B.C. election campaign hits midway point following debates

By The Canadian Press - Tuesday, April 30, 2013 at 6:45 AM - 0 Comments

VANCOUVER – British Columbia’s election campaign is at the midway mark and it’s turning into a fact-checking exercise between Premier Christy Clark’s Liberals and Adrian Dix’s New Democrats.

The differences between the two major parties on jobs, revenues, budgets and economic visions have become increasingly apparent during the first two weeks of the May 14 campaign and the divides are expanding as the campaign enters its final weeks.

Clark and Dix sparred over budget and job-creation numbers before and after Monday’s televised leaders debate and both weren’t backing down on their visions.

“What we’ve done in the campaign is present a detailed substantive plan,” said Dix at a news conference following the debate. “Obviously, the Liberal Party has great slogan writers and that will be a bit of the competition down the stretch, our facts, our policies against their slogans.”

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Multiple fatalities after serious crash near U.S. border

By The Canadian Press - Sunday, April 28, 2013 at 7:24 PM - 0 Comments

SURREY, B.C. – Five people are dead after a crash not far from the U.S. border Sunday morning.

Sergeant Dale Carr said it appears that a Dodge Caravan sped through a red light at the intersection and then crashed into a midsized car.

“[The Dodge Caravan] has such high velocity, it goes through the intersection, it comes to rest about 200 metres west of that intersection,” he said. “There’s again, so much velocity involved in the crash that the mid-sized import vehicle was torn in half at the firewall.”

Carr said the incident left a debris field of about 200 metres in size. All five occupants — three adults and two children — of the mid-sized car died at the scene. The male driver — and lone occupant — of the Dodge Caravan suffered serious injuries and was transported by air ambulance to Royal Columbian Hospital.

Carr, who has been in law enforcement for 26 years, called the crash scene a horrific scene of debris, and the worst collision he has witnessed.

“I can’t think of a time that I’ve ever seen a crash, personally, of this magnitude,” he said.

No details about the people involved in the crash have been released.

Crown accuses ferry officer of concocting evidence about sinking of B.C. ferry

By Tyler Harbottle, The Canadian Press - Friday, April 26, 2013 at 7:55 AM - 0 Comments

VANCOUVER – Karl Lilgert was either having sex or a heated argument with his former lover on the bridge of a B.C. ferry the night it hit an island and sank, the prosecution alleged at the man’s criminal negligence causing death trial.

During the final day of testimony — which has spanned three months and involved numerous witnesses, experts, calculations and maps — Crown lawyer Michel Huot finally delivered the accusation the court had been waiting to hear.

Huot accused Lilgert of fabricating his evidence, saying he was distracted from his navigation duties by his former lover — the only other person on the bridge when the Queen of the North crashed, setting off an evacuation where it’s believed two passengers were left behind.

But Lilgert insisted under repeated questioning that he was paying attention and that he made course alterations to avoid Gil Island in March 2006. Continue…

B.C. Premier Christy Clark urged to resign over scandal

By The Canadian Press - Sunday, March 3, 2013 at 3:30 PM - 0 Comments

SURREY, B.C. – Some members of B.C.’s governing Liberal party are publicly calling for Premier Christy Clark to resign over a scandal involving the wooing of ethnic voters.

The party members describe themselves as “especially with ethnic background” of Indo- and South Asian descent.

They say they agreed over a Sunday breakfast meeting in Surrey to call for Clark to step down.

Their call comes hours ahead of an emergency cabinet meet she’s called today to address the scandal.

In a news release the party members say that 89 members passed a one-line declaration because Clark has made “the ethnic vote a joke” in the province.

Clark issued a letter of apology last Thursday after a plan was leaked that urged the Liberals to co-ordinate resources to focus on winning over ethnic voters.

Some Liberal caucus members had openly criticized Clark over the proposed strategy and on Friday she accepted the resignation of her deputy chief of staff, who wrote the document.

B.C. court orders wealthy widow to pay ‘trophy husband’ financial support

By The Canadian Press - Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 8:15 PM - 0 Comments

VANCOUVER – A former world-class figure skater, model and wealthy widow has been ordered by a British Columbia court to pay her “trophy husband” more than $157,000 in support after a 14-year relationship.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Randall Wong ruled in a decision posted online Tuesday that 66-year-old Gordon Walker was the spouse of 86-year-old Valerie Fortune Brown and is entitled to support as a result.

Before the relationship, Walker lived on welfare or was periodically employed, but then became a “kept man” and “economically dependent,” with Brown covering all of his living expenses and luxuries, including about 60 trips to destinations around the world, said the court the ruling.

