The Asian Star October 6 2018

www.theasianstar.com Vol 17 - Issue 36

Surrey has 48 candidate for 1 Mayor and 8 Councillors Only one of every six candidates for Surrey city council will be elected on Oct. 20. Surrey First, which has led the municipality since 2008 (and has been been elected to every seat in the last two elections), was the last party to unveil its full slate of candidates — but a number of independent candidates came forward in the final week before the deadline, for a total of 48 candidates in all. That’s up from 35 in 2014 and 27 in 2011. Here’s a brief look at who has declared. The list will be updated if anyone removes their name from the ballot before the Sept. 21 deadline. Surrey First (eight council candidates and one mayoral candidate): Incumbent councillors Vera LeFranc and Mike Starchuk, with newcomers Linda Annis, Narima Dela Cruz, Trevor Halford, Paul Hillsdon, Upkar Tatlay and Raminder Thomas. Current councillor Tom Gill is the candidate for mayor. Surrey Integrity Now (five council candidates and one mayoral candidate): Incumbent councillors Dave Woods and Barbara Steele (who switched to Integrity Now this election), along with Avi Dhaliwal, John Gibeau and Rina Gill. Current councillor Bruce Hayne is the candidate for mayor. Safe Surrey Coalition (eight council candidates and one mayoral candidate): Doug Elford, Laurie Guerra, Jack Hundial, Mandeep Nagra, Brenda Locke, Allison Patton, Steven Pettigrew and Bableen Rana. Former mayor Doug McCallum is the candidate for mayor. Independent Surrey Voters Association (five council candidates): Saira Aujla, Bernie Sheppard, Nasima Nastoh, Asad Syed and Derek Zabel. Proudly Surrey (four council candidates and one mayoral candidate):

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Saturday, October 6, 2018

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South Asian gang associate shot dead in targeted hit A 19-year-old gang associate who posed a “significant risk� to the public has been shot dead outside a mall in Mission. Investigators say Varinderpal Singh Gill (pictured) was targeted and shot outside the Mission Junction Mall around 9pm on Wednesday. Officers with the RCMP Serious Crimes section said Integrated Homicide Investigation Team detectives have been called in. Gill was pronounced dead at the scene, which isn’t far from a movie theatre and a number of restaurants. “This was a

brazen shooting in a busy shopping complex,� said Cpl. Frank Jang with the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team. “There were people around ... really, it’s by the grace of God or whatever you want to call it that nobody else was hurt other than Mr. Gill.� Abbotsford police issued a public warning about Gill in August, saying he was believed to be involved with gang conflicts in the city as well as around the Lower Mainland. Continued on page 6

Vancouver housing demand drops like a rock, and prices are now falling It’s safe to say Vancouver real estate has entered a new era, and it’s nothing like the old one. After a dismal summer, things appear to be headed for an even worse autumn. The city’s sales slump deepened in September, with home resales dropping by 17.3 per cent from August, and down 43.5

per cent from the same month a year earlier, new data released Tuesday shows. With unsold listings piling up, the supply of homes for sale is spiking, putting downward pressure on prices, which are now falling all categories, and in most areas of Continued on page 7

Former Delta man facing 7 charges related to teen prostitution A former Delta man now residing in Coquitlam is facing seven charges in relation to human trafficking and prostitution involving underage girls. Police reached out to the public on Friday with the belief their may be more alleged victims. Mohammed Begg,

35, is facing six counts of prostitution and human trafficking and one count of assault. The investigation into the alleged prostitution ring started in May 2017, Delta police said in a news release Continued on page 6

Sikh group plans to hold Khalistan referendum in Canadian cities A prominent pro-separatist Sikh organization says it plans to hold polls in several Canadian cities as part of a worldwide referendum for an independent Sikh nation called Khalistan in India‘s Punjab state. Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) says it is targeting Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver to join some 100 cities worldwide where Sikhs will be polled

in a non-binding referendum as part of a campaign dubbed “Referendum 2020.� The group, which has branches in New York, Toronto and London, says it’s seeking to use the planned November 2020 referendum to assess the appetite for an independent Khalistan, before presenting its case for a binding referendum to the United Nations. Continued on page 6

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Saturday, October 6, 2018

Saturday, October 6, 2018

South Asian teen going to Youth Olympics in Argentina Jasneet Nijjar, 17, a student at Queen Elizabeth Secondary, Surrey will run the 400-metre race at the Games, which get going Saturday (Oct. 6) in Buenos Aires and continue until Oct. 18. Five Surrey athletes are among 71 chosen to represent Canada at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games, which begin in Argentina this weekend. She’ll be joined there by fellow Surrey athletes Dolly Gabri (discus), Emma Misak (dance sport), Seraphim Hsieh Jarov (fencing) and Arjun Hothi (field hockey). Nijjar, among the fastest junior sprinters in Canada, is excited for what she calls one of the biggest events of her athletic life. “I’m pretty excited to represent Canada,” she said enthusiastically, with rapidfire diction. “It’s always been a goal of mine to represent Canada, especially

at something like the Youth Olympics, which is, like, a huge deal, and to be chosen out of those 15 (track athletes) in Canada, that’s big.” “This would have been my off-season right now, and I’m hoping for results, but I won’t be that disappointed if that doesn’t happen,” Nijjar said Monday during a dinner-hour workout at Bear Creek Park. “The experience counts, and seeing different countries, cultures, it will be good.” Her coach, Jessie Dosanjh of Universal Athletics Club, said Nijjar is among his most dedicated athletes. “She’s a welldisciplined kid, the first one always at training, and she never misses training, and very focused,” Dosanjh said. “Right now she’s training nine times a week, but she manages. Not only is she a great athlete, she’s a great role model for young kids also.”

Detectives identify woman found dead in Richmond Police have identified a woman found dead in a Richmond home early Thursday as 19-year-old Aspen Pallot. The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team was called in after the woman’s body was found shortly after midnight Thursday in a residence in the 7000-block of Westminster Highway.

Pallot’s death was deemed suspicious and a man was arrested soon after who remains in custody, said IHIT spokesman Cpl. Frank Jang in a statement. “The investigation is in its early stages and detectives believe this was not a random act,” said Jang. “IHIT is releasing Miss Pallot’s name to garner information from her friends and associates regarding her activities leading up to her death.” Anyone with information is asked to call the IHIT tip line at 1-877-551-4448 or email ihitinfo@rcmpgrc.gc.ca. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.

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OPINION

Saturday, October 6, 2018

Birth tourism in Canada needs to be addressed

Canadians on social media recently clued in to a curious blog from Nigeria that encourages the practice of birth tourism. “Top Tips for Having Your Baby in Canada from Nigeria” is the name of an actual blog post on the popular Nigerian travel site, Naija Nomads, that encourages people to give birth while on a trip to Canada to secure Canadian citizenship for their child. The author discusses her own experiences giving birth in Canada and why she did it. “Canada offers more benefits for its citizens (immigration policies are better, free health care + college education is cheaper)” and that “Canada is cheaper to have your baby.” The author offers detailed advice ranging from visa applications to where in the country to plan the birth. “Ontario is where most people have their babies but who knows, Quebec or Nova Scotia might be better for you.” The blog posted a series of tweets further discussing the issue, but appears to have deleted them after Sun columnist Anthony Furey drew attention to them. But this incident brings renewed focus on an issue

thathasbecomeincreasinglyconcerninginCanada. A Postmedia report from June revealed that the number of babies born at Richmond Hospital in British Columbia now account for about 20% of all deliveries. “We are reaching a tipping point,” said Liberal MP Joe Peschisolido, who represents the riding of Steveston – Richmond East. “Nurses have told me that this is displacing folks from giving birth in Richmond.” Peschisolido created an e-petition to back his efforts to get his government’s cabinet to clamp down on the issue. “In response to birth tourism, Australia and New Zealand changed their laws, granting citizenship to babies only when at least one parent is a citizen or a legal resident,” Postmedia reported. Canada ought to consider something similar. It’s difficult to blame people like the Nigerian blogger for taking advantage of something that is allowed by law. The Conservatives recently voted in favour of a policy resolution put forth at their

annual convention end birth tourism. It was a tight vote and a controversial one. But the integrity of our immigration system matters. If the issue is also straining our resources, as reports suggest, then that too must be addressed. to

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USMCA, Trump’s new NAFTA deal, explained in 500 words The US, Canada, and Mexico struck a new trade deal to replace NAFTA on Sunday. It’s known as the United StatesMexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA. The three countries reached a consensus after more than a year of talks, which began after President Donald Trump made good on his campaign promise to renegotiate the nearly 25-year-old agreement. It’s basically NAFTA 2.0, with major changes on cars and new policies on labor and environmental standards, intellectual property protections, and some digital trade provisions. Here are the biggest changes: Country of origin rules: Automobiles must have 75 percent of their components manufactured in Mexico, the US, or Canada to qualify for zero tariffs (up from 62.5 percent under NAFTA). Labor provisions: 40 to 45 percent of automobile parts have to be made by workers who earn at least $16 an hour by 2023. Mexico has also agreed to pass laws giving workers the right to union representation, extend labor protections to migrant workers, and protect women from discrimination. The countries can also sanction one another for labor violations. US farmers get more access to the Canadian dairy market: The US got Canada to open up its dairy market to US farmers, which was a big issue for Trump. Intellectual property and digital trade: The deal extends the terms of copyright to 70 years beyond the life of the author (up from 50). It also extends the period that a pharmaceutical drug can be protected from Continued on page 9

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Saturday, October 6, 2018

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Saturday, October 6, 2018 From page 1

Former Delta man facing 7 charges related to teen prostitution release on Friday, after a member of the public came forward with the allegations. Police say the alleged prostitution operation was advertises on social media sites. Upon a further probe, police said a teen girl believed to be involved was removed and placed in care with the Ministry of Children and Family. Two other alleged victims were identified, with one of those also being underage. “It appears that women or teen

girls were being transported between the Metro Vancouver area and Calgary,” Staff Sgt. Heath Newton said. Begg made his first court appearance Oct. 3. Police say another individual was also identified, but died due to an unrelated incident prior to charge approval by Crown counsel. Anyone with further information is asked to contact Delta Police at 604-946-4411 or CrimeStoppers.

Canada’s job Jobless rate drops to 5.9% largely driven by gains in market gained part-time work, with part63,000 positions in September, edging time jobs up by around 80,000, the agency the unemployment rate lower to 5.9 per said in its monthly labour force survey. cent, and offsetting job losses in August, The job gains were also almost entirely Statistics Canada reported on Friday. in Ontario and British Columbia, with little September’s increase in employment was change in the other provinces. In a statement, From page 1 Freeland’s office sought to strike a balance between supporting Canadians’ right to expression and respecting the sovereignty of a country with whom relations were strained following Prime Minister Trudeau’s troubled state visit to India in February. “Canada’s position on a united India has not changed and our government would not recognize such a referendum,” a spokesperson for Freeland said. “Canadians have the right to freedom of expression and speech. Canadians have the right to peacefully express their views.” The issue of Sikh separatism was a major flashpoint of PM Trudeau’s trip to India, which was marred by Indian allegations of Liberal leniency towards Sikh separatist elements in Canada. In April, two months after Trudeau’s trip,

South Asian gang associate shot dead in targeted hit

“What we know is that Gill is involved with threatening others and we have information that he too has been threatened,” Abbotsford police Sgt. Judy Bird said in a statement on Aug. 15. Jang said Gill’s past is what leads investigators to believe he was targeted. “This has all the hallmarks of a targeted hit, a gangland hit,” the officer said. “It’s very unsettling, it’s very concerning for the community, but that’s what we believe given his past and his association to gangs and drug activity.” IHIT say’s Varinderpal Singh Gill’s killing ‘has all the hallmarks of a targeted hit, a gangland hit.’ The officer said one person has been arrested for questioning, but no one has been identified as a suspect and no charges have been laid. Jang said Gill wasn’t alone when he was attacked and IHIT is questioning those

who were with him at the time. At 1:14 a.m. PT, a burning SUV was found in Bateman Park near Bateman Road and Wright Street in Abbotsford, B.C. Investigators believe the vehicle is connected to Gill’s killing. A black pickup truck was also seen parked at the Mission mall, with several bullet holes in the driver’s side window. Investigators mark down evidence in front of a pickup with bullet holes in its window outside the Mission Junction Mall onWednesday. The window of a Mexican restaurant in the shopping complex was shattered by a stray bullet. Anyone with information about the shooting or the burning SUV is asked to call IHT at 1-877-551-4448, or Crime Stoppers to remain anonymous.

Narendra Modi government or the government can agree or not, but we have a right to voice our concerns. We have a right to ask for our rights to self-determination.” The Indian government has been steadfast in its opposition to the creation of an independent Khalistan, and has been particularly vociferous in trying to curtail SFJ’s activities. In early August, the country’s minister of external affairs asked U.K. authorities to deny SFJ permission to hold a gathering in London’s Trafalgar Square. The U.K. rebuffed the request, however, and SFJ held an Aug. 12 gathering in which it issued its so-called “London Declaration” demanding a Khalistan referendum. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs described the campaign as “a separatist activity which impinges on India’s territorial integrity” and “seeks to propagate violence, secessionism and hatred.”

Sikh group plans to hold Khalistan referendum in Canadian cities Canadian an Indian diplomat told the United Nations Human Rights Council that Canada needed to prevent people from misusing their right to freedom of expression to “incite violence and glorify terrorists as martyrs.” The statement was made shortly after Indian counter-terrorism officials filed a First Information Report against a Surrey, B.C. man who they accused of plotting to carry out a terrorist attack in Punjab. Their mention of terrorists being glorified as martyrs could be seen as a reference to posters of Talwinder Singh Parmar — believed to be responsible for the 1985 Air India bombing — being displayed at a Sikh temple in Surrey. An undated photo of Hapreet Singh

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Nijjar, who India has accused of plotting terrorist activities in Punjab state, posing in front of a poster calling for a 2020 referendum on the creation of Khalistan. An undated photo of Hapreet Singh Nijjar, who India has accused of plotting terrorist activities in Punjab state, posing in front of a poster calling for a 2020 referendum on the creation of Khalistan. Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, SFJ’s legal adviser, said his group is indifferent to how the Canadian and Indian governments view the referendum. “We’re not asking any political party or any Member of Parliament for their support,” Pannun said. “This referendum is not for the political leaders, this is for the Punjabi community. “The [Indian Prime Minister]

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LOCAL

Saturday, October 6, 2018 From page 1 British Columbia’s Lower Mainland. Buy a burned-out Vancouver house for $4 million “Metro Vancouver’s housing market has changed pace compared to the last few years,” Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) president-elect Ashley Smith said in a statement. “Our townhome and apartment markets are sitting in balanced market territory and our detached home market remains in a clear buyers’ market.” But townhomes and condos may not remain in “balanced territory” for long. The sales-to-activelistings ratio — a closely watched measure of market balance — has dropped precipitously for both housing types since the start of the year. There are now only 14 townhomes selling every month for every 100 available, down from around 35 per 100 in the early months of the year. For condos, sales have dropped to 17.6 per 100, from around 60 per 100 at the start of the year. The REBGV considers any level below 12 to be a “buyer’s market,” and any level above 20 a “seller’s market.” With eight sales per 100 available homes, detached houses have been in a “buyer’s market” for some time. But if current trends continue for just a few more months, all the residential real estate in Greater Vancouver will be in a “buyer’s market.” The benchmark price for a detached home in Greater Vancouver is down 4 per cent in the past six months, to $1.54 million.

Surrey has 48 candidate for 1 Mayor and 8 Councillors From page 1

Adam MacGillivray, Parshotam Goel, Felix Kongyuy and Stuart Parker. Pauline Greaves is their candidate for mayor. People First Surrey (four council candidates and one mayoral candidate): Maria Foster, Murali Krishnan, Yanni Yu, Paul Rusan and Thampy Rajan. Rajesh Jayaprakash is their candidate for mayor. Other: former Vancouver Park Board commissioner Roslyn Cassells is running for council under the “GreenVote” banner, and Deanna Welters is running under the “Progessive Sustainable” banner. Running as indpendents are Neera Agnihotri, Kashmir Besla, Tanvir Bhupal, Brian Calderwood, Neneng Galento, Afshan Kamran, Nicholas Loberg, Kuldip Pelia, Major Singh Rasode, Forrest Smith, Deanna Welters and Becky Zhou. The city will have advanced voting on Oct. 6, 10, 11 and 13 in six different locations, which can be found here.

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Vancouver housing demand drops like a rock, and prices are nw falling Prices have turned negative for townhomes and condos as well, which until recently were still hot segments of the region’s market. Condos are down 1.5 per cent in the past six months, to $687,300, while townhomes are still up from six months ago, but started falling in the past three months, to $837,600 this month.

