A charming Kitsilano heritage house with an assessed value of nearly $3 million won’t land in the hands of AirBNB landlords or become a target for speculators, thanks to the careful planning of its late owner, Eric Manford Pierce.

Pierce, who died in 2011, wanted the home to remain as a monument to the love he had for his late wife, Florence Emmaline Pierce.

In his will, Pierce bequeathed the house at 2850 West 3rd Ave. to the City of Vancouver to be used as a benefit to the community in honour of his wife, and her lifelong dedication to heritage conservation and affordable housing. The will allowed relatives to live in the house after his death until they were willing to vacate it and for the city to take it over.

Pierce, a Second World War fighter pilot, confessed in his will that he had an “adjustment struggle” after returning from the war. Pierce had flown missions for the Royal Canadian Air Force in battles over Malta, Egypt and Libya.

In the will, Pierce describes coming face to face with his own mortality when a nearby aircraft loaded with 4,000 pounds of bombs received a direct hit. Pierce endured “a hurricane of shrapnel” as the bombs lit the night sky “to full daylight.”

“For one reason or another, I did not reveal to anyone my adjustment struggle,” he wrote. “But Florence, with what I believe was a vague understanding, did provide the most favourable and supportive environment for my adjustment, and did a tremendous job in reinforcing my efforts to forge ahead.”

Pierce was able to complete a degree at UBC, and went on to have a successful career with the prison service. “I owe much to Florence and want 2850 West 3rd Ave., Vancouver, which was Florence’s home for more than half a century, to be … donated to the City of Vancouver in her honour.”

Pierce stipulated that he wanted the house to “benefit all the citizens in the City of Vancouver.”

The house at 2850 West 3rd Ave. in 1978.

The house was built in 1909, and purchased by Pierce in 1944. Florence, who died in 2002, dedicated much time and care to restoring and maintaining the home’s heritage characteristics. In 2005, the house was added to the city’s heritage registry as part of a 10-building collective streetscape.

The City of Vancouver has issued a Request for Proposals asking “mission-based, not-for-profit organizations” for proposals that will ensure Pierce’s wishes are carried out. “Mission-based, not-for-profit” organizations with ideas on how to use the house for the benefit of the community have until Aug. 16 to submit their proposals to the city at https://bids.vancouver.ca/bidopp/openbid.htm

dryan@postmedia.com

With research by Vancouver Sun librarian Carolyn Soltau

A scary encounter between a grizzly bear and a kayaker in Squamish was recently caught on tape.

In a video posted to Instagram three days ago by Corey Boux, a tour guide from Wedge Rafting at Tag Whistler, the grizzly can be seen charging towards the kayaker on the Elaho River as nearby whitewater rafters hit the brakes and nervously watch.

The mood quickly turns from one of excitement to fearful as the grizzly makes its way closer and closer to the kayaker.

The kayaker begins to furiously paddle away from the bear when it gets to within five or so metres from him.

In the post, Boux says the grizzly bear “was guarding a dead elk. It stood up looked at the 3 rafts looked at the kayaker and bolted after him. I’ve spent a f*** ton of time around grizzly’s. They are pretty unpredictable, especially if guarding a food source.”

mraptis@postmedia.com

twitter.com/mike_raptis

As the Discovery Channel gears up for the 30th anniversary of its popular Shark Week, Vancouverites are sure to find themselves asking the same question everybody else asks at this time of year: do I need to be afraid of sharks?

According to shark experts, absolutely not.

“What I would like people to know is you don’t need to be afraid of sharks,” said marine conservation biologist Dr. David Shiffman, who studies sharks at Simon Fraser University.

But according to the Vancouver Sun and Province archives, you totally do: a shark attacked a human during the construction of the original Second Narrows Bridge in 1925. Fortunately, he lived to tell the tale.

A January 8, 1925 article in The Vancouver Sun describes an epic battle at the bottom of the Second Narrows in Burrard Inlet that took place between a six-foot shark and former navy diver John G. Bruce.

Scan of January 8 1925 Vancouver Sun article about man (Jack Bruce) attacked by shark in the Second Narrows.

Bruce told the paper he was working for the city, ninety feet underwater, repairing a water main when the shark first attacked.

“It was early in the afternoon while I was surveying the pipes for possible leaks that the shark appeared, and I saw the dark shadow of his form coming for me,” he said.

But Bruce, who served with the British navy during the first World War, was ready for a fight.

“It made three attacks and for fifteen minutes I had to watch my step, and an opening for an uppercut. On the second I hit him on the nose with an iron bar I had for warding off any prowling octopus. I have killed two of these chaps within the past week,” he said. “I was not prepared for a shark.”

Neither was the shark prepared for Bruce’s resolve, or surprising aptitude for deep-sea combat.

“That one blow made him furious and started the music,” he said. “I gave him the next over the head and stunned him and two more finished him. But I had to signal for more air, make no mistake. I was fagged with the pressure at that depth.”

According to the Sun story, Bruce then attached the dead shark to a line and surfaced at the same time as the defeated beast, in what must have been a truly inspiring scene.

But Shiffman is skeptical of the nearly 100-year-old fish story. While it’s possible that Bruce encountered a shark — there are 28 species of sharks found in Canadian waters, including several large species that have hurt people in the past — it’s unlikely that any shark would sign up for a 15-minute battle with a diver, let alone purpose to kill a human at all.

There has never been a fatal shark bite in Canadian waters. Sharks don’t typically behave that way, Shiffman said, explaining that the creatures prefer the “hit and run” approach.

“You don’t see the shark coming, the shark takes a quick bite, immediately realizes you’re not food, and leaves before you have a chance to even see what’s happening unless you happen to be looking in that direction,” Shiffman said. “What this diver is describing is a shark fighting him for 15 to 20 minutes and repeatedly coming back.”

Shiffman was also unconvinced by the human behaviour described in the incident.

“I also don’t know how you could kill a shark with an iron bar underwater,” he said, pointing out that attempting to punch or bludgeon a shark at ninety feet probably won’t accomplish much.

“If you’ve ever tried punching underwater, it’s really hard,” said Shiffman. “It’s not really useful for much other than being good exercise for senior citizens in a pool.”

Supposing that the story is true (it was in two local newspapers, after all), Shiffman suggested it could have been a bluntnose sixgill shark, the biggest species of shark that people regularly encounter in the waters of the Pacific Northwest.

It took five men to land this 500-pound salmon shark just off Point Grey in 1938.

It might have also been a spiny dogfish, Shiffman said.

“There are spiny dogfish all over here but that would be a really good spiny dogfish, really big and really aggressive,” he said, outing himself as a true shark enthusiast, since only a real shark lover would describe a big, aggressive shark as “really good.”

Shiffman also wondered if it could have been a mako or a basking shark — but both are generally much bigger than the six-foot predator Bruce spoke of, he said.

“The most likely explanation is that this didn’t happen as the person described it,” Shiffman told Postmedia.

That’s a little disappointing, unless you’re concerned about shark attacks in the waters around Vancouver. But you need not be, Shiffman said, even as climate change is sure to bring more sharks north from the equator as temperatures rise.

“Many of those species are already here and you never hear about them bothering anyone,” he said.

Humans aren’t good shark food anyhow, especially when most of the creatures in the water are smaller and more filling, not to mention both literally and figuratively unarmed.

“Compare our bodies with a fat seal or tuna. We’re all bone because we need to be to support our weight on land,” he said. “Even the fattest people in the world still have way more bones that something like a seal or whale or tuna.

“We’re just not on the menu.”

— with research by Vancouver Sun librarian Carolyn Soltau

hmooney@postmedia.com

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet shuffle on Wednesday saw a number of MPs receiving significant portfolio boosts — one of whom was North Vancouver MP Jonathan Wilkinson.

As the new federal Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and Coast Guard — replacing New Brunswick MP Dominic LeBlanc — Wilkinson is the first B.C. MP appointed to the post since 1999. Six of the last seven have been representatives from ridings in Atlantic Canada.

The position is usually handed to members of caucus in coastal ridings, who are thought to have a better connection to a constituency that is more closely affected by the decisions of that minister.

“I’m certainly very proud as a member from British Columbia to take on this responsibility, and I very much look forward to working actively on very fundamental issues to B.C. and to Canada,” Wilkinson told Postmedia.

He said the appointment helps raise the profile of some of important issues, like the decline in stock of wild pacific salmon.

“We have been very clear that we are committed to a science-based approach to addressing issues relating to restoring salmon stocks that are facing significant challenges,” he said.

Wilkinson previously worked as the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna — a related, but much smaller portfolio.

He has also been a key defender of the federal buyout of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project. As Trudeau makes these reconfigurations to his election-year cabinet, Wilkinson expected to continue faithfully reinforcing the Liberal government’s message on the pipeline.

“One of the biggest issues on the national political agenda right now has been the Trans Mountain pipeline and it’s a particularly salient issue for voters on the Lower Mainland,” said UBC political science professor Kathryn Harrison. 

