pulse Best of 2010 Page 15
Friday, December 10, 2010
West Van: 124 pages North Van: 112 pages
look
rev
Get party-perfect fast Page 23
Hyundai goes high tech Page 50
Voted Canada’s Best Community Newspaper
your source for local sports, news, weather and entertainment! www.nsnews.com
0¢
RCMP news releases must also be in French James Weldon
jweldon@nsnews.com
NEWS postings on the North Vancouver RCMP’s website have temporarily slowed to a crawl in the wake of an announcement by the force’s provincial headquarters that all media releases must now be posted simultaneously in English and French.
NEWS photo Mike Wakefield
Beauty spot A lone photographer at Cleveland Dam On Dec. 3 records the beauty of early morning sunlight hitting the North Shore’s iconic Lions — or “Twins” or “Twin Sisters.” The peaks rise to a height of 1,654 metres (5,427 feet).
In a Dec. 1 media communication, a spokesman for the RCMP’s E Division said the rule was being implemented in order to comply with Canada’s Official Languages Act, the piece of legislation that governs the use of language at federal institutions. It applies to the approximately 140 detachments in British Columbia, all of which use the RCMP’s provincial website to post announcements relating to significant crimes, arrests, public advisories and other See Safety page 5
WV residents speak out for tax hike ITAC lobby for 0 per cent budget increase sparks heated rebuttal
Niamh Scallan nscallan@nsnews.com
RESIDENTS crowded District of West Vancouver council chambers Monday to offer opinions on a proposed 2.35 per cent increase to the municipality’s 2011 budget. In a somewhat unusual turn of events, many were there to say
have your say at nsnews.com
they would like to pay the potential tax increase. Tensions were fuelled by an email sent to some West Vancouver residents that claimed West Vancouver’s services would suffer if an “irresponsible” zero per cent tax increase was adopted as recommended by the Interested Taxpayers’ Action Committee (ITAC). A number of speakers took up the letter’s concerns and spoke in support of a tax increase to maintain West Vancouver’s quality of life. “If you have to raise taxes a little bit to keep West Vancouver running the way it does now, we’re happy to pay,” resident
Heather Johnston said. West Vancouver business owner Rhonda Mailey echoed similar views. “The services and the amenities that we have here are absolutely second to none,” she said. “And I look at something like a zero-per-cent-based budget and I say, how? What are we prepared to give up? It just doesn’t seem realistic.” But others, including members of ITAC, retorted that district services could be maintained under a zero per cent budget increase. “I feel that the zero per cent tax increase recommended See Custom page 3