TODAY’S WEATHER
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MICHAUD SPEAKS IN VIDEO
NATIONAL EYES WILL BE ON US
First words from shot Mountie
Kamloops will host the big day in February
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KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK THURSDAY
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JUNE 11, 2015 | Volume 28 No. 70
$5-MILLION DONATION TOWARD ARTS CENTRE ANDREA KLASSEN
STAFF REPORTER
andrea@kamloopsthisweek.com
A Kamloops family known for its philanthropic ways will donate $5 million toward the cost of the proposed $90-million performingarts centre if residents vote in favour of the project in a fall referendum. Ron and Rae Fawcett, who run Kelson Group Property
Management, are the first private donors to back the centre the city hopes to build at the former Kamloops Daily News site at Fourth Avenue and Seymour Street. “The community’s been extremely good to us and it’s just our time of life to give back,” said Ron. “This is a cause that is extremely important to us.” The family has made a num-
ber of large donations in the city, including for the John Tod community centre, a study hall at Thompson Rivers University and the Fawcett Family Wildlife Health Centre at the B.C. Wildlife Park. Ron said he and his wife are supporters of the performing arts locally and believe the project will make the city’s downtown more vibrant and improve the lives of residents across Kamloops — even those who don’t use the facilities.
“The value of their own homes, the value of their properties, the value of their lives will be more balanced and, hopefully, more rewarding,” Ron said. Kamloops voters will go to the polls in a Nov. 7 referendum, when they will be asked if they support the city borrowing up to $49 million to build the arts centre and underground parkade. To pay for the centre, the city would create a reserve fund of
new property taxes (which would bring in $950,000 the first year and $1.9 million each year thereafter), federal and provincial gambling and gas-tax money and revenue from its downtown parking kiosks. By the end of construction in 2020, when the city would begin servicing its debt for the project, it would have about $25.5 million in reserves. See MAYOR, A4
THE SENATE AUDIT
Greene Raine repaid $2,300 after claiming ski-show costs CAM FORTEMS STAFF REPORTER cam@kamloopsthisweek.com
Sen. Nancy Greene Raine charged taxpayers for stops at a ski show, for an overnight holiday with her spouse and for costs to attend a wedding anniversary of another senator. The B.C. senator is one of 30 flagged in the auditor general’s report released Tuesday that calls for a complete overhaul on how senators do business. “We found several instances of travel expenses claimed by the senator [Greene Raine] that were not for parliamentary business,” the report states. Green repaid about $2,300 after issues about Senate expenses were raised in 2013. She has disputed two other findings, which will go to an arbitrator for decision. Reached Tuesday in Ottawa, Greene Raine said she has always tried to be scrupulous about expenses because of her background in tourism and amateur sport, where money is not free-flowing.
Nancy Greene-Raine was appointed to the Senate in 2009 by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. She was cited in the Senate audit report for claiming questionable expenses.
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“If I put in a per diem for a meal, I had a meal,” she said. “I’ve always had an understanding of the rules.” The report notes Green Raine and her staff reviewed her claims, realizing several should not have been made: • Two 2013 stopovers in Toronto en route from Ottawa for ski shows. Value $1,688 • Attendance at a community board meeting in Kelowna. Value $353. • Cost of a ticket to an aboriginal awards event, deemed outside Senate business. Value $345. Raine is contesting two other findings by the auditor general’s office: • An overnight stopover in Vancouver in 2012 with husband Al Raine en route to Ottawa, deemed a holiday. Value $211. • A 2011 attendance of the 50th wedding anniversary of another senator in Vancouver. Value $203. See SENATOR, A7
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