The new role will also give Wilkinson the lead on files that he had previously assisted with. Specifically, two pieces of legislation that are making their way to the Senate this fall — Bill C-68, aimed at modernizing the fisheries act, and Bill C-69, legislation for federal environmental assessment.

“All of this was in response to the Conservative changes to Canada’s federal environmental law regime,” said Martin Olszynski, an assistant professor in the University of Calgary’s law faculty, who used to work as a lawyer for the Fisheries Department.

“So the big ticket items will be to help make sure they get through the Senate in time to be proclaimed and brought into force for the 2019 election, and that’s a significant responsibility.”

Olszynski said the minister of fisheries becomes inevitably more susceptible to lobbying efforts in their constituency.

In B.C., an important file to watch, for which Wilkinson is expected to respond to, is the case of commercial fishing rights for Indigenous people.

Back in April, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in favour of five West Coast First Nations, stating the federal government failed to justify why it infringed on their rights to catch and sell fish in their territories.

The Department of Fisheries was then tasked to collaborate with First Nation groups and draft new fishing policy within a year.

“The five First Nations that were involved have been waiting for over nine years to have the fulfilment of the court case,” said Judith Sayers, president of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council.

“Even under LeBlanc, we still haven’t gotten anything. They keep delaying a memo to cabinet to approve a mandate to negotiate the fisheries.”

Sayers said there has been a lot of skepticism in Indigenous communities on the Trudeau’s government campaign promises of change in relationship, noting she believes passing new fishing policy would be a starting step for Wilkinson ahead of the 2019 election.

“The FDO has always been more conservative with allocating fish to First Nation communities. Our access to fisheries has always not been sufficient even for food purposes, yet alone social and ceremonial.”

Wilkinson said the issue is top of mind, and he will work to find a “fair and responsible way to meet their needs.”

Wilkinson’s new position will also make him responsible for the coast guard, and the federal government’s $1.5 billion Oceans Protection Plan.

He has also taken primary responsibility for species at risk. Last month, he supported a $167.4-million initiative to protect endangered southern resident killer whales. 

bmahichi@postmedia.com

With every new drug crisis in the past three decades, the B.C. government’s response has been harm reduction — needle exchanges, safe injection sites, opioid replacement therapies, prescription medical-grade heroin and naloxone.

Missing have been corresponding increases in addictions treatment and recovery, despite promises made 17 years ago in Vancouver’s much-lauded four pillars plan.

Lives have been saved and infection rates for hepatitis C and HIV have decreased. But there’s still daily chaos on the Downtown Eastside and, by the end of May, 3,064 people had died in the provincial fentanyl overdose crisis that’s in its third year.

This is why the focus on recovery in the B.C. Centre for Substance Use report released on Wednesday is so important.

Because of the overdose crisis, the authors said “at times, this has meant that the overwhelming focus of the health system response has been on reducing the spread of disease … and the saving of lives.”

Co-authors Evan Wood and Marshall Smith went on to say, “Without question, countless lives have been saved … (but) British Columbia must also establish a full evidence-based continuum of care including building an effective and coordinated addiction treatment and recovery system that has been traditionally lacking.”

If the government accepts their recommendations, treatment for addictions would be accessible to all. Counselling, detox, residential treatment, methadone prescriptions and recovery supports would be covered with by medicare.

Right now, the situation is dire for far too many addicts. The cost of treatment — especially residential care — can be out of reach financially. When it comes to in-patient treatment, there’s a tragic paradox. In the midst of the overdose crisis, there are long waiting lists for government-funded treatment, but also empty beds.

Treatment is expensive whether it’s outpatient or residential care. To afford residential care at up to $375 a day, most people would have to sell assets or re-mortgage homes, if they’re lucky enough to own one. The other option is to wait until they are penniless and homeless. Then, if they qualify for welfare or still have to wherewithal to figure out how to get it, addicts are eligible for the limited number of care spaces funded by the government.

For the wealthy and employees with good benefits packages, it’s a different story. Within 24 hours, they can usually have a bed in the accredited, well-staffed, recovery centre of their choice.

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• Need drug treatment? You should be able to 'ask for help once and get support right away': B.C. report

“It’s not right,” Wood, director of the B.C. Centre for Substance Use, said in an interview. “It’s just not right. This is the Canadian health care system and it’s not just that we are not providing care, because that’s what we do for every other disease in the health-care system.”

He cited U.S. National Institute for Drug Abuse research that estimated that $12 in medical costs are saved for every $1 put into addiction treatment. Those savings may be lower in Canada because of our medicare system. 

But, as Wood points out, that’s a small part of it.

In June, the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addictions estimated that in 2014, substance abuse cost Canada $38.4 billion or $1,100 for every Canadian. Those costs were for health care, lost productivity, criminal justice and other direct costs. That’s equivalent to $40.2 billion in 2018.

Lost productivity cost the most — $15.7 billion in 2014 — followed by health costs including hospitalization, emergency room visits, specialist treatment for substance abuse, physicians’ time and prescriptions at $11.1 billion. The cost to the justice system was estimated at $9 billion.

By contrast, Smith says providing the best possible residential treatment care to the most acutely addicted in B.C. would require an infusion of $70 million a year to the existing addictions treatment and recovery system. His ballpark estimate is based on the current private-care costs of residential treatment of $375 a day, multiplied by 500 beds. However, the senior adviser on recovery initiatives at the B.C. Centre is quick to note that most addicts never require residential treatment.

The Canadian Centre for Substance Use surveyed 855 recovering addicts in 2017 and found that 92 per cent did not use formal, government-funded programs. Instead, they attended 12-step mutual support groups. It also found that 51 per cent achieved stable recovery without a single relapse.

If financial barriers to treatment were removed, however, it’s unclear how high the demand might be. Extrapolating from national figures, there are an estimated one million British Columbians who are substance abusers, with alcohol being the most common addiction. By a factor of about four, alcohol addiction is the most common substance-abuse problem in Canada, followed by cocaine and cannabis. All of those people may need some kind of care, but would they seek it?

Another way to look at Marshall’s $70-million ballpark figure for the most acutely ill is to compare it to how much is spent on harm-reduction programs tailored to the needs of injection drugs users and opioid addicts, who account for fewer than 15 per cent of all substance users.

Last year, British Columbia spent $90 million on opioid substitution therapies including the cost of the drugs (methadone and Suboxone), pharmacy dispensing fees, consultations, and physicians’ fees for case management and counselling.

The number of people with prescriptions for methadone and Suboxone has risen from 8,319 in 2006 to 27,553 last year. Within five years, the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions forecasts that there will be 58,000 British Columbians in opioid treatment plans.

There’s also a pilot project that supplies diacetyl morphine — medical-grade heroin — to 130 people at a cost of $3.25 million a year, roughly $25,000 a person. Then, there are the costs of naloxone, needle exchange programs and supervised injection sites.

Among the other recommendations in the report released today is a call for better education and prevention programs. It’s an acknowledgement of the tragic truth that even the best-designed and best-funded services won’t ensure that no one will become addicted or even that every addict will fully recover.

Harm reduction is an important first step in treatment, but it’s not the only one. What the Centre for Substance Use is urging is a comprehensive care system with readily accessible paths to recovery for those who need and want it.

This isn’t only for the sake of addicts, their families and loved ones. Helping substance users recover so that they can once again become fully participating citizens is good for everyone.

dbramham@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/daphnebramham

Pipeline protesters camping on Burnaby Mountain say they’re gearing up for a legal battle after being slapped with an eviction and bylaw notice Wednesday and given three days to leave.

The City of Burnaby ordered the occupants of the “Camp Cloud” protest site at Underhill Avenue and Shellmont Street to immediately remove all structures, trailers and vehicles, as well as put out fires, tear down a shower and leash their dogs. Officials warned the protesters to cease their “unauthorized occupation and use” of city lands within 72 hours or face city action to remove the camp.

The protest camp started last November with a single trailer parked at Kinder Morgan‘s Westridge Marine Terminal on Burrard Inlet, but was moved in December to the street outside the tank farm’s gates, where it has grown into dozens of tents, trailers and buildings, including a two-level wood structure.

Kwitsel Tatel, court monitor at the camp, dismissed the city order as “illegitimate” Wednesday and said protesters would stand their ground to protect water. They oppose the contentious Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project, which would twin an existing pipeline and increase oil-tanker-in-Burrard-Inlet-traffic nearly seven-fold. The federal government announced in May that it planned to buy the pipeline, expansion project and tank farm for $4.5 billion.

Johnny Lee works on a “Carver’s Cabin” at the Camp Cloud protest site outside the Kinder Morgan terminal in Burnaby in May.

Kinder Morgan obtained a B.C. Supreme Court injunction in March to prevent protesters from interfering with its work. In May, Lambert Chu, Burnaby city manager, said the camp was protected by the injunction.

