TORONTO -- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has officially entered the Marvel universe -- and the boxing ring -- as a newly minted comic cover star.
Trudeau appears on the variant cover of issue No. 5 of Marvel's "Civil War II: Choosing Sides" released Wednesday.
Marvel offered a sneak peek at the cover earlier this summer, which features Trudeau sitting, smiling and relaxed, in the ring wearing a Maple Leaf-emblazoned tank, black shorts and red boxing gloves.
Standing behind him are Puck, Sasquatch and Aurora, who are members of Canadian superhero squad Alpha Flight, while Iron Man is seen in the left corner with his arms crossed.
The variant cover featuring the prime minister is the alternative to the main cover in circulation showcasing Aurora, Puck, Sasquatch and Nick Fury.
In the special issue, Trudeau offers advice to members of Alpha Flight -- formally the Canadian peacekeeping force -- during a visit to his Ottawa office. He later steps into the ring with Iron Man himself, also known as Tony Stark.
Edmonton-born artist and writer Chip Zdarsky collaborated with award-winning Toronto-based cartoonist Ramon Perez on the Alpha Flight story.
Zdarsky reached out to the Prime Minister's Office to inform them of his plans to write a Marvel story involving Trudeau, and while he was told that the PMO couldn't endorse the comic, they were fine with him proceeding.
The story involves a mysterious new character, Ulysses, who has the power to calculate the outcome of future events with a high degree of accuracy.
The Marvel heroes are divided on how best to capitalize on the predictive power. Carol Danvers -- also known as Captain Marvel -- is in favour of profiling future crimes and attacks before they occur, while Tony Stark believes the punishment can't come before the crime.
Alpha Flight is supportive of using Ulysses to stop disasters and capture people, but there are also ethical conflicts within the group. They seek out Trudeau for counsel.
"I didn't want this to just be like a walk-on ... rescued by superheroes and he thanks them and that's the end of the story," Zdarsky said in a June interview. "I think a lot of these real-life appearances in comics tend to go that way. I liked the idea of him actually engaging them in an ethical debate.
"It's a little tricky just because once you start to put words in the prime minister's mouth, we acknowledge that this is basically Trudeau fan fiction."
Issue No. 5 of "Civil War II: Choosing Sides" is available at local comic retailers and through the Marvel Digital Comics Shop.

Justin Trudeau debuts on Marvel cover alongside 'Iron Man'


Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has
officially entered the Marvel universe -
- and the boxing ring -- as a newly
minted comic cover star.


SYDNEY, Australia -- Three Canadian cruise ship passengers were charged with drug smuggling Monday after Sydney police allegedly found 95 kilograms of cocaine in their cabin luggage.
The haul valued at 31 million Australian dollars (US$23 million) was the largest seizure in Australia of narcotics carried by passengers of a cruise ship or airliner, Australian Border Force commander Tim Fitzgerald said.
Andre Tamine, 63, Isabelle Lagace, 28, and Melina Roberce, 22, were arrested Sunday after the MS Sea Princess, operated by California-based Princess Cruises, berthed in Sydney.
The three did not enter pleas when they were charged in the Sydney Central Local Court with importing a commercial quantity of cocaine. They face potential life sentences if convicted.
They will remain in custody until their next court appearance on Oct. 26.
The trio had boarded the ship at the British port city of Southampton. Police are investigating whether they boarded with the drugs or sourced them from one of several South American ports the ship visited on its way to Australia.
Fitzgerald thanked the U.S. Department of Homelands Security and the Canada Border Services Agency for helping identify the three as "high-risk passengers" among the 1,800 on board.
Fitzgerald alleged 35 kilograms of cocaine were found in suitcases in a cabin the women shared and 60 kilograms of the drug were found in the man's luggage in a separate cabin.

Canadians charged in Australia after $23-million cocaine haul found in cruise sh


Three Canadian cruise ship passengers
were charged with drug smuggling Monday
after Sydney police allegedly found 95
kilograms of cocaine in their cabin
luggage.


Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre is at it again, demagoguing against the Energy East pipeline.
Back in January, the former federal Liberal cabinet minister said he couldn’t support the $15-billion pipeline from Alberta’s oil sands to refineries and ports in New Brunswick.
It was too environmentally risky, he opined, and didn’t carry enough economic benefits for his city.
Now the Montreal politician is joining with three dozen radical environmental groups in calling for an indefinite suspension of the National Energy Board’s hearings into the pipeline, which are scheduled to begin in Montreal on Monday.
Coderre and the eco-activists insist the board’s impartiality has been compromised because NEB officials met with Jean Charest.
A former federal Conservative cabinet minister who became the Liberal premier of Quebec from 2003 to 2012, Charest had a business relationship with TransCanada, the company seeking to build Energy East, at the time of his meeting with the NEB’s chairperson and two of its commissioners.
The NEB explains it met with plenty of Quebec politicians (including Coderre) while preparing for the opening of its hearings.
Craig Loewen, an NEB spokesperson, insists the meeting was set up “with the purpose of asking Mr. Charest for his thoughts on how the NEB could effectively engage in Quebec and which stakeholders the NEB might consider meeting ...The NEB was not lobbied in any way during this meeting and the Energy East proposal was not discussed.”
A spokesperson for Charest also insists “it was an informal discussion that didn’t last a long time.” Gregory Larroque told the National Observer “from their perspective it was a way of taking advice on how to approach Quebec.”
Still, the optics are bad.
How could the NEB not know Charest had an arrangement with TransCanada? How come Charest didn’t disclose it when the NEB rang him up to invite him?
Even if there is no actual conflict of interest on Charest’s part and no bias or favouritism on the NEB’s, there definitely could be the perception of an ethical violation.
And such a perception could be as damaging to the Energy East approval process as a real conflict of interest.
This is not enough to delay or compromise the hearings, but it does neither the NEB nor TransCanada any good.
If the NEB now decides it must postpone its hearings while new commissioners are found, that’s bad for TransCanada and Alberta, to say nothing of the national economy.
If the NEB proceeds with its hearings and ultimately decides to recommend Ottawa approve the line, Energy East’s many opponents can then lobby the federal Liberal cabinet to reject the line, despite the board’s approval, arguing the impartiality of the NEB’s decision is suspect.
Don’t doubt for a minute that the Trudeau cabinet is looking for any excuse to reject Energy East.
For all his rhetoric about supporting environmentally sustainable pipelines, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is just another kneejerk “green” urbanite with an hysterical concern about climate change and almost no understanding of economics or the modern energy industry.
But isn’t it also inappropriate for a sitting politician to call into question the professionalism and impartiality of an expert panel such as the NEB?
If a Conservative Alberta politician had weighed in on some independent Quebec initiative, the push back from Quebecers and from central Canadian journalists would be deafening.
I don’t think Coderre really cares about the NEB’s reputation or the validity of its upcoming hearings.
He appears to be doing nothing more than pandering to “green” voters.
It looks as if Coderre saw an opening to damage the NEB and Energy East, as well as stop the pipeline, purely for political gain. So he took it.
The potential damage to the country’s economy be damned.

Coderre’s pipeline politics all for show


Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre is at it again, demagoguing against the Energy East pipeline.


