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Firearms verifier gets 6 years for gun trafficking North Van volunteer sold automatic weapons Jane Seyd
jseyd@nsnews.com
A North Vancouver man who performed verification for the Canadian Firearms Registry was handed a six-year jail sentence Wednesday after being convicted of trafficking in prohibited weapons, including automatic machine pistols, as well as violating other firearms regulations. Justice Brenda Brown of the B.C. Supreme Court sentenced Christopher John Whaling, 41, to serve four and a half more years in prison, on top of the time he has already served in jail. Whaling was arrested four years ago following a police investigation into a largescale gun trafficking ring in the Lower Mainland in which more than 100 guns were eventually seized. During the investigation, police followed a 22-year-old man from Langley suspected of being involved in the gun-selling ring who met with Whaling in the parking lot of the Eight-Rinks recreation centre in Burnaby. Whaling handed a box to the Langley man, who took something from the box and put it in the trunk of his car. When police arrested the younger man a short time later, they opened the trunk and found three automatic machine pistols. See Unlocked page 10
Port authorities stiffing city on property payments, says mayor Benjamin Alldritt
balldritt@nsnews.com
DARRELL Mussatto, mayor of the City of North Vancouver, says that port authorities have consistently short-changed the municipality on their payments in lieu of property taxes, costing other city taxpayers as much as $500,000 over the past decade. Mussatto, who also chairs Metro Vancouver’s port cities committee, says Port Metro Vancouver has held back roughly $10 million across the region during the same period. “Each year, the city sends them a bill for the land that they own, waterfront land and water lots. They send us back money, but much less than what we have billed them,” Mussatto said. The port is a federal agency and the federal government is constitutionally exempt from paying provincial or local taxes. But in recognition of the services provided to their properties by junior government, Ottawa does provide payments in lieu of taxes, or PILTs. The idea is to produce a sum comparable to what would be paid if the land were See Port page 11
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WHEN students in Div. 4 of the Vancouver Junior Professional Division dance institute graduate in the next two years, dwindling provincial funding may force them to leave British Columbia if they want to continue their training. See story page 3.
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