“Camp Cloud and the Tsleil-Waututh watch house are very clearly articulated in the court order issued by the Supreme Court that they are allowed to stay,” said Chu.

But on Wednesday, Chu said the situation has changed. Burnaby has been working for “many months” to bring the camp into compliance with city bylaws but now wants it gone, he said.

“We have not been able to get compliance and we have concerns about the spreading footprint of the camp,” he said. “There are tents spreading down Shellmont. There is a two-storey wood structure with a shower.”

Tatel said the protesters are gearing up for a court challenge against the eviction, starting with consultations with lawyers Wednesday.

A man walks into the “Cloud Camp” while protesting the Kinder Morgan Pipeline Expansion Project in Burnaby

“The RCMP are not to interfere with Camp Cloud by a B.C. Supreme Court order,” she said. “The pecking order is the Coast Salish, Canada, the province and then the municipalities.”

Tatel said the eviction notice is likely specifically targeting the two-storey building. But she believes Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan is making a mistake by turning against the protesters after being a vocal opponent of the pipeline project.

Tatel said she wants Corrigan to align himself with the protesters and their campaign to protect Burnaby residents and the environment.

“He’s losing sight of his anti-Kinder Morgan (stance),” she said.

Kinder Morgan Cloud Camp protester Kwitsel Tatel holds up an eviction notice from the city of Burnaby.

Tatel said the protesters haven’t yet discussed specific plans for the Saturday deadline, including how to respond to removal by police, should it come to that.

Already, more than 200 people have been arrested during protests at the site, with 88 of them pleading guilty rather than go to trial. Those who pleaded guilty were ordered to pay fines or perform community service.

Chu said the city had “no choice” when it ordered the eviction, but declined to comment specifically about how it would be enforced.

“We respect the court order, so we had to work within the rules of the law,” he said. “We sought legal advice and the advice was we still have jurisdiction over city bylaws.”

neagland@postmedia.com

pjohnston@postmedia.com

– With files from Derrick Penner and Keith Fraser

VICTORIA — The B.C. government’s announcement this week of new union-only labour rules on building projects sparked a deluge of rhetoric from both advocates and opponents of the change. Here’s how it will actually work:

Q: Do the new rules really force people to join a union to work on the Pattullo Bridge or Kamloops to Alberta highway projects?

A: Yes. All workers on the site will be required to join a union within 30 days, and pay dues. They won’t be able to choose the union, either. The NDP government has a select group under a community benefit agreement with the “Allied Infrastructure and Related Construction Council” — a new organization that acts on behalf of 19 trades unions. If a worker belongs to a non-affiliated union, which isn’t part of the B.C. Building Trades or on that group of 19, they’ll have to register with one of the government-approved unions.

Q: The B.C. Building Trades says “all contractors are welcome to bid on the project” whether union or not. Is this true?

A: That statement, while technically correct, is misleading. Any company — union or non-union — can bid on the contracts. But in reality, whoever wins must allow their employees to join a union. In the case of the Vancouver Island Highway Project in the 1990s, which used the same union-only labour model, 23 of the 49 prime contracts went to non-union contractors.

Q: Will the changes cause projects to cost more?

A: The government acknowledged when the near-identical model was used in the 1990s that the union-only provisions do cost more. But they argued there are corresponding savings, as well as that the model provides more certainty, set costs, fixed wages, apprentice spots, a no-strike promise and other social benefits. “The cost of making sure we’re training the next generation of workers is one I think British Columbians understand,” Horgan said.

Q: How many construction workers are actually unionized in B. C.?

A: Both the union and non-union sides have produced competing numbers. B.C. Building Trades says its 40,000 unionized members make up 58 per cent of qualified non-residential trades. But this only counts the type of trades that can build highways and bridges. The Independent Contractors and Businesses Association says if you look at the total number of construction jobs in B.C. (roughly 250,000) the unionized rate falls to 16 per cent.

Q: How do locals, Aboriginals, female workers and apprentices get priority?

A: Priority will be given to these workers first. It’s not clear yet how a “local” worker will be defined, but on the island highway project in the 1990s it was someone who lived within 100 kilometres. Almost 95 per cent of the 1,000 workers on the island highway project lived on the Island. The benefit agreements will contain enforceable clauses that 25 per cent of the jobs go to apprentices, many of whom require 1,600 hours of experience time on tools outside of classrooms to advance through their training.

Q: Why does government need to create a new Crown corporation to do all this?

A: The Crown corporation, B.C. Infrastructure Benefits Inc., becomes the employer of all the tradespeople on a project. It handles payroll, human resources and acts as a “hiring hall,” working with the unions to dispatch skilled workers to the job site when needed. The private companies that win contracts turn their labour over to the Crown corporation, but remain as supervisors and foremen. The unions collect mandatory dues and handle pension contributions, health benefits, safety training and any workplace grievances.

Q: Did a similar union-only model cause the Vancouver Island Highway Project to go over-budget?

A: This a contentious point, disputed by competing studies, with no clear answer. The project expanded the road between Victoria and Campbell River during the mid-to-late 1990s and cost almost $1.2 billion. The NDP government at the time acknowledged it did increase costs, but disputed how much.

An Auditor General’s report into the project’s planning and design — written before the highway was fully completed — noted the design provided “good value for money”, though the project was under constant threat of blowing its budget. That caused it to abandon some interchange plans and highway upgrades.

The Vancouver Board of Trade, which opposed the union-only model, commissioned a report by a chartered accountant in 1994, also before the project was completed. It estimated labour costs were almost 38 per cent higher due to the union-only model, after adding benefits, mandatory union dues and workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance payments. That added $73 million to the project bill, according to the report.

Then employment minister Glen Clark dismissed the study as “ridiculous” and partisan. He did also acknowledge that labour costs more under the mode, but argued it was worth it to secure labour peace during construction.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, which supported the union-only model, wrote a report in 2000 that described it as “stunningly successful” in achieving as high as 22 per cent equity hiring for Aboriginal, women and minority workers at its peak.

The Island Highway union deals included thousands of tax dollars put into a number of special funds maintained by the unions for various purposes. Then opposition leader Gordon Campbell alleged some of that money might go back to the NDP’s coffers, which caused him to get sued by a local of the ironworkers union. Campbell won when the court ruled some of the money might well have ended up back in the hands of the NDP.

Q: What about other major government projects, like new hospitals, schools, bridges and roads?

A: “Each infrastructure project will be assessed on a case-by-case basis,” according to the Ministry of Transportation. But, you can expect the union-only construction rule to expand. Premier John Horgan described this vision Monday: “Where we’re expending public dollars, it’s our view that we need to have a public benefit.” He specifically cited “good wages for people building the roads, bridges, transit and hospitals of the future.” In the 1990s, the NDP set a threshold of highway projects exceeding $50 million. Horgan’s vision appears much broader. The current NDP government plan to spend tens of billions on capital projects in the next few years.

rshaw@postmedia.com

twitter.com/robshaw_vansun

VICTORIA — Back in the news after a long interval is Gordon Campbell, gone from the office of B.C. premier for seven years and now a resident of Ontario.

“Former premier comes to defence of private health care; joins fight against B.C. government’s crackdown on clinics,” was the headline last week on a column by Ian Mulgrew in The Vancouver Sun.

Campbell came to the defence of private clinics in a court proceeding where they are seeking relief from pending changes, invoked by the New Democrats, to restrict public access to private services.

He recounted how, during his term as B.C. Liberal premier from 2001-2011, his government allowed private clinics to flourish to reduce pressure on waiting lists in the public system.

Among other details in the six-page affidavit was an account of how his views were shaped by a tour of health care systems in Scandinavia, France and the United Kingdom.

“I learned from this visit that all of these countries had hybrid health care systems that incorporated elements of private care and funding, and delivered better public health care at a lower cost than British Columbia and the rest of Canada,” testified Campbell.

Campbell was accompanied on that quickie tour (four countries, seven days) in early 2006 by Dr. Les Vertesi, an emergency room doctor and advocate of private care who paid his own way.

“I want to make sure the premier learns the right things and not the wrong things,” Dr. Vertesi, who was also Campbell’s brother-in-law, said at the time. “He’s well intentioned, but there are lots of misunderstandings.”

Implicit in Campbell’s affidavit in the current proceedings was a likely surge in waiting lists in the public system if the NDP crackdown on the private clinics takes effect, as scheduled, Oct. 1.

For whatever one thinks of private clinics — and the New Democrats have nothing good to say about them — they do act as a safety valve on the public system, treating 70,000 patients annually.

This week Campbell was back in the news with equally significant implications, albeit for the province of Ontario.

Campbell was one of three panelists named by new Premier Doug Ford to help review the provincial finances and accounting inherited from the previous Ontario Liberal government.

He’ll be paid $50,000 for working six weeks alongside a forensic accountant and a former federal deputy minister of finance.

The Ford government chose Campbell because of his efforts to toughen accounting practices and budget legislation and to rein in spending here in B.C.

