Burnaby NewsLeader, September 18, 2013

SCHOOL BUS FUSS GETS REMEDY

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BiLLS COME DUE aT BC HYDRO

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FEES FOR SMaRT METER HOLDOUTS

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wEDnESDaY

September 18 2013 www.burnabynewsleader.com

Local volunteers are hoping to sign up enough people to change B.C.’s marijuana laws. See page a4

‘Here we go again’ Locals react to Quebec charter of values Wanda Chow

wchow@burnabynewsleader.com

Wanda ChoW/neWSLeader

Sgt. Paulena Gidda, drug recognition expert with Burnaby RCMP, demonstrates an eye tracking test, one of 12 such tests that are part of the drug evaluation.

Taking aim at drugged driving Police say it’s a growing issue; Drug recognition experts on call 24/7 Wanda Chow

“easily 20 per cent of what we’re didn’t volunteer. dealing with. It’s very significant.” After that date, it became Booze is still the major cause of mandatory, with criminal charges impaired driving, possible if people but recognizing refused such tests. other causes of That created the Sgt. paulena Gidda impairment and increased ability for i get called out at all hours addressing them is a DREs like Gidda to of the day and night. relatively new ability use their specialized for police forces across Canada. training to determine whether “Up until now we didn’t have the people are on something other than tools to deal with it,” she said. alcohol. That’s because until July 2008, The RCMP has 23 DREs in breathalyzer and other sobriety tests the Lower Mainland who are on were voluntary. Not surprisingly, call 24-7 and chosen to attend most suspected impaired drivers depending on who is closest to the

ChoICequotes

wchow@burnabynewsleader.com

Move over alcohol. Prescription drugs are increasingly becoming a source of impaired-driving incidents, says a Burnaby RCMP drug recognition expert (DRE). Sgt. Paulena Gidda, Burnaby’s officer in charge of general investigation who’s also been a DRE for 15 years, estimated prescription drugs, often mixed with alcohol, is

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location of incidents. “I get called out at all hours of the day and night,” Gidda said. “At the end of the day it’s well worth it.” In one such case, Richmond RCMP had previously issued a woman two 24-hour driving suspensions. She was stopped a third time after she “put her cute convertible car under the back end of a bus,” Gidda said. The level of alcohol in the woman’s system was limited but she still showed signs of excessive impairment. That’s when Gidda was called out. Please see druG, a3

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The Quebec government’s proposed charter of values that would prohibit public service employees from wearing any religious symbols, from large crosses and hijabs to turbans, is “outrageous,” said Burnaby school trustee Harman Pandher. “I was kind of like, ‘here we go again,’” Pandher said, referring to the Quebec Soccer Federation’s banning of turbans and other religious headgear from soccer fields last spring. That move was eventually overruled by the Canadian Soccer Association. “This is upping the ante,” he said of the Parti Quebecois government’s newest proposal. Pandher is a practising Sikh who wears a turban. He’s also a schoolteacher in Surrey, just the sort of person who would be targeted by the proposal if he lived in Quebec. “I feel for people who must be on pins and needles in Quebec wondering how far this will go,” he said, calling the proposal “legislating discrimination based on appearance.” Please see QuebeC, a8