But prices haven’t fallen enough to do much to improve home affordability, and rising mortgage rates are instead making things worse. Home ownership costs in Vancouver are at their worst levels ever recorded, Royal Bank of Canada said in a report last week. That stands in stark contrast to Toronto’s

housing market, which has seen a pick-up in activity in recent months, prompting observers to declare that the city’s correction is over, and a rebound is on the way. A global trend? In its latest Housing Bubble Index, released last week, Swiss bank UBS named Toronto and Vancouver the cities with the third and fourth highest risk of a housing bubble burst, respectively. The bank’s economists noted that bubbledup housing markets all over the world — from Sydney to London to Hong Kong — are seeing a deceleration in activity. “The first cracks in the boom’s foundation have begun appearing: house prices declined in half of last year’s bubble risk cities,” the report stated.

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Saturday, October 6, 2018

Jagmeet Singh puts on brave face one year in as NDP faces existential questions in Is2015. he worried about that?

One year ago, Jagmeet Singh was being hoisted into the air at a packed Toronto hotel as NDP leadership results rolled in. The Queen’s Park politician was billed as a charismatic, dynamic injection of energy desperately needed for the federal wing of his party following two years of political losses. He even took his victory party to a dance floor following his slam-dunk win. Much has changed over the last 365 days. This week, Singh conducted interviews from the vacated Centre Block office of the man he replaced — Tom Mulcair — where personal belongings have been stripped, vines hang over a fireplace and ginger candies sit on an unused desk. NDP’s Jagmeet Singh set to run in B.C.’s Burnaby South riding after nomination

Federal NDP leader says he is up for the ‘tough job’ ahead NDP leader Jagmeet Singh:Â ‘I’ve obviously faced a lot of challenges, but I am looking forward to how I can overcome them all.’ Singh might be NDP leader, but he doesn’t have his own office on Parliament Hill yet due to lacking a seat in the House of Commons. Nonetheless, the 39-yearold politician isn’t rattled — on the outside, anyway — even if longtime New Democrats have concerns about his leadership, the party’s future, poor morale and slumping fundraising

figures. Singh said he has never chosen “an easy path.” “Often, I didn’t have a choice,” he said in an interview. “I’ve obviously faced a lot of challenges, but I’m looking forward to how I can overcome them all.” One of the party’s central challenges is turning around the amount of money flowing into its coffers, considering it pulled in $4.86 million from 39,053 donors in 2017, a decline from the $5.39 million collected in 2016, and a steep drop from $18.59 million

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Apparently not. Singh said he knew what he was getting himself into after two years of poor fundraising following the 2015 election, noting he is confident the numbers are heading in the right direction. “The reason I’m not worried about it is because we put in a plan and things are turning around,” he said. “That’s what I’ve got to do, sort of turn the ship around … things are getting better and more importantly, we’re putting out really meaningful ideas that are connecting with people.”

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh loses chief of staff for ‘personal reasons’ Chief of staff to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has resigned — a departure that comes at a particularly challenging time for a party struggling with poor morale and slumping fundraising a year away from an election. A statement issued late Thursday by NDP parliamentary leader Guy Caron says Willy Blomme is leaving for “personal reasons,” adding the party is grateful that Blomme offered to help find a new chief of staff.

Drunk birds causing havoc in Minnesota town

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Police in Gilbert, Minnesota, are warning residents about a group of youthful residents unable to handle their alcohol. They’ve been drifting around town looking disoriented, narrowly avoiding getting hit by cars. But these aren’t teenagers getting drunk. Instead, it’s the local bird population. “The Gilbert Police Department has received several reports of birds that appear to be ‘under the influence’ flying into windows, cars and acting confused,” Police Chief Ty Techar wrote in a statement Tuesday. An early frost meant that berries had fermented earlier than usual, he explained, and birds were eating them and getting drunk. Incidents around town involving intoxicated birds appear to be more prevalent than in past years, Techar added, because many have not yet migrated south. “It appears that some birds are getting a little more ‘tipsy’ than normal,” he wrote. “Generally, younger birds’ livers cannot handle the toxins as efficiently as more mature birds.” He concluded: “There is no need to call law enforcement about these birds as they should sober up within a short period of time.” A number of Gilbert residents commented on the Facebook post and thanked the police department for explaining why the birds had been acting so strangely. One woman wrote that she had found three dead birds on her deck recently, while another described quickly slamming on her brakes when a bird flew directly into her windshield. “ This explains why I have hit 7 birds with my car this week,” commented another. “I was going to say something . . . but I thought I was crazy!!!” wrote one resident. “This has been happening to me!” She added, “ I know this post is a joke . . . but seriously . . . 2 birds dove into my windshield both on the way to work and on the way home . . . I was wondering what was going on.” Another commenter joked, “There goes the chance of any bird from Northern MN ever being on the Supreme Court.” The police news release ended with a suggestion that residents of the small northern Minnesota town call if they see “Angry Birds laughing and giggling uncontrollably and appearing to be happy” or “Tweety acting as if 10 feet tall and getting into confrontations with cats.”

Saturday, October 6, 2018

Deepak Obhrai introduces Bill in Parliament to designate October as Hindu Heritage Month Deepak Obhrai, Member of Parliament, this week introduced a Bill in Parliament to designate the month of October as Hindu Heritage Month. The Bill, following its passage through Parliament, will create the Hindu Heritage Month Act, that will proclaim the month of October, every year, be known as Hindu Heritage Month. “I am honoured to have introduced this bill in recognition of the important role played by Hindu Canadians in our country’s economic growth and social development,” Mr. Obhrai said. “Hindu Canadians are a vital link in Canada’s fabled multicultural mosaic. They are part of the

success story that has made Canada one of the best countries in the world.” Mr. Obhrai pointed out that the Hindu celebration of Diwali, which he began celebrating on Parliament Hill in 1998, is the first Diwali celebration to take place at a national legislature in a western democracy. “By proclaiming the month of October as Hindu Heritage Month, the Government of Canada will recognize the important role played by Hindu Canadians in our federation. It will be an opportunity to remember, celebrate and educate,” Mr. Obhrai added.

USMCA, Trump’s new NAFTA deal, explained in 500 words From page 4 from generic competition. It also includes a review every six years, at which point the new provisions to deal with the digital US, Mexico, and Canada can decide to extend economy, including prohibiting duties on USMCA. USMCA has been negotiated things like music and e-books, and protections — now it needs to get approved Trump, for internet companies so they’re not liable Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and for content their users produce. No section Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto have 232 tariff protections: Section 232 is a trade to sign the agreement, which they plan to do loophole that Trump has used to impose steel before Peña Nieto leaves office at the end of and aluminum tariffs on Canada, Mexico, November (perhaps at the G20 summit in and the European Union. Both Canada and Buenos Aires that month). But the deal still Mexico wanted protections from these tariffs, needs to be ratified by all three governments. but they didn’t get them. They did get the US Canada and Mexico will likely do so. The to make a side agreement that protects them real question is the US. Congress likely won’t from possible auto tariffs under 232, though. consider any agreement until 2019, and if Sunset clause: The agreement puts in a the Democrats take control of the House or 16-year “sunset” clause — meaning the terms Senate in the midterms next month, they of the agreement expire, or “sunset,” after a might be reluctant to give the president a win. set period of time. The deal is also subject to

These are the winners and losers in the new NAFTA NAFTA is out but the United StatesMexico-Canada-Agreement (USMCA) is in. But how different is USMCA from NAFTA? Who loses and who wins? Canadian negotiators and government officials are singing the praises of the new deal, still subject to approval by U.S. Congress. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said the agreement “will result in freer markets, fairer trade and robust economic growth in our region.” They added: “It will strengthen the middle class, and create good, well-paying jobs and new opportunities for the nearly half billion

people who call North America home.” In this January 2018 photo, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, centre, talks with United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, right, and Mexico’s Secretary of Economy Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal during NAFTA renegotiations. It’s understandable that the chief negotiators would try to sell the deal as a win-win-win agreement, but, like any deal resulting from long and at times acrimonious negotiations, it’s not quite that simple.The most significant achievement by Canadian negotiators is their success in preserving Chapter 19 from the original NAFTA.

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Saturday, October 6, 2018

BC adds 33,000 full-time jobs in September as jobless numbers dip

Statistics Canada said FridaythatB.C.added33,000 jobs in September, 26,000 of them full-time jobs. A Statistics Canada analyst, Marton Lovei, said gains were made in both the service and goods-producing sectors, with increases in manufacturing, and accommodation and food services. There were also more health care and social assistance, agriculture, and transportation and warehousing jobs. “There was relatively broad increases,” he said, noting that only one sector had a decline and that was in business, building, and other support services. The unemployment rate also fell 1.1 percentage points to 4.2 per cent, the lowest rate since June 2008.

In Metro Vancouver, the unemployment rate was also down slightly, to 4.5 per cent from 4.7 per cent in August. There were job losses in the first half of the year, so it looks like there is some recovery happening, said Lovei. Nationally, Statistics Canada reported that Canada’s job market gained 63,000 positions, edging the unemployment rate lower to 5.9 per cent, and offsetting job losses in August.

September’s increase in employment was largely driven by gains in parttime work, with part-time jobs up by around 80,000, the agency said in its monthly labour force survey. Economists had estimated the country would add 25,000 jobs in September, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon. The job gains were also almost entirely in Ontario and B.C., with little change in the other provinces. The latest monthly report from Statistics Canada indicates the jobs market remains volatile, after August saw a decline of

more than 51,000 positions, raising the unemployment rate to 6.0 per cent, after two months of increases On a year-over-year basis, Canada gained 222,000 jobs since September 2017. South of the border, the unemployment rate in the United States dropped more than expected, to 3.7 per cent in September from 3.9 per cent the previous month, as 134,000 jobs were created, well below analyst predictions of 185,000. Statistics Canada also reported the Canadian international merchandise trade balance improved in August, recording a surplus for the first time since December 2016. It said imports fell by 2.5 per cent and exports declined 1.1 per cent, producing a surplus of $526 million compared with July’s $189 million trade deficit.

Youth pleads guilty to trafficking in connection with 13-year-old’s overdose death

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A young man has pleaded guilty to trafficking in connection with the overdose death of a 13-year-old girl more than a year ago. The girl died after taking MDMA she and a friend bought from a street-level drug dealer at the 22nd SkyTrain Station in New Westminster on July 15, 2017. The teens were returning home to Port Coquitlam when the 13-year-old went into medical distress. She later died at Royal Columbian Hospital. Man arrested in connection with overdose death of New Westminster teen New Westminster police said the dealer, who can’t be named because of

his age, was later arrested and charged with trafficking a controlled substance. He pleaded guilty on Sept. 24 and is expected to be sentenced on Jan. 15, 2019. “This was a tragic and heartbreaking case. We hope that the family of the 13-yearold girl is able to get some sense of closure and peace after this very challenging time,” said Sgt.Jeff Scott. “We encourage all parents to have an open dialogue with their teenagers about the risk of drug use.” Three months before the 13-yearold died, another New Westminster teen died from an MDMA overdose.

LOCAL / NATIONAL

Saturday, October 6, 2018

Federal gov’t strenghtens bill to prevent foreign interference in Canadian elections The Trudeau government is beefing up legislation aimed at making it easier for Canadians to vote and harder for foreign entities to interfere in federal elections. It has sponsored a number of amendments to Bill C-76, including one that would ban advocacy groups from ever using money from foreign entities to conduct partisan campaigns. When the bill was introduced last spring, the government proposed only to prohibit the use of foreign money by so-called third parties during the weeks immediately prior to an election being called and during the actual campaign, known as the pre-writ and writ periods. Facebook finds ‘sophisticated’ efforts to disrupt U.S. elections It is now proposing a blanket ban on the use of foreign funds at any time for the purpose of supporting or opposing a political party or candidate. The government is also sponsoring an amendment that would require online platforms, such as Facebook and Google, to create a registry of all digital advertisements placed by political parties or third parties during the pre-writ and writ periods and to ensure they remain visible to the public for two years. Facebook allows users to view current partisan ads but they disappear from the platform once the ad buy wraps up. The government is also proposing a number of other amendments, primarily aimed at bolstering the ability of Elections Canada to enforce election laws. Bill C-76 is an omnibus bill that would

reverse a number of changes wrought by the previous Conservative administration’s widely denounced Fair Elections Act. The new legislation would restore the use of voter information cards as a valid form of identification and do away with measures that critics argued were designed to benefit the deep-pocketed Tories. Among other things, it would limit spending by parties and advocacy groups during the three-month period before an election is officially called. Conservatives, who’ve been stalling the bill at committee since last spring, argue that unless government spending announcements, ads and ministerial travel are banned at the same time, the pre-writ spending cap amounts to Liberals trying to rig next year’s election in their favour. The bill also represents a first stab at grappling with the spectre of social media being abused by bad actors — foreign or domestic — to manipulate the results of an election, exacerbate societal divisions, amplify hate messages or instill distrust in the electoral system. It comes in the wake of scandal over Russian interference in the last U.S. presidential contest and the misuse of personal information of millions of Facebook users during the United Kingdom’s Brexit campaign. Among other things, the bill would require political parties to put in place and publish policies designed to protect the privacy of Canadians whose personal information winds up in their massive voter data bases. But there would be no requirement for independent monitoring or enforcement of those policies.

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Kal Rangi passes away Well known community activist and realtor Kal Rangi, of Richmond, passed away suddenly on Tuesday, October 2nd in the evening. He was very active in the community and a strong supporter of BC Liberals and the Congress party of India. He leaves behind his widow, children, family and friends. His funeral services will be held on Sunday, October 7 at 3:00 pm at Five Rivers Funeral Home on River Road in Delta, BC.

Advanced voting in Surrey begins October 6 Advance voting opportunities for the 2018 Surrey municipal election begin this Saturday (Oct. 6). There will be three other early

voting opportunities, on Oct. 10, 11 and 13, ahead of the Oct. 20 election. All eligible voters can visit one of six

Surrey rec centres on any of the early voting days, between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., including Chuck Bailey Recreation Centre (13458 107A Ave.), Guildford Recreation Centre, (15105 105th Ave.), Fleetwood Community Centre (15996 84th Ave.), Newton Seniors Centre (13775 70th Ave.), Cloverdale Recreation Centre (6188 176th St.), and South Surrey Recreation & Arts Centre ((14601 20th Ave). All-candidates meetings: In Surrey, civic election candidates have their say starting Sept. 25 Voters are reminded to bring their voter card or two pieces of acceptable identification to register and vote.

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LOCAL / NATIONAL

Saturday, October 6, 2018

Firefighter injured battling West End apartment fire Fire forced the evacuation of an apartment building in Vancouver’s West End on Thursday morning. The four-alarm blaze broke out in the Washington Court building in the 900-block of Thurlow Street around 9 a.m. Flames were first spotted on the upper floors of the five-storey building. One firefighter has been injured. Several residents were sent to hospital to be checked out, but there didn’t appear to be any life-threatening injuries, according to Capt. Jonathan Gormick of Vancouver Fire and Rescue.

“The age of the building and various renovations that have taken place over the years to this building have made [the fire] extremely stubborn and hard to contain,” he said. Gormick said they are working to determine the cause of the fire. According to Heritage Vancouver, the Washington Court apartment building was built in 1910. Back in 1966, a fire destroyed the top floor of the building. Washington Court Apartment fire on Thurlow Street in 1966, destroyed the entire top floor of the building.

Former Surrey church elder, Coast Mountain bus driver charged with sexual assault A former Surrey church elder and longtime bus driver has been charged with sexual assault, Mounties announced Thursday. 72-year-old Brian Batke has been charged with one count of sexual assault and one count of sexual exploitation. The allegations stem from incidents that occurred in 2005, when the victim, whose name has been withheld, was a youth. The incidents were first reported to police in 2017. In 2005, Batke, then a member of Cloverdale Christian Fellowship Church, ended his association with the church. He has also driven for Coast Mountain Bus Company for about 13 years. Details of Batke’s church and employment history have been released to the public, as

investigators believe there may be additional victims who had contact with Batke either at the church or as a bus passenger.

Record-breaking cold temperatures recorded across BC Environment Canada says B.C. broke 39 cold-weather records Wednesday, as an Arctic front swept across the province. Matt MacDonald, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, says there were 14 daytime records broken, 18 overnight lows smashed and seven new records for the most snowfall on Oct. 3, including a whopping 59 centimetres of snow in Sparwood, east of Fernie. He says the front whipped down from the north and clashed with moisture from the Pacific Ocean. MacDonald said more records may be broken overnight, but it’s not likely to be as cold as Wednesday. “We are waking up to some frosty mornings,” he said, adding that in Metro Vancouver although the overnight low was around 2

“Speaking with police about a sexual assault can be daunting and takes courage,” said Cpl. Elenore Sturko. “Our investigators are aware of how difficult this process can be for people. We approach our investigations with care and compassion, including the assistance of our victimservices support workers.” Anyone who would like to speak with police about this investigation can call Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502.