It surely wasn’t because of his views on pricing carbon emissions as a way to fight climate change. Campbell brought in B.C.’s pioneering carbon tax. Ford is busy dismantling Ontario’s related cap and trade system.

Another former Liberal B.C. premier in the news is Christy Clark, appointed late last month to a potentially lucrative seat on the board of Shaw Communications.

Shaw directors last year earned between $240,000 and $385,000 in fees and share-based compensation, according to The Globe and Mail.

Next week Clark is scheduled to preside at a fundraiser for Michael Lee, the third-place finisher in the B.C. Liberal leadership race.

Clark’s ex-husband, Mark Marissen, was Lee’s strategist. Lee finished the campaign owing $300,000. Much of that was in excess of the party’s spending limit, adding a touch of gall to him now hitting up members of the cash-strapped party to cover his leadership shortfall.

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Still, the invitation went out this week to the event, set for 6 p.m. Tuesday at Hy’s Steakhouse in Vancouver.

“We are asking guests to make a minimum donation of $500 to ‘Michael Lee Leadership Campaign,’” wrote lawyer and longtime party insider Lyall Knott.

“Sorry, no corporate donations … I am attaching an email from Elections B.C. explaining that political contributions made by eligible individuals to leadership contestants in this contest have no limit.”

Hint, hint.

In return participants are ensured of “a private and very political discussion. Mike is chair of the B.C. Liberal caucus committee on Proportional Representation. Christy is the former premier.  There is lots to talk about!”

Hmmm.

In the 2009 referendum on electoral reform, Clark, then a broadcaster, came out in support of the single-transferable vote, the version of PR then on the ballot.

“People are sick to death of the way our political system works,” she told her CKNW listening audience. “Under STV all politicians will have an incentive to get along. The toxic insults and the nasty rhetoric will be turned down to a lower ebb.”

If Clark and Lee get to addressing those comments in the context of the NDP-authored referendum, it might well be worth attending.

Clark is in a minority among former B.C. premiers in having campaigned for proportional representation. Campbell stayed neutral in the two referendums on his watch.

Mike Harcourt spoke out against STV in 2009 as a too-complicated system that could, by empowering smaller parties like the Greens, lead to “a tyranny of the minority.”

Dave Barrett and Bill Bennett, both alive at the time of the 2005 referendum, were in rare agreement in urging people to vote against PR. Glen Clark, in his time as premier, said “proportional representation is for losers.”

Ujjal Dosanjh has already spoken out against PR in the current campaign. Bill Vander Zalm, like Christy Clark, endorsed STV in 2009. But we’ve not yet heard from him on the option this time.

Sorry, that just slipped out. Forget I suggested it!

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Construction spending on the Trans Mountain oil pipeline has been minimal since the Canadian government announced its $4.5-billion purchase of the expansion project and its existing assets from Kinder Morgan Canada.

In a conference call Wednesday to discuss financial results, Kinder Morgan Canada revealed it had spent about $1.25 billion on the $7.4-billion expansion project to May 31, the date that Canada started picking up the construction tab after reaching a purchase agreement the day before.

But only another $41 million was spent in June, said Kinder Morgan. There were no figures for July.

The deal was reached after Kinder Morgan issued an ultimatum, saying it needed certainty that it could build the project through B.C. or it was walking away.

At the time, Kinder Morgan CEO Steve Kean said the company couldn’t put any more capital at risk without that certainty, particularly when they were at the stage that the next steps required a significant increase in construction spending of $300 million to $400 million per month.

Kinder Morgan CEO Steven Kean.

At issue, was opposition to the project by Premier John Horgan’s NDP government, which launched a reference case in April at the B.C. Court of Appeal, asking it to rule whether the province has the right to put restrictions on heavy-oil transportation. Concluding that case, which is likely to end up at the Supreme Court of Canada, could take years.

The sale agreement included resumption of construction and Canada taking over financing of the expansion project while the sale was completed.

Energy industry consultant Edward Kallio said he isn’t surprised that there hasn’t been a major ramp-up in construction.

“I doubt they’ll make huge expenditures until that deal closes,” said Kallio, principal of Calgary-based Eau Claire Energy Advisory Inc. “The end result — is there is going to be a delay.”

The sale isn’t expected to close until late in the third quarter ending in September or early in the fourth quarter.

Kean said Wednesday that the company is “laser-focused” on completing the $4.5-billion sale.

“That process is going well,” he said on the conference call. “We have obtained some of the required regulatory approvals — and we are making progress on the remaining.”

Related

• City of Burnaby gives Kinder Morgan protesters 72-hour eviction notice
• How a 'recalcitrant' B.C. government forced Kinder Morgan to sell Trans Mountain to Ottawa

Earlier this month, according to a work plan released by Kinder Morgan Canada, staking and clearing trees will take place in Alberta and the North Thompson area of B.C. in the next six months, as well as work on the tunnel portal at the Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby. Other work includes creating stockpile sites, construction yards and camps.

According to the National Energy Board, the project only has approval to proceed with construction at Westridge, the Burnaby Terminal, various pump stations and various temporary infrastructure sites. The NEB has approved 68 per cent of the pipeline route.

Of the 1,179 permits needed from the B.C. government for the expansion project, 242 have been approved. Another 266 permits that have been submitted are under review. And 671 permits have yet to be submitted.

The project is viewed as critical by the federal and Alberta governments and oil producers to diversify Canada’s oil-export markets away from the U.S., in particular opening up new markets for the Alberta oilsands in Asia. Tripling pipeline capacity with the twinning project will significantly increase ocean-going shipment capacity from an expanded Burnaby terminus.

There are First Nations — including the Tsleil-Waututh, Sto:lo and Stk’emlupsemc te Secwepemc — who are adamantly opposed to the project. A critical Federal Court challenge led by those First Nations is pending.

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The last time Stephane Mousseau crossed paths with this writer was inside MEC Vancouver’s busy West Broadway store. After interviewing the former project coordinator about a road race series, he joked during a lighthearted photo shoot that modelling would be his next job.

After reading that I’d be tackling two 10K races this weekend — Saturday’s Summerfast 10K and Sunday’s Telus Jog for the Bog — Mousseau reappeared. Turns out he got a new job, minus the modelling.

The cricket protein energy Naak bars, now with more flavours than ever, are catching on in popularity with athletes.

“If you’re going to go back-to-back with long races you might want to consider extra protein,” said Mousseau, a B.C. account manager with Näak. “Like energy bars made out of cricket powder! Choco Orange or Choco Banana, you’d really like both!”

Turns out that Näak is a young, Montreal-based company “aspiring to democratize insect consumption.” Perhaps Mousseau didn’t understand this blogger was still trying to work the bugs out of my not-so-polished running mechanics, not add more, but I digress.

The Näak ambassadors include several pro triathletes, weightlifters, skiers and MMA warriors, many who wear the awesome Unleash your inner cricket T-shirts and either eat the multi-flavoured bars or powder while training and performing.

The Choco-banana bar by Naak — with cricket protein — looks and tastes pretty good.

Entomophagy, a name for the eating of insects (thanks Google), is relatively new to Canadians. But around the globe people consume more than 1,900 different species, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The most frequently consumed are beetles, caterpillars, bees, wasps and ants.

At last year’s PNE you could order cricket pizza, cricket burgers and fries. And you can put the cricket powder in pancakes or on yogurt and berries.

“Cricket flour is actually a super food, and it’s eco-friendly,” said Mousseau. “We believe cricket powder is the complete protein of the future. And we believe cricket powder is the most sustainable source of protein.”

Stephane Mousseau politely pointed out that my normal pre-run meal (above) may not be helping my performance. Who knew?

The all-natural and gluten-free bars and powder are widely distributed in Quebec and now available in B.C., including at MEC and Valhalla Pure Outfitters.

When I told Mousseau my main motivation for doing the Summerfast 10K and Telus Jog for the Bog was the post-race offerings of baking, pancakes and doughnuts, not the desire to end up on a podium, he shook his head then pointed out that Jiminy Cricket became famous for being Pinocchio‘s conscience, keeping the Disney star on the honest path, not for being super fast or having super powers.

Didn’t want to mention that it seems like Jiminy’s reward for all that goodwill and paying it forward was to be ground into powder and sold to people running 10Ks!

Kathrine Switzer, who was the first official woman entrant in the Boston Marathon 51 years ago, wore the same bib number and displayed her medal after finishing the 121st Boston Marathon on Monday, April 17, 2017. (Photo by Elise Amendola of The Associated Press)

Running legends visit Vancouver next month

Running historian Roger Robinson and the legendary Kathrine Switzer will be in Vancouver next month for two speaking engagements.

Robinson will also be selling his new book, When Running Made History.

Switzer in 1967 became the first woman to run the Boston Marathon and is author of the best-selling book Marathon Woman. Roger Robinson a 2:18 master runner, and, is a well-known author of Heroes and Sparrows (two editions), Running in Literature and Spirit of the Marathon.

