WEDNESDAY
S I N C E
SEPTEMBER 24, 2014
1 8 9 5
Vol. 119, Issue 149
105
$
INCLUDING G.S.T.
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PROUDLY SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF ROSSLAND, WARFIELD, TRAIL, MONTROSE, FRUITVALE & SALMO
Caregivers must apply for teachers strike reimbursement
CHARTING THE COLUMBIA
Government offered $40 per day for each qualifying student BY LIZ BEVAN Times Staff
Students are back in the classroom and parents now have some free time, but what about the costs incurred with kids out of school for an extra three weeks? Now that the summer-long teachers' strike is over, the province is offering parents $40 per day that children were out of class through the Temporary Education Support for Parents program, but parents need to apply for the payment. Rebecca McDonnell, president of the School “The money District 20 Parent doesn’t go Advisory Council, back to the believes that parents who haven't already schools. signed up, definitely Otherwise, it should. is just going “You might as well,” she said. “The governto stay in ment figures that 80 government per cent of parents have coffers.” already registered, so I feel like if you haven't, REBECCA MCDONNELL you should. The money doesn't go back to schools. Otherwise, it is just going to stay in government coffers.” McDonnell says, in her experience, the $40 per day, per child should be enough to cover the cost of having kids at home or in daycare for almost an extra month, especially in this area. “We are quite fortunate in the Kootenays that $40 a day does cover daycare,” she said. “It probably doesn't in the Lower Mainland, but it certainly does in the Kootenays. With the camps and daycare opportunities that were offered by different agencies, I think anybody who needed care and it was available, the $40 covers that. We are fortunate with where we live in that aspect.” Students were out of the classroom for 13 school days this year before a deal between the teachers and the government was reached. When the math is done, each student who qualifies (a student in the public school system and aged 12 and under) will mean a cheque for $520 per child. The Ministry of Education expects payment cheques to be in parents' mailboxes by the end of October. See STRIKE, Page 3
Open House
Sat, Sept 27 1 - 3pm
GUY BERTRAND PHOTO
Workers for DWB Consulting were doing some mapping work for the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure on Wednesday. Every four or five years, the ministry commissions a firm to map out the bottom of river ways looking for erosion and any changes to the river bottom. Using GPS technology on shore and on the boat, the process gives a detailed description of the state of the river bed.
Vote counting issues not a concern in Trail New Brunswick election marred by electronic vote counting problems BY LIZ BEVAN Times Staff
What temporarily skewered New Brunswick’s provincial election results on Monday shouldn’t happen in Trail in November’s municipal election, according to the city’s corporate administrator. The Maritime province encountered some technological setbacks while
counting votes from its automated voting machines after the polls closed on Monday. While counting votes from remote polling stations, election officials found some of the data on memory cards was unreadable, halting vote counts in the close race between the Liberals and the Conservatives. While the problem has seemingly been cleared up for voters in the New Brunswick, it begs the question – what if something similar happened in Trail's upcoming municipal elections?
Michelle McIsaac, corporate administrator for the City of Trail, assures that the city is not in any danger of encountering the same issue while counting votes in November. “There really is no comparison between Trail's municipal election and a very complex provincial election,” she said in an email reply on Tuesday. “From what I've read, the 'glitch' may have had to do with the uploading of data from memory cards. In Trail, we have a very simple election set-up See ELECTRONIC, Page 3
Contact the Times: Phone: FineLine250-368-8551 Technologies 62937 Index 9 Fax:JN250-368-8550 80% 1.5 BWR NU Newsroom: 250-364-1242
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