C, frost still accumulated on the ground. The record-breaking temperature for cold in B.C. on Wednesday was Clinton, where -14.2 C was recorded,

smashing the old mark of -5 set in 2012. In Prince George, the mercury dipped to a record -12.1 C, breaking the old one of -9.4 set in 1950. It was a bone-chilling -11.6 C compared

with the old record of -9.1 set in 2013, in the Puntzi Mountain region in the Central Interior. And the Mackenzie area set a record -8.5 C, breaking -5.5 set in 1990. Even Vancouver saw a record low, though the mercury didn’t go below zero. Environment Canada recorded 1.6 C at YVR on Wednesday, breaking the previous record of 2.8 in 1937. Other areas that set coldtemperature records were Quesnel (-8.4 C,) Lytton (-1.2,) and Lillooet (-2.9.) MacDonald said most regions should return to near-seasonal temperatures over the next week, but the overnight lows will remain slightly cooler than normal. So, for example, in Vancouver, overnight lows are expected to be around 5 C, instead of a seasonal average of around eight.

LOCAL

Saturday, October 6, 2018

Liberals propose banning advocacy groups from using foreign money on partisan campaigns The Trudeau government is beefing up legislation aimed at making it easier for Canadians to vote and harder for foreign entities to interfere in federal elections. It has sponsored a number of amendments to Bill C-76, including one that would ban advocacy groups from ever using money from foreign entities to conduct partisan campaigns. When the bill was introduced last spring, the government proposed only to prohibit the use of foreign money by so-called third parties during the weeks immediately prior to an election being called and during the actual campaign, known as the pre-writ and writ periods. E a r l i e r : It is now proposing a blanket ban on the use of foreign funds at any time for the purpose of supporting or opposing a political party or candidate. The government is also sponsoring an amendment that would require online platforms, such as Facebook and Google, to create a registry of all digital advertisements placed by political parties or third parties during the pre-writ and writ periods and to ensure they remain visible to the public for two years. Facebook allows users to view current partisan ads but they disappear from the platform once the ad buy wraps up. The government is also proposing a number of other amendments, primarily aimed at bolstering the ability of Elections Canada to enforce election laws. Bill C-76 is an omnibus bill that would reverse a number of changes wrought by the previous Conservative administration’s widely denounced Fair Elections Act.

The new legislation would restore the use of voter information cards as a valid form of identification and do away with measures that critics argued were designed to benefit the deep-pocketed Tories. Among other things, it would limit spending by parties and advocacy groups during the three-month period before an election is officially called. Conservatives, who’ve been stalling the bill at committee since last spring, argue that unless government spending announcements, ads and ministerial travel are banned at the same time, the pre-writ spending cap amounts to Liberals trying to rig next year’s election in their favour. The bill also represents a first stab at grappling with the spectre of social media being abused by bad actors — foreign or domestic — to manipulate the results of an election, exacerbate societal divisions, amplify hate messages or instill distrust in the electoral system. It comes in the wake of scandal over Russian interference in the last U.S. presidential contest and the misuse of personal information of millions of Facebook users during the United Kingdom’s Brexit campaign. Among other things, the bill would require political parties to put in place and publish policies designed to protect the privacy of Canadians whose personal information winds up in their massive voter data bases. But there would be no requirement for independent monitoring or enforcement of those policies. New Democrats are seeking to amend the bill so that privacy laws would apply to political parties. They’re also proposing to change the traditional Monday voting day in Canada to Sunday.

Arrest warrant issued for man wanted in Surrey stabbing who remains at large. Arrest warrant has been issued Drydgen is described as for a man wanted in connection being 5-foot-8 and 170 pounds with a stabbing at a Surrey hotel. with a slender build. He has On June 14, Surrey RCMP short black hair with a receding responded to a report of a stabbing hairline and has brown eyes. inside the Sheraton Vancouver He is believed to be Guildford Hotel. A male victim somewhere in the Lower was discovered suffering Mainland or possibly Alberta. from serious stab wounds. He has since been released Anyone with information from hospital but police say he is Malcolm Drydgen, 29 about his whereabouts is still recovering from his injuries. asked to contact Surrey RCMP at A charge of aggravated assault has now been 604-599-0502 or Crime Stoppers at laid against 29-year-old Malcolm Drydgen, 1-800-222-8477.

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Targeted shooting in Downtown East Vancouver Vancouver police are investigating after a suspected targeted shooting in the Downtown Eastside on Wednesday night. A statement said shots were fired in the area of Carrall Street and East Pender Street just before 11 p.m. PT. Officers responding to 911 calls found a 46-year-old Vancouver man who had been shot.

He was taken to hospital with serious injuries. Man charged with attempted murder after targeted double shooting in East Vancouver Const. Jason Doucette said detectives believe it was a targeted shooting. No arrests have been made.

Man charged in Richmond teen’s homicide A man has been charged with manslaughter for the death of 19-yearold Aspen Pallot in Richmond. RCMP found Pallot’s body inside a home in the 7000-block of Westminster Highway, shortly after midnight. A short time later, 23-yearold Solaris Onatta Running Dey was arrested and charged. He was scheduled to appear in B.C. provincial court on Friday. “IHIT detectives worked quickly to secure the evidence for charge approval,” said Cpl. Frank Jang, spokesman for the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team. “Investigators would still like to speak with Miss Pallot’s closest friends and associates who may have information regarding her death.” Anyone with information is

asked to call the IHIT tip line at 1-877551-4448 or email ihitinfo@rcmp-grc.gc.ca. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS. In November 2017, Dey was the subject of a missing-person report. The Comox Valley RCMP said the Hornby Island resident had last been seen Nov. 22 in the Union Bay area. In a statement, police said they were “very concerned” for Dey’s health and well-being and that it was out of character for him to stay out of contact for so long. It was reported that Dey was located safe on Nov. 30.

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Saturday, October 6, 2018

BC wine industry disappointed over coming grocery-store sales changes Dirty Laundry winery in Summerland estimates it will sell fewer bottles of red and white in grocery stores as shelf space previously reserved for local companies will soon be shared with U.S. imports. “I don’t think it’ll be devastating, but it will certainly impact us,” said Paul Sawler, the winery’s director of sales and marketing. B.C.’s wine industry will soon lose its advantage of dedicated grocery instore shelf space — a practice deemed discriminatory through the lens of U.S. President Donald Trump’s America-first ethos — as grocers will have to make room for out-of-province offerings. But with the Nov. 1, 2019 deadline for implementation more than a year away, those in the industry say it’s difficult to know what the change will look like and just how hard it’ll hit local vintners. Imported wines currently can only be sold at the province’s grocery stores in a so-called store-within-a-store model, which the U.S. has called discriminatory and complained about to the World Trade

Organization alleging unfair sales practices. The U.S. and Canada agreed to end the “ongoing trade concern” in a pair of side letters to the new United States-MexicoCanada Agreement reached late Sunday night. The change is not surprising, but is disappointing, said Miles Prodan, the CEO of the B.C. Wine Institute, a notfor-profit organization that represents the interests of the province’s wineries. There are 271 licensed grape wineries in the province, according to the institute, and the industry contributes $2.8 billion annually to the B.C. economy. The majority of the wineries are small in scale, he said, producing about 5,000 cases a year or less. Dirty Laundry winery in Summerland, which this year will produce 30,000 cases of wine. Dirty Laundry winery in Summerland, which this year will produce 30,000 cases of wine. PNG files The grocery-store model was the only real channel many of these smaller operations had to access consumers, he said.

Six employees file human rights complaints against UBC alleging discrimination The University of British Columbia (UBC) is facing several human rights complaints for allegedly denying employees promotions, terminating them because of a disability or for being pregnant. The Association of Administrative and Professional Staff is the organization that represents about 4,500 UBC employees. Executive director Joey Hansen said the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has agreed to hear all eight complaints from six workers. “In one case it involves the university denying a pregnant employee a previously promised promotion. Most of the other cases, the university initially worked with the person to accommodate their disability but ultimately terminating the disabled employee,” Hansen said. The complaints involve top administrators including chief information officer Jennifer Burns, the dean of education Blye Frank

and UBC Okanagan’s dean of health and social development Gord Binsted. “The individuals were directly or indirectly involved in the discriminatory actions,” Hansen added. Hansen said five of the six employees are women. “We’re a bit different than most organizations, our members don’t enjoy just cause protection like most employees covered by a collective agreement. The first this came about is when employees came to us saying ‘I have a health issue but I’m afraid to disclose it to my supervisor because I think they’ll use it as an excuse to terminate me’,” Hansen said. “Or we have a lot of people asking how long they can hold off before disclosing to their supervisor that they’re pregnant because they are afraid to disclose that because they don’t enjoy just cause protection, so the employer can terminate them whenever it wants to.”

Mayoral candidate Tom Gill says Surrey is no place for high-risk sex offender Surrey First mayoral candidate Tom Gill said releasing high-risk sexual offender Jeffrey Goddard into an undisclosed Surrey neighbourhood with “just a warning” to the community shows there is something incredibly wrong with our justice system, and he wants it changed. “Children and teens make up one-third of our city’s population, the exact age groups that are his targets,” said Gill. “Releasing someone with Goddard’s extensive criminal record into a local neighbourhood, then warning the community to watch out for him, tells me the system has this whole thing backwards. How many times do you have to offend, or breach the terms of your release, before the justice system says enough is enough? Then you add insult to injury by telling the community he’s somewhere in our city, but you don’t say where.” Surrey First council candidate Trevor Halford, a father of three young

children, said this kind of blatant disregard for Surrey neighbourhoods and young families is unacceptable and shouldn’t be tolerated by the community. “This guy isn’t supposed to be near anyone under 18, he can’t be near schools or playgrounds and he can’t be on the internet,” said Halford. “Isn’t that enough to tell you he doesn’t belong in a city where one of every three people is a child or teenager, the very people he’s not supposed to be near? It’s ridiculous that the justice system would heap this kind of anxiety on a community when someone with this kind of high-risk to offend belongs in jail and not on our streets.” “My entire campaign has been focused on providing opportunities for our young people as part of our public safety strategy,” said Gill. “This treatment of our community and its families flies in the face of everything we believe in.”

US border officials seize nearly 750 kg of marijuana at Canadian border U.S. border officials say they’ve seized nearly 750 kilograms of marijuana at the Canadian border over the past several weeks. U.S. Customs and Border Protection says the pot was found in mail shipments entering the U.S. from Canada, but did not provide further details. Cars line up at the border crossing between Canada and the U.S. at the Sarnia Canada/Port Huron crossing. Cars line up at the border crossing between Canada and the U.S. at the Sarnia Canada/Port Huron crossing. They say they found the first shipment

of drugs in a mail truck at the Bluewater Bridge in Port Huron, Mich. on Aug. 28. A search of the truck turned up 14 packages weighing more than 136 kilograms. U.S. officials say 63 more packages surfaced over the next 10 days, bringing the total amount of drugs seized to about 748 kilograms. The Canadian Border Services Agency did not immediately respond to request for comment. How to talk to your kids about cannabis Pregnant women, nursing mothers warned to avoid marijuana How government is working to keep mail-order weed out of the hands of kids

Tory motion to overturn child-killer’s transfer to healing lodge defeated A Conservative motion to have the Indigenous healing lodge was defeated in the government condemn and overturn a House of Commons today, after another day of decision to transfer a child killer to an heated debate and insults hurled between MPs. The 82-200 vote came after Tuesday’s day-long, politically charged debate on an opposition day motion about Terri-Lynne McClintic, who was transferred from the Grand Valley Institution for Women near Kitchener, Ont., to the Okima Ohci Healing Lodge for Aboriginal Women on Nekaneet First Nation in southern Saskatchewan. McClintic is serving a life sentence for the brutal rape and murder of eight-yearold Tori Stafford of Woodstock, Ont., and is not eligible for parole until 2031. The vote capped off another round of emotional debate in the House of Commons, where Conservative deputy leader Lisa Raitt accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of making “excuses” to avoid sending McClintic back to a conventional prison. “This is about a contrast between a party and a government that respects the rules, that respects the independence of our judicial system, that appreciates the professionalism of our correctional services, and a party of ambulance-chasing politicians who are, quite frankly, demonstrating a contempt for the principles of law and debate in this House that is inexcusable,” he said. Conservative House Leader Candice Bergen, Quebec MP Alain Rayes (left) and Ontario MP Tony Clement speak to reporters Wednesday after a motion to overturn the McClintic motion was defeated in the House of Commons. After question period, Raitt stood on a point of order and demanded an apology from Trudeau for describing Conservatives as “ambulance-chasers.”

LOCAL / NATIONAL

Saturday, October 6, 2018

Kelowna killer granted suspended sentence, no jail time

A Kelowna man who was found guilty of stabbing his friend to death has avoided jail time. Chad Alphonse was charged with seconddegree murder in the death of Waylon Jackson in Jackson’s Rutland home in 2016. In March, a jury found Alphonse guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter, rejecting the defence of self-defence. Justice Catherine Murray concluded the jury found Alphonse was too intoxicated to form the intent to kill. Crown proposed a sentence of four to eight years in jail, recommending the higher end of the range, while defence argued for a suspended sentence followed by three years’ probation. “The principles of sentencing are satisfied in this unusual case by a suspended sentence and probation,” she said in a Kelowna court Wednesday. Alphonse and Jackson had gotten into a physical fight the night before a baby shower celebrating Jackson and Naomi Foureyes’s new baby. Jackson was beating Alphonse with a metal chair, and stopped when Foureyes yelled he was going to kill Alphonse, the court heard.

Jackson threw the chair down, then turned his back on Alphonse and started walking over to Foureyes and his baby. During the trial, defence argued Jackson had been walking toward his machete on the counter. While the jury rejected that Alphonse was acting in self-defence, Murray said it was a moment of “near self-defence,” reducing Alphonse’s level of moral blameworthiness. “This was an alcohol-fuelled, chairwielding, fists flying, adrenalinepumping battle,” she said. “A battle that Mr. Jackson was clearly winning.” Murray rejected the Crown’s argument that the fight was over before Alphonse stabbed Jackson. “The fight had been going on for some time,” she said. “Mr. Jackson had Mr. Alphonse down in the living room and was beating him with a chair. Again in the kitchen he had him down on the ground and was again beating him with a chair. When he stopped, he immediately started walking the short distance toward Naomi, but also toward his knife.” Murray also rejected the Crown’s argument that a knife is a more

RCMP investigating suspected voter fraud Surrey’s chief election officer says he has “sufficient cause to suspect illegal activity” around the mail ballot process in the leadup to the Oct. 20 municipal election. Anthony Capuccinello Iraci confirmed the RCMP is investigating allegations of voter fraud, but said it was too early in the voting process for any harm to have been done. “I want to make this abundantly clear: no ballot has been mailed out …. [our process] has not been compromised,” he said. Surrey RCMP say their investigation has been given high priority due to the time-sensitive nature of the the issue.

Mail-out ballot packages cancelled Capuccinello Iraci said in light of the allegations, ballots packages would now only be available for in-person pickup by applicants who provided a signature and photo ID. Previously, ballot packages had also been available through the mail. “We are confident the procedures we have in place will preserve the integrity of the mail ballot voting process,” he said. So far there have been 160 applications for ballot packages. Only 15 of those have been distributed, all through the in-person pickup process.

Elections BC fines NDP $4,000 for Election Act infractions The Election Act requires the date, time, location and ticket price of a specified fundraising function to be reported to Elections B.C. at least seven days before the event. Elections B.C. says the NDP failed to do this four times late last year. t GPS B CBSCFDVF XJUI .BQMF Ridge-Mission MLA Bob D’Eith fundraiser on Oct. 21 in Maple Ridge that raised $6,955 for the party. t GPS i"O &WFOJOH PG %SJOLT and Friends” with Municipal Affairs Minister Selina Robinson on Oct. 27 in Coquitlam that raised $5,855. t GPS UIF i4QBSLMF BOE 4IJOFw event with Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Lisa Beare on Nov. 18 in Maple Ridge that raised $3,830. t GPS i'FTUJWF %JOOFSw XJUI Premier John Horgan on Dec. 3 in Kelowna that raised $12,678. Despite the penalties, Elections B.C. determined the party did not deliberately try to circumvent the Election Act, and that non-compliance was the result of human error. “The party has also communicated to Elections B.C. additional steps it has taken to prevent such instances of non-compliance from occurring in the future,” Elections B.C. said in a release. In 2017, the Election Act was amended to give the Chief Electoral Officer the

authority to levy monetary penalties in specific cases of non-compliance with the Act.

dangerous weapon than a chair. “While a knife is no doubt an inherently dangerous weapon … in this case it was not markedly out of line with the metal chair that was being used by Mr. Jackson to beat Mr. Alphonse with.” Murray called Wednesday’s sentencing a challenging one.

