B.C. Views Prescription pot pretense ending. p6
Buy a gun now like a ‘refrigerator’. BCAA Mapp3 le Ridge now open Sunda yArts&life s!
THE NEWS
Killer rabbits, and 1 1 - 5showgirls a holy grail. p16
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Tories focus budget on growing jobs Only tax hike in budget is on tobacco products by Ph i l M e lnych uk staff reporter
Colleen Flanagan/THE NEWS
Ice flow
While the federal Conservative government says it has created a million jobs since the recession of 2008, the NDP opposition says that “hundreds of thousands more Canadians are unemployed today than before the recession.” The comments came Tuesday after Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced this year’s budget in the House of Commons. Canada, though, has the strongest job record of industrial countries, Pitt Meadows-Maple RidgeMission MP Randy Kamp, said in a release. And while “too many Canadians are still looking for work,” the Economic Action Plan 2014 will keep growing the economy in this area, he added. See Budget, p13
Ella Pelletier, 7, and her grandfather, Bob Cocking, watch ice flow down the Fraser River.
Bing wants TLink referendum Sooner rather than later is best, says Liberal MLA by P h i l M e l nychuk staff reporter
Community: Osprey residents not keen on having centennial garden. See story, p5
B.C. politicians are back at it, this time talking about liquor law reforms, liquefied natural gas and a 10-year transportation plan, as the legislature opened Tuesday with the premier’s throne speech. Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows
MLA Doug Bing said he’ll be focused on transportation, in particular. “I think that’s something that really needs some attention and it’s going to get it in the next little while.” Bing cited an announcement by Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Todd Stone last week, delaying this fall’s TransLink’s referendum and changing how it’s governed, giving mayors more power. Now, the Mayor’s Council on Regional Transportation will have final say over TransLink’s
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long-term plan. “It’s going to be the mayors who set the priorities. That’s quite a change I think,” said Bing, who resigned from Pitt Meadows Bing council last week. “The mayors have to accept it, of course. They will decide what are the priorities and they can
act accordingly.” The new MLA for Maple RidgePitt Meadows wants a referendum on TransLink sooner rather than later. “Ideally, I think I would prefer to do it this fall. I’d just like to see things move forward,” he said. “My preference is to, ‘Let’s get going here. Let’s move forward as quickly as we can. We’ve got lots to do here.’” On the other hand, Bing understood that mayors didn’t want a referendum to be a distraction during civic elections.
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