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B.C.’s liquefied natural gas boom to fuel $100 billion Prosperity Fund

By Sue Allan - Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 8:13 PM - 0 Comments

VICTORIA – Premier Christy Clark’s Liberal government says the development of liquefied natural gas in northern British Columbia represents a generational opportunity that has the potential to wipe out the provincial debt and eliminate the need to pay sales taxes.

The government’s throne speech delivered Tuesday — less than three months before the start of an election campaign — said LNG export possibilities represent a possible $1 trillion boost to B.C.’s gross domestic product over the next 30 years.

Clark announced in the throne speech a new B.C. Prosperity Fund that could accumulate between $100 billion and $260 billion in revenues from LNG royalties and business taxes, enough to wipe out the province’s current debt of $56 billion by 2028.

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Rescuers reach four skiers stranded by avalanche on B.C. mountain

By The Canadian Press - Wednesday, January 9, 2013 at 8:03 AM - 0 Comments

COURTENAY, B.C. – A search and rescue team has reached four skiers who were stranded by a small avalanche Tuesday on Vancouver Island’s Mount Washington.

RCMP spokesman Cpl. Darren Lagan says all of the skiers are safe and that a decision will be made on the safest method of evacuation, adding, however, that an overnight camp is possible.

He says the four skiers, including an 18-year-old man who suffered a minor leg injury, were caught in the slide that took place near Moat and Circlet Lakes in Strathcona Provincial Park.

Lagan says the skiers called for help with a cellphone, which led to the activation of the Comox Valley Search and Rescue Team and the local RCMP.

Brent Curtain, a spokesman for the Mount Washington Ski Resort, says the avalanche occurred in the backcountry, outside the resort’s boundaries.

Lagan earlier said heavy snow was expected to fall across the area during the evening hours and into the night.

Four people jump clear of truck before it goes over cliff; rescued by RCAF

By The Canadian Press - Friday, January 4, 2013 at 9:06 PM - 0 Comments

COMOX, B.C. – Four people survived a dramatic crash in which they were forced to jump out of a pickup truck just before the vehicle plunged over a cliff on the B.C. coast Friday.

The Royal Canadian Air Force, which was called out to rescue the group, said the incident happened near Toba Inlet, about 180 kilometres northwest of Vancouver.

The pickup was travelling on a snow-covered logging road when it went out of control and began sliding down an embankment.

Just before the truck went over a cliff, the four occupants jumped clear, but two of them were injured.

Medics from a company doing work in the area responded to the crash, but couldn’t move the patients and poor weather prevented an air ambulance from getting into the site, so the Air Force sent in a Cormorant helicopter.

“There were already first responders on scene and they had provided us an exact location where they were,” said aircraft commander Captain Luc Coates in a media statement released by the Air Force.

“They had also cleared a landing site for us at a wide part of the road, making for a quick and efficient operation.”

Once on the ground, RCAF emergency technicians linked up with the first responders.

“The patients were stable throughout and the medics had done a good job of keeping them warm and getting them ready for transport,” said Master Corp. Justin Cervantes, SAR Tech on board the Cormorant.

The military chopper then flew the four people to a hospital in Comox on Vancouver Island.

Their condition was not immediately known.

Judge rules federal law on firearms offence to be unconstitutional

By The Canadian Press - Friday, January 4, 2013 at 6:26 AM - 0 Comments

VANCOUVER – The federal government’s mandatory-minimum sentence of three years imprisonment for the possession of a loaded and prohibited firearm is unconstitutional, says a provincial court judge in Surrey, B.C.

The ruling was handed down by Judge James Bahen Thursday and focuses on the sentencing of Glenn Harley Tetsuji Sheck.

The apprentice electrician whom the judge says has no criminal record was 29 years old when he was arrested by police and found with a loaded Glock 9-millimetre semi-automatic handgun outside a Surrey restaurant.

Bahen said the federal law breaches Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, one of the sections that establish the fundamental legal rights of Canadians.

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Cougar tears man’s pants during attack on west coast

By Keven Drews, The Canadian Press - Thursday, September 13, 2012 at 5:26 AM - 0 Comments

VANCOUVER – Fearing for his life, a 38-year-old Vancouver Island man says he ran from the fangs and claws of a ravenous cougar and scaled a hefty piece of construction equipment in a desperate bid to escape.

With his pants shredded by the cougar’s jaws and a shoe lost along the way thanks to a swipe from the animal’s claws, John Frank Jr. said he climbed a locked-up excavator’s boom and called for help on his radio.

The community of Ahousat, B.C., located north of Tofino, B.C., on the island’s west coast, responded to Tuesday’s attack, with some residents arriving on scene in their trucks, scaring the cougar away.