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“It is difficult to comprehend that a man could kill another and not go to jail,” she said. “On the other hand, I found beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Alphonse acted in the heat of the moment, in a near self-defence situation.” She added Alphonse has accepted responsibility and is remorseful for his actions, calling him a young man with a bright future ahead of him.

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Surrey Police Officer of the Year Award winners announced Winners of the 22nd annual Surrey Police Officer of the Year awards have been announced. The Surrey Board of Trade-hosted gala was held on Oct. 4 at the Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel and honoured winners in eight categories. The annual awards are given out to Surrey RCMP members, as well as auxiliary, c i v i l i a n employees and volunteers, who have been chosen by their peers and the public. This year, over 50 nominations were received and were judged “based on their innovation, commitment, contribution and perseverance,” according to a release. Winner of the Police Officer of the Year in the “nominated by community” category was Inspector Wendy Mehat. “Congratulations to Inspector Wendy Mehat for being named the 22nd Surrey Police Officer of the Year, nominated by the community, for her unwavering commitment to public safety in Surrey and for her community collaborations,” said Anita Huberman, CEO, Surrey Board of Trade. Inspector Mehat has over 18 years of experience with the RCMP. She has worked in federal organized crime units and with the Surrey RCMP’s Professional Standards Unit, before coming back to a “community” position in Surrey. Inspector Mehat was the BC RCMP recipient of “The Times of Canada Excellence in Public Service Award 2017.” She was promoted to Inspector earlier

this year and has contributed towards reducing crime and enhanced community safety and encouraging others to action through new initiatives such as “Car Yankee 30” and cultural training projects The winner for the same award, but nominated by his peers, was Constable Aaron Labrum.

According to a SBOT released, “Labrum established an outer perimeter policing program around 135A Street in Surrey to establish a safety zone for the vulnerable. This resulted in proactive patrols being conducted on drug dealers trying to attend the strip.” He was involved in the review and planning to “dismantle the Surrey Strip.” Labrum also leads the team with Immediate Roadside Prohibitions (IRP) and has been the recipient of many Alexa team honors. Staff Sergeant Neil Kennedy won the Arnold Silzer Community Policing Initiative Award. For the past four years, he’s led one of the largest police youth section. He also reenvisioned the bike section into a foot and bike oriented enforcement team, developed the “Mini Blue” and “Hi Five” campaigns, and also increased the Code Blue program. He strategically partnered with Greater Vancouver Big Brothers to start the In-School Mentor program in Surrey and introduced the BBGV “Game On” program to address

RCMP search for man missing from Coquitlam Coquitlam RCMP are asking for public help in finding a man who has gone missing.

hair and brown eyes. He’s fivefeet eight-inches tall and weighs between 140 and 150 pounds.

Tanner Jensen, 29, was last seen on Sept. 8. He has short, brown

RCMP say he’s known to frequent the Maple Ridge area.

BC vows to cut poverty rate by 25% in 5 years The provincial government introduced forward, but the legislation falls short. legislation Tuesday that aims to cut B.C.’s “A big gap is there is no depth of poverty overall poverty rate by 25 per cent, and the child target. We were hoping to see something poverty rate by 50 per cent, in the next five years. around increasing the incomes of all BC is the last province in Canada British Columbians to 75 per cent of the to develop such a reduction strategy. poverty line within two years, just to ensure BC needs an official poverty that no one gets stuck very far below reduction plan, critics say the poverty line,” said Trish Garner with Delays slow B.C. government’s promised the B.C. Poverty Reduction Coalition. poverty reduction plan, says minister Discrimination and poverty linked, says “We are confident that while those targets BC NDP report into poverty reduction are bold, we have the capacity to meet those targets,” said Shane Simpson, the Liberals vow to lift 2 million Canadians minister of social development and poverty reduction “It is the law now and we have an obligation to do that.” The legislation doesn’t lay out any penalties for the province if the targets are not met, but the strategy will allow for public comment to help assess the g o v e r n m e n t ’s p r o g r e s s , Simpson said. Minister of Social Development & Poverty Reduction Shane Simpson ‘We are committing this out of poverty by 2030, with no new spending government, and future governments, to break The government will rely on a federal metric the cycle of poverty and improve people’s lives,’ called the Market Basket Measure to define said Minister of Social Development & Poverty poverty and poverty levels. It is established Reduction Shane Simpson in a statement. by Statistics Canada each year, Simpson said. Under the legislation, the government “We have at this point the second must release its first poverty reduction highest rate of poverty overall strategy by March 31, 2019, focusing on issues and the highest rate for children.” such as housing, education, employment, If poverty reduction targets are met, income supports and social inclusion. B.C. is expected to have the third highest If passed, the legislation will also require poverty rate in the country overall, and the B.C. government to report annually on the lowest rate for children, he added. its progress. As for the funds to implement Creating a poverty reduction strategy programs to help lift people out of poverty, is behind schedule in B.C. Legislation Simpson said their details will be included was initially expected in the spring. in next provincial budget in February.But But Simpson said was important to take time the strategy is also expected to tap into other to speak with people who are experiencing ministry programs that improve affordability poverty before tabling legislation. such as child care and the elimination The province said 8,500 people of Medical Services Plan premiums. took part in a broad public Advocates say the creation of engagement to develop the legislation. poverty reduction targets are a step

Illegal hostel battle escalates as strata says defiant owner is in contempt of court A North Vancouver woman who’s been repeatedly ordered to shut down an illegal hostel in her townhouse is being taken back to court by her strata, this time for contempt of court. The strata association is now demanding that Yu stop renting rooms in her house and pay about $7,000 in strata bylaw fines.

If she refuses, the strata says it will seek the power to remove Yu from her townhouse and eventually force the sale of her home. The strata, the City of North Vancouver and the courts have all told Emily Yu to stop using her three-bedroom, fivelevel Lonsdale home as a hostel, but neighbours say she continues to host guests.

Saturday, October 6, 2018

DREAM CARPET

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Canada-wide warrant issued after toonie fraud costs BC banks $30K A Canada-wide warrant has been issued for a man accused of passing off metal washers as toonies in order to steal $30,000 from more than a dozen banks in BC RCMP say a man went to 17 banks in the Lower Mainland to ask that rolls of toonies be exchanged for bills between March and May. Terrelle Robert Talbot is wanted in BC on 17 counts of criminal fraud over $5,000. Each roll had a toonie on either end to make it look authentic, but tellers later realized the rest of the “coins” were actually washers, police

said in a statement. Each 25-coin roll was exchanged for $50, for a total of $30,000 in cash. Terrelle Robert Talbot, 43 (pictured) , is wanted on 17 counts of criminal fraud over $5,000. He has no fixed address and is originally from Nova Scotia, where there is also an outstanding warrant for his arrest in relation to similar offences. Talbot is described as being six feet tall, 201 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Anyone who has information on his whereabouts is asked to call North Vancouver RCMP at (604) 9851311.

Record snowfall wallops Calgary in first storm of the season Wednesday, October 3, 2018, 8:30 AM The snow is gradually easing across Alberta, but Tuesday’s significant and record breaking WALLOP has certainly left its mark on the region. Calgary ground to a halt after nearly 40 cm of snow hammered the city, prompting appeals to neighbouring cities -and as far away as Edmonton -- for additional snow removal equipment. This early cold pattern however, is set to last through the first half of October, meaning these massive mounds of snow aren’t likely to go anywhere. Calgary is calling on its friends to help dig the city out of a recordbreaking October snowfall. Snow-clearing help is on the way from

Edmonton, Red Deer, Okotoks and Medicine Hat, bringing additional plows and sandspreaders to help make Calgary’s roads passable. “There’s a lot of work to be done, and

we’re going to need some help to get it going,” said Calgary Emergency Management Agency chief Tom Sampson. ‘Help is on the way!’ Edmonton sending snow plows to Calgary Bill Biensch, roads maintenance manager, said the city’s snow response typically starts on Oct. 15, but 85 per cent of contractors responded to the city’s call to start the snowclearing season early. There were 18 city graders, 16 hired graders and 42 sanders on the road by early afternoon. Accidents near Lac des Arcs shut down the Trans-Canada Highway in the afternoon, stranding motorists for hours. A section of the Trans-Canada Highway was shut down in the late afternoon. George Alvarez was one of those stranded motorists near Lac des Arcs just east of Canmore. “People are frustrated,” Alvarez told The Homestretch just before 5 p.m. MT. “I’ve left Banff at 10:30 this morning. I spoke to a truck driver who said there were a couple of semi-trucks that jackknifed at the top of the hill.” “I brought water and I had a couple of chocolate bars but I have eaten them now, so we will see what happens.” A snow route parking ban takes effect Wednesday at 10 a.m. MT. The ban is expected to last 72 hours.

Dairy industry fears ‘death by 1,000 cuts’ through new trade deal It’s been less than two weeks since dairy sector spokespeople from across Canada were asked how many of them believed the Trudeau government would defend their industry in trade talks. The prime minister had promised he would, right? Taking him at his word, all the farmers raised their hands. Dairy farmers to be compensated by time trade deal comes into force, Freeland says Freeland says landing a renegotiated NAFTA deal was always going to come down to the wire As of Monday afternoon, at least one of those spokespeople said he was still waiting to be briefed on the triple-whammy of concessions Canada just gave up in the new U.S.– Mexico–Canada trade agreement. Not only did Canadian dairy farmers lose an additional 3.6 per cent of their market — the part unnamed federal officials disclosed right away Sunday night — but the new deal also imposes unprecedented export controls and ends a dairy ingredient pricing system that was helping dairy processors compete without using cheap American imports.

LOCAL / NATIONAL

Saturday, October 6, 2018

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Quebec’s top court has ruled This is not something that can be Woman wearing hijab was entitled to testify, Quebec top court rules that a judge was wrong to deny done lightly because suppressing stems from sincere religious protect religious practice and a hearing to a woman wearing a hijab, sending or not defending the fundamental rights of expression to ensure that people belief. a message from the bench about religious Canadians, I think, is something we should “I’m relieved. I didn’t with “coercive functions” such as freedoms as the province heads into renewed be careful about.” do this for me, I did it for teachers, police and judges are debate over limiting displays of faith. Ms. El-Alloul, a 51-year-old mother everybody, because I didn’t dressed in a religiously neutral The judgment by the Quebec Court of of three, said Wednesday that she left the way. want them to face what Appeal on Wednesday ends a legal saga for courtroom in tears in 2015 when Quebec I did,” Ms. El-Alloul said In Ottawa Wednesday, Rania El-Alloul, who was told by a provincial Court Justice Eliana Marengo told her that in an interview. “I did it Prime Minister Justin Trudeau court judge three years ago that her Muslim she wouldn’t hear her case if Ms. El-Alloul because I felt it was my duty suggested that Mr. Legault’s headscarf violated the rules of courtroom wore a hijab. The issue made waves across Coalition Avenir Québec tread and my right.” The ruling decorum. Legault to use notwithstanding the country. At the time, Mr. Trudeau called lightly. comes as Quebec wades clause to ban religious symbols for civil the incident “unacceptable.” Ms. El-Alloul Rania El-Alloul into another controversy “As you know, I am not of the servants Legault gets ahead of himself on had gone to court to try to retrieve her car, over religious minorities and displays of view that the government should tell women the notwithstanding clause The three justices which had been impounded by the Quebec faith. Premier-designate François Legault, what they can or cannot wear,” Mr. Trudeau from Quebec’s highest court unanimously automobile insurance board after one of her elected on Monday, says he will use the said. “The notwithstanding clause should only found that the judge was off the mark − and sons was caught driving with a suspended notwithstanding clause of the Charter of Rights be used in exceptional cases and after much nothing in the rules forbids a woman from licence. and Freedoms to work around provisions that reflection and consideration on its impact. wearing a hijab in a courtroom if the practice

Toronto is segregated by race and income New demographic charts show a strikingly segregated city, with visible minorities concentrated in low-income neighbourhoods and white residents dominating affluent areas in numbers far higher than their share of the population. U of T professor David Hulchanski has done a lot of work on the city’s demographics, especially relating to income. U of T professor David Hulchanski has done a lot of work on the city’s demographics, especially relating to income. The new charts come from University of Toronto Prof. David Hulchanski and his research team, known for using census data to illustrate growing income inequality in the city. Their latest effort flags the role of discrimination in that inequality, with lopsided racial breakdowns that surprised the researchers. “It’s starker than we would expect,” Hulchanski said in an interview. Hulchanski revealed the new charts last week in the Netherlands at a conference called “Urban poverty and segregation in a globalized world.” Using the 2016 census, his team calculated that 48 per cent of Toronto’s census tracts are low-income neighbourhoods, where the average individual income is $32,000 before taxes.Fully 68 per cent of residents in these neighbourhoods are visible minorities while 31 per cent are white. (Whites make up 49 per cent of Toronto’s population.) The main ethno-cultural communities in these low-income neighbourhoods are all overrepresented compared to their share of the city’s population. Black residents, for example, are 9 per cent of the population but make up 13 per cent of

residents of low-income neighbourhoods. High-income neighbourhoods are almost a reverse image. They make up 23 per cent of Toronto’s census tracts, with average individual incomes of $102,000 before tax. Fully 73 per cent of residents in these neighbourhoods are white, far higher than their share of the city’s population. The rest are visible minorities, of whom only 3 per cent are Black. Whites are also overrepresented in middle-income neighbourhoods, where the average income is $49,000. “Money buys choice. And people with the most choice are choosing to live in certain areas,” Hulchanski says, explaining the disproportionately high concentration of white residents in high- and middle-income communities. Steve Gregg and Jen Roscoe were getting their wedding pictures shot in a Winnipeg park Saturday when Paul McCartney rode by. ‘Would you mind photobombing our wedding?’ Paul McCartney stumbles across Winnipeg couple during photo shoot at park Annie Kidder, executive director of advocacy group People for Education, says principals have expressed concern that management tasks have ending up overtaking learning tasks. Education takes back seat for principals overwhelmed by managing schools, report says Airports in Canada will allow passengers to carry up to 30 grams of cannabis in their luggage after legalization on Oct. 17. Can you bring weed onto domestic flights after legalization? Yep

Ontario Premier Doug Ford joins Jason Kenney for anti-carbon tax rally in Calgary Ontario’s premier is in Calgary Friday to attend an anti-carbon tax rally being held by Alberta’s United Conservative Party. Both Doug Ford, a Progressive Conservative, and UCP Leader Jason Kenney have been vocal opponents of the federal government’s plan to impose a price on carbon. Kenney, the leader of Alberta’s Official Opposition, has promised to repeal the province’s existing carbon tax if his party takes power next year. Ford tweeted Friday he’s attending the “Scrap the Carbon Tax” rally “to stand with Albertans who oppose the federal carbon tax. A tax that is designed to make everything more expensive.” Ontario joins Saskatchewan in opposing federal carbon tax plan

Jason Kenney, Ontario Premier Doug Ford to hold anti-carbon tax rally in Calgary Kenney said earlier this week having Ford join him for the rally shows Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that opposition to the federal tax is growing. “That’s to Alberta’s advantage and I think we need to solidify the alliances that are developing with other provinces,” Kenney said. Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci said Thursday those opposing the carbon tax don’t understand that to reduce emissions, you need to price them. “They’re not free, and we have a clear plan in place, a carbon levy is raising money, we’re diversifying in this province,” Ceci said.

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NATIONAL

Construction is going ahead on a massive, $40-billion liquefied natural gas project in northern BC., hours after five primary investors from five different countries granted their approval for the joint venture. The LNG Canada project will see a pipeline carrying natural gas from Dawson Creek in northeastern BC to a new processing plant on the coast in Kitimat. There, the gas would be liquefied for overseas export. A rendering of the proposed liquefied natural gas project in northern B.C. shows the processing terminal in Kitimat. All five primary investors have signed off on the project. On Tuesday, LNG Canada CEO Andy Calitz said the company is “immediately, today, moving into construction” on the pipeline and plant. He said project has already obtained all the necessary approvals to break ground,

Saturday, October 6, 2018

$40B LNG project in northern BC gets go-ahead including from the National Energy Board, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, BC Hydro as well as 25 First Nations. Prime Minister Trudeau announced a new 40 billion dollar liquefied natural gas project that will transport natural gas from Dawson Creek in northeastern BC to a Kitimat processing plant. 1:11 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the announcement represents the single largest private sector investment in Canadian history. “Today is a good day,” he said Tuesday.