William Shatner is 85 and by all accounts he’s way busier than you’ll ever be.
This week, the original Captain Kirk heads to Fan Expo in Toronto to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Star Trek. He’s also starring with Henry Winkler, Terry Bradshaw, Olympic gold medallist George Foreman and comic Jeff Dye on NBC’s travel comedy Better Late Than Never. Then there’s his upcoming book, Zero G, which follows the FBI in space 50 years from now.
“Also right now, today for example, I’ve been filming a special that we’re making for Canada called the Truth is in Our Stars,” he tells Postmedia Network down the line from Kentucky. “We started the show celebrating the 50th anniversary of Star Trek, and its effect on various scientists. We ended up talking to Stephen Hawking about space and time and Black Holes and he’s a glorious part of the special that we’re making for Canada with Canadian production.”
Along with Shatner, former Star Trek stars George Takei and Nichelle Nichols will also be on hand to mark the 50th birthday for the iconic sci-fi franchise.
“Oh, I’m looking forward to spending a lot of time with George and Nichelle,” he says with a tone of sarcasm (Shatner and Takei have trash talked one another for years).
During a wide-ranging conversation, Shatner reflected on Kirk’s death in Star Trek: Generations, his favourite film featuring the original series cast and revealed his favourite villain.
How does it make you feel to see this 50-year-old franchise still going strong?
I get to talk to scientists and one of the major questions I have is: ‘Please explain to me the concept of space-time?’ But when I think about it, I’m an authority on time, in that time — in this case 50 years — goes by so quickly. It’s almost as if time doesn’t exist. That’s how quickly it went.
Do you regret killing Kirk in Generations?
You see, the pronoun you used - ‘you’ - should be changed to ‘they.’ I didn’t kill Kirk. I protested. I died protesting (laughs).
But now that the timeline is reset, isn’t it possible that your version of Kirk is still alive and could be reunited with the current crew through time travel?
Mark, I’m giving you this job right now. I’m assigning you a job – and you’ll be highly paid. I want you to solve the mystery of bringing me, 50 years later, back as Captain Kirk. I want you to solve that mystery.
Having done so, you’ll be highly paid.
What’s your favourite Star Trek film from the original series?
Well, I thought the glorious altitude of Star Trek films was reached with Star Trek 5. I thought that was a brilliant film. Beautifully acted and extraordinarily directed.
I loved that one too. But did you have any other favourites?
Probably the one that Leonard Nimoy directed – Star Trek 4. That was a lovely film on a subject dear to all of our hearts, which is trying to preserve the world.
What’s your opinion of the new Star Trek films?
I really haven’t seen them. I caught a glimpse of the first one, but I think that they’re doing a wonderful job of bringing an audience in. The films we did made a $100-million and that was the top. Now JJ Abrams has solved the puzzle and he’s created a great ride of a film. And people are flocking to see the films.
How long would you like to see this current cast go?
I think if they got rid of all the characters except Kirk... I’m just joking. I don’t know. They’ve got some wonderful writers working on it. Star Trek was always about character and story. So it’s a balancing act. Obviously people are loving it and that’s good.
What should they do with Chekov after Anton Yelchin’s death?
They would replace him I’d think. But I don’t know.
Who was your favourite villain?
Mark, what’s funny is that I spent the day with Stephen Hawking last week and one of the questions he asked me was, ‘Who was your favourite villain?’ I had to say something. I couldn’t say, ‘They’re all great.’ But I’d have to say Khan… Ricardo Montalban. He was fun.
What’s your favourite thing to do when you’re back in Toronto?
Well, I lived in Toronto for several years. I worked at the CBC and I did theatre and I was at Stratford in the summer. But my favourite thing to do is I like to go to my old haunts and see that they don’t exist anymore and what’s there is a great restaurant. So I pay my respects to my old haunt by having a meal somewhere.
Lastly, what’s your motto?
There’s always tomorrow.
William Shatner appears at Fan Expo Canada on Friday, Sept. 2, and Saturday, Sept. 3. For tickets and info, visit fanexpocanada.com/guests/william-shatner.
Twitter: @markhdaniell
Mdaniell@postmedia.com

'Star Trek 5' glorious and Kirk didn't have to die in 'Generati


William Shatner is 85 and by all accounts he’s way busier than you’ll ever be.


REGINA — A woman who has won the largest lottery prize ever in Saskatchewan knew something was up the morning she went to check her ticket.
Mary Wernicke of Neville says she had “a feeling” the day she learned she had won the Lotto Max $60-million jackpot of Aug. 12.
Five days had passed since the draw and Wernicke says she woke up with a strong urge to check her numbers.
Once she discovered she had the lucky ticket, she was able to keep her big win a secret for more than a week in the small town of just 80 people.
Wernicke says it means a great deal to be able to share her good luck with all of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren — more than 30 in number.
She had just enough money with her for one ticket when she purchased the quick pick at a drugstore in the town of Swift Current, about 50 kilometres away.
“I only had a $5 bill in my purse,” she said. “I thought to myself, ’If I’m meant to win, that’s all it’s going to take,'” she said.
“They say if you have an itchy hand, it means money is coming your way. Well, both my hands were itchy.”
She’s determined to take her time and not rush into anything. The one thing she knows for sure is the positive impact the money will have on her loved ones.
“It means everything to be able to help my family. I’ve dreamed and prayed about that for a long time.”