“I was attacked. There’s no two ways about it,” Frank told The Canadian Press in an interview on Wednesday.

“The cougar wanted to eat me as a meal. I’m not going to lie to you. I’m lucky to be alive today. God was on my side that day.”

The incident, the latest cougar attack to hit the province, took place at about 5:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday in an area where Frank had been working.

Frank said he had left his VHF radio — an important means of communication in the community — on the excavator at his job site, so he returned to pick it up.

After parking his vehicle, he walked to the excavator, picked up the radio and turned back, walking a few metres.

That’s when Frank said he saw the cougar sitting on a 4.5-metre-tall embankment.

Frank said he ran back to the excavator and jumped on its track, but couldn’t get inside because the door was locked.

So he jumped on the machine’s other track, and that’s when the animal caught him mid-air, tearing his pants with its teeth.

Knocked off balance by the animal, Frank said he landed on his right hip on the right track, which left him with a bruise.

“I grabbed the railing for the excavator, pulled myself up onto the excavator, and as I was just pulling my leg over to get onto the excavator, it took a swipe and got my shoe.”

That’s when the animal hissed at him and displayed its massive teeth, said Frank.

Still trying to get away, Frank said he tried to climb the excavator’s boom, but dropped his radio on the top of its cab.

Frank said he jumped back down, picked up his radio, scrambled back up on to the boom and called for help.

Minutes later, local residents began to show up, and the cougar leapt up the same embankment it had jumped down from earlier before escaping into the rainforest.

From the start to finish, the attack only lasted three to five minutes, Frank said.

“John junior was just shaking,” said his father, John Frank Sr., chief councillor of the First Nation, who arrived on scene after the attack.

“He said, ‘this was the scariest feeling of my life. I thought for sure I was going to be eaten alive.’ That’s how scared he was.”

Frank Sr. said that after the attack, the community held an emergency meeting.

So many people were scared that the local school was closed Wednesday, he added.

“They just felt we can’t take any chances,” he said.

Insp. Ben York, a spokesman for the province’s Conservation Officer Service, said a conservation officer arrived in Ahousat at about 10 p.m. Tuesday and was joined by four officers and a volunteer houndsman Wednesday morning.

Despite their efforts, the team was unable to pick up a scent trail and called off the search for the cougar by 1 p.m, he said.

Frank Sr. said he believes the cougar is now far to the west of the community.

To show their thanks, he said the community held a special ceremony after the attack to thank God for sparing his son’s life.

“I’m grateful. I’m really grateful. I’m happy everything turned out the way it turned out after,” he said. “It could have been a lot worse.”

One-day strike sees 27,000 government workers walk off the job

By Keven Drews, The Canadian Press - Wednesday, September 5, 2012 at 4:38 AM - 0 Comments

VANCOUVER – More than 27,000 government workers are walking off the job this morning, forcing offices that oversee everything from marriage and driver’s licences to forestry permits and government liquor sales to shut their doors for the day.

Wages are at the centre of the 24-hour action by members of the B.C. Government and Service Employees Union and its supporting unions, and the strike is affecting all but essential services at about 1,800 work sites in 153 communities around the province.

While the government has offered a two-per-cent increase starting in July 1, 2012 and a 1.5 per cent increase July 1, 2013, the union has asked for 3.5 per cent starting April 1 and a cost of living increase in the second year.

“We need a fair and reasonable wage increase,” said Darryl Walker, BCGEU president.

“We’ve done our part: two zeros in 2010 through 2012, gone without a pay raise for, as I say, virtually three and a half years now. It’s time for us to get what is a fair increase, which would be somewhere around the cost of living.

“The employer’s offer is below that and we’re not prepared to accept that.”

But Attorney General Shirley Bond, who is now responsible for public-sector bargaining, has countered, arguing the government has made fair and reasonable offers to BCGEU and Professional Employees Association employees — offers that would have seen modest wage increases from within the government’s existing budget.

“The wage increase would have amounted to approximately $1,700 over two years for an employee earning an average salary of $48,000,” she said in an email to The Canadian Press.

Walker said some picket lines were scheduled to go up at midnight, but the majority were scheduled to go up in the morning.

Joining the strike will be members of the Professional Employees Association and Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union Local 378 who share common work sites with the BCGEU.

According to a COPE media release, the strike means 780 members will be off their jobs.

Walker said the strike will not affect essential services such as court houses, prisons, forensic institutions, child protection and social workers and individuals who deal with fire suppression in the forests.

After the strike, the union will determine its next steps, he said.

Walker said he was confident members would achieve a fair and reasonable collective agreement.

