PUBLIC TO HAVE SAY ON SUITES
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CAN A MALL BE A TRUE CITY CENTRE?
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FRIDAY
APRIL 12 2013 www.burnabynewsleader.com
INCINERATOR SEARCH HEATS UP
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Premier Christy Clark takes to the airwaves for a TV pitch on Sunday, on the eve of an election. See Page A18
Council criticizes foreign worker program Mayor to write RBC about laying off Canadian staff Wanda Chow
wchow@burnabynewsleader.com
MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER
A visitor to Burnaby’s Central Park photographs the cherry blossoms that are in full bloom at the east end of the duck pond near the pitch and putt clubhouse.
Helping to save the rare cherry trees Propagating material for trees which can no longer be easily imported Wanda Chow
wchow@burnabynewsleader.com
On a Vancouver street sits a cherry blossom tree so rare it’s not even mentioned in most Japanese books on the subject. “When I came across it I was completely floored,” said Douglas Justice, associate director and curator of the University of British Columbia Botanical Garden. As far as anyone knows, there is
only one example of the Ichiharatora-no-o or “tiger tail” variety in the city and it might have actually been smuggled into the country from its native Japan, said Justice. As cherry blossom trees have a tendency to accumulate plant diseases, they’re almost impossible to import due to strict government regulations making it all the more crucial that the region’s existing trees are preserved for future generations. That’s where Burnaby’s B.C. Institute of Technology comes in. In the fall of 2011, Justice
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contacted Keith Turner, an instructor in BCIT’s biotechnology department, and asked for the school’s help in propagating the rarest local varieties at its lab facilities. Cherry blossom trees are found across North America but few places as heavily planted as in the Lower Mainland, with roughly 40,000 in Vancouver alone representing more than 55 different types, said Justice. Its broad appeal has made it the only local tree to have its own annual celebration, the Vancouver
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Cherry Blossom Festival being held this month featuring tours, dances, live entertainment and a photo contest. The pink flowers represent spring to many. “They’re not a symbol of anything other than rebirth,” he said. The cherry blossom project aims to propagate a dozen of the rarest varietals, those which have only about a half dozen examples and a few where there is only a single tree available. Please see DOING IT, A3
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Celebrating 51 years of serving Burnaby. In the same location since 1962
Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan will be writing to the Royal Bank (RBC), the city’s banker, strongly expressing concern about the company’s use of temporary foreign workers. Earlier this week, news reports stated the bank had outsourced work to a contractor, causing the layoffs of dozens of the bank’s Canadian employees. The contractor in turn hired temporary foreign workers to do the work. Coun. Dan Johnston, who made the letter motion, said he was “shocked” by the news. “RBC, the largest bank in Canada, one of largest banks in the world, and the city’s banker, should be operating better than that,” Johnston said. “We should be sending them a letter showing our displeasure with this.” Coun. Sav Dhaliwal supported the motion but stressed that the real issue is not with the bank but with the federal government’s temporary foreign worker program which he called “a sham.” Please see THEY, A3