$60M Lotto Max jackpot winner only had $5 in her purse


A woman who has won the largest lottery prize ever in Saskatchewan knew something was up the morning she went to check her ticket.


SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium — Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg has clinched pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix ahead of 18-year-old Dutchman Max Verstappen, while championship leader Lewis Hamilton will start Sunday’s race from the back of the grid.
Cheered on by a large contingent of Dutch fans, Verstappen beat Sebastian Vettel’s leading time to move into contention, only for Rosberg to beat Verstappen’s mark and clinch his 28th career pole.
Kimi Raikkonen placed third, ahead of Vettel.
Rosberg, who trails Hamilton by 19 points in the title race, has a great chance to close the gap.
Hamilton’s grid penalties increased to 55 places after Mercedes had further engine changes, following those made during Friday’s practice.
With nothing to gain, Hamilton did only four laps early in qualifying before rolling into the team garage.

Lewis Hamilton to start Belgian Grand Prix 55 places back after grid penalties


Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg has clinched pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix ahead of 18-year-old Dutchman Max Verstappen, while championship leader Lewis Hamilton will start Sunday’s race from the back of the grid.


LOS ANGELES -- The famous human ancestor known as Lucy walked the Earth, but it was her tree climbing that might have led to her demise, a new study suggests.
An analysis of her partial skeleton reveals breaks in her right arm, left shoulder, right ankle and left knee -- injuries that researchers say resulted from falling from a high perch such as a tree.
Lucy likely died quickly, said John Kappelman, an anthropologist at the University of Texas at Austin, who published the findings Monday in the journal Nature.
"I don't think she suffered," Kappelman said.
But several other researchers, including Lucy's discoverer, disagree. They contend most of the cracks in Lucy's bones are well documented and came after her death from the fossilization process and natural forces such as erosion.
How Lucy met her end has remained a mystery since her well-preserved fossil remains were unearthed more than four decades ago. Her discovery was significant because it allowed scientists to establish that ancient human ancestors walked upright before evolving a big brain.
Lucy was a member of Australopithecus afarensis, an early human species that lived in Africa between about 4 million and 3 million years ago. The earliest humans climbed trees and walked on the ground. Lucy walked upright and occasionally used her long, dangling arms to climb trees. She was a young adult when she died.
Tim White, a paleoanthropologist at the University of California, Berkeley, called the study's conclusion a "misdiagnosis." The Texas researchers "appear to have focused only on the cracks that they could attribute to an imagined fall, ignoring the additional abundant cracks," White said in an email.
The split highlights the difficulty of pinpointing a cause of death from fossilized remains. Scientists rarely know how early humans died because skeletons are incomplete and bones tend to get crushed under sand and rocks.
Over the years, Lucy's discoverer Donald Johanson has tried to solve the mystery.
Lucy's skeleton, which is 40 per cent complete, was recovered in Ethiopia in what was an ancient lake near fossilized remains of crocodiles, turtle eggs and crab claws.
"There's no definitive proof of how she died," said Johanson of Arizona State University.
The Texas team examined Lucy's bones and used high-tech imaging. Kappelman said the scans revealed multiple broken bones and no signs of healing, suggesting the injuries occurred around the time of death.
He reconstructed her final moments: The 3-foot-6-inch (1.06-meter) Lucy fell from at least 40 feet and hit the ground at 35 mph. She landed on her feet before twisting and falling. Such an impact would have caused internal organ damage. Fractures on her upper arms suggest she tried to break her fall.
Kappelman theorized that Lucy's walking ability may have caused her to be less adept at climbing trees, making her more vulnerable to falling from heights.
Not everyone agrees that her tree-climbing skills were lacking. Other scientists point out that there have been documented falls by chimpanzees and orangutans, which spend more time in trees than Lucy's species.
"Without a time machine, how can one know that she didn't just get unlucky and fall?" William Harcourt-Smith of the American Museum of Natural History said in an email.