Meantime, Bond said it’s unrealistic for the union to be asking for further wage increases, given the uncertain world economic situation, and the government will not add to the deficit or ask taxpayers for more money to pay unaffordable wage increases.

“The global economic situation isn’t getting any better, and continues to put pressure on the budget,” she said.

“As this pressure increases on the budget, it will make it harder for government to consider even modest compensation increases.

“I strongly encourage the unions to come back to the bargaining table so a deal can be reached.”

The union has been without a contract since March.

Youth hockey coach faces assault charges after players allegedly

By The Canadian Press - Tuesday, September 4, 2012 at 9:47 PM - 0 Comments

VANCOUVER – A youth hockey coach accused of tripping two players after a game this summer is now facing assault charges in British Columbia.

Coach Martin Tremblay of the UBC Hornets is scheduled to appear in Richmond provincial court Sept. 13.

Crown spokesman Neil MacKenzie says a video of the alleged June 23 incident played a significant part in the investigation.

In the video, Tremblay allegedly sticks out his foot while players from his team and an opposing team, the Richmond Steel, shake hands.

Two Richmond Steel players are seen tumbling over each other, and one of them ended up with a broken wrist.

MacKenzie says such allegations are uncommon, and it’s unusual for the Crown to approve such charges. (News 1130)

Christy Clark loses another prominent cabinet minister

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, September 4, 2012 at 9:05 PM - 0 Comments

VICTORIA – Another high-profile B.C. cabinet minister has said he will not run in the next election, blowing another hole in Premier Christy Clark’s already tattered front bench.

Transportation Minister Blair Lekstrom says he’s spent 20 years in public office and its time to pursue new opportunities.

His decision comes days after cabinet ministers Kevin Falcon, George Abbott and Mary McNeil announced they also won’t be running in the May 2013 vote.

Lekstrom was a controversial figure after he quit cabinet and caucus in former premier Gordon Campbell’s government, saying he was unhappy with the Liberals’ handling of the HST.

Clark brought him back into cabinet after she was elected Liberal leader in February 2011.

Earlier today, Energy Minister Rich Coleman dashed rumours he was thinking of quitting, saying he will run again because he can’t stomach the idea of an NDP government after the next election.

Christy Clark’s sex appeal problem

By Emma Teitel - Sunday, September 2, 2012 at 6:00 AM - 0 Comments

Sarah Elder

Q&A: Click here to read Christy Clark’s recent interview with Ken MacQueen

Shoring up support where you don’t have any is a vital part of politics.

It’s what American presidential nominee Mitt Romney is trying to do with Hispanics wary of his immigration policies. It’s what Stephen Harper did in the last federal election with Canadian Jews who shifted from Liberal to Conservative in record numbers.

And it’s what British Columbia’s Liberal premier, Christy Clark, tried to do with the women’s vote when she hosted a strictly female breakfast at a North Vancouver restaurant earlier this summer. The only difference between Clark’s political MO and those of the leaders above is that Clark actually belongs to the group that doesn’t fully support her.

According to a recent Angus Reid survey, only 15 per cent of women voters in B.C. said they’d vote for Clark’s Liberals, while 53 per cent said they’d support the NDP’s Adrian Dix, and 21 per cent said they’d vote Conservative—leaving Clark in last place among the major parties. If an election were held today, it’s very possible she would lose to Dix by a large margin—among women especially. Which is why, perhaps, she thought it would be a good idea to host a women’s-only townhall breakfast. Would that only women had shown up.

When one veteran member of the B.C. Liberals arrived for the session at Browns Socialhouse in North Vancouver on Aug. 2, he was turned away because he was a man. “It was explained to him,” government spokesman Shane Mills told the press, “that we could not accept his cheque—the event was an opportunity for women to meet the premier.”

One of Clark’s justifications for gender-specific events is that “conversations happen differently when it’s just women in the room.” Not everyone agrees.

Since the Browns event, the premier has faced allegations of sexism. It seems her attempt to become more accessible to women has made her a pariah among some men. The Province’s Michael Smith accused Clark of “enthusiastically embracing a ‘no boys allowed’ policy” and labelled her a hypocrite for criticizing the NDP’s gender-equity quota system, one that will reserve certain B.C. ridings for female candidates only. The Canadian Association for Equality—a national “men’s issues” group—is equally miffed. “It’s very divisive to hold a women’s-only group,” says spokesperson Bradley Corbett. “If that happened to a woman it wouldn’t be acceptable.”

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Police investigate mysterious discovery on Victoria beach

By macleans.ca - Friday, August 31, 2012 at 7:37 AM - 0 Comments

VICTORIA — The discovery of three shoes — two of which appear to be children’s — containing bone and a “meat-like substance” have forced police to shut down a stretch of beach in the province’s capital.

