Tuesday January 28, 2014 (Vol. 39 No. 8)
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Good sports: Having already completed two trips to deliver sports gear to remote Asian villages, South Surrey’s Paul Hayes hopped on his bike again last month for a third – through Laos to Vietnam.
S U R R E Y
w w w. p e a c e a r c h n e w s . c o m
i see page 23
Overnight ‘quiet zone’ to soon require flashing lights, signals and gates at six crossings in White Rock
Silencing train whistles to cost $1.8m Tracy Holmes
pedestrian crossings of tracks that parallel the promenade – all of which is necessary if White Rock wants to keep its ‘quiet zone.’ The work was determined through a comprehensive review that was mandated by Transport Canada last fall in the wake of the July 14 death of a jogger who was struck and killed by a train on East Beach. The review was to focus on improving pedestrian safety along the tracks, and
Staff Reporter
If White Rock wants to keep train whistling to a minimum along its waterfront, it will have to spend $1.8 million for upgrades to its pedestrian crossings. Greg St. Louis, the city’s director of engineering, said Friday that figure is a consultant’s cost estimate of installing flashing lights, signals and gates at each of the six
include a look at the whistle-cessation policy that has restricted overnight train whistling along the waterfront since mid-1992. Six reports – one per crossing – outlining the work are to be discussed in detail Wednesday during a meeting between officials representing the federal agency, the city and BNSF. The $1.8-million estimate, St. Louis noted, does not include an additional $700,000 in
work that is expected to be required within seven years of new safety guidelines that are anticipated to be announced by Transport Canada in the near future. “That $1.8 million is for flashing lights, bells and everything” at the Finlay, Ash, Balsam, Cypress and Bay street crossings, as well as a gate at the pier-head crossing, St. Louis said. i see page 4
Province pushed
Hope over court plan Melissa Smalley Staff Reporter
Sarah Massah photo
Former BC Liberal MLA and solicitor general Kash Heed speaks last Thursday at a South Surrey town-hall forum on legalizing marijuana.
Former solicitor general predicts regulated recreational use in three to four years
Legal marijuana ‘only a matter of time’ Sarah Massah
i see Medical-pot setbacks page 2
Staff Reporter
Discussion on prohibition dominated a townhall meeting last week on legalizing marijuana. About 75 people attended the meeting, sponsored by the federal Liberals, at Sunnyside Hall Thursday evening. Former MLA and solicitor general Kash Heed kicked off the forum speaking on his experience in law enforcement. Referencing Colorado and Washington, both of which are blazing the trail for marijuana legalization in the U.S., Heed noted it is only a matter of time until Canada follows suit. “We will have a regulated market for mari-
juana in Canada for recreational adult use in three to four years, regardless of who is in power in Ottawa. Whether it’s the Conservatives, the Liberals or even the NDP,” he said. Heed was followed by presentations from UBC associate professor Mark Haden, BC Marijuana Party’s Steve Finlay (a co-organizer of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) and Liberal Party of Canada’s B.C. organization chair Sangeeta Lalli. Half a dozen community members posed questions, including one woman who asked if the panelists ever used marijuana, with Heed
and Lalli saying they had not. “I’m not a virgin, let’s keep it at that,” Haden said, laughing. South Surrey-White Rock-Cloverdale MP Russ Hiebert did not return Peace Arch News’ request for an interview, but said in an emailed response via his constituency assistant that his Conservative government is focused on job creation and the economy, not marijuana. “It is sad that the Liberals’ top priority is the legalization of pot,” the email states. “This just demonstrates why they should not be trusted to govern our nation. “I do not support the legalization of marijuana or other illicit drugs.”
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The mayor of Surrey said she is hopeful leading up to a meeting with the justice minister next week that the province will move forward with creating a long-awaited community court in the city. Dianne Watts told Peace Arch News Monday she is feeling “encouraged” ahead of her meeting with Justice Minister Suzanne Anton set for Feb. 5. “The minister has been very supportive of the initiative throughout the last number of months,” she said. While the projected cost is still being analyzed, Watts confirmed the model she presented to Anton proposed the use of council’s current chambers, which will be vacated when the new city hall is officially opened next month. Watts began advocating for the new system with the launch of the city’s Crime Reduction Strategy in 2006. The court would be designed to deal with “low-level crime” – including people with addiction problems, offending youth and domestic issues, Watts said. The call for a community court was echoed by Surrey’s NDP MLAs, who made a public appeal Sunday for the BC Liberal government to move forward with the initiative. The court is one facet of the NDP’s proposed Surrey Accord, designed to address reports of increasing violence in the city.