Did fall from tree kill famous human ancestor Lucy?


The famous human ancestor known as Lucy
walked the Earth, but it was her tree
climbing that might have led to her
demise, a new study suggests.


It may be sunny and hot outside but the ice is in and hockey is back.
The Victoria Royals held the first day of their main training camp for the 2016-17 season this morning at the Save On Foods Memorial Centre.
Head coach Dave Lowry and his staff were running drills on the ice through the morning. Familiar faces on the ice for the first session included goalie Griffen Outhouse and Jack Walker.
The Royals' first pre-season game will be September 2 in Kamloops against the Blazers with their first home pre-season game September 10 against the Vancouver Giants.
They kick off their season at home Friday, September 23 against the Prince George Cougars.

Victoria Royals back on the ice for training camp


The Victoria Royals held the first day of their main training camp for the 2016-17 Western Hockey League season


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


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.


Jordan Bateman, Canadian Taxpayers' Federation
The B.C. government is hearing objections from businesses and individuals faced with increasing Canada Pension Plan contributions in the coming years, and is the last province needed to ratify the increase.
Instead of joining other provinces in meeting the federal government's July deadline to adopt the change, the B.C. government launched a consultation phase expected to run through August. And they are getting push-back on a plan that would increase payroll deductions and employer contributions starting in 2019.
Jordan Bateman, B.C. director of the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation, said he's receiving hundreds of responses to his call to supporters to make their views known to the B.C. government. Most concerned are employers who would pay higher contributions for each of their employees.
Employer and employee contributions are to go up from the current 4.95 per cent of earnings to 5.95 per cent by 2023. For each employee earning $54,900, the employer contribution goes up $7 to $8 per month in each of the first five years of the phase-in.
"Obviously, lots of people are concerned about having to pay more," Bateman said. "But the interesting ones are the small business owners who talk about just how close to the edge they are financially."
B.C. Finance Minister Mike de Jong joined other provinces in agreeing in principle to the expansion in June. Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau said he is concerned about the decline in workplace pension plans and wants the CPP to move from replacing one quarter of employment income to one third by 2025.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business surveyed its members nation-wide when the CPP plan was announced, and more than 80 per cent wanted consultation and a delay of implementation. Morneau has indicated he plans to table legislation this fall.
B.C.'s refusal to sign on could derail the federal plan, but it shows little intention of doing so.
"British Columbia is committed to engaging with stakeholders in advance of ratifying the agreement in principle," said the statement from de Jong's office announcing the consultation.
The province's consultation website and feedback address can be found here.


B.C. stands in the way of Justin Trudeau government's plan to hike Canada Pension Plan contributions, but likely not for long


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


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


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


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


Re: Tree spikers cling to Lelu Island (B.C. Views, July 20).
Tom Fletcher seems to believe protecting salmon is not only bad, but dishonest. He suggests it’s an effort to cover up an international plot to kill B.C.’s oil and gas opportunities and Alberta’s oilsands.
His column falsely asserts that, along with other groups, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has “poured money into anti-LNG campaigns in B.C., as they funded opposition to oilsands development before them. Indeed, the record suggests the long project to establish what environmental front groups named the Great Bear Rainforest was a strategy to stop hydrocarbon exports from western Canada, even as U.S. sources ramped up production.”
The foundation’s Wild Salmon Ecosystems Initiative supports groups working to ensure that all factors – social, environmental and economic – are fairly respected in development decisions. It does not fund efforts to stop oil and gas development.
Salmon support a huge economy that provides jobs, social and cultural benefits. And, in British Columbia, unlike many other parts of North America, we still have a chance to keep most salmon watersheds intact. This is why the foundation supports the efforts of communities to protect these fish. This means ensuring that scientific evidence is fully addressed in project development, including siting decisions.
We are proud supporters of the Great Bear Rainforest, not because we are “anti” anything else, but because this is a unique region. Like the Amazon and the Great Barrier Reef, it is recognized by experts around the globe as one of the planet’s most important and unique natural wonders.
It is a region that deserved to be protected on its own merits – a fact so clear that federal, provincial and First Nation governments came together with industry and environmental groups to ensure it would be. To portray this impressive collaboration as an anti-oil and gas does a disservice to the broad array of Canadians and First Nations that prioritized its preservation.
The Moore Foundation supported this as part of our commitment to assist groups that seek to protect wild salmon habitats along the West Coast. People, issues, organizations and funds cross the Canada-U.S. border all the time. There isn’t anything unusual about Canadian environmental groups requesting and receiving donations from international foundations that share the same environmental goals.
Ivan Thompson, B.C. Program Officer, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Vancouver