The discovery of the first shoe, which appears to be that of a child’s, was made by a tourist at about 5:30 p.m. PDT Thursday at Clover Point, a residential area, said Victoria police Const. Mike Russell.

He said a middle-aged male called police who found two more shoes during a search. One of the shoes was also children’s sized, and appeared to contain bone and a “meat-like substance,” too.

The discoveries are not the first, as officials have investigated the appearance of nine feet on B.C. shores since 2007.

“It’s still way too early to say what it is, or if it’s human or not,” said Russell of the contents of the shoes.

“They’re still sitting on the sand, so we have to seize them, get them back to the coroner’s and pathologist, let them take a very close look at that, and that will help guide our investigation.”

Russell said a large contingent of officers was on the scene, including general patrol members, the canine unit, forensic identification team, and detectives, some of whom were working behind yellow police tape, searching for more evidence in the area.

“We need to go through, thoroughly go through, every square inch of that beachfront, check for any evidence, and then properly seize those three shoes off the beachfront, as well, get them secured, and then we’ll be confident opening up the beach,” he said.

Russell said he didn’t know how long the beach would be shut down, adding the investigation could take days or weeks to complete.

After the shoes are removed from the beach, they will be sent to the coroner for examination.

When asked if the shoes could be Japanese, the result of last year’s devastating earthquake and tsunami, Russell said he didn’t yet know.

He also said it’s too early to determine whether the shoes are linked to any of the other discoveries in B.C.

In February, the British Columbia Coroners Service identified foot bones that had washed ashore on Sasamat Lake in Port Moody, B.C.

The coroners service said the bones were those of Stefan Zahorujko, a 65-year-old man who was fishing alone on the lake when he went missing in January 1987.

But the coroners service announced in January that bones found inside a weathered boot that washed ashore on a Vancouver beach were not likely human.

In previous cases, police and the coroners service have said the feet apparently separated naturally from bodies in the water without foul play.

By Keven Drews in Vancouver

Chilliwack Liberal MLA John Les confirms he’s leaving B.C. politics

By The Canadian Press - Thursday, August 30, 2012 at 12:49 PM - 0 Comments

VICTORIA – Long-time Chilliwack Liberal MLA John Les confirms he won’t seek a fourth term in the provincial election next May.

Les thanked both the premiers he worked under and says the decision to leave was difficult.

Les, whose current post is parliamentary secretary to Premier Christy Clark, was elected in 2001 and says he’s looking forward to new challenges and exploring other opportunities.

His announcement is the first of three expected today, including Education Minister George Abbott and Family Development Minister Mary McNeil.

Former finance minister Kevin Falcon announced his resignation yesterday.

Clark says she will shuffle her cabinet next week.

Kelowna considers flying pro-life flag

By Scaachi Koul - Friday, August 17, 2012 at 2:14 PM - 0 Comments

Kelowna could become the first major city in B.C. to wear its opinions on its flag. Their city hall is considering flying a pro-life flag during the last week of September, which the city calls “Protect Human Life Week.”

Kelowna has been honouring this event for the past five years.

The flag design is red white and blue with red stripes and red writing that reads “pro-life,” along with silhouettes of a toddler, an adult, and elderly person. City hall rejected the original design of the flag which read: “From conception to natural death.”

Right now, another flag is flying over city hall in Kelowna: A rainbow one. It’s only the second year ever that the city has raised it to acknowledge gay pride festivities.

Similar pro-life flags have been raised in places like Guelph and Whitby, Ontario.

Crash report raises questions about pilot’s texting

By The Canadian Press - Monday, August 13, 2012 at 9:27 PM - 0 Comments

VANCOUVER – The pilot in the fatal crash of a small plane may have set the stage for his own death by paying too much attention to his cellular phone and not enough to his flight.

A Transportation Safety Board report released Monday said the crash near the airport in Fort St. John, B.C., last November could have been partly caused because the pilot wasn’t concentrating on his flying.

The TSB report said the pilot received three text messages and spent 28 minutes on his cell phone during what would have been a 65-minute flight from Peace River, Alta., to Fort St. John, B.C.

The pilot received his last text message 11 minutes before the crash.

“The aircraft had experienced several large altitude deviations while the pilot was using his cellphone,” the report stated. “This distraction was prevalent throughout the flight and in conjunction with the night conditions encountered, may have contributed to the (crash).”

A graph in the report shows the altitude on the Cessna 185 E, operated by Treck Aerial Surveys, dipped from a low of 3,500 feet to a high of 4,600 feet three times during the flight.