They’ll be speaking at Forerunners on West 4th at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 6 and Forerunners on Main Street on Tuesday, Aug. 7 at 6:30 p.m. There is a $5 registration fee, but if you buy Robinson’s book the $5 will be credited toward your purchase.

For more info on the Monday event, click HERE. For more info on the Tuesday event click HERE.

Margaret Buttner, the vice-president of Vancouver’s Lions Gate Road Runners who reads more books than the average runner and who will lace up for Saturday’s Summerfast 10K with her LGRR teammates, had this to say in a recent review of Robinson’s newest book:

“Like a glass of fine single-malt scotch, Robinson’s work is to be savoured; pleasant memories will linger long after the last chapter is finished. But there’s nothing elitist about it. Like a great beer, When Running Made History fizzes with energy and love of the sport and will tastily entertain all runners from beginners to Olympians.”

A few minutes after collecting her PEN RUN Fort Langley Half Marathon and 5K medal, Sandra Jongs Sayer of Langley was trying to recruit “thirsty friends” for September’s Campbell Valley Wine Run. (Gord Kurenoff photo)

Let’s get fizzical? Wine not

A few minutes after posting her second-best 5K time on Sunday, a beaming Sandra Jongs Sayer stood outside the wooden gates of Fort Langley trying to recruit a team for September’s Campbell Valley Wine Run.

“We can wear costumes, come up with a clever team name, run 15K or walk 5K, win prizes and drink wine. Who’s in?,” chirped Jongs Sayer, while the rest of her friends tried to cool down after completing the warm 15th PEN RUN Fort Langley Half Marathon and 5K.

A few hours after being pitched on taking part in the Wine Run, my wife went shopping for “training gear!”

The Wine Run, scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 23, goes through scenic Campbell Valley Park and supports Pacific Riding for Developing Abilities.

Beginning at High Point Equestrian Centre, runners negotiate park trails while stopping at each of the host wineries for a “refreshment” along the way. Participating wineries include Backyard Vineyards, Chaberton Estate Winery, Township 7 Wines, Glass House Estate Winery and Vista D’oro Farms & Winery.

Registration includes a finish-line barbecue, live music, prizes and wine. This year’s top prize is a Sky Helicopters tour. For more info, or to enter, click HERE.

The general consensus, after Sayer’s spiel, is we’ll be there. The scary part is that my wife, who is preparing to run her first 10K in this Sunday’s Telus Jog for the Bog, was the first to put up her hand to run 15K and drink wine. Our team may be the first to have a designated driver waiting at the finish line — just saying! Stay tuned.

Debbie Elliott, left, Shari Stuyt and Chelsey Stuyt show off their medals at the finish line in Sunday’s Fort Langley Half Marathon and 5K. It was the first time Shari had ever run. (Gord Kurenoff photo)

Friends (make it) to the end

Speaking of Fort Langley, local Vancouver Sun Run coach Debbie Elliott is no stranger to shuffling with newbies, but Sunday was extra special.

Elliott hooked up with longtime friend Shari Stuyt, who had never run before, to do the PEN RUN 5K.

“Her daughter Chelsey has been training to run a half marathon. So she asked her mom to do a run with her and they picked the Fort Langley 5K,” said Elliott. “Shari, who has been my friend for more than 30 years, reached out and I told her I would train with her. We walked more than we ran Sunday, but we did it.”

Chelsey will be tackling the 23rd annual Loop the Lake half marathon on Saturday, Aug. 11 in Invermere. Good luck!

Becky Zavaglia, whose signature enthusiasm graced every race she entered, celebrated her final 5K in Fort Langley on Sunday. (Gord Kurenoff photo)

Taking a leap of Steeltown faith

It was an emotional morning for Becky Zavaglia as she did her traditional “medal leap” at the finish line of the 15th PEN RUN Fort Langley Half Marathon and 5K.

The bubbly Mission woman, who is a driver with Coast Mountain Bus Company when she’s not making people smile at weekend races, is moving to Hamilton — The Hammer or Steeltown, home of the Oskee Wee Wee cheer.

One of the real cool things about running in the middle of the pack, and doing this blog, is you meet awesome people like Zavaglia, whose enthusiasm on race day is infectious.

We got into the habit of doing pre-race selfies and comparing race notes — she did a lot of neat events  —  and she even tried to teach me to dance two months ago at La Gran Fiesta Run in Burnaby Lake. It’s one audition you’ll never see on Dancing With The Stars!

“Going to miss running here, and really going to miss my friends,” said Zavaglia. “Pretty sure they have runs in Hamilton and Toronto I can check out!”

Yeah, and they have playoff hockey in those parts as well, but that’s another blog!

She will be missed.

The designer shirts at the 15th PEN RUN Fort Langley Half Marathon and 5K made everyone happy — except for one reader! (Gord Kurenoff photo)

‘Redneck racing’ draws reaction from riled reader

While 99 per cent of the feedback this running blog receives is positive, you get the odd person who feels the urge to go low, low, low.

And more often than not, the “cowards of the keyboard” use fake names, fake accounts or refuse to engage in meaningful conversation. It’s how they roll.

Such was the case yesterday when a writer asked: “Why should I care about a race in a redneck town (Fort Langley) with a bunch of redneck racers? If I wanted this crap I’d watch NASCAR or Talladega Nights over and over again!”

OK, at least the letter writer was entertaining, and perhaps has a future in blogging (smile!), but those he mocked in Sunday’s PEN RUN Fort Langley Half Marathon and 5K at least left their mom’s basement to interact with other people. It’s also near where I live and train!

And rednecks? Well, if anyone not hanging out in the city makes you feel that way, I put together a special photo recap set to your favourite song. Click HERE, enjoy and wish your mother well!

I’ll file you in the growing Can’t please ’em all folder. Time for my lunch — pass the bread, Billy Bob!

Gotta run …

gkurenoff@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/ohgord

Related

• Gord Kurenoff: Nicholson repeats old feat by beating field in a hot Fort Langley Half
• Gord Kurenoff: MEC serves up good 'plane' fun as top guns soar at Abbotsford airport
• Gord Kurenoff: 'Sorry' for having so much fun running, cele-eh-brating on Canada Day
• Gord Kurenoff: Kip, Dayna cash in big time at Vancouver Scotiabank Half-Marathon, 5K

Residents in a rural area west of Vanderhoof are holding their breath Wednesday after a wildfire led officials to put them on evacuation alert.

The area covered by the alert is north of the Nechako River, covering an area roughly halfway between Vanderhoof and Fraser Lake.

The Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako issued the alert at noon on Wednesday.

“The evacuation alert is in effect for the area East of Dog Creek Forest Service Road (FSR) to Geernaert Road, and South of the Barlow Forest Service Road (FSR) to the Nechako River, Westwood Road and Braeside Road,” the district said in a notice.

The area was threatened by a fire in 2017 as well. Dianne Raymond, who lives in the area, said this year’s fire was closer to her home than last year’s.

The Dog Creek Trail fire is burning west of Vanderhoof. Area residents were put on evacuation alert on July 18. 

She said the fire, which the B.C. Wildfire Service estimates at about 0.8 square kilometres, seemed to be moving east and that rain was expected in the forecast.

“The start of the fire is just east and slightly south of where the head of the fire was last year,” she said.

“Last night and this morning they were spreading retardant on the south flank,” she said.

There are three water bombers, a helicopter and 29 firefighters battling the fire, which is in an area that has a lot of blown down trees and dry pine.

“We ask the public to refrain from driving to look at fires as it can impede firefighting efforts,” the wildfire service said on their website.

The Dog Creek Trail fire is burning west of Vanderhoof. Area residents were put on evacuation alert on July 18.

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twitter.com/risingaction

Mounties in Richmond say it appears criminals have added bitcoin ransom to the growing list of manoeuvres to swindle money from unsuspecting people.

Officers responded to a report of an abduction on July 16 in which a person in a Richmond home reported receiving a call from someone demanding money for the safe return of their partner.

Police say the threat was taken seriously because the cellphone call was from the partner’s phone number. The victim then transferred $10,000 into a bitcoin machine in Richmond.

The victim’s partner was unharmed and was unaware of the supposed abduction.

Cpl. Dennis Hwang says police are warning that criminals are trending towards more sophisticated techniques in gathering personal information from their victims.

Hwang says the most widely demanded forms of payment related to the scams are iTunes and gaming gift cards or bitcoin.

After a series of lightning strikes on Tuesday evening, wildfires and wildfire smoke is visible in many parts of the Okanagan Valley and other parts of the southern Interior.

According to the B.C. Wildfire Service, as of Wednesday afternoon, there are four fires burning in or near West Kelowna, three burning near Peachland and two more in Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park.

There are also two fires burning near Summerland, five near Naramata and two near Okanagan Falls.

Related

• B.C. Wildfire Map 2018: Updates on fire locations, evacuation alerts/orders

On Wednesday evening, an evacuation alert was issued by Central Okanagan Emergency Operations for a group of properties threatened by the Good Creek wildfire just south of the City of Kelowna.