LETTER: U.S. foundations protecting salmon


Representative of Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation says it doesn't support efforts to stop oil and gas development


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


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


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


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


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


Doug Kelly, chair of the B.C. First Nations Health Council
With patients in urban areas having difficulty finding a family doctor, the situation in rural B.C. is going from bad to worse, MLAs on the province's health committee were told Monday.
Ed Staples, a member of the B.C. Health Coalition, described his efforts to improve the situation in Princeton, a community of about 5,000 people that four years ago was down to one doctor providing on-call service.
Princeton now has four full-time doctors and two nurse practitioners, but there are still people who can't find a doctor in the region, including Penticton an hour and a half away. A recent search of the College of Physicians and Surgeons website turned up the nearest doctor accepting patients in Courtney on Vancouver Island, Staples said.
Health Match BC, the province's web portal for recruiting doctors, nurses and other health professionals, currently has more than 400 general practitioner vacancies, with 37 communities seeking 85 doctors. The result is "bidding wars" between communities to offer incentives to relocating doctors, and foreign doctors using a rural community as an entry point before relocating to the Lower Mainland, he said.
The B.C. government has announced its latest videoconferencing service for health care, linking psychiatrists with young people in Cranbrook. The service is available twice a month at the local Children and Family Development office, supplementing visits by specialists in communities such as Cranbrook and Princeton. Health Minister Terry Lake says video conferencing and electronic health records are a key part of the solution for reaching patients across B.C.
Doug Kelly, chair of the B.C. First Nations Health Council, told the committee of an Abbotsford doctor who travels to Carrier Sekani territory around Prince George for part of his practice, in a pilot project with Northern Health.
Kelly said video links and nurse practitioners are part of the solution to delivering rural and remote care, but the main obstacle is the business model for doctors that has them cycling through as many as 20 patients an hour to bill enough to cover their office overhead.
Committee members were also reminded that graduating doctors are increasingly reluctant to take on the demands of family practice, especially in smaller communities where they may find themselves on call around the clock.

Video links grow as rural health care shrinks


Small communities have more than 400 doctor vacancies, with 'telehealth' and visiting specialists filling gaps


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


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


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


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


The board responsible for identifying potential sites for a sewage treatment plant to serve Greater Victoria has short-listed Rock Bay and McLoughlin Point.
A report released by the Core Area Wastewater Treatment Project board Wednesday afternoon gives three potential options for the facility: a single plant at Rock Bay in Victoria, a single plant at McLoughlin Point in Esquimalt, or two plants; one at Rock Bay and one at McLoughlin Point.
The estimated cost is between $750 million and $1.1 billion.
The board's final report, including the recommended option, will be complete by Sept. 7. It will be up to the Capital Regional District board to decide which option to move forward with in the end.
The CRD must make a final decision on where the treatment plant will go by Sept. 30 or risk losing millions of dollars in funding.
Read the report below.

Rock Bay, McLoughlin Point shortlisted as sewage treatment sites


In a report released by the Core Area Wastewater Treatment Project board today, it gives three potential options for the facility.