Political, First Nations leaders react Trudeau, B.C. Premier John Horgan and other leaders held a news conference to make the official p r o j e c t announcement in Vancouver on Tuesday morning. “It’s certainly a great day for northern B r i t i s h C o l u m b i a ,” Horgan said. “I can’t tell you how proud I am. I can’t stop smiling.” B.C. Premier John Horgan speaks at the official announcement around the approval

of LNG Canada’s joint venture project in B.C. The B.C. ministries of Finance and Energy have estimated the project would generate $22 billion in direct government revenue over the next 40 years. The project is also expected to employ as many as 10,000 people in its construction and up to 950 in full-time jobs. The Kitimat plant will be within the traditional territory of the Haisla Nation. Trudeau thanked that nation, as well as others in B.C., for their “leadership” in getting the project approved. Final approval has been given for a $40-billion liquefied natural gas plant and pipeline for Northern B.C. The 670-kilometre pipeline will run natural gas from Dawson Creek to the plant in Kitimat, which will liquefy and export the gas to Asia.

Quebec’s premier-designate François Legault to use notwithstanding clause to ban civil servants from using religious symbols Quebec’s premier-designate says he is prepared to invoke the notwithstanding clause to enforce a prohibition on any public employee from wearing a religious symbol such as a hijab or kippa in the workplace. François Legault would also move swiftly to reduce the number of immigrants allowed into the province by 20 per cent. He made the comments Tuesday, at his first news conference since his Coalition Avenir Québec won a decisive majority in Monday’s provincial election, beating out the incumbent Liberals. In his opening remarks, Legault emphasized that making improvements to health care and education would be the immediate priorities for his government. But when asked by reporters about the notwithstanding clause and his immigration policy, he didn’t back down. “I think that the vast majority of Quebecers, they would like to have a framework where people in an authority position must not wear a religious sign,” Legault said. Political leaders generally have been reluctant to use the notwithstanding clause, which is viewed by many as politically perilous. However, just last month, new Ontario Premier Doug Ford threatened to use the constitutional provision to override an Ontario Superior Court ruling that struck down the government’s bill shrinking the size of Toronto city council on the grounds that it violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Ontario Court of Appeal later stayed the lower court decision, allowing Ford to proceed with the reduction ahead of an Oct. 22 municipal election. The CAQ wants to pass a secular charter that would go further than the Quebec Liberals’ religious neutrality law, which is already the subject of a constitutional challenge. The right-of-centre party, which has never before held power in Quebec, opposes the wearing of religious symbols, including the hijab, by police officers and others who wield coercive state power. Legault said Tuesday he would offer those affected, including teachers, “jobs in offices for people who want to keep wearing a religious sign.” His pledges to ensure the religious neutrality is one of several significant changes Quebecers can

expect under a CAQ government. Legault also vowed to move forward on his vow to reduce the number of immigrants, saying more needs to be done to ensure they are integrated and learn French. During the election campaign, Legault struggled to explain how his policy would be implemented, given that the province only controls the number of economic immigrants it takes in, while the federal government controls the number of refugees and the family reunification program. Legault said he would fulfil a campaign pledge to raise the legal age limit for cannabis from 18 to 21, though not before it becomes legal across Canada for recreational use this month. He also promised to go ahead with a promise to abolish school boards and replace them with service centres, another move likely to face a court challenge from anglophone groups that argue it would infringe on their rights. In the past, Legault has said he would be prepared to invoke the notwithstanding clause on that matter as well. Legault added that he wants to talk with the federal government about the new trade pact and its impact on the province’s dairy farmers, who have denounced the deal. Speaking in English, Legault, a former member of Parti Québécois who has set aside the debate over sovereignty, stressed that he is prepared to work with Ottawa. “I want to assure the rest of Canada of my will to build a stronger Quebec within Canada in a win-win relationship,” he said. But his immediate focus, he said, would be education, health care and helping grow the province’s already booming economy. Legault said he would improve the condition of the province’s schools, provide more resources for children with special needs and improve access to family doctors. In the Quebec election, the CAQ capitalized on an appetite for change among voters to propel the party to a majority government. The party did so, however, with a historically low level of the popular vote. Despite benefiting from the province’s firstpast-the-post system, Legault said he would honour a pledge to introduce legislation that would bring proportional representation to the province in the coming year.

Saturday, October 6, 2018

Andrew Scheer urges policy change to stop ‘horrific’ offenders like McClintic from going to healing lodges Conservative leader Andrew Scheer is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to change the rules that allowed a convicted child-killer to be transferred from prison to an Aboriginal healing lodge after serving less than half the time required to become eligible for parole. In an interview with The West Block‘s Mercedes Stephenson, Scheer said the former Conservative government changed the rules to stop convicted killers Paul Bernardo and Clifford Olson from getting benefits like conjugal visits and pensions and that the Liberals must do the same now. “What we are calling on the government to do is issue a policy directive where people who’ve been convicted of these types of heinous, horrific crimes are not eligible to be held in a facility like this,” Scheer said. Terri-Lynne McClintic is serving a life sentence for the murder of eight-year-old Tori Stafford in 2009, a crime for which she was convicted along with her thenboyfriend Michael Rafferty. McClintic is not eligible for parole until she has served at least 25 years of her sentence; she has currently served less than 10 years. Stafford’s family revealed last week that McClintic was transferred to an Aboriginal healing lodge in December 2017. Rodney Stafford, Tori’s father, said he couldn’t understand the decision, saying it called into question “what’s wrong with the justice system.” While Scheer and fellow Conservatives called repeatedly for Public Safety Minister

Ralph Goodale to reverse the transfer, a memo prepared by the Department of Justice and obtained by Global News said the minister did not have the legal authority to intervene directly in the decision. Transfer of Tori Stafford’s killer to Aboriginal healing lodge will be reviewed; victim’s father slams transfer His authority instead lies in the ability to direct operational policies, strategic goals and priorities for the correctional agency. Goodale said last week that he had tasked Correctional Service of Canada commissioner Anne Kelly with reviewing the transfer decision as well as whether the policies that allowed McClintic to be moved should be changed. Scheer wouldn’t say whether he would support legislation from the Liberals to change the rules but said he wants to see McClintic back in prison. “I would support measures that make sure McClintic is back behind bars,” he said. “They have a wide variety of tools available to them. If they have ideas, I’d love to hear them.” A motion is set to be put before the House of Commons on Tuesday asking the government to condemn the transfer of McClintic to a healing lodge and send her back to prison. It is not clear how long the review of McClintic’s transfer, which is currently underway, will take or whether the government plans to introduce legislation as a result.

Chrysita Freeland says landing a renegotiated NAFTA deal was always going to come down to the wire Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said that if it was ever going to be possible to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement she believed a deal would only happen at the last possible moment. “We had a bit of, we didn’t actually bet on this, but there was a conversation inside the team of when in September it would happen and I think it’s fair for me now to reveal I’ve always thought it would happen on Sunday night,” Freeland told CBC’s The National. “I always thought it wouldn’t be finally finalized until the 11th hour,” she told host Rosemary Barton. Freeland said, that despite the challenge ahead of her, and the expected drama to come, that NAFTA — now renamed the U.S.-

Mexico-Canada Agreement, USMCA — was a trading relationship that worked, was beneficial to all three partners, and that “economic logic ultimately does prevail” “So I was really, really, ultimately, in my heart, serene about the outcome,” she said. There were two key moments along the way that signaled to Freeland a deal was not only possible, but likely. The first, she said, came when the U.S. backed down from its opening position on the rules of origin for the auto industry. “The Americans had started off demanding 50 per cent U.S. domestic content in cars and car parts. That would have been devastating for Canada, and so we just had to say no.”

Trudeau appointss Indigenous advocate and G7 organizer to the Senate Three new members are being added to the Senate, including the top official who organized this year’s tumultuous G7 summit in Quebec and an award-winning journalist from Edmonton. In a statement, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the three appointees “have gained a deep appreciation and understanding of this country” through their work. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stands in the House of Commons during question period on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday. The Kitchener, Ont.-born Peter Boehm retired from the public service just last month after a career that included organizing international events and being the senior official in charge of the annual North American Leaders’ Summit. His career culminated with a role as Trudeau’s personal representative to the G7 summit in Charlevoix, Que., last June. The G7 ended on sour note when comments Trudeau made about trade led to a Twitter tirade

from an airborne U.S. President Donald Trump. Paula Simons, who fills a vacant seat in Alberta, will be familiar to many in the province. Simons is a former political columnist and reporter with the Edmonton Journal, and she has won multiple national and provincial awards for her work. Patti LaBoucane-Benson fills another vacant seat in Alberta. A Métis, LaBoucaneBenson is director of research at the Native Counselling Services of Alberta. A key focus of her work has been to increase Indigenous Peoples’ awareness of their legal rights and responsibilities. The appointments bring to 43 the number of senators named to the upper chamber by Trudeau. The Liberals changed the process for Senate appointments after coming to office and now require prospective senators to apply for the position and be vetted by an outside panel. The final decision about who to name to the upper chamber rests with the government.

NATIONAL

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INDIA

Saturday, October 6, 2018

Rupee falls 44 paise to hit new low of 73.77 against US dollar The rupee collapsed to a fresh low of 73.77 against the US dollar on Thursday, as global oil prices continued to rise, deepening concerns about the current account deficit and capital outflows. Consistent dollar demand from importers, mainly oil refiners, following higher crude oil prices, kept the rupee under pressure. Meanwhile, state-owned oil marketing companies have been allowed to raise USD 10 billion from overseas market to meet their working capital needs.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened lower and slipped further to a fresh low of 73.77 a dollar against 73.34, a fall of 43 paise. The domestic currency closed at a record low of 73.34, down by 43 paise or 0.59 per cent on Wednesday. The international benchmark Brent crude breached the US 86 per barrel level, near its four-year high. The benchmark Sensex plunged by 527.94 points, or 1.39 per cent, to 35,447.69 in morning deals.

Heavy rain warning for Kerala, Tamil Nadu Less than two months after devastating floods in Kerala and parts of Tamil Nadu, the Met Department has warned of another spell in the two states over the next few days. The Met said the two states are likely to witness ‘fairly widespread rains and thundershowers with heavy or very heavy rains at isolated places over the next four-five days. “The ghats of Tamil Nadu and Kerala are also likely to experience isolated extremely heavy falls around October 7,” it said. = ‘Crisis’ in Cong online unit, party says chief hasn’t quit

New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday rejected reports that party’s social media head Divya Spandana had resigned. Congress media head Randeep Surjewala said there was no “truth in the assertion that Spandana had quit her post”. The speculation arose after Spandana deleted portions saying “Handling Congress social media” from her Twitter profile and reposted the same after some time. A section of Congress is not happy with Spandana and the direction in which she is steering the party’s social media strategy.

Rafale fighter jet will be game-changer, says IAF chief Dhanoa Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa on Wednesday said the Rafale fighter jet would be a “game changer” once it came and would be a “booster dose” for the IAF. Addressing a press conference ahead of Air Force Day here, the Air Chief Marshal was replying to a question on the purchase of Rafale when he said the government took a “bold step” in deciding on its purchase. About the major concerns for the IAF, he said, “The depleting fighter jets is an issue. The signing of 83 Tejas, 36 Rafale besides Sukhoi-30 will arrest the drop down from the existing 31 squadrons.” The IAF currently has 31 squadrons as against the 42 mandated by

the government for a two-front war. On being asked about China, he said they were watching the development of infrastructure and had a plan to counter that. The IAF chief denied that the 50 fighter jets in Tibet were a threat. He refused to comment if the Rafale, after the recent controversy, could be ruled out as a contender for the forthcoming tender to get 110 fighter jets. He said the IAF was consulted at the “appropriate level” while deciding getting only 36 and not the planned 126 Rafale jets. On the HAL not being chosen, he said it is the corporate decision of HAL. He thanked the HAL saying it was due to them that the Gagan Shakti exercise was such a success.

Mayawati says no pact with Cong for MP & Rajasthan election Congress’ desire for statewide alliances to prevent the division of anti-BJP votes suffered a setback today with the Bahujan Samaj Party deciding to go it alone in electionbound Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. BSP chief Mayawati made the announcement in Lucknow, saying certain Congress leaders were acting as saboteurs to the proposed alliance. She blamed former Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh squarely for failed talks and said she was under no pressure of CBI and ED as Singh had been going around saying. “Digvijay Singh, who is also a BJP agent, is giving statements that Mayawatiji has a lot of pressure from the Centre so she doesn’t want this alliance. This is baseless,” said Mayawati. The Dalit satrap, however, left one door open for a potential 2019 Lok Sabha alliance with the Congress when she said she never doubted the intentions of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi on the alliance issue. “I feel Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi’s intentions for a Congress-BSP alliance are honest. However, some Congress

leaders are sabotaging this,” she said, attacking the Congress for its “arrogance” and “failure to rectify mistakes”. She argued that the Congress, like the BJP, wanted to finish off the BSP. The BSP supremo had earlier rejected Congress overtures in Chhattisgarh, choosing to ally with former Congress leader Ajit Jogi. Even in Madhya Pradesh, where Congress unit chief Kamal Nath was sure of striking a deal with the BSP, Mayawati declared candidates for 22 seats. Digvijaya Singh, who heads the Congress coordination committee for MP, today said he was for the alliance but the BSP chief never wanted one. “She declared candidates in MP even while our talks were underway,” Singh said. Mayawati’s announcement to go solo in MP and Rajasthan comes a day after the Congress Working Committee described the grand old party as the only “party embodying values of Bharat”. With the Congress placing itself at the head of potential alliances in states or in the 2019 General Election, other Opposition leaders may decide to re-strategise.

Kerala High Court dismisses Bishop’s bail petition Kerala High Court today dismissed the bail plea of Roman Catholic Bishop Franco Mulakkal, arrested over allegations of repeatedly raping and sexually assaulting a nun. Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan dismissed the bail plea while accepting the prosecution argument that the accused, holding a high position in society, will try to influence witnesses in the case if granted bail. The court also took note of the submission by the prosecution that the investigation in the case was at a crucial stage and more statements of fellow nuns have to be recorded before the magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC in connection with the case.

The Bishop moved the High Court after a magistrate court in Pala rejected his bail application. He is currently under judicial remand in a sub-jail at Pala in Kottayam district. In her complaint to the Kottayam police in June, the nun had alleged that Bishop Mulakkal raped her at a guest house in Kuravilangad in May 2014 and later sexually exploited her on several occasions. The nun said she had to approach the police as church authorities did not act on her repeated complaints against the clergyman. However, the Bishop has denied the charges.

MSP for rabi crops hiked by up to 21% after farmers’ protest A day after farmers laid siege at its doorsteps, the Centre today announced a Rs 105 per quintal hike in the support price of key rabi crop wheat to take it up from Rs 1,735 a quintal in 2017-18 to Rs 1,840 a quintal for the 2018-19 season. While the government claimed the new wheat MSP would give farmers “112.5 per cent extra return” over its cost of production, farmers rejected what they called was a “meagre” 6.1 per cent hike over last year’s support price. Persisting on their demand for implementation of the “real” C2+50 formula, farmer leaders called it yet another “betrayal by an anti-farmer

government as the cost of production was much higher than what was being claimed”. However, terming the MSP announcement as a “big boost to farmers’ income by way of higher support price for all rabi crops, including barley, gram, pulses and oil seeds,” Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said the initiative would provide farmers “additional income of Rs 62,635 crore and more than 50 per cent return over the cost of production”. According to the government, the support price includes “all paid-out costs like those incurred on account of hired human labour, bullock labour/machine labour, rent paid

PUNJAB

Saturday, October 6, 2018

Resolve issues faced by Sikhs abroad: SGPC to Guterres The 1984 genocide, identity crisis of Sikhs in foreign countries, visa-free access to Kartarpur Sahib corridor and racial attacks were the issues put forth by the SGPC to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres during his maiden visit to the Golden Temple on Wednesday. The UN Secretary General paid obeisance and spent over 40 minutes inside the shrine complex. He was received by SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal, Union Minister of State Hardeep Puri and Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal. The dignitary said the visit had increased his admiration for the Sikh community. “Sikhs are contributing to development in every part of the world. I want to express my deep respect for the religion and the

wonderful Golden Temple, in which the spirit of peace, tolerance and ecumenism is present. I prayed here as a Catholic but all people, from all religions in the world, can pray here. Unfortunately, there are not many temples in the world where this is possible,” he said. He also visited the Akal Takht and listened to its significance told by SGPC member Kiranjot Kaur and information officer Amritpal Singh. Later, the SGPC president presented him a replica of the Golden Temple, a shawl and a set of religious literature. Before leaving, Guterres wrote in the visitors’ book, “I pay tributes to the Sikh community worldwide and I express my deep respect for this holy place where all religions are accepted.”