Properties affected by the evacuation alert, where residents should be ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice, include 6006 – 8888 Lakeshore Road.

The blaze north of Summerland forced the closure of Hwy. 97 for a time on Wednesday, though traffic was slowly moving again by the evening as the RCMP were escorting groups of vehicles in each direction.

Another fire near Summerland, about eight kilometres southwest on Mount Conkle, is about 0.5 square kilometres in size.

The B.C. Wildfire Service has three helicopters and more than 40 firefighters working on it.

There are also fires burning near Osoyoos and Keremeos.

Ride-hailing services will not be available to people in B.C. until at least fall 2019, according to the provincial government, leaving the province as one of the last major jurisdictions without ride-hailing, and breaking the NDP’s promise to have the service in place by the end of this year.

Instead, the government plans to increase the number of taxis in B.C. by 15 per cent (300 in the Lower Mainland and 200 in the rest of the province), allow taxi companies to discount rides booked using an app and providing more data to the provincial regulator, as part of a plan to modernize taxi services.

The changes were suggested in a report commissioned by the government and written by taxi-industry expert Dan Hara.

The province plans to make the necessary legislative changes during the fall session to allow ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft, then it will be up to the Insurance Corp. of B.C. to change its insurance structure.

Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Claire Trevena expects ride-hailing companies will have their applications to enter the market in to the Passenger Transportation Board (PTB) by next September.

“I know that people are looking at expanded transportation options to be available very soon, and I want to reassure them that a lot of work is happening to get this accomplished, but it is important that we get this right,” Trevena said.

Disappointment and frustration about the lack of action on ride-hailing, and confusion about the timeline, came from all sides.

The Ridesharing Now for B.C. Coalition was initially happy with the government’s announcement — until it realized that only the legislation would be dealt with this year. In a statement issued Thursday, it said it was extremely disappointed and the time to allow ride-hailing has long passed.

“It is unacceptable that ride-sharing is going to take at least 18 months,” the coalition said.

Hara’s study was based on consultation with the taxi industry, local governments, and consumer and business interest groups. Companies like Uber and Lyft weren’t included, as it wasn’t in his terms of reference.

In addition to the three recommendations adopted by the provincial government, Hara also made suggestions about how the taxi supply could be managed using entry-price regulation, improving rules and making governance less confusing by preserving most of the current model of having a provincial regulator take responsibility, but allowing the PTB to delegate to a regional municipal authority, at the request of the authority.

On the topic of accessible taxi service, he suggested that B.C. consider providing financial support for accessible service in smaller communities, with funding coming from revenues produced by entry-price regulation.

In the report, Hara also reviewed the taxi-industry’s proposal that a universal app be developed for taxi firms across the province and found it to be good.

The idea of allowing taxis to be reassigned to other areas when local taxis are busy is found to be likely to improve service, reduce trip denials and increase the odds of a driver getting a return trip. He said apps could be sponsored in part by the province.

However, Hara warns that “the monopoly aspects of the proposal are found to be risky and unnecessary.” He said there was also, at the time of writing his report, disagreement between industry associations on essential details. Overlap in provincial and municipal jurisdiction could also be a barrier to developing a shared app.

“It is suggested that more than one cooperative app may emerge, with success depending on features and functionality offered to consumers and companies.”

The Vancouver Taxi Association (VTA), according to a Postmedia News report, has already taken steps to get its own app developed, striking a tentative deal with a Surrey businessman to develop a ride-hailing app called Kater.

A letter of intent calls for the licensing of 200 “Kater Cabs” that could operate similar to Uber or Lyft cars, but charge the same rates as association taxis, which are a base rate of $3.30, plus $1.89 per kilometre. Twenty per cent of profits from Kater would go to the taxi industry.

When asked about the VTA’s plans to use Kater, Mohan Kang, president of the B.C. Taxi Association, said there needs to be a single app to make the industry more competitive and that he would continue to try to work with the Vancouver association, even though he has been excluded from the Kater deal.

“It would be a great thing, working together so we can achieve something which can make it better for the general public for their convenience, as well as public safety,” Singh said.

When asked what will happen if they can’t work together, he said, “If it doesn’t work we are not going to sit down and wait for the doomsday.”

Carolyn Bauer of the VTA didn’t respond to a request for comment.

When asked about the report, Kang said he hasn’t had a chance to read it yet, but is optimistic an increase in the number of taxis would help improve customer service. He said it’s also a good idea to give the PTB more data, so it can make better decisions.

In February, an all-party standing select committee made 32 recommendations on the topic of ride-hailing in B.C. The recommendations covered five areas: availability and pricing, data reporting and enforcement, insurance, licensing, and vehicle and public safety. The committee members agreed that the companies should be permitted to operate in B.C. within a provincial regulatory regime.

Jas Johal, the B.C. Liberals’ jobs, trades and technology critic, was on that committee and was frustrated with the delay in bringing ride-hailing to B.C. He pointed out that the NDP promised during the election to do it by the end of 2017, and then revised it to the end of 2018.

“It is another broken promise,” he said. “I think there is an urgency to this with regard to finding a solution where there is a healthy taxi industry and transportation options for British Columbians.”

He said the necessary changes to legislation and ICBC can be done quickly, but the issue is political will.

For Uber Canada, the timeline for ride-hailing isn’t short enough.

“Ride-sharing can be introduced more quickly than what the province has laid out today,” said Michael van Hemmen, general manager of cities for Western Canada. “We’re absolutely committed to working with Premier Horgan to fulfil the NDP commitments on ride-sharing more quickly.”

His hope is that it can be introduced by this Christmas, and said Uber is willing to work with Trevena and Attorney General David Eby, who is responsible for ICBC, to address any issues standing in the way of implementation.

The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade expressed disappointment at what it called “yet another unnecessary delay” that hurts residents, the economy and the city’s international reputation with tourists.

“For years, our province has been spinning its wheels on ride-sharing and the modernization of the taxi industry,” said Iain Black, president and CEO of the board. “Today’s announcement perpetuates the taxi monopoly while only partially addressing the underlying problems that the industry requires to be fixed, with no firm timelines in place.”

Adam Olsen, the B.C. Green party’s spokesman for transportation, said he’s disappointed ride-hailing will not be available this winter, but the party is glad the government has committed to plans.

“In our view, a better approach would be to modernize the taxi industry concurrently with bringing in ride-hailing, however it is encouraging that the initial legislative steps to enable ride-hailing will be before the House this fall,” he said. “There has been a lot of broken promises on this issue. The minister needs to meet the goal of accepting applications by fall 2019.”

jensaltman@postmedia.com

twitter.com/jensaltman

Related

• Exclusive: Taxi industry's plan to take over ride-hailing in Vancouver, keep Uber out
• B.C. ride-hailing report paves way for service later this year
• Legislative committee on ride-hailing in B.C. turns to writing report
• NDP pushes decision on ride-hailing off for more consultation
• Five things to know about the new ride-hailing report

B.C.’s NDP government has approved more traditional taxis on provincial roads, but also delayed allowing ride-hailing operators like Uber and Lyft to operate for at least another year. The changes came Thursday after the release of a government-commissioned report into modernizing the taxi industry by author Dan Hara. Here’s what you need to know:

1. Ride-hailing services aren’t coming to B.C. until at least September 2019. That’s when the government expects companies like Uber and Lyft will start applying for licences under a new, yet-to-be-written legislative regime. The NDP campaigned in the last election on having a plan to get ride-hailing into operation in 2017. After taking power, the party pushed it to the end of 2018. The new fall 2019 deadline means the NDP is two years behind the timeline it first promised voters.

2. Three hundred new taxis are coming to the Lower Mainland to reduce wait times. This is part of a one-time, 15-per-cent increase to taxi licences recommended by Hara that government said it will immediately authorize. It will also mean 200 new taxis in the rest of the province.

3. You’ll soon get a cheaper rate on your taxi if you order by smartphone app. Government will allow taxi companies to offer discounted meter fares if a cab is booked using an app, in an attempt to help traditional taxi firms boost the use of their own technology in advance of competition from Uber, Lyft and other ride-hailing companies that use their own popular apps.

4. Many of the taxi report’s key suggestions are still being considered by government. This includes putting additional per-trip fees on new licences to fund more accessible taxi vans for people with disabilities, delegating provincial power for taxi approval to regional governments to avoid overlapping jurisdictional confusion, creating a new per-kilometre insurance system for taxis and replacing the requirement for Class 4 commercial-driver permits with regular Class 5 licences in combination with a short taxi-training program.

5. Allowing existing taxi companies to have a monopoly on a single app to hail rides is “risky and unnecessary,” Hara concludes in his report. The Vancouver Taxi Association has a tentative deal to develop a ride-for-hire app called Kater, which it wants to be the exclusive made-in-B.C. solution, locking out Uber, Lyft and other app-based companies. That’s not a good plan for customers, writes Hara. However, he writes that the general idea of the existing taxi industry co-operating on one or more apps, with government financial support, would be positive and allow them to better compete in future.