“Cell phone use can distract operators from essential operation tasks.

“There have been no comprehensive studies regarding the use of cell phones as a distraction in an aviation context. The phenomenon has, however, been extensively studied in the automotive sector.”

Using a cell phone while driving is illegal in every province and territory except Nunavut.

The report found there were also other pressures against the pilot including that he needed to be back to the Fort St. John airport before nightfall.

The commercial pilot was operating on night visual flight rules, but it was dark as he neared the Fort St. John airport.

The company the pilot was working for, Treck Aerial Survey’s — which provides aircraft and equipment for aerial surveillance and photography — is limited to vision flight rules during the day.

The report said there was no indication of an aircraft system malfunction or that the pilot was unwell. There were no drastic changes in the aircraft’s flight path and no emergency calls from the pilot to indicate that there was an inflight emergency.

Instead, the report said the pilot may have lost situational awareness, known as the “black-hole effect.”

“A black-hole approach typically occurs during a visual approach conducted on a moonless or overcast night over water or over dark, featureless terrain where the only visual stimuli are lights on or near the airport.”

Without visual reference, the report said, the pilot’s depth perception may be off, causing the illusion that the airport is closer than it actually is.

The plane’s wing clipped a tree and then slammed into the ground about 20 kilometres from the airport, killing the only person aboard.

The TSB has recommended that pilots limited to visual flight rules be restricted to flying during the day and that cell phone use by pilots during a flight be prohibited unless there’s an emergency.

“Pilots who engage in non-essential text and voice cell phone communications while conduction flight operations may be distracted from flying the aircraft, placing crew and passengers at risk,” the report concluded.

Appeal Court upholds exemption from doctor-assisted suicide ban

By The Canadian Press - Friday, August 10, 2012 at 6:26 PM - 0 Comments

VANCOUVER – Gloria Taylor’s right to avoid a “frightening and repugnant” death in the clutches of Lou Gehrig’s disease shouldn’t be sacrificed because the courts have yet to decide the fate of Canada’s doctor-assisted suicide ban, a judge ruled Friday as she upheld the British Columbia woman’s personal exemption from the law.

The woman from West Kelowna, B.C., who was diagnosed with ALS three years ago and whose health continues to deteriorate, was among the plaintiffs in a landmark case that saw the B.C. Supreme Court strike down Canada’s ban on doctor-assisted suicide as unconstitutional.

While the court suspended its decision, Taylor was granted an immediate exemption, making her the only person in Canada who can legally die with the help of a doctor.

The federal government launched an appeal of that decision and also asked the Appeal Court to revoke Taylor’s exemption until the case is heard.

However, Justice Jo-Ann Prowse ruled Friday that taking away Taylor’s exemption would cause her irreparable harm, outweighing the interests of the federal government and the public in preventing a single case of doctor-assisted suicide.

“I accept that the exemption has important symbolic and, perhaps, psychological, value, which extends beyond Ms. Taylor to those who are similarly situated, whether or not they agree with the decision under appeal,” Justice Jo-Ann Prowse wrote in a decision released Friday.

“She may be a symbol, but she is also a person,” the judge continued later, “and I do not find that it is necessary for the individual to be sacrificed to a concept of the ‘greater good,’ which may, or may not, be fully informed.”

In June, the B.C. Supreme Court ruled the current law violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The judge in the case concluded the law must allow physician-assisted suicide in cases involving patients who are diagnosed with a serious illness or disability and who are experiencing “intolerable” physical or psychological suffering with no chance of improvement.

Taylor has said she’s made no decisions about ending her life. She has yet to take any formal steps to use her exemption, which would require an application to the B.C. Supreme Court, her lawyer, Sheila Tucker, confirmed Friday.

“She will be delighted” with the decision, Tucker said in an interview.

“We’re particularly pleased with the fact that the court was very cognisant of the fact that, for Gloria, it really is a case of irreparable harm, because she’ll either get to use that exemption and have the value of that exemption now or she never will.”

In the Appeal Court ruling, Prowse noted Taylor, who in January 2010 was told she had one year to live, may not survive to see the end of the case, which is almost certainly destined for the Supreme Court of Canada.

If the exemption were removed and Taylor’s health continued to decline, “all of her worst fears would be realized and she would be forced to endure the very death which she has fought so assiduously to avoid,” wrote Prowse.

The B.C. Supreme Court decision was suspended for one year to give Parliament time to fix the law, but the Appeal Court has extended that suspension until after it renders its decision.

The appeal is expected to be heard next spring.

If the case ends up before the Supreme Court of Canada, it won’t be the first time the country’s highest court has tackled the issue of assisted suicide.