Punjab govt comes up with own IELTS With the youth in Punjab, nothing sells like Canada. Hoping to tap into the emigration craze, the state Education Department has come up with a plan to improve their English skills by launching a programme called the ‘IELTS’. Only in this case it stands for “Interactive English Language Training for Students”. The acronym plays on the language testing exam prescribed by several countries for immigrants, the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). Coaching for the IELTS exam has become a roaring industry in the state. Even as Bindu Gulati, Assistant Director of the State Council of Education Research and Training that has designed the programme, says they do not claim to help students emigrate, the fact is that the course is designed such that it will improve their chances of success with the test. The free coaching is set to start for class XI and XII students in around 1,000 government senior secondary schools from November 1. The programme will make use of existing faculty. There are already 46 teachers on the department rolls especially trained in Canada in the teaching of English. They are conducting workshops in districts to train other teachers. In 2014, 50 teachers were sent to Canada by then CM Parkash Singh Badal specially to learn

Realtor shoots himself dead A 44-year-old property dealer allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself with a pistol at his residence here this evening. The deceased, identified as Vineet Thukral, a resident of Spangle Heights in Dhakoli, shot himself in the head with a pistol of his friend that he had brought from Delhi. The police are yet to establish whether the weapon was licensed. The police said Vineet, who hailed from Gurugram, had shifted to Dhakoli six months ago and was staying with his family. The police received information about the incident at 6 pm and rushed to the spot. The pistol used in the incident and a suicide note alleging harassment at the hands of a financier were recovered from the spot, said the police, adding that the body had been sent for a postmortem to the Civil Hospital, Dera Bassi. Though a probe is underway to ascertain the reason behind the extreme step, it has been learnt that Vineet was upset as a financier, Yogesh Vohra, a resident of Delhi, was harassing him for the past several days. Upset with the harassment, Vineet locked himself in his room this evening and reportedly shot himself in the head, said sources. The victim’s wife and their 15-yearold daughter were at home when the incident took place.

IELTS coaching; four have since retired. Their services, however, were never utilised till now.

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Cabinet approves policy for regularising colonies The Punjab Cabinet today approved the much-awaited policy to regularise unauthorised colonies developed before March 19 this year. The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. The move will give an opportunity to colonisers or residents who have failed to apply for either getting their unauthorised colonies regularised or unauthorised plots or buildings falling in unauthorised colonies compounded under previous policies, or whose application are pending. Fresh applications will also be considered. Nearly 7,000 applications were received by the Housing and Local Bodies Departments. However, only 1,300 were regularised and the remaining were rejected on account of technical inconsistencies or non-payment of dues. Rural Development Minister Tript Rajinder Bajwa said the policy — “The

Punjab Laws (Special Provisions for Regularisation of Unauthorised Colony) Bill, 2018” —would enable residents living in these colonies to get facilities of basic civic amenities such as water supply, sewerage, electricity and road connectivity. Under the policy, the government has waived off Rs 143 crore due as interest on the pending dues of the colonisers. The minister said the charges thus received from the regularisation of a particular colony would be used for providing basic infrastructure to that specific colony only and payment of charges will be made in instalments. Besides, committees of officers will be constituted for quick regularisation of colonies as well as plots falling in these unauthorised colonies.

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INDIA

Saturday, October 6, 2018

Made in India coronary stents as good as foreign ones: Study Indigenously made coronary stents are as good as those manufactured in other countries by multinational companies, according to a recent scientific study. The study’s findings were presented at the prestigious international conference on Non Surgical Cardiac interventions—TCT (Trans Catheter Interventions)—on September 22 in San Diego, USA. The randomised trial, which involved around 1,500 patients, was conducted in various countries of Europe and monitored by an international reputed clinical research organisation (CRO), Cardialysis. The scientific study had the acronym TALENT. The study dispels the perception among many doctors and patients that stents made in India may not be as safe and efficacious as those manufactured in foreign countries. The TALENT trial was conceived by Prof Upendra Kaul, a well known interventional cardiologist who is currently the chairman

of Batra Heart Centre, New Delhi, and Prof Patrick Serruys, an internationally acclaimed researcher in this field from the Netherlands. Coronary stents are devices made of metal, usually chromium cobalt and coated with polymers and drug to treat blocked coronary arteries and also with a good and safe long term performance. In the randomised trial conducted to compare an India made stent Supraflex with the world leader Xience stent from Abbott Vascular, the Supraflex sirolimuseluting coronary stent manufactured by SMT in Surat emerged to be as good as the Xience stent made in Europe and the USA. The study was sufficiently powered to give the final answer regarding non-inferiority of the Supraflex sirolimus-eluting stent versus the best-in class Xience stent from Abbott. The study was done in all comers with no exclusions, Prof Kaul said.

India ignores US threat; buys S-400 missiles from Russia India on Friday ignored threats by the US to impose sanctions and went ahead with the deal to procure the S-400 ‘Triumph’ air defence missiles from Russia. An Indo-Russian joint statement after the Narendra Modi-Vladimir Putin meet in New Delhi said, “Both sides welcomed the conclusion of the contract for the supply of the S-400 Long Range Surface to Air Missile System to India.” The deal was inked sometime in the morning. The reaction of the US will be known later. India is buying five systems costing some US $ 5.4 billion. These will provide ‘umbrella coverage’ against any airborne threats like fighter jets, missiles, UAVs, etc. The S-400 missile system (radars on ground) can track some 300 targets and then guide missiles to shoot down around three dozen targets simultaneously over a range of 400-600 kilometres.

The sensitive radars of the system are able to detect even stealth aircraft which are often impossible for other systems to track. For example, S-400 systems deployed in a city like Jalandhar in Punjab can track aircraft flying well over Islamabad and Peshawar in Pakistan. The move to get the missiles comes even as the US has passed the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) that requires imposing curbs on nations that have “significant” defence relations with Russia.

Why India’s largest solar tender got tepid response India’s plan to push solar farm developers to also make photovoltaic panels received a tepid response, forcing the government to extend the deadline for the largest such auction the second time. The tender asking developers to also make 50 percent of the panels used in a project attracted only one bidder in Azure Power, according to a person aware of the matter who didn’t wish to be identified. BloombergQuint wasn’t able to independently verify that, and emailed queries to the company didn’t elicit a response. The last day to submit the bids has been extended till Oct. 12, according to a statement by the state-run Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd. It had earlier extended the first Aug. 27 deadline by a month. While it didn’t give reasons, a senior official from the corporation said requesting anonymity that players sought more time to tie up with global manufacturers for bidding. India plans to more than quadruple its solar capacity to 100 gigawatts by 2022. That’s part of its 175GW renewable energy target

by then to help lower fossil fuel imports and meet emission caps under the Paris agreement. To boost local manufacturing, it has already imposed a safeguard duty on solar cells imported from China and Malaysia that, according to a parliamentary panel, account for 90 percent of the market share. The integrated power generation and panel making auction is also aimed at that. But costs can be prohibitive. Bloomberg New Energy Finance pegs it at $200-300 million (about Rs 1,400-2,100 crore) per gigawatt for setting up a fully integrated module making facility, depending on the level of automation. That will be over and above the solar project cost of Rs 7000 crore per gigawatt, according to Kameswara Rao, partner (energy, utilities and mining) at PwC. An integrated solar manufacturing facility requires a very large capital expenditure and has limited applications, he told BloombergQuint over the phone.

US names Babbar Khalsa among separatist movements that pose risk to its interests The US has named Sikh militant group Babbar Khalsa among the separatist movements that pose a risk to American interests overseas by conducting assassinations and bombings against major economic, political and social targets. Babbar Khalsa International seeks, through violent means, to establish its own independent state in India and is responsible for significant terrorist attacks in India and elsewhere that have claimed the lives of innocent civilians, according to the Trump administration’s new National Strategy for Counterterrorism unveiled by the White House on Thursday. The direct reference to Babbar Khalsa, an international terrorist organisation and banned by several countries, including the US, Canada and India, assumes significance because its minuscule support base in North America. In recent months, the Indian government is believed to have raised with the Trump administration the issue of separatist Sikhs using the US as a platform to gain global traction. In its strategy paper, the White House said there is a broad range of revolutionary, nationalist, and separatist movements overseas whose use of violence and intent to destabilise societies often puts American lives at risk.

“Such groups may avoid or deprioritise targeting United States interests for now to avoid detracting from their core goals but frequently conduct assassinations and bombings against major economic, political, and social targets, heightening the risk to United States personnel and interests overseas,” the strategy said. Among others, the White House said the Nordic Resistance Movement is a prominent transnational, self-described nationalist-socialist organisation with antiWestern views that has conducted violent attacks against Muslims, left-wing groups, and others. The group has demonstrated against United States Government actions it perceives are supportive of Israel and has the potential to extend its targeting to US interests, it said. “Similarly, the neo-Nazi National Action Group, a terrorist organisation that was banned by the United Kingdom in 2016 for its promotion of violence against politicians and minorities, operates mainly in the United Kingdom but has engaged with like-minded groups in the United States, Estonia, France, Germany, Latvia, and Poland — expanding the potential influence of its violent ideology,” the strategy said.

Saturday, October 6, 2018

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SOUTH ASIA

Saturday, October 6, 2018 Why US-Indo Pacific command should be concerned about Chinese In May 2018 the United States military renamed the “U.S. Pacific Command” to the “U.S. IndoPacific Command” in a largely symbolic gesture as no significant policy changes or shifts in military activity have been announced in conjunction with the move to rename. However, the lack of necessary policy and action items to accompany this step should be an item of legitimate concern as words without action create Paper Tigers. The aggressive military build-up of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the South China Sea, and the ongoing conflict this has created with the United States and others in the region, has been the focus of a substantial amount of attention by U.S. foreign policy-

makers and U.S. armed forces in the IndoPacific Command region for several years now. The Indian Ocean Region (IOR), by contrast, has neither been a region of serious concern for Washington nor an arena of significant action for the U.S. armed forces at any point in recent memory, a circumstance only propelling the PRC to establish themselves as a regional hegemon en route to global ambitions. The Indian Ocean Region spans from the western shores of Sumatra, Indonesia, to the coasts of Mozambique in sub-Saharan Africa, the ladder of which is a part of a continent regarded as one of the globe’s last economic and strategic frontiers.

US ‘unlikely to change’ policy on suspension of aid to Pak The US is unlikely to revoke the suspension of aid to Pakistan until it sees substantial progress against terrorists and their safe havens, the Trump administration has told Islamabad as top officials of the two countries met here to try to reset their strained ties. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton, during their separate meetings with Pakistan’s new Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, are understood to have told him that in its assessment, the US does not see any changes on the ground when it comes to taking action against terrorists operating from the Pakistani soil. Given Pakistan’s influence over the Taliban, the Trump administration also wants it to bring them to the negotiating table to end the nearly 17-year-long strife. Secretary Pompeo met Qureshi yesterday following up on their September 5 discussions in Islamabad on a range of

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bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest. Welcoming the Foreign Minister, Pompeo said the US looked forward to working with Pakistan’s new government, according to State Department’s Spokesperson Heather Nauert. Pompeo discussed the importance of the US and Pakistan working together to advance joint priorities, recognising that the bilateral cooperation was mutually beneficial and a factor for stability in South Asia. Pompeo underscored a common goal to advance peace and security in the broader region, Nauert said. The situation in wartorn Afghanistan dominated the separate meetings Qureshi held with Bolton and Pompeo. Qureshi met Bolton for 40 minutes at the White House before heading to the State Department for another meeting with Pompeo. The second meeting was also attended by Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua and Ambassador Ali Jehangir Siddiqui. In a readout, the Embassy of Pakistan

Wife of former Malaysian PM arrested Rosmah Mansor, the flamboyant wife of Malaysia’s former prime minister, was arrested on Wednesday by the country’s antigraft agency over a multi-billiondollar scandal that helped to bring down the last government. Probe into the alleged looting of state fund 1MDB by an audacious international fraud ring have already seen her husband Najib Razak hit with more than two dozen charges including

corruption and money laundering. “Rosmah has been arrested,” her lawyer K. Kumaraendran said after she was questioned for hours at the Malaysian AntiCorruption Commission (MACC) on Wednesday. The MACC in a statement said it arrested Rosmah, 66, in relation to money laundering investigations after getting approval from state prosecutors.

Bangladesh to consider amending law seen curbing free speech Bangladesh will consider making changes to a proposed law that journalists and countries such as the United States say could suppress free speech, a government minister said on Sunday after a meeting with a group of editors. The South Asian nation’s parliament passed the Digital Security Act on Sept. 19, combining the colonial-era Official Secrets Act with tough new provisions such as allowing police to arrest individuals without a warrant. It would have come into force with the signature of President Abdul Hamid ahead of a general election expected in December. But Anisul Huq, Bangladesh’s law, justice and parliamentary affairs minister, said the concerns

will be raised in Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s cabinet. He did not say when that could happen. “We had a detailed discussion with representatives of the Editors’ Council and took serious note of their concerns,” Huq told Reuters. “We assured them that if the cabinet agrees, then we may make some amendments. We will also take some measures to make (some of the contentious) sections clear that those will not target the journalist community or silence their voices to reveal the truth.” The government will again meet with the journalists once the matter is taken up in cabinet, Huq said.

Bangladesh delays plan to shift Rohingya to remote island Bangladesh has postponed plans to begin relocating Rohingya Muslims to a remote island, officials said Monday, amid staunch opposition to the controversial idea among refugees living near the Myanmar border. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was slated to open the new settlement built to house 100,000 refugees on Bhashan Char on October 3, despite warnings the silty strip was prone to violent weather. But a spokesman for Bangladesh’s armed forces, which has overseen the

$280 million-effort to transform the muddy islet into a habitable camp, said the opening ceremony had been delayed. “We will announce a new date soon,” Lieutenant Colonel Alamgir Kabir told AFP, without providing further details. The controversial plan, first floated in 2015, was already well behind schedule. Officials previously said they wanted to start moving refugees from overcrowded camps near the border with Myanmar to the island in June, before the monsoon season began.

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FIJI

Saturday, October 6, 2018

NFP challenges Bainimarama to campaign on facts National Federation Party (NFP) president Pio Tikoduadua says Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama should campaign based on facts and not fear. Mr Tikoduadua made the above comment in response to a statement made by Mr Bainimarama this week after the issue of the Writ for Election. “On Monday, the Prime Minister told a news media organisation after the issuance of Writ for Elections that people should vote for ‘the right party’ to avoid ‘going back to 2000’,” Mr Tikoduadua said. “He knows, and everybody knows, what he is saying — the PM is campaigning on fear. “The PM is saying that there will only be political stability if people vote for his party. One day before this statement, the PM said that his party would campaign on ‘facts, not lies’.”

Mr Tikoduadua claimed Mr Bainimarama was the same man who spoke about the “spirit of talanoa” when he was overseas, and then practises the politics of fear when he comes home. “The general election campaign is just beginning. “We have told the people what we will do — $5 an hour wage rate, $100 a tonne, 15 VAT-free items, housing, education, health. “And he is telling us is to vote for the right party. So this is my challenge to the PM, do what you said you would do. “Campaign on facts, not fear,” he said. Mr Bainimarama told this newspaper yesterday that his party would campaign like it did during the 2014 General Election.

The Chinese are not taking over Fiji - Sayed-Khaiyum We are not sinking, the Chinese are not taking over as Rabuka has said and we have borrowed some money from the Chinese government but very little from what they are saying. FijiFirst General Secretary Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said this in response to a question by Sasawira resident Elenoa Rabuli at the FijiFirst Party campaign meeting at the Hanuman Gadi Temple Hall in Nakasi. Rabuli said that last week NFP had said that the government owes a large amount of money and she wants to ask if this is true.

Sayed-Khaiyum says the government owes money and all governments in Fiji have borrowed money. He says 99.99% of all governments borrow money because government does not run a business on profit. He says if money is borrowed to build a four lane road and put electricity in Sasawira, do a subdivision in Sasawira and get people 99 year leases, that is good borrowing and good debt. Sayed-Khaiyum says all the previous governments in Fiji have borrowed money.