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As the Hells Angels mark their 35th anniversary with a party in Nanaimo this weekend, police say the group continues to expand in B.C. despite a series of high-profile arrests and convictions over the last decade.

More than 300 bikers from across Canada are expected to attend the Vancouver Island bash to celebrate the day the first three B.C. chapters were formed, July 23, 1983.

Since the 25th anniversary party in Langley a decade ago, members of B.C.’s most notorious gang have been murdered, shot, charged with murder and convicted of international drug smuggling, extortion, manslaughter and more.

The B.C. Hells Angels started with branches in Nanaimo, Vancouver and White Rock, but have now expanded to 10 chapters and 114 members, entry-level prospects and hang-arounds — the term used for men hoping to join the HA.

Police will be in Nanaimo this weekend to gather information and make sure the biker festivities don’t get out of hand.

Sgt. Brenda Winpenny, of B.C.’s anti-gang Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, said “it’s well-documented that many of the participants of these events are individuals and members of clubs associated to and who participate in criminal activities.”

CFSEU Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton noted the many high-profile cases in recent years that link the Hells Angels to violence, drug trafficking and other crimes.

• In 2013, Kelowna Hells Angels Norm Cocks and Robert Thomas pleaded guilty to manslaughter for beating Kelowna grandfather Dain Phillips to death as he attempted to resolve a dispute his sons had with some HA associates. They were sentenced to 15 years.

• In September 2016, two other Kelowna Hells Angels were convicted for their roles in an international cocaine importing scheme that had been cooked up by police as part of an undercover operation.

• A month later, prominent Mission Hells Angel Bob Green was shot to death at an all-night booze and drug party in Langley.

• Early this year, West Point Hells Angel Larry Amero was charged with conspiracy to commit murder for plots that left two rivals dead in 2012. And B.C. Hells Angels Jason Arkinstall and Chad Wilson were convicted in Spain of importing cocaine.

“I think it is fair to say that there’s a portion of the public who sees through their lies and sees through this free-living, charity-riding mystique that they want to portray and see them for what they are, a significant international criminal organization,” Houghton said.

Members of the Hells Angels ride to Oceanview Cemetery in Burnaby during their annual Screwy Ride to honour the murdered Dave “Screwy” Schwartz in Vancouver on April, 8, 2017.

“They are still expanding, they are still looking to shore up their power base and ensure that they maintain the highest levels of influence and intimidation within the criminal landscape, the organized crime landscape.”

Nanaimo Mayor Bill McKay said Thursday that he doesn’t expect any problems at this year’s party.

“To be honest with you, they used to come to the city every year and have a big party out at Angel Acres. I don’t believe they were ever much of a problem,” he said of the bikers and their large property, which the B.C. government is trying to seize through a civil forfeiture case. “I don’t expect that they will cause the community any challenges.”

He said the provincial government would be covering the costs of the extra police in town for the weekend.

Asked if he considers the HA an organized crime group, McKay said: “Police would know better than myself, but I believe there are connections there, yes.”

“Police are doing their job to ensure the safety of our community and we thank them for that,” he said.

Hells Angels spokesman Rick Ciarniello did not respond to requests for an interview about the anniversary. Ciarniello has been a fixture in the courtroom during the civil forfeiture trial over the fate of three clubhouses which the government agency says would be used to commit future crimes if the Hells Angels were allowed to keep them.

The trial began in April, but has been adjourned until the fall.

The front entrance outside the Hells Angels clubhouse on Victoria Avenue in Nanaimo in 2004.

Houghton said that despite the efforts of the police, some in the public still support the Hells Angels and “think they are OK people.”

“We still see when they do these rides, that people come out to watch them because they are interested,” he said.

Seventy-one per cent of B.C.’s Hells Angels have criminal records for violence offences, Houghton said.

And the Hells Angels have links to other gangs, like the Red Scorpions, Independent Soldiers and Wolf Pack that have been directly involved in a violent gang war over the last decade, centred in Metro Vancouver.

“We know as the province’s gang agency that we have a lot of work to do to educate the public about what these people and the groups and what their reputations really are,” he said.

kbolan@postmedia.com

blog: vancouversun.com/blog/real-scoop

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Timeline of some events related to the Hells Angels in B.C. over the past decade:

July 13, 2009 – Four Hells Angels were convicted on a series of charges stemming from the E-Pandora investigation targeting the East End Hells Angels in Vancouver.

Aug. 14, 2011 – Hells Angel Larry Amero was seriously wounded in a targeted Kelowna shooting that left Red Scorpion Jonathan Bacon dead and two others wounded.

Hells Angel Larry Ronald Amero in file photo

Nov. 1, 2012 – Amero charged in Montreal with associates in the Wolf Pack with leading international cocaine smuggling ring.

Jan. 30, 2013 – Two Kelowna Hells Angels, Norman Cocks and Robert Thomas, pleaded guilty to manslaughter for beating Kelowna grandfather Dain Phillips to death as he attempted to resolve a dispute his sons had with some HA associates. They were sentenced to 15 years in jail.

Dec. 16, 2014 – Longtime Hells Angel Robert “Fred” Widdifield, a founding member of the Nanaimo chapter, was convicted of extortion and theft. He was later sentenced to five years.

Sept. 30, 2016 – Kelowna Hells Angel Dave Giles convicted of one count of conspiracy to import cocaine, one count of conspiracy to traffic cocaine, and one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking cocaine; James Howard was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to traffic cocaine and one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking cocaine; and Bryan Oldham and Shawn Womacks were found guilty of one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking cocaine.

Oct. 16, 2016 – High-profile Hells Angel Bob Green is found shot to death in Langley. A day later, his friend and gang associate Jason Wallace turned himself into police. He later pleaded guilty to manslaughter after telling the court his and his family’s lives were threatened after the drunken, drug-fuelled shooting.

Senior B.C. Hells Angel Bob Green.

Oct. 26, 2016 – White Rock Hells Angels prospect Mohammed Rafiq, 43, was shot in the face while driving near his Burnaby home. He survived.

March 19, 2017 – The body of Nanaimo Hells Angels prospect Michael Gregory Widner is found near Sooke, days after he was reported missing. He was murdered.

Aug. 30, 2017 – Montreal conspiracy charges stayed against Hells Angel Larry Amero due to delays in the case.

Jan. 25, 2018 – Hells Angel Larry Amero is charged with conspiracy to kill rivals Sandip Duhre and Sukh Dhak. Both were shot to death months apart in 2012. The murders are believed to have been retaliation for the 2011 Kelowna shooting.

April 23, 2018 – Civil forfeiture case begins in B.C. Supreme Court, more than a decade after the case began. It has now been adjourned until fall 2018.

Hells Angels chapters in B.C.

Vancouver, opened in 1983.

White Rock, opened in 1983.

Nanaimo, opened in 1983.

East End Vancouver, opened in 1983.

Haney, opened in 1987.

Nomads, opened in 1998.

Mission City, opened in 1999.

Kelowna, opened in 2007.

West Point, opened in 2012.

Hardside, opened in 2017.

VICTORIA — For a moment Thursday, Transportation Minister Claire Trevena made it sound as if the New Democrats realized people wanted no more delays in bringing ride-hailing to Metro Vancouver.

“We know people are frustrated and have been waiting far too long for solutions to the lack of transportation options that are available,” she confessed at the outset of a news conference in downtown Vancouver.

“People want more options for getting around the city efficiently and they want them now.”

Right you are minister. You’ve been reading your mail and maybe that of media commentators as well.

The B.C. Liberals protected the taxi industry from ride-hailing until the eve of the last provincial election. The New Democrats promised action in 2017, then stalled until this year. But now there was an action plan. Or so the minister claimed.

“The first steps in our action plan are intended to improve marketplace conditions for innovative transportation companies,” vowed Trevena. “These will make it easier for new companies to apply to offer services in B.C.”

Hear that Uber? Hear that Lyft? The New Democrats are on the fast track.

But as the minister proceeded it soon became apparent the first steps in the action plan were not for newcomers to the marketplace. Rather, the NDP would first dispense a couple more favours to those sheltering under the already well-protected umbrella of the taxi industry.

“First, we will be working with the board to boost the number of taxis to make it easier for people to get around.” She’d add as many as 500 to existing fleets, 300 destined for Metro Vancouver.

“Secondly, we’re going to be giving the taxi industry the flexibility to discount fares when trips are booked through an app.”

All this in the name of ensuring the industry will “be able to compete on a level playing field when new players are introduced.”

The B.C. industry has had the playing field to itself for years, with ample time to prepare for competition that has already arrived elsewhere. But along with those giveaways, the New Democrats are orchestrating a few more delays as well.

They’ll direct regulators to prepare better data on the need for taxi services at given times and places. Consultant Dan Hara, already on contract for $165,000, will be retained for more consultations.