Oak Bay Mayor Nils Jensen
Tim Collins
News contributor
Oak Bay Mayor Nils Jensen is concerned about cracks appearing in longstanding co-operation between some Greater Victoria municipalities.
“The co-operation for fire safety is a prime example. We had a mutual aid system that worked well for 30 years, and suddenly their new fire chief (Victoria Chief Paul Bruce) comes in and everything is open to renegotiation. And the most frustrating thing is that the system worked for everyone’s benefit, and now it’s all open again,” Jensen said.
Jensen said Bruce recently entered into separate negotiations with the union representing Victoria’s firefighters (International Association of Fire Fighters, Local No. 730). Those negotiations resulted in a deal that Jensen said may have the effect of whipsawing up the wages for all the other municipalities in Greater Victoria.
Part of the problem arises from the fact that, in mid-June of this year, Victoria moved to withdraw from the Greater Victoria Labour Relations Association (GVLRA). That association until recently represented the bulk of the municipalities in Greater Victoria, and presented the various municipal unions with one unified collective bargaining agency, allowing for a stronger bargaining position for those municipalities.
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps said it was Victoria’s feeling that the GVLRA had been a good option for Victoria when it was formed in 1976 but that Victoria’s Human Relations Department had, in recent years, handled many of the services once provided by the GVLRA.
“It was just time for us to go it alone,” Helps said.
It’s a move Jensen maintained will put other municipalities in a difficult situation.
“Of course, when we go to negotiate, the union will hold up the agreement with Victoria as a starting point and we’re left negotiating from a position that we had no part in establishing in the first place,” said Jensen.
Helps vehemently denies the assertion that Victoria’s actions will result in a whipsawing of labour agreements.
“This is not something that we did without careful consideration. We hired a consultant and, based on the report we received, this was the best course of action for everyone concerned,” said Helps.
Jensen is also concerned about the new 911 call centre being considered for Greater Victoria. Although 911 calls are currently integrated for police services, some question exists as to whether calls for fire services will be handled by the one central location. While most municipalities have signed on to the centre, Langford and Victoria have not yet agreed to be a part of the centralized system.
“It’s a CRD responsibility to construct the building to house these services, and because we can’t get these municipalities, particularly Victoria, to commit to the integrated system for fire, they (the CRD) don’t even know how big the building has to be,” said Jensen.
Helps takes issue with the concern.
“We are on board to join in the fire services agreement and the 911 co-ordinated service. As recently as yesterday I was having those discussions and we are definitely going to be on board. We just haven’t formally agreed to it as yet,” Helps said.
Jensen maintained, however, that although these issues may not seem significant in and of themselves, they point to a disturbing trend for some municipalities, particularly Victoria, to want to “go it alone.”
Not a proponent of the amalgamation of Greater Victoria municipalities, Jensen acknowledged that it only makes sense for the municipalities to work together, particularly in the provision of services that cross municipal boundaries.
“I believe in service integration,” said Jensen.
“We’re all stronger if we work together. We can keep down costs and provide a better level of service to all residents of Greater Victoria. But when municipalities start opting out and going their own way, it unravels decades of co-operation.”
Editor's note: This is an updated version of a previously posted story.

Cracks in municipal co-operation disturbing: Jensen


Mayor says those who ‘go it alone’ may increase costs for neighbouring jurisdictions


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


KINGSTON, Ont. â€” The Tragically Hip mixed fan favourites, newer songs and some politics on Saturday night during the final show of their "Man Machine Poem" tour.
Lead singer Gord Downie, who started the show wearing a metallic silver suit and hat with a "Jaws" T-shirt underneath, hugged and kissed his bandmates before they stepped on stage at the K-Rock Centre in the group's hometown of Kingston, Ont.
Minutes earlier, as the raucous sold-out crowd waited for the band to emerge, an impromptu rendition of O Canada broke out and a banner reading "Thank You Prime Minister Downie!" was passed around the arena.
The band immediately gave fans what they wanted to hear, starting their set with four straight hits from the classic album "Fully Completely:" opener "50 Mission Cap," followed by "Courage (for Hugh MacLennan)," "Wheat Kings" and "At the Hundredth Meridian."
The Hip then segued into their latest album "Man Machine Poem," with four tracks including the single "In a World Possessed by the Human Mind."
Before "Machine," Downie launched into one of his trademark onstage rants, calling out to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was in the crowd for the show. Trudeau's official photographer tweeted a photo of the prime minister and Downie embracing before the concert.
"Well, you know, prime minister Trudeau's got me, his work with First Nations. He's got everybody. He's going to take us where we need to go," Downie said from the stage.
"It's going to take us 100 years to figure out what the hell went on up there," he continued, "but it isn't cool and everybody knows that. It's really, really bad, but we're going to figure it out, you're going to figure it out."
Many anticipate this will be the band's final tour, given the recent news that Downie is battling terminal brain cancer.
Before performing the "Road Apples" song "Fiddler's Green," Downie seemed to reference the outpouring of support from fans in the wake of his diagnosis.
"Thank you, people, for keeping me pushing and keeping me pushing," he said, which prompted a "Gordie!" chant from the audience.
After playing 21 songs, Downie and his fellow bandmates â€” guitarists Rob Baker and Paul Langlois, bassist Gord Sinclair and drummer Johnny Fay â€” embraced and prepared to retire for a pre-encore break. Downie was left alone on stage to take in the roaring ovation.
After returning for a few more songs, Downie again spoke about his fondness for Trudeau.
"Thank you to the prime minister for coming to our show, it really means a lot to all of us," he said.
"We're in good hands, folks, real good hands. He cares about the people way up North, that we were trained our entire lives to ignore, trained our entire lives to hear not a word of what's going on up there. And what's going on up there ain't good. It's maybe worse than it's ever been, so it's not on the improve. (But) we're going to get it fixed and we got the guy to do it, to start, to help.
"Thank you everybody. Thanks for listening to that. Thanks for listening, period. Have a nice life."
David Friend, The Canadian Press