Teacher gets 7 years jail for sexual assault A 43-YEAR-OLD former school teacher was today sentenced to seven years imprisonment by the Nausori Magistrates Court. The teacher was convicted of one count of sexual assault and two counts of indecent assault by Magistrate Shageeth Somaratne. The court heard that the teacher asked a 14-year-old student to meet him to discuss about running techniques. Magistrate Somaratne said trusting the man, the victim went to see him in his

workshop and he took her to the storeroom where he indecently and sexually assaulted her. The incident occurred between February 27, 2017 and March 15, 2017 in Nausori.“When a teacher takes advantage of this trusted position to satisfy his depraved sexual impulse, there is a natural sense of public outrage,” said Magistrate Somaratne. A non-parole period of five years has been set.

Businessman jailed for receiving stolen items A S long as the black market is available in the country, the offences related to properties like theft, unlawful home invasions and robberies are going to flourish. This was the comment of Nausori Magistrate Shageeth Somaratne when sentencing Nausori Businessman, Ajay Shashikant Pala to 26 months imprisonment earlier this afternoon. The courts found him guilty for one count of receiving stolen items. The 45-year-old man is operating a jewellery shop in Nausori. Magistrate Somaratne said Pala dishonestly obtained stolen jewelleries

valued at $52,900 between November 30, 2013, and February 8, 2014, in Nausori. He adds that the evidence showed that one Delana was stealing from the complainant’s house and Pala was encouraging him to get more gold jewelleries from that place. “Even though the monetary value can be replaced with time, these items can’t be recovered as you have melted them for your business,” said Magistrate Somaratne. A nonparole period of 20 months has been set.

US is the largest positive balance of trade for Fiji - Chetty U.S.A is the largest positive balance of trade for Fiji, this means that Fiji exports more than it imports from the United States of America and has contributed a $227.8m surplus in 2017 to Fiji’s balance of trade. This was revealed by Investment Fiji Manager Investment Kamal Chetty while presenting at the USA-Pacific Islands Trade Seminar at USP this morning. Chetty also highlighted that another relationship that can be further explored is tourism as the U.S is the third largest contributor to tourism arrivals in Fiji and is the second largest average tourist spender in Fiji. He also revealed that in 2013-2017 a total of 127 projects were registered with Investment Fiji from U.S traders worth $910m in the sectors of services, tourism and agriculture, indicating the great interest of U.S traders

in these areas in Fiji. Chetty says that in terms of exports from Fiji to the U.S a total of 153 exporters export their products to the U.S. adding that the U.S gets 26.8 percent of total exports that include products such as mineral water, sugar, tuna and kava. He says that the U.S is the seventh largest country Fiji imports from contributing 2.9 percent of the total import value which is about $142m with major imports including car parts and motor vehicles. Meanwhile U.S Assistant Trade Representative Edward Gresser says that Fiji remains to be one the top nations that the U.S imports from. Gresser also highlighted that the U.S imports a total of $12.6m of Cane Sugar, $13.2m of Ginger and $1.4m of fresh or chilled Taro from Fiji in 2017. He says that U.S exports from Fiji has increased by 72 percent from 2017-2018.

Former employee of Fiji Bureau of Statistics facing corruption related charges appears in the Suva Magistrates Court A former employee of the Fiji Bureau of Statistics appeared in the Suva Magistrates Court this afternoon facing corruption related charges. FICAC has charged 37 year old Kelera Nokelevu with a count each of obtaining financial advantage and using forged documents. The court was told that Nokelevu allegedly falsified receipts for the hire of vehicles and obtained $1,588 from the Fiji Bureau of Statistics. It is also alleged that she used documents which she knew were forged for the hire of vehicles. The alleged

incidents occurred between 1st November to 31st December, 2015. The court was also told that Nokelevu appeared before the Public Service Disciplinary Tribunal last year. Magistrate, Waleen George has recused herself from the case as she informed the court that she is a member of the Public Service Disciplinary Tribunal. She has transferred the matter to Chief Magistrates Court which will be called on the 25th of this month. Nokelevu has been released on bail.

FSC exported US$1.2 million worth of Fairtrade sugar to Europe Fiji Sugar Corporation’s Board Chairman Vishnu Mohan says last month they exported US$1.2 million worth of Fairtrade sugar to Europe. He says this directly benefitted their three cane producer associations and FSC will continue to work towards getting good rewards for the growers like this Fairtrade sales deal. While speaking at the 2018 Grower Talanoa Session at Drasa, Lautoka today, Mohan highlighted that this year the government has increased its financial support to the industry from $60 million to $62.3 million to allow the subsidies to farmers to continue into next year.

He says the long-term cane production target is 3.5 million tonnes so 2 million tonnes for the next crop would be a good start. Mohan also told the growers that FSC is now aggressively pursuing joint ventures and recently they had a ground-breaking ceremony at Nasarawaqa in Bua, who are coming on board with sugar cane farming. FSC’s Chairman says this is a game-changer for the industry and it will only get better from here on and also stated that if there are lapsed growers or landowners who have land and want to come back to sugar cane farming, they will welcome them with open arms.

PAKISTAN

Saturday, October 6, 2018

Pakistan urges US to resume aid, backs Taliban outreach Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi visited Washington to explain the Afghanistan strategy of new Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has long advocated talks over military action with the Taliban. A month after Washington cut $300 million in military aid, Qureshi said he found Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “ready to listen” to Pakistan and said he was returning to Islamabad “slightly more hopeful” than before. Describing his meetings with top officials from the Trump administration as “engaging and forward looking”, the foreign minister said that Pakistan and the United States need to bridge the trust deficit and build on their history of cooperation for achieving shared objectives, including peace and stability in war-torn Afghanistan. “I am going back with positive view

of hope and change,” he said while speaking at an event organized by the United States Institute of Peace in Washington. “Individually, we might not be able to achieve what we want to. Collectively, in my opinion, we can.” Foreign Minister Qureshi described his meetings with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton as engaging and forward looking and said the two countries need to build on their history of cooperation. “We have to trust each other,” the minister said, adding that history is witnessed to the fact that both countries benefitted when they worked together, be it Cold War, Soviet invasion or decimation of al-Qaida. The minister said that there had been highs and lows in bilateral relations and the past two years had been difficult, but the two countries have to rebuild and improve

Minister should have been more careful while sharing dais with Hafiz Saeed, says Foreign Minister Cabinet minister Noor-Ul-Haq Qadri in Kashmir,” Foreign Minister said “should have been more sensitive” while in Washington while taling to the sharing the dais with 2008 Mumbai audience on Wednesday when attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, the asked about Cabinet minister for country’s foreign minister has said, religious affairs Qadri sharing a acknowledging the mistake committed dais with Lashkar-e-Taiba chief by his ministerial colleague this week. Saeed at a meeting in Islamabad. “I will go home and certainly ask “It had nothing to do with Noor Qadri him why he did that. But what I am Lashkar-e-Taiba. There were told it was an event to highlight the situation other political elements there. He happened

Fearing debt trap, Pakistan rethinks Chinese ‘Silk Road’ projects After lengthy delays, an $8.2 billion revamp of a colonial-era rail line snaking from the Arabian Sea to the foothills of the Hindu Kush has become a test of Pakistan’s ability to rethink signature Chinese “Silk Road” projects due to debt concerns. The rail megaproject linking the coastal metropolis of Karachi to the northwestern city of Peshawar is China’s biggest Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) project in Pakistan, but Islamabad has balked at the cost and financing terms.

Resistance has stiffened under the new government of populist Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has voiced alarm about rising debt levels and says the country must wean itself off foreign loans. “We are seeing how to develop a model so the government of Pakistan wouldn’t have all the risk,” Khusro Bakhtyar, minister in Pakistan’s planning ministry, told reporters recently. The cooling of enthusiasm for China’s investments mirrors the unease of incoming governments in Sri Lanka, Malaysia

PM Imran Khan to make first official visit to China Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan making his first official visit to China is likely to make his first official trip to to discuss this further,” Qureshi told China next month, his foreign minister a Washington audience when he was has said. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister asked about reports of changes in the Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the USD ambitious CPEC projects. “Obviously 50 billion China Pakistan Economic infrastructure is required. We need Corridor (CPEC) is a game changer for roads and rail links, optic fibers and Pakistan and has taken off. Pakistan, Imran Khan everything of that sort. We want them he said, wants an early completing of to help us in areas like industrial development, these projects and is in talks with the Chinese enhancing agriculture productivity, helping us on how to focus on areas that are important to alleviate poverty in the country,” he said to a the new government. “Hopefully next month question at the US Institute of Peace. in November the prime minister would be

9 injured as Peshawar Univeristy protest turned voilent Seven students of the Peshawar University and two police personnel were injured while 28 students were arrested in protests against the mounting fee charged by the university administration over a period of ten years. According to the student organisations, the university administration has been charging admission, examination and hostel charges which have increased to over 400 per cent in the last decade. The university administration, on the other hand, rejected the claims of fee increase and

corruption charges against the administration. Students, faculty concerned over felling of hundreds of trees at Peshawar varsity Similar protests occurred in 2017 against a 10 per cent increase in admission fee. Students boycotted their classes and staged a sit-in outside the vice-chancellor’s office. The protest proved an opportunity to push for other demands too. The students were demanding hostel accommodation, scholarships and inquiry into irregularities in funds the government provides for providing various facilities to the students.

Military warns politicians about irresponsible statements Pakistan’s powerful military has warned politicians against making “irresponsible” statements against it, saying such remarks were “detrimental” to the country’s stability. The terse statement by the military came after former Punjab minister and a senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Rana Mashhood claimed that the party has struck a “deal” with the “establishment” under which it will form the Punjab provincial government within a few months in the politically crucial state. Reacting to Mashhood’s statement, the military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor described it as “baseless and

regrettable”. The Director General of Inter Services Public Relations, took to Twitter on Tuesday night, saying “Attribution of an obvious vested statement by Rana Mashhood is baseless and regrettable. Such irresponsible expressions are detrimental to stability in the country.” The establishment is usually a terminology used for the military institution. The powerful military has ruled coup-prone Pakistan for nearly half of the country’s history since independence in 1947. Mashhood stirred a controversy by claiming that PML-N chief and party supremo Nawaz Sharif ’s younger brother Shehbaz Sharif struck an understanding with the establishment

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NRI

Saturday, October 6, 2018 Indian workers’ spouses could lose work permits in USA The Trump administration has signaled it plans to strip employment authorization from spouses of some H-1B visa holders. The change would mean that nearly 100,000 people -- predominantly women from India who followed their spouses to the U.S. --

would lose their ability to work in this country. NewsHour Weekend Special Correspondent Joanne Elgart Jennings reports. This is part of an ongoing series of reports called “Chasing the Dream,” which reports on poverty and opportunity in America.

Trump appoints NRI scientist to head nuclear energy division

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Days after signing a new legislation to speed up the development of advanced reactors, President Donald Trump has roped in a top NRI nuclear expert for a key administrative position in the department of energy. Trump has announced his intent to nominate Rita Baranwal (pictured) to be an assistant secretary of energy (nuclear energy) at the Department of Energy. German start-up founder Fridtjof Detzner is on the lookout for visionary medical innovations in Singapore. As one of the world’s wealthiest countries, a lot of money is being invested in Singapore for the research and development of new technologies. As Assistant Secretary of Energy, if confirmed by the Senate, Baranwal will be heading the powerful Office of Nuclear Energy. She would also be responsible for the department’s nuclear technology research and the development and management of the department’s nuclear technology infrastructure. Previously, she served

as Director of Technology Development & Application at Westinghouse and was a manager in Materials Technology at Bechtel Bettis, where she led research and development in nuclear fuel materials for US naval reactors. Baranwal earned her BA in Materials Science and Engineering from MIT and PhD from the University of Michigan. She serves on advisory boards for MIT’s Materials Research Laboratory and UC Berkeley’s Nuclear Engineering Department. Last week, Trump had signed into law the Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act which will speed up the development of advanced reactors in the United States. The law eliminates some of the financial and technological barriers standing in the way of nuclear innovation. In a recent presentation, Baranwal said that US nuclear industry is equipped to lead the world in deployment of innovative nuclear technologies to supply urgently needed abundant clean energy both domestically and globally.

Tamil is fastest growing language in US One Indian community is growing like no other in the US. Between 2010 and 2017, the number of native Telugu speakers in the US surged 86%—the largest uptick in a foreign language-speaking group—the results of a September 2018 study by Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) show. This was the highest jump among the most widely spoken foreign languages in the country, among those that had over 400,000 people speaking it. Back in 2000, the US was home to just 87,543 Telugu speakers—the language is native to the southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, which were a single entity until 2014. By 2010, there were 222,977. According to the latest figures, there are 415,414 of them, CIS found when looking at Census Bureau population data as of July 01, 2017. The news of Telugu’s increased adoption in the US is not surprising considering the massive representation of the south Indian diaspora in the tech and

engineering spaces. Hyderabad, Telangana’s capital, sends the largest number of engineers to the US from India. Between 2008 and 2012, it sent over 26,000 students to the US, most of whom were pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) fields, a Brookings Institution report (pdf) revealed. Many immigrant success stories come from this part of India. For instance, both Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Adobe Systems CEO Shantanu Narayen, hail from Hyderabad. Starry-eyed youngsters from the region chase the American Dream so desperately that the state even houses a temple famed to help people secure work visas in the West. Even outside the nine-tofive software jobs, second-generation Telugu families are making a mark. Nina Davuluri, who became the first Indian-American to be crowned Miss America in 2013, has roots in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh.

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Much to the dismay of eight medical and 15 dental colleges in the state, they have only 33 applicants for the 133 MBBS and 176 BDS NRI quota seats. Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) will be conducting counselling for admissions to NRI quota medical and dental seats on August 9. Among these 33 applicants, 14 are those who originally hailed from Punjab, while 19 are from other states. The reason for less number of applicants for the NRI seats is attributed to high tuition fee for these seats in private and government medical colleges in the state. Full course fee for NRI quota MBBS seat is $1.10 lakh in all private and government medical colleges in the state, except Adesh Medical College which has fixed the fee at $1.25 lakh. The fee for NRI

quota BDS seat is $44,000. To generate more revenue for medical colleges, 15 per cent seats are reserved as NRI quota seats. But due to high tuition fee, most of these seats remain vacant and are merged into general category seats. As many as 104 NRI quota MBBS and 161 BDS seats in the state remained vacant last year also and they were merged into the general category. Due to high tuition fee, Adesh Medical College did not get a single candidate on its 22 NRI quota MBBS seats last year. Dr Raj Bahadur, Vice-Chancellor, BFUHS, said the reason behind less number of students opting for NRI quota MBBS and BDS seats was high tuition fee. Besides the tuition fee, the students have to pay many other expenses during their five-year course, making it hugely expensive, he added.

Saturday, October 6, 2018

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Saturday, October 6, 2018

Priyanka turns tech investor Priyanka Chopra is excited to embark on a new “chapter” as an investor in tech start-up Holberton School, a coding education company, as well as in dating and social media app Bumble. This is also an effort on her part to help change the tech industry’s gender disparity. “A new chapter for me! I am so excited to partner with Bumble and Holberton School as an investor. I’m honored to join two companies that strive to expand gender diversity in the tech space, and make a social impact for the greater good... let’s do this,” Priyanka Chopra tweeted on Oct. 4. It is her first project as a startup investor, and Chopra recently toured the San Francisco home of her new portfolio company –

the school which uses projects and group learning instead of more traditional courses, to teach software development, according to The New York Times. The actress’ investment in Holberton is part of an $8.2 million round of funding for Holberton that closed in April. She will join the company’s board of advisers and will emphasize support for Holberton’s mission to educate people from underprivileged backgrounds. Her investments will skew heavily toward companies with an element of social impact and companies founded by women. “I don’t want to just be one of those people who’s like, ‘Yeah, I want to be on the tech bandwagon – how are they making so much money?’ It’s not about that,” said Priyanka Chopra, who is engaged to American singer Nick Jonas, has been squeezing in meetings with start-up founders and lined up future investments in between her hectic schedules.

Sanju Baba to give motivational speech Sanjay Dutt to give a motivational speech to the youth. The actor has been visiting different cities across India for his motivational pep talks to the youth in which the actor shares the highs and lows of the journey he has had and also spreads the awareness on drugs and their evils. The actor earlier had visited cities like Kolkata, Delhi, and Jaipur for the same. Dutt has been juggling his schedule between the shoots of “Torbaaz,” ”Kalank” and his home production “Prasthanam.” The actor is also doing “Shamshera” and “Panipat.” The sequel of ‘Munna Bhai M.B.B.S’ ‘Lage Raho Munna Bhai’ released in late 2006. Sanjay received a number of awards for his performance in the film, along with an award from the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his work in the Munna bhai series.NDTV India counted the character Munna Bhai as one of top

20 fictional characters in Bollywood. Later Dutt starred in movies like Dhamaal (2007), Shootout at Lokhandwala (2007), All the Best (2009), Double Dhamaal (2011), Son of Sardaar (2012) Agneepath (2012) and PK. In January 2008, the Indian film Institute Filmfare listed 12 films featuring Dutt in its top 100 highestgrossing movies of all-time list. In its May 2013 edition 100 years of Indian cinema Filmfare listed three films featuring Dutt in its top 20 list of highest-grossing Hindi films of all time, adjusted for inflation these films were Lage Raho Munna Bhai, Khalnayak and Saajan. Vidhu Vinod Chopra on 29 September 2016 announced that the third part or Munna Bhai MBBS film, starring Dutt in the title role, would begin soon. In 2017, Dutt appeared as the lead in Bhoomi, directed by Omung Kumar. In 2018 he starred in Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster 3. His biopic Sanju released On June 29 2018.

