Saturday, November 17, 2018 | Your community newspaper since 1916
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The North District RCMP’s emergency response team was called in Friday morning to execute a search warrant on a 1400-block Nation Crescent home.
RCMP’s ERT deployed to Nation Crescent home Citizen staff The North District RCMP’s emergency response team was called in Friday morning
to execute a search warrant on a 1400-block Nation Crescent home in the Spruceland neighbourhood. In all, 10 people were taken into custody
as part of an ongoing investigation into drug trafficking. The ERT was called in to “ensure the safety of the general public, especially those residents in the area, as
Horgan defends veto of closed lists Rob SHAW Vancouver Sun VICTORIA — Premier John Horgan denies he’s trying to manipulate the outcome of the referendum on proportional representation by altering one of the options in the middle of the campaign. “I don’t believe I’ve amended anything, other than to put forward what is self-evident: Closed lists aren’t in the interests of British Columbians,” Horgan told reporters on Thursday. Horgan told Postmedia News this week that if the mixed member proportional model wins support in this month’s mail-in referendum, he will make sure NDP MLAs on a post-referendum legislature committee block the so-called closed list version – the model in which voters don’t cast ballots to rank individual candidates on party lists. The premier defended his comments Thursday at a press event. “It seems to me we could give that one a pass,” Horgan said of the closed list approach. “There’s no one in the legislature that thinks it’s a good idea, so why would we proceed with it?” The NDP and Greens both oppose closed lists, preferring instead the open list model in which voters vote for individual candidates on party lists. That means that when additional seats are
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well as the police officers involved in the search,” RCMP said and added investigators hope to provide further information on the matter at a later date.
Pro-rep opponents seek voting extension The campaign against proportional representation is calling for an extension to the Nov. 30 referendum voting deadline, citing “abysmal” return numbers. About 7.4 per cent of eligible voters have returned a ballot on electoral reform with some regions returning only two to three per cent so far, according to Elections B.C., which is considering an extension. “The postal service hasn’t been completely disrupted, but it’s possible some people are holding back their ballots,” said Bill Tieleman, campaign director for the No Proportional Representation Society. Tieleman worries that a ballot return of just 20 per cent could trigger changes in the electoral system based on the votes of as few as 10 per cent of British Columbians. “The bottom line is this is a completely abysmal turnout and it’s not getting better,” he said. If the voting period is extended, the No campaign will also seek permission to raise and spend additional money to energize their vote. “Our advertising budgets are all set to run out by the last week of November, because after that,
it’s of no use,” he said. Elections B.C. is also concerned about the rate of returns to date, in light of labour disruptions that have affected Canada Post’s mail processing and delivery since Oct. 26. Elections B.C. return data shows that communities on Vancouver Island and in the Interior were scheduled to receive ballots by Oct. 29, while Metro Vancouver, excluding the City of Vancouver, would have received ballots as late as Nov. 2, even without labour disruptions at Canada Post. “We are monitoring this situation and will communicate any changes with the public,” said Elections B.C. in a tweet Thursday. “The voting period may be extended depending on how the labour situation with Canada Post affects mail distribution.” It’s probably too early to tell if returns are unusually low just 10 days into the return period. In the 2011 HST referendum, mail-in returns were very slow at first, then accelerated steeply after about two weeks. Elections B.C.’s riding-byriding counts show that ballot returns are increasing each day, but the referendum has just two weeks to go. — see ‘WE ARE, page 3
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Premier John Horgan speaks at a rally in support of proportional representation at the Victoria Conference Centre on Tuesday. allocated based on popular vote, the candidate on a party’s list with the most votes is chosen first. The NDP and Greens have a majority on the legislature committee charged with setting the details for whatever option wins after the referendum. Horgan said the Liberals also support his position. But Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson blasted Horgan’s move. “Horgan and the NDP have no mandate to dictate the choices for our voting system,” he said. “Who appointed him to tell us what’s
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good for us?” The Liberals have said there are almost two dozen key details about the voting systems left unresolved until after the referendum. “The NDP can’t change the rules halfway through the game to try and encourage people to vote,” said Wilkinson. The declaration that one version of mixed-member is effectively off the table comes after Elections B.C. has already received more than 243,969 ballots, or 7.4 per cent of all registered voters. — see ‘I THINK, page 3
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