Draft legislation, amending six relevant provincial laws, is in the works for the fall session of the legislature, clearing the way for would-be ride-hailing companies to eventually “apply” to enter the market here.

Plus ICBC will develop a “new insurance product” for the industry that will, of course, take time to prepare and even more time to pass regulatory muster from the B.C. Utilities Commission.

After all that from the minister, the first question from the news media was, naturally enough: “Can you give B.C.ers a date when you expect ride-hailing to be available in B.C.?”

No she could not. Or, rather, would not.

“I know people are looking for expanded transportation options to be available very soon, and I want to reassure them that a lot of work is happening to get this accomplished,” she said at one point. “But it is important that we get this right.”

Reporters tried the question every which way, but the minister refused to provide any specific timetable for the introduction of ride-hailing in B.C.

Yet as Trevena fended off reporters, her own ministry had already distributed a press release with an opening paragraph that admitted the New Democrats were “easing the way” for riding-hailing companies “to offer services to British Columbians by fall of 2019.”

Was the minister unaware what was in her own press release? Had she not been briefed on that point by the political staffers who crammed her into the message box?

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Or were the New Democrats choosing not to provide the broadcast media with a clip where the minister admitted to another year’s delay in the arrival of ride-hailing in B.C.?

The embarrassments continued as the minister fielded other questions, with some of her answers bordering on the preposterous.

Have the New Democrats, since the election, maintained their hostility to Uber, the lead ride-hailing company?

“This is not about any particular company at all,” replied Trevena. “This is about ensuring that people have access to service.”

Yes minister, whatever you say.

Was she still concerned about the political fallout from key ridings in Surrey?

“This is an issue about people’s safety. It’s an issue about people’s needs. It is not a political issue.”

It must have taken hours of media training to get to the point where she could say that with a straight face.

Why was B.C. so far behind the times on ride-hailing?

“I wouldn’t say that we’re far behind the times at all. I’d say that we are doing things in a very methodical way.” Besides, argued Trevena. B.C. is “unique.”

What is so unique about it?

She rattled off concerns about overlapping governance, independent regulation and the safety for passengers and drivers — as if none of those factors were present in the hundreds of other cities where ride-hailing is already in place.

Still, I agree that B.C. is unique in some respects. The government is uniquely in thrall to the taxi industry. Also uniquely determined to delay ride-hailing for as long as possible.

And the minister is uniquely evasive on both scores.

Vpalmer@postmedia.com

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A review board failed to reach a decision Thursday on whether a man accused of stabbing a 13-year-old girl to death inside her Abbotsford high school is mentally fit to stand trial.

The B.C. Review Board adjourned a hearing at a forensic psychiatric hospital for at least 30 days to get a second opinion from a psychiatrist on the 21-year-old man’s mental state.

Gabriel Klein is charged with second-degree murder in the death of the teen and aggravated assault for an attack on another Grade 9 girl in November 2016.

He shuffled into the hearing room wearing sandals, baggy shorts and a long-sleeved T-shirt, his eyes glassy, hair messy and mouth hanging open.

“Where am I?” he asked.

After a board member explained that he was at a hearing to determine whether he was fit to stand trial, he murmured something inaudible.

At times during the hearing, he turned back to peer at the spectators in the room, and occasionally raised his arms into the air and slowly lowered them down to the table.

In April, a judge ruled the man was unfit to stand trial because of his schizophrenia, auditory hallucinations and disordered thinking. The court ordered the review board to reassess his fitness in 90 days.

The review board heard Thursday there has been little change in Klein’s mental health since April.

His psychiatrist has tried five different antipsychotic medications, and while there’s been modest improvement, he still hears voices, has visual hallucinations and can’t process information, the board heard.

“He is quite significantly ill,” his psychiatrist, Marcel Hediger, said. “It will take more time.”

Hediger said he hopes to try another medication but Klein is resistant because he is paranoid about the regular blood tests the drug would require.

Klein suffers from severe paranoia and many of the voices he hears are those he believes belong to members of the CIA who are surveilling him, his lawyer Martin Peters said.

One of the voices is named Lucy and has commanded him to kill or commit acts of violence before, leading to Klein’s threat to rape a fellow patient in the hospital, Peters said.

Peters added his client has seen a vision of Jesus Christ appearing before him wearing flowing white robes with a long white beard.

Hediger said he spoke with Klein just before the hearing and asked him whether he would feel safe. Klein replied he would because “Jesus told him everything would be fine,” Hediger said.

Klein has said he understands he’s killed someone and seriously injured another, said Hediger.

Despite giving apparently contrary evidence on the severity of Klein’s illness, Hediger’s recommendation was that Klein was fit to stand trial. The hospital also took this position.

However, his defence lawyer and the Crown counsel both agreed that Klein was unfit to stand trial.

“I do not take the position that the Crown wants him to be found unfit. It’s just what’s right,” said Crown counsel Lyle Hillaby.

Board members appeared confused by Hediger’s recommendation, and repeatedly asked him to clarify it.

After several questions, Hediger explained that Klein appeared fit to stand trial on several occasions when he was inside the hospital — in a quiet, safe environment.

But Klein has also suffered periods of intense distress lasting hours or days within the hospital, he said, and the intense stress of court was likely to trigger more episodes.

Ultimately, chairman Bernd Walter said he and his two fellow board members were “unhappy” with the evidence they had heard and would seek a second opinion before resuming the hearing.

The board imposed a publication ban on the identity of the deceased on Thursday.

Her parents attended the hearing and her father sat with his hands tightly clasped in his lap. Dave Teixeira, a spokesman for the family, said outside the hospital that it was an emotional day.

“I did prepare the family that in these situations you’re 10, 15 feet away from the accused, and there could be a visceral, emotional response,” he said. “They certainly felt that visceral, emotional response today.”

The core issue is whether Klein would be able to understand the proceedings if he did stand trial, said his lawyer, Peters, outside the hospital. “Somebody’s on trial for murder, they should understand what’s going on.”

If his client did stand trial, Peters said he would ask a court to find the man not criminally responsible due to a mental illness.

A 58-year-old man has died after being shot outside home in Oliver.

Oliver/Osoyoos RCMP say the shooting happened just after 10 p.m. on Tuesday. The victim was found suffering gunshot wounds outside his residence on Wilson Mountain Road. He later died in hospital.

The RCMP’s southeast district major crime unit has been called into investigate.

Police say early indications are that the parties involved knew each other.

No names have been released and no arrests have been made.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact thesoutheast district major crime unit at 250-469-7800 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

The priciest property for sale in Whistler is headed to auction. Now anyone can get it!

Anyone, that is, with untold millions lying around. Previously listed for $25.9 million, the forested estate located at 2016 Nita Lane will sell to the highest bidder following a three-day auction from Aug. 7-10. 

Admittedly, the winning bid is probably going to be an astronomical number. But you should know: the place is fully-furnished. 

Nicknamed “Chateau du Lac,” the 5,570-square-foot stone house sits on more than five acres.

Venturing inside the home, you’ll find five bedrooms, six bathrooms in case all your guests get food poisoning at the same time, and a whopping five fireplaces, in case all your guests have to destroy evidence at the same time.

It also boasts all sorts of fancy amenities, including a French country gourmet chef’s kitchen with a large island, a master retreat with a steam shower and large soaking tub, a home theatre.

Plus: your next door neighbour is you, which is ideal. If you’re wealthy enough to be able to afford this place, one can only imagine you don’t really get along with other people. The property also includes a coach house above a two-car garage, an expansive cantilevered stone terrace, and two attached garages, the smaller of which is converted into a gym.

That said, any room can be converted into a gym if you put gym equipment in it, so don’t get too excited.

Plus there’s a grand piano in the two-storey foyer! Look at it! Oh, how grand.

The Whistler property at 2016 Nita Lane, previously listed at over $25 million, is headed to auction.

Finally, of course, the home is also close to three signature golf courses and two ski hills, with Whistler and Blackcomb nearby. 

And as an added benefit, the sprawling estate kind of looks like the Overlook Hotel in the winter, so there’s a non-zero chance that it’s haunted. Listen for the piano to start playing itself at 3 a.m, the witching hour. If that happens, either the place is haunted or there’s something seriously wrong with the piano.

Sadly, while the listing (from Concierge Auctions in cooperation with Maggi Thornhill of Thornhill Real Estate Group) describes the number of bedrooms, bathrooms and fireplaces, the company declined to disclose the number of ghosts. On the bright side, the home was only built in 2000, so if there are ghosts, they’re new ghosts — they’ll probably dress just like you and enjoy your modern taste in music.

And when you go to bid, remember: it’s not like Price is Right, where you can bid one dollar and win the whole showcase if everyone else goes over. It’s not a bad idea, since it’s lakefront Whistler real estate, which means everyone is going to overbid, but unless Drew Carey is the previous owner, that’s probably not going to cut it.

hmooney@postmedia.com

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