Downie calls out to Trudeau during Tragically Hip's final show of tour


Tragically Hip kick off tour's final show with fan favourites


Robert Jay, Fairway Market’s vice-president of operations and project manager for the Oak Bay store’s renovations, and Oak Bay deli manager Cheslea Taylor visit the deli area, which will see significant new offerings once renovations are complete.
Fairway Market shoppers may have noticed a few changes taking shape at the Oak Bay Avenue store, and can look forward to more to come.
Updates so far include a switch to brighter, more efficient LED lights and aesthetic improvements like new flooring, says project manager Robert Jay, Fairway’s vice-president of operations and management information systems.
“Fairway has been looking at our stores and looking at upgrading our stores, starting with the oldest,” Jay says.
The Oak Bay store, which employs about 60 people in Athlone Court, has been in the Fairway family since around the mid-1990s but was a grocery store long before that. Its reno comes on the heels of a six-month upgrade of the Shelbourne Street store.
“We’re trying to keep the store open as much as possible – that’s why the renovation is taking a little longer,” Jay says.
The one area that will close briefly so it can see significant improvements is the deli.
An opportunity to take over additional space in Athlone Court will provide more refrigeration options, allowing the store to offer a variety of new hot and cold items, from sushi and salads to new “grab-and-go” meals customers are looking for, Jay says. “That’s going to be a major change.”
Deli staff are looking forward to the updates.
“It’s a lot more space, more efficient and we’re going to have a lot more things available,” says deli manager Chelsea Taylor.
The deli is expected to close for about three weeks, but a firm timeline hasn’t been established.
Staff will be distributed to other departments during the closure.
The company is also reviewing its product offerings in each location to see what is working well and what might be needed.
“We’re always open to suggestions – people can approach any of the departments and if we can bring it in, we will,” Jay says.

Fairway reno brings updates and more deli variety


While the store remains open during renovations, Fairway's deli will close for three weeks to allow for improvements


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


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


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


Unionized workers at the Empress Hotel gave 72-hour notice of job action on Tuesday morning, right before the Labour Day long weekend.
The earliest a strike could begin is Thursday morning if a deal cannot be reached.
“The ‘new’ Empress has a dirty secret: the renovations have led to harm and stress on the people who work there,” Stu Shields with Unifor said in a statement.
He said staff are being forced to work overtime because they aren’t enough people on shift. Some have worked 60 days straight.
The hotel announced its renovation plans earlier this year, including in the popular Bengal Lounge.
“The renovations are incomplete if the staffing levels remain stuck in the past,” Shields said.
Uniform Local 4276 represents nearly 500 workers at the Empress, including those in housekeeping, groundskeeping, serving, engineering and guest relations.
More to come.

Empress Hotel workers give 72-hour strike notice


Workers could take job action as early as Thursday -- right before the Labour Day long weekend.


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


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.


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?


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


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