2

Bollywood

Saturday, October 6, 2018

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Saturday, October 6, 2018

Former MLA Dave Hayer elected Vice President of the Association of Former MLAs of BC “It is a privilege to be elected Vice President of the Association” said Hayer, along with former MLAs Jeff Bray (fmr MLA Victoria Beacon Hill) elected President and Penny Priddy (fmr MLA Newton) elected as Past President. Dave also attended the Speaker’s forum and Roundtable to discuss the role of MLAs with his former colleagues. Topics discussed included: What does it mean to have representative and responsible government? How well do MLAs undertake and balance their responsibilities ? How can MLAs most effectively represent their constituents? Other topics focused around parliamentary practice, public engagement and Party and Caucus dynamics.

Former MLA Dave Hayer elected as the Vice President of the Association of Former MLAs of BC.The Association, previously called Association of Ex-MLAs of B.C. is non-partisan and is made up of former MLAs from all political parties was founded in 1987. Dave attended the Annual General Meting of the Association of Former MLAs of BC at the British Columbia Parliament Buildings & Dinner at the Government House, hosted by Her Honour, Lt. Gov. Janet Austin. Special Guest speaker was Global BC’s Keith Baldrey, who has been a political correspondent and a Legislative Press Gallery veteran member for over 30 years.

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Saturday, October 6, 2018

Bollywood HOROSCOPE Aries March 21 - April 20

A diplomatic approach might be the best

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Anup Jalota is highest paid celeb in Bigg Boss 12, Sreesanth gets the least The Bigg Boss season 12 has been keeping the viewers glued to the television screens with a new concept. There are two teams competing against each other – the singles and the vichitra jodis.Besides the usual clashes and controversies, the show is also known for paying hefty amounts to the contestants for surviving in the Bigg Boss house. Sharing the earnings of the seniormost member of the house Anup Jalota is also the highest paid. A source has revealed to Bollywoodlife. com that the devotional singer is being paid a whopping Rs 45 lakh a week to be on the show. The source is quoted as saying, “The channel wants elders to watch the show. The younger audience

sees it on the net. This time the competition is with family dramas so the channel shelled a huge amount to get him on the show.� The bhajan singer recently ended his relationship with girlfriend Jasleen over a task. According to the report, television actor Karanvir Bora is the second highest paid celebrity on the show with an income of around Rs 20 lakh a week. Following her at the third position is actor Dipika Kakar of Sasural Simar Ka fame. She is reportedly being paid around Rs 15 lakh a week. Interestingly, former cricketer S Sreesanth is said to be getting only Rs 5 lakh a week for the show. He is part of the singles team and was recently upset for being doubted about his mental strength by co-contestant Nehha Pendse. He is named in the nominations list this week along with singer Anup Jalota and Srishty Rode.

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Bollywood Stars’ Birthdays

SOHA KHAN OCTOBER 04

DEEPTI BHATNAGAR SEPTEMBER 30

SHAAN MUKHERJEE

SEPTEMBER 30

KAREENA KAPOOR SEPTEMBER 21

Saturday, October 6, 2018

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5

6

Saturday, October 6, 2018 Youth Award winner

How an immigrant youth is getting recognition for creating peace of mind

Loizza Aquino compelled to make a difference since she was nine years old. She first led a fundraising effort to help typhoon victims in her home country of the Philippines while in the 4th Grade. But her social activism began to take shape at the age of 15 when she lost a friend to suicide. Loizza Aquino started to focus on mental health advocacy when she was in grade 10, after losing one of her best friends to suicide. Her friend was one of four students in Winnipeg to die by suicide within a onemonth period. “I was so confused. I was in shock, and wanted to know why this was happening,” she says. After spending countless hours searching for answers, she realized that understanding “why” wasn’t going to make enough of a difference. Instead, she wanted to focus on the issue of mental health, the stigma surrounding it, and the critical problem of suicide. A late-night tweet is saying, “I want to have a mental health group. Does anyone want to help me?” generated dozens of likes. This was enough to spur Aquino into action, and she created her youth-led non-profit organization: ‘Peace of Mind.’ Her organization holds events called Youth against Mental Health and Illness Stigma (YAMHIS), which provide a platform for students to share their stories and struggles with mental illness. Since 2015, YAHMIS has reached more than 2,000 students, including an event last year attended by over 700 Manitoba youth. Aquino was recently recognized as a winner in the annual RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards — an award

that celebrates the outstanding accomplishments made by Canadian newcomers. She also won an additional distinction as the winner of the Youth Award recognizing the achievements of young immigrants who make a difference in their adopted country, and show great potential as long-term nation-builders. What Challenges Do You See Newcomers Facing? Newcomers face some challenges when they move to a new country. The language barrier is a big one. And in the Philippines, my mom was a pharmacist, but her credentials didn’t carry over. My parents had to work two jobs, sometimes overnight, so coordinating schedules was a big challenge — as soon as my mom came home from work, my dad would leave. Spending time together as a family wasn’t a luxury we could afford when we had to make ends meet. What’s the Best Advice You Received to Overcome These Challenges? “The best advice I received was something my parents told me — and have been telling myself ever since I could remember — and that is: Never forget where you came from.” Whether you’re successful or you fail, know where your roots are. The wonderful thing is that Canada is so welcoming. We welcome diversity, differences in people and different cultures, so you don’t need to leave yourself behind. That’s part of what motivated me to lead a fundraising project when the typhoon hit my hometown. I was only 9, but I knew that if my parents hadn’t come to Canada,

We must ensure every vote counts and every vote is authenic: Tom Gill Surrey First mayoralty candidate Tom Gill says the integrity of our voting system is key and he fully supports the measures being taken today by the City of Surrey to ensure every vote counts, and every vote is authentic. This after City of Surrey Chief Election Officer Anthony Capuccinello Iraci stated at a news conference this afternoon that “no ballots have been sent out by mail, therefore the mail ballot voting process has not been compromised”. “Free and fair elections are the cornerstone

that I could have been one of those children trying to get to school through flood conditions without clean water to drink. Giving back helped me connect to where I came from, and I knew even the smallest actions could mean so much. What Does Being Canadian Mean to You? To me, being Canadian means being altruistic — caring about the people around you, being willing to give when someone needs a hand. In Canada, we care about each other, our quality of living, and we put actions behind our words. We don’t wait for things to happen. As a welcoming country, we welcome every bit of the people who come, including their past lives and experiences. We don’t ask someone to leave who they are at the door. What Motivated You to Expand Peace of Mind? We have been making a great impact in Manitoba. 700 students came out to one event last year, and after the speakers

finished, we held an open mic session where anyone could come and talk. The line up was so long — people shared stories of their social groups, families, sexual assault, depression, lack of care, suicide attempts. These people feel safe in our events, and they feel stronger afterward. People have come up to me and said, “I never told anyone that story. I feel so great now.” People have even told me that an event saved their life, or helped someone they love to get help. When I know I can help prevent people from harming themselves and can seek the help they need; it motivates me to do more. We held our first event in Toronto in March, and we are looking to expand to all three University of Toronto campuses in October. What’s Next for You? I am entering my second year at the University of Toronto, where I am doing a double major in Mental Health Studies and International Development Studies, with a minor in Public Policy and Governance. So that will keep me busy! But I am also planning to expand Peace of Mind to Ottawa, Waterloo, then Quebec. I’m holding a fundraiser in the fall to raise money and awareness. Starting a new life in Canada can be hard if you’re unfamiliar with the culture, but at age 18, Aquino already has a track record of making a difference in her adopted country. By founding Peace of Mind, she’s managed to empower other Canadian youths and provide a platform for communities to talk openly about mental health issues. Learn how RBC can help newcomers settle in faster http://www.rbc.com/newcomers

Press release

of our democracy,” said Gill. “This is an important election for our community because we have so many significant issues in front of us, everything from public safety to housing affordability, transit and community infrastructure. The action being taken by our city’s chief election officer gives me confidence that we’re going to have a fair election and that we can have confidence in the result on October 20th. “I want to congratulate our city’s election team for their early due diligence and the efforts they are making to ensure the integrity of our election process.”

Surrey Board of Trade says new trade deal signals needed focus on other international markets for Canada The Surrey Board of Trade is pleased that Canada, Mexico, and United States have reached a tentative deal. The new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in principle is a step forward, but as with any trade agreement of this breadth and scope, the Surrey Board of Trade (and their Advocacy Teams) will review its impacts to Surrey’s manufacturing, agriculture and other industry sectors. “Surrey has the greatest number of manufacturers in BC, and one-third of Surrey’s land base is agriculture. We need to review the details of the USMCA agreement. As a border city, we will want to ensure that

Surrey businesses are not compromised in this deal,” said Anita Huberman, CEO, Surrey Board of Trade. “We must also continue to diversify our global markets to protect businesses from uncertainty and reduce our reliance on one market.” We congratulate Minister Freeland and Canada’s negotiating team for delivering an agreement that remains trilateral, which we hope will continue to deliver prosperity for Canadian businesses. The Surrey Board of Trade has over 6,000 business contacts represented by over 2,600 business members, who rely on the Surrey Board of Trade to instigate change at different levels of government to benefit business.

7

Saturday, October 6, 2018

Fund raising event for Safe Surrey Coalition

A fund raising event was organized by South Asian community, and member of Safe Surrey Coalition Bableen Rana. Former Mayor Doug McCallum was also present at the occasion.The event was held in Surrey last week. A large number of people attended the event. Former Mayor Doug McCallum highlighted projects which were completed under his tenure. Doug McCallum expressed his vision and new plan for the city of Surrey if he and his Safe-Surrey-Coalition team wins in forthcoming elections including Sky train not LRT – Surrey Police Force and Smart Development for the city of Surrey. McCallum served as Surrey’s mayor from 1996 to 2005. He’s aiming for better future for Surrey, if elected.

Seniors’ Healthy Living Initiatives, part of SMART development Within the first month of our new council, Doug McCallum and Dr Allison Patton along with the Safe Surrey Coalition will honour the request, made 5 years ago, by Seniors’ groups, to allow Seniors over age 70 to have a 75% discount for all Recreation Centres in Surrey. “Healthy living is a fundamental element of SMART development: council should focus on creating and maintaining a healthy, social, & connected community.” Dr. Allison Patton further emphasized, “Prevention, proactivity and physical literacy are important. Seniors’ quality of life should be a priority for all of us. Their quality of life depends largely on staying physically active through the ages.”

“That’s why the Safe Surrey Coalition believes it’s important to honour their request that was originally rejected by Bruce Hayne, Tom Gill and the Surrey First council 5 years ago.” “What I have learned in my years as a physician is that the most important thing that determines your ability to recover from a hospitalization due to a hip fracture is the amount of muscle mass at the time of admission.” Physical literacy is the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge and understanding to value and take responsibility for engagement in physical activities for life.

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Saturday, October 6, 2018

Vol. 9 No. 36

Saturday - October 6, 2018

Tel: 604-591-5423

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Real Estate Board Toronto sues listings website Mongohouse for $2.1M The Toronto Real Estate Board is suing property listings website Mongohouse for $2 million, alleging that the anonymouslyrun page is illegally accessing, copying and distributing proprietary data. The board, which is the largest in Canada and represents more than 50,000 realtors across the Greater Toronto Area, filed the lawsuit last month in Federal Court asking for an immediate and permanent injunction for the popular website to be taken down. In the statement of claim, TREB alleges that Mongohouse participates in an “orchestrated strategy to avoid and elude� the board’s multiple attempts over the past two years to shut it down. ‘What buyers and sellers have been looking for’: Sold prices for Toronto homes now online after court ruling It claims the website is infringing on the board’s copyrights by “employing various techniques to illegally data scrape� information that it provides to its feepaying members through its internal multiple-listings service (MLS). This includes data such as new property listings, descriptions, sold prices and photography.

It goes on to allege that Mongohouse is profiting from advertisers by its daily “unauthorized access� of this information, which it then displays on its website for free. The board said Thursday it could not comment further on the legal action because the issue was now before the courts. Meanwhile, efforts to contact Mongohouse were unsuccessful. A statement of claim has not yet been filed with the Federal Court. TREB cites quick turnaround of data In the filing dated Sept. 12, TREB says it doesn’t know how its information is being accessed, but it believes it is the source because it placed “unique information� in its system and saw it appear on the

Mongohouse website within 24 to 48 hours. “All of the information on the Mongohouse website for this purpose is only available from the TREB MLS system,� said the claim. “There is no other means available for Mongohouse to obtain the information that is available and made publicly accessible through the Mongohouse website.� The board argues that it has spent “tens of millions� of dollars to create and maintain its MLS system and that it suffers “injury and irreparable harm� when Mongohouse “continues to pass itself off as offering the same services...�Here’s a free way to find the actual sale price of a home in Alberta In addition to naming Mongohouse.com and Mongohouse.ca in its lawsuit, the claim also

names the website’s unknown operators (John and Jane Doe); web server Digital Ocean Canada Inc. and its U.S. based subsidiaries, as well as Sheng Lan Mai who is also known as Maxim Mai, of Richmond Hill, Ont. The board claims that Mai is a software engineer at IBM and “appears to be the original author and creator of Mongohouse.� It is unclear whether he is currently the operator of the website. The lawsuit is asking that the court order all information related to the operations of Mongohouse be turned over, including financial dealings and communications. TREB is claiming $2 million in damages and an additional $100,000 for copyright infringement, as well as legal costs. The court documents detail the elaborate efforts by TREB to take down Mongohouse since it became aware of its existence in September 2016. 50K registered users The Mongohouse website, which has a reported 50,000 registered users, uses a map function to display new listings and sold prices across the Greater Toronto Area.

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Saturday, October 6, 2018

Housing density plan wont address the missing middle?

#106 - 7565 132 St. Surrey, BC 604.572.3005

Overhauls to the City of Vancouver’s bylaws covering laneway homes are part of the municipality’s overall strategy to tackle housing affordability, and the changes were approved by Vancouver City Council meeting earlier today with only Green Party councillor

Adrianne Carr opposed. Policy changes will significantly cut down the process time for applications, with an outright process for lager two-storey laneway homes. The process is streamlined and no longer requires an extra conditional design review

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Saturday, October 6, 2018 Durga Puja 2018 Dear community friends, Utsab Vancouver is going to observe the Sharodia Durga Puja 2018 with endless enthusiasm and festivity at Burnaby Siv Mandir. Please join us with your family and friends to celebrate the event sharing love, joy and blessing. Yours sincerely, President Utsab Vancouver Puja Schedule Friday, 19th October 2018 10.00 am Moha-Shashthi puja 12.30 pm Prasadam 7.00 pm Moha-Soptomi puja, Pushpanjali 8.30 pm Dhunochi naach 9.00 pm Prasadam Saturday, 20th October 2018 10.00 am Moha-Oshtami puja, Pushpanjali 1.00 pm Prasadam 7.00 pm Sandhi puja, Kumari puja, Pushpanjali 8.30 pm Dhunochi naach 9.00 pm Prasadam Sunday, 21st October 2018 10.00 am Moha-Nabami puja and Moha-Doshomi puja, Bisharjan 1.00 pm Prasadam 2.00 pm Sindur rangano ***Members are requested to renew their annual membership. Family contribution of $100 would be highly appreciated

11th Annual SFU Diwali Gala Simon Fraser Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s President Andrew Petter invites you and your guests to celebrate the festival of Diwali and the Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s engagements with the South Asian community locally and in India. Diwali is celebrated in India and around the world. Join more than 300 Lower Mainland business, government and community leaders, as well as SFU alumni, faculty, staff and students, for the 11th annual celebration of this signature event. THURSDAY, NOV. 1, 2018 5:30 PM Reception 6:30 PM Program and Dinner LOCATION Aria Banquet Hall 12350 Pattullo Place Surrey, BC DRESS Business or South Asian Attire ENQUIRIES 778.782.9426 | events@sfu.ca

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Saturday, October 6, 2018

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