Tiruvallur: The why and the how


Even as M. Dhanalakshmi feeds her year-and-a-half-old daughter, Prema, ahead of her discharge from hospital on Saturday afternoon, the family of 14-year-old M. Aravindan is getting ready to move him