The court heard a case two decades ago involving Sue Rodriguez, who also had ALS and wanted help from a doctor to end her life. The court ruled against her in 1993, though she killed herself anyway with the help of an unidentified physician the following year.

Appeal Court upholds exemption from doctor-assisted suicide ban

By The Canadian Press - Friday, August 10, 2012 at 6:22 PM - 0 Comments

VANCOUVER – Gloria Taylor’s right to avoid a “frightening and repugnant” death in the clutches of Lou Gehrig’s disease shouldn’t be sacrificed because the courts have yet to decide the fate of Canada’s doctor-assisted suicide ban, a judge ruled Friday as she upheld the British Columbia woman’s personal exemption from the law.

The woman from West Kelowna, B.C., who was diagnosed with ALS three years ago and whose health continues to deteriorate, was among the plaintiffs in a landmark case that saw the B.C. Supreme Court strike down Canada’s ban on doctor-assisted suicide as unconstitutional.

While the court suspended its decision, Taylor was granted an immediate exemption, making her the only person in Canada who can legally die with the help of a doctor.

The federal government launched an appeal of that decision and also asked the Appeal Court to revoke Taylor’s exemption until the case is heard.

However, Justice Jo-Ann Prowse ruled Friday that taking away Taylor’s exemption would cause her irreparable harm, outweighing the interests of the federal government and the public in preventing a single case of doctor-assisted suicide.

“I accept that the exemption has important symbolic and, perhaps, psychological, value, which extends beyond Ms. Taylor to those who are similarly situated, whether or not they agree with the decision under appeal,” Justice Jo-Ann Prowse wrote in a decision released Friday.

“She may be a symbol, but she is also a person,” the judge continued later, “and I do not find that it is necessary for the individual to be sacrificed to a concept of the ‘greater good,’ which may, or may not, be fully informed.”

In June, the B.C. Supreme Court ruled the current law violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The judge in the case concluded the law must allow physician-assisted suicide in cases involving patients who are diagnosed with a serious illness or disability and who are experiencing “intolerable” physical or psychological suffering with no chance of improvement.

Taylor has said she’s made no decisions about ending her life. She has yet to take any formal steps to use her exemption, which would require an application to the B.C. Supreme Court, her lawyer, Sheila Tucker, confirmed Friday.

“She will be delighted” with the decision, Tucker said in an interview.

“We’re particularly pleased with the fact that the court was very cognisant of the fact that, for Gloria, it really is a case of irreparable harm, because she’ll either get to use that exemption and have the value of that exemption now or she never will.”

In the Appeal Court ruling, Prowse noted Taylor, who in January 2010 was told she had one year to live, may not survive to see the end of the case, which is almost certainly destined for the Supreme Court of Canada.

If the exemption were removed and Taylor’s health continued to decline, “all of her worst fears would be realized and she would be forced to endure the very death which she has fought so assiduously to avoid,” wrote Prowse.

The B.C. Supreme Court decision was suspended for one year to give Parliament time to fix the law, but the Appeal Court has extended that suspension until after it renders its decision.

The appeal is expected to be heard next spring.

If the case ends up before the Supreme Court of Canada, it won’t be the first time the country’s highest court has tackled the issue of assisted suicide.

The court heard a case two decades ago involving Sue Rodriguez, who also had ALS and wanted help from a doctor to end her life. The court ruled against her in 1993, though she killed herself anyway with the help of an unidentified physician the following year.

Can mass HIV testing really end AIDS?

By Julia Belluz - Thursday, August 2, 2012 at 2:20 PM - 0 Comments

Dr. Julio Montaner, Director of the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. (Darryl Dyck/CP)

“And if we can stop the transmission, we can stop the disease.”—Dr. Julio Montaner, director of B.C.’s Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, July 19, 2012

At first glance, it seemed wasteful, almost insanely so. After the international AIDS conference in Washington, D.C., last week, health officials from B.C. were trumpeting mass population screening for HIV in their province, and eventually, beyond. According to the media reports, if we could get everyone who has ever been sexually active tested (on a volunteer, not mandatory, basis) it could mean “the beginning of the end” of AIDS.

Of course, there was much overselling in the media—with headlines like: “B.C. aims to end HIV/AIDS with widespread testing“ and “B.C. launches massive program to wipe out HIV/AIDS.” But this screen-everybody approach also seemed dubious from a public health viewpoint. Given the well-known problems associated with over-testing, over-screening, and over-diagnosis in other areas of medicine—from PSA testing to pap smears—why try the catch-all method with HIV? What about the traumas related to false positives and the sheer monetary cost of such an encompassing plan? Plus, Canada doesn’t have a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS. Why would we adopt mass screening for a disease that mainly impacts marginalised or hard-to-reach groups that probably wouldn’t be captured anyway? Science-ish called Dr. Julio Montaner, one of the leading proponents of the program, to find out more.

