Prince George Citizen June 6, 2019 by Prince George Citizen

Canada, Allies mark 75th anniversary of D-Day LOCAL 4, NEWS 7,8

Thursday, June 6, 2019 | Your community newspaper since 1916

Anti-borrowing petitions come up short Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mneilsen@pgcitizen.ca

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

The Canada Winter Games snowboarder mural was tagged with spray paint by a vandal on Tuesday evening.

Canada Games mural vandalized Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca One of northern B.C.’s most prominent murals, one seen throughout the nation as a pivotal image of the 2015 Canada Winter Games, got defaced overnight. When Shonda Shaw came to work on Wednesday morning, she saw that a spray-paint vandal had left a mark known as a “tag” – the anonymous vandal’s sprayed signature. “I am so fumed,” said Shaw, who works for the building’s owner, local entrepreneur Fritz Hausot. “When we acquired the building about two and a half years ago, we repainted the building but we went to great lengths to keep that painting as it was. We think it was an important part of an important time in Prince George. And then this happens.” The painting dominates the visual impression of the corner at Fifth Avenue and Quebec Street. What’s especially galling is how upset the public was when an even larger mural, a massive Aboriginal collage on the former PG Lock & Key Building, was deliberately painted over when that building changed ownership several years ago. Now, on the same block, this acclaimed mural has also been disfigured. The public knows this image well. It’s

the face of a goggled snowboarder on a mountain, with another snowboarder doing a trick in the reflection of the goggles. It was painted by noted artist Milan Basic, unveiled July 27, 2012 on what was then Canada Games House – the headquarters for the Games organizers. The Canada Winter Games committee commissioned Basic to paint the mural there. Stuart Ballantyne, CEO of the 2015 Canada Winter Games, used the world “phenomenal” to describe the mural. “I think it’s iconic,” he said. “That’s what we wanted to achieve with launching our offices here in downtown. We knew that that was a great space to put a mural and we thank the BID Group for giving us the opportunity to have the canvas and a new office but we also thank Milan Basic for just an amazing piece of art that will last forever.” The building was owned at the time by the BID Group of Companies. It was owned by Canada Post to begin with, and indeed the downtown post office is still located there. North District RCMP also called the place home for many years. Basic estimated he spent between 30 and 40 hours on the project and said he was happy to have been given the op-

portunity to do it. “I’m really big on community, and I feel like the way I can contribute to community is by bringing colour to Prince George,” he said on the day of the unveiling. “This is a legacy. This is a legacy for my children, for your children and on and on. That’s what matters the most to me.” Basic used paint designed specifically for murals, so the piece will have a long life span. He said an anti-graffiti coating will be applied, which he finds ironic because he started out as a graffiti artist many years ago. “That’s what cracks me up,” laughed Basic. The longevity of that coating will now be tested. Consultations are underway with the Community Arts Council and the RCMP to track down a potential solution to the damaged art and track down a possible identity of the vandal. “It’s just so huge, a big, ugly mess,” said Shaw. “Taggers have hit our walls before (on the nondescript cosmetic paint) and we’ve just painted over that. But to vandalize a mural, that is just unbelievable, so disrespectful, I can’t believe what I’m seeing.” Anyone with information on whom the vandal might be is asked to contact the RCMP 250-561-3300.

Opposition to the city’s proposals to borrow as much as $32 million to pay for 11 projects fell well short of the threshold to force referendums on the items. Under the alternative approval process, 5,546 elector response forms – adding up to 10 per cent of the city’s electorate – had to be submitted to take a proposal to the next level but the best a campaign against the items could do was 2,967 according to results posted Wednesday. Mayor Lyn Hall said the outcomes give council the mandate to pass all 11 bylaws through final reading when they’re up for consideration on Monday night. Hall acknowledged the opposition that had been raised. “It’s obvious that we need to continue to get out and talk about infrastructure needs in our city, HALL talk about the position we’re in as a city when it comes to the infrastructure deficit in our community,” Hall said. But he also said the outcome shows support for the projects. “There are folks in the community who continue to believe that we need to continue with the infrastructure upgrades because of the deficit we’re seeing in it, both below and above ground,” Hall said. Eric Allen, one of the key organizers of the Enough Already campaign against the bylaws, was left puzzled by the outcome. “I thought we’d actually be over,” he said when given the news. He estimated about 5,000 petitions for each proposal were handed out during the campaign and suggested there may have been a significant number of rejects. However, according to a staff report, the counts ranged from 33 to 49 depending on the project. The process had been described as onerous because of the number of projects up for consideration and the requirement that the forms be submitted during city hall’s business hours. — see REFERENDUM, page 3

After-hours health centre opens at Parkwood Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff A drop-in health care centre aimed largely at people without family doctors is up and operating. Located at Parkwood Place Mall, doors to the Prince George Urgent and Primary Care Centre opened on Tuesday afternoon. It offers after-hours care in the evenings and weekends for people with non-lifethreatening conditions who need to see a healthcare provider within 12 to 24 hours but do not require the level of expertise found in emergency departments. Physicians and nurses will provide care supported by urgent access to mental health and substance use clinicians. Follow-up care will be coordinated through scheduled appointments with the appropriate clinician or service. Hours are 4-9 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays, 1-9 p.m. Wednesday, Thursdays and Fridays, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sundays. Some services remain pending, including after-hours access to diagnostics and other types of support.

Today’s Weather Hi +9° Low +4° See page 2 for more details and short-term forecasts

LOCAL HOROSCOPE OPINION NEWS SPORTS MONEY

Everything should be in place by this fall, according to Northern Health. It was created through a partnership between the Ministry of Health, Northern Health, the Prince George Division of Family Practice and the Nechako Medical Clinic. The Nechako Medical Clinic is made up of over 35 primary care physicians who, in addition to running family practice clinics during the daytime, have been providing after-hours care in the city for the past 25 years. “We are excited for the opportunity to integrate our medical practice with this expanded multidisciplinary primary care team,” said Dr. Brian Hillhouse of the Nechako Medical Clinic in a press release. “The new resources of the UPCC and the expanded team-based care will allow for greater access to primary care for the community, and provide a higher quality and more holistic urgent and after hours medical care.” Premier John Horgan and Minister of Health Adrian Dix announced the clinic’s opening in April when they were in Prince George.

1-5 2 6 7-8,12 9-11 13

A&E COMICS CROSSWORD WORKLIFE CLASSIFIEDS

14-15 15 15 16 17-20

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

The Prince George Urgent and Primary Care Centre (UPCC) opened in the Parkwood Place Mall on Tuesday to provide people with same-day access to urgent and primary care.

Senate takes aim at tanker ban NEWS 12

www.pgcitizen.ca

Newsstand $2.00 incl. tax Home Delivered 95¢/day

58307

00200