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B.C. residents recall being in the path of the deluge

By Ken MacQueen - Friday, July 20, 2012 at 1:30 PM - 0 Comments

CP

Mandy Bath’s garden in the tiny settlement of Johnsons Landing, B.C., on the shore of Kootenay Lake, was lush, and bursting with colour. She almost hated to leave what she and her husband, Christopher Klassen, call their “paradise,” their home of 20 years in the B.C. Interior. But a friend offered a ride that Thursday morning into Kaslo, about an hour around the lake from the isolated community of 35. There were errands to run and Bath had no vehicle; her husband had taken it to Oregon to visit his mother. As she waited beside Gar Creek, where it runs down the steep, treed hillside into the lake, she was disturbed to see the normally placid stream filled “with horrible brown liquid,” she said. “It was a slurry coming down. It should have been a huge warning sign.”

Her friend picked her up at 9 a.m. Bath didn’t know then that she had just cheated death. Remarkably, she would do so again, a day later.

At around the same time, 60-year-old Valentine Webber, a retired merchant mariner, was making breakfast in his lakefront home for his two daughters, Rachel, 17, and Diana, 22, sisters who loved the surrounding wilderness. One was speaking on a cellphone to a friend before sitting down to eat, a fact the girls’ frantic mother, Lynn Migdal, pieced together later from her home in Delray Beach, Fla. The Webbers’ neighbour, Petra Frehse, a German retiree who spent summers in the landing, was likely in her nearby home.

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At last, Victoria gets the raw treatment…

By Ken MacQueen - Tuesday, July 17, 2012 at 11:31 AM - 0 Comments

Don Denton/CP

It has been a slow, painful process, but it looks like Victoria and the surrounding Capital Regional District will eventually get what most every city in the First World takes for granted: a secondary sewage treatment facility. The scenic provincial capital has been the butt of jokes and the target of anger from environmentalists in Canada and neighbouring Washington State for piping its screened but untreated sewage a kilometre offshore into the Pacific Ocean.

The federal and provincial governments are expected to announce “within weeks” they are finally paying their share of the $782-million project, district chairman Geoff Young told Victoria’s Times Colonist. The three levels of government are to share the cost equally, but the funding announcement has been repeatedly delayed after the recession sent revenues down the drain.

The district had long argued the sewage was diluted and rendered harmless by the deep water and fast currents. The provincial government forced the issue in 2006, ordering that a secondary treatment plant be in place by 2016. But even if construction begins next year, the first treated flush isn’t likely to be celebrated until 2018.

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Communities across Canada vie for WestJet regional service

By Aaron Hutchins - Monday, July 16, 2012 at 10:09 AM - 0 Comments

Youtube

For one day last month, more than 42,000 Canadians lived in WestJetville. When the clock struck midnight to begin June 29, they were all back in Penticton, B.C., but they got their point across with the name-change stunt announced by Penticton’s mayor. They want WestJet to start flying out of their city—and they aren’t the only ones. Across the country recently, small communities have come together with flash mobs, petitions with more than 10,000 signatures, and earnest videos in an effort to convince the airline to expand to their cities when it rolls out regional service across the country, beginning in the second half of 2013.

WestJet has announced it will add 20 Bombardier Q400s to its fleet next year, with an option for purchasing an extra 25 of the turboprop planes designed for short-haul flights. Not all of the 78-passenger planes will be designated for new routes to smaller cities. The Q400s will also be used to connect major cities where the airline currently flies its Boeing 737s, but doesn’t offer direct links. For example, flying WestJet from Saskatoon to Winnipeg today would require backtracking through Calgary. A direct route on a smaller plane would shorten travel times and open more seats on busier medium-haul flights. The company also plans to adjust the frequency of some existing flights that require fewer seats.

Divvying up the relatively small number of new planes means most of the hopeful cities will remain without WestJet service for the foreseeable future. “For a large country, 45 aircraft, when you start to sprinkle it around, is not a lot,” say Robert Kokonis, president of AirTrav Inc., an aviation consulting firm. But WestJet sees this move as a logical, albeit cautious, expansion. “We think that it’s important to go small first in order to bring traffic into our network,” says company spokesperson Robert Palmer. Another key part of the strategy is giving partner airlines (foreign and U.S. carriers that have lucrative code-sharing agreements with WestJet) “better depth and access to the Canadian market,” adds Kokonis.

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